Roseanna White - Roseanna M. White

Holiday Book Buying Guide – For the Kids

by Roseanna White | Nov 14, 2019 | Books, What We're Reading

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

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

by Roseanna White | Nov 11, 2019 | Word of the Week

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.

Word of the Week – Trek

by Roseanna White | Nov 4, 2019 | Word of the Week

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.

What We’ve Been Reading – October

by Roseanna White | Nov 1, 2019 | What We're Reading

Roseanna’s Reads

October is hands-down one of my busiest months of the year, so I don’t often have time to do much reading beyond the necessary…which for me, means book club, school with the kids, and not much else. ? So my list is rather short this month…but I have big plans for November.

For My Bookclub

Vow of Justice
by Lynette Eason

My book club has been reading this entire series by Lynette Eason, so number 4 was on the slate for October. I really enjoyed this riveting conclusion to the tales of this law enforcement family–and had been eagerly awaiting Linc’s story. 😉 For good reason! Vow of Justice is fast-paced and never lets up, delivering a quick and exciting read. I loved the inclusion of another teen character–and Daria is every bit as brilliant as the FBI agents, which was fun.

For the Edit

Wings Like a Dove
by Camille Eide

You know how sometimes you read a book, and it totally consumes you? Every conversation seems to lead back to it? All your deep thought circle around to something the author or characters thought or said? Yeah–that’s me with Wings Like a Dove. In this depression-era historical, Camille Eide takes a Jewish immigrant from Poland into the heart of America…to a town where bigotry and racism is alive and festering, the Klan is operating in full force, and love seems like an illusion. Heroine Anna ends up tutoring a passel of orphan boys who are under the care of a pastor-turned-carpenter, bringing some much-needed woman’s touches into their lives. But when her new neighbors discover that she’s Jewish–and covering up a shameful secret–the whole family is soon in danger. To protect them, she’ll have to leave…even if it breaks what’s left of her heart. This story, y’all…this story. You won’t be able to put it down and won’t be able to stop thinking about it when you do. Camille Eide has outdone herself with this one!! It releases December 1, so GO PRE-ORDER IT NOW!! Seriously. This is hands-down one of my top 3 books of the year.

With the Kids

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare

I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond for school in sixth grade…and had a vague recollection of loving it, though I couldn’t remember much about it. There was a heroine from Barbados…a puritan town in New England…an old woman…and someone put in the stocks, right? LOL. When I reread it a couple years ago with my kids, I remembered why I loved this book so much–and why it won a Newbury Award. So when it came around again with my son this fall, I was pretty excited. As was my daughter, who brought her school out to the kitchen again so she could hear it. 😉 This is a wonderful story that shows the clashing worlds at the time, the ideals that built America…and the flaws in our foundation too. Because while we claim religious freedom, the truth is that even those founders who came here seeking it weren’t always willing to extend the same to others. But for every person quick to point the finger, there are those quick to defend the weak. And that’s where these characters Shine. A book highly recommended for kids aged 10 and up!

Tree in the Trail

by Holling C. Holling

This is a book unlike any other I’ve ever read. It’s a story that spans centuries…all following a tree, from when it was a sapling at a watering hole before horses even arrive in America, to when it eventually got to travel the Santa Fe trail as an oxen yoke. It’s a truly fascinating snapshot of the Old West from an unlikely perspective, and while I wasn’t sure at first if I’d end up liking it, I in fact really do. There are beautiful pictures and fun little tidbits of history given on every page, which makes it a great educational tool in a really interesting package.

Rachel’s Reads

I’m
so excited that FALL is officially here! YAY! Time for Here are some of
the books I’ve been reading this month. You can watch for my reviews
over on my blog, Bookworm Mama.

Audio

Diamond in the Rough

by Jen Turano

This is my favorite Jen Turano book To-Date! So many laughs!!! I was reading this in bed while my husband was TRYING to sleep…oops…I kept waking him up with my snickering hehe! Beautiful setting…Beautiful characters…And a beautiful hero! Hehe!!!

For Fun/Review

Hereafter
by Jody Hedlund

This is the 3rd and final book in the series! Just started…but I’M SO IN LOVE!!!!

With the Kids

Sticks Across the Chimney
by Nora Burglon

Our next big read for school is Sticks Across the Chimney. I really have been enjoying it, but we can only read it in small chunks because Judah loses interest. But it IS fun. And a lot of cool history. We are learning about Vikings in history so it’s a pretty fun tie-in.

For the Book Club

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

by Alan Bradley

Oh my gosh! I love this book! An 11-year-old precocious young girl finds a dead body in the cucumber patch…And then proceeds to solve the mystery. It is a cozy mystery full of delightful (and despicable) characters and has been so much fun to read.

Announcing: Dreams of Savannah!

by Roseanna White | Oct 31, 2019 | Announcements, Book News

Even as I was typing up the news about the Isles of Secrets Series, I knew I’d be getting to announce some other exciting news soon too. ? I’ll also be having a book come out from Bethany House between the end of the Codebreakers and the beginning of the next series! This one is a stand-alone, set in Savannah during the Civil War.

Dreams of Savannah (tentative title–it could very well change, LOL) is pretty fun. I actually wrote it years ago upon the request of an editor, but the contract fell through for various reasons. It’s just been sitting there in my digital drawer since 2011, so when my editor at Bethany House asked if I wanted them to take a look at some of my finished-but-unpublished books, I all but shoved it at them. ? And I was so incredibly pleased when they said they liked it and wanted to release it in just over a year! That’s right, this one will be coming out sometime around December 2020/January 2021 (exact date TBD)!!

The story, in a nutshell:

Cordelia Owens can weave a dream around
anything, and is well used to winning the hearts of everyone in Savannah with
her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost
during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a
romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister.

But
Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the first horrors of war. Struggling
for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and cynical,
and all too sure that he is not the hero Cordelia seems determined to make him.
Matters of black and white don’t seem so simple anymore to Phin, and despite
her best efforts, Delia’s smiles can’t erase all the complications in his life.

War, however, doesn’t wait for the clarity of anyone’s heart. When the fort falls and the future wavers before her, Delia has to decide
whether a disillusioned hero is worth the sacrifice of all the dreams she so
long cherished.

For those of you who read my Culper Ring Series, you know I’ve already written one Civil War-era book. The funny thing is that Savannah was already finished when I was working on Circle of Spies, so in my mind, I kept thinking, “Well I already did this, so I…oh wait! No one else knows I’ve already done that!” (“”That” being things like certain treatments of issues like slavery from a Southern perspective–it was mostly the Union perspective represented in Circle of Spies.)

I’m so excited to finally be bringing this story into the world! I’m sure there will be many edits and changes from that 2011 version, but I love these characters so much–I actually reread it a couple years ago as I wrote A Lady Unrivaled, to make sure that Ella, who has some similarities to Delia, isn’t too close to my romantic-adventure-writing Southern belle. And leading Phin through some huge challenges and mental changes was an adventure in itself! One that involves the help of the most unlikely of friends–an Englishman of African descent, who has a very different view of the world than anyone Phin has ever known. I used him–Luther–to bring in some of England’s abolition history, which was fun. =)

Hilariously, the same story of mine from college from which I stole Phillip Camden (who is introduced in The Number of Love and is the hero in On Wings of Devotion) also gave me Luther. Originally he and Camden were first mate and captain on their pirate vessel. 😉 Luther was stolen first for Dreams of Savannah, and I’m glad I didn’t re-steal him for On Wings of Devotion, LOL. But just so you know that if ever the two met, despite now being of different generations, they would have been the best of friends. 😉

I’m looking forward to digging back into this one and polishing it up for you guys!

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Holiday Book Buying Guide – For the Kids