Quotes to Live By

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
(John Quincy Adams)

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. (Aristotle)

Every artist was first an amateur. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. (Thomas Jefferson)

It takes ten years to build up a reputation, but only five minutes to ruin one. (Anonymous)

Monday, September 29, 2014

The Legend of the Candy Cane

I loved the book the minute I opened up the box. It's a story fit for little ones. The pages are easy to flip for inexperienced hands and each page has short sentences for toddlers to understand. The illustrations are also nice and easy on the eyes.

With this in mind, it would make a great traditional read among young families. Parents can discuss the meaning of Christmas with their children and also use a candy cane to illustrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One dark November night a stranger rides into a small prairie town. Who is he? Why has he come? The townspeople wish he were a doctor, a dressmaker, or a trader. But the children have the greatest wish of all, a deep, quiet, secret wish. Then a young girl named Lucy befriends the newcomer. When he reveals his identity and shares with her the legend of the candy cane, she discovers fulfillment of her wishes and the answer to her town's dreams. Now will she share what she has learned? Warm, lavish illustrations by James Bernardin bring to life a timeless tale by Lori Walburg, a story that will help families celebrate the mystery and miracle of Christmas - for many Christmases to come.


Sunday, September 28, 2014

A Unique Way to Approach Interviews

I can remember my very first interview. It was as an intern at some company where they train you to sell products door to door. The PR person asked me to list three adjectives about myself. I said: reliable, dependable and responsible. Too late did I realize that those three words were synonyms to each other. When I said that, the guy smiled and I knew I didn't get the internship.

I wanted to review this book because I knew that it would help me become better at interviews.

This empowering guide from legendary career expert Richard N. Bolles reveals that interviews are really just conversations to determine if the work—and workplace—is a great fit for both parties.

For the first time, Bolles combines his decades of experience with the latest studies and job-market research to create an all-in-one guide for the whole interview process, from pre-interview research to elevator pitches, “tell me about yourself” questions, and salary negotiation. This slender handbook provides just the essentials: the three most important things you need to know about interviews, the five questions you must have answers for, and an ingenious summary of how to succeed. With this guide in hand, you’ll walk into interviews with confidence, armed with the means to impress—and hopefully land your dream job.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Bend your Brain

Want to train your brain to be better? Then this book is for you! Of course, speaking from a perspective of an educator, this is an important book. Students need to memorize so much information these days and every day, history is happening. How can they stretch their brain?

This first book from the team behind Marbles: The Brain Store, a chain devoted to building better brains, offers puzzles and brain teasers to help enhance memory, build problem-solving skills, and reduce stress.
     
Since Marbles started helping people play their way to a healthier brain, they've sold, solved, and been stumped by more than their fair share of puzzles. Along the way, they've learned which puzzles tie people in knots (not in a good way) and which ones make the neurons downright giddy. With the help of their in-house team of BrainCoaches and access to cutting-edge neuroscience, they've designed these puzzles to keep your mind flexible and fit.
     
 Arranged in five key brain categories—visual perception, word skills, critical thinking, coordination, and memory—Bend Your Brain offers a variety of puzzles ranging from mind-warming (easy) to mind-blowing (hard!):

·  Connecting the dots? More like working your spatial-orientation skills.
·  Identifying famous smiles? Flexing your visual memory.
·  Taking a closer look at your keyboard? Coding, storing, and retrieving.
·  Word-doku? Summoning cognitive abilities like appraisal, inference, impulse control, and evaluation.
·  Word scrambles? Tapping your brain’s association areas.

Your brain is your most important muscle, so let the brain-building begin!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A Devotional for Active Boys

Have a son who can't sit still during family devotions? Now they can! Featuring the one and only: Devotional for Active Boys!

Each devotional is geared towards how boys think! There are brain teasers, jokes and even exercise drills for busy boys. And if you have an active daughter, this book will also work.

The devotions help boys find how real people interacted with God and help them discover solutions to contemporary issues. Each devotion will help guide a young man in developing a lifetime habit of learning from the Bible. These themes include making good choices, discerning God's will, using good and uplifting language, avoiding temptation, choosing good friends and many more topics.

I got this book from: Tynadale

Letters from God

The book that came in the mail was so beautiful. When I opened the package, I was amazed at how pretty the illustrations were. I loved the letters from God part and my mom loved how the flaps could open.

This book is fit for any child who loves to get letters or love to look at pictures in a book. This book will create a special bond between God, child and parent as they go through each story.

he Love Letters from God will invite them to do just that! Accompanying each story in this unique children’s Bible is a very special and encouraging letter, each tucked away in its own lift-the-flap envelope, just for them. Written for children ages four to eight, the Love Letters from God includes eighteen of the most popular Bible stories—nine from the Old Testament and nine from the New Testament. Following each story the child will find his or her own letter from God. Children will love the excitement of opening the letters and parents will love how each letter elaborates on the Bible story being told. A very special Bible verse, entitled God’s Wonderful Words To You will accompany each story and letter. Much more than a mere memory verse, each carefully chosen promise will be God’s very own personal words of love, encouragement, and hope. This book will culminate in an invitation for the children to write their own RSVP to God.

I got this book from: Booklook Bloggers

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Thief of Glory

The inner struggles of both Jeremiah and Laura can be seen in this book. This book isn't just some sappy love story, but rather a story that the reader can see both sides and feel for the characters at the same time.

Sigmund Brouwer does a great job by putting readers into the plot and describing the scene as if he was there with the characters. It makes the story come to life from start to finish.

A boy coming of age in a time of war…
the love that inspires him to survive.

For ten year-old Jeremiah Prins, the life of privilege as the son of a school headmaster in the Dutch East Indies comes crashing to a halt in 1942 after the Japanese Imperialist invasion of the Southeast Pacific. Jeremiah takes on the responsibility of caring for his younger siblings when his father and older stepbrothers are separated from the rest of the family, and he is surprised by what life in the camp reveals about a woman he barely knows—his frail, troubled mother.

Amidst starvation, brutality, sacrifice and generosity, Jeremiah draws on all of his courage and cunning to fill in the gap for his mother. Life in the camps is made more tolerable as Jeremiah’s boyhood infatuation with his close friend Laura deepens into a friendship from which they both draw strength.

When the darkest sides of humanity threaten to overwhelm Jeremiah and Laura, they reach for God’s light and grace, shining through his people. Time and war will test their fortitude and the only thing that will bring them safely to the other side is the most enduring bond of all.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."