Book Review Of "The Wide Horizon" By Loula Grace Erdman

The Wide Horizon, the second book in the Texas Panhandle Series by Loula Grace Erdman is about Melinda's younger sister, Katie.
Unlike her older sister, Katie Pierce is more art like. When her mother's mother gets sick and needs help, Katie offers to take care of the household while her mother is away. Having to cook for her father, two brothers, and younger sister, Katie has her hands full. Can she take care of the household, or will it be too much?

My Review: This was my second favorite of the books in this series, and like the book The Wind Blows Free , before this book, there was nothing that I remember that is very objectional in it.

Book Review Of "Remembered" By Tamera Alexander

Remembered is the tale of a french woman named Veronique. Her father had left for America when she was a little girl, but never returned. Now she is on a mission to find him, though she does not know where he is exactly, or even if he is alive! Will she find him?

Jack Brennan has said his final goodbye to his dead wife and child at their graves. When he meets Veronique, what part will he play in her life, and she in his?


My Review: I really liked this book. It was the first story by Tamera Alexander that I read(she is now one of my favorite authors), and it is the third book in the Fountain Creek Chronicles (you do not need to read the other two books to enjoy this story). The only objectionble things that I remember is the mentioning of strong beverages and that some of the men in mining camps she visits are crude, but I do not remember if the things they say are actually written in the book. Other then that, it was a nice story. I recommend for ages sixteen and up.

"A Bride for Donnigan". By: Janette Oke

Well-known and loved storyteller Janet Oke presents a beautifully told tale in her best tradition. With both anticipation and anxiety, Donnigan, a man surviving on the Western frontier alone, and Kathleen, a young girl thousands of miles away with limited prospects of finding a husband and stirrings of adventure in her heart, are at last united to begin their lives together.


My Review: I LOVE reading about mail order brides and this one has such a sweet ending!! I have not read it for a while now as I have to get from the library but would love to own it:) I do not remember anything said that's bad, there is a couple characters that bother me and I don't like them but each book has to have someone like that;) A all together good book that everyone should read!

There is some things about a baby and a pregnancy that you may want to take caution in.
recommend for 14 and up.

Book Review of: An Old-Fashioned Girl. by: Louisa May Alcott

Polly's friendship with the wealthy Shaw's of Boston helps them to build a new life and teaches her the truth about the relationship between happiness and riches.Polly never questioned the way she was until she went to visit her city cousins. Fanny looks too glamorous to be Polly's age and wouldn't be caught dead sledding down a hill. Only Tom, Fanny's brother, supports Polly as she tries to see where she fits in.

My Review:I just got through reading this book and loved it!! every girl should read it!! I love the way Polly is pro-trade: a sweet, sensible girl willing to help anyone she meets! yet she is just like anyone else and gets tempers, gets heartaches and all that stuff that is in any romance book:) I didn't like Tom or Fanny at first but they both grew on me and by the 3rd chapter I couldn't put it down!! by the end of the book you will feel as if you know the people (I personally like this type) I think that Louisa May Alcott could have made the story longer 'cause at one time skips 6 years:( anyhow a all together good book.

I don't remember anything bad or bad words used! I recommend for 12 and up!!

Book Review of the Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Set in the time of Jesus in Palestine, this is a wonderful story of hope, revenge, forgiveness, and love. Daniel bar Jamin's father and uncle had been killed by the Romans. His mother had died of sorrow and his sister Leah was so scared that many thought she was possessed by demons. After his parents death his grandmother sells him to a cruel blacksmith, but he escapes and joins a band of fighters in the mountain, struggling for freedom from the Romans. Freedom from the Romans! That was all Daniel cared about, all he lived for. The Romans had killed his family and he would revenge them. He thought of nothing else.

But one day that changed. He met on the mountain Joel, the studious and quiet, but patriotic son of a rich Pharisee, and his sister, graceful, beautiful Malthace. They brought the thoughts of his village back into his mind. They even convinced him to go see his grandmother and sister Leah. But he did not stay there for long. He went back to the band of freedom fighters on the mountain. Once he went to the house of Joel's father, to see if Joel would help them in their fight for freedom. But he always went back to the mountain.

Except for once. His grandmother died and he moved back to the village to take care of Leah. He even got full use of the blacksmith shop belonging to his friend Simon. Simon had left the shop in his care, for he was following this rabbi Jesus. Daniel had heard Jesus preach once. At first he though that maybe He would be the one to lead them against the Romans. But he gave up on that idea, this new Rabbi said nothing about fighting the Romans. And yet.....

This is an amazing book. I've read it three times and every time I seem to like it more. Elizabeth George Speare was a wonderful writer. There is nothing really inappropriate in The Bronze Bow. It has a little fighting and Daniel mentions how his parents died but it isn't in great detail. I'd recommend this book for ages 12 and up.

Book Review Of "A Lady Of High Regard" By Tracie Peterson

Mia Stanley has a compassionate heart. With a job at Godey's Ladies Magazine, she soon finds a a purpose to show her kindness. But a lady of society should not expose herself to the dangers of the world of the seaman's wives she is trying to help. Still, Mia foolishly puts herself in harms way, for who else will help the poor lives of the women and children whose father's and husbands are dead or away at sea? With the LORD's help, will she, a lady of high regard, be able to help them?

My Review: A Lady of High Regard was a nice book. Mia is a sweet natured character at heart, but she goes on impulse and does not think about the consequences of her actions. It was easy to like her character, along with others in the book like Garret Wilson, his step mother Mercy, Mercy's daughter's Agnes and Bliss, and perhaps others who make their appearance at different times in the book. Set in Philadelphia in the 1850's, it is a charming story, though some of the book's content is a bit dark, and there is also content not meant for a young reader. I recommend for ages sixteen and up.

Book Review of The Little White Horse.

This is one of the best, most beautiful, and enchanting books I think I will ever read.  It was my Mum's favourite growing up as well, and I will definitely be reading it to my little siblings when they are older. 

The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, starts off with the young orphan, Maria, who [along with her dog and governess] is going to live with her uncle at Moonacre Manor.  There are mysteries surrounding Moonacre Manor, though, and Maria plays a big part in them.  Who is the little white horse Maria keeps seeing?  What about the "Moon Princess", who some people seem to think Maria is? 

An almost believable blend of fantasy and reality, The Little White Horse is filled with love, revenge, friendship, and a simple sense of delightful-ness that will leave you wanting to travel to the magical land of Moonacre.  My Mum actually cried when she finished this, because you just have to go there, even though it doesn't exist.  Strange, I know, but still.  I highly recommend this book for ages 10 to 100. :-)

Oh, there is a bit of language, I think...it has been a couple months since I last read it, and it is currently packed up so I can't go check.  If there is any, it's not a lot at all.

Blessings,
~Hannah Grace

Review of O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

"I decided not to 'write' at all, - simply to give myself up to the pleasure of recapturing in memory people and places I'd forgotten." This is what Miss Cather said about her novel, O Pioneers!, another member of the Prairie Trilogy (for a review of My Antonia, click here). And it truly is a pleasure reading this story. In O Pioneers! she captures the heart of the prairie and the brave immigrants who had the grit and determination to tame it.

O Pioneers! is a tale of hardship, devotion, death, greed, love, and triumph, and reads like a eulogy for the old Nebraska and the people who cultivated it. Our main character is Alexandra Bergson, who is the eldest in the family and must manage their small farm once their Swedish immigrant father passes away. Eventually, through much hard labor and trials, she becomes prosperous and successful. Alexandra is like a rock, holding on to the land when all the other settlers find it too rough and leave. She is wise and determined, knowing that she can tame the land is succeed.

The book also contains the story of two young lovers, Alexandra's youngest brother Emil, and a lovely Bohemian girl, Marie Shabata, whose romance must result in tragedy, because she is bound to the jealous Frank Shabata in a loveless marriage. Another quieter love story lives in Alexandra and a discontented, restless Carl Linstrum, who leaves the prairie to find richer soil, but is disappointed when his wandering life offers him no prospects, which smacks of The Magnificent Seven.

"Freedom so often means that one is n't needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a frock-coat and a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is to pay our rent, the exorbitant rent that one has to pay for a few square feet near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder."

As in My Antonia, there is a great cultural diversity as Miss Cather describes the everyday lives of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants, and has a somewhat mournful nostalgic tone about it. O Pioneers! is a strikingly beautiful work, embodying the rugged grandeur of the prairie.

"Fortunate country, that is one day to receive hearts like Alexandra's into its bosom, to give them out again in the yellow wheat, in the rustling corn, in the shining eyes of youth!"

Book Review Of Lady Carliss And The Waters Of Moorue"

This book is about a young lady named Carliss who through certain circumstances needs to find the cure for a poison that threatens the life of another knight. Will Carliss find it before it is too late?

My Review: From what I remember, this was a nice book. Not very long, but great for ladies who want a book where the girl is the main knight, and decent. The story deals with escaping reality, and how easy it is to escape life and ignore what is really happening around you(for example, watching movies). I cannot remember anything in it that was objectionable, unless you do not like fighting and violence in books. I recommend for ages eleven and up.

(This review is for the story, not the questions in the back of the book)

Book Review Of "Wings Like A Dove" By Christine Farenhorst

Wings Like A Dove by Christine Farenhorst is the tale of Queen Jeannne D' Albert of Navarre, a queen who became a protestant during the Reformation. The story begins when she is five, "almost six" years old, and goes all the way to her public proclomation of being a protestant at age 32. It tells of the times when those who refused to pray to Mary were killed.

My Review: The book itself is different. Instead of speaking of gowns and frills of roayl life, it depicts the hardships of those who stood up for GOD in their faith, and went against the Catholic Church. There is one bad word in the story, the other word for donkey, but Jeanne is referring to a donkey. There is also one bad word, a name that I do not want to repeat, that is used in the epilouge. This however, since I guess the epilogue was historical fact, was a name one of the king's from one of the surrounding countries called her for her not following the Roman Catholic Faith. Instead she followed the true Faith. Other then that, the language level is good.
This story, having taken place in the reformation mentions the deaths of huguenots by burning at the stake, and heads being chopped. However, these things did happen. The description for these are not gory, and so you do not have to worry about in depth details of the murders of the victims.
Also, there is a part in the book where Jeanne's Father, King Henri, slaps her mother after she prays with the protestants. Mentionings of Jeanne being hit from her father from the same incident are in the book, along with her beating's for refusing to marry a man, take place. These are also not entirely detailed.
To sum this up, this story tells of the life of the real Queen of Navarre(a small country between France and Spain). It may give you somewhat the feel of the times when those whose worshiped GOD as the Bible says to, and not the way the Catholic church says to. Jeanne was a brave woman in the end, and her faith in GOD was strong enough for her to stand up and defend the huguenots, and most importantly GOD's Word.
I recommend for ages 12 and up.

Book Review Of "The Wind Blows Free" By Loula Grace Erdman

The Wind Blows Free is the first book in the three book series called The Texas Panhandle Series.
The story is about Melinda Pierce, a fourteen year old town girl who goes to live in the country after a fire destroys her father's store. Melinda has always wanted to go to school in the town she grew up in, but how can she when she lives so far away? This book is the tale of how a young girl learns to love the simple life.

My Review: Though this was probally my least favorite of the three books, it was still nice. There is nothing that I remember in it that was very objectional. There is one part where some men force their way into the Pierce's home, which could be frightening. Other then that, it is just a sweet story for girls. I recommend for ages 12 and up.

(I realize there was no more then one post posted, and remained posted, last week. The good LORD willing, this week should have the full three.)

Review of "Before Green Gables" by Budge Wilson

Before Green Gables
The Prequel to Anne of Green Gables

written by Budge Wilson

390 pages
published in 2008

As soon as I heard about this book, I was immediately intrigued about the idea that a prequel had actually been written to the Anne of Green Gables series. And I was not let down. It took Anne Shirley eleven long years to arrive at her final destination… and now it's fantastic to have an idea of how those eleven years were spent.

The story begins before Anne is even born, so you will get to know her parents first, and discover where she came from. You’ll be taken through the entire journey Anne experiences… through all her difficult work, her playful dreams that leave a smile on your face, and through both the dazzling and the tough times of her young childhood. Most of all, you'll meet the people that improved Anne's life by inspiring her, and also the ones who left negative emotional scars... thus mixing together the combination that creates the red-headed girl that we cherish.

In reading this book, you’ll discover what one writer’s thoughts of who Anne Shirley was before she arrived at Green Gables. I think Budge Wilson did a superb job in writing a sound & wholesome story. She included many details that linked to the Anne of Green Gables books. Alert readers will catch on, and have appreciation for what those fine points mean. Of course, the deeply descriptive style of the original L.M. Montgomery has been neglected, but for the sake of the book, it was well worth it. Anne’s spunky, hopeful, dramatic, and in-the-depths-of-despair character is still there.

I would recommend this book to any other readers who have a substantial understanding of Anne’s charming ways. I have to say that you cannot fully enjoy this story unless you know who the real Anne Shirley is.

Note: There is some extra women's gossiping in the book (I didn't really think that this had to be included in the story). Also, the men sometimes have been drinking and do not treat their families well. Please keep in mind this is an adult book, and cannot be compared to the age range that the true Anne of Green Gables books might entertain.

Now, to leave you with a quote from the book!
"But sometime I hope I get a chance to be young before I get too old to enjoy it." ~ quote by Anne Shirley, in Before Green Gables