Holiday Book Buying Guide – For the Kids

Holiday Book Buying Guide – For the Kids

I’m departing from my usual thoughtful post this week to share some books I’m excited about that I think would make fabulous gifts this year. Some of these are from my company (there will be a coupon code coming on Black Friday for those!), some are just ones I’ve read this year.

This week we’re going to focus on those…

FOR THE KIDS

Picture Books

When God Made Color


This is a really interesting perspective on the creation story, focusing on the colors that came into existence as God went through each day–and ending with the variety of hues He used when He made us. The artwork is GORGEOUS (done by a professional fine artist), the message is fabulous, and I really loved looking at creation through a new lens. This is a great book to read aloud with the little ones in your life!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | READ

Isaac’s Ice Cream Tree


This one is pure fun. 😀 There’s no overt spiritual thread, just a really cute story that enforces how important it is to give rather than receive, and the value of believing in the impossible. In this case, “the impossible” is a sugar maple that, when it snows, turns a little boy’s gift of treats to the tree into giant balls of ice cream. Reinforces colors and days of the week and is sure to delight one and all!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | READ

Middle Grade

Benjy and the Belsnickel


I know I mentioned this one last year, since my daughter did the illustrations. 😀 It’s a really fun story (boys will enjoy it!) that’s great for the holidays especially, about the Pennsylvania-Dutch tradition of the Belsnickel (think Santa, but who punishes wrongdoing instead of rewarding good behavior). Book 2 will be coming out next spring!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | READ

Being Zoey series (for girls)

Melody Carlson is an expert, no question. And this series for middle school girls is fabulous. Written in a fun voice, these stories are relevant and timely while still being entirely entertaining for girls aged 8-12.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | READ

Keeper of the Lost Cities series

My friend Stephanie recommended these, and I got the first few for my niece for Christmas last year–and she LOVED them. I haven’t read them myself, but I love it when a series is a big hit!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Young Adult

Heart of a Royal


PRINCESS BOOK!!!! Need I say more? 😉 This one is from our company and is SO much fun. A great story, fabulous characters, and the voice is amazing.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | READ

Within These Lines


Yes, okay, it’s by my best friend. But it’s also AMAZING. Every teen (and adult) should read it! It’s set during WWII, focusing on the internment camps in California where Japanese-Americans were sent.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Signed from Stephanie


The Thing with Feathers and Meet the Sky


McCall Hoyle’s books leaped to the top of my daughter’s loved-it list this year. She read them at the beginning of the year, but she still talks about them–and when she spotted a hardback of Meet the Sky on sale the other day, she grabbed it, even though she already had an advance reader copy.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Amazon | Barnes and Noble


The Charmed Life Series

    

Jenny B. Jones is another sure-win author with my daughter. 😀 Can’t go wrong with any of them, but this omnibus collection has kept her busy for quite a while, and happily so!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

The Lunar Chronicles

I listened to these on audio at the same time that Xoe was reading them in paper, and they were so fun! They’re not inspirational, but they’re clean, and thoroughly engrossing. I thoroughly enjoyed me, so did she, and we loved chatting about them together too.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Word of the Week – Candid

Word of the Week – Candid

We know the word candid as “truthful, honest, sincere.” It’s carried this meaning since the 1670s. But before that, it carried the meaning of “bright, white” which came from the Latin candere, which means, “to shine.”
I really kind of love this one. Because what shines? The truth. Honesty. Sincerity.
In the 1920s it came to be applied to unposed photographs–presumably, because it’s an honest glimpse of someone or something, rather than a studied, created one.
Throwback Thursday…The Spirit

Throwback Thursday…The Spirit



I’m writing a book right now that’s way more spiritually charged, spiritually involved than I imagined it would be. There are a lot of beyond-your-vision battles raging, and that means a lot of Roseanna praying before writing–I so don’t want to get this stuff wrong!
And then this weekend, we had the honor of hosting visitors (a couple and a good friend of theirs) from Ohio who offered to do a faith-building and healing service at our church. These people . . . they are so genuine. So humble. They just want to teach what they’ve learned and be the instruments of the Lord. And boy, did I need a good dose of the Spirit.
Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Ever since a revival swept through our town two years ago, I’ve been keenly aware of how different I am when in touch with the Spirit versus when I let life get in the way. And lately . . . life has been seriously in the way. Which made me not really enjoy the details of my life. My kids were getting on my nerves, I was constantly exhausted, and I couldn’t seem to find the quiet time I needed with God. So I went to this service knowing exactly what I needed from it.

After a while my wonderful hubby took the kids down to the nursery, which let me really listen, really feel. The teaching time ended, and the prayer began. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Should I just charge to the front and say, “Pray with me please so I can get the kids home to bed?” No, they asked for someone with a specific issue . . . so I just closed my eyes, prayed, privately and determined to soak up the Spirit–not too hard, since he was saturating the room. And, I’ll admit it, thought, “Well, Lord, you might just have to send one of them back to me if this isn’t enough.”
Then the husband of the couple came over to me. He’d walked by several times, but this time he crouched down and asked, “Can I pray with you? I’m sensing you’re not here for healing but that you have something you need prayer for.”

!!!! I nodded as tears surged (I’m not a cry-er, FYI) and asked if he would pray for rejuvenation. That’s all I said–rejuvenation. But you could see the light go on inside him. He took my hands and prayed for rejuvenation, for rest, for exactly what I needed. And told me I needed to take the time to pray for that every morning, and pray every night for my rest to be sufficient.

Um, yes, teacher.
Seriously, ever since then . . . there’s a calm inside where irritation had been. There’s Joy again. And I am so, so grateful that the Spirit always knows exactly what we need and meets us there. There have been times over the years when he swept over me in my dreams and I wake up like this. This time, he came while his servants were here and used them to bless me.
Now I’m praying that my words (mostly thinking of those spiritually-charged chapters I’m writing) can somehow be used to bless others. There is so much to all this stuff, so much I can never quite get a hold on.
How awesome to know I don’t have to get a hold of it all–I just have to hold his hand. He’ll show me how to handle the rest.
Don’t miss out on my upcoming Tea Parties! Click the image for more details.
   
Word of the Week – Trek

Word of the Week – Trek

The word trek has been in the English language only since around 1849–and it was a direct borrow from the Dutch treck. But I found it interesting that treck didn’t actually mean “a long journey” when the Dutch started using it.
Nope. It meant “to drag or pull.” Why?
Well, when the Dutch were colonizing South Africa, their wagons often had to be physically pulled out of hazards and dragged along. They began calling the journey a treck–literally “a drag.” LOL. So when the English speakers borrowed it, it was to describe any long, arduous journey.
Tea Party with Stephanie Morrill

Tea Party with Stephanie Morrill

I am looking forward to hosting my best friend and fellow author, Stephanie Morrill! 
Join us as we discuss her recent book, Within These Lines. You can purchase a signed copy of the book as part of the tea party OR you can find it at the retailers below.

About the Book
Evalina Cassano’s life in an Italian-American family living in San Francisco in 1941 is quiet and ordinary until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together. But anti-Japanese feelings erupt across the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Taichi and his family are forced to give up their farm and move to an internment camp.
Degrading treatment makes life at Manzanar Relocation Center difficult. Taichi’s only connection to the outside world is treasured letters from Evalina. Feeling that the only action she can take to help Taichi is to speak out against injustice, Evalina becomes increasingly vocal at school and at home. Meanwhile, inside Manzanar, fighting between different Japanese-American factions arises. Taichi begins to doubt he will ever leave the camp alive.
With tensions running high and their freedom on the line, Evalina and Taichi must hold true to their ideals and believe in their love to make a way back to each other against unbelievable odds.
Within These Lines is a story about the gritty, exhausting side of love.The kind of love that seems to only invite heartbreak, but is tenacious and unrelenting all the same. It’s available in stores now! (From author website)

About the Author

Stephanie Morrill writes books about girls who are on an adventure to discover their unique place in the world. She is the author of several contemporary young adult series, as well as the 1920s mystery, The Lost Girl of Astor Street, and the WWII era romance, Within These Lines. Since 2010, Stephanie has been encouraging the next generation of writers at her website, GoTeenWriters.com. She lives in the Kansas City area, where she loves plotting big and small adventures to enjoy with her husband and three children. You can connect with Stephanie and learn more about her books at StephanieMorrill.comInstagramFacebook, and Twitter.