Doodles In The Margin

Princess Joy Sticker & Activity Book Inspired by Jeanna Young & Jacqueline Johnson is intended to go with Princess Joy’s Birthday Blessing by Jeanna Young & Jacqueline Johnson. These books are part of the Princess Parables Series. Princess Joy Sticker and Activity Book is a 16 page book for ages 4-8. There are 50 stickers, a sticker activity page, word puzzles, coloring pages, and other activities.

The book is very appealing for girls. The full color pages give a lot for children to look at. The coloring pages are very detailed and Im not sure that even I would be able to stay in the lines. The activities would be appropriate for older girls even through age 12. The book is great until we got to the stickers. The stickers frustrated my 9 year old. The stickers have too much white space around them and some are too small for the area they are intended for. My 6 year old is confused as to where all the extra stickers go but greatly enjoyed sticking them throughout the book where ever she pleased. Although she placed the stickers  In my opinion they took the same sticker page and put it in all the activity books in the series. I think more time and effort should have been put into the stickers. Only 6 stickers out 50 are used in the activity unless you add more on the create your own invitation page. The stickers insult the beautiful full color pages they are to go on because the white area distracts from the flow of the page. What we did was cut the white edge off of the sticker and then placed them where they belonged. I took pictures of the sticker page. The dog, teapot and flower I cut smaller. The butterfly and racket I left alone. The sheep sticker is too small and really upset my girls. With more thought to the stickers, this book would make a great accompaniment to the lovely book series. Even without more thought to the stickers, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the Princess Parables Series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The book “Creating Hawaiian-Inspired Quilts” by Judith Sandstrom is a short, 80 paged book explaining Hawaiian quilt making. The cover of this book instantly drew me to choose this book to review. Although I have made several quilts, I have never attempted an Hawaiian quilt. The book starts with an introduction and detailed history of Hawaiian quilts. The book then has a showcase of 18 beautiful Hawaiian quilts made by six modern quilt makers. Each quilt project has a materials, cutting directions and sewing directions with beautiful pictures of the finished project. The book is split into five chapters, Traditional Single-Color Designs, Traditional Center-Embellished with Added Colors, Embellished Block-Used Repeated Times, Embellished Block-Center Medallion with Patchwork, and Patterns. The author gives directions for both hand and machine applique. The patterns are crisp and clean making for an easy time in copying onto fabric. I learned a lot about Hawaiian quilt making from reading this book. The book “Creating Hawaiian-Inspired Quilts by Judith Sandstrom inspired me to venture out and try making a Hawaiian quilt with success. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Hawaiian art.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley book review program. https://www.netgalley.com/ I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Macramé Fashion Accessories & Jewelry by Sylvie Hooghe is a fascinating and visually stunning book. The pictures are crisp and beautiful. The plentiful amount of diagrams and instructions give beginners enough to learn to begin the hobby and yet the book has plenty to keep the advanced hobbyist from being bored. Just as stated in the title, the book Macramé Fashion Accessories & Jewelry by Sylvie Hooghe, gives a large variety of DIY projects to make fashion accessories and jewelry with macramé including flip-flops, bags, belts, scarfs, decorative pins, garment edgings, bracelets, necklaces, key chains, and beaded projects.

The introduction explains in detail the types of materials and tools that are needed for macramé and types of knots used. The directions are well explained in step by step instruction and illustration throughout the book. I like how there are several picture views of the final projects. I had a hard time reading this book without getting out my macramé supplies. I was very happy to review this book and I highly recommend anyone interested in macramé to buy this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley book review program. https://www.netgalley.com/ I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

When I picked up The Action Bible Study Bible ESV in a store, I judged by its cover and was disappointed with the lack of amount of comic art. I love the introduction pages. In each introduction, the “Faith in Action” section makes small art mural of the key words found in the book. I was expecting the whole Bible to have the format of the introductory pages. But as I looked through the Bible I found other things that I liked. This Bible would be great for highlighting and jotting notes. The “What about this?” section asks questions about the faith that most people ask. The “Unlock It” sections which ask important questions to help understand the passage. The “Guess It!” sections is a challenging guessing game with 5 clues. The “Ancient Archives” sections add history to give a quick glimpse of what it was like in ancient times.  The “Activate” sections give small devotions. The “Remember It” sections highlight important verses to memorize. This Bible also has maps, sketches, a dictionary and a concordance. Although all these sections are good, I thought that there would be more of them. At first glance, I thought the whole book would be in comic format. But as it is, it is a great study Bible for any comic lover child or adult. I would buy this book for my children and I recommend anyone into comics to purchase this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley book review program. https://www.netgalley.com/ I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I enjoyed reading this book. I could not put the book down. Being a mother of 5 young children, I do not say that lightly. The book is a fascinating fictional story of Moses’ life based on historical records found in the Bible and other documents which are well documented throughout the book. The book describes relationships between Moses and other characters that are otherwise missed in other stories.

The author begins the book by stating “Believing that there is great drama in the early pages of the Bible that is not available to the vast readership, but that is of considerable value in trying to understand God and His relationship to us, I have taken a portion of the revered text and fleshed it out, all the while being careful not to alter the biblical facts” and then he painstakingly explains that the book is a novel (by definition a novel is a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.) and how his imagination developed the fiction that fills the gaps in his book.

As with any fictional story based on history, there are times that the story doesn’t completely match. One such conflict I found is how the author describes Moses when he was younger. His speech seems to be with authority when he is living in the palace but then at the burning bush he says that his speech and isn’t eloquent which matches Biblical accounts.

With that being said this book would be a great addition to a study on Moses. The author certainly deserves credit for his research which is a resource in itself. J. Roger Nelson successfully brings life to a story told and retold so many times. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

So many people judge a book by the cover. I try to look past the cover and look for value inside but this book reminded me that the reasoning of judging a book by its cover holds true. The front cover has an eye catching child’s drawing of a dinosaur. This book is not eye catching. It is bilingual and Im all for bilingual books but how this book does a paragraph in English and then a paragraph in Spanish becomes very distracting. The back cover matches the scattered flow of the book. The back cover should contain a description of the book that would make me want to read the book. The back cover of this book has 6 paragraphs. The first paragraph is about fossils. The second paragraph is about the history of a salt lake. The third paragraph is a short synapsis of the book. The fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs are the first three paragraphs in Spanish. Like the back cover the book is very confusing. Run-on sentences and other grammar issues make the book hard to read. Having some of the story in cartoon format leaves the reader frustrated as some of the writing is not legible. The mixed English and Spanish ruins the reading flow. The part of this book that confused me was the two stores in one. Half the book was a very slow paced story about sharing while the second half was a story about the dinosaur’s ancestors trip on Noah’s ark. The book seems to make a story from vocabulary that you would find in the Bible like Uz, behemoth, Galilee, Jordan, lotus plants and poplars. I would not recommend this book in its current state. I think a good editor needs to get a hold of it and help the author. This book would, however, go well with a Bible lesson about Job. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Isaiah 30:32 NKJV

And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it.

It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most HighWill abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.