Realistic Kid Lit, Art Study, Christian Fiction, YA Allegory
And a cover reveal for upcoming release!
In this article:
Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect by Adriana Predoi
Come Look with Me: Animals in Art by Gladys S. Blizzard
Ransome’s Honor by Kaye Dacus
Kingdom’s Hope by Chuck Black
Cover Reveal: Guard Her Heart by Hannah Currie
Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect by Adriana Predoi
4 STARS, Juvenile Realistic Fiction, My format: ARC e-book
Releases August 1, 2023
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop
Cousins Maria and Mateo are excited to join the fun for the school play! But only having fun might not be the best way to prepare.
Personal Review:
I really enjoyed this little chapter book! Maria and Mateo are so excited to get to join some of the older kids in the school play. The best part…costumes!
Their teacher spends a good amount of time working in class on their parts and teaching them their dance moves, then reminds them that “practice makes perfect”. So Maria and Mateo set up to practice at home and end up making costumes for themselves instead. Does that help them at their next practice?
This is a great story about how working hard can make an enjoyable experience even more fun. The teacher is helpful and truthful. And there is an older student character who shows kindness and understanding when the cousins don’t perform well. This is a great introduction to what it takes to participate in a performing art!
Content Warnings:
none
Come Look with Me: Animals in Art by Gladys S. Blizzard
4 STARS, Art Children’s Nonfiction, My format: read-aloud to 8-, 6-, 4-, and 2-year-old girls
Art selections from different time periods that contain animals in some way.
Personal Review:
As loosely-based Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, art study has become a fun part of our day. This was a book I chose for our meal-time nonfiction read-aloud time. We do a more extensive art study using Queen Homeschool for one of our 3 terms each year, so this book was just an additional fun read.
I really enjoyed the kid-friendly descriptions and short blurbs about the artists that accompanied each of the paintings in this book. It was interesting to all of us to learn about the extensive time an artist spent learning how to draw or paint the anatomy of a horse before creating the painting we saw. Or how an artist’s parents expected him to follow a different career path but he worked hard to perfect his painting skills.
The author also asked great questions about the pieces of art (I should clarify they aren’t all paintings but most of them are). The blurbs and the questions kept my older 3 girls engaged and they enjoyed studying the pictures to discover the answers.
I had heard good things about this series before and now I hope to build my library with more from Gladys Blizzard!
Content Warnings:
none
Ransome’s Honor (The Ransome Trilogy #1) by Kaye Dacus
3.5 STARS, Christian Historical Romance, My format: paperback
Julia finds her self in a social mess when her cousin tries to convince her to marry him. At the same time, the man she thought she would marry as a young woman has returned from his years at sea. Will either of them be a love match?
Personal Review:
I was really in the mood for a cozy, clean romance and this book was just what I needed! The rating was lowered because the pacing was extremely slow. The entire book covers about 2.5 weeks of time so there are moments where you spend several pages on one day.
However, the romance between Julia and William really is sweet. They both have to overcome personal pride and assumptions they’ve made about each other. They both start out quite mature and the growth they experience does make sense for the short time-frame.
There is a villain of sorts in this book who makes several references to the unfaithful relationships he plans to have. His mother also employs many evil manipulations to help him secure payments for his debts. Even though he mentions his intentions, there are no details shared.
Content Warnings:
family drama, mentions of adultery, a moment of drunkenness, some disrespectful noticing of necklines (on the part of the villain)
Kingdom’s Hope (The Kingdom Series #2) by Chuck Black
3.5 STARS, Young Adult Christian Allegory, My format: paperback
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on Bookshop
Leinad embarks on several dangerous adventures in stories that parallel the historical accounts found in the Bible.
Personal Review:
This book is action-packed from front to back. While it is not my favorite style of story to read, I can appreciate the purpose of the book. This is an excellent for preteens and teens to see the Bible from a different perspective, bringing to life some accounts that we may forget were real-life events.
The writing style is abbreviated and to the point. The only pauses in the story line are to give us sword-fighting scenes. I also found myself getting distracted by knowing it is allegory. I kept trying to figure out which Bible accounts were being represented and who Leinad was supposed to be. The stories changed so quickly that it was difficult to keep up and I found myself wishing we could spend more time developing certain characters or situations. But, I suppose if the author did that, we’d have a series to read that is a s long as the Bible :).
Content Warnings:
sword-fighting, bloody deaths and injuries, an intense fight scene with fantastical creatures
Cover Reveal: Guard Her Heart by Hannah Currie
Hannah Currie was the author that got me back into reading fiction. Her Daughters of Peverell series is part fantasy, part fairy-tale, and part whimsy (See my review of the first in that series.) The book below is the second in her newest series, Crown of Promise, which is inspired by different New Testament parables. I really enjoyed the first book so I’m very excited for the release of this second one in October!
Do you want to try any of these books? Have you read any of them? What did you think?