Do you know why I love books so much?

Sometimes, when I need strength or encouragement to do something hard, I think about someone I read about in a book. They might have faced something harder than I had, but somehow they had done what was right in that situation, and I can too.

One of those books that has stuck with me for years and years is The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. This month my book club is reading it, and I’ve been listening to the audiobook version. It is such a powerful story about how a Christian family: an old man, his two spinster daughters, and the others around them faced the horrors of Nazi-ruled Holland in WWII. Corrie was one of his daughters. She ran an underground network to save Jews from the Nazis, until her whole family was arrested. While most of them were released, she and her sister, Betsy, were sent to a work camp and later a concentration camp. All through this experience, she held firm to her faith and GREW tremendously in her relationship with God.

“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God.”

Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

A book like hers is worth reading and rereading because it is filled with stories that have encouraged me over and over. Do you have a book that you think about, even years later, and it gives you strength? How amazing a book can be!

Updates:

My book is out in the world! If you ordered a copy from my Kickstarter, you should have received it. If you are interested in getting a copy, they are available here.

Besides my online shop, the ebook is getting out and about in a lot of places: Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Everand, Storytel, Rakuten kobo, Overdrive, and Bibliotheca.

If you have read my book, I would love if you would leave me a review. Reviews help books get seen and found by more readers! Amazon is a good place to leave reviews, or Goodreads.

Author Events:

Another way to promote my book is by getting it into local bookstores, and also holding story times and book signings! I have a few coming up in March, and if you’re around the Tulsa area, it would be fabulous to see you at one of these:

March 8, 2025 | Book and Bloom in Broken Arrow (Storytime/Book Signing)

March 15, 2025 | Enchanted Children’s Bookstore in Collinsville (Storytime/Book Signing)

May 13, 2025 | SCBWI Tulsa Meetup (Self-Publishing Workshop)

Book Reviews:

Picture Book:

Robert Bateman: The Boy Who Painted Nature

by Margriet Ruurs and Robert Bateman

Celebrated artist Robert Bateman is renowned internationally for bringing the natural  world to life on the canvas. A naturalist and painter from his youth, Robert has for decades used his recognition to shed light on environmental issues and advocate for animal welfare.

Robert Bateman: The Boy Who Painted Nature is the story of how a young child achieved his dream of painting the world around him and became one of Canada’s most famous artists.

Using Robert’s own personal photographs, sketches and artwork, author Margriet Ruurs weaves a simple story of inspiration and encouragement. A story to motivate all the budding artists and naturalists in your life, with proceeds benefiting The Bateman Foundation.

My Take: When I was a child, there was a book in our house of Robert Bateman paintings. I remember looking through that book and loving all the animals and birds. I had completely forgotten about Bateman’s art until I cam across this book at our library and checked it out.

A well written biography for kids, with more in-depth information in the back matter, the real star of this book is of course Bateman’s awe-inspiring paintings. I absolutely felt like I was there, watching Orcas, or bears, or elephants. His paintings are so realistic, yet so magical. He is a singularly talented artist, and I think it worthwhile to pick up this book and experience some of that wonder.

Middle Grade:

The Star That Always Stays

by Anna Rose Johnson

When bright and spirited Norvia moves from the country to the city, she has to live by one new rule: Never let anyone know you’re Ojibwe.

Growing up on Beaver Island, Grand-père told Norvia stories—stories about her ancestor Migizi, about Biboonke-o-nini the Wintermaker, about the Crane Clan and the Reindeer Clan. He sang her songs in the old language, and her grandmothers taught her to make story quilts and maple candy. On the island, Norvia was proud of her Ojibwe heritage. 

Things are different in the city. Here, Norvia’s mother forces her to pretend she’s not Native at all—even to Mr. Ward, Ma’s new husband, and to Vernon, Norvia’s irritating new stepbrother. In fact, there are a lot of changes in the city: ten-cent movies, gleaming soda shops, speedy automobiles, ninth grade. It’s dizzying for a girl who grew up on the forested shores of Lake Michigan.

Despite the move, the upheaval, and the looming threat of world war, Norvia and her siblings—all five of them—are determined to make 1914 their best year ever. Norvia is certain that her future depends upon it… and upon her discretion. 

But how can she have the best year ever if she has to hide who she truly is?

My Take: This book overall was wonderful, and also has Christian lessons and values. The characters all were well formed and endearing or repulsive as needed. Basically, they connected with me as a reader. I felt the middle dragged a little bit, but once I kept reading, the story was well worth reading. Dealing with racism, growing up, family dynamics, friendship, and prejudice, all in a way that can be very relatable to a middle grade reader. Highly recommended!

Young Adult:

Dragonfruit

by Makiia Lucier

In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope had gone, the tale came with a warning.

Every wish demands a price.

Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.

Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign. Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time—hope.

But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape…that of the dragonfruit itself.

My Take: This one was a beach read over Christmas break. I loved the interesting sea-dragon world, which is much like own except instead of whalers coming to the Polynesian islands, it is dragoners. While the characters are less fleshed out than they could be, the story is well-paced and I did love the main characters. If you like dragons, or pirates, or tropical island adventure, this one is a good read. And the simple romance between the main characters is sweet, and actually clean. Nice to see in a YA book these days.