Book Review:Glimmer Girls Light up New York

From The Back:

This is a Faithgirlz title, the 4th and final book in Award winning singer Natalie Grant's Glimmer Girls series.

Join twins Mia and Maddie and their sidekick little sister, Lulu, as they travel the country finding adventure, mystery, and sometimes mischief along the way. Together with their famous mother, singer Gloria Glimmer, and their slightly wacky nanny Miss Julia, the sisters learn lessons about being good friends, telling the truth, and a whole lot more.

In this fourth book in the Faithgirlz Glimmer Girls series, the Glimmer family is headed to the Big Apple—New York City! Gloria has been asked to perform a concert in Times Square and the whole family joins her. Miss Julia immediately starts planning a sightseeing trip for the sisters that will be better than all the rest but plans never turn out exactly as they imagine when the Glimmer girls are involved. So what happens when sibling rivalry, random acts of kindness, and a little mystery all meet up at some of the most famous sights in New York City?

My Reflections:

This is the last book in this series, and my daughter who is 9 is extremely hopeful that the author Natalie Grant will change her mind! My girl has read almost all of these novels and can't get enough of the twins Mia, Maddie and little sister Lulu's crazy adventures. This time they travel with their superstar mom, their dad, and the nanny to New York City, where adventure and mystery are to be found.

These girls seem to find a mystery where ever they travel, this time they hunt out the riddle of the "snow angel." First, they must overcome sibling rivalry and a whole host of other difficulties.

As a parent, it is always nice to see a book delve into the issues kids face on a daily basis. I appreciated that this book was a good starting point for a few of those topics. Be warned this book does deal with a lot of attitudes and behaviors. (Maddie sneaks out without permission from an adult, and there are many instances of sassy talk and naughty behavior) These are addressed with prayer. The book continues on from the last novels in the series (London Art Chase, A Dolphin Wish, and Miracle in Music City) with encouraging random acts of kindness which I so appreciated.

If you have an adventurous pre-teen in your life who enjoys a good mystery, I'm sure they will love Natalie Grant's newest installment of Glimmer Girls!

I was given this book free of charge in return for my honest review by Book Look Bloggers, Thank you Book Look!

Book Review: A Dolphin Wish

From the Back:

Join twins Mia and Maddie and their sidekick little sister, LuLu, as they embark on adventure and a little bit of mystery solving while visiting Watery World in sunny California.

My Reflections:

When I saw this book to review I know instantly that it would be the perfect fit for my 8 year old girl who takes after her momma and loves to read. 

This is the second book in the Glimmer Girls series, and although we have not read the first book "London Art Chase" this second book provides enough detail and background information to be a stand alone read.

This family is quite unique the mother, Gloria Glimmer is a famous Christian singer who performs all over the country to eager audiences. The children Maddie, Mia and Lulu are such fun and outrageously "normal" characters that you are instantly drawn to their crazy antics and fun personalities. 

The story has the perfect blend of mystery, adventure and family values. The latter characteristic was the selling point for me. As the age range for this novel is ages 8-12 these are the impressionable years, hence I want my children to be reading nourishing material not junk and fluff. 

I was happy to see that this novel did show christian morals in it, it also reinforced prayer and looking to God for our daily needs. I quite liked that the book touched on issues such as the difference between a wish and a prayer also that breaking the rules is not Ok even when it seems like the right thing to do at the time. These are the tricky situations kids will experience in life,  I am over the moon to be able to give my children literary role models who display our family values. 

All in all I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to families with children 8-12. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Book Review: The Berenstain Bears Easter Sunday

My Reflections:

As a child my favorite books were the Berenstain Bears collections, and now that I have children of my own I want to continue the tradition of providing fabulous books.

The newest Berenstain adventure is titled Easter Sunday, by the Living lights, a faith Story collection. Written by Mike Berenstain, Stan and Jan Berenstain's son you will be reaquainted with the Bear family that you have come to know and love.

This book opens with the bears getting ready for for church as they do every Sunday. This Sunday however the mood is brimming with excitement as they prepare to celebrate Easter! 

What I really loved about this book was the fact that the book highlighted our beliefs surrounding Easter and the importance of celebrating Jesus, not the Easter bunny. I also enjoyed the fact that this book illustrated the fact that all families celebrate Easter a little differently and that some families still enjoy easter egg hunts, while still believing in the true meaning of Easter!

At the back of the book parents can find a section labeled Activities and Questions from Brother and sister bear. This is a great resource for parent and children to dig a little deeper and have meaningful discussions about what they believe and then plan a fun activity after.

All in all a fabulous book for young kids, I highly recommend purchasing this one for your family collection of wholesome literature.

I received this book free of charge in return for my honest review from Book Look Bloggers. Thank you Book Look!

Book Review: The Berenstain Bears: Blessed are the Peacemakers

 From the Back:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9

In this new Berenstain Bears 8x8 book, Blessed are the Peacemakers , Brother and Sister have a wide circle of friends at Bear Country School and they get along with pretty much everyone. But not all their friends get along with each other. Too Tall and his bullying gang, for instance, are often in conflict with Cousin Fred, Ferdy Factual, and their friends. So what happens when the cubs all need to work together on the annual school play? Brother and Sister have to decide whether they should “mind their own business” or get involved as peacemakers and try to calm the troubled waters.

My Reflections:

I have grown up on the Berenstain Bears, and in turn have enthusiastically read this wonderful series to my children as well. This particular children's book is written by Mike Berenstain (the son of the original authors Stan and Jan Berenstain)

The book has a christian theme to it, abet somewhat watered down and vague in its execution. This being said when I read it to my 6 year old she seemed to enjoy the book. When her 12 year old sister re read it to her the next night this older sibling had quite a few questions. One being the fact that if someone quoted scripture in the middle of an argument they were likely to be ignored or bullied as well, and very doubtfully would the bulling party be saying "oh cool", and move on.

The book opened up some great discussions on bullying and the different groups of people within school or social settings. We were able to discuss, in depth strategies to defuse tricky situations, and reference what the bible says about fighting and turning the other cheek. Although I found the book to be surface teaching I was glad to have it on hand to jump-start some valuable discussions in this very prevalent and difficult subject.

The back of the book lists activities and questions you can utilize to help your family work through the issue of bullying. Because our children will not be left unscathed from bulling, a proactive stance is a great way to prepare our children for the realities of living in a fallen world. This resource is just another tool you can use to empower your effectiveness in raising resilient children.

I received this book free of charge form Book Look Bloggers in return for my honest opinion. Thank you Book Look!