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Book Review

Book Review–Light of Mine + Unit Study

October 6, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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

For the past three years, I have been reading reviews of Allen Brokken’s Towers of Light series of books. All the reviews I have read have been glowing, with mothers reporting that their children were competing for the books. I never signed up for any review tours because I personally don’t like fantasy very well, but I’ve been realizing lately that several of my children really do like it. So, when I had the chance to sign up for the Light of Mine Unit Study–Premium, I jumped at the chance—especially since Towers of Light Christian Resources LLC was willing to ship us a physical copy! The package we were sent included two copies of Light of Mine, two unit studies, two mp3 players preloaded with the audio book, and a thumb drive with the audio book. I could hardly believe they sent so much. I had decided that Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination would do the unit study, so they each got one each of the three items.

Light of Mine is almost a cross between The Chronicles of Narnia, Pilgrim’s Progress, and The Little House on the Prairie. As the story begins, Lauren, Aidan and Ethan are enjoying life on the farm with their family. Then, father shows them plans he has drawn up for a tower. Soon he tells them it is actually a lighthouse. Why would they need a lighthouse here, though, so far from any water? The next thing they know, after the lighthouse is built and a special lantern is installed, which shines the Light, Father has to go away to help conquer the Darkness that is spreading across the land. Then, when Mother disappears as well, the children must care for each other and take care of the farm. 

When they have some strange dreams, the children know they need to go to church and ask advice of the pastor. When they arrive there, however, the pastor is missing and the Bishop has taken his place. He preaches the opposite of what their Pastor preached, and some other strange things happened. The children don’t know what to think, and when the Bishop sends someone to “help“ them, things get even stranger. Can the children keep their light shining and push back the Darkness, or will the Darkness overcome  them? And, who can they trust? Many things are not as they seem!

Although I do not enjoy fantasy for the most part, I found myself quite engrossed in this story. After about the halfway point, I did not want to put it down but had to keep going and find out what happened, and whether the children were able to keep their light shining. Would they figure out the truth before it was too late and the darkness overcame everything? Would they see their parents again? Many fun animals with special powers come alongside the children to help them, such as Sparkle Frog and Daddy Duck.

Both Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination absolutely loved this book. They listened to the audiobook as fast as they possibly could. After working through half of the study, both of them told me they wanted to do unit studies of the other four books in the series, too, just so they could get to read those books!  With that kind of enthusiasm, I bought the other books, and they are looking forward to reading them when they arrive. Before I read the book, after they had listened to it, they told me they didn’t think it was suitable for their seven-year-old sister. After I read it I had to agree; there are some pretty graphic scenes when the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness battle each other. Some demonic creatures enter into the battle, and a person is killed.  The boys seemed to be fine with this story; they are 10 and 13.

The Unit Study, which says on the cover that it is intended for “Grades 3-6+”, is divided into four weeks of five lessons each. Each week begins with a memory verse and then six vocabulary words. These are words used in the book that are not common; for example, Week 1 includes cadre, mercenary, and mute. There is a puzzle to complete on the page with the list of words, and a picture to color. Each lesson begins with instructions to copy the week’s memory verse and then do something with the vocabulary words—write a definition, write synonyms, write antonyms, or draw a picture definition of each word. Next on the page is a passage, several paragraphs long, with a question about that passage. After that are several questions from the chapter. Each lesson also includes a joke. Several times, when the boys were doing their lessons, I got after them for talking when they weren’t supposed to be, only to discover that they were reading the joke of the day aloud! Oops. Day 5 of each week gives instructions for a craft project. We skipped those, because the boys were not interested in most of them. Mr. Imagination was going to build the kaleidoscope, but we didn’t have smooth foil for it. Maybe after we go to town!

There are study questions in the back of the book as well. The questions in the Unit Study were taken from those, but changed some, and there are more in the book than in the study. 

Also included in the Premium study package is an mp3 player with the audiobook preloaded (including a charger and a lanyard so the player is easy to carry around but not so easy to lose!). My boys loved getting these mp3 players. Mr. Imagination was disappointed that the battery in his was faulty, but one of the older boys helped him figure out that a regular AA battery would work in it. We found a replacement rechargeable battery online and ordered that. There is a 90-day warranty, but we decided that it would be easier for us, because of where we live, to simply replace the battery ourselves. The players have a built-in speaker, and also a place to plug in ear buds (also included). We were sent the audiobook files on a thumbdrive, as well, with permission to share with friends as long as they don’t keep a copy. It felt like Christmas to receive this package!

I highly recommend Light of Mine to any child who enjoys fantasy. It does not feel “moralistic,” but the point of the book, to let your light shine by doing what God wants us to, is quite clear. I asked the boys if it felt preachy, and both quickly said no, but both had easily picked up the main focus of the book. Fifteen families on the Review Crew have just used this Unit Study; click on the image below to read their opinions about Light of Mine and the other items included in the Premium package.

Click here to read more reviews!

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, Homeschool Review Crew, Homeschooling, Product Review

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.

More from Chautona:

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.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit, Chautona Havig

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.

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review

Book Review–Book, Chapter & Vows

August 10, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book:

Book: Book, Chapter, & Vows

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance

Release date: July 26, 2022

Falling in love with Benjamin wasn’t in the plan, but Mallory finds she’s all but lost her head and her heart after two and a half years of banter, memories, and now shared books.

But when her ex-fiance (does it count if it was just for a few hours?) shows up right in the middle of a writing project with Benjamin, the guy manages to ruin her happiness… again.

Benjamin has been keeping one tiny part of him back from Mallory–just the one thing that’ll repel her for good.
So when the ex-boyfriend-slash-fiance shows up, and things look serious again, he takes a giant step back and prays he can keep his heart intact in the process.

They’re clearly meant for each other. God obviously has a plan. So what’s it going to take for Mallory and Benjamin to work things out and get those vows made?

This Breakers Head novel is Chautona Havig’s final book in the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.

My Thoughts:

Have I ever enjoyed the trip through the Independence Islands with Mallory! I have loved every one of these books, getting to know Mallory and her many friends. Each book in the series has focused on a different couple, but Mallory has always been an important character, and Benjamin has come into the story more and more with each book. When I finished Finding a Memory, I wanted to read the next installment right away—but it took time for Book, Chapter, and Vows to be written. Finally, the wait is over and I have been able to learn the truth about the mystery Benjamin and Mallory discovered in the last chapter of that book. Whew!

By now, two and a half years on, Mallory’s mobile book store and coffee shop is doing fairly well. She has been able to get Benjamin to read a lot of books, and they can talk in her love language now. They are working together on a writing project to preserve memories of Uncle Bud (one of my all-time favorite book characters!), and she is loving the romantic relationship that has been developing. And then… someone shows up. Mallory does not want to see her ex-fiance again, and now he is pushing his way into her life.

Benjamin has a secret he has been keeping from Mallory. He was about to tell her, but then Trevor shows up. How can he bear to give Mallory the space to decide between them—but he knows he needs to. And, he still hasn’t told her his secret; it will surely push her away and end things between them. Meanwhile, there is that secret they discovered about Uncle Bud to unravel. Can they still work together enough to solve the mystery?

Oh, I loved this story. I stayed up a bit too late a couple of nights to finish this book because I loved it so much. It’s a very satisfying end to Chautona’s Independence Islands series. I greatly enjoyed the frequent references to books throughout this story, including Things We Didn’t Say, which was a book I loved last year. I also loved watching Benjamin and Mallory trying to work out their differences, and seeing Lyla from Dual Power of Convenience again. What a fun story!

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.

More from Chautona:

It Happened AGAIN!

I remember the first book I had trouble finishing. Beneath the Cloak. It was the last book of the Wynnewood series, and I was dying to reveal the big secret that had been a big part of the story line. I spent hours writing very few words. Someone asked if I had writer’s block, but I didn’t. I knew every word I wanted to put on that page, but I kept procrastinating.

For weeks. We’re talking long, agonizing weeks.

Finally, I realized a significant part of why I hadn’t finished was because I didn’t want to. I didn’t want the series to end. Say goodbye to beloved characters? Agony, okay? I wanted to spend the rest of my life in Wynnewood seeing what happened with all the characters and all the things that would happen.

I just wanted to write a bunch of other books, too. What can I say? It’s a thing.

So, as I dove into writing the book I’ve been dying to write since I penned the opening scene of Christmas on Breakers Point, you’d think I’d have been prepared for the inevitable. I mean, it’s happened with several other series since that first time, so… yeah. All ready to combat the problem, right? Not hardly.

To be fair, I was also coming off being very sick, my mother being even sicker, so being crazy behind on everything. I mean, that had a lot to do with it taking so long to get going on it. But once I did, I’d type like crazy and then ignore it for a day or two before the story demanded more telling.

Then, just as I neared the big scene of Book, Chapter, & Vows… I went nuts on doing everything but finishing that book. No joke. I did. Sigh. Again, you think I’d learn.

After much soul searching and even more wailing at God about the cruelty of it all (I was in a dramatic mood, okay?), the solution came to me. Okay, God smacked me upside the head with a 2×4 of memories on how I solved every other, “don’t wanna finish this series” crisis.

See, way back with Wynnewood, the only thing that got me to the finish line was a promise I made to myself. “It doesn’t have to end here. You can write more if you want to. There’s nothing to say you can do ‘Wynnewood, the Later Years’ or something like that.”

Just that one promise to myself that I didn’t have to say goodbye was all it took for me to get back on that trusty old Toshiba laptop and pound out those last few chapters.

And here I was again, not ready to say goodbye to a series—to these islands that feel so crazy real to me. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters and their quirky ways. Would you?

Now… you’re going to laugh at me. Go ahead. I mean, I did. See here’s the deal. I didn’t have to make that promise to myself again. “What?” you say? “What do you mean?”

Yeah. I don’t have to say goodbye to the characters or the islands. Why? Because we have another island series coming, the Suamalie Islands, and Mallory is going to visit those islands.

If that isn’t enough for me, I have another series all planned for the Independence Islands, too! Yeah. That. I mean, what was I not thinking?

As soon as I thought of that, I was able to get in there, get the last few scenes written and pass it off to the fabulous Christy for her editorial magic. As for me, I think I’m going to go play around just a little bit with one of the Josie Parker Mysteries. I mean, why not?

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.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit, Chautona Havig

Product Review–The Language Mechanic

June 14, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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

I enjoy using products from The Critical Thinking Co.™. This time, I chose to use and review The Language Mechanic, which is designed for use by children ages 9-13, in grades 4-7. I received a PDF of this book, and have been printing sections of it for Mr. Sweetie (grade 7) and Mr. Imagination (grade 5) to work their way through. That’s something I really like about these digital books—I am allowed to print them as many times as I want to for as many of my own children. 

The Language Mechanic is intended to be used as a supplementary Language Arts resource, to help children learn grammar and punctuation. The first few lessons cover capitalization, run-ons, and sentence fragments, and then the lessons move on into using parts of speech correctly. During the past few days, my boys have been working on making sure pronouns agree with the nouns they replace, in both number and gender. The next section we’ll do discusses unnecessary words, and then we’ll start on a number of lessons about punctuation. Near the end of the book, there is a series of lessons about friendly letters, and then some work with spelling and vocabulary.

Each lesson begins with a funny mistake that could be made with writing a sentence. If you leave out a comma, or use the wrong pronoun, you can easily mislead your readers. Did the man really dive into the ice cream? Maybe a period would be helpful to break up a run-on sentence and make it make sense! Or, do you know babies who weigh 85 pounds?! It might sound better if you use the correct verb tense. Some of the sentences make us laugh. 

Next, the logic behind the rule under discussion is explained. Why do we need to use the correct verb tense? This is followed by two or three pages of practice sentences, in which the student needs to choose the correct word, or choose the sentence that matches up best with the given clues. Sometimes the child gets to choose a word for themselves. At the end of the lesson is a challenge, where they need to find the mistakes in a paragraph and correct them. After several lessons is a review, which covers the entire section. 

I have been reading the introduction to each lesson to my boys, although it is set up so that students should be able to understand it on their own. My boys have read it themselves a few times, when I was too busy to take the time for them, but they understand it better if I read over it with them. I usually watch them do the first couple of exercises, to make sure they understand what they are doing, and then they are on their own. They are both doing very well with this book. It is not thorough enough to be a stand-alone Language Arts course, but as a review or brush-up resource, I really like it. The silly sentences make it fun and keep the boys’ interest up. 

The Review Crew has been using several other products from The Critical Thinking Co.™. Click on the image below to read reviews of several other books! Or, if you would like to read my previous reviews of their products, go here. And, if you would like to try out some of their products before buying, they offer free PDFs of Math and Critical Thinking Worksheets. Just go here to find them!

Click here to read more reviews!

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, Homeschool Review Crew, Homeschooling

Book Review–Corner Booth

May 11, 2022 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

About the Book:

Book: Corner Booth

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance

Release date: March 17, 2015

A daring move forges the love of a lifetime

A rushed lunch and a bold move introduce Carlie to a stranger—one who hardly acknowledges her existence as he sits across from her, sharing his booth to save her a wait in a long line.
What began as a random encounter becomes a weekly date in which Carlie chatters about her life to a silent lunchmate. Much about him interests her–his slightly Euro fashion sense, his commitment to the work he does as he eats his lunch week after week, and his evident attention to the running monologue she shares between bites of meals that he inevitably pays for.
Dean gets to know the woman across from him–looks forward to their lunches each week, learns valuable lessons about himself—but when the cafe is threatened, and then when she doesn’t show up one day, he suspects their unusual friendship means more to him than he imagined.

Settle into the booth with Carlie and Dean and learn just how eloquent silence really is.

My Thoughts:

When I first read Corner Booth, six or seven years ago, it didn’t do a lot for me. I remember being disappointed by it, and just didn’t get much out of it. I just finished reading it again, though, and it really spoke to me this time. It really shows the worth of each person. There is a lot to learn about conversation, about communication, and about how to listen to other people, in this story—but there is also so much about the value of each person. One of my favorite lines from this book, and which I think sums up the theme perfectly, is “You are a child of God, bought with a price beyond anything you can even imagine.” What a beautiful story! See my earlier review here.

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.

More from Chautona:

You know, originally, I had Dean as a guy who was too wrapped up in his own little world to care about anyone else—the stereotypical academic. I pictured him buried deep in original Biblical manuscripts, annoyed that anyone would dare to invade his study time.

But you know what? That’s the easy character.

When I went back to edit the book, I had this thought. What if Dean weren’t reclusive at all? What if he were kind of a know-it-all who couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself. Maybe a child prodigy who was used to people thinking him rather brilliant and looking for his insights.

Yeah… I could get into that.

There was just one small problem. I’d written the entire book without him talking much at all on those Wednesdays. Now what?

After much deliberation, even more prayer, and a bit of fudging, I came up with the solution. What if he just challenged himself for “one lunch?” Just one hour or so of not talking to prove to himself (and his peers) that he could do it.

How could he possibly know he’d set things up for months of wordless lunches—on his part? And what would a person learn in a situation like that?

I’ve never admitted this before, but I tested it a bit. At situations where I could, I forced myself to listen to people’s stories, their questions, their opinions. The hard part was not spending my listening time formulating my response (how rude anyway!). I really had to focus on exactly what they said, how their voice altered based on their emotions, and what others around us had to say to encourage (or not—too often not, I’ll admit).

I learned a lot with the experiment, and I’ll be honest. I still catch myself listening with an ear to how I’ll respond instead of really listening. No, I don’t expect to find some café romance for myself. My guy is amazing, and he’s probably the only person on the planet who could put up with me, so… I think I’ll keep him. But I do expect to keep learning how to really hear people. You know… kind of like Jesus did. Imagine that.

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.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit, Chautona Havig

Book Review–Farmyard Faith

May 10, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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

I’m always delighted when an author is willing to ship a physical copy of a book to us! Because we live in New Zealand, and it is very expensive to mail books from the United States to us, almost all of the books I review are digital copies. Kinsey M. Rockett, who sells her books under the name Whatsoever Stories, sent us a copy of her most recent release, Farmyard Faith. We just received it about a week and a half ago, again because of shipping internationally, so it has been one of our read alouds for only about a week. I did skim through most of the book myself, though.

Farmyard Faith, great for read alouds

Each of the 26 chapters in this book tell a story from the author’s life. When she was nine years old, her family moved to a small farm in Eastern Washington and began learning about rural life. They quickly learned that animals can make life very interesting—either hectic or funny! With goats and geese being among their first acquisitions, there were some very fun stories to tell. Because we have always had a variety of animals and know them pretty well ourselves, these stories are especially fun for us. We can really relate to little things like the geese racing frantically after their human “parents” with their stubby little wings flapping, or the goat who could find holes through which to escape where a human can’t imagine anything getting out. The chicken escape artist was another story that rang a bell with me, although the one I remember from my childhood didn’t have such a happy ending.

Kinsey has found spiritual lessons to be gleaned from many of the stories she tells. The stories about the chicken and the goats who wanted to escape all the time illustrate why we need to be content within the boundaries set by God and our human authorities. The goose story I mentioned wraps up with a few paragraphs discussing the need to imprint on God our Saviour. There are a few short chapters I noticed that just tell a funny incident from the farm, so there is a nice variety. Each chapter is illustrated with a photograph of the animal(s) that the story is about.

I asked the children what they thought of Farmyard Faith this morning after we read a chapter. They all said they were enjoying it, and Mr. Sweetie, who is 12, enthusiastically mentioned that he likes the spiritual lessons that are brought out. Because of those lessons, I decided to add it to our morning read alouds, when I like to have Bible stories and other devotional-type readings. As I mentioned earlier, this book is especially interesting to my children because they can relate so well to Kinsey’s experiences with her family’s animals, but I think any child who likes animals would enjoy it, too. The stories are very well-written, with a nice amount of descriptive words but not excessive. I am happy to have this book by a homeschool graduate on our shelf, and look forward to reading the rest of it. Click on the image below to read reviews from 34 other families who received this book and two others that Kinsey has written (which I would also love to read!).

Click here to read more reviews!

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, Homeschool Review Crew, Homeschooling

Book Review–Spines & Leaves

April 28, 2022 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

About the Book:

Book: Spines & Leaves

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: FICTION / CHRISTIAN / WOMENS FICTION / ROMANCE

Release date: July 8, 2021

♥ Books are the strings that tie hearts together. ♥

With a month to get from Orange County, California to Delaware for his next corporate challenge, Milton Coleridge decides to spend a week at Joshua Tree National Park.

He never expected to find a floundering bookstore in need of his particular business skills. Will his methods of saving companies from bankruptcy or takeover work on such a small scale? And can he convince two people to risk their hearts?

Step into the Spines & Leaves, Tamarisk, California’s oldest (and only ever) bookstore. Come in out of the harsh, desert sun and wind and peruse all the store has to offer. It might just be more than you think.

One man, one store, thousands of books.  What’ll it take to keep this bookstore from becoming a book ghost town… and what’ll it take for Milton to tie two heartstrings together?

Spine & Leaves is the introductory novella to the Bookstrings series.

My Thoughts:

I first read Spines & Leaves about a year ago (see the review I wrote then here), soon after it was written, but when I read it again last week, I enjoyed it every bit as much. I loved reading a story set in one of my mom’s favorite places. I have never been there, but I have seen her pictures of Joshua Tree National Monument from when she lived in California in the 1960s. I also loved the story of how Milton helped revitalize a struggling bookstore, and his parrotlet was pure fun! The one thing I didn’t enjoy so much was the kiss that the love story in the book cantered around. I did like watching the interactions between Milton, Marcus and Ced, and how they learned to know and appreciate each other.

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.

More from Chautona:

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Bookstrings series is a process rather than an idea. Each time I saw an indie bookstore close, each time I went in one with no one else in there for the hour or two I browsed, and each time I heard book lovers lament the lack of a store in their town… Yeah. Those experiences slowly grew into a wish—one where I knew how to rescue those stores from extinction. So maybe that’s a bit melodramatic, but that’s how it felt.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Milton appeared—a business genius who, along with his faithful parrotlet, Atticus (not Finch), travels the country saving corporations from takeover or bankruptcy.

Milton went through several iterations. Older, balding, mustache, and always wearing a golfer’s cap. Then I had him as a young hipster dude who got sick of the rat race on Wall Street and took off on his own, using what he’d learned. That just felt too cliché.

Instead, I have a forty-ish guy who wears chinos and oxford shirts with topsiders, shorter than most men, and with a nonchalant air about him. And charm. The quiet guy with serious business skills just oozes quiet charm.

After deciding on Milton, I had to choose where to put the stores. I’ve been watching out for towns for years—using trips different places as research times. Would I create places that felt like real towns or use actual small towns? Though drawn to real towns, I had an idea for where to end the series, and, doing that meant a fictional town. Would it be weird to have four or five books set in small towns across America followed by a final fictional one?

The solution came to me as I learned that the Mosaic authors were doing a summer collection in 2021. If I started with a novella and ended the series with both in a fictional town, at least that fictional bit wouldn’t be out of the blue!

So, the Bookstrings series has two novellas and five full-length novels. (I couldn’t resist a Christmas “noella” in the charming town of Noel, Missouri—the “Christmas City.”) We’ll be off to other small towns around the country—one in Red Wing, Minnesota, another in Berne, Indiana, and one somewhere between Kingsport, Tennessee and Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina. If I can find a place in New England, that’d be great, too. Or maybe down in Mississippi… I’d love to visit my sister down there.

The Bookstrings series books all have one very important thing in common (aside from Milton and Atticus, of course). They all illustrate that books truly are the strings that tie hearts together.

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.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit, Chautona Havig

Book Review–Noise in the Night

March 26, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I don’t know about other parents, but I have rarely found a book with solid Christian values that is also adventurous enough to keep boys’ attention without having violence in it. I’ve been very pleased with Katrina Hoover Lee’s Brady Street Boys series. Though the stories are fairly simple, they are interesting enough to keep my attention, and my boys’ attention. The boys in the story have parents who teach them about living a Christian life without being preachy, and the boys themselves try to do what is right. Noise in the Night is just as good as the first two books, if not better.

Terry, Gary and Larry were surprised, when they went to the swimming hole at the edge of the St. Joseph River that flowed past their house, to find a strange boy there. They were even more surprised when he seemed to hold a grudge against them for something they had done to his family—but they were sure they had never seen him before! The fruit of the Spirit their family was focusing on this week was peace, so how could they put that into practice with a boy who was being mean to them?

The three boys were very excited about the camping trip they were going on this week. Dad was allowing them to camp by themselves on an island in the river! Once they got there, though, mysterious things started happening. Could the strange boy still be harrassing them? They were sure there was no way to make peace with him—and would they even survive the dangers they found themselves in? Or were they imagining everything? And would they ever find more clues about the surgeon who amputated Gary’s leg?

Once again, this author has come up with a great story about simple, plausible events. I can picture everything happening as she has described it. I like the way the boys’ parents give them freedom to be boys and to explore their surroundings, while keeping tabs on them and being in their lives, giving guidance where it was needed. Noise in the Night is a fun, gentle mystery that a wide range of ages will enjoy.

I rI 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.

Buy your copy of this delightful book here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review

Book Review–Corrie Ten Boom

March 22, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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

Several months ago, some friends of ours borrowed a large box full of books from us. A week later, their house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Everything in it was destroyed.  We had some money in the bank in America, so we decided to replace the books that had been burned, and buy some more. A number of the books that were destroyed were from the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series, by Janet &Geoff Benge. For about 15 years, I have been collecting these books, buying them wherever I can find them used. We decided that since we needed to replace several of them anyway, we would splurge and buy the entire set, as well as the Heroes of History series by the same authors. What an exciting day when a box of 80 books arrived here! (Each stack in the photo is five books!) We’re all looking forward to reading the ones we haven’t read before.

Not too long ago, I was offered the opportunity to to review one of these books and a study guide that the publisher has produced to go with it. Because I’ve been curious about the study guides for a long time, but didn’t want to spend the money to buy one because I wasn’t sure if we would use it, I signed up for the review. Of the books offered, there were three that were possibilities, ones that we hadn’t reviewed yet, and that were not loaned out. I let my three school children vote on those, and they chose Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den.  We read through this book for morning history time, and used the discussion questions for each chapter from the study guide to talk about what we have just read each morning. All three children were eager to hear more each day, although it may have been almost too much for my seven-year-old daughter. One morning she told me she had dreamed about being in prison!

Chapter 2 of this book tells the story of Corrie’s life up to the beginning of World War II. There are 15 chapters in the book and, except for the last chapter, the rest of the book tells the story of  the Ten Boom family during World War II. The last chapter tells about how Corrie travelled around the world sharing her message of love and forgiveness for the rest of her life after the war. Basically, the contents of this book are almost the same as The Hiding Place, although there were a few things added in. I appreciate the way these authors tell the story of a persons’ life.

As far as the study guide goes, most of it doesn’t work very well for us. There is a section of key Bible verses which are good to read together and discuss how they apply to Corrie’s life. Suggestions are made to form a display corner with a long list of things you could put in it about the Netherlands and Corrie’s life. We don’t have room in our house for something like that so we didn’t even consider doing it. The chapter questions are what we used the most in the study guide. As I said before, after reading the chapter we used the questions to discuss various aspects of the story. Then there are suggestions for essay questions to help older children think more deeply about the story, creative writing suggestions, hands-on projects, audiovisual projects, and some arts and crafts that children can do to go along with the story.  There is a chapter that gives suggestions for field trips or people that you can talk to to add to the study. Another chapter suggests map activities and vocabulary studies. More miscellaneous activities are suggested in another chapter and then the appendix has suggestions of books and resources to go along with this book interest. Interestingly, we had just started watching the movie The Hiding Place when we were assigned to this review; because we don’t spend a lot of time watching movies it took us a few weeks to get through it. Watching that along with reading this book made both more meaningful to the younger children. The study guide comes as a PDF download. I printed it and made a cover, so that it would be easy to use.

If you are wanting biographies for your children, I highly recommend Janet and Geoff Benge’s books. These are the best children’s biographies I have ever found. They’re accurate and interesting. Our entire family, from Gayle down to Little Miss, who is seven, enjoys listening to these books, either when I read them aloud or when we listen to an audiobook of one. As far as the study guides I’m not sure I will be interested in using any more, simply because that type of study doesn’t work very well for me personally. I’m glad I have had the chance to look at it, and I know it will be a good fit for a lot of families, especially those with high school children  that are academically inclined. There are lesson plans and a schedule for using it as a group that meets periodically, so if you have a homeschool co-op it would be a good way to study the book together.

WARNING (things to consider when thinking about letting children read the book): The Germans mistreated people in chapter 7, 8, 11 and 12. Corrie’s sister died in Chapter 13.

Click the image below to read other families’ reviews of this and other books by the Benges!

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Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, Homeschool Review Crew, Homeschooling

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

Girl #2, Little Miss

Girl #3, Miss Joy

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