Every once in a while it still happens: I discover a ‘new’ old book that absolutely delights me. The Avion My Uncle Flew, a 1947 Newbery Honor book, was the latest. Charming, complex, beautifully written, exciting, uplifting, and funny, it tells the story of Johnny Littlehorn, an injured American boy who unwillingly spends the summer […]
historical fiction
Review: Home is Beyond the Mountains by Celia Barker Lottridge
Nine-year- old Samira and her family flee their Persian village when the Turks invade at the end of World War 1. After travelling through deserts and over mountains, facing hardship and unimaginable tragedy, she finally arrives in Baqubah, alone. Anna, a girl her own age, reaches out to her and they move from camp to […]
Review: Where We Belong by Lynn Austin
Rebecca and Flora Hawes, sisters in the late 1800’s, are always in search of adventure, especially Rebecca who, filled with an insatiable longing for more than school and high society, drags Flora along. As teens they sneak away from school, their Paris hotel, and the safe parts of their own city, filled with youthful heedlessness […]
Resources for Luther and the Reformation
As I paged through piles of books while preparing this article, I was reminded that there is one resource each of the reformers would have placed at the top of a Reformation resource list, the Bible. All treasured it, all based their lives on it, and some died for it. Obviously, you cannot truly understand […]
Review: Katharina, Katharina by Christine Farenhorst
Katharina Schutz, curious, talkative, and impulsive, notices everything around her: Frau Bauer, the neighbor across the street whose babies all died; the light in the studio where she learns to weave; cousin Ursula’s bitterness; the different priests; and the ever-present need to be good enough to earn favor for those who have died. And in […]