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Fiction for Saint Patrick’s Day

Fiction for Saint Patrick’s Day

If your idea of celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day goes beyond green beer and “Kiss me, I’m Irish” stickers” here are some reading selections that feature Ireland, many honoring its faith and its patron saint.

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Picture Book

Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie De Paola

A fun tale about a lazy man who trades leprechaun gold for the prospect of a giant potato. “Saints preserve us!”

Chapter Book

The Secret of the Shamrock (Chime Travelers) by Lisa Hendey

I haven’t read this one yet, but I intend to read it before Saint Patrick’s Day. My daughter loved it, as she did the other Chime Travelers books. Join young Patrick as he and his pet frog visit ancient Ireland.

*Now available to read for free on Formed.*

Young Adult

The King’s Prey: St. Dymphna of Ireland (God’s Forgotten Friends) by Susan Peek

A fictionalized account of St. Dymphna’s flight from her father, who mistakes her for his late wife, the queen. Lots of adventure, characteristic of Susan Peek’s saint novels.

*Free on Kindle March 12-16, 2019!*

Coming of Age

Finding Grace by Laura Pearl

I have a copy of this one on my to-be-read pile! A story of a Catholic girl falling in love for the first time in the wake of the 1960s sexual revolution.

Adult

Historical Romance

 A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman

The Daughters of Boston series follows an Irish-American family on both sides of the Atlantic during World War I.

Fiction recommendations for St. Patrick's Day for kids and adults. @CMAstfalk
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More Christian Fiction Recommendations

The members of Facebook’s Avid Readers of Christian Fiction group is never short on suggestions. When I asked for some Irish selections, I got a bunch! I haven’t vetted these, but I’ve added some to my own to-be-read list.

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Castle on the Rise (A Lost Castle Novel) by Kristy Cambron A Secret Hope: A Novel of Ancient Ireland (Sword and Spirit Series) by Renee Yancy
Maire (The Fires of Gleannmara Book 1) by Linda Windsor
Flight of the Earls by Michael K. Reynolds
Brigid of Ireland: A Historical Novel (Daughters of Ireland Book 1) by Cindy Thomson
The Lace Makers of Glenmara: A Novel by Heather Barbieri The Bonfires of Beltane by Mark E. Fisher
Cloth of Heaven (Song of Erin #1) by B.J. Hoff
Song of the Silent Harp (The Emerald Ballad Series) by B.J. Hoff Irish Meadows (Courage to Dream Book 1) by Susan Anne Mason Grounded Hearts by Jeanne M. Dixon
Kinsale Kisses by Elizabeth Maddrey

Do you have any reading recommendations for Saint Patrick’s Day?

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An Open Book

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Welcome to the March 2019 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!

[image error]My husband stumbled across The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals – and Other Forgotten Skills while searching for a book about hammocks. (Yes, there are books about hammocks.) Not only do I love this cover, but this book is filled with so many fascinating, practical observations about animals, the weather, plants, the sky, and more, that I’m eager to bring it outdoors and put it to use, should spring weather arrive.  The author, Tristan Gooley, has an Indiana Jones thing going on in his author photo and is a seasoned world traveler.

[image error]If you like split time novels, Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson is a beautifully written story set in both present day and during the Nazi occupation of Austria. It  follows the lives of a handful of young Austrians. One is a gifted Jewish musician, one is the young man who loves her, and another the childhood friend who loves him. Interwoven is the story of Callie, aka Story Girl, a lonely bookstore owner in possession of two books connected to Austria and hidden treasure. There is mystery, romance, and tragedy, but, in sum, it’s a novel about the power of stories – children’s stories and our own stories – internalizing them, living them, and marveling at the way the master storyteller has perfectly interwoven each of them.

[image error]I loved the highly original Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. Both fun and touching, it is told in part through the email exchange between two women friends/co-workers and part through narrative from the man charged with monitoring their interoffice messages. I loved almost everything about this story – the author’s voice, the characters, the setting (a newsroom at the brink of Y2K), the romance. I could’ve done without a liberal sprinkling of the F-word, but it was not excessive and always in character. Also worth noting here: reference to “off-screen” premarital sex.

[image error]Connections: Five Stories Celebrating Renewal and Redemption by R. L. Mosz is a quick read of varied short stories that include both Catholic and other-worldly elements. These hopeful stories are great when you have fifteen or so minutes to read. My favorite is the first story, “Golden Boy,” about a man’s fall from grace.

[image error]I’ve just started reading Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdams, and what a great time to share a perfect Lenten selection for teens! A contemporary young teen awakes to find herself in Jerusalem, 33 A.D. Think The Wizard of Oz meets The Passion of the Christ. In what I’ve read so far, the author captures a young teen’s thoughts and feelings very, very well.

[image error]My sophomore’s class is moving into the Renaissance, and he’s reading some of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. This kid’s curriculum makes me want to go back and re-read so much of classic literature that was somewhat wasted on me in high school. The Prince discusses how a great man conducts himself and the conventions of princely government.

[image error]Fellow author (and homeschooling mom) Quenby Olson mentioned The Thrifty Guide to Ancient Rome: A Handbook for Time Travelers, and I knew I had to get my hands on a copy for my daughter to read. Written by Jonathan W. Stokes and illustrated by David Sossella, the book presents a lot of interesting facts about Roman life and history in an easy-to-read, fun manner. Cleopatra’s Perfectly Normal Family Tree, color-coded according to means of murder, is hilarious.

[image error]While I haven’t yet gotten a hard-cover copy of Lisa Hendey’s new book for children, I read an advance electronic copy and am eager to read I Am God’s Storyteller aloud to my youngest children.  The picture book traces salvation history from creation through the Old Testament and then Christianity using the framework of stories and storytellers, including the prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles. It beautifully nourishes the divinely sparked creativity in each of us, but especially in children, who naturally gravitate to stories.

[image error]We’re coming up on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and it’s time for me to help my kids dress up as a character from one of his books. (Last year, my son dressed as Sam I Am with his green eggs and ham.) I like some Dr. Seuss books better than others, but my favorite as a child was On Beyond Zebra!, and that’s the one we’re reading here. In classic, tongue-twisting, silly Seuss fashion, it takes a look at the letters that come after Z.

What are you reading? Share it at An Open Book and find new book recommendations too! #openbook
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Holding on to Hope

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Last month, I had the privilege of serving as a judge for a national writing contest for teens. I was randomly assigned to the poetry category, which left me somewhat anxious. Other than pages of song lyrics I composed in high school, I’ve not written poetry. I’ve read some, but not a lot.

I asked for prayers and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I read entries and did my very best at evaluating the poems entrusted to me. Writing, and poetry in particular, can be very personal. And subjective.

The selection of poems impressed me, mainly because of the heartfelt emotions the students bared. And while some poems were a bit clumsy or poorly written, many demonstrated great skill.

What struck me most about the poems, however, was not their level of quality, but the hopelessness that marked many of the entries.

Now, I know that a hopeless poem is not necessarily reflective of the author’s disposition. An author could write in character. Or a poem could reflect a fleeting mood. It could merely be the author working through a particular emotion or circumstance. (Goodness knows that someone reading my personal journal would get a skewed look at my life reading only about those issues that spurred me to pick up a pen and write my way through them.)

Still, putting aside all those explanations, it seemed these poems by young people, who you might expect would tend to be optimistic or idealistic, proved mainly to be dark and depressing. Emo, I guess you could say.

A single poem among dozens was written about romantic love. A couple of poems meditated on people or things of beauty. The rest remained mired in broken relationships with parents, self-doubt, and darkness.They lacked a key element: hope.

What is hope?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (1817)

Here is what the poetry I read was sorely, sadly missing:

“The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hope that inspires men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. (emphasis mine) Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.” (1818)

In my opinion, any good book, Christian, Catholic or otherwise, demonstrates hope, but hope is a hallmark of the books written by Catholic Teen Books authors. In them, you will find sadness, loneliness, disillusionment, grief, fear, and a slew of negative emotions that afflict us all. But always, always, there is hope.

Hope 'keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. ' CCC 1818
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The Catholic Teen Books listed below highlight hope in a special way:

A Soldier Surrenders – Susan Peek
Angelhood – A.J. Cattapan
Brothers – Corinna Turner
Elfling – Corinna Turner
Fight for Liberty – Theresa Linden
I Am Margaret – Corinna Turner
Someday – Corinna Turner
The Destiny of Sunshine Ranch – T.M. Gaouette

Click to view slideshow.

[This article first appeared in the Catholic Teen Books monthly newsletter. To subscribe, click here.]

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Mining a Rich History, An Interview with Author Carmela Martino

Your historical novel Playing by Heart is based on the real lives of the talented and accomplished Agnesi sisters from 18th-century Milan. How did you first learn of them, and what inspired you to make them the subject of your novel?

I came to know about the Agnesi sisters in a rather roundabout way. Even though I have a B.S. in Math and Computer Science, I’d never heard of mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi until I came across her name in an article about forgotten women of history. I was appalled that there’d been no mention of her in any of my math classes or textbooks. Maria Gaetana was a woman I could have looked up to as a role model had I known of her. After reading about her in that article, I began researching her life with the goal of writing a biography to inspire girls who might be interested in math. During my research, I also learned about her sister Maria Teresa’s extraordinary musical talents. I’d never heard of her either, even though she’d been one of the first Italian women to compose a serious opera.

I wrote several drafts of Maria Gaetana’s biography but wasn’t able to find a publisher. Meanwhile, one of the editors who read the biography suggested I write a novel based on the two sisters—there was definitely lots of drama in their lives to draw from. Both sisters were manipulated by their father for his own purposes, and both struggled against societal norms regarding a woman’s role. I found their lives inspiring and hoped that today’s readers would be inspired by their story, too. 

[image error]Playing by Heart has garnered many awards.  Did you recognize its appeal as you were writing or has the recognition it has received surprised you?

While the novel was still a work-in-progress, I began submitting it to competitions that accepted opening chapters. The manuscript took first place in the YA category of the Windy City Romance Writers of America (RWA) Four Seasons contest and Honorable Mention in a Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators (SCBWI) fiction contest. Those wins led to several editors and agents asking to read the entire manuscript. They all praised the quality of the writing, but they said historical novels for young adults are “a tough sell” and passed on the manuscript. Playing by Heart sat in the proverbial drawer for several years until God led me to a small press willing to take a chance on it. So the recognition hasn’t been that surprising, but it’s been all the more rewarding after so many rejections. 

Your touching novel for young readers, Rosa, Sola, is based, in part, on your own experiences in an Italian-American family.  How were you affected by revisiting those childhood memories?

[image error]I never intended to write a novel inspired by my childhood. Rosa, Sola grew out of a writing exercise from one of my teachers when I was pursuing an MFA in Writing at Vermont College. She asked me to write a short story based on an emotion from my childhood—not just any emotion, but one I could still recall and feel vividly. That led me to write the short story “Rosa’s Prayer,” which was based on the intense fear I felt at age ten when I thought my mother might die as a result of complications following my brother’s stillbirth. When the short story was critiqued in workshop, my teachers and fellow students convinced me to expand it into a novel. While doing so, I discovered I’d never truly mourned my brother’s death. I also realized I was still angry at one of my aunts for not allowing me to go to his funeral. As a result, writing some of the scenes turned out to be rather gut-wrenching. I literally sat at the keyboard with tears streaming down my face. Afterward, I had to take a nap because I was physically and emotionally exhausted. But in the end, I was so grateful for the experience. It allowed me to finally heal my childhood grief and forgive my aunt.  

What about historical fiction appeals to you most, as both a reader and a writer?

I think what appeals to me most is being immersed into a completely different time and place. As a reader, it’s a way of learning history vicariously. As both a reader and a writer, I especially enjoy learning about how the details of everyday life differed from what we have today, and about interesting people and events I hadn’t known of. So when I write historical fiction, I try to incorporate real people, events, and details as much as possible to add to the story’s authenticity.

You share your knowledge and experience in both writing and publishing with other writers through classes, speaking engagements, and your Creativity Newsletter. How important is it for authors to study both the craft and the business aspects of writing?

I believe it’s extremely important to be continually working on craft, otherwise we risk becoming stale and complacent. I’ve been teaching writing for over twenty years and I’m still learning. In fact, part of what I enjoy about teaching is how much I learn while doing so. My goals for my Creativity Newsletter include helping other writers nurture their writing and creativity and helping them see that even published authors continue to struggle and learn. Regarding the business aspects, I consider them a necessary evil if we want readers to find our work.

What writing project(s) are you working on now?

I’ve actually gone back to working on the nonfiction biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi. I feel God is still calling me to get her story published. I’m currently studying published biographies of similar subjects and considering how I might find a new approach to telling Agnesi’s story. I’m also hoping to do school visits again, since I can also introduce young readers to both the Agnesi sisters by talking about how I fictionalized their lives for my novel Playing by Heart. Meanwhile, I continue to do freelance writing, too, to pay the bills.

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Carmela Martino is an author, speaker, and writing teacher. She wrote the middle-grade novel, Rosa, Sola (Candlewick Press), while working on her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College. The novel was a Booklist “Top Ten First Novel for Youth” and received a Catholic Press Association Book Award in the “Children’s Books” category. Her second novel, the young-adult historical romance Playing by Heart (Vinspire Publishing), took first place in the Young Adult category of the 2013 Windy City RWA Four Seasons Romance Writing Contest. Carmela’s credits for teens and tweens also include short stories and poems in magazines and anthologies. Her articles for adults have appeared in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, Catholic Parent, and multiple editions of the Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market. Carmela has taught writing workshops for children and adults since 1998, and she blogs about teaching and writing at TeachingAuthors.com.

Links:

Website: http://www.carmelamartino.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/carmelamartinoauthor

Twitter: http://twitter.com/carmelamartino

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/carmelamartino

Instagram:  http://instagram.com/cmartinoauthor

Subscribe to Carmela’s Creativity Newsletter.

Read Carmela’s blog posts at TeachingAuthors.com.

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An Author’s Best Friends: An Interview with Meez Carrie & Franciscan Mom

Let me introduce you to two fabulous women, Carrie and Barb.

Both are voracious readers, bloggers, magazine editors, and the best friends to authors that I’ve ever met! These ladies have written, raved, reviewed, tweeted – you name it – in sharing books.

As an author, I’m so grateful for both of these women, who voluntarily trumpet about the good books they read. They’ve helped authors reach an untold number of new readers with their promotions, articles, and reviews. They are the avid readers authors write for. And, they’re both responsible for the addition of dozens of books to my personal to-read list!

An author's best friends: Interview with avid readers Meez Carrie & Franciscan Mom
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Let’s get to know Carrie and Barb better, and then be sure to follow them and their endeavors and check out their beautiful magazines!

What book from your childhood do you most treasure?

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Carrie Booth Schmidt

Carrie: I still have my yellow box set of the Little House books – the same copies my parents read to me every night. While I wouldn’t point to these as my very favorite reads from childhood (that honor goes to Nancy Drew), they are my most treasured reads because of the memories.

Barb: I can only pick ONE?! I’m going to interpret “childhood” as “10 years old or younger” and go with the Little House on the Prairie series. I still have my original box set. The books are falling apart. (I kind of want to reread them now.)

Setting aside for a moment your good manners and the need to be polite, is there anything you would like to say to people who simply don’t read books?

Carrie: Well, first… WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Ahem. Then I might add that they are missing out on some of the greatest adventures of their lives – and the chance to beat everyone in trivia games since you know stuff from the books you read (even fiction!)

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Barb Szyszkiewicz

Barb: That idea both leaves me speechless and makes me sad.

Be honest. Just how big IS the to-read pile?

Carrie: It’s really more of a universe than a pile, at this point.

Barb: If all the Kindle books I have yet to read were in print form, those plus the print books already here would pretty much fill my 9’x10′ office.

If you had to choose only one genre, what would it be?

Carrie: Romantic suspense – because it combines the two genres I love most and can come in contemporary or historical – the best of all worlds. LOL

Barb: Fiction. Catholic, preferably, and set at any time in the twentieth century and up to present day.

Tell us about your book- and reading-related ventures.

[image error]Carrie: Oh gosh. It all started with my blog Reading Is My SuperPower in 2015, which led to starting the Christian Fiction Readers Retreat (for readers and authors) with Bonnie Roof and Annie (of JustCommonly) in 2016, which led to becoming part of the blogging team at Seekerville (such an honor!) in January 2018 and starting JustRead Publicity Tours with Annie in February of 2018. [image error]Also, at some point along the way, God gave me a dream to start a magazine that hadn’t really existed before – a magazine for avid readers by avid readers, with professional reviews and articles that celebrate books and the reading life. That dream came true in October 2018 when Hope By the Book was born, in conjunction with Hope for Women and my editorial team (Beth from Faithfully Bookish, Rachel from Bookworm Mama, and Annie from Just Commonly).

[image error]Barb: I’m editor at CatholicMom.com, which involves shepherding the work of about 145 volunteer writers each month. I generally function as an editorial border collie, lining up everybody’s articles and images and putting them in the right place in the schedule.

[image error]I’m also managing editor at Today’s Catholic Teacher magazine and its website, CatholicTeacher.com. I assign and edit articles for the quarterly magazine, add magazine content to the website, and assign and edit several web-only articles each month. I’m also responsible to organize the entries for the magazine’s Innovations in Catholic Education contest, give a presentation at the awards banquet for that contest, help at the trade-show booth at the NCEA convention, and arrange a photo shoot for the teachers who appear on the cover.

How do you juggle all of those responsibilities?

[image error]Carrie: This question assumes I DO juggle them well… LOL …but honestly I don’t get nearly enough sleep. Haha

Barb: Not as gracefully as I’d like to. I make many lists. I have a lot of colorful blocks in my Google calendar. And I spend a good amount of time with a slight undercurrent of panic.

I’m blessed that I can do the majority of that work from home, with the exception of two travel weeks in April. That means that if I need to step away from my desk and handle a family member’s medical issue, I can do that. It also means that if I feel like starting work at 7 AM and taking a break to attend daily Mass, I can do that.

You do so much to promote authors, including lesser-known indie authors. Why do you do it?

Carrie: Because I love story. I love books. And I love authors. And the more I’ve gotten to know authors, the more I see how much of an uphill battle it is sometimes in the publishing industry. So, any time I can give them a hand up and a virtual (or in person) hug, I take that opportunity to do so.

[image error]Barb: The opportunity to do that has been a real gift. I don’t even remember how that started – probably with the offer of a review copy from someone who read my blog, back when I didn’t neglect my blog … but I do love telling people about books I’ve enjoyed. And it’s been fun to discover that there are many excellent books out there that are independently published or from small publishing houses. In many ways, those books have spoiled me when it comes to the mainstream stuff!

Paperback or ebook?

Carrie: Both. Either. Yes.

Barb: Yes. (For nonfiction, ONLY paperback.)

Coffee or tea?

Carrie: Neither. McDonald’s Diet Coke

An Open Book

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Welcome to the February 2019 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!

Snow, squalls, and cold weather have kept us confined to the house more than we’d like, but that leaves lots of time for reading, right? At the end of the day, I’m eager to make a mug of hot tea (Constant Comment, please), wrap myself in a hand-knitted shawl, and hold a book or my Kindle on my lap!

[image error]I discovered The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland via a post shared on An Open Book in January. I’m listening on audiobook, and both the text and the narration have drawn me into the lives of the real-life characters featured.  Alternately moving, gripping, and, ultimately, uplifting, author Jim DeFede took me right back to my own experience of 9/11. A great choice for teens and older.

[image error]Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face to Face Today’s Tough Moral Issues by Trent Horn and Leila Miller presents ten hot-button moral issues, a natural law approach to explaining the Catholic position on them, and tips for guiding both young children and teens. This clear-thinking, common sense approach is a boon to parents and anyone charged with teaching young people about controversial issues such as reproductive technologies, same-sex marriage, pornography, and transgender identity.

[image error]I’ve read At Home in Persimmon Hollow by Gerri Bauer, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover this addition to the series: Trust in Love (Persimmon Hollow Legacy Novella 1). I loved the Southern Florida setting–a part of the United States I’ve never considered as part of the American frontier–and was happy to revisit it. So far, I’m getting acquainted with two Catholic immigrants–one Irish, one Italian–working side by side. I sense a sweet romance budding.

[image error]Working his way through the Middle Ages, my teenager is reading The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. I get treated to after-school updates about who has been confined to what part of Hell. I read portions of The Inferno in high school, too, and would like to read The Divine Comedy in its entirety as an adult.

[image error]Besides marveling at the $1.50 paperback price on the front of my 1980s edition of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, my teen has enjoyed this story as a leisure read. I love that he loves classics. He’s discovered that it’s less the horror novel he expected and more a science fiction story, similar to other books he’s read by Wells.

[image error]In my daughter’s backpack, she’s carrying The Island by Gary Paulsen. In it, a teenage boy discovers a lake island where he learns about nature and self-reliance. (Common themes in Paulsen’s books, from what I’ve seen.) Just reading the description makes me long for the slow summer days of my childhood spent outdoors, trudging up and down paths and along creeks and ponds, observing and thinking. I think our kids could do with a whole lot more of that. At least when we thaw out from these sub-freezing temps!

[image error]I *think* my daughter has, through the use of the inter-library loan system, now read everything she wanted to read in this well-loved series. In Wilbur and Orville Wright: Young Fliers (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Augusta Stevenson, the reader sees the Wright brothers as young boys, eager to create things that fly. The series tells the stories of children–before they were famous. My fifth-grade daughter highly recommends these chapter books for children.

[image error]A Baby Sister for Frances by Russell Hoban is one of my children’s favorites. Interestingly, it was not a favorite of mine when we first read this story of a young anthropomorphic badger who runs away to beneath the kitchen sink  with a package of prunes when a baby sister comes along, hogging her mom’s time and attention. As we read this sweetly illustrated book aloud, my kids reminisce about their own experiences with “running away” and their first impressions of Frances.

[image error]I received a copy of Before You Were Born by Joan Lowery Nixon from my obstetrician’s office after my first son was born in 2003. We have the 1980 edition, which includes very, uh, 1980-ish illustrations: abstract with lots of swirling colors. The text is marvelous, tracing a child’s beginnings from conception through birth, emphasizing how loved the child was at every stage of development. I see Our Sunday Visitor released a new edition in 2006 with more contemporary illustrations. It looks great!

What are you reading? Share it at An Open Book and find new book recommendations too! #openbook
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A Prescription for Hell-in-a-Handbasket Sydrome

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Every now and then I feel a little world-weary. I’m sure you’ve felt it too. The ol’ Come Soon, Lord Jesus-weary, if you know what I mean.

10 Tips for Treating Hell-in-a-Handbasket Syndrome.
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Recently, my world-weary mood seemed to be teetering on the edge of dejection. You can imagine the things going on in the United States that may have contributed to that feeling. Those, and other worries closer to home, forced me to consider how I could adjust my perspective and lift my mood. Here are some ideas that help me and might just help you:

Unplug. Limit time on websites and social media. For me, this meant checking notifications and groups only and avoiding scrolling through feeds.
Step out of the 24/7 news cycle. We used to get our news in limited doses. Ironically, I felt better informed then than I do now.
Get a good night’s sleep. During this time, I was averaging 5-6 hours sleep each night. It’s not enough for me anymore.
Get outside – literally. It didn’t help that during this time it was either extremely cold or raining heavily (both of which included gray skies). And, the entire outside world reeked due to adjacent farms coating the fields in fertilizer. Even so, stepping into the larger world and especially into God’s creation is remarkably refreshing.
Get outside – figuratively. Leave behind the world around you and lose yourself in a novel (lots of recommendations here), movie, or music. Immerse yourself in the arts.
Focus on the  people around you, especially those who matter most. Invest time in your significant other, children, or friends. Look them in the eye, listen to them, be with them. Your interactions with them carry far more weight than a shrill scroll-by post on social media. Same goes for doting on any furry companions you may have, who, blessedly, do not speak.
Look inside. Focus less on the flaws of the world and more on perfecting yourself.
Be a student of history. Things have been bad, really bad, in lots of times and places. We don’t have the market on depravity.
Pray and fast. Self-explanatory, no? Fasting resources here.
Trust in God. See the little blessings. See the big ones. Trust that it’s all in His capable hands.

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Relevant Fiction Reviews: Children’s Classics

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Timeless children's classics the family can enjoy!
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I’ve read a fair number of children’s classics over the years. There are those I read or had read to me as a child. Those I’ve read to my children. And those I’ve read since for my own enjoyment. While I’ve enjoyed them at every stage, I do think that books we experience as children can find a special place in our hearts.

I’ve reviewed a handful of children’s classics below. If you’re looking for a listing without the reviews, there are many more books on my children’s classics Goodreads shelf. I also encourage you to check out the many children’s classics reviewed on Sabbath Rest Book Talk.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At first I admit to being somewhat bored with this book and ready to chalk it up to another children’s story I didn’t “get” because I was first reading it decades beyond the target age range.

However, Sara’s magnanimous way of living grew on me as she suffered a reversal in fortune and her true character was tested. It is one thing to be kindhearted when you have so much largesse and quite another when your mettle is tested.

In the end, A Little Princess is a charming tale, probably best-loved by children, about loyalty, generosity, kindness, perseverance, and the kind of outlook that finds joy and beauty in simple or adverse circumstances.

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An enjoyable chapter book for kids set in medieval England. Young Robin, crippled and alone, is taken under the wing of a friar, where he learns to see possibilities where there appear to be none. The attention he receives help to restore his body, mind, and spirit.

A hopeful story of love, loyalty, and heroism.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read and re-read Heidi when I was a child. But over several decades, I’d forgotten much of it.

Reading it aloud to my children, I was re-introduced to the beauty of Heidi’s simple mountain life and the relationships with Uncle Alp, Clara, and Peter. The setting and the characters are the highlights of the book as the plot seems rather thin.

As an adult, I recognized the simple Christian messages interspersed throughout the novel, which were well-placed.

A lovely classic enjoyed by many generations!

Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Freckles left me with mixed feelings. I loved the setting – all of the exotic flora and fauna of the Limberlost. Freckles was a sympathetic, admirable character.

But, Freckles and the Angel were a bit too perfect for my taste. Too much of Freckles’ value was laid on the shoulders of his parentage and too little on his own character. His love for the Angel was a bit over the top – kissing a preserved footprint in the muck!

Too much emphasis seems to be placed on parentage, above character. While others seems to love Freckles for who he is, despite his circumstances, he himself measures his worth solely by his parents’ presumed character.

Part of my displeasure probably stems from my reading with a 21st-century outlook. And, reading as an adult, when I think this may capture the imaginations of children more than it did mine.

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book aloud to several of my children. The little ones lost interest, but my 9-year old loved it. She had recently devoured the Little House on the Prairie series, and this appealed to her in the same way.

For myself, I found Caddie Woodlawn a pleasant story with likable characters, humor, adventure, and even some heart-tugging moments as Caddie matures and things come full circle.

A lovely book that families can share and enjoy!

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Guest Post: Your Theme in 2019

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Every January, we commit. 

We commit to exercise more and eat healthier.  We resolve to have the best year ever at work. And yet, we neglect the essential part—our spiritual connection with Jesus. 

Some people have the same reaction to the term “spiritual goals” as they do to the word “budget”! Begrudgingly, we settle for the more-easily-said-than-done, simple fixes.  If you ask a friend how they’re going to improve their spiritual relationship with Christ this year, they may give you one of these examples:

“I’m going to pray more.”

“I’ll make it to church every Sunday of the year.”

“I’m going to volunteer at my church more often.”

“I’m going to read my Bible every day!” 

So often in the spiritual life, we make goals focused on the extremes.  We promise to do more, give more, and show up more at certain times and promise to do less, eat less and sin less at others. Aren’t our lives complicated enough already?  When we focus on just doing more and more, our focus drifts away from Jesus and towards earthly works, losing focus on our well-intentioned goals.

When we focus on just doing more and more, our focus drifts away from Jesus and towards earthly works, losing focus on our well-intentioned goals. @JavaAndJesus
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What if we established goals that focus on our spiritual lives?  I bet you’re confused and thinking this is only for monks and nomads. Oh, how we have complicated the spiritual life to mere appearance and not transformation!

A wise friend of mine, as well as one of my favorite authors, practices the concept of having a theme for the year. I read about this a long time ago and brushed it off as another “gimmick.” A few years ago, I felt compelled to try this idea. While the new year is already here, it’s not too late to choose your theme for the year!  Here’s how I usually choose mine: 

Starting around Thanksgiving, I begin to pray and ask God what theme He has for me for the new year. Remember this: it’s not God giving us what we wish for. He’s not a genie! This is the practice of asking Him how we can align with His plan for us.
Involve a few trusted friends in praying with and for you. Share what God is saying to you with them.  Pray together. Encourage them to pursue a theme for the year too. 
Continue to pray daily and don’t forget to listen.  Remember, it’s God’s message, not yours.  Listen carefully.  Listen to what your friends are telling you, look at the books that you’ve been gifted, reflect on where your prayers are focusing.  His theme for you will become apparent . . . if you listen.
Write your theme down in a safe place. I use Google Docs so I can track my themes over the years. It reminds me of how faithful God is. 

I hope that you find the practice of establishing a yearly theme as a fruitful endeavor.

You can find Jason Weirich at Java and Jesus: Brewing in Jesus’ Word, on Twitter at @JavaAndJesus, and on Facebook.  

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An Open Book

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Welcome to the January 2019 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!

Christmas reading continues in our house through the whole Christmas season. While the days leading up to  Christmas were short on reading time, we’re now enjoying a more relaxed pace and delving into some Christmas gift books!

[image error]You’ve heard of The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher, right? (See An Open Book: November 2017.) My husband has been reading The Beer Option: Brewing a Catholic Culture, Yesterday & Today by R. Jared Staudt. It is of special interest to him as a Catholic home brewer. From the description: “The Beer Option proposes a renewal of Catholic culture by attending to the small things of life and ordering them toward the glory of God and the good of the community. Beer has played a surprising role in the history of Catholic culture, spurred on by the prayer and work of brewing monks. . . This book offers a tour through Catholic history and Benedictine spirituality, illustrating how beer fits within a robustly Catholic culture.”

[image error]He’s also been working through a bit of required reading for work. If you work in sales, you may want to check this out: Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount. (Wow! That subtitle fills almost a paragraph itself!) It has great reviews, so if you sell for a living, this looks like one to read.

[image error]I’ll be putting together a blog post with Christmas books, but I’ll share just one more I’ve read here. I enjoyed His Mistletoe Miracle in one evening (that stretched into early morning.) It’s a fun, light Christmas story that includes the smart, slightly irreverent wit I’ve come to expect from Jenny B. Jones. Combine quirky characters, charming banter, and a swoony guy. Then add a pinch of Christmas kitsch and you’ve got yourself a delightful Christmas read!

[image error]I took a brief break from Christmas novellas to read a more serious women’s fiction novel: Swimming in the Deep End by Christina Suzann Nelson. Told in the first person, the book examines the rippling effects of an unplanned pregnancy from the perspective of the unmarried teen mother, her mother, the baby daddy’s mother, and a woman seeking to adopt. Without glossing over the heartache of grief, guilt, and sacrificial love, the author shows the reader that there is joy to be found when we love, forgive, and support one another.

[image error]My tenth grader and a partner selected John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas: A Novel  for an upcoming English project. This story about a couple looking to skip all of the Christmas hubbub for a Caribbean cruise is the basis for the movie Christmas with the Kranks. No one in our household has yet read the book or seen the movie. Any opinions on it?

[image error]We give each of the children a book at Christmas, and my fifth grader was the recipient of Corinna Turner’s Mandy Lamb and the Full Moon. (See my recent interview with Corinna here.) My daughter is really enjoying it so far – which I suspected she would! It’s the creative tale of a sheep/girl (Mandy) and includes a vampire and a werewolf as well! Not your typical vampire or werewolf story, it’s a fun story about friendship with a pulse-pounding climax and an element that resonates in every story: self-sacrifice.

[image error]I discovered Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe because of its inclusion in Ruah Woods’s Rooted: K-12 Theology of the Body Curriculum. This Caldecott Honor Book is beautifully illustrated and recounts the tale of two sisters, Manyara, who is selfish and unkind, and Nyasha, who is warm and generous. The king must choose between the two for a wife. On their separate journeys to the kingdom, their true character is revealed.

[image error]I brought out one of my husband’s old Christmas books to read to the little kids: Petunia’s Christmas by Roger Duvoisin. This out-of-print picture book is an unusual romance between two geese. The gander is being fattened for Christmas dinner, and Petunia, resident of a neighboring farm, will do whatever she must to save him from that fate. A sweet story of sacrificial love.

What are you reading? Share it at An Open Book and find new book recommendations too! #openbook
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