April Book Reviews

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson★★★★☆
I cannot count how many times I’ve heard references to this childhood classic and thought, “I need to read that book to understand what they’re referring to!” Well, I finally did, and I can see why people love it and why it’s also one of the first books to shatter young reader’s hearts. Friendship, identity, imagination, and loss are four pivotal and intertwining themes in this coming-of-age story focusing on a boy who’s trying to make a name for himself at school as the fastest runner. When his new neighbor, a curious and out-of-the-box girl, beats him at the long-awaited race, he is deflated at first. But they soon strike up a sweet friendship as they imagine a woodland kingdom called Terabithia in the adjacent woods to his family farm. Katherine Paterson is brilliant at creating relatable, believable young characters in her books, and Jess Aaron is a great example of this. His struggles and triumphs and especially the ways he deals with grief, brought depth and lasting power to this novel that makes it clear to me why it’s stood the test of time.


A New Song (Mitford series #5) by Jan Karon ★★★★☆
I seldom read book series; I much prefer stand-alone novels. But the Mitford series by Jan Karon is one exception. In this fifth installment to the long series, the protagonist, the newly retired Father Tim Kavanaugh has accepted a position as an interim Episcopalian priest on an island several hours from his beloved town of Mitford. Like his old congregation, this  new parish carry their own eccentricities and struggles, and he and his wife Cynthia accept the challenge (and joys) that accompany this new role as they also get acquainted with the island life. But, just as in the previous novels, he soon encounters people who are suffering in a myriad of ways, including physical ailments, suicidal ideation and severe depression, an unrepentant unfaithful husband, an isolated and emotionally scarred neighbor who is staunchly averse to anything that relates to Christianity, and even a natural disaster that threatens their safety. I love that Jan Karon can write about real-life problems in powerful, relatable ways and couples them with inspiring and faith-building interactions in the character of Father Tim that is never preachy or fluffy. Every book is highly entertaining (laugh-out-loud funny) but also soul-stirring and sometimes heartbreaking. They are slow, character-driven novels that typically get shelved as ‘old Christian lady novels’ but I absolutely love returning to these gems every few months  as palate cleansers because I know I can trust the author to not surprise me with inappropriate material nor anything tacky or fluffy.


A Love Letter Life by Audrey and Jeremy Roloff★★★★★
Jeremy's family have been filmed for their reality TV show, Little People Big World for much of his life, which is how I came to know of him since I loved that show. Their wedding was televised and I remember being impressed with how intentional the details were and how much they centered the wedding around their mutual love for Jesus. Fast forward five years and they now have a thriving marriage ministry called Beating 50 Percent that focuses on helping others build strong, lifelong, vibrant, and God-glorifying marriages. I love listening to their podcast, Behind the Scenes, and reading posts from their blog that are encouraging, truth-filled, and written from a place of humility. And Greg and I use their Marriage Journal to help us communicate routinely. Audrey also has her own clothing line called Always More. And now they have written their love story, jam-packed with not only the sweet details but also tough lessons they learned along the way, things they wish they could have been more vigilant in, and plenty of truth bombs sprinkled throughout. They are incredibly relatable, honest, down-to-earth, and inspiring, and this book showed all of that. I loved hearing about the way Jeremy patiently pursued Audrey in friendship before they officially started dating, as well as their long-distance woes (since we definitely had  our own) that made me nod my head in agreement as they explained the love-hate paradox of depending on things like texts, letters, phone calls, and personal gifts in the mail when they were thousands of miles apart. They specifically wrote lots of letters to each other, hence the title. This is a great read for anyone familiar with their story but also for anyone who wants to be encouraged in their singleness, dating, or married life. There is plenty to glean whatever the season!

Disclaimer: A BIG shout-out and thanks to Booklook Bloggers for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!


Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman★★★★★
I love all things French and Parisian so when a sweet friend sent this parenting book in the mail, I was psyched because it had already been hanging out on my to-read shelf on Goodreads. It is jam-packed with in-depth, fascinating  research, both anecdotal (from the author's experience raising her three children in Paris) and also a more formal format from leading child psychologists (French and American) as well as longitudinal studies on different aspects of child development. Using her journalistic skills coupled with her own experiences and sprinkling some of her amusing humor atop it all, this was a delight. Duckerman praises the French on many child-rearing methods, including mastering the art of babies "finding their nights" (most French babies are sleeping through the night as early as a few months old), teaching children to wait (including pausing before picking up a crying baby at night to help them learn to self-soothe as well as teaching toddlers and older children to wait until their parents are done talking with an adult, encouraging discovery and play in daycare more than rigid educational objectives, and giving them space even as toddlers to learn to be independent). There were certainly things I wouldn't incorporate in my own child-rearing (for example, French moms rarely breastfeed since they have excellent access to formula), but there was a plethora of things I marked down as wanting to try out because they made sense. Druckerman compared the French and American child-rearing methods without looking down on Americans or being snobby. Of course there was a lot of subjective opinions from herself as well as people she interviewed, but there was also convincing objective data in her research that was intriguing. Looking forward to using this book as a reference when our baby arrives in the fall!

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo ★★★★☆
Wow, what a whopper of a book! The audiobook clocks in at 56 audiobook chapters (each a bit over an hour). I switched between the audiobook and my beautiful, deceivingly petite Macmillan Library edition, which is abridged. I don't recommend this since it was hard to find my place between switching since the audiobook was unabridged. If you've watched any version of the movie or theatrical production, you are probably familiar with the gist of the story but there are incredibly more details and subplots that understandably could not have been included since they would make the production twice as long. The story primarily follows escaped convict Jean Valjean, who is redeemed in a way after nineteen years in prison when a humble priest forgives him and shows grace to him for attempting to steal valuables from his home. Valjean is changed forever and becomes an honest man, eventually a mayor. After some unfortunate and heartbreaking events, he unofficially adopts a poor, lonely Cosette, and spend the next decade evading the relentless and self-righteous inspector Javert. As she grows into a beautiful young lady, she attracts the eye of a gentleman named Marius who is involved in a political uprising that threatens the lives of many while giving hope for freedom and change. There is good reason this book is a classic. There is intrigue, mystery, witty humor, and a love story that is a lot more believable when it is fleshed out amongst all the extra pages compared to the movie version when it seems Marius and Cosette fall in love at first sight. The unabridged version is saturated with Hugo's philosophical and political meandering thoughts and essays, which I started skipping over as time progressed and I thought I would never finish the book. These are removed from the abridged version since they don't hold a necessary influence on the overall plot. Overall, this doorstopper was worth the read, though I was eager to finish it the past few weeks because I felt like I had been spending so much time listening and reading the book the past three months, that I did not have time for other books. I liked knowing the original story compared to the abridged versions of theatre and film production (my favorite is the 2012 version with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean). Speaking of Valjean. He is absolutely one of my favorite literary characters of all time. His story of being forever changed by grace and his self-sacrificing and humble demeanor (combined with some really James Bond-ish escape scenes) make him endearing, admirable, and just so enjoyable to read about.

KID LIT

What Am I Feeling by Dr. Josh Straub and Christi Straub

Sam and his friends are all experiencing feelings that threaten to ruin a fun day but they eventually learn to how name the emotions and ask God to help them through their difficult feelings. The phrase "a feeling is just a feeling -- it's not in charge of you" is repeated to Sam and his classmates from different adult figures and is a great take-away message for kids and adults alike. Children deal with all kinds of scary emotions -- from fear, worry, nervousness, anger, etc -- and it is important for them to not only label that emotion but also hear the truth that those emotions do not have to control them. As Christians, the added message in this book, that we can ask God to help us with the hard feelings we experience, is a comfort that I experience often with my own anxiety and want to pass on to my children when they walk through difficult circumstances. Through this book, children can discuss emotional health topics with parents in a safe and constructive way through a sweet story and easy-to-understand language appropriate for preschoolers to school-age kids. 

Disclaimer: Thanks to B&H/ Lifeway Blogger for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.