May & June Book Reviews

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Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson ★★★★☆

Mother-and-daughter team discuss how Christian parents are missing the mark when they focus only on following rules, good behavior and obedience rather than the life-transforming, grace-giving message of the gospel. They discuss the dangers of trying to raise good kids in our own strength with the right methods, books, and scripts at the ready. Instead, a total dependence on God's grace, Jesus' atoning work at the Cross, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit can transform our children, not us. They discuss how our children's behaviors, disobedience, and attitudes can humble us and point us repeatedly to Jesus rather than causing us to feel defeated, hopeless, and fuming. They give lots of examples of things to say to kids to help point them to the redeeming work of Jesus rather than just telling them to obey because you said so. They promote an acronym for training children: MNTCP: Management/Oversight (basic instructions for daily living), Gospel Nurturing (feeding their soul with grace), Gospel Training (what Jesus has done), Gospel Correction (correcting when they forget), Rehearsing Gospel Promises. And they discuss the importance of praying with faith that God will help you and your children, surrendering your own plans to him, and acknowledging His sovereignty. There was a lot I learned and have been thinking about. I tend to rely on rules and lists, and I also tend to read a lot of parenting books and other resources to learn how to deal with different parenting issues. So this book was a great reminder that it is God who is doing the transforming work in my children's hearts, not my tools and tricks. I know that, but I don't always live out that truth when faced with a parenting dilemma. There were some scripts that I felt were unrealistic/overspiritualized (like telling a son who is mad about losing a baseball game that he cares more about winning a game than he does about what Jesus has done in his life). Also, I felt like the book could have been half as long since a lot was repeated. I understand they were trying to really drive home the message that we need to focus on God' grace in our parenting and share the gospel in all areas of our parenting, but it just felt a bit redundant after a while. I didn't agree with everything they said and Elyse's tone was a little off-putting to me, but I could still glean a lot from the book and was glad I read it. 

The Silver Chair, Chronicles of Narnia #4 by C.S. Lewis (audiobook) ★★★★★

When Eustice (cousin of the four Pevensie siblings) and a schoolmate, Jill Pole, escape bullies by entering through a hidden door, they embark on a mission appointed by Aslan to find aging Prince Caspian's missing son. With the help of a gloomy yet surprisingly brave Marsh-Wiggle named Puddleglum, they encounter giants and creatures of the underworld on their quest to find the prince. I read this seven years ago and remember bits and pieces, but was recently curious about the story when reading a picture book to my son that was loosely based on the book. The wit, humor, allegory, and adventure of the Narnia series is just as good as the better-known books in the series. I re-read The Magician's Nephew a few months ago, so I might just have to keep on re-reading the series since it has been so long since I first read them!

Content rating: G to PG (a bit of violence, but nothing graphic)

Saving My Assassin: A Memoir by Virginia Prodan (audiobook) ★★★★★

Riveting memoir of Virginia's experience in Communist Romania in the 1980s when she, as a lawyer, defending Christian clients who were being persecuted for their faith. She endured all sorts of challenges, from being beaten, kidnapped, under house arrest, and even (as the title suggests) ordered by be killed by an assassin. Throughout the book, she constantly points the praise to God's power and faithfulness rather than her own courage and integrity to stand up for the truth, yet her character stands out like a shining light in the darkness of a terrible time in Romania's history. As a Romanian who immigrated as a toddler to America a mere three months before Ceaucescu was assassinated by a firing squad for his decades of atrocities, I didn't experience it first-hand, but my parents did. I love reading books that give me a clearer picture of the experiences of people during this time. I had to keep reminding myself this was a true story because it just kept getting more and more crazy, yet it is all true! A quick YouTube search will get you many interviews with this phenomenal woman if you want to hear her story before reading the book.

Content rating: PG to PG-13 (nothing super graphic, but it does mention violent acts)

Heart of God: 31 Days to Discover God's Love for You by Elisabeth Elliot ★★★★☆

A recently published devotional with a manuscript found years after Elisabeth's passing. It focuses on thirty-one different attributes of God's heart, including that His heart is: caring, just, shepherding, faithful, grace-filled, guiding, peace-giving, transcendent, all-knowing, sufficient, helping, and many others. The actual devotional is only one-page, but there are two extra pages filled with quotations from other well-known authors, pastors, and theologians that relate to that day's attribute. It is a quick read, perfect for a busy mom, yet I was wanting to go deeper every day since Elisabeth Elliot's writing typically digs deep into theology. I had to remind myself this was a devotional that skims the surface of many different attributes, not a typical book of hers that dives into one big issue, like suffering or loneliness. It helped to re-read it a few times and pray through that attribute after reading it, to take a few minutes to dwell in that truth. 

Content rating: G

The Narnian  The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs (audiobook) ★★★★☆

I read Lewis' autobiography, Surprised By Joy, so a lot of the material presented was familiar, but there was a ton of new details about Jack's life that was unknown to me. I expected there to be more of a focus on how he wrote the Narnia books, but it took about three-quarters of the book to get there, which made sense since he wrote them later in his life, but still wished there was more meat to that section. I read The Silver Chair last month right before starting this book, so now I am definitely in a Narnia/ Lewis mood and need to read another Narnia book!

Content rating: PG (a few details about his experience at war; a few unsavory details that I wish the author left out -- nothing horrible, just unnecessary details of his pre-Christian life). 

Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto by Tilar J. Mazzeo (audiobook) ★★★★☆

A heartbreaking and powerful biography of Irena Sendler, who, together with the help of countless other brave Polish and Jewish people, risked their lives to save children out of the Warsaw ghetto before they would have been killed at gunpoint or sent to concentration camps to be murdered. As a social worker, Irena was able to enter into the depravity of the ghetto and smuggle children out, recruiting many people to help along the way. Ninety percent of the Jewish population in the Warsaw ghettos were murdered by the Gestapo, but Irena and others who worked in the Resistance were able to save around 2,500 precious Jewish kids and hide them in homes of trusted Polish people or in Catholic convents. Most of them were never reunited with their families since so many were murdered, but these children were able to survive. This is a heart-wrenching book because so many people and children did not survive and though the book doesn't dive into way too  many gory details, it doesn't gloss over the painful details either. It was such an important book for me to read since it gave me a more clear picture of the atrocities that occurred in Poland during WWII. I was amazed at the courage of doctors, nurses, social workers, and so many others who risked their lives for doing what was right in such a dark time. 

Content rating: PG- PG13 due to violence 

The Office BFFs: Tales from The Office From Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey (audiobook) ★★★★★

This was such a fun book! I haven't listened to their podcast, Office Ladies, in which they talk about each episode of The Office, but I imagine it is as engaging and nostalgic as this book was for me since I enjoy re-watching The Office. They talk about their "best-friendship", from its beginnings stages when they were in the first season, waiting for their lines on the sidelines, to the ways they supported one another through life's ups and downs during and after the nine seasons of The Office. They chronicled favorite memories from the show, and discussed how their commitment to their children propelled them into thinking about a new venture to help them be more present in their lives (which is how the podcast and book were born!). If you love The Office, I think you'd enjoy their humor as well as stories from their own lives as well.

Content rating: PG  (the book is surprisingly clean except for 2-3 F-bombs when they are quoting Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight).