Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Nikki Werner is just finishing up teaching literature for the school year when she struggles with her parent's divorce. She is so shook up that she just isn't herself and she isn't even sure who she is anymore. In The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold, the reader follows Nikki through a summer of personal growth as she comes to terms with the family issues of today and those in her roots.  As her summer off from school begins, Nikki has reached a breaking point with her parents' divorce. She is upset with her dad for running off with another woman and getting married--which she has just found out about the wedding on social media. She aches for her mom. She struggles with her boyfriend, Isaac, and isn't sure how to move forward with the relationship. So she runs. She runs to the farm her father grew up on and stays there for the summer helping her uncle remodel a house. In that house, she finds a hand-written recipe book from her great-grandmother and

  First Words of Christmas from Worthy Kids is illustrated by Madeleine Marie with simple, colorful illustrations. This board book has easy to turn thick cardboard pages for children ages three and under to learn words and simple phrases by sight. The book measures about seen inches square and would easily make a nice gift for a toddler. First Words of Christmas tells the story of Jesus birth and would work for most, if not all, denominations as it is quite basic and simple. This simplicity of the book makes it great for toddlers to learn words and start to understand the true meaning of Christmas. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.