WOOSH! March just flew by us, at least it did for me. I hope you are ready for some family reading inspiration today!
I had several storytimes in the Tulsa area this past month, and you can catch up with me in April here:
April 5 @ Knight’s Nook (Storytime and Signing)
10:30 AM
401 W Main St.
Yukon, OK 73099
April 10, 2025 @ Philbrook Museum of Art (Storytime and Craft)
10 AM
Included with Admission
2727 S Rockford Rd
Tulsa, OK 74114
Author/Illustrator Updates
I’m having so much fun meeting new kids and their grownups at my storytimes, and I have loved meeting all the different bookshop owners as well. When I taught preschool, storytime was my favorite, and I’m so thrilled to be doing storytimes again, out in the community.
Storytime Sparks:
How to Grab a Toddler’s Attention
If you are struggling with keeping your young child’s attention at storytime, try nursery rhymes and fingerplays! You probably know a few already (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Mary Had a Little Lamb, This Little Piggie) but if you need a few more ideas I also love horsey bouncing rhymes for young kids (from sitting up until they are too big for your lap!).
Another great reason to try nursery rhymes? They’re a kind of poetry, and we are celebrating National Poetry Month in April. Want some other great book celebrations this month?
April 2: International Children’s Book Day
April 12: D.E.A.R. Day (Drop Everything And Read)
April 17: National Haiku Poetry Day
April 18: National Support Teen Literature Day
April 23: National Shakespeare Day and World Book Day
April 25: National Poem in Your Pocket Day
April 26: Independent Bookstore Day
April 27: National Tell a Story Day
April 28: Great Poetry Reading Day
Book Reviews:
Picture Book:
Go and Do Likewise!: The Parables and Wisdom of Jesus by John Hendrix
Through parables of the good Samaritan and the prodigal son, the lost sheep and the beatitudes, Jesus taught his disciples the redeeming power of sacrificial love and showed mercy to everyone around him–especially the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden.
In this inspirational and richly illustrated book, John Hendrix brings to life the wisdom of Jesus. Interweaving hand lettering with his signature, award-winning art style, Hendrix captures the spirit of Jesus’s timeless message that will resonate with readers of any Christian faith.
My Take: This is a graphically gorgeous book, as well as a nice paraphrasing of Jesus’ parables to help readers get some of the background to make the stories relevant today, without changing them. For example, in the Good Samaritan story, it is made clear that the Samaritan is someone that the listeners didn’t like, but without losing the story flow or the original story.
Middle Grade:
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. And yet…
As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate – and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.
My Take: Yes, my family is still working our way through Harry Potter. This book gets more serious and dark than the previous books, although my seven year old son seems unfazed. I waited until my daughter was Hogwarts age before introducing these books, and sometimes I wonder if he’s too young for them still, but I think that when you are younger you just ignore the parts that don’t make sense yet and move on.
This year gets into the back story of Voldemort, and sets the path for the final book. This book might break young readers hearts at the end. No spoilers, but when it came out I was in denial of the ending until the last book was released and forced me to believe that the tragedy really happened. Be prepared to immediately start book seven at the end of this book.
Adult:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends – and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island – boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
My Take: While I don’t really care for reading stories written entirely in letters, after I got into the flow of this book, it works well. It’s nice to hear the stories of the community told in their own words and styles, although I did find it hard to keep a few of the characters straight when they were only written about every once in a while.
This is a heart-warming historical story covering the WWII occupation of the English Channel Islands by the Germans. You are faced with some of the horrors of WWII, but only as memories that people are telling afterward, not the immediate, so it is less suspenseful, but still tragic and heart-rending, while also managing to overall be an uplifting and sometimes funny story.
Inspirational Thoughts:
Nature is a source of endless inspiration. Just when you think it can’t surprise you, you come across a cactus decorated in gradients! What?! Look at the colors on these things!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that my family likes to explore the National Parks. For Spring Break this year we traveled to four in New Mexico and Texas: White Sands, Carlesbad Canyons, Guadalupe Mountains, and Big Bend. While the desert landscape is not my favorite, there is always something amazing when we travel to a new place and experience new things. It wakes us up a little bit. It shakes us out of cruise and makes us notice little details or even big, breathtaking landscapes.
I have some photos to share of a little bit of our trip, but I couldn’t show one thing: star gazing at the McDonald Observatory. It has the darkest sky in the lower 48 states, apparently, and we got to look through the telescopes at Jupiter, Mars, two other galaxies, and the Pleiades star cluster. WOW! It was a perfectly clear night, the moon was down and we saw so many stars.
When I was fourteen I went on a mission trip to Bolivia and as we drove in a bus through the mountains in the night, we got a flat tire and had to exit the bus. I still remember the shock and awe I felt seeing all those stars on the side of a dirt road in South America. I felt so tiny. The universe was enormous and I was just a tiny speck… and yet. Even though we are so small and inconsequential to the universe in general, we are precious to God. The awesome power of God’s love that reached down to me in that moment has stayed with me my whole life. I understand how God’s promise to Abraham, tied to the stars, would remind him every night that God saw him even when he might feel small.
He counts the number of the stars;
Psalm 147:4
He calls them all by their names.
I love Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin, even though he doesn’t credit God with the wonder of the universe, his book certainly will open your eyes to the hugeness of the universe and the same feeling of wonder that we are here, on our one little planet, and as he says at the end:
Earth is the only planet we know of with life. It’s the only planet we know of with trees, giraffes, and ostriches. It’s the only planet we know of with kids who can look up and imagine their place in the universe.
Jason Chin – Your Place In The Universe
Have you ever had a spiritual experience as you were outside in nature? What happened? How did you feel? Send me an email about it. I’d love to hear your stories.
I would also love to hear if you’d prefer these monthly emails to be shorter but more frequent. I was wondering if I should break up my emails into smaller emails instead of one HUGE email. What do you think?
0 Comments