Saint Valentine the Kindhearted: The History and Legends of God’s Brave and Loving Servant

Written and Illustrated by Ned Bustard

This picture book presents an interesting review of what is known about Saint Valentine.

Bustard is both the author and illustrator. I particularly enjoyed the illustrations done in woodcut style and then embellished with bright colors.

The story is presented in rhyme. Each part is a kind of vignette about different aspects of Valentine’s life. They include his experiences with individuals as well as soldiers and the Emperor Claudius. Despite imprisonment, Valentine continued to write his poetry about the four types of love and sent some of them as lettters. Hence, the origin of sending Valentine’s on the date of his martyrdom, February 14th.

I believe this book will have wide appeal with Christian schools and parents

Reviewed by Barbara Mojica for Net Galley.

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Born in a Treacherous Time (Dawn of Humanity Book 1)

Written by Jacqui Murray

I read Jean Auel’s series and as other reviewers have mentioned, this series has a similar flavor.

The reader meets Lucy, a Homo Habilis creature, living in Africa 1.8 million years ago. She struggles each day to live to the next one. The author introduces a slew of characters. At the beginning of the book, it is difficult to sort them out, but they add depth to a plot that includes descriptions of ancient peoples struggles to communicate, to hunt and be hunted, and compete with an environment they did not know how to control.

This book is, of course, historical fiction. The amount of historical evidence is scant and much is left to our imagination. In my opinion, Murray does an excellent job of fitting the pieces together while adding compassion and empathy to soften the rough edges.

Recommended for readers ages ten and older who enjoy historical fiction, especially in the prehistory genre.

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Celebration Babies: Highlighting Special Events for Babies, Toddlers, and Children, from Around the World

Written by Stephanie Seidler

Illustrated by Pete Olcyzk

This picture book packs a lot into forty pages. The author covers countries from around the globe and their cultural celebrations. These include celebrations connected with religion, holidays, heritage, and environment.

The description mentions that the book is appropriate for babies and toddlers. While the illustrations will enthrall that age group, the vocabulary and length of sentences are too complicated for that audience. Parents and teachers will need to adapt it to make the concepts clear for them. I would suggest making the font of the text a bit larger so that new readers might be able to handle it better.

Nevertheless, this is a beautiful book to place on a parent or teacher’s bookshelf to celebrate the best of all our cultures and remind children of the beauty of diversity and multiculturalism. I especially recommend it for ages five through nine.

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The Pharaoh’s Stone: (The Stone Collection)

Written by Nick Hawkes

This book is part of a series that may be read as a stand-alone novel.

Peter has just been released from prison in London. He meets Alex, a history professor and they form an unlikely alliance. They team up with an Egyptologist named Beth to solve an Egyptian mystery. All of this combined with Freemasonry makes for an interesting read.

This author has sometimes been criticized for injecting too much of his religious opinion within his stories but this did not particularly bother me because the characters were intriguing and the twists and turns of the plot held my interest and kept me reading. Recommended especially for those who enjoy mysteries and ancient Egypt. Appropriate for middle-grade, young-adult, and adult readers.

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Agnes’s Rescue: A True Story of an Immigrant Girl

Written by Karl Beckstrand and Veara Southworth Fife

Illustrated by Sean Sullivan

This book is book one of a series for children about young immigrants.

Agnes was born in Scotland and lived there with her siblings. After her father’s disappearance at sea, her mother turns to the Mormon faith. When Agnes turned nine in 1856, her mother had saved enough money to sail to America and become a part of the Latter-Day Saints community in Utah.

Their journey contained numerous perils. After sailing to New York, they took a train to Iowa. There the hardships began. The family must walk pulling a cart with their possessions. Their food supplies became depleted, and the weather turned frigid. Agnes and her family faced frostbite and near annihilation.

The story is biographical and written by a descendant. Sean Sullivan does a marvelous job with emotive illustrations. I like the interactive aspect of the book allowing readers to revisit the story by answering questions and voicing their opinions. This series is sure to inspire readers in elementary and middle school.

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Celebration Babies: Highlighting Special Events for Babies, Toddlers, and Children, from Around the World 

Written by Stephanie Seidler

Illustrated by Pete Olczyk

This picture book packs a lot into forty pages. The author covers countries from around the globe and their cultural celebrations. These include celebrations connected with religion, holidays, heritage, and environment.

The description mentions that the book is appropriate for babies and toddlers. While the illustrations will enthrall that age group, the vocabulary and length of sentences are too complicated for that audience. Parents and teachers will need to adapt it to make the concepts clear for them. I would suggest making the font of the text a bit larger so that new readers might be able to handle it better.

Nevertheless, this is a beautiful book to place on a parent or teacher’s bookshelf to celebrate the best of all our cultures and remind children of the beauty of diversity and multiculturalism. I especially recommend it for ages five through nine.

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Family Means…:A children’s picture book about diversity, inclusion, and love

Written by Matthew Ralph

Illustrated by Badrus Soleh

This multicultural picture book reveals the plethora of family groups that may make a family. It includes families of different races, religions and abilities, including those with disabilities.

The author emphasizes the qualities that families share rather than the physical or surface differences. For example, families share activities, work as a team, learn from each other, cheer each other up, and love one another.

At the end of the book, there is a space for readers to interact by defining what family means to them and drawing a picture of their own family. A charming bedtime story or read aloud book for preschool and elementary school children, families, and teachers.

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Stories of Elders: What the Greatest Generation Knows About Technology That You Don’t

Written by Veronica Kirin

This book is a fascinating study conducted by a trained anthropologist who became an entrepreneur. Kirin traveled across America to interview members of what she calls The Greatest Generation, Americans who were born before 1945. She wanted to discover what it was like to live before the advent of technology from the mouths of those who grew up living without it.

Kirin developed a list of fifteen interview questions which covered basic demographic information as well as the type of childhood, their occupations, and how technology has changed their lives and those who are growing up in a world dominated by technology. Her questions touched on poverty, economic issues, family, religion, safety, and community. Her conclusions discuss the advantages and disadvantages of growing up with or without technology. Kirin provides a list of participants in an index.

I believe that millennials will find this study interesting and enlightening. As a person who grew up between these two groups, I found the information fascinating.

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If Lou were Me and Lived in… the Ancient Mali Empire

Written by Carole P. Roman

Illustrated by Mateya Arkova

Take a step back in time to the 1300’s into The Kingdom of Mali, the most powerful empire in the Western Sudan. Imagine yourself as a child in a wealthy family living in the capital city of Niani at the crossroads of the caravan road that led to Mecca. Your grandfather and father are important advisers to the king. There is no written language. As the griot, your grandfather’s job is to hold in memory and recite the history of the people.

This book details the story of the Mandinka people. Learn about the culture and religions of the people, the farmers, artisans, and slaves who kept the economy functioning. The roles of family members differed greatly according to gender and order of birth. Foods, customs, and manner of dress are examined. At the end of the story, the author provides portraits of many of the individuals discussed as well as vocabulary words unfamiliar to readers from other parts of the world.

Arkova does a marvelous job of capturing the essence of the text in simple, colorful illustrations that portray its meaning in visual terms. There is an extraordinary amount of information packed into this picture book. Younger children will enjoy the illustrations, but I highly recommend it for children in grades five through eight as well. Wonderful classroom reference resource for teachers to place in their bookcase.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and voluntarily chose to review with my honest opinions for no monetary compensation.

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If You Were Me and Lived in …Ancient Greece

Written by Carole P. Roman

Illustrated by Mateya Arkova

This book is part of a new series which looks at the cultures and customs not of individual countries but about civilizations throughout time. Ancient Greece is the topic of the first release. The author begins by describing the geographical location of Greece and how Greece may have looked in the past contrasting it with the present. Unlike the other series, this book covers a much broader time period, and the author chooses to stage her character as a child living around 350 B.C. in classical Greece. There is no mention of the previous Greek Archaic Period, the rule of the aristocracy or the tyrants which eventually evolved into the establishment of democratic city states. Much of the book discusses everyday life, food, dress, education, family structure, occupations, and religion. Roman ends her discussion with the military conqueror Alexander the Great who established an empire, and whose death would usher in the end of the classical period and the beginning of the Hellenistic Age.

There is a great deal of information simplified and condensed for the elementary school and middle school reader. I would have liked to see more detailed maps showing locations and some actual photographs, though the simple, soft pastel illustrations are lovely and appealing for a younger reader. The glossary and list of gods and goddesses are helpful because readers will need to reference these to keep track of all the information. No doubt this book will open a child’s eyes to the vast legacy of ancient Greece and provide an excellent starting ground for future explorations on the political, social, religious, scientific and educational contributions of ancient Greece.

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