The Frightening Philippi Jail and The Hurry Up Exit From Egypt

These are the bugs and the rats and the slugs that crawled on the crooks and the thieves and the thugs.

These are the Israelites thrown in a pit, panicking, scampering lickety-split

Book: The Frightening Philippi Jail, written by Gary Bower, Illustrated by Barbara Chotiner, Tyndale Publishers, 2017

Book: The Hurry Up Exit From Egypt, written by Gary Bower, Illustrated by Barbara Chotiner, Tyndale Publishers, 2017

Genre: Picture Book

Target Audience: Kids 3-10

Subjects: Bible Stories

Summary: What will Paul and Silas do stuck in that frightening Phillipi Jail? What will Moses and the Israelites do when they face that sea with the Egyptians closing in behind them? Read these stories to find out!

Notes: “The house that Jack built” has become a style all it’s own, a style duplicated in lots of other books – including these two. These two books tell their story with the building upon repetition that makes it so easy for kids to learn and even memorize. It can help children develop sight word vocabulary. And it’s an entertaining twist on a Bible story. Each story uses fun, entertaining language to tell the Bible story. Then each book ends with where to find the story in the Bible and one verse from the story in the NLT. The picture are simple, building on each other just as the text does, helping to illustrate the ideas.

I can highly recommend each of these! They are a great addition to a child’s library!

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Acts 16:31 – Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

Exodus 15:2 – The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory.

Thank you to the publishers for the free review copy. All opinions are my own

What Hope Remembers

She leaned her head back on the cushioned chair and closed her eyes. Thinking about that nightmare caused her body to tense and her stomach to heave. But she refused to give in to the impulse to empty her stomach. She’d done that by allowing her childhood memories of Gave to lead her to darker places. She wouldn’t do it again. Not today. Not ever. If she couldn’t be strong, she’d have to go back to treatment. Or she’d simply curl up and die a slow, lingering death. Perhaps that was the best she could ever hope for in this life.

Neither alternative appealed to her.

Book: What Hope Remembers by Johnnie Alexander, Revell Publishers, 2017

Genre: Modern Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Adult Women

Subjects: Eating Disorders, Hope, Deceit, Family Relationships, Loss, Dating Relationships

Summary: How could she not remember? The note?  The arrowhead? The KISS? But that’s her claim and Gabe is willing to allow her to stick to it. After all, she’s not the only one keeping secrets. Gabe isn’t real eager to share the information that he’s spent the last few years in a prison cell, paying the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not being able to stop something he should have been able to stop. Gabe and Amy aren’t the only ones with secrets though. Or the only ones letting the past influence their present. A greedy land developer doesn’t care that the Somers land is on the national registry now. He doesn’t care that the siblings and cousins have made their peace. He still wants the land – and revenge. And he has no intention of letting go. Only by finding enough hope to remember and to believe can Gabe and Amy work together to accomplish stopping the greed from destroying them and their families – again.

Notes: What Hope Remembers is the third in the Misty Willow series. The series focuses on two siblings and a cousin of theirs who all lost their parents in a tragic plane crash while young and were then raised by a bitter, angry grandfather. The series focuses a lot on the characters learning to value family and faith and find new relationships. Their riches are not bringing them joy and so the series shows the characters turning to the Lord and to love and becoming new people. What Hope Remembers tells the story of Amy, the third and final of the trio. Amy has nearly destroyed her life – and her hope – through an eating disorder she has developed in her search for something that will bring meaning and fulfillment. It also tells the story of a young man letting guilt control his entire life to the point where someone observes that he’s still in prison – a prison of his own making. The spiritual emphasis is not consuming, but definitely present in the book. I would recommend it.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you to the publishers for the free review copy of the book. I appreciate it.

All opinions are my own.