Review of Nearing a Far God, by Leslie Leyland Fields

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Nearing a Far God

Praying the Psalms with Our Whole Selves

by Leslie Leyland Fields

NavPress, 2024. 195 pages.
Review written April 18, 2024, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

Okay, confession up front: I purchased this book in a bit of a panic after a writer friend alerted me that she had heard about its publication. You see, I am currently trying to find a publisher for my book, Praying with the Psalmists: Open your Heart in Prayer Using Patterns from Psalms — and the descriptions of the books sound remarkably similar. (While I’m doing blatant self-promotion, you can learn a bit more about my book on my Sonderjourneys blog.)

But friends talked me down. Of course our books aren’t going to be exactly the same, they will find different audiences, and by the time I find a publisher and get my book published, this book won’t be brand-new anymore. Instead of panicking, I shifted my thinking to realize it’s a wonderful thing that I’m not the only one encouraging Christians to use the Psalms in their own prayers. What’s more, now I have a comparable title for my Book Proposal that’s much closer than anything else I’ve found. Both of us want people to know he richness of emotion found in the Psalms, and are encouraging people to use Psalms as a way to get closer to God.

My one quibble is that I don’t like the subtitle, because I think the Psalms show God is not far off. But this book is all about drawing near to God through Psalms, and I feel like we are fellow workers in this endeavor, and I’m happy this message is getting out there!

The books are truly similar, but Psalms are personal, and each of us tells our own story along with talking about the types of Psalms. Leslie Fields tells about coming to Christ, studying in grad school, starting a family. I talk about when my world fell apart when my husband left me and all that followed as I put my life back together. But in any life, there are so many places where the Psalms show us how to cry out to God, and that’s what we have in common.

We both approach the topic by type of Psalm. Leslie Fields covers seven types of Psalms, looking at a few examples of the type covered by each chapter. My book is a little more in-depth, dividing all 150 Psalms into ten types, and presenting a Reading Plan so you can read all the Psalms in a twelve-week study, reading each type along with a matching chapter.

Both of us want our readers to soak in Psalms to get them into their hearts. As exercises after each chapter, Leslie Fields suggests writing out the Psalm you’re going over, with the act of writing helping the words sink in. She also has suggestions for embodying the Psalm by reading aloud with gestures. On my part, I’ve got a chapter about memorizing Scripture, having memorized the entire book of Psalms myself. But both of us are after the same thing — putting those words in the readers’ hearts beyond casual reading.

Her approach to praying through Psalms is a little simpler than mine — she suggests writing out the Psalm, but adding your reactions and prayers after each verse. My approach is to start off by talking about Hebrew poetry and parallelism and encouraging the reader to try that. And with each type of Psalm, I show that specific type’s form or key concepts. So you can write your own (small letter p) psalm, matching each different type.

So it’s a slightly different approach, but both of us are urging the reader to try it themselves. Read the Psalms, yes! Pray the Psalms, yes! Let the Psalms soak into your heart, yes! But also use them as a pattern of crying out to God when in trouble, of thanking God after deliverance, and of praising God’s glory.

And I can only be happy that this message is getting out!

leslieleylandfields.com
navpress.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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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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Sonderling Sunday – Das nachfolgende Abenteuer

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! The time to be nerdy and play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books – sort of a silly phrasebook for unserious travelers.

And this time – I actually have a trip booked to go back to Germany for my 60th birthday, happening in a month and a half! So all the more reason to revive these posts! Want to get the tune of German in my head again.

This week, I’m going back to one of my favorite novels of all time, Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, in German Das Buch der Tausend Tage.

[And hey, Book of a Thousand Days is one of the best young adult fantasy novels ever written – I mean that completely – and if you’re local to me and have a Fairfax County Public Library card, we just purchased a simultaneous use eaudiobook license for a year to the audiobook on Libby (along with many other backlist titles). This is a full cast production and is amazing. Check it out!]

What I do with Sonderling Sunday is look at sections of the book with interesting German translations. I try not to give away the plot, but do try to pique your curiosity.

Last time we looked at this book, we finished Part One, with the two of them trapped in a tower for not quite a thousand days. We are now on “Part 2 The Adventure Thereafter” = Zweiter Teil Das nachfolgende Abenteuer

“I decided to start numbering the days at one again to mark the time when we began anew.”
= Ich beschloss, mit der Nummerierung der Tage wieder bei Eins anzufangen um den Neubeginn deutlich zu machen.

“Who can sleep when there’s real air to breathe?”
= Wer kann schon schlafen, wenn es richtige Luft zum Atmen gibt?

“the news” = der Neuigkeit

“relieved” = erleichtert

“waffled” = schwankte

“tetchy” = ungeduldig (“impatient”)

“a sulky sheep” = ein unwilliges Schaf (“an unwilling sheep”)

“It was nearly dawn.” = Die Dämmerung nahte.

“My lady kept her eyes squeezed shut.”
= Meine Herrin kniff die Augen zu.

I like that schlepped is really a German word:
“I dragged her inside.”
= Ich schleppte sie wieder in den Turm.

“hoarse” = heiser

Love those long words:
“grain husks” = Getreidehülsen

“tossed” = beiseitewerfen (“beside-threw”)

“brushes and ink” = Pinsel und Tinte

“moan” = jammern

“shadow world” = Schattenwelt

“I draped a blanket over her head”
= Ich legte ihr ein Tuch auf den Kopf

“stumbled” = taumelte

“strange” = sonderbar (I did mention it’s not always a nice meaning of “special”?)

“whispers” = Geflüster

“her brain awry in her head and her understanding tilted steep
= ihr Hirn liegt schief im Kopf und ihr Witz ist hinten rübergekippt
(“her brain is crooked in her head and her wit is backwards”)

“a gray smudge” = eine grau verwischte Linie
(“a gray blurred line”)

A word for this in German:
“the trees that line the road” = der Bäume am Straßenrand

“crept” = schlich

“As I climbed atop the heaping rubble”
= Als ich den Geröllberg erklomm

“teemed” = gewimmelt

Last sentence from Day 5:
“She is not well.”
= Es geht ihr schlecht.

That’s it for today. We’re finishing up on page 118 in the English edition, Seite 130 auf Deutsch.

On my vacation in June, I’m looking forward to seeing der Bäume am Straßenrand!

Bis bald!

Review of Drawing on Walls, by Matthew Burgess, pictures by Josh Cochran

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Drawing on Walls

A Story of Keith Haring

by Matthew Burgess

pictures by Josh Cochran

Enchanted Lion Books, 2020. 60 pages.
Review written October 3, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This extra-large picture book biography of Keith Haring is exuberant and joyful – like the subject’s work.

It emphasizes how much Keith related to children and how much he valued the reactions of people to his work. The book begins with action:

Here is Keith Haring painting a mural with hundreds of children in Tama City, Japan.

Keith draws the outlines and the kids fill them in with their own designs.

It goes on to tell about his childhood and drawing together with his dad. Even when he was young, his art spilled out and all over the place.

Different phases of his life are told about with bright and colorful pictures. We see him ignoring boundaries and following his dreams. The book nicely communicates what was important to Keith in a few sentences and episodes like these:

Keith especially liked painting on the floor by the open door where the sunlight poured in.
People passing on the street would stop to watch or talk with him about what he was making. Keith loved it!…

One day in the subway, Keith noticed blank panels where advertisements used to be.
Suddenly, he zipped up to the street, bought a box of white chalk, dashed back downstairs…
and began drawing on the walls.

People paused as they rushed from here to there.
For Keith, this was what art was all about – the moment when people see it and respond.

Maybe it makes them smile,
maybe it makes them think,
maybe it inspires them to draw
or dance or write or sing.

This is a lovely celebration of an artist who painted with joy.

enchantedlion.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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Lunar New Year Love Story

written by Gene Luen Yang
art by LeUyen Pham

First Second, 2024. 350 pages.
Review written March 27, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This graphic novel is sweet and wonderful. Last night, I intended to just dip into it for a few minutes — and came up for air about an hour later, when I’d finished it.

It’s the story of Valentina, a junior in high school. She loved Valentine’s Day when she was a kid and made elaborate valentines with the spirit only she can see, Saint V. But back when she was a freshman, she had a disastrous Valentine’s Day. After that horrible and memorable day, she changed her feelings about Valentine’s Day, and Saint V stopped appearing to her as a sweet cherub, and more like a frightening ghost.

Now Saint V has given her one year to find true love – until next Valentine’s Day. He’s asking for her heart — if she gives her heart only to the old spirit, she can escape her family’s curse of suffering with love.

She finds a wonderful boy when she joins a group of Lion Dancers. But why won’t he call her his girlfriend? There’s a lot going on as she looks for love, and it’s tied together with her own family history, with lion dancing, with friends who have different attitudes toward love, with spirits, and with Val choosing her own path.

I really enjoyed seeing LeUyen Pham draw older characters than what I’m used to. I can still recognize her basic style, but it’s softened, and the result is truly beautiful images. In graphic novels, I like to be able to tell the characters apart, and she achieved that well.

I did not at all begrudge my unplanned hour reading this book, and closed it with a smile. A truly lovely graphic novel.

geneluenyang.com
leuyenpham.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/lunar_new_year_love_story.html

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.

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 Catch That Chicken! by Atinuke, illustrated by Angela Brooksbank

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

Catch That Chicken!

by Atinuke
illustrated by Angela Brooksbank

Candlewick Press, 2020. 32 pages.
Review written October 3, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

I hope I will get a chance to read this book in a storytime some day. It’s set in a compound in Africa where Lami lives. The compound has lots of chickens, and Lami is the better than anyone at catching chickens.

The language is lyrical and has drama and will engage kids’ attention.

Lami leans!
Lami lunges!
Lami leaps!
And Lami catches her!
Lami is the best chicken catcher in the village.

But one day, Lami is going a little too fast and a little too recklessly. She chases a chicken up a baobab tree. Then she slips and falls and sprains her ankle. So she can’t chase after the chickens.

But there’s a nice little twist at the end when Lami thinks of another way to catch chickens, so she’s still the best chicken catcher in the village.

candlewick.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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of Butt or Face? Revenge of the Butts, by Kari Lavelle

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Butt or Face?

Revenge of the Butts

Can You Tell Which End You’re Looking At?

by Kari Lavelle

Sourcebooks eXplore, 2024. 48 pages.
Review written April 19, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

They’re back! The wildly popular kid-pleaser Butt or Face? has a sequel!

Kari Lavelle didn’t change the winning format. You’ve got close-up photographs of an unusual creature’s front end or back end. And the question is posed:

Is it a BUTT or a FACE?

Turn the page for the reveal, where you see the full animal, including how the part you’ve already seen fits into the whole. Pertinent facts are displayed about the animal and how it’s particular butt or face helps it live its life (if this is known).

The animals featured in this book include such goodies as a warty frogfish, a dugong, an axolotl, and an alien butt spider.

I like the Author’s Note at the back that tells us the author got the idea when she read about farmers in Botswana painting eyes on the behinds of cattle to scare away lions.

These books are a fantastic way for your child to pick up trivia about wild animals and have giggling fun while they’re doing it. Who could ask for anything more?

karilavelle.com
sourcebookskids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/revenge_of_the_butts.html

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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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 Harlem Grown, by Tony Hillery, illustrated by Jessie Hartland

Children's Nonfiction Review, History 0

Harlem Grown

How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood

by Tony Hillery
illustrated by Jessie Hartland

Paula Wiseman Books (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), 2020. 36 pages.
Review written October 7, 2020, from a library book

Harlem Grown is a simple picture book about a community farm in the center of Harlem. It’s a true story, and written by the creator of the farm. However, the picture book text focuses on a young girl who attended the elementary school across the street from the vacant lot where the kids got to start the farm.

Nevaeh called it the haunted garden. It was cluttered with wrecked couches, old TVs, broken bottles, and empty cans.

The picture book takes us through the process of cleaning up the lot, and then the kids in the school being shown how to put seedlings into the ground. We’re even told that the first planting didn’t do well, so the sponsor, Mr. Tony, built raised beds for the plants.

The kids took their green beans and carrots and cucumbers home to their families for dinner.

A note at the back, with a photograph, explains that the neighborhood where the first Harlem Grown farm was created was also a neighborhood with no stores where you could purchase healthy food. Now there are twelve urban farms across Harlem that grow thousands of pounds of food, given back to the community free of charge. So they provide food for the community as well as giving the children a chance to tend living things.

I realized that many of these students growing up in the concrete jungle didn’t know where a tomato came from until they were introduced to Harlem Grown’s farms. Now, they happily eat fresh vegetables because they’re proud to have grown them themselves.

So besides being a nice picture book story, it’s also an inspirational true story of kids helping to make the world a better place.

harlemgrown.org
simonandschuster.com/kids

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting, by Sophie Irwin

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Historical 0

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting

by Sophie Irwin
read by Eleanor Tomlinson

Penguin Audio, 2022. 9 hours, 40 minutes.
Review written April 4, 2024, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

As A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting opens, Kitty Talbot is getting jilted by the man she’s been engaged to for two years. She should have never put it off after her mother died, because now her father is dead, too, and his debts will come due in a few months, and Kitty has four younger sisters to care for. How can a young woman in Regency England pay off exorbitant debts and pay for expenses of four younger sisters? Becoming a governess or a lady’s maid would never pay enough. No, Kitty must find a man in possession of a large fortune to marry. Her former fiance was the only local prospect, so to London she must go.

Now, in Jane Austen’s novels, the fortune-hunting girls were more the villains, with a sympathetic exception of pity for Charlotte Lucas. So it took me about an hour into this audiobook to have sympathy for Kitty. But when she makes a spirited defense of her plans, saying that men could go off to war to find their fortune, is husband hunting any worse? — then she started to win me over. It didn’t take much longer of seeing her resourcefulness and determination to be fully on her side. Though I was pretty sure things wouldn’t turn out quite as she expected at the start.

Kitty goes to London with one of her younger sisters, and tries to get introductions to the men who will have enough money to meet those debts. Although Kitty’s father was a gentleman, her mother was, well, a courtesan. They find a chaperone and a place to stay with one of her mother’s former coworkers, who is posing as a widow and person of quality. Now Kitty must meet young gentlemen of sufficient income and not only win them over, but also win their mothers over.

And her plans go so well at first! Not only does she win the affections of a wealthy second son, she even endears herself to his mother. But when his older brother, Lord Radcliffe, comes to investigate, this brother does a little research and quickly warns her off, if she doesn’t want the entire London social scene to know about her background.

Well, that might have been the end for any other girl. Here’s where Kitty thoroughly won me over, because she doesn’t roll over and go away. She negotiates. Sure, she’ll leave his brother alone, but at the price of some help with her fortune-hunting.

It wasn’t hard to guess where this story was going, but how it got there was absolutely delightful.

The characters in this book are what make it so wonderful. Sure, Kitty’s mercenary, but we soon see it’s all for the sake of her sisters. And her cleverness and determination shine through. It’s a fun new perspective on Jane Austen’s world, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/ladys_guide_to_fortune_hunting.html

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.

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 Little Larry Goes to School, by Gerry Ellis with Mary Rand Hess

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science 0

Little Larry Goes to School

The True Story of a Timid Chimpanzee Who Learned to Reach New Heights

by Gerry Ellis
with Mary Rand Hess

National Geographic Kids, 2019. 32 pages.
Review written October 7, 2020, from a library book

Here’s a sweet picture book, beautifully illustrated with photographs, about an orphaned chimpanzee baby who was afraid to climb trees.

It’s all a true story and they took plenty of heart-warming photos along the way. Little Larry suffered an accident that injured him and left him an orphan when he was only a few days old (and that’s all the detail they give about the accident). So human caregivers at a sanctuary in Africa cared for him and nursed him back to health.

Little Larry had to learn how to live with other chimpanzees in the forest of the sanctuary. This book shows the process he went through, with plenty of cute photos of Little Larry.

Little Larry’s new chimp companions had fun jumping and climbing in the trees, but Little Larry preferred the forest floor. The book shows the slow process Little Larry went through to overcome his fear and learn to climb with the others.

There’s fun information at the back, including a page “Speak like Little Larry” that shows three of the sounds Larry makes – the Food Grunt, the Play Face, and the Pant-Hoot – what they mean, and how to imitate him.

This book is visually so interesting, if I ever get to booktalk in the schools again, it will be an easy winner. The message of overcoming your fears – even if you’re a chimp – is inspiring as well.

natgeokids.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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of Big Bad Wolf’s Yom Kippur, by David Sherrin, illustrated by Martin Morón

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Big Bad Wolf’s Yom Kippur

by David Sherrin
illustrated by Martin Morón

Apples & Honey Press, 2023. 36 pages.
Review written January 5, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Oh, this book is too much fun! Thanks to Betsy Bird’s end-of-year lists at her Fuse #8 blog for alerting me to this gem.

Now I always love a little fracturing with my fairy tales, so I’m delighted with this book about Yom Kippur even though I’m not Jewish. And what’s not to like about a holiday that encourages you to ask forgiveness and change in good ways?

So this is a story of Yom Kippur — as experienced by the Big Bad Wolf, of fairy tale fame.

At the start, his neighbor Raccoon asks forgiveness for rummaging through his trash and invites him to the synagogue for Yom Kippur.

Seeing all his neighbors in one place wasn’t a terrible idea. It would be like a lunch buffet for a big hungry wolf.

But Big Bad Wolf gets some surprises at the synagogue, including a bear hug from the rabbi (who’s a bear) and having to remind himself that he’s a Big Bad Wolf, so he shouldn’t enjoy it all too much.

But later encounters that day… with Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, and then Three Little Pigs, get the wolf acting much differently than the reader expects… with nice results. I won’t spoil it for you, but this book is delightful fun with a sweet message about being kind.

If your family celebrates Yom Kippur, this is a perfect book to introduce the holiday to your kids. If your family doesn’t celebrate Yom Kippur, this is a perfect book to introduce the holiday to both you and your kids. And silly fractured fairy tale fun, too!

davidsherrin.net
applesandhoneypress.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/big_bad_wolfs_yom_kippur.html

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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.

What did you think of this book?