Recap Book Chat

“The world is yearning for men to show up, men who know who they are and why they are here.” We hear a lot about toxic masculinity, what about a masculine man of God? The ones who Grow Up and Show Up. They do not fall prey to the myth, “I’m not hurting anyone” as they fail to become the man God meant them to be choosing instead to engage in wasteful wiles that hijack their time. Ennui is a French...

Let’s journey through Kids’ Books from A to Z,  As we bookishly celebrate back to school with glee! As we endeavor to fertilize young minds we must be vigilant in exposing them to a plethora of books, priming the pump as one might say. Please join us as book suggestions are made that might ignite a love for reading in your little tike or emerging teen and all those in between. Resistant readers ar...

Twenty-two-year-old Emmy Lake, hopeful war correspondent, begins her new job at  Woman’s Friend is working under a bear of a woman, Mrs. Henrietta Bird. Mr. Collins writes stories for the magazine, he helps Emmy get adjusted to her position. Emmy types Mr. Collins's stories and helps with the advice column, Henrietta Helps, however, Mrs. Bird refuses to answer most of the letters because they are...

“You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.” Question: What is the chief End of man? Answer: Man’s chief End is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! Written in one night on a train trip, Kate and Sheila recap A. W. Tozer’s powerfully written book, The Pursuit of God . This inspirational jewel was published in 1948 but timelessly impactful, challenging readers to look...

 Georgina Bassington-Hope is sent Maisie’s way because she thinks  Inspector Stratton and company did less than stellar work investigating the death of her twin brother. Georginia believes her brother, Nick, did not accidentally fall from the scaffold in the art gallery. She feels like he was murdered. Will Maisie and her trusty assistant, Billy, be able to uncover the truth? The suspects are many...

One of our favorite quotes from Haven by Megan Wagner Lloyd is… “You don’t have to be big to be brave.” This book has love, adventure, and a whole lot of grit from a little cat that does not quit. Haven is on this journey to help Ma Millie, her human, who is very sick. She summons all her courage to venture outside to find the nearest neighbor, Jacob Levan, unfortunately he’s not home. This forces...

Greetings Recapsters! Kate and Sheila dive into the Shakespearean comedy,  The Taming of the Shrew . Kate is the older sister that is as easy to get along with as a mama bear robbed of her cubs. Her sister, Bianca, draws suitors like bees to flowers. Here’s the rub, their father forbids Bianca to wed until Kate is married. No one is up for this arduous task until Petruchio comes on the scene. He h...

“And don’t you know that it is just when we are weakest that God can use us the most?” Wisdom from Mrs. Whestra, Andy’s neighbor in Witte, Holland.  While Andy’s family went to church he would go fishing and show up right when everyone was exiting the building and listen to their comments so he could talk about the sermon at home. Papa asked him when he was 17 years old, “What do you plan to do wi...

“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”--young neighbor, Clarisse “That’s against the law.”--Guy Montag Join Kate and Sheila as they dive into Ray Bradbury’s classic, Fahrenheit 451. Guy Montag is a fireman in the future whose job is to burn books and houses in which the books are found. He begins to wonder how life got so empty after his wife, Mildred, emptied a bottle of sleeping pills. Th...

Do you hear the drum roll? We are on Rule #10 of House Rules by Jacob Hudgins! Today, Kate and Sheila recap… Just Because You’re Angry Doesn’t Mean You’re Right. Jacob starts with Cain, his anger was misinformed and misdirected. God told him, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Genes...

Lidia Zakrzewski’s real-life story of the Polish resistance fighters who struggled to force out the Nazi occupiers inspired Jennifer A. Nielsen to write, Uprising, an amazing novel about Poland falling into the hands of Germany. Lidia’s father went off to fight and she desperately wanted to go with him. The huge conflict of the occupation and the conflict on the homefront between Lidia and her mot...

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 “To the ancient mind, a city without walls is ripe for the picking. It lacks any defenses. It is susceptible to any passing army or group of bandits…When we lack self-control, we are setting ourselves up for disaster.” Self-control is not natural, it doesn’t come easy. In fact, one of the hardest folks t...

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t ready to hear it, and their story started with three simple words, ‘We were there.’” Are you ready for a challenge? The Women by Kristin Hannah was a tough read indeed! Sadly, Frankie McGrath’s wealthy California family communicated with each other less than people who don’t speak the same language. When her old brother was killed in action...

After you” “No, after you” Sounds a lot better than, “Me first!” Jacob Hudgins urges readers to break the pattern of getting, getting, getting to one of serving others instead. Join Kate and Sheila as they recap House Rules, Rule #8 We Lead By Serving. Let us make a shift from the “What’s in it for me?” mantra to “Here’s my opportunity to serve!” We want to emulate Jesus, the master of leading by...

We are hoping you can ‘squeeze’ The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davis into your reading this summer. Join Kate, Sheila, and their special guest, Titus, as they recap the Treski siblings' war over who can sell the most lemonade. Evan, the oldest, discovers that his younger sister, Jessie, is going to be promoted into his class the upcoming school year. He has a lot of feelings but doesn’t share any...

Please join Kate and Sheila as they tackle Rule # 7, We Deal with Our Problems, in House Rules by Jacob Hudgins. Lev. 19:17-18 gives us a great game plan. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighb...

Batter up! Join Kate and Sheila and their special guest, Jonah, as they recap Skinnybones by Barbara Park. Alex Frankovitch is an undersized uncoordinated sixth grader who has an oversized funny bone. When he tries to triumph over T.J. Stoner, the best of the best in baseball, all Alex can think to do is yell, “Booga booga” to distract the baseball star. “Every single year, I am always the smalles...

This attitude of humility, admission, and apology should be learned young, at home. In Christian homes, some phrases should be in regular use: I didn’t know that. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have said/done that. You’re right. Can you forgive me? I messed up. In a society that values victimhood, Christian homes must be countercultural.” Let’s learn Rule #6 — We take responsibility from House Rule...

Mama said that if someone’s putting ugliness into the world, you can’t be ugly back; you gotta put a little bit of sunshine into the world to even things out.” Joseph Johnson, a 12 year old orphan, living in the 1890s lost his mama and little sister to sickness and his papa to an accident. He remembers the lessons his parents taught him as he journeys across the northwest to recover his pony that...

Kendra, a 21 year old history major, comes to Cotswold, England to interview Isabel Macfarland, a famous artist on her 93rd birthday. “The cottage was as cozy and inviting as one of Tolkien’s hobbit holes.” Kendra feels a bond with Isabel who says, “We first borns are driven aren't we? We have to be. There is no one leaving bread crumbs for us on the trail ahead.” Why did Isabel decide to tell her...

What a blessed episode! Join Kate and Sheila as they interview Jacob Hudgins, the author of House Rules, the book we’ve been highlighting on Thursday’s Bonus-Bite episodes. He shares how he came to write the book and what he and his wife have learned on their adventure of parenting children together. We appreciate his dedication to putting God first and writing in a straightforward style that help...

Greetings dear listeners! Please join Kate and Sheila for Rule #5–No Gossip Allowed in Jacob Hudgins’ book, House Rules. We have an enlightening interview with Jacob coming out on Tuesday. We hope you’ll join us! What does God’s Word say about gossip? The Bible uses words like slander, speak evil of, whisperer, reviling, back-biting, busybodies, talebearer, and meddling. Whew! Quite a list! “...bl...

The Horse and His Boy is book #3 in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia timeline. Readers meet Bree, a powerful and confident war horse, whose homeland is Narnia, hence the reason he can speak to Shasta, a poor fisherman’s boy, on the brink of being sold into slavery. Bree convinces him to escape. When Bree finds out Shasta can’t ride he asks him if he can fall. “I suppose anyone can fall,” said Sha...

“Sometimes little things matter a lot. Words change things. Words start wars—and end wars. Words start marriages—-and end marriages. Words make us feel like we can’t go on—and make us feel like we can. We speak with love.” Jacob Hudgins shows us in House Rules why Rule #4 We Speak with Love is so vital for families. James 3:7-8 tells us that the tongue cannot be tamed, that it is restless evil, fu...

Let’s look back to a simpler time, when kids played outside until dark and phones were attached to the walls. Have you seen the movie Secretariat where the father says to his sons, “Get your devices off the table,?” The devices were their toy airplanes, that always cracks me up but it also is a reminder of how much things have changed. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger reminds us of a less hu...