Review: Highland Crossings

Highland Crossings by Pamela Griffin


Four novellas combine to tell the stories of four ladies who are connected by the family's keepsake: a priceless brooch. Each generation sees it as a blessing and a curse.

Healer of My Heart by Pamela Griffin
Printed on My Heart by Laurie Alice Eakes
Sugarplum Hearts by Gina Welborn
Heart's Inheritance by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

If you like a nice quick read, Barbour creates fantastic 4-in-1 books like this one. If you enjoy stories set around the early years of the United States or if you enjoy stories with a highland twist, this collection is for you! I loved the occupations that the authors highlighted in their stories. Griffin's themes included healing and witches, Easkes shares printing, Welborn offers candy, and Taylor highlights weaving and preserving a town's history. The characters were also from all over the Highlands, not just one location which it fantastic. Beyond occupations, each story combines family, friendship, and faith.

Time Period: 1700's
Location: Highlands and North Carolina, USA

Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Barbour Publishing!

Review: Dog-Gone School

Dog-Gone School by Amy Schmidt


Go "bark" to school with adorable dogs and poetry!

Amy and Ron Schmidt combined their talents for an adorable and creative poetry, picture book. The poems are short, sweet, and humorous about dogs at school. The photos are crisp and whimsical in a school setting. The photo setting could be considered generic and "Photoshopped," but that's looking at it with critical adult eyes. It's a very sweet book that children will enjoy if they like poetry, puppies, or school.

Wonderful additions for teachers and the curious include a brief "Note about the Poems" in the beginning and Class Superlatives at the end. The beginning note shares the poetry forms used in the book. The Class Superlatives lists the dogs' names and breeds used in the photos.

Reviewed from an Edelweiss copy. Thank you, Random House!



Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan, Emily MacLachlan Charest, Katy Schneider would be a fun companion book to Dog-Gone School.

Review: A Noble Groom

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund


Families are just trying to look out for each other in Hedlund's newest release.

Annalisa Werner lost her husband by accident or murder. She needs to run the farm as well as care for her daughter and unborn child. Nobleman Carl von Reichert of Germany needs to run from his homeland. He's a wanted man and law is coming for him though he is innocent. Annalisa's father sends off for a husband from Germany. Carl's father (with the help from Carl's manservant, who felt like a father to Carl) sends him to the States to save his life.

A Noble Groom is a great story full of family, self-discovery, and faith. I loved the German heritage as well as the rags to riches storyline. It is a standalone piece, so readers will not have to bite their nails for the next installment. Yay!

Hedlund's next book, " Rebellious Heart " is set to come out in the Fall of 2013.  This book is set in the 1700's instead of the 1800's. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Time Period: 1880's
Location: Forestville, Michigan, United States and Essen, Germany

Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Bethany House!

Review: The Quarryman's Bride

The Quarryman's Bride by Tracie Peterson


The Knox family and the MacLachlan family were very close. Emmalyne Knox and Tavin MacLachlan were ready to be married, but tragedy, family tradition, anger, and distance tore them a part. Years later the Knox and MacLachlans return to be neighbors, but it's a hard friendship with so many years of silence and distance between them.

Emmalyne's and Tavin's story is the second book in the Land of Shining Water series. The books in this series are standalone titles, so reading them out of order will not hinder any of the tales. The binding ties are the stories' location (Minnesota) and the time period (1800's). Two of my favorite themes!

Peterson explores the heritage of Scottish and Welsh families in this book. The family tradition plays well with the Icecutter's family promise of caring for the daughter's family. Instead of digging up ice, the families work in a quarry and blast through rock. The families work through their tragedies and overcome their anger and heartache.

Time Period: 1890's
Loction: , Minnesota, USA

Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Bethany House!

Review: Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves

Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves by James Matlack Raney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to ye olde days in England. Prepare ye selves for pirates, treasures, thieves, and mysteries. James Francis Morgan is old enough (eleven years old to be exact) to make his own decisions and run his life ...until his Father, Lord Morgan returns. Life as he knows it has turned upside down in one day and he's on the run.

Raney crafted his story for young male readers. (Ladies, you'll enjoy this tale, too!) He hits on some popular themes without going overboard on the swashbuckling or drama. He offers dashes of humor throughout as well as an occasional word that might need to looked up in the dictionary. Being set in England there is a sprinkling of British jargon. I believe you can share this tale with middle schoolers and/or tweens. It's fun, not too long, and excellent chapter lengths. I also think this would make an excellent audiobook (with the right reader, of course). I love a good audiobook!

Reviewed from a Smith Publicity copy. Thank you!

Smith Publicity also shared an ebook with me to giveaway! If you'd be interested in reading Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves, please leave a comment below with your email address.  The giveaway will close on the last day of the blog tour (May 24, 2013). Good luck, readers! 

Thanks for following the Jim Morgan Blog Tour!

Storytime: Vegetables

Every May at the library, we have a special garden storytime series that lasts for three weeks. This year's theme was Planting a Rainbow. My themes for Planting a Rainbow were flowers, fruit, and vegetables.

Vegetables Storytime

This was my favorite Preschool Planters from the Planting a Rainbow series. Here's the agenda for vegetable storytime:

Welcome

Hello Everybody, Yes Indeed SONG by Carole Peterson

Vegetables, Vegetables by Fay Robinson

I like to start out my storytime with an easy nonfiction about the theme. Vegetables, Vegetables fit the bill this week. There were pages I didn't want to include (the pages on veggies that are fruit and making a salad) so I paper clipped them together so we could focus on "regular" vegetables.

Potatoes on Tuesday by Dee Lillegard, illustrated by David McPhail

This is a short and little easy reader. To add to the book, I added flannel board veggies and asked the audience to tell me the veggie when I placed it up on the flannel board.

Vegetable Soup SONG by Piggyback Songs

I added ASL signs for this song. We learned the American Sign Language sign for broth, carrot, celery, onion, and potato.

Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre

And then it’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. stead 

This was a great book to add a counting activity. Throughout the book we'd count the days of the week: 7 days are in 1 week. We'd also name the days of the week. It was repeated 3 times in the book.

Announcements

Goodbye Rap SONG by Carole Peterson

Blog Tour: Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves

Thanks for following the blog tour of Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves by James Matlack Raney. Sarah of Smith Publicity put this tour together and I am thrilled to be a part of it!

The blog tour began on Monday, May 13th and it goes until Friday, May 24th. The participants include: Nerdophiles.com , Oops! I Read A Book Again (http://oopsireadabookagain.blogspot.com) , TracysNook.com , You Can Read Me Anything (http://kellysessionswoodward.wordpress.com) ,  I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (http://www.iamareader.com/) , Hook of a Book (http://www.hookofabook.wordpress.com/) , Readalot (http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.com/) , Learning & Growing the Piwi Way (http://piwiprincess.blogspot.com/) , and Silk Screen Views – (http://silkscreenviews.wordpress.com).

Please stop by the other websites and blogs to read their reviews and author interviews. You can also sign-up to win a copy of the book! I will be posting my review and a giveaway opportunity later today. Happy touring!

Review: The Icecutter's Daughter

The Icecutter's Daughter by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Merrill Krause promised her dying mother that she would watch over and care for her family. But her family doesn't know about her promise as her father tells her she needs to step down from the ice harvesting family business.
Rurik Jorgenson also made family promises. He moved to Merrill's town to help his uncle's carpentry business. He hopes to one day open his own shop, but he needs to care for family, before striking out on his own.

I forgot how much I enjoy Tracie Peterson's historical fiction stories. I fell in love with the character's occupations, talents, and family loyalties. It was a story I couldn't put down and wanted to share with others immediately. I'm looking forward to her next book in the Land of Shining Water series.

Time Period: 1800's
Location: Waseca, Minnesota, USA

Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Bethany House Publishers!!

Review: God is on the Cross

God Is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter offers forty devotional readings during the Lenten season leading up to Easter. Dietrick Bonhoeffer is listed as the author, but he died in 1945. O. C. Dean Jr. translated Bonhoeffer's letters, sermons, and writings while Jana Reiss compiled and edited the book.

The readings are arranged by themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the cross. Each day includes a reflection written by Bonhoeffer, scripture, and occasionally additional material for further reflection. The readings can be enjoyed in one sitting for the busy individual. If readers want a longer study during Lent, they can re-read each entry throughout the day or find a biography about Bonhoeffer to pair with this devotional.

Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Westminster John Knox Press (WJK)!

Storytime: Horses

The day of storytime for horses, it was Levi Strauss Day. Cowboys wear jeans and most cowboys wear jeans while riding horses, so let's go with horses. (I also previously hosted a Cowboy storytime for National Cowboy Day. I like to experiment with new themes, rather than repeat old ones.)

The librarians at Neenah Public Library shared an awesome puppet prop at the Wisconsin Library Association conference several years ago. They created barn doors from a red paper box cover. Unfortunately, our paper box covers were black and I didn't want to waste my time covering them with paper or painting them. I explained my dilemma to my amazing co-workers and they helped to create barn doors from bookends and file folders. I secured the doors to the storytime cart and gleefully sang ...

Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o!
And on that farm he had a POLAR BEAR!
No?

Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o!
And on that farm he had a MONKEY!
No?

Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o!
And on that farm he had an OCTOPUS!
No? Okay, that's try one more time.

Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o!
And on that farm he had a HORSE!
Yes? Yes! Let's sing the rest of the verse ...

It was a great puppet surprise element for the audience that provided a unique introduction to the theme of storytime. We jumped right into the usually storytime agenda...


Hello SONG from Dragon Tales: Dragon Tunes
Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash
Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee
In My Barn by Sara Gillingham (This book has a built in finger puppet!)
Let's Sings a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas 

Announcements
Good-bye, So Long, Farewell, Toodle-oo SONG from Hap Palmer: Two Little Sounds Fun with Phonics and Numbers 



Craft Project from Banta friends: Humpty Dumpty coloring page with ... horses! We also recited the nursery rhyme together before leaving the story room.