Lots of Helpers

Simon’s New Life

September 20, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

A little over a month ago, Simon quit his job as a mechanic and started a new job at a dairy farm. He has always said that he wanted to farm, and was getting very tired of being inside all the time. He moved to the farm at the beginning of calving, so he was rather dumped into the deep end. All at once, he had to learn how to milk, how to rear calves, and how to fend for himself! He and another man who lives on the farm work together to cook their meals. He’s learned a lot about feeding himself in the last month. He was very overwhelmed the first couple of weeks, but has gotten to the point where he really enjoys his work now.

We all went up there the day before he moved to the farm, to have a look at it. It is about 45 minutes away, to the south of us, at the base of the mountains. Here we are having a look at the milking shed, a double 34 herringbone.

We also went up a couple of Saturday evenings after he moved, and took a meal along. Esther took a few pictures the second time, since it was still daylight. This is Lake Haupiri on the way up (Gloriavale is just on the other side of the lake.)

These next two pictures are valleys we saw on the way to the farm.

Simon spends a lot of time feeding calves in these sheds.

The sunset we enjoyed from Simon’s house was incredible! I just stood there at the window and soaked it up for awhile.

Esther also got some video clips of the calves–and Miss Joy. She loves calves!

Product Review–Jonathan Park Audio Adventure

September 7, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I remember reading, in literature we regularly received from some Creation ministry (I can’t remember anymore which one), about the Jonathan Park audio adventures. At that time, our family did not listen to anything recorded, which means this must have been well over 20 years ago. I thought, at the time, that these stories sounded amazing—I wished they were books, rather than audio adventures. Then, after we started listening to recorded stories, we didn’t have a CD player, only tapes, for many years, and no money to buy anything extra, so I never seriously thought about buying those stories for my children, although they would have loved them. When I was offered the chance a couple of months ago to listen to The Adventures Begins, Series 1 from Jonathan Park, I jumped at the chance. I was sure my children would love these stories!

Well, I was wrong. My older children would have loved them, but the younger family (we have a 4-year gap between the older children, who are now all out of school, and the younger ones) don’t listen to the same type of stories that the older ones loved. I played a few chapters after school on rainy afternoons, but we have so few sunny days here this time of year that, when possible, I want them outside as much as they can be. So, I resorted to listening myself while I worked, and found Little Miss hanging around to hear the stories! The two boys are simply not interested. How disappointing! I enjoy these audio adventures.

There are four albums in Series 1, each containing three 26-minute episodes. These make a total of nine stories, three of which have two parts. In the first, “Secret of the Hidden Cave,” Jonathan Park and his father Kendall, a paleontologist, find themselves in a cave in New Mexico during a storm. They discover a dinosaur skeleton—but have to flee before rescuing it. There are two parts to that story, as well as the next one, “Adventure on the Aucilla River”. In this episode, the Parks and their new friends the Brenans, on whose property the hidden cave was found, fly to Florida to help with an archeological dig in a river. They also help to catch some art thieves. “Disaster at Brenan Bluff” follows, in which a dinosaur graveyard is found and lost—and Jonathan learns a lot about pride and its results.

“The African Safari” is more on the unbelievable side. The Parks and Brenans are flown to Africa to uncover hominid fossils—and find themselves involved in a grand deception. “Escape from Utopia” takes place near Roswell, New Mexico, where they find themselves caught up in another fraud! How can they escape from a bunch of crazy people who are trying to contact aliens? Then, in “The Clue From Nineveh,” the bully from school, who already caused a lot of embarrassment to Jonathan, causes more trouble at the museum. The last episode in Album 3 is “Art Heist Adventure,” and unfortunately, I haven’t had time to listen to it yet, or to the three episodes in Album 4, “Mystery at Dead Man’s Curve” and parts 1 and 2 of “The Return to Hidden Cave.” Little Miss and I plan to listen to them as soon as we have the chance.

I like the way scientific principles were woven into these stories. There were a lot of evidences for God creating the world only 6,000 years ago, and the truth of Genesis. Sometimes, the explanations got too long-winded, but most of them time they worked naturally into dialogue in the story. Most of the time, the stories were easy to follow, but sometimes, point of view switched between two sets of characters, and I got confused about who was speaking. Overall, I would say that the Jonathan Park audio adventures are very interesting, and definitely worth listening to. Click on the image below to read other families’ impressions of these stories! And, if you want to try out these stories for your family, “The Adventure Begins, Series 1” is currently discounted by 60% on the vendor’s website. Use the code jpcrew22 for free shipping for the CDs, or buy the digital download; both are the same price. There is no end date for this code.

Product Review–The Adventum

August 30, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

My family loves listening to audio books. Many years ago, I found, in a secondhand store, a set of tapes of dramatized Bible stories, and those tapes nearly got worn out from all the listening! So, when we were offered the chance to review The Adventum, Volume 1, I didn’t hesitate to request it. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to listen to all of this yet. I thought we could get through a lot of it while we were traveling about a month ago, but Miss Joy couldn’t handle listening to it, so that didn’t work. I thought we could listen in the afternoons while she’s asleep…but half the time now, she doesn’t sleep, and the other half of the time, we want to get outside in the sunshine! So, that hasn’t worked, but Esther listened to all of it and very kindly wrote this review for me. I had taken some notes as we listened to the first two chapters, and she covered everything I noted, so I’ll just let her tell the tale.

Since I was very young, I have loved stories, and when audio dramas first entered my life, I was amazed and even more addicted to books. I was the girl that went around with one of those 9-inch-long portable cassette tape players, the kind with four AA batteries in it, riding my bike on our driveway for hours just so I could get a little more listening time in. And, with all the different stories I listened to—some that Mom recorded herself, and some that we bought—there were a certain amount of Bible stories I had the chance to hear. Some were gripping; others, not so much. But no matter what, I always enjoyed the chance to hear another story.

Recently, I was reminded of that time when Mom brought out The Adventum for us to listen to. I admit; I was skeptical at first. Most of the dramatized Bible stories I’ve heard in the past typically fall into two camps: Dramatized with too much creative license so it deviates from, or even undermines, the messages from the Bible, or ones that sound like they’re straight out of a children’s Bible story book with a bit of music added in the background. Neither option is particularly appealing to me, and though I’ve learned more about the Word from both, I wasn’t excited about hearing more of the same. But hey…anything is worth a try once, right?

When Mom turned it on, I thought it sounded like the “Bible story book with a bit of music” sort of recording. “Okay…this is going to be boring,” I thought. “No surprise there, I guess.” We progressed through the first days of creation, and part-way through day four or five, I realized it wasn’t just music in the background. I found myself in the Garden of Eden, watching the calm sea suddenly erupt in a chaotic whirl of bubbles and foam, with the snorts and squeals of a myriad of sea animals coming to life all at once. Then the sky was filled with the twittering and warbling of hundreds of birds—a majestic, beautiful scene. Then came the land animals, with the elephant trumpeting nearby and dogs and sheep running on the new green grass. It was…stunning. I’d never seen the creation of the world that way before. And as we followed the progression of the story—the Lord creating Adam, Adam naming the animals (I loved the humor in that scene!), then searching the garden for his special “other”, I found myself drawn into the story more and more. When the eventual fall came, I found myself shocked and grieved by all that transpired—in a way I hadn’t considered the story before.

We weren’t able to listen for very long. Around about the time we heard about the fall of man, my two-year-old sister decided it was too scary to listen to any longer, and we had to turn it off. She’s a sensitive soul and is incredibly adept at immersing herself in stories, even at a young age. But later, when she was out of earshot, I was able to finish listening on my own.

There’s a lot to love about The Adventum. From the beginning, I noticed that they weave New Testament truths into the story. At one place, I think around the time of the fall, it was talking about the grief Adam and Eve experienced, and the narrator quoted part of John 3:16: “For God so loved…,” and suddenly, that verse was enriched by the context. I found this first volume—tracing the Bible story from the creation of the world through to Jacob fleeing to Laban—gripping, entertaining, humorous, and insightful.

But the question remains…how does this story stack up compared to the Bible? There was creative license used here and there. With Adam searching for Eve, for example, it shows him running all over the garden, wearing himself out before he falls asleep and God creates her. That’s not in the Bible, but I felt it’s a good idea of how that may have played out for him. There were a few inconsistencies I found, though. One that sticks out is right before the flood, when it shows Noah out gathering firewood when he knew that the flood was imminent. He finds himself racing back toward the ark as the floodwaters rise around him, and only just manages to get in in time. It’s possible, of course, but I feel like Noah and his family would have stayed in the ark in those last few days, trusting God for the timing of everything, rather than running around trying to get a few more supplies. Another place I noticed was when Abraham sacrificed Isaac. That was a powerful scene, but they never had Abraham tell Isaac what was going to happen—you hear him suggest that Isaac sit on the altar, then lay down, then close his eyes…the Bible doesn’t say either way, but I’ve always read the story as if Isaac was a knowing and willing participant in the scene. Again, it’s possible; I’m just not convinced.

As a whole, though, I came away very impressed by The Adventum. They kept to the Biblical account, didn’t detract from what God was doing (and didn’t change it), and delivered an engaging, fresh look at the stories we all know and love. While younger listeners, like my sister, might find it hard to listen to because they are pulled into the scenes so much, I believe most children above 8 or 10 years old would be fine with it. One thing I appreciated was that this series is very clean—you hear that the people before the flood or in Sodom and Gomorrah are evil, but their sin is not described. And even though several babies are born, those scenes are also carefully crafted and not graphic.

For the child, like me, who can’t get enough of audio stories (even if they don’t have a portable tape player!), I think this would be an exciting addition to their library. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Volume 1, and I hope I’ll have a chance to hear more of them in the future!

The Adventum is available in two formats, as CDs or as a digital download. We received the digital download, which is very handy, as we can load it onto any device for easy listening. Both cost the same. Right now, both are 50% off through their website, and here is a code for free shipping within the United States: advcrew22. If you have children who enjoy listening to audio drama, don’t hesitate. Order now—you won’t regret it! Click on the image below to read more reviews of this new way to hear the Bible.

Explanation

August 25, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

In case you are wondering why so many posts are coming through this week that look familiar… there is a reason. And a good one.

Last week, the day after I posted the second of the two reviews I had due for the week, my blog went down. So did Esther’s website and blog. After a couple of days, we learned that the problem was with our hosting service. A hacker had gotten in to their website and completely wiped all 12 of their servers. They immediately started restoring websites from their backup, but it took until today to get our blog back up. Most of it came back; I need to redo two months’ worth of posts. That means that you will be getting more emails than normal. I apologize for that; just delete them.

We will be switching to another hosting service as soon as possible. However, Esther can’t get into the back end of the back end of all three websites. Her username and password didn’t transfer over. She is trying hard to get that back, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to get that. Until then, we can still post as normal, but we can’t move to a different host that is (hopefully) more reliable–this one has had problems in the last few months–and we can’t back up the blogs. Esther is wishing she had been able to back them up, but until a couple of months ago, we didn’t have enough data to be able to do it, and then she didn’t think about it when we changed internet providers. Lesson learned–we’ll be backing up frequently after this! It’s not a nice feeling to wonder whether the blog is gone for good.

Book Review–Dial W for Wrangler

August 25, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book:

Book: Dial W for Wrangler

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Fiction / Christian / Romance / Contemporary / Comedy

Release date: May 24, 2022

♥ Can one radio show host wrangle two hearts and help them beat as one? ♥

When Wade Garrett took over the family ranch, he knew he’d need help. He can tell you anything you need to know about breeding, raising, and selling cattle. He can even wrangle a wild horse or ten every year. He just can’t wrangle numbers into proper columns and have them all add up.

Enter Ainsley Jones. New in Sweetwater, the office manager from Los Angeles is out of her element and loves every second of it—except the moments when her boss can’t speak a civil word to her.

When Wade hears about the local Dial-a-Deal host and her ad-hock romantic advice success, he starts selling off everything he can find—even sneaks a few things out of Granny’s basement—just to have an excuse to call in and get Vi’s help.

Will this impromptu decluttering jag get rid of some of his personal baggage along with twenty sleeping bags and an antique egg scale? Enough for him to admit that she’s the one thing he doesn’t want to declutter from his life or his heart?

My Thoughts:

As I have said before, if Chautona Havig writes a book, I will read it. And, I will enjoy it. That is just a given. So, I’ve been looking forward to reading Dial W for Wrangler for a long time. Now, I don’t enjoy straight-up romance. If you take the romance out of a book and have nothing left, forget it. That’s not my style of book. However, I’m a sucker for helping people out when they beg for reviewers, and I just finished reading several of the kind of romance books that I don’t enjoy very much, because reviewers were needed. These books were all right, and I even enjoyed some of them—but I was sure looking forward to Wrangler at the end of the string! And, it was worth the wait. I started reading it—and started laughing!

Dial W for Wrangler is a book you won’t want to miss. It’s a short, easy read. This is a great book when you want something more on the fluffy side, but as I’ve come to expect from this author, there are some gems of wisdom in it, too. I loved Granny’s advice in chapter five about how a young man should deal with lustful thoughts—in fact, I might just copy that part of the book out and share it with the young men I’m blessed to call my sons! This book is full of good, clean humor. One of the first places I laughed out loud was in the first chapter: Di—yes, we’re Vi and Di. Yes, it gets confusing. Yes, we use it to torment Stan. Wouldn’t you? It was also fun to read a reference to The Ghosts of New Cheltenham and its sequels. The ghost story Wade told is hilarious. If I need a story to make me laugh sometime, I hope I remember this one!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author of Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

Stay Tuned for This Radio Announcement

“Hello there. I’m Vi Willis with Dial-a-Deal on K-SWT out of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and have I got an update for you.

“We’ve won an award! My boss is livid that it’s not for selling the most junk in the least amount of time, but hey. Can I help it if folks are tuning in from all over the country to listen in on the heart troubles of folks around here? So far, we’re credited with three engagements, six marriages, and a whopping thirty-five saved relationships! I don’t know who nominated us for that award, but thank you!

“Now look… there’s one small problem. This really is supposed to be a show for selling your old comic book collection or that garden wagon your husband just had to have until he discovered he really hates gardening. So, when you call in, can you please be sure you have an item to sell? Di, the operator who screens the calls? She’s under orders not to let any calls through without an actual item for sale.

“So declutter the junk from your closets, your garages, your barns and what have you as you try to declutter the troubles from your life, okay? Now… I’ve got Jeff Corbin on the line, let’s see what he’s got for us today….”

And that’s how it all started.

Well, sort of. You see, I spent six weeks at my mom’s house back in late 2019. And one of the things Mom did every day was listen to the Dial-a-Trade show. She never bought a thing, but she listened. And, since I was in the room, I learned a lot about that show.

Some people seemed to call a few times a week. I finally decided they were lonely and it was how they kept a connection with other people. Others were obviously selling things out of spite—ex boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses beware!

Basically, it was a great way to get rid of stuff and a great way to figure out what was going on in the lives of folks in the area.

So, when Lisa Prysock reminded me that she’d invited me to be a part of this series, I knew immediately that my first book would most definitely include a radio host for a sale show who just can’t help but solve people’s relational problems.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Product Review–Super Teacher Worksheets

August 19, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Twenty thousand or more worksheets all ready to use? What a useful resource! I have been exploring Super Teacher Worksheets for a little over a month now, finding useful pages for my children to do. All of these printable PDF files are available for one inexpensive subscription, and cover all subject areas (math, reading, writing, spelling, social studies, science, and more), for grades k-5. Basically, anything a child needs to brush up on can be found on this amazing site filled with all sorts of printables.

My children do well enough in math that they haven’t needed any supplemental help. I looked over the offerings briefly, though, and there are printables for anything children in these grades might need to do. There are even pages with a story problem for each day, or five different math problems to do every day to keep concepts fresh in children’s minds. Of course, there are plenty of pages to practice the main math functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

There is a large section of reading comprehension helps. These include a short story, followed by comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and a short writing prompt (such as three things that help you sleep, after reading a story about sheep helping a girl go to sleep).

The language section was one I found helpful. I printed some of the “Fix It Sentences” for Little Miss to work on. She enjoyed finding the mistakes and correcting them. I also used one of the writing prompts for her. It was the day our writing group was to meet, and she hadn’t written a story yet. She had no idea what to write about, so I printed this page and she dictated a story to me. The story got quite long—it continues most of the way down the back of the page! We’ll be going to that section of Super Teachers Worksheets again.

The phonics section has many, many printables for every letter of the alphabet, as well as resources for teaching blends and digraphs. There are also games, mini-books, and other tools for practicing word families. The section of the site we went to most was the Early Literacy tab. Miss Joy wants me to print pictures (multiple!) for her every day. She colors some, and cuts out all of them. I normally limit her to one a day, but she is nearly insatiable. We found some nice pictures of farm animals in this section, which are actually intended for writing practice. She isn’t ready for that, of course (she turns three this week), but she just ignores the lined part of the page. Little Miss loved the pages that have a printed crown for each letter of the alphabet, with pictures that start with that letter. She made a couple of them for herself.

There are also printable spelling lists, chapter book literature units, and many science topics. There is a section of social studies resources, such as studies of explorers, or maps, and some studies of various holidays. I didn’t end up looking into these sections.

The favorite section for my boys is the puzzles & brain teasers tab. I found some rebus puzzles there and printed a page, which I left lay on the table for someone to discover. Mr. Sweetie found it, picked it up, and was immediately intrigued. He wanted all the rebus pages printed for him to think about! Those are a good way to think about things in a different, out-of-the-box way.

Super Teacher Worksheets are a great resource for those times when you need quick, easy printables to brush up on a topic and don’t have the time or brain space to come up with your own. Click the image below to read about other families’ opinions about this amazing site.

Product Review–Progeny Press

August 18, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I think the first time I ever heard of Progeny Press was while I was teaching at a small Christian school for two years just before I got married, and a friend loaned me a homeschool supply catalog. Though I had been homeschooled all the way through, I had never even heard of literature studies, other than the two times a book was assigned in the Language Arts curriculum my mother had used, and the idea of a unit study based on a book was very intriguing to me. Of course, I had been quite a bookworm for nearly 20 years by that time, so I loved any excuse to read another book! I never got to actually look at a Progeny Press guide, though, until two years ago when we reviewed the one for A New Coat for Anna. We enjoyed that so much that last year I volunteered to review the one for Wagon Wheels, one of our favorite easy readers. This year, we got to use two guides, The Story About Ping Study Guide (one of our all-time favorite picture books), and Farmer Boy Study Guide. We have always loved the Little House books, so no one minded hearing that one read again.

Both guides begin with a synopsis and some background about the author. Then, there is a page of prereading activities. We didn’t do all of them, but we did find the locations on a map and talk about the cultural background a little. With The Story About Ping, we spent some time learning about ducks. Next, we read the story. Ping is a picture book, so we read it all in one setting—actually, I think we’ve read it three times since we started the study! Farmer Boy is a lot longer, so we’re reading a chapter a day. The activities for this one are divided into sections of about four chapters each, so we don’t work in the study every day, but when we have finished reading a group of chapters, I have the boys answer the questions for that section. Each study ends with a list of related books to go along with the topic, and there is an answer key in a separate file. These study guides come as a PDF file. They are fillable on the computer, but as you can see here, I printed them. Our family does much better with physical products for learning, but if I was to use these study guides for high school literature, I would probably have my children fill them out digitally.

Because Ping is a picture book, it doesn’t take very long to answer the questions about the story. There are a couple of pages of vocabulary work first, and then comprehension questions. After that, we studied the artwork, and then there is a section of Bible study. After that are fun pages. There is a word search, a maze, and some coloring pictures, and then suggested activities if you want to go even farther. These include doing a water safety class, visiting a poultry farm, and a couple of art/craft projects. This guide was created for K-2 students.

Farmer Boy is a fairly long book. We haven’t made it through the entire study yet, but we’ll keep plugging away at it. Each section of chapters has a variety of different types of questions. These include vocabulary word study, questions about the characters, comprehension questions, and several that make the student think hard. There are also suggested activities at the end of each section, such as making stacked pancakes like Almanzo’s mother did, or making a birthday card. The final projects at the end of the study offer several ideas for essays. This study guide is for grades 4-6.

Progeny Press has done a very good job of putting together these guides. They are a great way to practice language skills in the context of an engaging story. I really like them as a supplement to the other things we are doing for Language Arts. Click the image below to read other families’ reviews of these, plus two more book studies.

Ancient Egypt

August 14, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

A little over a year ago, we started working through a Project Passport study from Home School in the Woods, about Ancient Egypt. We worked on it off and on until about April, when we finally finished it (we were alternating one of these stops with a science lesson, a geography lesson, and a few writing lessons–one “extra” a day). I’ve been intending ever since we finished to share some photos of the final products, and finally got them taken today.

This was one of our biggest projects. We all worked together to build this temple. It was quite interesting to see the different parts of it!

Each of the children made their own model of the step pyramid, and wrote a paragraph about it. Interestingly, there is a theory that Imhotep was actually Joseph! (This was Little Miss’s model.)

After we finished the study, we assembled lap books with all the mini books we had been making through the entire study. These lap books are made from a file folder with card stock taped inside to make more pages. Can you guess whose this book is? Clue: the boys don’t like the color pink!

These are the mini books we put inside–aren’t they creative! I love using the things that Home School in the Woods comes up with.

We also wrote a newspaper. We added a couple of articles or pictures to it with each lesson. This was a good way to review what we had learned.

We also did other projects that didn’t go into the lap book. We stored these in 2- or 3-ring binders.

We didn’t end up doing most of these projects. We just cut out the cards and put them in our books. One was to make a reed boat; someone did get around to doing that, but I forgot to get a picture of it.

We added to a timeline all the way through the study, too. It was quite easy to see where to put the figures, and quite interesting to look at how historical events fit together.

We added a postcard to our rack for each lesson. Some had funny stories–the most memorable was the one about the pharoah being annoyed by the hippos roaring hundreds of miles away!

We also added places to our map as we went. We put glue on the Nile River, and added black pepper to represent the silt that overflowed from the Nile each year during the Inundation.

We thoroughly enjoyed doing this project, so much so that, even though we didn’t get a project from Home School in the Woods for review this year (instead, we got the timel i ne set I reviewed a few weeks ago), the school children wanted to do something and I bought a lap book set about the Wonders of the World. We’re enjoying working through that, and I’ll post pictures when we finish it.

Book Review–Off the Itinerary Series

August 13, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Off the Itinerary series by M. Liz Boyle, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE SERIES

Title: Avalanche
Series: Off the Itinerary #1
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
ReleaseDate: September 26, 2019
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“Avalanche surprised me with its depth…a 5-star read…” -For the Love of Literature
Five friends. One moonlit summit. An unforgettable journey. Excitement hangs in the air as Marlee and her sisters join their friends on a daring hike up a Colorado mountain – in the middle of the night. When Sawyer first proposes the idea of a moonlit summit during the two families’ annual backpacking trip, Marlee is terrified but also hooked. Having grown up taking trips to the mountains, they’ve learned a thing or two about hiking, and Sawyer is confident they’ll be back by sunrise. But when disaster strikes, their knowledge, faith, and stamina will be put to the test. Digging out of the cemented snow is the first of many challenges in the coming days, and now Marlee has to trust Sawyer, who, by the way, was the brain behind the dilemma. Will their faith and friendship survive, or will they cave under pressure? This engaging journey, told by fifteen-year-old Marlee Stanley, captures a timeless sense of adventure. The five young adults strive to exhibit godly character throughout their escapade, but it will take immense strength to hike out of this mess. “I know that if their journey inspired me, it will certainly inspire others…Boyle has brought YA fans an uplifting, adventurous novel.” -A Baker’s Perspective

I wrote a review of this book a few years ago; see my review here.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository |

Title: Chased
Series: Off the Itinerary #2
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“Chased would be a great addition to a k-12 Christian school library. Middle schoolers and up will enjoy it.” – Library Lady’s Kid Lit
It’s been a year since Marlee, her sisters, and the Miles boys survived an avalanche. Sure, it was a little embarrassing for them when all the neighbors saw them on the news, but they love being outdoors, and what are the odds that another tragedy would strike this adventurous group? Has anyone calculated the statistics of being hit with two natural disasters? It has to be low, so of course the two families planned to backpack again this summer. When the teens first meet Thad, a dehydrated hiker on the trail, they give him water and food and help him recover. He seems harmless until he tells them to hike a few extra miles at sunset. Then Lydie finds a hand-drawn map that Thad dropped, and they discover why he is so eager to get away from the Stanley girls and Miles boys. So eager that he starts chasing them. Now they have to climb up unforgiving ridges, sneak through the night, and – is that thunder and lightning? To make matters worse, Marlee has a nagging worry that her older sister Ellie is preparing to move away from home. What is God’s plan? How will they get away from Thad before it’s too late?
“…realistic, exciting, and suspenseful…Chased is the perfect sequel to Avalanche. It’s gripping, suspenseful, entertaining, and, best of all, Christian.” -David M., Beta Reader

My Review:

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the first book in the Off the Itinerary series, Avalanche. I tried reading it aloud to my children, but the boys got pretty disgusted with it and I quit reading it to them. When more reviewers were needed now for the rest of the series, I decided to read them—but not aloud!

There isn’t quite as much about boyfriends/girlfriends in this book, although Marlee talks a lot of times about how Ellie and Sawyer like each other a lot. They aren’t officially a couple yet, but she’s sure they are headed that way. I did appreciate some of the conversations about this topic; it seemed like these young people had fairly strong convictions about what was right and wrong. Once, Marlee thanked Sawyer for being a good example to the younger ones.

Another thing I appreciated was Marlee’s mental discussion (with herself) about having cared for a person and saved his life, and then he turned against them. She had to keep reminding herself that they had done the right thing, what Jesus would have done.

As far as Young Adult fiction goes, the Off the Itinerary series seems to be very good. I liked Chased better than Avalanche, although probability is stretched a bit. It’s well-written, though, and a very clean book. I’m very happy to find a YA book that isn’t fantasy! I am allowing my 12-year-old to read the series.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository

Title: Ablaze
Series: Off the Itinerary #3
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“M. Liz Boyle tackles the topic of showering difficult people with grace and forgiveness, making this a must-read for Christian teens. Adventure seekers who loved Avalanche and Chased will fall head-over-heels for the adventure that heats up in Ablaze!” – Author Allyson Kennedy
This summer the Stanley sisters and the Miles boys are excited to hike together again, and now they have the unique opportunity to help two of their ranger friends with an outdoor program in the beautiful Montana mountains. Marlee has always considered herself a willing follower. Give her a direction and she’s happy to help. Her older sister Ellie is a natural leader, and Marlee is content in her role as assistant. Marlee and her sisters have been assigned to help with Ranger Rose’s team, and they are savoring the adventure. But in a heartbeat while the group is divided by a few hundred feet, fire breaks out between Ranger Rose and Marlee’s group. In this enthralling finale to the Off the Itinerary series, Marlee must face her fears with courage that only God can provide.

My Review:

Young Adult books are one category I often find to be annoying. Most seem to be fantasy or dystopian, and I don’t like either of those genres. Most others focus heavily on romance. Because I don’t appreciate that, either, I have not found many YA books that I really liked or could recommend. Enter… the Off the Itinerary series. While these books are not free of romance, either, the main focus is adventure. I heard a definition once of straight-up romance as being books in which, if you removed the romantic element there wouldn’t be a story left. While there is romance in Ablaze, it is definitely not the main focus.

All throughout this story, Marley learns a lot about love, forgiveness, and extending grace to those who don’t deserve it. She also has a lot of adventures, and a lot of serious conversations. I was inspired by the things Marlee learned about being a leader. In one paragraph, she realized, “Sometimes leading is simply serving…. Great leaders aren’t always famous or rich. Leaders just care about their group.” Such a good point! There’s also a lot of humour; I was laughing out loud at one scene. This story explores a lot of issues that teenagers are thinking and need to be thinking about. Friendship, love, forgiveness, unconditional love, and the choice of a life partner factor in. Though there is a fair amount of discussion about boyfriend/girlfriend issues, it is healthy discussion and very clean. There was one time there were a few hugs between Marley and Marshall. I appreciated that there is no kissing in the whole story. Teenagers who love adventure stories, especially girls, will enjoy Ablaze as well as the rest of the Off the Itinerary series.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

M. Liz Boyle is an author, the wife of a professional tree climber and the mom of three energetic and laundry-producing children. She received her Associate’s of Arts at the University of Sioux Falls, where she received the LAR Writing Award for her essay entitled, “My Real Life Mufasa.” Liz once spent a summer in Colorado teaching rock climbing, which she believes was a fantastic way to make money and memories. She resides with her family in Wisconsin, where they enjoy hiking and rock climbing. Liz and her husband have also backpacked in Colorado and the Grand Canyon, which have provided inspiration for her writing. She likes making adventurous stories to encourage others to find adventures and expand their comfort zones (though admittedly, she still needs lots of practice expanding her own comfort zone). She has thoroughly enjoyed working on the Off the Itinerary series.Connect with Liz by visiting mlizboyle.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

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