Rhe’s Bookshelf – My First Hands-On Bible/Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door

Well, its that time again, I’ve got a couple books to review here so hang on to your hats!

My First Hands-On Bible – New Living Translation

My First Hands-On Bible is the preschooler version of the popular Hands-On Bible, which has sold over a half million copies. Jesus taught with hands-on lessons and illustrations; My First Hands-On Bible uses the same experience-based learning to communicate God’s Word in an active, understandable way. My First Hands-On Bible is a fun and simple yet meaningful way to engage preschool, pre-K, and K children (ages 3-6) with the Bible while helping them build a solid faith foundation. Each lesson focuses on a specific Bible point through a variety of activities in order to reinforce and help young children remember the stories and lessons. Using common household items, you can help your children have a “hands-on” learning experience while engaging them in 85 key stories from the Bible. My First Hands-On Bible doesn’t just retell the Bible stories; it also includes actual Scripture from the easy-to-understand and easy-to-read Holy Bible, New Living Translation. In addition to the stories and activities, there are fun illustrations, prayers, and a special Jesus Connection feature.

I am the mother of a 5 year old and a 3 year old and I loved this Bible. First off I really loved it just for me. A lot of times children’s bible’s can miss stuff, or skim over stuff or just shorten things down because its geared towards kids. I didn’t feel like that at all when I was looking this over. But by far the best part is the illustrations. So beautiful and fun. When my son opened it up for the first time he said, “Wow mommy, i like these pictures”. It was so easy to talk to him and have a conversation with him just about the pictures. That was before we even started reading it. The stories are great lengths and read in such a way that it kept my son’s attention while also spurring questions and conversation between. I love this Bible and I would definitely recommend it to any parent looking for a first Bible for their children! An added bonus for you homeschooling moms with younger children who aren’t quite ready for full on curriculum is the activities included within the stories. Its something for your younger kids to do that will make them feel like they are a big kid. I will be using it for my son who is doing pre-k and kindergarten learning at home this year.

**this book was provided by the Tyndale Blogging Program for my review. This review is my own and I was not provided any compensation for a positive review

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Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door, by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler
Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door gives teens answers that make sense, even for the toughest of questions. Internationally known defender of the faith Josh McDowell and co-author Bob Hostetler offer clarity laced with humor to expose common myths about God, the Bible, religion, and life to show how Christianity stands up to the test of fact and reason. Teens will be better equipped to stick with their faith as they begin to understand why they believe and why it’s important to make a lifetime commitment to Christ and the church.

I wasn’t actually sure what to expect when I first got this book. But after opening it up and powering through about the whole thing in one night I loved it. Josh McDowell is amazing and so I knew anything by him would be great. I believe that this is such a relevant book for this day in age and I really think that groups from Jr. High and even College Age could use this book. The stories are relevant and easily comparable to life. The follow-up questions are great. I’m always worried with things like this because I fear that the topics would become too relevant if you know what I mean. The questions and topics become too watered down. The future of Christianity today is in the hands of our kids and feeding them wishy-washy garbage isn’t going to do us any good. I would pick up this book if you’re a youth leader or any kid, or if you have teens in your house, or even before your kids get to that age. I have a five and three year old and I loved this book! Its a tough task to raise our children and anything that helps with that is good in my book!

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Rhe’s Bookshelf #3: The Fight of Our Lives


I was given the opportunity to read this book by the publisher and I’m so glad that I snatched this book. It was an amazing read, and as a Military Wife and American I recommend that everyone read this book. Don’t let the title of this book scare you or make you have any pre-conceived notions about this book. This is not just a random blathering of some right-wing, pro-war, Islamic hating person. This is a well-written and intelligent book, that includes the praise of those doing positive things in the Islamic words and the worlds of Muslims themselves. Granted, depending on your political views there may be many things you don’t like about this book, but there are several chapters that should be read regardless of where you stand politically. You will definitely learn something. While this book expresses many ‘Opinions’ of the authors, this book was well researched and includes so many facts that can not be construed as just opinions. I didn’t feel as if I was being manipulated or things were shoved down my throat. I have seen other people say that they felt like the author was trying to scare us or turn us into “1984”. I didnt’ feel that way. It could, however, be me. After putting it down I felt like buying everyone I knew a copy. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have read a book I might not have otherwise seen. It had a lot to say and was a lot to take in; and isn’t what I would consider “light reading”. Spread the word because it needs to be spread.

4 stars frome me

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Rhe’s Bookshelf – Springtime of the Spirit and J. Edgar Hoover

Hello everyone. I know that I’ve been SEVERELY lacking in the blogging department. Its easy to get really into it and become obsessed, but one thing comes along and you can’t do it like you used to and it becomes just as easy to get un-obsessed. Part of my problem is also the lack of a laptop. The battery finally burned out on that thing….so there you go. My pathetic lack of blogging excuses. And now moving on! I have been, however, completely enjoying myself reading, reading and more reading!!! A couple of the books were books that were on my personal to-read list and one was a wonderful opportunity provided by Tyndale Publishing. I’m never short of books to read, and in fact I get distracted all the time and lose track of what I wanted, and new books come along, or blogging opportunities and it goes on and on! That’s why I was so glad to have been introduced to Goodreads.com by one of my friends. I can organize my books!!! Hallelujah!! If you haven’t made your way over to Goodreads I highly suggest you do. Look me up and we can be book pals on there.

Now on to the reviews……

My first review is for Springtime of the Spirit by Maureen Lang. This particular book is part of a series called, The Great War Series. I had never heard of it before, but I love anything historical in nature. Springtime is book number 3 and I definitely will be picking up the first two of this series. I was given the opportunity to read this book through the publishing company, Tyndale Publishing. It has been since my pre-teen years that I have read Christian fiction. I had just never found a book that interested me; and you would be more likely to find me reading True Crime, historical Non-Fiction, or a mystery crime fiction type book. So, when I was asked to review this I jumped at the chance; not only for the Christian-fiction aspect of it, but because it historical in nature. This book is set in 1918 Germany, with a great setting and real-life people woven into the story line, which I thought was really cool. The book was an easy and enjoyable read. Some sections seemed to drag on a bit, but I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the weaving in of Christian principles and attitudes. It played right along well with the story and fit in wonderfully. Parts of the book were very emotional, and as always – me being a girl – i was quite happy with the way the book ended. Anyone who is looking for a Christian Fiction book to read, with a little romance, a little History, this is the book for you. I think it is difficult to do all that in one book, and do it will might I add. Maureen Lang has certainly done that in this book.

3 1/2 out of 5 Stars from me on this one

My second book is Laura by Donald Zochert. This was a personal pick of mine that I had picked up randomly in my local book store. Never having heard of it, and growing up with Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie, I picked it up. The fact that it was a biography about Laura Ingalls and that it was small were added bonus’. Anyone that enjoyed The Little House books or Rose Wilder’s books, or even the tv series, back in the day, should read this book. I loved it! When I think of the Little House books I view them as very biographical in nature, so reading a biography-type book had never really occurred to me (as silly as that might sound). I learned so much about the more historical aspects of her, and her families life. Things that may have been touched on in her books, but now to greater detail. Census information was included, and more historical information about the locations in which she lived were given. I learned so much about Ma and Pa and there lives and families. And more information was given about the younger siblings, Carried and Grace. The pictures that were included were wonderful; and really, reading this book has made me want to plan a trip to these locations even more than I had considered before. There is location information given, if you should ever want to travel there yourself, for the various places talked about, in the back of the book, as well. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this topic. I think it would be a great book for your older children to read as well.

4 out of 5 stars for this one!

My final book review for today is J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets, by Curt Gentry. This was an interesting experience, this book. I had picked this one up at my most favorite used book store, the Paperback Exchange. If you are ever, ever in Reno, Nevada you should immediately check this store out. I chose it because I had never read anything about J. Edgar Hoover, past what one is taught in school or generalizations in history books. I didn’t really know much about him, and the fact that there is a major motion picture in the works, it jumped to the top of my list of books to read. This was an amazing biographical/historical type book. Amazing. I learned a lot I didn’t know, I learned more about things I already knew. The one downside is that it is an extremely information-dense book. Wow, is really all I can say further about that. It literally took me about 6 months to read because I occasionally had to take some breaks from reading it, and read something else to let my brain take a rest. I would recommend this book to someone that likes this type of book. Keep your smartphone or laptop near by because you’re going to want to look stuff up. I looked up many names I couldn’t remember from earlier, and many times I would look up stuff to learn more because the book made me want to learn more about it. I learned so much that isn’t in your average history book and I learned perhaps too much about Mr. Hoover.

I hope you enjoyed the book reviews my friends!! please check out my goodreads profile for more great books and book reviews! And if you have read any of these books, or just have another book to share that is like these please do! I’m always looking for books to add to my to-read list!!

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