Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Reading this book again was more than worth. Having grown exponentially in my reading capacity and comprehension since the last time I read it, I enjoyed it exponentially more the second time around. 

This brilliant last segment of the Harry Potter Saga had me enthralled from the first page. Even though I know this story very well, the books are so much richer and deeper than the movie and reading the internal struggles with the external drama had me drawn into their world. More than once I found my eyes moist, feeling with them what needed to be done or what they thought. 

The battle of good vs evil, light vs dark has been at the center of tales since the fall in the garden, and this story tells it with great feeling and detail. As I read the details of this incredible story, I found myself baffled that this woman is no where close to Christian in her faith. The details that mirror things from the Bible are fantastic and it's a reminder that even those that don't know God through Jesus still have a longing for that Savior and tell stories with one in it. This book has the opportunity to open doors with non-believers who enjoy these books to show them that while this book shows an imperfect savior, there is a Perfect Savior that we can know and trust. 

Rowling is such an artful story teller and it was a treat to read this again for personal study as well. I look forward to reading these books again with my children as they grow and learn to grow in my writing as well. 

5 stars for this final episode

Reading Challenges:

I'm using this book as a book with at least 400 pages in the Avid section of the Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge

Stories from Africa

This book is a part of our Core P4/5 with Sonlight.

We greatly enjoyed reading this book and hearing about God's miracles in Africa. This book of six short stories are simple and easy to read and understand. Each story is a beautiful picture of what it means to trust God when it's hard, scary and painful. Right now it's a poignant read and great for talking about what we need to do to prepare for trying times. We also marveled at the miracles that God did to help people. One story in particular James said, "Wow, God did 5 miracles in that story!" Such an amazing thing to see children recognizing.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

5 Stars for these mission stories

Reading Challenges:

This book is counting for a book with two or more authors with Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge in the avid section.

The Hundred Dresses

This short children's classic is part of our Core A curriculum with Sonlight.

This book is a beautiful yet sad story about learning to do what is right even when it's hard. I absolutely loved reading it with my children and talking through the challenging issues together. This book has openings for discussion on loving people different than you, standing up for people when others are making fun of them and getting to know people. It is well written and has short chapters so you can read through it in one sitting or break it up.

I highly recommend this book and using it for discussions!

5 Stars

Reading Challenges: 

This book is being used as A Book for Children as part of the Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge in the light section. 

New Toes For Tia

 This book is part of our Core P4/5 from Sonlight.

This is a fun book that explores the battle of coming to faith in Jesus in a culture that is Buddhist and Animist through a challenge. Tia had a childhood accident burning her toes, making it hard to walk and live life as she had before. Her family learns about a hospital that could help, but they're afraid. Follow Tia as she gets her new toes.

5 Stars for this faith story

Reading Challenges:

This book is being included in the Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge as a book with an image of a person on the cover in the light section

The Gods Must Be Angry

 This book is from Core P4/5 in our Sonlight Curriculum.

This true story from Thailand is such a beautiful book of God working and moving. Bradit was conducting the band and broke his family's happy idol which led to many questions about their gods and their faith. This book shows the wrestling with questions and coming to faith of a family and is a great read for children. This book is excellent for discussing why Jesus is the only Way to God and the true faith. 

4.5 Stars

Reading Challenges:

This book is A Book Based on a True Story in Tim Challies's 2021 Reading Challenge from the Committed section of the challenge.

Least of All

 Least of All is a read aloud from our Core A Sonlight Curriculum.

To be honest, I don't know what to think about this book. I like the hard work and the different things that you see them doing on the farm but not how they treat Raven Hannah since she's young. I so appreciate that Raven Hannah takes initiative to learn to read because my oldest was like that, but not how she responds to it with Grandma. It's a very odd mix and I don't really know what to do with it. 

The children liked it but it was not one of their favorites.

3 stars.

This book doesn't fit in any reading challenges for the year. 

Window on the World

This book was part of our Bible and History studies with Sonlight Core C.

Window on the World is a great snapshot of different countries and people groups all over the world. We absolutely love learning about different people all over the world and learning how God is working and moving in different places. Along with the culture and people groups we also learned about other prominent religions around the world and how those religions differ from Christ-following. This gave us an opportunity to look at how different Christ and His salvation is vs the others that require you to work hard enough or be good enough to earn your salvation. 

I appreciate that this book was real and didn't shy away from hard things and explained them in a way that was easy to share with children of all ages. Our family enjoyed reading about and praying for these people together as we learned what God was doing in those places. Even with all my world missions studies there were a few groups I was unfamiliar with and enjoyed learning about. In fact, I want to go visit one of these people groups during my life time if the Lord allows it.

The biggest downside with this book is that it's 20 years old. I would love to see this updated to know how this book has helped people pray and to see what God has done in these people groups since this book was published. 

I also struggled with the wording of some of the prayer requests, but that may just me be and my idiosyncrasies. I absolutely recommend this book, I'm just not sure I can give it five stars.

4 stars