Review: "A Bird, a Girl, and a Rescue" by J.A. Myhre

When a reluctant Kiisa goes off to boarding school, her father surprises her with an unlikely gift - a talking bird, a fabled "messenger" that is able to talk to humans. Kiisa and her bird Njili are destined to save lives in a dangerous rescue mission brought about by African rebels. Along the way Kiisa learns about forgiveness, bravery, and evil's role in this world. Girls overcoming cultural barriers and prejudices is also a commonly addressed theme.

A Bird, a Girl, and a Rescue is a 130-page juvenile fiction, magical realism book with a Christian underlay.
The Christian elements of the book are subtle, mostly represented through the animal messengers sharing knowledge about what evil is, and how it take many forms.

It is set in Africa, representing a fictionalized version of real events and real places. Author J.A. Myhre uses her experience living in Africa to provide an accurate representation of a culture many young readers will encounter for the first time, including using words in the Luwendigo dialect such as kodi and milembre in greetings. These words and other words that may cause confusion for young American readers (football meaning american soccer, etc.) are all defined in a short glossary at the end. Key scenes were illustrated in full-page black and white sketches, which I thought added quite a bit of value, especially for young readers tying to imagine a different part of the world.

The plot was engaging and moved at a good pace. There were odd moments in the story where time seemed to be of the essence, but the protagonist was spending time bathing, cooking chicken, and sleeping, with no sense of immediacy. The rebel antagonist story line was quite dark, but not unrealistic or necessarily inappropriate. There were subtleties that younger audiences might not pick up on, such as the protagonist wondering why the rebels would kidnap a young girl - perhaps for a cook, perhaps something "more sinister" - and thinking that if it were her in that situation, "she would be dreading nightfall" (97-98).

A Bird, a Girl, and a Rescue is the second book in the Rwendingo Tales series. The first followed Kiisa's brother and his messenger animal in A Chameleon, a Boy, and a Quest. I haven't read the first book yet, and I did not see any reason that you would need to read it first in order to appreciate this book, since though the family and setting are the same, the stories seem to be completely independent.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Review: "Prayers for New Brides" by Jennifer O. White

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Prayers for New Brides: Putting on God's Armor After the Wedding Dress is a 40 chapter devotional for newly married, soon to be married, or even long-time married brides. It focuses on praying for your husband and God's will for your marriage. It also spends quite a bit of time talking about spiritual battle and truths about marriage.

Each chapter has a discussion, prayer, and "call to action"/journal suggestion. Example chapters include "God Is Fighting for You," "See Your Spouse through God's Eyes," "Praise: Your Love Song to God and First Line of Defense," "Cement the Experience of Unity," and "Communicate as a Team." The prayers are personalizable, frequently using blanks for you to fill in your husband's name and sometimes require more in depth thought to fill in the blanks with personal examples and experiences. At the end of each small paragraph of prayer, the Bible verses that inspired it are cited so that you can look at them further.

Overall, I thought it was a well-compiled discussion of God's role in marriage and how to go into marriage sure-footed. I would recommend doing no more than one chapter a day to get the most out of it -- the book even suggests if doing it as a devotional with a group that five chapters a week for eight weeks is a good way to tackle it. There's not many personal examples in the book, so it can be hard to take in a bunch of chapters all at once and still take something away from them.

Though I'm sure every woman would take something different away from this book, I'll share a few points that stood out to me. In the "Sacrifice Your Expectations" chapters  the prayer invites you to bring your expectations of marriage before God including all the outside influences from media and couples in your life. The prayer describes these expectations as "limiting," which was a refreshing way to look it. In the "Covering His Priorities, Time, and Energy" chapter, the prayer included thanking God for creating your husband with his specific passions, personality, and talents as well as talking about how God knows the rhythm of time your husband needs to divide his time between work, marriage, serving God, and rest. As a last note, the chapter on "Fear Less: Your Privilege as a Wife" quotes 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control," where the whole chapter focuses on surrendering your fears to God.

While I thought most of this book was well done, there were some parts that I didn't agree 100% with the author, her discussion, or the Bible verses she used to support her ideas, but some disagreement is to be expected and it didn't interfere with the parts I did find helpful.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Alby's Amazing Book" by Catalina Echeverri

Alby's Amazing Book by Catalina Echeverri is an adorable book about a squirrel named Alby and his very favorite book: the Bible.

Alby shows us how books can take us on great adventures! I love that Alby proudly displays his love of reading and how it is so much more than just words and pictures that he gets out of the books.

His favorite book is different though, because the adventures it describes are TRUE. Alby's Amazing Book shows illustrations of the Garden of Eden, the miraculous catch of fish from John 21, and David and Goliath.











My only complaint is a single page that is very dark and a little hard to read, but it's not too bad.





I'm very excited to share this book with my niece. The amount of detail is stunning - the pictures are even printed over a running Bible verses in the background.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focuses Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "The Christmas Promise" by Alison Mitchell and Catalina Echeverri

The Christmas Promise is a short, catchy children's book explaining Jesus's birth. Throughout the book, there is various repeated phrases to keep a child's attention. One such use is a "WHOOSH!" for when the angels appear. Unfittingly though, this "WHOOSH!" was also used for the star appearing, which was not my favorite word choice.




There's no denying this wise man's excitement at seeing the star though!

One of those repetitious elements was accompanied by strange grammatical choices. "He sent: a NEW KING; a RESCUING KING; a FOREVER KING." I don't think I've ever seen semi-colons and colons in a children's book, and here they're not even necessary. Of course, it's not like this will bother my one and a half year old niece.



I know my niece will love these adorable, goofy animal illustrations. I certainly did!


I also really appreciated that at the end of the book there is a page saying where you can find the Christmas story in the Bible. It also lists places to look for the Old Testament promises of a new king. I can definitely see this book being a good transition into reading the Christmas story from the Bible as my niece gets older.


The use of fun, curvy words to tell the story could have been more frequent, as the designer employed this technique only twice.

 All in all, a great introduction to the Christmas story and a great gift for the young ones in your family.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Seeing double?

Two great new children's books in and ready for blog tour reviews in the next two weeks!

First up, The Christmas Promise by Allison Mitchell and Catalina Echeveri followed by Alby's Amazing Book, illustrated by Catalina Echeveri!

Both are published by The Good Book for Children and are a part of Cross Focused Reviews.

Find out whether these books will make the cut and be passed along to my year and a half old niece!

Review: "Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany" by Dolores Kimball

Dolores Kimball's Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany dives deep into the story of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.  Kimball explains that Mary is one of four people in the Bible that Jesus personally commended (5).  This 120 page book thoroughly researches everything surrounding this woman: where she was mentioned in the Bible, other related stories, and even common misconceptions about who she was.

The most fascinating part of the book was Kimball's explanation of the significance of anointing Jesus for burial.  Jesus tried to tell his disciples that he would suffer, but they did not want to believe.  However, Mary's eyes were opened to the truth that Jesus would die, and her faith led her to use the ointment that was reserved for Jesus' burial day.  Kimball also did a great job of explaining other translations and meanings of the words used in passages, such as explaining that "Jesus' burial day" didn't actually mean the day he was buried - simply near that time.

Chapters were broken into sections that looked into passages from the Bible mentioning Mary, other instances in the Bible that were similar in some way, and life applications, though some sections had a mix of those elements.

The life application-type sections did not hold my interest.  These sections often begin with or include a universal statement, like "for many women", "we have to admit", "if we're honest with ourselves," which felt insincere in their attempt to be all-encompassing.  I was distracted by passages of sweeping generalizations about what challenges the modern woman in her faith journey.  For example, there is almost two pages detailing the life of a "typical Christian woman": "So she says a quick prayer for her family, tosses down her morning jolt of caffeine, and charges into her day like a Thoroughbred out of the starting gate" (12).

The tidbits that explained Biblical significance in words and actions made it a worthwhile read, and I really do feel like I better understand the passages that previously I would've rushed over without giving a second thought.  However, the book was hard to get in to and hard to keep reading.  For those reasons, I would treat this book as a resource for if you wanted to lead a Bible study on a related topic, but I would not recommend it for casual reading or as a personal devotional.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

To Review: "On the Shoulders of Hobbits" by Louis Markos and "Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany" by Dolores Kimball

Two new books have been added to my "to review" stack this week! In the foreward to On the Shoulders of Hobbits the Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, Peter Kreeft explains why you should read:

reading great literature, next to meeting people, is the single most effective way to learn not to flunk life.  Life is a story, and therefore moral education happens first and most powerfully through stories, e.g., through books. (8)

In Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany, "we will look closely at the mysterious Mary of Bethany, a most unique and remarkable woman whose incredible faith, quiet spirit, and uncanny understanding of spiritual matters are a testimony to the power of God in the life of a woman totally committed to her Lord" (back of the book).

Look for reviews of both of these books coming soon to In Media Res!

Review: "Guiltless Living" by Ginger Hubbard

Guiltless Living by Ginger Hubbard is probably one of the best devotional books I have ever read.  Each chapter begins with an anecdote featuring a sinful tendency, followed by showing God's grace, and how He calls us to live in each situation.  For example, the second chapter is titled, "The Proud Serial Sinner and the Humble Grace of God."  At the end of the book, there is a list of questions and Bible verses to go with each chapter, making this a perfect choice for individual devotion or a small group Bible study.  The short chapter lengths (about 15 pages) also lend themselves nicely to a short daily reading and Bible time.


Hubbard quotes John in saying, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).  For this reason, I find the true life stories that begin each chapter to be relatable and inspiring.  We all sin.  If we could stop, we would, but since we can't, it's helpful to take that step back and see Hubbard's experiences and how she learned and grew from each experience.  Her stories are humorous, sad, and everything in between, told in an engaging and accessible manner for young adult to adult readers.

These personal anecdotes blended effortlessly with Bible verses and stories, without it seeming as though Hubbard was reaching for connections. However, during some chapters the Bible connections seemed to go on a little too long for my attention span.  Hubbard found so many great examples to go along with each of her points, but covering five different angles of the same point from the Bible bogged down my reading.

My favorite message appeared in the final chapter, "The Religious Serial Sinner."  I appreciated Hubbard pointing out the hypocrisy of judging other Christians (or non-Christians) on their sins, when no sin is better or worse than another in God's eyes.  Her description of how we should be real rather than "religious" was well explained as well: "He desires us to indulge in a real relationship with him, one that involves repentance and redemption, rather than religious rituals and rule following as ways to earn righteousness (96).

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

To Review: "Guiltless Living", "The Last Policeman", & "Countdown City"

From Shepherd Press in association with Cross Focused Reviews, I received Guiltless Living by Ginger Hubbard, for which I am part of a Blog Tour April 7-13!

Just in from Quirk Books are The Last Policeman and Countdown City by Ben H. Winters! 

Reviews coming soon!