Recap Book Chat

The story finds Honey, Cussy's daughter, alone at 16 and faced with navigating survival, grief, prejudice, corruption, love and hate. The Book Woman's legacy is shown beautifully through this sequel of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. This book is full of courageous women who fought against injustice and ignorance in order to pave the way for those that followed after them. If you haven't hear...

This classic well know story is still powerful and applicable today. Our Kid Lit Locker group explores some of the simple yet needed life lessons we learned from Pinocchio.

Our first memoir to read together was a treasure trove of reading possibilities showing how daily reading is so impactful. Alice Ozma’s debut novel was sincere, authentic, and brilliantly captures how her fathers daily read aloud habit enriched both there lives.

A 1988 compelling story full of wisdom an inspiration to follow one’s dream. We take a look at the life of Paulo Coelho before the Alchemist was written and elements from his personal life that are whispered though out his book. We also discuss how the book impacted us and our favorite takeaways. A top shelf read for sure!

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a Shakespearean comedy, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by several to be Shakespeare’s first play. It was so fun to jump back in time and read the literary genius’s beginning works.

When your past shows up at your door what do you do? This book follows Allyson Cole’s journey of heartbreak, adoption, trauma and reunion. Give a listen to our discussion of What I Left Behind to see if it is a fit for you.

Today my old friend and now middle school teacher Amanda Daughtery joins us to discuss Projek 1065, a book she suggested earlier this year. This is an excellent read for WW2 buffs and reluctant middle school readers. Alan Gratz does a beautiful job of blending history and fiction in this story of an Irish family working as spies in Berlin. You won’t be able to put it down!

This 1949 classic Newbery Award winner is a must read! Set in medieval times, a 10 year old boy is stricken with an illness that leaves his legs paralyzed. With help from a monk and a minstrel Robin learns lessons in kindness, grit, skill, and patience. Come along as we dive into this uplifting story of finding a door in the wall.

The Queen of mystery, Agatha Christie takes us for a ride in this 1940 novel that she described as her most difficult book to write. This novel was so creatively crafted and entertaining to read. With over 100 million copies sold, this book is the world’s bestselling mystery novels of all time. So, buckle up and hang on as we dive into this exciting read!

Today we opened up our kid literature locker and pulled out three books from the adorable series, The Miniature World of Marvin & James. With the help of some pretty cool kids we recapped and discussed the books they had listened too. If you are on the hunt for some perfect first chapter books give a listen and see if Marvin and James are the right fit!

Listen to a recap of this fantastic novel and soon to be movie. Don’t worry, we were careful not to include any spoilers. Journey with us as we discuss this intriguing story of a young abandon girl who grows up in the marsh land of North Carolina.

Special episode of reminiscing with my younger brother Cam over our top childhood read aloud picks. Come along on our journey down memory lane and pick up a few new titles along the way.

Today we finish up this epic classic that frankly does not get the praise it deserves. East of Eden is a novel that leaves you ready to face life wether things look rosy or not. We deep dive into many characters and themes and include a couple of spoilers. If you haven’t read this book and are looking for more of an overview I suggest checking out the previous podcast where we cover parts one and...

The 1952 classic by the infamous John Steinbeck has been keeping us on our toes and coming back for more. This biblical allegory of the Cain and Abel story is full of all the difficult human emotions and relationships and beautiful insight. We are halfway through the book and couldn’t wait to share what we have learned so far!

A Mount Everest of classics yet most humbly written. Tolstoy said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards, and War and Peace is definitely in a class of its own. It was first published serially, then published fully in 1869. Our favorite Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy explores complex ideas and brings new light to old ideas. War and Peace has long been hailed a literary masterp...

“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” Angela Duckworth’s book Grit is full of golden nuggets of wisdom! Today we dig out some of our favorite gems and make some practical connections. We have enjoyed this book so much and the how it has shaped our mindsets around parenting and teaching. https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-book/ Check out this link if you want to see how gritty you are using Ange...

Today we take a look in our Kid Lit Locker with some special kid guest who help us recap the second book in the Whole Nother Story series. We didn't realize it at the time when we were recording, but there is a third and last book of the series called No Other Story. This was an enjoyable, quirky, and entertaining read but again leaves you hanging at the end.  Gerry Swallow, a stand up comic and s...

Today we recap a must read, The Last Green Valley. Mark Sullivan hits a home run again in this compelling story of grit and faith and hope in the mist of overwhelming obstacles. This book follows the real life story of the Martel family in the middle of WWII caught between two dictators on there incredibly journey in search for freedom. We are so grateful to Mark Sullivan for capturing and recordi...

Today we wrap up our recap of Dr. Leaf’s book Think, Learn, Succeed. We review her mindsets and also discuss neurographic art and its benefits. https://neurographic.art/ We also touch on Dr. Amen’s book and ANTs (Automatic, Negative, Thoughts) and a great technique to escape the hold of negatives thoughts. https://brainmd.com/captain-snout-and-the-super-power-questions https://drleaf.com/products/...

“Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace” and this book certainly does deliverer on its subtitle. Today we jump into part one of Live No Lies and find out what one of those peace sabotaging enemies is. John Mark Comer did an excellent job of researching and tying together the ancient and modern. John Mark is an excellent communicator and is able to unpack some difficult sub...

The Shepherd of the Hills was written in 1907 by author Harold Bell Wright. It is a semi-fictional story of a man's journey through mountain folklore and forgiveness and the people he impacts along the way. The book became extremely popular at the time and was turned into a play on the actual location of the book's setting and brought in a lot of tourism. This is the book that created the town of...

A fantastic historical fiction novel that follows the life of a blue skinned woman in Kentucky during the 1930’s. This book brings to light many unheard-of historical facts, deep seeded racism, extreme poverty and overcoming insurmountable obstacles. We are joined today by Lisa Lock, a wonderful watercolorist and avid reader to recap this eye-opening read. We love her designs for bookmarks and not...

Unbelievable true story of war hero Pomo Lella. Mark Sullivan describes his efforts on the Underground Railroad helping Jews escape during World War II and his spy activities while driving one of Germany’s top ranking Nazi officers. We are joined today by Ashlea Skipper, director of PCA and avid reader, who shares her insights on this fabulous read. If you are wanting a coffee to go with your book...

Today we recap the second half of the controversial classic Doctor Zhivago. This 1957 Russian novel was a dense, impactful, eye opening and difficult read. We deep dive into some of the symbolism around Christianity and the Russian political climate at the time.  

Drop those highlighters! Dr. Leaf enlightens us on better ways to retain information. We begin this episode with a look at our feedback stack! We are so grateful for everyone who has sent in feedback and will once a month share something we have received. We would love to hear from you too so be sure to follow us on Facebook and leave a comment there or leave a voice message by clicking the link a...