Book Review: Take Me With You

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of the well-known inspirational book, Pay It Forward (which I encountered first in movie form, starring Helen Hunt). I also enjoyed her novel, The Language of Hoofbeats, several years ago. She has a wonderful ability to create endearing characters with believable problems. Moreover, her books inspire the reader to reach for greater things and to seek redemption in the most difficult aspects of life.

Take Me With You, tells the unexpected account of a worn down high school teacher on a trek to Yellowstone to deposit the ashes of his teenaged son. When August's RV breaks down, he is heartbroken at the thought of being unable to accomplish this mission. Then, the mechanic offers a strange compromise. He will make all the necessary repairs for free if August will take his two young sons along with him on the RV trip to Yellowstone for the summer. The two men's unique problems converge and August is thrust into a new way of living and forced to look at his son's death through new eyes.

The story hits on numerous intense problems: addiction, abandonment, guilt, blame, and forgiveness (both internal and external). The characters pull at your heart strings and suck you into the story fully. As August begins to share his own battles with grief and loss, the two boys slowly open up and find a safety they've never known before. The older son, who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the younger son, who withdraws into himself, both blossom under August's tender care. You can't help putting yourself in the shoes of the characters. Would you take on a stranger's children for a cross-country trip? Would you let someone unexpected into your pain? How often do we miss opportunities for redemption because we are unwilling to extend trust to another individual? Take Me With You is a tender tale of the transformative power of trust and love.

Indiana Music Camp 2018

For the last seven years, I've graciously been invited to serve on the faculty of The Salvation Army's Indiana Music Camp. Originally, I thought I wouldn't be able to participate this year because I hoped to attend a Highlights Foundation Novel Workshop. After much thought and deliberation, we decided we simply couldn't afford it ($2500) and so I attended music camp after all. I don't regret the change in plans.

I'm uncomfortable in leadership positions (I was never a great conductor when I led the junior choir, although I do think I selected appropriate and inspiring songs for them to sing), so I was thrilled to learn I would be assisting instead of leading. I worked with the middle school band instructor who led the Intermediate Band and assisted another officer teaching the creative writing elective, my favorite part of camp. I also taught a small group of campers during the daily theory time. I used to love theory, but after years away from it, it is like an unused language and not quite so much fun anymore. I played in the second horn section of the faculty band (especially challenging because I haven't picked up my horn in almost an entire year). While I'm sure I wasn't much of an asset to the faculty (messed up quite a few passages during the faculty band performance), I did enjoy the camaraderie and the chance to nurture a love of music in the campers.

On Wednesday evening of the encampment, we always make a faculty run to the nearby Steak 'n Shake:

This is the photo of our group, minus a fair number who stayed behind.

I was able to take Trevor along as a camper. He fought me tooth and nail about participating in the solo contest. He just didn't care about placing and didn't want to do it. Finally, in the week prior to the camp, I laid down the law and insisted. I don't think he regretted his change in plans either. He ended up winning first place in the Advanced Band competition. That's quite an accomplishment because he played a snare drum solo without accompaniment, competing against instrumentalists with accompaniment. But he blew the judges away with his confidence, accuracy, technique, and dynamics.

Moreover, if he hadn't participated in the solo competition, he wouldn't have scored enough points to win any of the larger awards. On the final day, at the closing concert, he received the Brigadier Richard Miller Award.

This award includes a scholarship to one of the territorial camps, either Central Music Institute or CBLI (the annual Bible camp we've attended for twenty consecutive years). Back when Trevor's older brother Bryce used to attend music camp, he won this award several times, but at that time you could only use it for CMI and that camp always conflicts with Indiana school schedules. While I would have loved it if my boys had been able to take advantage of these opportunities to attend CMI (a beloved camp from my teenaged days), I simply couldn't put them behind the eight ball by missing a solid week of school at the very beginning (when teachers form first impressions).

Midway through the week, Trevor regaled me with his three favorite parts of music camp, in order: 1) the ukulele elective class, 2) paintball, and 3) advanced band. In the advanced band, he was assigned the drum set for one of their pieces, "Moses." After doing so well in the band and in the solo competition, one of the officers who will be in charge of the tween track at CBLI asked Trevor to play the drums for the tween praise band there. While it was wonderful to get home to our own beds and loose schedules, both Trevor and I had a wonderful time at Indiana Music Camp 2018!

Book Review: The Lost for Words Bookshop

I thought the title for this book was curious. If you love books, as the main character does, you obviously love words (the building block of books). So how, I thought, could there be a bookstore called The Lost for Words Bookshop? But, toward the end I began to understand that the main character, despite her love of books and all the elemental words, cannot begin to tell her own story. And I could relate to that, somewhat. I loved the idea within one of the performed poems about changing your story and telling it differently each time you share. Our lives are made up of so many interesting and divergent pieces. Perspectives can shift. Life can appear different than it did before some truth was revealed. The ideas presented brought a kaleidoscope of possibilities, but it was the main character and her quirky voice that fully bowled me over in this book.

Twenty-five-year-old Loveday Cardew has worked at the Lost for Words Bookshop since she was a teenager. It is her primary place of refuge in a threatening and hostile world. She doesn't exactly like people, but she loves providing them with books. In fact, she avoids relationships. Books are far safer, so much so that she bears the first lines of her favorite books in tattoos on her body. Her tattoos and nose-ring might ward off many, but Loveday is about to meet a young man who is drawn in by the whole package, warts and all.

I was enthralled by this quirky protagonist. I loved her spunk and sarcasm. For example, when a female employee begins dating Loveday's former boyfriend, Loveday writes "Maybe she had got wind of him following me, and thought it was all my fault, with my well-known temptress qualities of ignoring people I didn't like and generally not giving a toss." She is hilarious in her self-deprecation. But, in reality, she is - like many of us - just another wounded soul trying to cope with life's circumstances and challenges.

I loved how the author gradually pulled back the veil to reveal what set Loveday running from others and why her soul is so prickly. She may have difficulty telling her story, but it is a story worth hearing. Life might throw curve balls - indeed, we might not get the life we wanted - but something can always be salvaged in the end. And stories matter, even when the words are hard to find.

Book Review: Life Inside My Mind

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 31.9 % of U.S. adolescents aged 13 to 18 suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. That's almost a third of the teens in that age group. To me, this sounds like an epidemic problem. I was already aware of this statistic because I have referred to it in several query letters attempting to pitch my young adult novel, The Probability Code. Indeed, adolescent anxiety has been on my radar ever since a relative of mine began to suffer significantly.

When I picked up Life Inside My Mind, I was hoping to find a title I could pass along to my afflicted family member. The book provides a collection of essays from 31 young adult authors who bare their souls to increase awareness and to provide solidarity and suggestions for those who suffer from anxiety. To be fully honest, I struggled with the intensity of the book. I've experienced chronic depression and panic attacks. Indeed, on a visit to The Indianapolis Children's Museum, the crowds and the crush set me hyperventilating. I had to seek out a small space near a window to calm myself and stave off a public panic attack.Yet after reading this book, I feel as if I have only stuck my little toe into the water, while these authors have crossed the ocean.

Every imaginable mental health issue is addressed. Various authors outline their personal struggles with anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, ADHD, depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, bipolar, drug and alcohol addictions, PTSD, and even a condition called Trichotillomania (compulsively pulling out one's hair or eyelashes). I was overwhelmed with their stories. Each new raw tale brought that conflicting battle one experiences when passing an accident on the road. I was deeply drawn to seeing the raw truth of their experience, but equally wanted to avert my eyes for fear the images might be seared into my memory, never to be washed away. And I agonized over this review.

While I certainly want to commend the authors for being so incredibly vulnerable and real, I'm concerned about teens who pick up this book. Will they feel even more overwhelmed than they already are? Will their anxiety increase when they read of the extremes of other life experiences? Do I want to add more anxiety to an already plagued mind? Several of the stories did just that to me. I was terrified by the tale of PTSD after the author was attacked twice in her own home. What if that happened to me? I was saddened by the sheer number of authors available to tell these harrowing tales. Our world is clearly messed up when 31 of our young adult authors can share such serious tales of woe. The drug use, the alcohol consumption, the dependency on prescriptions to alleviate symptoms (one author tells of being prescribed twelve times the average dose of Xanax).

In my head, I want to acknowledge that teens will feel heard and understood. They will be able to say, "See, someone else gets it. This is destroying my life and somebody else has walked the road before me." But, will teens take in the prescriptive advice to rest, eat well, exercise, stay clean, talk to someone, and get medical help? What can we do, as a society, to get our world back to the place where the most pressing problem for a teen was how to fill a boring weekend night? With cyber-bullying, school shootings, easy access to addictive substances like drugs, alcohol, and porn, why are we surprised that a third of our teens struggle with anxiety? We need to do more than build awareness. We need to combat the societal pressures increasing the numbers of the afflicted. And then I despair all the more, because it seems like we cannot go back to those idyllic days. We are destined for more pressures than we already know.

So, no. I won't be handing this book off to my beleaguered relative. I want to shield her from the troubled truths outlined in this book. While some of the authors tried to end on a hopeful note - indeed tried to tell young people that they are bigger than the demons lying to them and attacking them - many left me feeling quite hopeless. And clearly, our world is in a hopeless condition. The only hope I see comes through a relationship with God to cut through the garbage of this world and stand firm on legs that won't be crippled by addiction, attacked by anxiety, or paralyzed by apprehension. Those little voices saying "Take a pill, it will improve your mood ... have some casual sex, it will alleviate your isolation ... swig a drink, it will dull your senses" - they lie to our young people. The stories these authors tell of their personal experiences back this up.

Yes, the stigma of mental health issues needs to be broken. Yes, our young people are desperate for safety and security. Yes, there is always a benefit in sharing the truth of one's story. But, oh tread with caution. These are deep waters that threaten to engulf teens. How sad that hope is out there offering not only relief from the troubles of this life, but also eternal safety and security, and not a single author alluded to it. Instead, the reader is presented with 31 tales of attempts to relieve difficulties through drugs, alcohol, and behavioral modifications. Where sin and worldly pressures threaten to bind us and hold us hostage, please, Lord, set us free! We need another book; one that doesn't acknowledge that darkness lingers still, but one that triumphs over that darkness with the power of the light. That's the book I want for the troubled teen in my life.

Carmel Excursion With My Cousin

When my cousin Karin wrote to say she would be coming to Indiana in July, I began to eagerly anticipate her arrival. Karin is not just a cousin, she's a marvelous friend. She's the type of individual I feel instantly at ease with. Moreover, she has the most encouraging and positive spirit of anyone I've ever met. What a privilege to spend a few days visiting together!

As soon as she arrived on Friday afternoon, we relished our chance to reconnect (the last time we got together was almost nine years ago). We took her out to our favorite Mexican restaurant and then talked more, well into the night. On Saturday, she and I ventured out for a shopping excursion in Carmel, Indiana's Arts and Design District. We had a splendid time together!

We stopped in the tiny art galleries and shops along the main road and found a wide assortment of interesting pieces. I had never been before, but now I will make a point of it when Christmas draws near, as we found so many unique gift items. Karin ended up buying a small ring and a beautiful painting of a bee. In the antique mall on Main Street, I purchased an adorable vintage Samsonite overnight case in a beautiful marbled blue:

We loved viewing the art on display in the various galleries. When we arrived at the Hoosier Salon Gallery, I noticed a sculpture made of ash wood. It immediately brought to mind a Welsh folk tune called "The Ash Grove" and the lyrics The Salvation Army often uses with that little tune - "He Giveth More Grace as Our Burdens Grow Greater." I am obviously thoroughly at ease with my cousin because I burst into song right there in that little gallery and the acoustics of the room were astounding.

We were thrilled with the Norman Rockwell-esque sculptures found along the streets:

My favorite part of the day was our lunch at Woody's Library Restaurant (Karin's treat). The small brick building with an impressive front stairway was built in 1913 with monies from a grant from the Carnegie Corporation as Carmel's Public Library.

The restaurant, with a pub and outdoor patio, boasted charming library decor and gave me the thrill of eating (and talking openly) in a library. Our server graciously snapped a photo for us to commemorate the event:

Whenever I eat out, I tend to scan the menu in search of food made with spinach. I was thrilled to find and order the grilled cheese florentine with a side of buttered broccoli and a small serving of potato chips. The sandwich was delicious (think a BLT altered to a BST). To round out our dining experience, Karin ordered two of the dessert duo samplers and thus we were able to try four different desserts from the menu (we tried the Baked Peach Crumble, Chocolate Mousse, a Mississippi Mud Brownie, and - my favorite - a Vanilla Crumb Blondie).

It was a fabulous day for walking and window-shopping. The food was delicious and the company delightful. I can't wait to visit Carmel's Arts and Design District again. If you live anywhere near Indianapolis, I highly recommend this unique experience. Take your favorite cousin. You will have a marvelous time!

Book Review: Dearest Dorothy, Are We There Yet?

On the lookout for a wholesome audio experience, I selected Charlene Ann Baumbich's Dearest Dorothy, Are We There Yet? I didn't even remember this author's name (I had enjoyed her book, Stray Affections, several years ago), but immediately knew I had to recommend her book to my mother-in-law. It almost felt like the book was written with my mother-in-law in mind. I really hope she seeks it out because she will relate to so many aspects of the novel.

Like my mother-in-law, the main character, Dorothy Wetstra, is in her late eighties, lives in a small Illinois town, and is contemplating a move upon the sale of her beloved farm. She begs "the big man upstairs" for His wisdom and guidance. She's a spunky old soul, just like my mother-in-law, but is still hesitant to set all these changes in motion. How will her beloved town fare if she sells her farmland to the bidding developers? Can she make the move away from everything that is familiar and safe?

The characters were delightful and the story was light and fun. I'm only sad that it seems to be the only audio title for the series in my library's collection. Still, they do have six from the series, if I'm willing to read the others in print copies. If you are seeking an uplifting and clean story featuring an older protagonist, this book holds great appeal. The series has apparently been compared to Jan Karon's Mitford books (small town North Carolina), so perhaps I will seek out more from that series (I've only read In the Company of Others and Shepherds Abiding).

Book Review: The Hypnotist's Love Story

When your desire to read has left the building, it is often wise to return to a tried and true author. Liane Moriarty has always held my interest and even while I don't agree with the morals of many of her characters (bed-hopping without marital commitment), I can count on encountering good writing and an enticing story certain to bring up the question, "what would I do in those circumstances?" Once again, I was sucked in (as anticipated) by The Hypnotist's Love Story and happily stepped into the shoes of someone very different from myself.

When the man you've been dating for a brief spell opens the conversation with the dreaded line, "There's something I have to tell you," your mind automatically wanders to a million unwanted scenarios. Is he already married? Is he breaking off the relationship? Does he have some deep, dark secret he feels he must unburden?

As soon as hypnotherapist Ellen O'Farrell hears Patrick Scott say these words, her mind begins to reel. It doesn't help that he excuses himself to the restroom, as if steeling himself to unload the worst. Will he tell her that he is still in love with his deceased wife? The big reveal is anticlimactic. His ex-girlfriend has been stalking him for a number of years and he wants Ellen to know that it will probably spill into their relationship. Instead of feeling threatened, Ellen is overcome with curiosity.

As the book unfolds, alternating between a first person narration from Saskia, the stalker, and a third person narration of Ellen's experiences, the reader enters the mind of two very different women who, at heart, have very similar wants and needs. Indeed, you might even sympathize with both sides of the equation. But how dangerous is this stalker and will Ellen's relationship with Patrick survive?

I enjoyed the book. I had no problem continuing to read. While I did not like it as much as other Moriarty books like Big, Little Lies, The Husband's Secret, or What Alice Forgot, it was still an absorbing and entertaining story. I learned much about hypnotherapy and a great deal about the type of fracture that causes a person to become a stalker. I loved the honesty of both characters and appreciated the chance to live inside their heads temporarily. It even recharged my reading batteries.

Book Review: Letters About Literature

What a fun little find! Letters About Literature: 2017 Winning Letters by Indiana Students offers up 100 letters written by 4th to 12th grade students to the authors of inspiring books. Not only will you enter into the minds of young readers to learn what connections they are making to the literature they read, but you will also get a feel for what books are popular with today's students. I was thrilled to find that the very first letter in the book was addressed to one of my favorite authors, Gloria Whelan, for my favorite of her books, Listening for Lions. Some of the books I had read, and others I hadn't. I came away with at least one suggestion for my middle son (who is a reluctant reader but loves books about football players). I plan to mention this reading-writing contest, sponsored by the Indiana Center for the Book, to my sons' teachers next fall, in the hopes that our small community might be represented in a future book. I'm just thrilled that I stumbled upon it. Since I could not find a cover image, I used this image taken from the www.read.gov site. I imagine that many libraries carry the small volumes containing the winning letters for their state. It was a very interesting read and I plan to seek out the two other volumes in my library's holdings (2015, 2016). Always great to see how literature makes a difference in people's lives.

Book Review: The Bolds

Some moments just call for a book, like when I take my boys to the high school pool for the summer open swim time. The chaos of the environment precludes serious reading, so I turn to lighter fare, knowing my head will be popping in and out of the book quite frequently. With those particular needs in mind, this children's book by Julian Clary seemed perfect.

The Bolds are a family of hyenas disguised as human beings. They live in a suburb of London and carefully guard their secret from their nosy neighbor, Mr. McNulty. Being hyenas, they love to laugh. Mr. Bold's jokes are amusing and I did have to share two boy-friendly ones with my sons:

"Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill? - To get to the bottom!"

"Some thieves broke into a police station and stole the toilet. The police are investigating, but for now they've got nothing to go on."

The illustrations were cute and the story was lighthearted. I don't think I'll seek out any more of the series (three more books to date), but if my boys were younger, I could see them eating this series up. A dash of imagination to uncover a story about being an outsider.

Book Review: Penny from Heaven

After wincing every time my husband entered the room for my last audio book (a book with fairly graphic child abuse content), I determined to seek out a clean read from the tween audio book shelves at my library. The front cover of Penny from Heaven indicates that the author, Jennifer L. Holm, is a Newbery Honor-Winning author. Thus, I expected to be sucked in more quickly to the story. Alas, my interest flagged for the first several hours, but did finally pick up toward the middle of the story and I ended up liking the book a lot.

11-year-old Penny is an Italian-American girl living a decade following WW II. She dreams of an uncomplicated summer, but confronts a host of problems instead. Despite an extensive close-knit family on her father's side, her mother doesn't seem to trust Penny's Italian relatives. Nobody is willing to talk about her deceased father and Penny bristles against her mother's restrictions. Then, as if life isn't hard enough, she faces further loss and a devastating accident.

As the back cover proclaims, "Penny from Heaven is a shining story about the everyday and the extraordinary, about a time in America's history when being Italian meant that you were the enemy. But most of all, it's a story about families - about the things that tear them apart and bring them together." I fell in love with the characters and felt shattered for them when the truth about the past was revealed. I rooted for Penny to overcome her challenges and for the families to get along, because love covers a multitude of wrongs.