Category: book review

April 15, 2025

My Mom Book Review

The perfect gift for Moms, My Mom celebrates the unique bond between mother and child, no matter how this relationship starts.

About My Mom

My Mom is a stereotype-busting celebration of all the everyday things that one child’s mom does to make her so awesome!

My Mom says that when I arrived
I was like a star
drifting
down
from the sky
and into her life.

The story follows mother and child from before the child is born, celebrating the bond between mother and child even when the child is just a dream. With an inclusive feel, all mother and child relationships are celebrated in this story – whether biological or adoptive.

A joyous spirit of adventure is present throughout the story, following mother and child as they take on life’s big and small adventures together. From sailing a ship around the garden and exploring forests, streams and meadows to telling stories in a cozy den and cuddling before bedtime, a child reveals all the simple yet special things she loves to do with her adventurous mom.

Our Thoughts

The journey to parenthood is different and non-linear. This book captures it perfectly in the opening sentence, “My Mom says that when I arrived I was like a star, drifting down from the sky and into her life”. We become mothers in very different ways and stages in our lives. For some of us, this journey may appear easier and for others we may have a longer journey that goes down a variety of different paths. We all have the same fears that becoming parents may never happen, no matter how hard our heart yearns for it. But when this day comes, and that child enters your life, it is like life starts again and your heart is full of love and hope.

This beautiful book brought tears to my eyes as you hear the child share how much they love their Mom and everything that she does with her. She shares how her Mom can fix anything and how her Mom’s strength and bravery in turns gives her strength to face her fears. As parents, we sometimes can try so hard to give our children the perfect moments (sparing no cost!) when all they really want and need is the simple moments – walking in the park, making crafts, playing together, snuggling on the couch. Seeing these little adventures through the eyes of a child, brings a different perspective into being a mom.

My favourite line of this book, “Mom tells me how she loved me when I was just a dream. And when I see my mom so happy – I’m really, really glad she dreamed of me.” My heart just melted reading this line, we love our children so deeply regardless of how they come into our lives. Children need this love and flourish when they feel safe and loved.

The illustrations in this book go along well with the story line – they are soft, whimsical and fun. They highlight the magic of childhood and the love between Mother and child. You can hear the giggles, feel the wind blowing and the touch of a small hand in your own.

This is a wonderful book for new parents, it makes not only a wonderful book to read with your child but to cherish for years to come.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon. Learn more about this book and others on Quarto.

About the Author

Susan Quinn was born in Manchester but has traveled the world: by way of South Africa and Sydney. She became a children’s librarian at 23 and then moved back to England. Her first book, Little Bear and the Butterflies, was published by QED in 2014.

About the Illustrator

Sarah Mathew is a freelance illustrator who lives in Cambridge with her husband and three boys. Sarah is naturally curious and loves collecting little seeds of inspiration. Sarah takes a playful and experimental approach to her work, testing out new ways of working and seeing where the happy accidents or beginnings of ideas go. Sarah has many treasured memories of being snuggled up with her children reading a big pile of picture books.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 14, 2025

The Reasons I Pray

About The Reasons I Pray

Prayer is more than words—it is a powerful, transformative force that can lead to a life of obedience, faith, and supernatural encounters with God. In The Reasons I Pray, author Deberann Tinson provides an inspirational and instructional roadmap to developing a meaningful and continuous prayer life. This book is designed to help individuals, leaders, and entire ministries unlock the full potential of prayer and witness its divine impact.

Prayer is not just a ritual but a divine calling, and The Reasons I Pray offers practical guidance on how to pray without ceasing and develop a passion for prayer that aligns with God’s will. Readers will learn essential lessons, including:

Walking in obedience to God’s call to pray
Developing a deep and consistent passion for prayer
Maintaining the proper purpose and focus in prayer
Strengthening faith, perspective, and discernment
Cultivating a passion for prayer in others
Understanding how prayer influences shifts at personal, community, and even governmental levels

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Walmart, B&N, Tinson Enterprises.

You can enter to win a signed copy of The Reasons I Pray here.

About the Author

Deberann Tinson is a devoted teacher, and author committed to guiding believers in their spiritual walk through prayer. With a heart for intercession and a passion for empowering others, her works serve as a beacon of hope and instruction for individuals seeking a closer relationship with God. She has a great love for the Word of God as well as the love for His people. She has a contagious spirit of generosity that flows through every facet of her life.

Ms. Tinson has been in ministry for more than 30 years, and has been a full-time evangelist for over 25 years.

You can connect with her on her website, Instagram and Goodreads.

Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 9, 2025

Sing With Your Baby Every Day: 30 Songs and Nursery Rhymes to Sing Along To

The sound a parents’ voices helps babies feel safe and feel comfortable with their surroundings, Sing With Your Baby Every Day is a gorgeous book that puts some of the best loved nursery rhymes and songs in one gorgeous keepsake.

About Sing With Your Baby Every Day

Sing With Your Baby Every Day is keepsake volume of thirty nursery rhymes and songs to share with your baby, and illustrated with hand-embroidered artwork.

Science tells us that babies develop when they are spoken to, sung to, and read to. Even when they’re tiny, their parents’ voices helps babies make sense of the world and feel comfortable with new people and places and beautiful book brings you best-loved nursery rhymes and songs in one volume, including:

Five Little Ducks
Round and Round the Garden
Teddy Bears Picnic
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
A Sailor Went to Sea
Grand Old Duke of York
Kookaburra

Bond with your little one and watch them grow as your recite and sing these classics.

This book is also part of the Stitched Storytime series: Read to Your Baby Every Day, Read to Your Toddler Every Day, Read to Your Baby Every Night, and Pray with Your Baby Every Day.

Our Thoughts

Little ones love singing and hearing their parents and siblings voice. You can see the changes in their face and eyes, the way they just light up when they hear these special people in their life. Singing and reading are so important in their development and I think we do this naturally as we try to soothe our newborns with songs and movement. It is one of the most natural actions we take as care providers and parents – we sing to soothe and to show joy.

Sometimes where we struggle is having enough songs to sing! I am guilty of this and then I start to try to remember every Girl Guide and hymn I have ever heard (while only remembering likely one verse!). I love the variety of songs in this book, re-learning the proper words to each song and also being able to share some of my own memories of each song with older siblings (it even brought up conversations of whether they remember us singing these songs together when they were little). Each day we sang different songs, went back to favourites that made our little one smile, and even added in our own actions and dances to each song.

The book itself is stunning with the illustrations, we found ourselves running our hands over each page. The design is so thoughtful and intentional with big impact. This really helped to engage our little one and family in reading and singing time.

This is a wonderful book that would make a great addition to baby shower and newborn gifts. Parents will enjoy each moment spent singing to their little one with the aid of this gorgeous book!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon. You can learn more about the series on Quarto.

About the Author

Irish-born Claire Grace studied English and Philosophy before becoming a Senior Commissioning Editor of children’s books. She is the author of many books for children and has worked on a collection of award-winning titles. She now lives in Scotland with her husband and son and works as a full time author and freelance editor.

About the Illustrator

Chloe Giordano began to sew in the last year of her illustration degree at the University of the West of England. Since graduating, she has continued to experiment with freehand embroidery, using sewing thread and hand-dyed fabrics to make her work – and the books in her bestselling Stitched Storytime series are illustrated with her hand-embroidered artwork. Her clients include Penguin, Vintage Books, Bloomsbury, Liberty.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 9, 2025

The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition

The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition empowers young athletes to take control of their training by teaching them one of the areas not focused on enough – nutrition.

About The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition

Author, lifelong runner, and certified running and nutrition coach Michele Pettinger grew up running under the tutelage of her father, the high school cross country and track coach. With The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition, she plans to carry on the legacy of reaching youth runners and the communities that support them through nutrition education and practical, easy-to-implement protocols.

With this practical guide, young runners will learn the fundamentals of sports nutrition, explaining why they need specific nutrients and what foods contain them. These young athletes will also discover more about:

Navigating adolescence and the unique nutritional needs of the young runner, like macronutrients, micronutrients, and hydration
Nutritional challenges and health risks such as the female and male athlete triads, disordered eating, RED-S, and other areas of concern
Strategic fueling and optimizing performance and recovery through nutrition planning and nutrient timing
Empowering change by integrating nutrition education into running programs, including how to foster positive body image and daily practical tools for upholding nutrition protocols

Change in sports nutrition for young runners needs to start with the entire community that supports them — their coaches, trainers, and families. That’s why The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition also includes resources for coaches on how to integrate nutrition education into their training programs and content for parents on how to foster good nutrition at home that will support the needs of their young runner through meal planning, cooking, and conversation.

Our Thoughts

We all know how important nutrition is, not only in our everyday lives but especially as athletes and for those who of us who are actively strength training for health and conditioning. It is hard not to avoid the plenty of recommendations that bombard us both as parents, and as athletes every day on social media. While we know and acknowledge the importance of nutrition, this is also an area that is often overlooked and where athletes and their parents are not adequately equipped with the knowledge to support their athlete.

Both of my boys have played competitive soccer, our youngest is now playing high performance soccer for an MLS academy. His training schedule sees him on the pitch five days a week for training plus a sixth for games. He loves this – it has been his dream since watching his older brother on the pitch. This also requires a lot of travel daily and it feels like we are on the run a lot. The academy does an incredible job taking care of their physical and mental well being while stressing the importance of nutrition at home. As a parent, even with my background in Kinesiology, I feel unprepared and a bit scared on what to provide, when to provide it and portion sizes. Not to mention how do I add variety (who wants to eat the same thing every day?) and can we have it on the go.

I really appreciated Michele’s approach to this book, I read the book twice before sharing with my son. While I do feel that athletes need to have the discipline and ownership of their health and sport, nutrition is one area that both parent and athlete need the education and skill set to prepare for training and competition (it is a whole family approach). The approach and knowledge shared while geared to running, can be applied to athletes in all sports.

Michele’s approach in this book is as follows:

understanding the adolescence body as it undergoes changes
how can we optimize what we eat for both performance and recovery
how can we strategically eat and hydrate (the when and how) to perform optimally
how to navigate typical nutrition challenges that all adolescences will encounter but the specific impact that they have on athletes
the family support unit on nutrition and athletes
recipes to help you put it all together

The sections are covered in a straightforward, easy to read manner. They are specific and to the point, which in this age group is important. Each section was easy to understand and relatable to athletes (both female and male). Michele also provides examples in each section to help athletes and their families apply the knowledge. Many of the sections were relatable to both our athlete and our family.

One of the biggest struggles we have had is that early morning meal/snack or pre-match snack, and when I came to this section I felt grateful that we weren’t alone. Even the concerns that were listed (I feel sick, I am not hungry, I will have to use the bathroom, etc..) matched the concerns that are brought up in our own home. It felt so good to know we aren’t alone, our child isn’t alone but then have specific actions and resources to go to in order to address these concerns (versus Mom and Dad just saying you will not have the energy to play if you don’t eat!).

Athletes are bombarded with nutrition every day (here is the food guide, you need to eat right to fuel your body, eat more protein to gain mass, you need to eat this to succeed, etc.). It is overwhelming as a parent, so how can we expect young athletes to not only take this information in but apply it is as well without the proper resources. The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition equips athletes and their families not only with the education but the resources to incorporate a strategic, nutritional approach to optimize performance in training and competition. This is a must have for all young athletes!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Michele Pettinger started running at a young age in the Midwest under the tutelage of her father, the high school cross country and track coach. She has a passion for carrying on the legacy of reaching young runners and helping them build a solid nutritional foundation that will empower them now and long into their future running careers. She holds a master’s degree in communication studies and had a career as a technical writer before she fell in love with trail running while living in the Pacific Northwest, where she founded P3Running, a collective of coaches specializing in custom run and nutrition coaching. Michele is an RRCA Level II Certified Running Coach, Certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, and Certified Functional Nutrition counselor. She is most at home on the trails, training for ultramarathon distances. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA, with her husband, Joe. They have a grown daughter, Anika. Find Michele online at p3running.com, and follow her on Instagram (@p3runningcoach and @mjpettinger) and Facebook (P3Running).

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 1, 2025

Is That My Hat?

Is That My Hat is a fun, engaging read for parents and young children.

About Is That My Hat?

Mole is struggling to find the perfect hat. After trying on big, spooky, and silly hats, Mole ends up creating the perfect hat for himself. Full of creativity and bright illustrations, this picture book is a charming and engaging read.

Our Thoughts

I love to read and I especially love reading with my children. These moments are incredibly special and important to hold on to. I really try hard to ensure that the books we are reading are geared towards their age, but also stimulating, engaging and most importantly fun.

With a new addition to our family we have been on the hunt to add to our collection of story time and bed time books. Is That My Hat? was a huge hit in our household. It had everything that makes a child’s book fun and engaging. The sentences had a great rhythm that allowed you to change the tone and pitch of your voice to really help draw a child into the story. It felt natural to speak the words to my child and change my facial expressions to bring the story to life. While my little one is quite a bit younger, a three to four year old would have a great time with prompting questions (what items would you choose for a hat, what makes that special, etc..) to help bring this story to life.

The illustrations are simple, with clean lines and bright colours that help to deliver the storyline without being distracting. I prefer these types of illustrations in children’s stories as I find this helps encourage connection to the story itself versus being caught up trying to follow distracting images page to page.

Is That My Hat? is a wonderful story for young children and will be a welcome addition to your home library.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

About the Creator

Kevin Payne is an author, illustrator, and poet from Devon, England. He was an elementary school teacher for seventeen years and still loves working with children to develop their skills and love of words. Away from writing, Kevin plays soccer, writes songs, and is a local town crier. Oyez!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.