Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Bethany Partner Review: The Gift of the Unexpected by Jillian Benfield

 


I'm not reviewing as many books these days, I'm enjoying many, many books a year, but with the Hoopla app through the Library, I can access many brand new books as soon as they are released, and I'm loving audiobooks in this season of my life.  So it takes something special to get me to choose to launch a book officially.  This book made the cut (even though it's on Hoopla even before my review copy arrived!).  

I've started following Jillian Benfield on social media as her perspective on raising a child who has a disability is encouraging, gospel-focused, and refreshing.  I've read a few of her free e-books, but haven't followed her blog, or gotten to know much about her until I read this book.  But one thing I'd noticed is that even those who are not believers have liked and shared her posts, as her voice is relevant and needed, so I wondered about how the book would be geared.  

Jillian attended college and has a degree and experience as a journalist/TV anchor.  Her husband was in the military for 8 years, and she's learned the life of being a military wife with moves to many states in not a lot of time.  

I knew from reading her memes that she has faith, so I was intrigued to read her book about her Unexpected Gift.  The subtitle is Discovering Who You Were Meant To Be When Live Goes Off  Plan.  

Book's Intended Audience: Anyone who is struggling with an unexpected gift, taking life off plan.  Her story is related to having a child with down's syndrome, but she does a great job making it relatable to any personal struggle that stops you in your tracks and causes you pain.  

Strengths of the Book: 

  • The author's examples of her own pain, struggle, and lament/grief are relatable to anyone in their own struggle, even if it's a different struggle.  
  • The book is patterned, something many busy readers will appreciate, after the introduction, each chapter is divided into Jillian's Story, The Gift (in that story), and the Gift of You (with journaling questions.)  The Book is divided into three parts:  The Gift of Returning to Yourself, The Gift of Unexpected Transformation, and The Gift of Unexpected Purpose. 
  • The lens of seeing the unexpected gift being something wonderful is led by learning your identity from God and learning to see your life as a life God planned to make you who you are.  
  • Jillian's discovery of the history of how people with Down's Syndrome have treated those with a disability, and recognizing that when she opened her eyes and saw that she had lacked awareness of the world around her, and discovered that she was not seeing life through the eyes of others and that she needs to look at how this gives her purpose and desire to use her experiences and knowledge to change the world around her.  

Wonders: 

  • How readers will accept and apply her push that your experience has brought you a new language and experience, and will you use that language to help the other ones who are unseen as you have felt in your struggle, to help others with your growth and experience.  
  • Is there too much of a blend of modern concepts/terms that you could read the book and miss that the author's real intention is for the reader to be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life hearing Him remind you are chosen by God, loved, created for your life?
  • Is the author intending that we deconstruct our faith as she has?
  • Are some of her repeated and intentional phrases packed with more meaning than I might know since they blend more into what seems to be beyond what the Bible teaches about living life. 
  • I wish she had chosen to talk about the Holy Spirit, not just transformation and God.  
  • I wish she had shared more of her seminary story/experience, as she quotes well-known theologians as well as psychology people throughout the book.     
Overall impression:
I give this book 3 stars.  I am bothered by some of the phrases, concepts, and terms used as faith experiences but also in our world having a secular definition outside of a biblical worldview.  

Thankful to partner with Bethany Publisher and read a physical book, as well as to Hoopla the library app where I was able to listen as well when pondering my review.  

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Netgalley Partner; Breath as Prayer: Calm Your Anxiety, Focus Your Mind, Renew Your Soul by Jennifer Tucker

 

I am giving this book 5 stars.  Likely for some of the reasons that others gave it fewer stars.  I learned of this book because I follow this blogger for her strategies (and since she openly admits that she has mental health struggles) on anxiety and stress overwhelm.  I have printed her free resources, laminated them, and shared them with many people.  


I loved the intro chapters that talked simply and directly about all the brain-based research on mindset, deep breathing, etc.  Having been an avid reader of all things mental health, trauma-informed, neurodiversity, and the Bible for many years now, I found her short and informative chapters shared clearly and simply the reasons that these strategies work based on science.  She also shared why she prefers to use her breath to calm anxiety, focus her mind, AND renew her soul.  So to her, it made it natural to add scripture and shorten phrases from key verses, to help support the rhythm of her intentional calming breath.  So if you too seek the Word of God in your life, you know that only focusing on the truth will really set your mind free.   


Some criticize why she doesn't use the direct quote, her examples, etc.  But I think they are missing the point of the book, I believe it is a teaching tool to model how breathing for calming anxiety, focusing, and bringing calm and peace to your inner self, fits naturally as a form of prayer.  She refers to the fact that some who practice liturgical strategies have done some of this. But as someone who has not been directly exposed to those practices in my local church, I appreciate the modeling and examples she gives. 


As a teacher, I recognize that if you want to change the words, or rephrase, feel free.  She is doing her thinking aloud (metacognition) for the reader and sharing her story/experience with these phrases and offering that in a written beautiful book since she cannot come to sit next to each of her readers and show them how it works in her life.  Her breath prayer examples have been free online as a resource for a few years now, and I believe this work is a response to people wanting more explanation, modeling, and the reasons why this is a healthy restorative practice.  


I enjoy her examples, I am stalking my mailbox for the physical copy to arrive, and have a visual to keep out and remind me to use my breath and pray when needed, model it, and support my teens and young adult in adopting this practice for themselves as all of my children have very high anxiety naturally.  I look forward to giving away copies to those who want to try it and need this tool for support. It's great for visual and experiential learners in the book format!  


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher to review and online advanced copy and share my thoughts.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Goodreads Partner Review: Draw Near, Your Creative Spiritual Journal by Sophie Killingley

 


From the Publisher: 

This 365-day devotional journal brings a unique combination of creativity, reflection, and structure into your daily walk with God.

Just like a bullet journal, it includes monthly, weekly, and daily sections, creative prompts, space for sermon notes and doodling, habit trackers, and blank dot pages for extra journalling, lists, or notes.

The first six months of Bible-based creative prompts cover Psalm 103, an amazing psalm full of imagery describing God’s vastness, character, and loving care. The second six months look at Ephesians 1:1-14, which explores what happens to us when we are united to this great, vast, loving God through Jesus. These prompts will help you to meditate and reflect on God’s word and find new delight in Jesus.

This spiritual journal will also help you to:

• connect your creativity with your faith  

• maintain consistent habits of Bible-reading and prayer

• remember what you learned in sermons or quiet times

• reflect more actively on your personal journey with the Lord

So use this innovative resource to be creative, organized, and intentional in your spiritual life. Makes a beautiful gift.

My Review: 

What I like about the book:

  • this is an option for those who need ideas on how to creatively document their time with God, or to get them going in a habit, and it also encourages documenting what you learn in your personal walk with God as well as in your local church and bible study.  
  • It leaves blank dot pages for adding your own notes, doodles, designs, etc.  Plenty of room for the individual to take the suggested concepts and add their own structure or format to the book.
  • It is the right size to take with you and seems durable and well made.  
  • It provides a model in the structure for the first 6 months of studying two specific passages in depth, and it's always good to try a new way to dig into the Word.  
  • The two passages selected Psalm 103 and Ephesians 1 are appropriate to a new believer or a more mature follower of Christ with rich concepts to reflect on and learn from.  
What I wonder about the book:
  • Is there enough structure for someone to pick it up and meditate on the Word with the tool?  Is it too much structure for those who already enjoy dot pages?  Will the user expect a completed example to guide the process?  
  • Would it also be a tool for a group of women to bring to a girl's night out and share something every month or so?  Would that improve its accountability and use of it?  
  • How long someone will stick with the habit trackers?  I love the idea of picking it up daily to keep documenting the progress you are making, and that the author included documenting God's love for you, which is unconditional daily.  
I am not a dot journal kind of person, the blank pages and doodles that it inspires and the desire to look at it repeatedly are not my giftings.  But in this format, those dot journal pages are set up, and I suspect I will find notes and visuals that help me remember and apply the concepts to use.  

Thankful to partner with Goodreads and receive a copy of this new release. 

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Netgalley Partner: Signals

 



As a trained elementary teacher, I was really curious about a book that was going to use the red, yellow, and green traffic light signals for a new behavior system for parents.  Since these colors have become so well known as a behavior management system that does NOT work for many children, especially those from trauma and hard places. 

But to my utter delight, not only has Cherilynn Orr used this long-time behavior management model and color system to redeem that original common classroom strategy.  She has really made it work!  The goal was always to motivate students to improve, learn, and manage their behavior in a classroom, and yet so many kids were failed by the original levels, since once you moved to yellow or red, you identified to the whole room that you were struggling today, and this often was counterproductive and created shame and stress worsening the behavior.  

The model that is taught in this book reflects three levels of a person's brain and regulation.  It also links the truth of God's Word to the science and research on supporting kids from a hard place, and in reality ALL kids in learning to regulate and strengthen their brain functions to reach their pre-frontal cortex and manage their emotions rather than reacting.  The model also expects that the adult embraces new levels of awareness of which mental state the parent is in when interacting with their children.  


Who is the audience for this book:

  • someone who wants to be given instructions, a mindset change, and techniques for supporting children.  The author teaches the regulation system to all people including the adults involved.  This tone in the audiobook especially may be misinterpreted by the listener.  
  • a believer or follower of Christ who not only wants up-to-date brain research but also follows the Word of God as a way of life and for self-reflection and instruction. 
  • A parent, teacher, or adult who is seeking advice for managing the children in their lives who are struggling without the best techniques to seek love, support, and to function more appropriately with others. 
  • It is written directly to parents. 
  • It is labeled a Christian living book but really functions as a 'self-help' book giving the reader a mindset of ideas, strategies, and questions to consider in how the reader manages and processes their interactions with the children in their lives.  
What I like about the book:

The content shared, the strategies and ideas offered, and the research explained in this book from my many years of learning brain-based best practice strategies to support children are excellent.  As well as the why behind many of the concepts that may be questionable to those new to parenting in this way.  Time Ins, offering a treat and beverage, praising and connecting with the child to re-regulate over tackling the problem or inappropriate behavior immediately, which looks like permissive parenting, but is not when done correctly, as a child needs to connect before he or she can be redirected and learn how to resolve the need, problem, or learn the missing skill.  
  • The author is an educator, and the way the book is written in her 'meta cognition' or thinking about her thinking and thinking about what needs the child has that is unmet, by looking at the scenarios as a detective, to identify the why behind the behavior, and a plan to help change the concern immediately and move to a level of thinking where the child can learn a better way.
  • Strategies, techniques, and methods to support regulation are fully integrated across the book.    
  • Images, cartoons, and visuals to support the concepts which make interpretation of the teaching clearer and the tone clear, the goal is just to help the reader grasp what this strategy looks like, sounds like, and how it relates to God's design for humanity and clarifies the tone from advice to content.  
  • The focus on how much managing and modeling our children's regulation rests on the adult remaining functional, aware that the child is not intentionally creating problems, but that they have unmet needs, unsolved problems, or a lack of skills.  
  • Recognition that fatigue, hydration, nutrition, hunger, activity, etc all make the above regulation struggles amplified.  
  • Stoplight Connections: Questions and tasks to complete as you read, that are educationally valuable in applying the concepts to your thinking.  
  • Prayer: ends each chapter and gives a true glimpse of the author's recognition that parenting is hard, often a struggle, and shows our humanness and flaws regularly keeping us dependent on the support of the Holy Spirit molding us. 
What I wonder about the book:
  • Would the audiobook version have seemed less cheesy or more authentic if read by the author herself? I'm not sure.  
  • How many diverse learners may miss the quality instruction, content, and thinking that is so well done in this book because they are triggered by the tone, style, or their misperception of the style of writing?
  • If the unique aspects of biblical integration will be appreciated by readers or will create another trigger or struggle in hearing the much-needed message.    
Thankful to partner with Netgalley and Thomas Nelson to read an e-copy of the newly released book, and thankful for Hoopla to have the opportunity to also listen to parts of the book as I wanted to continue to think and process the book before completing my review.  

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Goodbook Partner Review: Board Books with Truth for Toddlers

Releasing August 23, 2022 three new board books just for your little ones!  

Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know by Melissa Krueger and illustrated by Isobel Lundie Board Book  

My thoughts on the picture book here.

I am not often a fan of the board book version of a real children's hardback book, I'd compare it to whether or not you like the movie version of a book, and most of us find that it just doesn't measure up to our own imagination and love of the book.  I'm happy to report I LOVE this version of the book.  All the important aspects of the love of Jesus are still present.  So if you have a board book-age kid, it's a great connection to the bigger version for their older siblings or friends.  

I like the picture book version so much that I bought two cases when it came out and continue to give it as a gift.  Rhyme, repetition, and the truth of Jesus' love are a total delight!  This is simpler but the point is still clear.  

The Awesome, Super Fantastic Forever Party by Joni Erickson Tada and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

My thoughts on the picture book are here.  This simplified board book will communicate the truth of God's Word for your toddler and give each listener, including adults, a good view of the Heaven we all await for when Jesus returns, and we start a forever party!  




Any time, Any Place, Any Prayer by Laura Wifler and Illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

My thoughts on the picture book are here.  

This book simplifies the original book into clear, understandable language for the little ones, and does not disappoint.  It clearly defines prayer and simplifies the original book without losing its purpose.  I love the speech bubbles with real-life models of prayer.


Thankful to partner with the goodbook company and 
review early copies of these soon-to-be available board books!

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Waterbrook Partner Review: The Stories of God (and Kiki) by Dave Connis and Art by Amy Domingo


The second book from a new series, each book is a Story of God, and a young girl.  

What I Like About the Book:

  • These characters are young girls and different ethnicities, so more children can read books that have people that resemble them.  
  • The concept is that God and Kiki are like each other because God made it that way and the comparison threads throughout the book in delightful ways sharing truth from God's Word.   
  • The Artwork has personality, style, and life, and definitely builds style in the text and concepts of the book. 
  • The author's perspective and tone share Kiki's perspective (a very imaginative kid). 
  • The concepts communicated through the book are that there are differences between Kiki and God, and the book communicates the truth about who God is, as well as how God thinks Kiki is awesome and Kiki thinks God is awesome
What I Wonder About the Book: 
  • The art on some pages is so bright and busy, it distracts me, will it distract the littles who are the intended audience?  I think the style of the book will encourage re-reads, and noticing the details, so I'm not sure. 
  • The connection is that God writes 'stories' like Kiki when her stories are obviously fiction and not quite true, but God's writing shares the joy, light, and a new heaven and earth.   So not all adults will appreciate this element, as the growing awareness in children's ministry is that the bible is a book of historical events that really occurred and that show us who God is.  This aspect is leaned into in this book, but the word 'stories' bothers some as a child thinks of stories as fiction and not true.   
Thankful to partner with Waterbrook and read a pdf copy of the book.  

Friday, June 3, 2022

Goodbook Partner Review: He Will Be Enough: How God Takes You by the Hand Through Your Hardest Days by Katie Faris


From the introduction:  "The question I was faced with on that day, and on many days since, was this: Will Jesus be enough, even now? Even when I don't understand?  Even when the future I mapped out has been upended? Even ... In the years since that day, I've discovered that the answer to those questions is Yes, Jesus is enough."  


We are living in hard days, and this book is an excellent tool for whatever hard situation you are facing, it will draw you in, you will relate to the anecdotes of the author's life, and others that she knows, and it is a huge blessing, as each of the 20 readings points you to a new way that God is present in all of life, and especially the angles of hard.  


Each of the chapters focus on who God is in a different relatable aspect.  The author shares truth from the Word of God, examples in life, and a sample prayer, and ends each reflection with questions to answer, and a scripture to read and consider this aspect of who God is to YOU!  

This book is directed to believers, who use the Bible, as a lens of how to see God in all of life, and as our life.  If that perspective, isn't one you can embrace or be challenged with this book isn't for you.  But for anyone willing to recognize that God is present even today and who needs reminders in those 'soul amnesia' moments we all have, it is for you.  Thankful to partner with the Goodbook company and read an early release.  It's a book worth owning and sharing with others.