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As America Has Done To Israel
Being married to a statistician has made me more skeptical of theories built on timed coincidences. It turns out that if you study these sorts of things for a living, you find that rare events are quite common. So I confess that I read this book with somewhat jaded eyes. Nevertheless, I found that, despite the fact that the author failed to convince me of his premise of cause and effect, the book made for a very good read. Mr. Read more...
Stories for Children Magazine
Stories for Children Magazine, is a free monthly E-zine (online magazine) for children ages 3 to 12 years old that takes young people on an adventure into the World of Ink. Each issue is loaded with fun stories, articles, puzzles, children's book reviews, crafts, poems, and an interview with a children's author or illustrator. It was voted one of the Top Ten Best E-zines in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Cover Art, and Bookstores on the web in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll 2007. Read more...
The Adventures of Drew and Ellie chapter books
In the first book of the "Drew and Ellie" series, The Magical Dress, the mild-mannered siblings discover adventure through the magical powers of a beautiful dress. When 4-year-old Ellie puts on the sparkly white hand-me-down, she's surprised to find the dress can make her wishes come true. Forget a million dollars or a cupboard full of candy, humble Ellie wishes for her missing doll, string cheese, and later a trip back to the lake for herself and her 7-year-old brother, Drew. Read more...
Brain Rules : 12 Rules for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
The brain is an amazing organ – complex, fascinating and indispensable! Yet how many of us ignore our brains– too busy with multi-tasking, managing schedules, maintaining websites, and taking care of everyone's problems and dirty laundry ( note I mean that in the literal, household sense), that we end up neglecting ourselves and find ourselves on a slippery slope downward with our brain health. Read more...
Fairy Chronicles: Mimosa and the River of Wisdom
The Mimosa Fairy, 10 year-old Alexandra Hastings, has a problem—she knows she cannot use her fairy magic for anything but fairy business. However, her mother cannot seem to quit smoking and Alexandra is terrified that she will lose her mother just as she lost her father when she was 4. If Alexandra uses magic, she can help her mother stop smoking forever. But then, Alexandra will lose her fairy spirit and never be a fairy again. Read more...
Fairy Chronicles: Cinnabar and the Island of Shadows
Helen Michaels, a 10 year-old black girl who has been endowed with the fairy spirit of a cinnabar moth is the latest addition to the young fairies in the Fairy Chronicle series. Helen’s special fairy gift is her ability to perform better at night than during the day. Because of this talent, she is chosen to lead the fairies in a dangerous mission to the Island of Shadows. Read more...
Fairy Chronicles: Firefly and the Quest of the Black Squirrel
The focus of Firefly and the Quest of the Black Squirrel is Lenox Hart, a homeschooled friend of Beth (the Marigold Fairy), Jennifer (the Dragonfly Fairy), and Grace (the Thistle Fairy). Lenox’s special fairy gift is a light she carries inside her; the light not only is a source of brightness and inspiration to everyone around Lenox, but, as she finds in this book, is the source of something even more powerful. Read more...
Twig the Collie
Fifteen year old Gordon Hunt, who lives in Philadelphia, PA, with his parents, older brother Jack and younger sister, is accused of a crime that he did not do and is sentenced to spend the summer working on the farm of his uncle and aunt, where his cousin Willie, also fifteen, despises him, but he is befriended by a kind neighbor, Johnny Blueweather, who talks to him about Christ and forgiveness. However, he is again accused of a crime that he did not do. Read more...
Fairy Chronicles: Thistle and the Shell of Laughter
In the third book of the Fairy Chronicles series, Grace Matthews (otherwise known as the Thistle Fairy) is called on to lead a group of her fellow fairies in a quest to recover the stolen Shell of Laughter. The Shell is responsible for producing laughter on earth; its keeper, the elf Staid, uses it to spread laughter on the winds that circle the globe. Read more...
Fairy Chronicles: Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams
The first of J.H. Sweet’s Fairy Chronicles books introduced the 9 year-old Marigold Fairy, Beth Parish. The second installment of the series, Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams, focuses on one of Beth’s new fairy friends, Jennifer Sommerset, the Dragonfly Fairy. Jennifer is an energetic and athletic young black girl, concerned about the environment and a natural leader in fairy matters. Each fairy has a particular gift, and Jennifer’s gift is that of speed and agility. Read more...
Ryann Watters and the King's Sword
With the popularity of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia (and in possible reaction to Harry Potter), recent years have seen a rise in Biblical-based fantasy. Homeschooling father Eric Reinhold now adds to the genre with Ryann Watters, your typical twelve-year-old sixth grader in Mt. Dora, FL. Read more...
United Tates of America
Skate Tate is an eleven-year-old budding artist who is faced with a myriad of changes in her life – a move to middle school, the drifting away of her BFF Susie, and the sudden death of her most adored Great Uncle Mort. She narrates us through her reactions, feelings, and adjustments to these events with a sometimes comical, sometimes catty, but often wise candor. Read more...
Addie across the Prairie
In 1883, nine-year-old Addie must unhappily and reluctantly move, with her parents, younger brothers George, Lew, and Burt, and baby sister Nellie May, away from her home in Sabula, IA, and her friend Eleanor, to Pa's new claim in the Dakota Territory, right next to an Indian reservation. After braving the trip, she must care for her youngest brother as Ma, Pa, the older boys and their new friends Mr. and Mrs. Fency leave to build a home before winter comes. Read more...
The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling
It is easy to start homeschooling with high energy, fresh ideas, engaging lesson plans and lots of really good curriculum and soon find our energy exhausted, our ideas stale, our lesson plans diverted, and our curriculum the wrong match for our particular learner. That could certainly prove to be discouraging and might even cause some to drop homeschooling all together. That would be unfortunate, because the truth is there is no perfect home school. Read more...
Life on the Refrigerator Door: A Novel in Notes
Alice Kuiper’s creative and unusual debut novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door, consists entirely of notes written between a mother and daughter over a 9 month period. The initial notes reveal the refrigerator correspondents to be Claire and Mom. Claire is fifteen; her notes to Mom are engrossed with the trinity of friends, boys, and complaints against Authority. Read more...