Review of Hearing Heart, by Hannah Hurnard

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Old Favorites, Starred Review 0

hearing_heart_largeHearing Heart

by Hannah Hurnard

Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1986. First published in 1978. 139 pages.
Starred Review

I read and loved all Hannah Hurnard’s books when I was in high school, including this one. This little book was a lovely choice for bringing on my vacation. My usual quiet times include reading bits out of several books — for vacation, I read a chapter each day out of this book.

This book reminds the reader of the importance of walking with God. Long before John Eldredge’s book Walking with God, I read about listening to God’s voice, as God’s people in the Bible did.

The book is autobiographical, outlining Hannah Hurnard’s journey, including missionary work in Palestine before, during, and after World War I. This journey included some steps that looked crazy, but she walked in obedience, and God did amazing things.

Here are some things the author says in her concluding chapter:

It did seem perfectly natural to suppose from the teaching in the Bible and our Lord’s own sayings that all heard his voice in the same way, and that there were not some endowed with a special and mysterious faculty for hearing which was not granted to others. The least child of God can hear in the same way, and be sure that it is the voice of God speaking to him, as any holy man of old, provided he knows and practices the one principle by which the spirit of man can develop a hearing faculty.

Again, this does not mean that we shall ever become infallible or that all our thoughts at all times will be from God. Far from it, especially, of course, at the beginning of our Christian experience. In matters of Christian truth and understanding of the Scriptures, we learn slowly and by stages; a hearing heart, too, may in some cases develop more quickly than a seeing understanding. Every new obedience, however, leads to a fuller understanding, but is always accompanied by an ever-increasing realization that there is infinitely more beyond our present ability to comprehend, and that there is an ever-present danger of becoming self-confident and being dogmatic to others. Nothing deafens a hearing heart more quickly than unwillingness to keep open to further light.

The great principle of the hearing heart is that we become as little children, utterly dependent and always ready to obey. We have to learn to obey his guidance in small personal matters, before we can receive and understand more of his will and purposes.

I like the practicality of this paragraph:

The very fact that spiritual hearing can so easily be confused with imagination is a great safeguard against spiritual pride and ought to develop in us holy cautiousness and humble dependence. But to insist that unusual guidance is only imagination, and that real guidance is really using one’s common sense, did seem to me extraordinary. For most of the guidance which came to me in those early years did not make common sense at all, and generally involved me in the risk of appearing an absolute fool in the eyes of others. Of course, common sense and all one’s intellectual faculties, as well as the experience and wisdom of others, are all part of the wonderful equipment and means by which God does reveal to us his will.

And here’s her final offering to the reader:

So in loving sympathy and understanding with all who long to find a deeper reality in their spiritual life and to know what it is to be drawn into intimate, daily communion and fellowship with the Lord and Savior himself, I would joyfully and humbly share these experiences, praying that he who is so real and so full of understanding love will use them to help others into the radiant happiness of those who can say.

This book offers lovely encouragement to Christians who want to learn to listen to and hear God’s voice.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Edgar’s Second Word, by Audrey Vernick and Priscilla Burris

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

edgars_second_word_largeEdgar’s Second Word

by Audrey Vernick
illustrated by Priscilla Burris

Clarion Books (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Boston, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

This book is simply too sweet not to review it.

Big sister Hazel has long been dreaming of reading to her new baby brother. She reads to her stuffed bunny, Rodrigo, but it wasn’t the same. When Edgar finally comes along, she’s excited.

But Edgar wasn’t much different from Rodrigo.
Or a pillow.
Or a watermelon.

Then Hazel thinks Edgar’s first word will make the difference. Now he mostly points and grunts, “like a pointing, grunting watermelon.”

But when Edgar speaks his first word, let’s just say it’s the most common first word of any baby.

And he practices it often.

My favorite picture in the book is from when Hazel’s mom takes them for a change of scene to the library, and Hazel asks Edgar to choose some books.

Edgar’s “NO!” was so loud that people stared. Some covered their ears. A librarian fainted.

But the book finishes up with such a lovely cozy scene, the pastel pictures matching the warm cozy tone of the words:

The day’s no’s added up.
Everyone was tired.
Finally, it was bedtime.

Hazel reached for her no-saying grump of a brother.
Edgar got as far as “Nnn” before a tired-baby gravity settled him on her lap.

Edgar felt as weighty as two Edgars.
He leaned back, a heavy-headed, warmly cuddled, not-no-saying lamb of a ram.
Hazel began to read.

(Can’t you just feel warm baby in your lap?)

When Hazel finishes reading, they think Edgar’s gone to sleep. But instead, he says his second and third words. And let’s just say that they’re a lot more positive.

This book brings something interesting to the party of new-baby books for the bigger sibling. There’s plenty of talk about the frustrations, but the cozy ending does point out that it’s all worth it.

And if nothing else, parents will be charmed.

audreyvernick.com
priscillaburris.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Goodbye Stranger, by Rebecca Stead

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

goodbye_stranger_largeGoodbye Stranger

by Rebecca Stead

Random House Children’s Books, August 2015. 286 pages.
Starred Review

I got an Advance Reader Copy of this book at ALA Midwinter Meeting, and got it read on the flight to ALA Annual Conference.

I love Rebecca Stead’s books. Hers are about character — and always feature a character who feels like a normal kid — but with quirks.

Bridge Barsamian was in a terrible accident when she was 6 years old and almost died. As she left the hospital, a nurse told her, “You must have been put on this earth for a reason, little girl, to have survived.” She’s always wondered what that reason might be.

Now Bridge and her two best friends, Emily and Tabitha, are in seventh grade. And things are changing. Emily has suddenly grown curves and has become hugely popular. A boy is sending her pictures… and wants a response.

Bridge started wearing the cat ears in September, on the third Monday of seventh grade.

The cat ears were black, on a black headband. Not exactly the color of her hair, but close. Checking her reflection in the back of her cereal spoon, she thought they looked surprisingly natural.

And once she gets started wearing the cat ears, it’s hard to stop.

This book follows three different voices. One is Bridge, dealing with seventh grade, and how things are changing between her friends. Another is Sherm. He’s writing letters to his grandfather, who recently left their family. He doesn’t send them. Along the way, he writes about this girl who wears cat ears.

Another voice is someone using second person who has decided to take a mental health day on Valentine’s Day. She tries to keep her parents from worrying, but isn’t successful. But she still doesn’t go home. She’s thinking about all that led up to this day.

All the plot threads of the book lead up to Valentine’s Day. There’s no big reveal or plot twist. (There is a little reveal of who is skipping school.) But all the threads wind up, in a nice satisfying story. You can’t help but like these kids, living their lives and figuring out why they were put on this earth — in lovely, quiet, quirky ways.

This is very much a novel about friendship — and friends who let their friends down. But don’t we all let our friends down, in some way or other? This book is about the hard decision of when to give our friends another chance.

rebeccasteadbooks.com
randomhousekids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Safest Lie, by Angela Cerrito

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

safest_lie_largeThe Safest Lie

by Angela Cerrito

Holiday House, New York, 2015. 180 pages.
Starred Review

Full disclosure right up front: The author of this book is a friend of mine. We were in a writers’ group together in Germany. So naturally, I snapped up an Advanced Reader Copy of her book when she told me they were available at ALA Annual Conference.

This is a Holocaust book. So honestly, I might not have picked it up if my friend hadn’t written it. But it’s yet another story of the Holocaust I hadn’t heard before. This book is about a Polish Jewish girl from the Warsaw ghetto who is smuggled out and stays in a series of homes, finally with a Polish Catholic family whose own daughter looked like the “master race” and had been sent to Germany.

Anna Bauman is nine years old when she’s told that she needs to be Anna Karwolska. Her Mama and Papa send her away to keep her safe, and she goes along with different heroic people, learning how to appear Catholic at an orphanage, always afraid of the ever-present German soldiers, seeing other people resisting and other children in hiding.

Anna has to learn Anna Karwolska’s birthday and history. She remembers her grandmother’s saying: “The safest lie is the truth.”

I like the scene where a German soldier is questioning the children at the orphanage. It’s sinister, but I like the way Anna turns it around.

Then he asks a question that I’ve never practiced. “What type of work does your father do?”

“My father is dead, sir.” I don’t feel sad or afraid telling him that my father is dead. I never knew Anna Karwolska’s father. Maybe it would help if I share a bit of truth. “He made furniture.” I want to catch the words as soon as they are out of my mouth. I don’t know if making furniture is a job only a Jewish papa would have.

But the soldier just nods his head, as if he’s bored. “What type of food did you eat for Christmas dinner?”

“The very best of food.”

“What type?”

“All types. There were sweets and meat and vegetables and . . .” — I swallow, thinking of all the good food — “sweets.”

“What exactly?”

“I’m not sure. I was very young and it was so long ago.” It’s true. Anna Karwolska would have been even younger than I was before the war began.

“Anna. Anna. Anna.” I don’t like the way he says my name. “Have you answered every question truthfully?”

I swallow. “Yes, sir.”

The soldier reaches under the table and a moment later metal clinks against the wooden tabletop. “Do you know what that is?” I do, but I can’t speak. “It’s my gun.” He smiles.

It’s a shiny silver gun with a black handle. There’s a screw connecting the handle. It seems like if I had the right tool and a moment to myself, I could remove that screw and the whole gun would fall to pieces.

“It’s your gun,” I say.

“I will use this gun, Anna. If you’ve told me a lie, I will shoot you and all the other children here. Do you understand?”

The screw is a small silver circle on a black rectangle. “It’s not made properly,” I say, staring at the screw.

“What?”

“The gun. It’s not made properly. There’s a screw showing on the outside.”

“Anna. This is very serious.”

I know it’s serious. I understand that more than any of the other girls in this room. “My papa always said that when furniture is made correctly, no one can see how the pieces are put together. But with your gun –”

He laughs. “Anna, you really are the daughter of a carpenter.”

A nice addition to the book is the Author’s Note at the back, where Angela Cerrito tells of her chance to meet Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who saved Jewish children, was tortured for it, and continued to save Jewish children during the war. This explains the ring of truth to the book. I love that this book is a tribute to those who risked their lives to save others.

angelacerrito.com
holidayhouse.com

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Source: This review is based on an Advanced Reader Copy I got at ALA Annual Conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Defender of the Flame, by Sylvia Engdahl

Fiction Review, Science Fiction, Starred Review 0

defender_of_the_flame_largeDefender of the Flame

by Sylvia Engdahl

Ad Stellae, Eugene, Oregon, 2013. 452 pages.
Starred Review

I like Sylvia Engdahl’s writing. I’d ordered copies of all of her Flame books, then hadn’t gotten around to reading them because they aren’t library books and don’t have a due date. So I got this one read on vacation. I’d accidentally purchased two copies of this third book, so thought I’d bring it along and leave that copy behind after I finished it. This plan worked well — it is a book I’m happy to pass on to family.

And even though this is the third book, the cover explains that it takes place 200 years after the events in the earlier books, so you can read it without having read the earlier books. I do now have a good idea of what happens in the earlier books, but I’m hoping that won’t spoil them.

This is a book about humanity’s future. It’s consistent with Sylvia Engdahl’s view, hinted at in the wonderful Enchantress from the Stars, that mankind’s future evolution depends on learning to use the powers of our minds.

Defender of the Flame takes place when humans are on the cusp of discovering all their minds can do. Terry Radnor is a starship pilot, and he gets in on a secret project — defending a planet colony founded two hundred years earlier, where everyone is telepathic.

Terry also goes into training and learns to harness his full potential. He finds out why he was never satisfied in relationships before. Only with the telepathic connection can he truly link with others. On the planet, he finds an idyllic situation. He will dedicate his life to protecting what they have built here.

But things on Earth, in general, are not going well. There is overcrowding, slums, poverty. And the idea of psychic power is ferociously opposed by many, even some in power.

Though I didn’t foresee what would set Terry Radnor’s life drastically off the course he was trying for and the way he would be called upon to protect the colony.

If you let it, this book can read like propaganda for Sylvia Engdahl’s world view, or perhaps I should call it her view of humanity’s future. She’s got a prime directive of non-interference that everyone seems to believe in much more firmly than I ever would.

However, ultimately it’s a hopeful view — and makes a really good story. This is fun reading, about a starship captain facing many tough choices and several different seemingly impossible scenarios and coming through. If you choose to think more deeply about the view of humanity’s future, that’s icing on the cake. Enjoyable and thought-provoking reading.

stewardsoftheflame.com
sylviaengdahl.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Octopus Scientists, by Sy Montgomery

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

octopus_scientists_largeThe Octopus Scientists

Exploring the Mind of a Mollusk

Text by Sy Montgomery
Photographs by Keith Ellenbogen

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2015. 72 pages.
Starred Review

The Octopus Scientists is part of the extraordinary Scientists in the Field series. As with The Tapir Scientist, Sy Montgomery puts herself in the story, telling us all about her two-week visit with a team of octopus scientists, what they were studying, and what they found.

In this case, the team of four scientists was searching for octopuses – to study where they live, what they eat, and even their personalities (bold or more cautious).
Among other interesting facts I learned, it turns out that octopuses is correct, not octopi.

Though many people still use this plural, octopus experts deem it incorrect because it mixes up two languages. Octopus is a Greek word meaning “eight-footed.” Adding i to the end of a singular noun is a Latin practice. The correct plural is octopuses, or octopods.

Most of this book addresses the biggest challenge: simply finding the octopuses, who are experts at hiding. But the team is very successful, and besides scientific results and information, because of this Keith Ellenbogen got an abundance of colorful, stunning photographs of octopuses and other sea creatures in the crystal clear water among the coral reefs.

I love the way the books in the Scientists in the Field series show what actual scientists do – including days of fruitless searching. It includes the difficulties they encounter and the mixed results as well as the triumphs and the new information gained.

Along the way, readers learn a plethora of facts about octopuses, and these facts are told as background in an engaging story, so they won’t quickly be forgotten.

This book may well inspire many future marine biologists. And the rest of us will marvel at the intelligence and beauty of the humble octopus. I had no idea they can change color more effectively than a chameleon, yet are colorblind themselves. Or that they can figure out how to open different kinds of latches. Or… This is definitely a book you should read yourself to find out more.

sciencemeetsadventure.com
hmhco.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of One Word from Sophia, by Jim Averbeck and Yasmeen Ismail

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

one_word_from_sophia_largeOne Word from Sophia

by Jim Averbeck and Yasmeen Ismail

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2015. 36 pages.
Starred Review

This book is tremendously fun. The beginning concisely sums up the situation:

Sophia’s birthday was coming up, and she had five things on her mind –
One True Desire and four problems.

Her One True Desire was to get a pet giraffe for her birthday.

The four problems were . . .
Mother, who was a judge,
Father, who was a businessman,
Uncle Conrad, who was a politician,
and Grand-mamá, who was very strict.

Sophia presents her case eloquently to each of these adults, with her arguments perfectly and amusingly tailored to her audiences.

Her mother says she’s too verbose, her father that she’s too effusive, her uncle that she’s too loquacious, and Grand-mamá that she needs to get to the point.

So Sophia thinks hard and gets her case down to one word, “accompanied by a particularly compelling pair of eyes.”

Now, I expected this book to be an example of how, sometimes, you simply can’t get the things you want. Umm, this is not that book.

Also, kids won’t necessarily get the court references when Sophia makes her case to her mother the judge or the business proposal references in her presentation to her father the businessman or the polling references in the results shown to her uncle the politician. However, those are what makes the book tremendous fun for an adult reading it. And I think kids will enjoy the sounds of the words, even if they don’t grasp all the humorous implications.

And I’m not completely confident that we really should give little negotiators any ideas for how to work. They’re awfully good at what they do already. And if Sophia can con her family into getting her a giraffe? Well, clearly your own little negotiator is much more reasonable. Should we give that ground to them?

But this book is simply way too much fun not to recommend it, so I will be content with warning potential adult readers. In general, I suspect that the enjoyment you get from reading this book will outweigh any drawbacks from ideas your children pick up. (As if they actually need any.) And, best of all, they may remember to say Please!

I should add that the pictures are delightful – portraying a mixed-race family with lovely vibrant colors. And just the right amount of words.

May we all know our One True Desire as clearly as Sophia.

jimaverbeck.com
YasmeenIsmail.co.uk
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Nightbird, by Alice Hoffman

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

nightbird_largeNightbird

by Alice Hoffman

Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2015. 197 pages.
Starred Review

I’ve read at least three different books about a teen who sprouts wings, and how they deal with that. This book is different — It’s about the sister of a boy with wings. In fact, the wings are part of a family curse on all the men of the family.

Twig Fowler lives in the small town of Sidwell, Massachusetts, with her mother and a brother that no one knows about. The town has plenty of tradition – including Twig’s mother’s Pink Apple Pie. But one of the traditions — the Sidwell Monster — is not so benign.

James is tired of living in hiding. And Twig is tired of not having friends. When a family moves into the home of the witch who cursed the Fowler family, and they are descended from that witch — Twig and her new friend Julia decide it may be time to break the spell. But how? And James is getting more and more reckless — and falling in love with Julia’s sister Agate.

This is a feel-good story, and if things worked out awfully nicely, I don’t begrudge any of them a happy ending. We’ve got a kid just wanting friends, a small town infused with magic, and Alice Hoffman’s brilliant writing.

alicehoffman.com

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Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at an ALA conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Elena Vanishing, by Elena and Clare B. Dunkle

Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

elena_vanishing_largeElena Vanishing

by Elena and Clare B. Dunkle

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2015. 293 pages.
Starred Review

Full disclosure: Clare Dunkle is a friend I met when I lived in Germany, and I love everything she writes. But I have good reason! Her writing is wonderful.

Elena Vanishing is a memoir, written from the perspective of Clare’s young adult daughter, Elena, about her years fighting anorexia nervosa. This was released alongside Clare’s book alone, Hope and Other Luxuries, which had the mother’s perspective about everything. I related to that book more, because I’m a mother, too. This book was more painful to read because Elena verbalizes the voice in her head that was saying awful things to her, fueling the anorexia.

I have pages on my site for Children’s Nonfiction and Adult Nonfiction. I should perhaps separate out a page for Young Adult Nonfiction. As it is, I’m going to post this on the Nonfiction page, with the note that it is written for teens, from a teen’s perspective. It may be painful to read, but it does give the reader a better understanding of what it feels like to be in the trap of this life-threatening disease.

Clare says in a note in the front that she thought she knew about anorexia nervosa.

I had believed anorexia nervosa was about dieting to achieve a “supermodel” look. In fact, during Elena’s worst years, she never once looked at herself. Elena dieted because not eating was the only thing that brought her a sense of peace. Anorexia had so altered the pattern of her mind that following her into that inner world was like stepping through a fun-house mirror: everything I took for granted seemed to twist into something else.

Most important, I had believed eating disorders were relatively rare. In fact, around ten percent of the American population will suffer from an eating disorder at some point — the vast majority of them while they’re in their teens or twenties. Now that I know what to look for, I see them everywhere.

But this isn’t the story of anorexia nervosa. It’s the story of a person. It’s the story of Elena Dunkle, a remarkable young woman who fights her demons with grit and determination. It’s the story of her battle to overcome trauma, to overcome prejudice, but most of all, to overcome that powerful destructive force, the inner critic who whispers to us about our greatest fears.

Elena is a fighter, a survivor — but never a victim. This is an inside view of her life-and-death struggle with anorexia nervosa: what she once called “the good girl’s suicide.”

This is a powerful and eye-opening story about a difficult journey.

claredunkle.com
chroniclebooks.com

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Source: This review is based on my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, by Julie Berry

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review 0

scandalous_sisterhood_largeThe Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

by Julie Berry
read by Jayne Entwistle

Listening Library, 2014. 9.5 hours on 8 CDs.
Starred Review
2015 Odyssey Honor Audiobook

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place are the students at a girls’ Victorian boarding school in Ely, England, St. Etheldreda’s School for Young Ladies.

Right at the start of the book, the girls’ awful headmistress suddenly dies, as does her odious brother. The girls don’t want to be sent home! Smooth Kitty forms a plan. They will carry on as if nothing has happened. Stout Alice is an aspiring actress, so she can impersonate Mrs. Plackett when visitors come to the door. Pocked Louise is a budding scientist, so she can determine if poison was used. Dour Eleanor can be in charge of burying the bodies in the vegetable garden, and Disgraceful Mary Jane can distract any men who come around. Dear Roberta and Dull Martha have parts to play as well.

There’s one problem: What will the murderer do if their plan didn’t work the first time? Will they be convinced Stout Alice is in fact Mrs. Plackett and try again to kill her?

This is a delightful book about girls caught in a difficult situation who come up with questionable ideas for dealing with it.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of Ely with the cathedral looming, as I have been there and that’s what I remember.

Naturally enough, it reminded me of Summer of the Gypsy Moths in that both books begin with girls burying a body and trying to convince others that nothing has happened. The Sisters of Prickwillow Place have the advantage of there being seven of them. Can they work together to be able to stay together?

This is a murder mystery with a Victorian atmosphere. I listened to the book, and the narrator is wonderful, using a distinct voice for each character, and all with an English accent which of course makes for delightful listening.

The trailer is wonderful and gives you the flavor of the book.

julieberrybooks.com
listeninglibrary.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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