Book Review: The Jesus Book

This week I received a new book entitled: The Jesus Book . I was not for certain what to expect when I got the book, but as I started to go through it, I was very surprised at both the breadth and depth that is covered within the book itself. The book is a great read for ages 4-8 and gives your ones a closer understanding to the who, what, when, where, why and how of Jesus' life.

The answers that are contained in each short passage are not watered down, but are written in a way for children to understand. The illustrations within the book itself are vibrant and truly pull the reader into the text and the story and the truth that is being shared.

The book also comes with an hour long CD of great music that my girls just loved. They are now asking me to play the songs over and over (just like we get with each year's VBS songs). I have no doubt that these songs and this CD will become a new favorite very soon. One thing that I found interesting about the songs themselves was that they tied the songs to the readings, so you could read a passage in the book or in the bible and the song was tied to this as well. It was a very nice parallel.

I encourage you to check out a few pages of the book to get a better glimpse of what the book has in store for you, your child, or a special little one you might share this great book with!

I would recommend this as a gift for your own child or for another as it shares and answers many of the questions that I have heard from my own daughter at a young age in a clear, concise and easy to understand way.

* I have reviewed this book as a member of Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger Program *


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We have winners

Thank you to all who entered the Take Back Your Family Book Giveaway. The following people were selected as winners - Congratulations!

Buck Daddy
Kristin D
Mark from Regular Life

Thank you again to our sponsors and hope you all enjoy the book!

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Take Back Your Family Review and Giveaway

The great folks over at Gotham Books gave me the opportunity to review a new book from Rev Run and Justine Simmons, or better know to many as the folks from MTV's Run's House. For those of you who may be a bit older, you may also know Rev Run as one of the past rappers from Run DMC.

After being asked to review this, I have to be honest and say that I did not know what to expect. I had never watched Run's House as I don't watch MTV that often. I also have not listened to Run DMC for years, nor have I read Justine Simmons' childrens' book (though I just saw it in the store this past weekend!).

So when I received the book, I have to say that I was cautious. That was until I started reading the book itself. As I began reading this book, I could tell that it was not going to be yet another book that simply provided a self serving glimpse into a famous family. Instead, the book truly takes an in depth look at what makes their family work and what they have had to go through to get their family into the cohesive, loving family that people see on television.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that the writing within the book is delineated between the two main authors so the reader knows who is addressing what. I also enjoyed the blatant truths and humor that was used to get the point across. The book does a good job at providing the reader an understanding that fame is fleeting but family is forever.

The book does have some faith based components as they make it clear that faith is important to their family life. Yet, the book is not dominated by these concepts. Nor is the book targeted at one ethnic group. They specifically touch on this fact early in the book to dispel the misconception that they are writing only to certain families. Instead they state that this book is for all families.

The book overall is full of great insights and down-to-earth ideas and examples that a reader can understand. I give this book a 10 out of 10 on the Dad of Divas Scale.

MAIN ENTRY:

If this book sounds like something you would be interested in, I worked out a great giveaway for 5 lucky readers. All you need to do is leave a comment telling me one reason why you feel that you need to take back your family, or what you have done to take back your family. That's it! The contest will run for one week and will end on August 11.

Bonus Entries:

• Blog about my Take Back Your Family Giveaway by linking back to this post (1 entries per blog post. Please leave each entry in separate comments with your URL link in order for it to count)
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  • Share this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or any forum, including the name of the prize and a link to this post. Here I'll make it easier on you, copy and paste this:
    " @dadofdivas is giving away 5, Take Back Your Family Books by the Run's House family - http://dadofdivas.blogspot.com" (Then leave the link to your post. One entry per place per day)
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  This contest will run until August 11 at approximately 11:59 pm Eastern.
  Winners are chosen at random, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!
  
  Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another name will be chosen.
  
  Open to USA Only
  
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A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living Review

I was recently approached to review the following book: A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO GRACEFUL LIVING [W. W. Norton & Company;June 29, 2009] by Michael Dahlie.

The company explains it as a story which:

was awarded the 2009 Pen Hemingway Award. In this
darkly hilarious and moving novel, a bumbling Manhattan father of two,
Arthur Camden, must rebuild his life after his adulterous wife leaves
him and he runs his family's import-export business into the ground.
Hailed by Janet Maslin of the New York Times as a "discreetly charming
book", Dahlie's story is especially inspiring in this current time of economic struggle, as it portrays a father who turns to his children for support as he tries rebuild his life after hitting rock-bottom.

After reading most of this book, I would have to agree with Janet Maslin's thoughts on the book, at least somewhat. I found the book to be an easy read. The main character Arthur becomes on of those bumbling characters and fathers that you can love and sympathize with even through all of the ups and downs that he is going through within his life.

The author does a fine job at keeping the experience true to life for his readers using vivid imagery and experiences that you can somewhat relate to (though I am in any way close to the Manhattan elite).

As a reader you also find yourself rooting for the main character Arthur's through his initial misery and negative experiences that he has had and is working to bring himself back from. You will find yourself cheering Arthur on to the very end and continue to hope for his success in the future.

If you are interested in this book, you can find it on Amazon for a reasonable price.

After reading the book, I have no qualms in giving the book a 9 out of 10 in readability and likability on my Dad of Divas scale!

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Review of Read & Share Toddler Bible

I joined recently a review panel with Thomas Nelson to review some of their books from time to time. The first one that I had the chance to review was the Read and Share Toddler Bible by Gwen Ellis.

One of the things that first jumped out at me with this book was the artwork and the simplicity but meaningful stories that they share within. All of the stories are on the childs' level and make it easy for the child to understand and for the parent to explain. The stories themselves are both from the Old and New Testament so your child wll be able to learn about some of the main stories such as: Creation, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, to Jesus’ birth, miracles, death, and resurrection.

I was also impressed as within the Bible itself there are suggestions for parents about how to act out parts of the story or other ways to again help your child better understand the context and the meaning behind the story itself.

The book also comes with a 60 minute DVD that engages your child at a different level.

J-Mom and I tried reading some of the passages to Diva-PJ and with the length of the passages (typically about 3 minutes in length) she listened attentively. She also enjoyed watching the DVD as well.

I would definitely recommend this book to other parents as it provides your child a fun way to gain knowledge about some of the passages of the Bible that we all remember now as parents.
If you are interested in learning more, you can read a few passages from this book here.


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