What I Read in April

I am coming to you LIVE from the first week of May, where I am pondering the reading I did over the past month. Here is the skinny:


Let us first begin with the children, since after all, they are our future. (Sing it, Whitney!)

Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman is a funny, clever story about a father going out for milk and coming back with a raucous good story about the adventure he had while holding onto the milk for dear life. The illustrations really make this book, I must say. My kids giggled reading it, so there you go.

 

 

 

My favorite pigeon is still up to mischief in this latest from the genius that is Mo Willems: The Pigeon Needs a Bath! My 7-12 grade students love it when I read these pigeon books. Someday, I hope to have the complete collection. They also said this was probably the best pigeon book out of all of them!  Good to know!

Blessed fiction - that escape from reality. I read Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, which was a bit of a departure for me. I don't usually enjoy historical fiction or "old-fashioned" novels, if that makes sense. But I am intrigued by Edgar Allen Poe and his life, so this was fun for the English teacher side of me.

 

If you enjoy suspense and romance, this book is for you. Taking snippets of reality from what we know of Poe, the author suggests a connection between the infamous writer and another woman who captures his attention. Although I wouldn't recommend it to my students, I enjoyed the suspenseful pacing and description of the time period.
 

I would say my favorite books this month were in the non-fiction category. Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider and Restless by Jennie Allen.

 

Pretty safe to say I loved both of these books -- these are women I understand and connect with.

  Tsh Oxendreider takes us on a journey with her family across oceans and continents, trying to live life ON PURPOSE instead of chase a middle-class syllabus of predictability. Although we all can't travel like Oxenreider's family did, we can learn to stop reacting to our circumstances and start creating the life we desire.

 



Have you ever wondered how to make sense of your life's journey? Do you feel restless in your faith, wondering where to go from here? Restless by Jennie Allen helps readers line up all those loose threads of our lives to see a bigger picture.

 

This is a book to mark-up! YES! As I filled in the pages with different moments, places, and people, I could see my purpose coming into view much more clearly than before. It confirmed some callings in my life, and opened my eyes to other possibilities.

 

This is a great book to do with a friend or a small group because sometimes we're too close to our own lives to see a pattern. A good friend can come along and give us a new vision.  



 

 

YOUR TURN:

 

What have you been reading lately? Are your kids into a series right now or have a favorite picture book?

 

Stay tuned! I feel a book giveaway coming on!