Form-4 Books

Awesome, Awesome! This is a MUST HAVE. Especially if you are a lay worker and have a fulltime job this will cut your time in two! It's great for organization! Literally, No work Paper Work! I tell all my Children's Pastor Friends about it. It saved my life and my sanity!

As always, I immensely enjoyed this collection of Stone Soup comic strips. It covers a lot of demographic ground, from toddlers to teens, and from middle-agers to golden-agers. The characters are endearing, the writing is lively and funny, and the situations are eerily familiar. In short, what's not to love?

My housemate brought home a collection of Dr. Doctrine's Christian Comix recently, and I can't get enough of them. They are a really engaging way to consider viewpoints in systematic theology (even the meaning of "systematic theology" itself!), and Fred Sanders draws on a variety of sources from Watchman Nee and C.S. Lewis to Barth, Anselm, and earlier thinkers.

I spend a lot of my day reading literature, so sitting down to Barth's dense study of Romans at the end is not my idea of a relaxing evening. But with Christian Comix, you can even keep a volume on your bathroom shelf for a quick laugh, a spiritual lift, AND a brain stimulant all at once. They don't tire in re-reads either.

The comix are compelling enough that I find myself wanting to read more of the theologians who had evoked only mild curiosity for me before.

I love that Fred Sanders encourages us to think through things ourselves; there is a clear and passionate evangelicalism behind this, but it is not dogmatic.

This particular volume happened to go hand in hand with other reading I was currently doing--the epistle of Ephesians in the Bible and Watchman Nee's Sit Walk Stand. I was so excited to see how each complimented the other and brought it all to life for me.

This is one of my poetry books that fairly bristles with Post-it notes. So many wonderful contemporary poems: each one chosen by the poet who wrote it as his or her favourite.

Consider these verses from different poems:
`Set your sights and keep them fixed
Set your sights on high
Let no-one steal your dreams
Your only limit is the sky.'

Or

`Smile at your blunders, laugh at my own.
This isn't right, I should be at home.
Under the duvet, safe from attack.
Changing your mind, changing it back.'

This anthology is full of delightful verse: a mix of the humorous, the descriptive and the emotional. Each one is a wonderful example of the individual poet's craft.

A personal favourite? How can I choose just one? There is a delightful little poem that appeals today:

`My wellingtons swish
Through the leaves.
I am four years old again, at play
In the crumpled wrapping paper
Of the year.'

A wonderful addition to the poetry bookshelf.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

In a time when kids are exposed only to stories from poorly written television shows and movies, this book arrives. The stories are timeless, and well written. They are worth reading, even if you don't have children to read aloud to.

Very funny and warmhearted (but never sappy) comic strip. This collection is the second in the series and I'm anxiously awaiting more!

This is the third volume in Methuen's series of anthologies by women, offering an indication of the wide range of style and subject matter tackled by women playwrights. Included are Aunt Mary, by Pam Gems, a surreal and sometimes satirical play about assorted artists and their unconventional lifestyles, Debbie Horsfield's Red Devils, a gritty, fast-moving play about four teenage football fans - girls from Manchester, Sharon Pollucks's Blood Relations, a theatrically exciting re-telling of the terrible tale of Lizzie Borden and Time Pieces, by Lou Wakefield and the Women's Theatre Group, a revue-stlye panorama of the lives of three generations of women in the same family, their similarities and differences. Each play has an afterword by the author and the volume opens with an introduction by the series editor, Michelle Wandor. -- from book's back cover

I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry of Lord Tennyson than this small volume. The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader. The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it. I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Alford, Lord Tennyson,much less read their poetry. This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on. I do not feel I am any worse for the wear. I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot. This book helps. This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library. Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them. Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student. It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with. I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school. For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it. Recommend this one highly.

Although I would never have expected it, Christopher MacGowan has done an excellent job in choosing poems from William Carlos Williams collection appropriate for children. In addition the illustrations not only compiment this imagist's poems, but are enjoyable for all ages. I look forward to other books in this series.

Excellent book, fun, mindteaser for kids, my son loved it. I recommend it to other parents