I know not all the readers of my blog care about all the subjects that interest me, but as I continue to write about my reading, I love the ability to reflect back on what I’ve read in the past in the context of when I read it. This review is of a book that probably

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How to Talk So Kills Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (originally published in 1980) is a classic parenting book for resolving conflicts between parents and children. The authors encourage parents to give children a scaffold with which to approach the world about them. Although it is a

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The Princess Problem by Rebecca Hains (Sourcebooks, September 1, 2014) focuses on the issues surrounding the princess culture so rampant in our nation among the youngest of girls. Ms. Hains focuses on the problem with  an emphasis on princesses among young girls, the issues of what is portrayed in the popular princess movies, and what

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Lost in Translation by Ella Frances Sanders (Ten Speed Press, September 2014) is a delightful dabbling in the untranslatable (into English) words of the world. I’ve always felt that foreign languages are important to learn simply because English cannot always express everything there is to say. Artist Ella Frances Sanders brings some of these words to

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I am a mother that is not comfortable with mess. I don’t like noise or chaos either. And yet, I’m learning to adapt. In fact, when I read Recipes for Play by Rachel Sumner and Ruth Mitchener (The Experiment, September 2014), I started actually getting excited about trying out some of the activities and crafts mentioned.

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Not everyone will be as interested as I was in Homeschooling in America by Joseph Murphy (Skyhorse Publishing, 2012). It is, as the subtitle suggests, a book that captures and assess the current modern homeschooling movement. The author reviews, analyzes, and categories all the studies and polls taken on homeschooling in America from the early

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Fireflies: A Writer’s Notebook by Coleen Murtagh Paratore (Little Pickle Press, July 2014) is a delightful full-color journal for the aspiring writer. Filled with writing prompts and ideas, Fireflies is compared to a jar full of fireflies for you to watch for “sparks.” I loved this analogy. Although I am primarily a nonfiction writer (i.e., educational

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I Walked to Zion by Susan Arrington Madsen (Deseret Book, 1994) is a delightful collection of first person accounts of Mormon pioneers who traveled across the American Great Plains to Utah from the late 1840s to 1860s. Although the volume is probably intended for adults to read, the engaging and interesting stories of the pioneers have such

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A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton (Viking, November 2013) is not truly a world history story. It is, however, a look at how maps and history are intricately related. Each map throughout history tells what is important to the learned in the era in which it has been created. Likewise, each

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I never used to use parenting books as a go-to when I struggled with an issue with my kids, but I’m finding that reading parenting books gives me nice reminders that I need. Mindful Discipline:A Loving Approach to Setting Limits and Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child  by Shauna Shapiro and Chris White (New Harbinger Publications, June 2014)

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