Melissa
This is a book that if taken to heart, can change your entire life. This was the exact book I needed to read right now. Although there are some physical aspects to my anxiety issues, I realized that this book hits on the root cause of my anxiety, and the pathway out of it. I'm tired of living to please people, I want to BE ME! I will pursue a wholehearted life from here on out, No matter who I piss off, annoy, disappoint, confuse or terrify. I deserve to be me!!! Thank you, Brené, for helping me see how to make that happen!!
Wow. I love that sometimes reading a particular book lines up with the lessons you are facing in life at that very moment. Reading Divergent right now was exactly that for me.
Interesting ideas explored in this book. I believe the biggest lessons to be learned are: Bad comes from devaluing those who don't value the same things you value. Freedom to be who you are at the core is vital to survival and happiness. Precious time and resources are wasted when looking for what's wrong/different about others, instead of celebrating and appreciating what others have to offer.
Ok, so I wanted to like this book more. And I still think it's worth reading. But definitely not all in one sitting. Each chapter tends to be very repetitive, with the same “moral to the story” just a slightly different anecdote. It's almost as if she took all her blog posts and pasted them together into a book. As a book in and of itself, it doesn't really measure up.
But, if you look at it as more of a devotional type of thing, and only read a chapter a month, I think you could get a lot more out of it. It would serve as a great reminder to put down the distractions and focus on the people in your life that matter. But reading it all at once is just too redundant.
Still, the message she wants to convey; that people (especially your kids) are more important than a heavy to-do list and all the electronic distractions we have nowadays, is worth considering.
Yep, that's right, I gave this book 5 stars, which I reserve for my very favorite stories. This book is now one of my must read children's books, I'll look forward to reading it again and again to my kiddos. The life-lessons taught in this book are great. I'd love to go into further detail, but I don't want to give anything away.
Beautiful story, wonderful creativity, and a great fantasy adventure book!
This was probably my favorite read aloud I have read to my kids in a long time. This would definitely interest boys, either as a read aloud, or them reading it themselves.
This book was filled with comedy, excitement, suspense, and heart. It takes on a heavy subject; when tragedy strikes your family, how do you cope? Especially as a kid, who feels pretty helpless? This story teaches kids that although there may be a lot of things out of your control, being available and willing to help someone when the situation warrants it is indeed, what makes a hero a hero. Sometimes luck plays something into that, which the book also touches on. And sometimes accidents happen, seemingly for no reason at all. But it's all about what you choose to do, how you choose to respond that is what you do have control over, and in the end, is the best anyone can do.
I definitely recommend this book!
I read this aloud to my daughter, and we all fell in love with it. This book is another example of a book I would have never picked up if it wasn't for being a part of the homeschool curriculum we use. It was delightful to step back in time to a different country and see what it was like to live as a child at the end of the 19th century. Siri and Erik were such great little kids to get to know, full of zest, compassion, integrity, cleverness, and diligence. And it was a joy to experience the excitement of uncovering Viking treasures with their family!
A but of a dated book, but a very sweet story, nevertheless. I read this to my kids as a bedtime story, and they loved it.
Peter is the cutest of characters, being adopted into the family (as well as Penny) he fits right in, and seems to instantly bond with them all. He's a kid with a good work ethic and a compassionate heart, which makes him such a good role model for young boys!
This is a great book for boys, in my opinion. I don't know if they'd have the patience to read it through themselves, since there are a lot of references to the way life was lived back in the time period it was written. There are probably things that would need to be explained to understand, which is easy to do when you are reading it aloud.
The perfect book for any overwhelmed parent. I'm thinking this book needs to be my new baby shower gift, so that when there's a newborn in the house, the parents can take a few seconds to laugh and take a deep breath and realize that they are not alone in their experiences as a parent. Sometimes, just to lighten up and laugh at this crazy thing we all subject ourselves to called parenting, can help a tired parent make it through another day.
After reading the 1st three pages, I'm pretty sure I laughed about 50 times. I love Jim's honesty as well as his sense of humor. He's one of my favorite comedians. It was nice to peek into his life as a parent, and see what is going on ‘off-stage'. My husband is a family entertainer, and I can appreciate the behind the scenes craziness. :)
Very enjoyable read. Please read if you are a parent, then share with other parents. We seriously all need to stick together, laugh a little, and relax, so hopefully we can make it through without completely losing our sanity. :)
My 9 yr. old daughter and I read this together as part of her history lessons. As long as you take the time to explain new vocabulary and read all the footnotes, this is a great way to share what life was like during medieval times for children.
This is a collection of short plays, each featuring a different child during medieval times. They are written in such a way as to let the reader eaves drop on their thoughts as they go about their everyday lives. An interesting approach, and enjoyable for my daughter to listen to. I didn't think she would enjoy them at first, but she ended up liking the book once we had finished!
After reading the Shack, I couldn't wait to see what this one was about. I have to admit, I was disappointed. I'm trying to put my finger on exactly what it is about this book that made it not my favorite, and I think it's probably a couple of things. One, I think the author was trying to make too many points at once. Two, I think there were some weird moments in the story that were supposed to make it feel more light, playful, casual, whatever, and those moments just ended up being more awkward and weird instead.
Don't get me wrong, there were a few helpful points to learn from the book. Like what happens to us when we think of ourselves and shut others out. The imagery used in the story I think illustrated that point well. And, there were a few gems of lines that I found wise and valuable, like when Tony is talking to Jack about self-image and the soul:
“Tony you are a root,” Jack said, interrupting his spiral, “and only God knows what the flower will be. Don't get lost castigating yourself for being a root. Without the root, the flower can never be. The flower is an expression of what now appears so lowly and unimportant, a waste.”
But, I think the thing that really made this book a 2 star for me, was that I couldn't find that one thread, the one that you hold onto until the end, and as long as you hold onto that thread, the story can go anywhere, because you've caught the main thing. I still don't know what the MAIN thing was in this book.
As for reading it yourself, who knows, maybe you'll find the thread that I couldn't and it will all make sense, and then you can explain it to me. But as for right now, I think there was great potential for this book to address some very important spiritual issues, and unfortunately, I think it fell short.
This book was an eye-opening revelation of some of the real, distressing consequences of our fascination with celebrities, and how constantly seeing their narcissistic behavior displayed for all to see, 24/7 is changing the way the public behaves in a detrimental way.
I think this book could actually be considered a valuable parenting tool, as there is a lot of info on child development, and how to help your child avoid becoming overly and dangerously narcissistic. This is something, given this day and age, that all parents will have to inoculate their children from, if they have any access to media in any way, shape, or form. Which trust me, no matter how much you protect your kid, they all do!
My daughter bought this book with her Christmas money, so I decided to read it first to see if it was any good. It was a cute, simple story that encourages kindness and looking for opportunities to help others. I like books that promote that kind of behavior! The main character, Cassie is even kind to a rude little girl, which I find refreshing.
Another great book in this series by Haddix. With every book of hers I read, she moves further up my favorite authors list. :)
I have to admit though, I'm getting very antsy to find out exactly who Jonah is. And I want there to be more clues in these stories so I can start figuring it out for myself, but so far, I don't really have much of an idea.
I'll be waiting ever so impatiently for the next book in the series...
I read this one aloud to my kiddos at night and they all really enjoyed it. They are ready to go and hunt for the sequel at the library!
I personally found it a little boring, but I think the reason it held my kids' attention is because it's a dated book, more or less about everyday life, which looks much different from our daily lives. I I think they find that fascinating.
