Charlie's Raven

by Jean Craighead George

Grandad is sick so Charlie captures a baby raven to cure him because his Native American friend says that ravens make sick people better. The raven ends up changing everyone who meets it, including the neighbors who hate ravens.

This is another great story from a well-known author of children's books.

The big wander

by Will Hobbs


It began as a summer trip... and turned into the adventure of a lifetime.

Clay and his older brother go searching for their missing uncle in southern Utah. When his brother decides to go back home, Clay stays and spends time among the Navajo people. This is a great adventure story for teens, but I liked it too. It's set in the 1960's.

The surgeon's family

A saga of love and survival

by David Hernandez and Carole Gift Page

The Peralta and Hernandez families both immigrated illegally to the US from Mexico in the 1930's and lived in difficult circumstances for many years. Eventually, Margarita Peralta got saved and met and married Jose Hernandez Jr., who had also become a Christian. They started their life together with nothing but a determination that their children would have a good education and the opportunities they had never had. Their son, David, became a well-known surgeon.

I really enjoyed this intriguing true story.

Lost in Shangri-La

A true story of survival, adventure and the most incredible rescue mission of World War II 
by Mitchell Zuckoff

A plane carrying 24 US army personnel on a sightseeing trip crashed in the dense jungle of western New Guinea during World War II. Two men and one woman survived and were spotted by a search plane a couple of days later but it was impossible to land nearby to pick them up. The jungle was so dense, they had to walk for hours just to find a place to lie down and, worse, it was rumored the natives were headhunters. This completely factual story of the crash and the heroic rescue of the survivors is a captivating tale.

Visit the author's website for photos and original video footage.

Hudson Taylor's spiritual secret

by Mr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

Taylor was saved as a boy and as a young man was called by God to be a missionary in China. After difficulties with his mission board, he left it and went on, trusting only God to provide for his needs. In time, he founded the China Inland Mission (now OMF International), which never made an appeal for funds (in his time), and yet the Lord always met their needs. This is a condensation of a larger, two-volume work by the same authors.

This is a captivating, uplifting story that teaches the power of prayer and reliance on God. Highly recommended.

Best recipes ever

from Canadian Living and CBC 

fresh, fun & tasty tested-till-perfect recipes from the show

This book has a nice layout and lots of nice recipes. I made several and there were more that I'd wanted to try, but it was a library book and I had to return it, so I found the website which has all the recipes (at least all the ones I checked): Best Recipes Ever. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and the recipes turned out well. I made Chunky Chili Con Carne, Lean-but-Lucious Chocolate Brownies and No-Bake Lime Cheesecake Squares and I plan to make Creme Brulee as well.

Handmade Home

by Amanda Blake Soule

This is a lovely, cozy book full of projects you can make. The directions are clear and simple. Most of them are sewing projects that use old things to make nice, useful new things.

Visit the author's blog at SouleMama.