Tag Archives: Books

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Passport To The World by Craig Froman

Passport To The WorldPassport To The World is a great book to introduce young children to several different world cultures and languages. Featuring 26 different cultures, this resource is an excellent primer for a family to use as a family activity, prayer guide, or a homeschool resource.

Passport To The World includes several interesting features for each culture visited, including location around the world, population and other statistics, phrases from that particular language, and several facts about the country or culture being examined.

Passport To The World also includes a children’s “visa” and a series of stickers that can be inserted after reading about a particular culture.

While not going too in-depth, Froman has created a great resources that can introduce not only world cultures to young children, but world missions as well.

There are numerous possibilities for using Passport To The World. We plan on using it with our children to examine a particular people group, and add more details to our study using resources available from Operation World.

I think it will be a well-used book in our home.

If you are interested in reading Passport To The World, you can order it from Amazon.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from New Leaf Press/Master Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave

Deadly DisclosuresDeadly Disclosures is Julie Cave’s first book in her Dinah Harris trilogy. I read and reviewed the second book in the series, A Shadowed Mind, late last year, and I loved it.

So I went back to read the first book in the series. And loved it as well. Julie Cave does a great job of weaving current issues into a non-stop, edge-of-your-seat, gripping plot-line.

In Deadly Disclosures, FBI agent Dinah Harris is called upon to investigate the high-profile murder of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. While dealing with her own issues, such as alcoholism and the loss of her husband and son, Harris has to get a grip on her life in order to dig to the bottom of this conspiracy.

And conspiracy it is! What could cause someone to murder the Secretary of the Smithsonian? Creationism. When the Secretary wants to add displays featuring Creation to the heavily evolutionized museum, he causes some serious agitation in the highest levels of society and government.

Cave does a great job in this book explaining the young-earth creation model, and its struggle with evolutionism. And she lands firmly in the camp of Creation, without compromising.

As with A Shadowed Mind, I am extremely impressed. Order this one and read it today!

I highly recommend that you read these two books. Order Deadly Disclosures from Amazon.com by clicking here. Or, you can order A Shadowed Mind by clicking here.

I received this book free from New Leaf Press/Master Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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Sabbath by Dan B. Allender

SabbathHave you ever had one of those weeks where God uses a dozen different avenues to grab your attention in one particular area? This week has been that way for me.

I’ve been reading Sabbath, by Dan Allender. It’s part of The Ancient Practices Series from Thomas Nelson. In this book, Allender takes a closer look at the “day of rest” that the Bible calls Sabbath. It seems that our society may have a few false notions about this biblical concept.

Allender contends that our view of Sabbath is one of forced quiet, when it should be a day of joy, delight for the body and soul. Rather than it being a day where we force ourselves to be still, Allender examines the idea that we should use the day as a festival that celebrates God’s creativity and redemption.

Allender defines four Sabbath Pillars: sensual glory, holy time, communal feast and play. When our Sabbath is balanced and viewed appropriately, the balance of our week falls into line as well, more often than not.

Part of the idea that Allender describes is what we might call “creating margin.” This isn’t just balancing our time. It’s not simply being more efficient with our lives.

I think it’s more like stewardship…

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West Oversea by Lars Walker

West OverseaWest Oversea is a fictional account based on Norse legends. It’s not a genre I read a lot of, but I rather enjoyed this one.

Father Aillil is an Irish priest who settled in Norway. West Oversea tells of his attempt to find his sister who has been sold into slavery, in Greenland, it seems. Father Aillil convinces Erling Skjalgsson to embark upon a journey to Leif Eriksson’s Greenland, searching for his sister.

In the process, Father Aillil is given a powerful talisman, a relic straight out of pagan Norse mythology, the Eye of Odin. The Eye has given the priest the gift of Second Sight. But the question is, can the Sight be trusted? It seems to be giving him bad information, drawing him astray, and towards death.

West Oversea details the journey of Father Aillil, Erling Skjalgsson, and a host of others as they journey toward Greenland, visiting Iceland, and the mainland of America in the process.

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Through The Wardrobe – Your Favorite Authors On C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles Of Narnia

Through The WardrobeI recently received Through The Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors On C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles Of Narnia from Smart Pop Books. They stumbled across the review I wrote on The Narnia Code, and contacted me, asking if I would be interested in reviewing their book. I gladly said yes. I’m a pretty big C.S. Lewis fan, this could be a great read.

I was wrong.

Through The Wardrobe is a collection of chapter-long essays written by many different authors of young adult book. The more I read, the more astonished I was, frustrated even, about the lack of understanding of The Chronicles Of Narnia.

While there were several things that bothered me about this book, I’ll keep it brief and only mention a few.

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The Shadowed Mind by Julie Cave

The Shadowed MindJulie Cave has a great future in Christian fiction. I was really impressed with her book The Shadowed Mind. I read it in less than two days. I simply couldn’t put it down.

While fiction, Cave deals with some heavy stuff in The Shadowed Mind. The main topic underlying the storyline is eugenics, including the controversial debate over euthanasia, and the discussion of whether nurture or nature is supreme in dictating a person’s destiny.

Cave lands solidly on the sanctity of life, and does so with logically sound reasoning. And with the scriptural principles found throughout the book, as well as Scripture itself, The Shadowed Mind is a great read, and is free from a lot of the crud that mainstream fiction seems to include by default.

I loved reading The Shadowed Mind, and plan on purchasing the other books in this series by Julie Cave, one of which won’t be released until June. Until then, I’ll have to pick up her first book and be content. Sigh.

Well done, Julie!

I highly recommend that you read The Shadowed Mind, by Julie Cave. You can purchase it at Amazon.com.

I received this book free from New Leaf Press/Master Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick

Sun Stand Still

If you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you may be sleeping though some of the best parts of your Christian life.

That’s what the back of the book boldly proclaims. Sun Stand Still is a book about having the faith that God can do the impossible in your life.

Sun Stand Still is taken from the story of Joshua leading the Israelites into the promised land. At one point, the Israelites are fighting a battle, but daylight is running out. Joshua prayed a faith-filled prayer that God would stop the sun in its path across the sky. God did so, extending that particular day by several more hours.

Steven Furtick holds forth the idea of audacious faith: faith big enough to see God “stop the sun” in your life.

While there were some good points in the book, I wasn’t all that impressed with Sun Stand Still. I suppose, with all the hype and visibility, I expected a book that would impact me deeply, such as Radical by David Platt, or Primal by Mark Batterson.

Sun Stand Still just didn’t impact me like that. That said, it does have some good points about having a bold faith, faith that asks for the impossible and believes that God can and will deliver. But there are other books out there that can deliver that message better than this one.

My recommendation is this: don’t rush out and buy Sun Stand Still. Wait until it’s offered free for the Kindle or something.

I highly recommend that you read tw of the books referenced in the post above: Primal by Mark Batterson and Radical by David Platt. Click on either title in this box to be taken to Amazon.com, where you can purchase it for yourself.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Multnomah Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”