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Book ReviewsAlfie – a very likeable little chap
I love children! I love books! And I love it when the two come together! It is indeed a rare treasure to find books that…
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Adult fictionWar in the Wasteland
by Douglas Bond 273 pages / 2016 RATING: Gift “Second Lieutenant C.S. Lewis in the trenches of WWI” – if that doesn’t grab you, I…
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Book ReviewsInnocent Heroes: Stories of animals in the First World War
by Sigmund Brouwer 2017 / 186 pages RATING: Gift Animals had a way bigger role in WWI than you probably ever realized. Sigmund Brouwer’s fantastic…
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Book ReviewsPiet Prins’ Wambu trilogy
Wambu: the Chieftain’s Son Wambu: In the Valley of Death Wambu: Journey to Manhood by Piet Prins 2025 / each 350-ish pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Cannibals,…
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Book ReviewsThe Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne 1926-28 / 368 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT The Complete Tales includes both Winnie-the-Pooh, first published in 1926, and The House at Pooh…
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Adult biographiesLuther in love
by Douglas Bond 2017 / 320 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Luther in Love shows us the Reformer from the perspective of his better half. The story begins…
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Book ReviewsJames Herriot’s Treasury for Children
by James Herriot 260 pages / 1992 & 2104 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT James Herriot is best known for a series of semi-autobiographical books he wrote about…
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Book ReviewsJohn Calvin’s Illustrated Institutes: Knowing God & knowing ourselves
Book 1 – Chapter 1-5 by Martin Williams and Joy Williams illustrated by Paul Cox P&R Publishing 2025 / 82 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Have you…
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Adult non-fictionUpheld: A widow’s story of love, grief, & the constancy of God
by Christine Farenhorst 2025 / 252 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Anyone who has ever loved is going to face loss, and what are we to do…
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Book ReviewsThe Found Boys
by S.D. Smith 2024 / 172 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Author S.D. Smith is best known for his rabbits-with-swords Green Ember series, and while this is…
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Book ReviewsMooses with Bazookas
by S.D. Smith 2023 / 160 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I liked this book so much that right after I finished it, I read it again,…
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Book listsMr Putter & Tabby: 25 sweet stories
by Cynthia Rylant illustrated by Arthur Howard 44 pages / 1994-2016 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT It’s always fun to find a children’s book that is interesting enough…
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Book ReviewsMister Invincible: local hero
by Pascal Jousselin 96 pages / 2020 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT My dad wasn’t a fan of superhero comics because he figured that Superman and Batman were…
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Adult fictionThe Dark Harvest Trilogy
The Dark Faith 368 pages / 2012 by Jeremiah W. Montgomery The Scarlet Bishop 304 pages / 2013 by Jeremiah W. Montgomery The Threefold Cord…
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Adult non-fictionThe Grace and Truth Paradox
by Randy Alcorn Multnomah Books 2003 / 92 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I was just chatting with a friend, and we discovered we’ve both been handing…
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Adult biographiesThe secret thoughts of an unlikely convert
an english professor’s journey into christian faith by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield 2012 / 150 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT 13 words: Post-modern, lesbian activist, university English professor…
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Adult biographiesUnbroken: A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand 2010, 497 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT One of the least amazing things about Louis Zamperini is that he took up skateboarding in his…
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Book ReviewsHippopotamister
by John Patrick Green 88 pages / 2016 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Hippopotamister isn’t strictly a comic or a picture book – it is as much the…
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Book listsMo Willems’ “Elephant & Piggie” (25 books)
From about three years old and up, my daughters and I have all loved Elephant and Piggie and their whole 25 book series. When I’d…
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Adult non-fictionThe Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place
by Andy Crouch 2017/ 220 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Did you just binge multiple seasons of that show everyone is talking about over the weekend? Do…
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Adult biographiesGod’s Smuggler
by Brother Andrew Autobiography 1967 / 288 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT This is an amazing true story about God’s miraculous interventions to get Bibles to his…
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Book ReviewsOnce upon a banana
by Jennifer Armstrong illustrated by David Small 48 pages / 2013 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I’d almost forgotten just how wonderful wordless books can be. But then…
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Adult fictionOnce Upon a Wardrobe
by Patti Callahan 2021 / 285 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT The year is 1950, and an eight-year-old George Henry Devonshire has finished a book, just published,…
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Book ReviewsOn the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
by Andrew Peterson 284 pages / 2008 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT My wife hasn’t read this book, but she enjoyed it too. As I made my way…
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Book ReviewsThe Bark of the Bog Owl
by Jonathan Rogers 2014 / 248 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Our hero, Aidan Errolson, is a medium-sized twelve-year-old with dreams that are far bigger. When we…
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Book ReviewsJourney Through the Night
by Anne De Vries 372 pages / 1951 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Christian writers these days, they just don’t know subtlety. They write miraculous stories where the…
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Graphic novelsLuther: the graphic novel
by Rich Melheim illustrated by Jonathan Koelsch 2016 / 72 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I’ve reviewed other “comic biographies” and never enjoyed one more. Luther is scripted like…
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Book ReviewsCanada at War: a graphic history of World War II
by Paul Keery, illustrated by Michael Wyatt 176 pages, 2012 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Halfway through Canada at War, I realized it was filling in an odd…
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Book ReviewsTikki Tikki Tembo
retold by Arlene Mosel 1968 / 48 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT My full first name is Jonathan, but long ago I learned there were benefits to…
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Book ReviewsElla’s big chance: a fairy tale retold
by Shirley Hughes 48 pages / 2003 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT This unique spin on the story of Cinderella is so good it improves on the original….
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Book ReviewsA Family Secret (2 books)
by Eric Heuvel 2009 / 64 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT It’s Queen’s Day in the Netherlands, and the celebrations include nationwide rummage sales. So young Jeroen…
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Book ReviewsLarry Bendeco Johannes Von Sloop
by Larry V. and Mark Kummer 2014 / 32 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT In some respects, this is Tikki Tikki Tembo in a modern setting with the…
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Book ReviewsThe Hobbit: an illustrated edition of the fantasy classic
by J.R.R. Tolkien adapted by Charles Dixon illustrated by David Wenzel 1990 / 133 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT There’s a hierarchy so unfailingly true it could…
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Adult fictionDawn of Wonder
by Jonathan Renshaw 2015 / 708 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT This might, at first glance, seem to be your typical boy-meets-girl, boy-dares-girl-to-jump-off-of-a-thousand-foot-high-bridge-into-the-icy-cold-stream-below-and-girl-shows-him-up-by-actually-doing-it story. And, as many a…
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Adult fictionFlags out front
A Contrarian’s Daydream by Douglas Wilson 196 pages / 2017 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT In Flags out Front, Douglas Wilson has crafted something that is as inspirational as…
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Adult non-fictionJust do something
or how to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc….
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Book ReviewsKitten Construction Company: meet the house kittens (2 books)
by John Patrick Green 70 pages / 2018 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT The author of Hippopotamister is back with another charming treat for early readers. The story…
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Book ReviewsIn Grandma’s Attic
by Arleta Richardson 1974 / 144 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT When Arleta was a little girl she would visit her grandma, where she’d play up in…
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Adult non-fictionWhat’s your worldview?
by James N. Anderson 112 pages 2014 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT If you’ve got fond memories of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books you’ll really enjoy this adult update. This time…
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Adult non-fictionStill Thinking: more delightful doodles, and deep thoughts
by Jason Bouwman and friends 187 pages / 2019 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT This creative, challenging, accessible, readable, godly book is quite hard to describe. Oh, sure,…
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Adult non-fictionProverbs
by Jay E. Adams 1997 / 231 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I grew up with a set of Calvin’s Commentaries at my disposal for my Young…
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Book ReviewsBolivar
by Sean Rubin 224 pages / 2017 Rating: Good/Great/GIFT New York is the busiest city in the world, and people there are simply too busy…
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Adult biographiesThe Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom 1971 / 225 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT This was such an encouraging story, and in so many ways. If you know only…
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Children’s non-fictionTeach Them Your Way, O Lord
by Amanda DeBoer 2016 / 183 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT What we have here is a story bible crafted by a careful, Reformed mother and teacher….
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Adult non-fictionThe Thunder: A novel on John Knox
by Douglas Bond 2012 / 400 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT John Knox turns five hundred this year and I can’t think of a better way to…