Book Review: Kingdom Men Rising

Tony Evans’ Kingdom Men Rising (Bethany House, 2021) is a nice little 90 day devotional book written especially for men.

It is bound in 7 inch by 4 1/2 inch leather-like book with heavy pages and a ribbon marker. It feels good in the hand and physically seems to invite the reader to hold and open it.

Each day’s reading is just 2 pages, including a bible verse from the NASB version, a short commentary then 3 action items. The action items lead the reader to think deeply about the verse and to apply it to his own life and circumstances. Each day’s reading ends with a short prayer asking Jesus’ help to walk in the way you have just learned.

My only “complaint” about the book is a simple formatting issue. Occasionally, the prayer box has spilled onto a third page. This interrupts the flow of the book - days 1 and 2 you read the front and back of the page, then on day 3 the prayer is on a third page, days 4-12 you’re reading a left and right hand page. Day 14’s prayer box is on the back of the right hand page and I fear the reader may miss that until the following day. Again, that’s a simple formatting issue and I hope the publisher will receive my review and correct it in future printings.

Overall, I would certainly recommend Kingdom Men Rising.

Bethany House provided a copy of this book to me in exchange for a fair and impartial review.

Book Review: The Bible Recap

The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble was sadly a disappointment to me - although it is entirely possible that the fault is my own because I did not closely read the description. So, I wanted to explain to you a little more about what the book presents so you can be better informed.

Bethany House sent me 2 separate volumes, a “Journal” and “Study Guide”.

I think the “Recap” in the title led me to believe that I would read a passage of scripture and the book would offer a summation - and maybe some extra, historical or background information. Instead, it asks you to read several chapters then asks 4 or 5 questions about the passage.

The back cover indicates that it follows a chronological Bible reading plan. However, it doesn’t seem to coincide with Chronological presentations of the Bible that I’ve read in the past.

Both of the books provide ample space for journaling or answering the questions presented. However, I don’t care for the binding choice because it doesn’t allow the hand room to access the whole page. These are bound in the same “perfect binding” that is used on most paperback books. In my opinion, a journal should be bound in a coil binding to allow the pages to lie flat for writing.

The Journal part of this set asks 3 questions on each day, “Things I loved / learned / noticed", “Questions / things I want to research,” and “God Shot”. The pages are bordered with a mixture of scripture and other non-credited snippets.

The Bible quotations in both books are from ESV and NIV.

Book Review: Live Like Royalty

Jaida Campbell’s Live Like Royalty: Claim Your Inheritance in the Kingdom of God and Walk in Your Divine Purpose (M&J, 2019) presents both a challenge and a methodology for all Christian believers to appreciate God’s divine purpose and embrace it.

Laid out in 10 chapters, Mrs. Campbell first presents the biblical basis for her assertion that as believers in Jesus Christ we are joint heirs with Him and therefore part of his royal family.  Drawing on comparisons to Princess Grace of Monaco, she demonstrates the changes that must take place in our mindset and behavior and the abundant blessings resulting from those changes.

Each segment of the book provides a point of reflection and space to record your thoughts.  The book is currently available only in ebook format so those areas are naturally unusable in the Kindle apps.

Scripture verses are taken from several different translations and are generally well noted which version is quoted.  Occasionally verses are even presented in more than one translation to highlight the subtle differences.

Overall Live Like Royalty is an encouragement that I would recommend to any believer.  In fact, it would be essential to a new believer who needs to fully grasp her new role and the blessings she can expect as a daughter of The King.

Book Review: True Heart Girls Devotional

The True Heart Girls Devotional (Kyle, Hendrickson, 2018) is a 15 week study for girls ages 8-12.  It is a charming book filled with colorful illustrations, activities and treasured lessons every young girl needs. 

I really appreciate the addition of pictures and borders through the book; just flipping through the pages you are invited to stop and read.  Endless pages of black text on white pages are not very excited for the targeted age group.  I’ve had the book in my house for a few weeks and my young daughter just keeps picking it up and asking questions about it. 

Most devotional books have a portion for journaling and with adult coloring all the rage these days I’m seeing bibles and devotionals galore with coloring pages interspersed throughout.  Mrs. Kyle has taken this more than a step forward – it’s a leap ahead.  Each week’s day 6 is a “Do It” project.  From creating salt crystals to prayer jars or baking bread or dog biscuits these are activities that an older girl could do on her own and which all girls would love sharing with a mother or grandmother.  There are also service projects like, “20 ways to show kindness”. 

The actual devotional stories are focused on the characteristics of God and what God does for us.  While I appreciate the devotions that direct children to think about and practice their own Christian attitudes and behaviors, it’s incredible to see a book directing them to think on God.  These are lessons Christians of any age could grow from.  The book teaches that “God takes care of every need,” “God forms families,” “God makes each new day,” and “God’s tender loving care,” as well as traits such as God’s kindness, faithfulness, joy, and mercy – just to name a few. 

Scripture references in True Heart Girls Devotional are from NIrV and NLT versions.   

Overall, I’m thrilled to recommend this lovely book to you and any young lady you might shop for. 

Sherry Kyle, author of True Heart Girls Devotional supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and impartial review. 

Book Review: The Adventure Bible Book of Daring Deeds and Epic Creations

The Adventure Bible Book of Daring Deeds and Epic Creations, (Zondervan, 2018) is a great idea book for the out-of-school-getting-kinda-bored kid.  There are activities for both boys and girls including simple crafts, games and challenges. 

Each adventure includes a bible verse (taken from the New International Version) and a thought to direct thoughts toward spiritual things as you are completing an activity.  These two features alone were worth 3 stars in my opinion!  It’s incredible to find a book that will keep a child busy and still keep them focused on The Lord. 

There isn’t really an age range given on this book although the introduction does mention that adult help would be needed for some of the activities.  Really I think children of all ages would enjoy it!  Some of the crafts are as simple as drawing fruit or mixing trail mix.  Others are a little more involved like setting up a tent and learning first aid.  I can even imagine older kids enjoying this along with younger siblings or cousins.

Overall, I’m pleased to give 5 stars to this little book which Zondervan supplied to me in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: The Road to Magnolia Glen

The Road to Magnolia Glen (Hillman, Tyndale, 2018) introduces two Irish families immigrating to the United States via Louisiana in 1792.  It touches on issues such as the growing slave trade in the new nation and human trafficking.  The crime of those early years is evident and terrifying as well as the hardships of travel and communication as well as the lack of medical care. 

So there’s a lot of bleakness in the story but it seems historically accurate and the true-to-life picture that was presented absolutely captivated me.  This is a romance and as usual in the genre it’s obvious from the beginning who will end up with whom.  But the tragedies of the era and the emotions of the characters make for a very compelling story that I could recommend to anyone to read. 

Both Keira Young and Quinn O’Shea are people of strong faith and their reliance on God is woven through the whole story.  The image of religion in early America was very interesting to me as well with all of the people of a plantation coming together to worship together in the absence of a formal church.

Tyndale House supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: Heavenly Minded Mom

Heavenly Minded Mom (Bennett, Kate, Abingdon Press, 2018) is a devotional directed to moms of all ages with children of all ages.  While it’s great to have a devotion book written to a specific era and situation in your life, I have truly enjoyed these daily readings that would be helpful for any mother. 

From wealth and ease to fun and friends, so many of the things we hope for, even idolize, for our children do not end when they complete their teen years or establish their own homes.  Mothers want more and more for their children so long as both are living.  Yet Mrs. Bennett reveals to us that we are setting up these lofty dreams as idols and once exposed she urges us to tear them down and replace them with the light and the truth of God’s word.

Each day a scripture reading is given (from the New International Version) then  3 or 4 paragraphs speaking to a mother’s heart.  This is followed by additional scripture references in a section entitled “Embracing God’s Word” then a couple of questions to guide your journaling for the day.

Abingdon Press, the publisher of Heavenly Minded Mom supplied a copy of this book for me to review.  They sent an electronic copy and there are several things I did not enjoy in that format.  There is no Table of Contents so there was no way to look at the whole book and peruse the subjects that would be covered.  Also, that always makes it difficult for me if I lose my place in the digital book or if there was a particular subject I want to re-visit.  Also, should you lose your place, there are no dates on the individual entries, so you don’t have that means of finding your place.  If I were going to buy this for a friend I would no doubt choose the paper version.

Overall, I can recommend Heavenly Minded Mom.

Book Review: Create: A Girl’s Guide to DIY, Doodles & Design

Create:  A Girl’s Guide to DIY, Doodles & Design is 140 pages of creativity.  It is probably most appropriate for an early teen girl, maybe 9 – 13.  The crafts are a little complex for young fingers and the “doodles” are certainly grown-up-type coloring.  But for the right age group I think this book would be thrilling.

It offers crafts made with everthing from simple fabric scraps to colorfully-printed duct tape.  They are the sort of practical decorations that a young girl loves like a flowered mirror frame, blue jean tote bag or fabric scrap flip flops.  And I didn’t see any materials that would be very expensive at all – in fact most could be found around any home.

Zondervan, the publisher of Create:  A Girl’s Guide to DIY, Doodles & Design, supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: Bibleforce: The First Heroes Bible

Bibleforce: The First Heroes Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2018) is a comic-book-style bible story book.  It begins with the story of creation and ends with the final judgment in 642 pages. 

The illustrations in this book are absolutely incredible.  Bright colors draw the eye and realistic images truly tell the story.  Angry faces are well depicted without being scary, even John’s vision of the end time dragon is well delivered with the dragon facing the angel rather than the reader.  There are maps and banners of explanation outside the actual stories. 

Each story shows where it can be found in the Bible.  The book is amazingly complete, seeming to exclude only the minor prophets – which would be difficult to deliver as a child’s story.

My five year old is absolutely enthralled with this story book.  While most of the text is beyond his reading level, he sits for hours pouring over the pictures.  He carried it to church last week and showed it to everyone that would look.

I am thrilled to give Bibleforce: The First Heroes Bible FIVE stars!

Thomas Nelson, publisher of Bibleforce: The First Heroes Bible sent me a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: KJV Minister’s Bible

When Thomas Nelson offered to send me a copy of the KJV Minister’s Bible for review, I jumped at the chance thinking how nice it would be to pass it along to a young man recently called to preach.  So I review this particular book not as someone accustomed to the pulpit but as a shopper for such a man.

The Bible comes packaged in an attractive black box with gold lettering.  However, upon opening the box the book itself is very unassuming.  It has no indication on the cover that it is designed for a minister and the spine shows only “Holy Bible” and the publisher’s symbol.  The copy I received was the trademarked Leathersoft and it feels absolutely sumptuous.  There is a very simple presentation page, an index then on just the fifth page is the dedication from the translators to King James.  I think this simplicity is great because you aren’t carrying around a lot of extra pages – and therefore weight – used only to explain the content of the bible.

The text is printed in Thomas Nelson’s KJV Typeface which was specifically designed for these Bibles.  There is nothing but the scripture, no pronunciation guides, no cross-references and not a word of commentary.  As I said before, that seems good from a streamlining perspective  and I imagine it is designed with the intent that the man of God would be studying with other books at hand and then carrying only this to deliver his message.  As for readability, it maybe seems a little bit small and compressed to me. 

There are three ribbon markers which would be very helpful when setting up to turn to different references.  It had lay-flat binding which delivers as promised  once you’ve turned about 100 pages into the book.

Between the Old and New Testaments  you’ll find the minister’s portion of this Bible.  There you’ll find nearly 200 pages of resource material for weddings, funerals, dedications, communion services, baptisms and worship.  While perhaps a seasoned minister would scoff at the material, I can certainly see that it would help to guide a novice.  Even as a layperson, there are verses to share with the sick and dying and witnessing guidance that I would find very useful.

This Bible ends as quickly as it began with only five pages of end-material.  Included in those are reading plans for “30 days with Jesus” and reading the Bible through in a year – both which I found very useful.

I cannot argue with a straightforward presentation of God’s word and therefore this KJV Minister’s Bible gets 5 stars!

As I mentioned in the beginning, Thomas Nelson did provide a copy of this bible for review purposes.

Book Review: A Memory A Day for Moms

Journalling is tough for me.  I know a lot of people really recommend it for everything from therapy to Bible Study but I often struggle with it.  And then there are those wonderful Bible Studies that have fill in the blank questions – since my head doesn’t work the way most heads work I have trouble with them too unless the question is along the lines of,  “Who built Noah’s Ark?”.  When my children were newborn I had the traditional baby book and I did a pretty good job chronicling all the firsts – at least for the first child I did a good job.  So when I was offered a 5 year journal for moms I thought it was custom made. 

A Memory A Day for Moms is a 5 year journal that is bound in a hard cover which is beautifully embellished with gold-colored vines against a soft blue background.  It includes a ribbon so you can easily turn to your page and provides 3 lines for each day to record memories of your family.  Three lines is not very intimidating so most of us would return to it day after day to leave a thought or two about what’s happening in our family. 

Now, there are prompts at the top of each page that may or may not fit what you’re hoping to record when you open the book.  Things like, what book your child is reading or how your family could serve others might spark a thought on a dry day.  Some of the questions however might derail my journaling, such as what I’m dreading about Christmas or how does my child honor me.  I’m sorry but there are just days that I either couldn’t limit the dread to three lines or think of a single honoring characteristic.  Still, recording favorite animals or the craziest thing we’ve done would be great to read about in coming years.

There’s a Bible verse at the bottom of each page.  The front matter says it’s mainly New International Version but there’s a lot of other versions represented as well - NKJV, ESV and NLT are some of the ones I noticed.

Overall, I find this journal to be a great idea that I look forward to using and will probably buy for other moms around me.

Thomas Nelson, the publisher of A Memory a Day for Moms supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: Precious Moments Little Book of Easter Blessings

The Precious Moments Little Book of Easter Blessings is a beautifully illustrated board book filled with poems, bible verses and the timeless Precious Moments boys and girls.

Every other page has a bible verse from the International Children’s Bible.  The poetry of this book presents information about the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and the Resurrection.  There are also several poems that speak of springtime, eggs and bunnies.  In fact the cover of the book shows a little boy and girl holding their bibles and standing before a blooming Dogwood tree adorned with colorful eggs and the very first poem is titled “An Easter Egg Hunt”. 

The author makes an effort to integrate the elements of egg hunts and chocolate bunnies into biblical concepts.  The poem “An Easter Egg Hunt” is followed by Jeremiah 29:13 which speaks of searching for God and the promise that He can always be found.  In a similar fashion, “Chocolate Easter Bunny” is followed by Matthew 7:11, “Your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him” and few would argue that a chocolate bunny is good to eat.

I find it difficult to rate a book that is so beautiful and includes  God’s word and pictures of children in prayer as well as the more worldly aspects of the holiest of holidays.  In fact it’s a difficult balance that goes far beyond a book review.  I’m going to rate this with 4 stars in acknowledgement of the innocent illustrations and the beautiful presentation of springtime and Easter celebrations.

Thomas Nelson, the publisher of Precious Moments Little Book of Easter Blessings supplied a copy of this book in exchange for an impartial review.

Book Review: The KJV Daily Devotional

The content of The KJV Daily Devotional gets 4 stars however, the digital format gets only 2.

This daily devotional provides a short well-applied devotion – probably just about a half page each.  The scripture is printed along with the story so that you would not have to have your Bible open with it, and the verses are in the King James translation. 

I really like that the translation is declared in the very title of this book.  I am often frustrated by devotional books that mix a lot of different translations throughout, or only declare which translation is being used in tiny print among the legal stuff.  There are some translations I prefer over others and some that I’m simply not willing to use so I always wish I knew what I was getting in that department and usually end up having both a devotion book and my bible open at the same time.  So this is a really positive factor in The KJV Daily Devotional.

There are no dates on the individual devotions which is both positive and negative.  Even if you miss reading for a day – or two – if there is a date you can find your place in the book and move through it during the year.  Without dates you simply rely on a bookmark and can easily repeatedly read pages. 

The only real negatives I have to offer in this review are in the digital formatting and I’m not at all pleased with that part.  Because there are no dates on the individual devotions you can only read this eBook like you would a novel – page by page.  There is also no table of contents so that you have the option to jump to “His Joy” or “Stop Pretending”.  Maybe this is by design so you would not be tempted to skip around but if your reading app loses your place then you’re stuck flipping through the pages and I guess just randomly choosing a place to stop.

There are no page breaks between each entry so using the digital copy you just have to stop after reading a portion of a page then when you return to the book the next day you start in the middle of the page.  It would have been much nicer to have a new page to start on each time I returned to the book.

Barbour Publishing provided a complimentary copy of The KJV Daily Devotional in exchange for a fair review

Book Review: Prayers of Blessing over your Husband

In Prayers of Blessings over your Husband, author Bruce Wilkinson shares blessings he’s enjoyed and lessons he’s learned from his wife’s years of praying over him.    

The book is well-written and educational.  It offers insights any wife can use to bolster her husband and therefore strengthen her marriage and increase the joy in that relationship.  This is a book to utilize from a position of strength.  He makes the very valid point that instead of praying, “Change him God” we should pray “Bless him Lord” and a man showered with God’s blessings will naturally be a creature you want to live with and someone who is easy to love.  Still you would need some pretty good communication in your relationship before you could implement many of the practices he promotes.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an impartial review.  The copy I received was digital and I want to disclose that early-on because the format certainly colors my review.

I’m finding more and more that in non-fiction or reference books the digital format is difficult for me to use and enjoy.  In a novel I read it front to back with very little flipping around.  If I return to the book it’s usually to read it the same way again.  However, in a non-fiction work like this I want to go back and reference certain parts of it – in the case of a prayer-topic I want to go to the secrets that this book disclosed and pray through them.  However, it would take many minutes of page turning to find that section again.  There is no table of contents where I might be quickly taken to a specific section.  Of course I could manually bookmark those sections myself – like dog-earring a page but again that would require an investment of my time.

I can only give one overall rating of 3 stars, but I would really like to rate the content of the book at 4 stars and the digital formatting at 2 stars.

Book Review: Gardener’s Log Book

The New York Botanical Garden has published a Gardener’s Log Book to help gardening enthusiasts track plantings and successes as well as local bloom schedules and seasonal chores. It is described as boasting a, “sturdy waterproof cover to protect pages from rain and muddy soil,” as well as “authoritative appendices on composting, pruning, pest and disease control, and container gardening,” and “useful reminders by season on fertilizing, mulching, and transplanting.”

I loved the idea of this log book – in fact I’ve kept something similar in just a hard-backed lined book for years.  I envisioned this Gardener’s Log Book as something that would ride to the garden or out in the yard with me so I could make notes and reminders as I worked.  I’m afraid that’s not quite what I got.

The “weatherproof” binding is maybe a heavy cardstock with some sort of covering less robust than lamination even.  It is bound with eight wire rings so I can’t imagine that cover is going to last long.  The interior pages are a heavy paper and while they do seem to have some treatment to keep ink from running when I put damp hands over the writing, the paper did ripple.  So this paper isn’t akin to the rain-proof notepads like law enforcement officers carry.

There is a little pocket in the very back of the book, but no place to clip in an ink pen, no dividers to easily locate the different years or seasons, not even a ribbon to mark your place.

The purpose of this book is logging rather than referencing so the appendixes in the back are naturally very short.  However, I’m afraid I didn’t find them very useful at all.  There are some charts at the beginning of each season that seem to be very helpful and they include check boxes to keep up with which chores you’ve already attended to.  I will label the columns by the year I’m working in (this year being 2018) because the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 would give me a reference point.

Overall, the Gardener’s Log Book is a great concept and hopefully the future additions will incorporate some of the feedback I’m sure gardener’s will share with The New York Botanical Garden.

Clarkson Potter, the publisher of Gardener’s Log Book supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: Every Day With Jesus 365 Devotions for Kids

Charles Stanley’s devotions for children is a great book.  Every Day with Jesus is setup much as you’d expect with a one page per day devotion consisting of a short verse of scripture, a few words of education and encouragement then a one or two line prayer.  The bottom of each page is bordered with what you can to with Jesus today.  Each page is dated and a ribbon is supplied in the binding for easy page marking.  There are a few lined pages for notes at the end and a little information about Dr. Stanley but no other end material.

While written simply, these devotions would be great for kids of all ages.  There are not colorful pictures that might draw the youngest readers but the language is such that even late-teens could continue to grow by reading this book. 

The version of scripture presented is the International Children’s Bible.

Overall this is a great devotional that I am looking forward to reading throughout the year with my own children.  Therefore I gladly recommend it to other readers.

Thomas Nelson, the publisher of Every Day With Jesus supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Book Review: NKJV Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible

I am always loathe to give a Bible a negative review.  But study bibles are very expensive and I certainly want any reader to be able to make a fully informed choice.  With that said, I am afraid I’m disappointed in the Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible.

This study bible has numerous timelines which are an incredible tool for understanding the order of events when different books, like the prophecies, may overlap in time periods.  However, most of the timelines in this book have no scriptural reference – It says “Adam and Eve live” but does not tell me where the Bible actually tells me that; “Tower of Babl” appears on the timeline but it doesn’t direct me to the part of the Bible where I can read about that tower.

The very title of the Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible indicates it is illustrated.  There are some very interesting archeological pictures and application of those items to scripture, such as The Babylonian Chronicles – clay tablets that narrate events in Babylons history including Biblical history. The table of contents lists 54 of these infographics they are distributed about 3 per book with Exodus and 2 Kings each having 6.  However, many  of these graphics are not photographs but drawings such as a layout of Rome in Paul’s day.

There are also a number of family trees which help the reader relate various generations.  I found these a little difficult to read, but families were very different in biblical days, with multiple wives and concubines bearing children.  There probably is no easy way to graph these.

On a very postitive note, I did find the commentary to be excellent.  And the introductions to individual books of the bible was more helpful than in most study bibles.  There concordance in the back seems larger than most, however, the font is very small.  There are a total of 14 maps in the back; they are printed on the same paper as the text – as opposed to glossy photo paper – so the colors are pretty subdued but that certainly doesn’t affect the quality of the information they present.

I can offer a recommendation of the commentary in this bible but can only give it 3 stars because I just really feel like you wouldn’t get what you expected based on the title and presentation.

Thomas Nelson, the publisher of the NKJV Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible, supplied a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and impartial review.

Book Review: 365 Bible Answers for Curious Kids

In 365 Bible Answers for Curious Kids (Slatter, Tommy Nelson, 2017), author Kathryn Slattery presents a question for each day’s devotion.  Formatted as a traditional devotion, it opens with a relevant Bible verse, gives the answer to today’s question in a few short paragraphs then a two-line prayer. 

Related subjects are linked by a “want to know more” section that points the reader to devotions on other days.  Following this path, you can experience a great portion of the book.

While no subject can be deeply explored in a one page devotion, these little articles seem ideal for prompting children to think and ask more questions as well as giving them working answers on some very practical issues.  Her subjects span a broad spectrum including writing in your Bible, memorizing verses, the commandments, the existence of the ark or the covenant and baptism.   

Some of the book’s subjects are not strictly from the Bible such as “What is Leap Day?”, The Gideon’s bible placement ministry, Communion on the moon and the cease fire of Christmas 1914.  These subjects point right back to God and how He uses men and circumstances to His glory.

Scripture is mostly taken from the International Children’s Bible and there is a handy ribbon to mark your place as you work through the year.  There are no pictures and the blue text is embellished only by a turquoise border on each page. 

Overall this is a lovely book that I am eager to share with my own children or gift to other young folks who are eager to learn about God and His Word.  I can certainly recommend 365 Bible Answers for Curious Kids to you.

Book Review: KJV Know the Word Study Bible

Know the Word Study Bible

Each book of the Bible opens with a great introduction which includes a “how to study” that particular book. Unique to each book, I found it a wonderful approach to book-studies.  This introduction directs you to “Study the Book Highlights” that are found among the chapters.

Within the text of the book are bold and clear text headers that allow the eye to quickly scan a two-page spread.  However, there is no cross reference which I miss.

The copy I received is hardback and it bound in the tried and true fabric-over-board construction.  I had just a little concern about the wearability of the cloth in a book that would be handled a lot.  I fear it will soil quickly. There is also no ribbon marker and while even writing that feels pretty picky, in a study book it’s an awfully nice addition.  I do not know if the leather-bound version of this book would include the markers. The weight of the paper in my copy was great.  It’s thin so the book doesn’t become overly large of heavy yet it is thicker than the traditional onion skin of bibles.

There are topical articles spread throughout covering everything from sanctification to sin and temptation.  Each topic contains 3 or 4 articles that are positioned near where that topic is discussed within the scripture.  The articles also refer you to other places in the word and they end by directing you to the next article in that topic.  I really enjoyed this feature.

Like it’s NKJV cousin, I am happy to give the KJV Know the Word Study Bible 4 stars.  Thomas Nelson, the publisher of KJV: Know the Word Study Bible supplied a copy of this bible in exchange for a fair and impartial review.

Review: Wee Society: A Box of Awesome Things Matching Game

This 40 card box of ‘awesome things’ is a cute little matching game.  It has uniquely designed pictures of helicopters, fireflies, even a plain white square.  They are sturdy board cards so I expect them to have hold up well to little hands flipping them.  My children and I all enjoyed breaking this open to play.

On the downside, the sturdy box has a flip top with no way to secure it.  Therefore, if it’s ever turned over or picked up by the wrong side you are picking up 40 cards.  It would have been really helpful to have a Velcro closure.  Also, the age range on the box is 3 years to 103 years.  However, the names of the pictures are not words that children would really be able to read “camouflage” or “argyle” until they’ve mastered phonics.  This did not stop my own 3 year old from enjoying it. 

I would certainly recommend this game or would give it as a gift.

Clarkson Potter Publishing supplied a sample of this product in exchange for a fair and impartial review.