CAMP MAX – Book Review by Kathryn Dover
I enjoyed reading the delightful children’s story, Camp Max by Penny Reeve. The illustrations drew me into the book. The first page is an illustration of the main character, Tania Abbey, and several more exist throughout the book. Camp Max goes beyond being a simple children’s story; it reveals powerful life lessons. Through Tania’s point […]
Barking with The Big Dogs: Hope and Honesty for Children by Karley Conklin
“It is necessary to be hopeful to write successfully for children, yes, because children themselves are generically hopeful, but the quality of hopefulness is not an immature quality.” -Natalie Babbitt ( pp 42) Natalie Babbitt’s book Barking with the Big Dogs is a collection of her essays and speeches written over several years. In all the […]
Social-Distancing for Writers
This week has been a turning point for the COVID-19 crisis in the United States. Many governors have enacted stay-at-home-orders, New York is erecting temporary field hospitals, and American manufacturers have pledged to build ventilators and protective equipment. All of this made me wonder: what does social-distancing for writers look like? As writers, we […]
This is Your Captain Speaking: Book Review by Teen Reviewer, Kathryn Dover
This Is Your Captain Speaking is not a typical actor’s memoir, so I was pleasantly surprised when I purchased this autobiography for a quarter at a used bookstore. The title is derived from Gavin MacLeod’s popular role as the captain on the 1970s television show The Love Boat. Interestingly, MacLeod dedicates the book “to the […]
Combat!- Part II
“In the Christian life, one fact is crystal clear: we are at war. It involves every Christian—and collectively the entire Church—and it is a holy war. It does not involve physical combat; it is against spiritual enemies. It is a hard-fought war, demanding everything a believer has and is…To do their part in this war, […]
Driven: Book Review by Teen Reviewer, Kathryn Dover
I first noticed the inscription in front of DRIVEN by Betty Pfeiffer that all profits go to Hmong charities. This is a great tribute to the subjects of this book, Payeng Yaj and Shongfue Khang. I also noticed that on the back cover of the book, the pictures of the real Payeng and Shongfue are blurred […]
Himalayan Adventures: A Teen Review
I was instantly drawn to this book by the beautiful illustrations of animals on the cover and the interior pages. Since I am an animal lover, the stories of exotic animals kept my attention. Himalayan Adventures by Penny Reeve is a unique book. As the name implies, the book relates adventures the author heard about […]
CONTENTMENT: MY Writerly Word for 2020
This past year was a difficult one for me. Due to our financial situation, we have not been able to travel, which has always been my go-to for inspiration. A new destination has the ability to shake up my brain cells and send them in a new direction, but this year, they stopped. Cold. […]
Any Good Thing: Adult Christian Fiction by Joy Rancatore + Giveaway
Joy Rancatore‘s debut novel dramatically opens with 15-year-old Jack Calhoun’s life permanently altered: a teenage drag race ends in death and disaster. From that point onward, Jack shoulders the guilt of four deaths–compounded later by two other deaths for which he takes responsibility. Set up in five acts (you may have to look up “instauration” […]
Grow Your Writing Skills — Part III by Emily Babbitt
In an effort to grow my copywriting skills, I took Ian Lurie’s LinkedIn Learning course “Learning to Write Marketing Copy.” He broke copywriting down into four easy steps: create a plan, free write, write your first draft, and polish your writing. While the course focused specifically on writing marketing copy, I’ve been able to apply […]