A Net in Time

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Trinity by Leon Uris

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I almost forgot!  I’m supposed to give an update on my March book read!  Our topic was Ireland, St. Patricks, Green.  🙂   And I couldn’t think of anything until about 16 days into the month.  Audible actually suggested it to me.  Trinity by Leon Uris. 

I am admittedly not very far into it.  Chapter 7 out of 116!   BUT WOW… am I learning a lot about Ireland and its people.  Done in story form.  

I have been enabled to, at least in some part, to better understand the conflict between Irish Catholics and English Protestants.   I can’t say it’s always an easy listen, and there are times I need to stop and think for a bit, or listen to something a little easier.  But a thoroughly good listen so far.  I’m feeling immersed into the life of an Irish boy, his friends, and his extended family. 

From the cover: 

a sweeping and powerful epic adventure that captures the “terrible beauty” of Ireland during its long and bloody struggle for freedom. It is the electrifying story of an idealistic young Catholic rebel and the valiant and beautiful Protestant girl who defied her heritage to join his cause. It is a tale of love and danger, of triumph at an unthinkable cost—a magnificent portrait of a people divided by class, faith, and prejudice—an unforgettable saga of the fires that devastated a majestic land… and the unquenchable flames that burn in the human heart.

History of Irish Conflict

If you are at all interested in learning more about the history of the Irish Conflict, I’ll suggest some websites to you.  The Troubles was a different period in Irish history and helps explain the conflicts today. 

If you are interested in Trinity by Leon Urus, I have an affiliate link below. 

Please visit the other participants to see what they read this month. There has been a variety of books this month.

When Harry Met Minnie

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Martha Teichner writes a quietly fun read in When Harry Met Minnie.  The love of a good bull terrier is ripe on every page, as is the camaraderie of sharing the lives of dogs and their people. 

Affiliate links will be shared in this review, which costs you nothing but helps me to continue bringing you quality reviews. 

when harry met minnie

When Harry Met Minnie, the basics

Author Martha Teichner writes a quietly reminiscent book recalling the tale of two meeting and how their relationship progressed.  Along the way, in When Harry Met Minnie, we see the impact of people’s lives upon each other. Bull Terriers feature magnificently throughout, with all their quirkiness and determination clearly on display. 

This true story of love and friendship was generously published by Celadon Books and runs at 256 pages.   An ARC copy received to review on behalf of Raincoast Books.   

This is such a sweet gentle read.  So much heart and human connection, and in the midst of it…. bull terriers!  You gotta love the goofiness and determination of a good bull terrier!

But it the people who these bull terriers brought together that will grab your heart and your attention. There is hardship, for dogs and people.  There is death, for people and dogs. But friendship abounds.  Tears happen. Laughter floods at times unexpected.   And you will be glad at the end that you took the time to read this love story between Harry and Minnie and all their people. 

The font is tidy, the chapter illustrations don’t vary, the language is careful, respectful, and very real.   Heartbreak happens. 

Should you pick it up?

Yes.  I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would.  The bull terriers dragged me in, the tenderness of the tale kept me reading.   It will keep you reading to.  So go, find When Harry Met Minnie.  Read it, and let all the connections give your heart a smile. 

Make Easter Meaningful for Teens

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How do you make Easter meaningful for teens?  This was the first thought I had when I saw the crew prompt Easter Traditions.  It’s easy when children are little to do resurrection rolls, dioramas, Easter Eggs, and various other Easter themed crafts. But teens are generally a bit beyond that aren’t they?  Yet, Easter… making it mean something with our teens matters!   I’m not going to say I have all the answers, but I make some suggestions! 

I’ll suggest acts of service, times of learning, and ways to celebrate.

Acts of Service

Teens by the vary nature of their creativity, energy levels, need for good mentors and to be good mentors, and their life experiences make them excellent candidates to be helpful at Easter. 

From preparing Easter Egg hunts for the littles in the neighbourhood or in your own family.  They could take charge of colouring eggs, hiding eggs, and coming up with innovative ideas for making an egg hunt Christ-centric.  

A lot of churches that I know of have Easter morning breakfasts!  Teens can help in the kitchen flipping pancakes, scrambling eggs, setting up tables, and helping with clean-up. 

Times of Learning

Helping teens really understand the significance of Easter can be achieved through good services at your local church, unit studies such as this one, and even Devotionals.  The Review Crew recently looked at Easter Escape Room which might be just the ticket for your teen and their friends.  

Label sin on stone and bury it.  I know… this is a bit odd and I learned about it from a gal on the crew.  Our hope in Christ enables us to be free from the burden of sin.  So write a sin on a stone, and bury it in the ground, symbolic eh?

Making Easter Baskets, Easter kits or various Easter-related items and selling them.  Finding out what meets the market, deciding if they will be faith-based or more secular.   It’s a way for them to learn entrepreneurial skills!

Make Easter Meaningful for Teens

Ways to Celebrate

Have some fun of their own!   Send them on a hunt around town following clues!  They can run it on their own, compete with friends, or make it a cooperative venture.  If you were good at doing this sort of thing you could even make cryptic biblical clues.  Flummox them!  🙂      You’ll find other ideas here. 

Treats to share with others.  Easter baskets for shut-ins, cookies for staff at nursing homes or the hospital, colouring pages for littles, and maybe even making a skit to put on for parents!  A time of fun. laughter, remembrance and celebration! 

Planning Easter dinner.   Some teens will be up to this solo, others… will need some help.   Yet others just want to be responsible for a part of dinner or even not at all!  They might even prefer not to make the meal but make unique place settings instead.  Use their gifts and talents, push their skills a bit, and celebrate the hope we have in Christ.

march2021

What about you?

How do you make Easter meaningful for teens?  Have you discovered something that I haven’t thought of?    If so, let me know in the comments eh?  It’s so good to learn from each other. 

My Faith Looks Up To Thee

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You know what?  I’m actually REALLY surprised that I haven’t done My Faith Looks Up To Thee.  When I saw it in the Lift Up Your hearts hymnal (affiliate link) I almost passed it by.  A nudging had me searching to see if I’ve done it before I have not!   Let’s learn more today shall we? 

My Faith Looks Up to Thee

Lyrics to My Faith Looks Up to Thee

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day be wholly Thine!

May Thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire!
As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee,
Pure warm, and changeless be, a living fire!

While life’s dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, be Thou my guide;
Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away,
Nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.

When ends life’s transient dream,
When death’s cold sullen stream shall o’er me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!

Author and History

Okay, so Ray Palmer palmed the words to My Faith Looks Up To Thee.  He wrote them the day after he saw a vision of Christ.  He had just graduated from Yale.  Mr. Palmer chose not to share this hymn with anyone for two years.  When asked to pen a hymn for a new hymnal, he pulled this one out.  Lowell Mason put his words to a tune, and later told Palmer, he’d probably be long remembered for this hymn. 

Ray Palmer wasn’t just a hymnist though, he was also a pastor within the Congregational church. He not only pastored, but later served as secretary to a large group of Congregationalist churches. Since the pay to be secretary wasn’t good he lent a hand to creating literary works. He wrote 3-4 hymn/poetry books, wrote for quarterly magazines, and as wrote books and discourses.   A father of 10 children, one son and two daughters survived his death (a series of strokes) at age 78. 

Steve Green is one of my favourite Christian singers to listen to.  He shows his faith well in how he sings praise to God. So of course I had to pick a youtube video showcasing his talent.  🙂 

Thinking Deeper

Don’t you just love the call to continue to trust in Jesus?  When we are doubtful or sad, or facing a struggle.  Even when life has run it’s course, the call is to continue to trust in Jesus. 

I don’t know you, but there are times when I question my commitment to the Lord.  I have learned in those times to do as as hymnist does… call about the Lord to booster my faith. It’s only by God’s grace that I have faith in him anyways, so it’s a natural thing, don’t you think, to ask him to give strength to our hearts? 

Alone in the Woods

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Are you looking for a classic middle school read?  One that takes in the angst of starting to grow up, and the stresses that can cause in friendships and families?   Alone in the Woods brings an element of danger, middle school angst, family love, and in the end, some resolution. 

Affiliate links will be used in this review, which as always, cost you nothing, but help support my blog. 

Alone in the woods

Alone in the Woods, basics

Written by Rebecca Behrens, Alone in the Woods tells the story of Jocelyn and Alex.  The first half of this middle school read switches back and forth between the girls perspectives much like in Teacher Griefer.  The last half of this good middle school read was a shared experience for the girls. Could they find a way to work together to survive being Alone in the Woods?   Jocelyn and Alex are friends but having trouble with that friendship.  They go on their yearly trip to the woods where they get separated from their families.  Can they work their way past their differences to get back to safe quarters and with their families again? 

Published by Sourcebooks young readers, this is a 320 page chapter with occasional full-page images.  Rebecca Behrens has written a fair number of upper elementary/middle school reads which you can check out.   You’ll find themes of survival, friendship, family, middle school, action and adventure all centred around the lives of two young ladies. 

I am reviewing an advanced readers copy for Raincoast Books. 

Finer Details

Many of the chapters were introduced with grey scale illustrations.   Not every chapter, I found them mostly scattered.   Simple illustrations that occasionally repeated but showed landscapes from the story. 

alone in the woods

Occasionally page dividers would be these little branches which I thought were very cute.  They suited the nature of the book wonderfully. 

The language was very suited to the audience of youth aged 8-12 years.  

You really get to know the main characters well.  You get to understand the hurt felt and the mistakes made by both girls.  

I found it ever so interesting that both girls were able to use their abilities to help them get out of their dire straits.  

My only quibble is that the cover doesn’t match the story.  In the story the girls were wearing bathing suits, on the cover they are wearing full outfits and good shoes.  

Should you get Alone in the Woods?

Alone in the Woods is a good story about a friendship gone awry and how two girls figured out a way through to the other side.  Friendships change as one grows up and sometimes, with some work, they can be salvaged.  I was thrilled to see these two girls put the work into salvaging their relationship.

If you are looking for a middle school read with a good dose of encouragement to keep trying when friendships are hard and that has a well-done adventure as part of it.  Get this book.  If you want to see girls using their own skills, even in occasionally an unlikely manner… Get this book.   It’s not a hard or complicated read, but should be enjoyable by most upper elementary and middle school students. 

Savour the moment

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So it’s Five minute Friday again and Miss Kate has posted this week’s word.  Savour is one of those words that evokes a variety of memories.  Savouring the beauty of a the world when one goes camping, savouring smells arising from a cookfire or stove in the house, savouring the smells of Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter.  One can savour lessons learned and time with friends.  Currently we are in a change of seasons where out on a walk I can savour the moment as I gaze up spring flowers. 

I can also savour moments in the lives of others, victories with skills learned, total wins, and life skills solidified.  Isn’t it good to relish the successes gained in the lives of family and friends? 

savour the moment

Savour the Moment

Sunday afternoon
A quiet time to rest
Traditionally a day
When Mom is less stressed.

No meals to make
Unless desire to make
Perhaps today is
Time for some cake?

Leftovers await.
Inspiration may arise.
But hold… there’s a teen
Life skills must apprise.

Question arises
What does the lad think?
If on Sundays it’s his turn
For food and drink?

Sure mom he says
I can handle that
If you help abit
Lest the food all be flat!

Savour the moment
Flavours descend
A lad’s willing help
Oh… I might have to amend!

MOM! Help the cry!
I ask what’s betwist
We have no ingredient
Is the meal now a miss?

Teaching I help
The lad learn substitution
Learning a recipe’s a guide
Not always the full solution.

Savour the moment
When confidence is found
No longer hotdogs and soup
Now casseroles abound.

Savouring the moment
When skills learned in life
Mean the lad’s future
Is filled with less strife.

Able to cook,
And learn to adapt.
Part of life-learning
It all seems so apt.

savour the moment

Scriptural Insight

Proverbs 22:6

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

 Genesis 9:2-3

“The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

Matthew 6:11

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

1 Chronicles 9:31

“Mattithiah, a Levite and the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the bread used in the offerings.”

They Threw Us Away

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I was very divided about reviewing this book.  One of the things I love about Raincoast is that if they send me a book I don’t love, I don’t have to review it.  I was very intrigued by the title “They Threw us Away” with the picture of a bedraggled teddy bear on the cover.  I was immediately wondering why they would do with a book about a thrown-away teddy.    

Much of the story I liked, I skipped the bit of it, and then the ending left me feeling… concerned?  I’m not sure that’s the right word.   I had dreams that night which I’d rather have not had…. with angry teddy bears… not fun. 

But let me give you my review and you can make up your own mind.  🙂 

Affiliate links will be used in this review, as always, no cost to you but does help support my blog. 

They Threw Us Away

They Threw Us Away, the details

They Threw Us Away is the first book of a three-part series called “The Teddies Saga”.   Published by Henry Holt & Co. you will find it running at 256 pages.  Geared toward youth 10-14 years old.   I received a hardcover copy with a fly.  It comes in a kindle version as well.  Authored by Daniel Kraus and illustrated by Rovina Cai.

The Finer Details

From the Cover

Buddy wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump, filled with a certain awareness: he’s a teddy bear; he spent time at a Store waiting for his future to begin; and he is meant for the loving arms of a child. Now he knows one more thing: Something has gone terribly wrong.

Soon he finds other discarded teddies–Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. Though they aren’t sure how their luck soured, they all agree that they need to get back to the Store if they’re ever to fulfill their destinies. So, they embark on a perilous trek across the dump and into the outer world. With ravenous rats, screeching gulls, and a menacing world in front of them, the teddies will need to overcome insurmountable challenges to find their way home.

Black and white images are scattered throughout.  The running of rats, the movement of teddies, the darkness of garbage dump seagulls, it’s all there in greyscale. 

The font is a bit small but not difficult to read.  

The characters feel real.  From the bubbly kinda out of it Sugar, to the thoughtful Reginald, the protective Sunny and fearful Horace.  Buddy seemed a natural leader.  They met some good and not so good characters along the way and learned their own history. 

Should you Get it?

So I think if you are a fan of Lord of the Flies, or Where the World Ends, you would probably enjoy this read.  I am not.    I don’t like books, where children are in essence, are sorted pitted against each other. 

The writing is at a higher level so I would recommend it for children probably at least 12 years old.   They Threw Us Away is a dark read.  Suffering fills the pages, but the teddies work together to find solutions.  They had to learn to listen to each other in order to reach their end objective… Find a child, find themselves a home.