Review of Get to Know Jesus by Nancy I. Sanders

Book review of Get to Know Mary by Nancy I. Sanders

From booklooks.com:
Book Description
Jesus - part of the Get to Know series - is a unique biography about Jesus, the son of God. Focusing on the life and character of this Biblical hero, using color photographs, maps, and other visual resources to tell the whole story, young biography fans will come to learn more about this man of the God and the role he plays in history. Featuring a bibliography and scriptural references throughout, this is sure to become a favorite for young readers and for first book reports.

Leona's Review:

Get to Know Jesus is part of the Get To Know series. Jesus, Mary, King David and Apostle Paul. These are children's book but as an adult I learned a lot.

Get to Know Jesus begins the story of Jesus at His birth. It has the many stages of His life as a child and as an adult.

There are symbols for features throughout the book: Scripture, look for an oil lamp to read a Scripture from the Bible; Bible Hero, look for a sandal for information about a Bible hero; Eyewitness Account, look for a picture of an eye each time someone who saw what happened tells about it; Did You Know?, look for a clay jar to learn fun facts; and Word Bank, look for a scroll to learn the meanings of new words.

Page 31 has a family tree of Jesus. Using something like this can help a child understand that like them, Jesus also had a family.

There are maps, pictures and drawings which are always appreciated for a learning tool.

Table of Contents:

The Important Plan

A Special Birth

Childhood and Youth

The Teacher

Stories and Parables

The Son of God

Miracles

Preparing for Passover

A Sad Day

Unexpected News

A New Purpose

The Future

Timeline of Jesus

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Source Notes

Student Resources

About the Author

The book is dedicated to Jon and Linda, and the next generation of believers you've raised to be followers of the Truth.

Visit Nancy I. Sanders at her site: www.nancyisanders.com

I give this a 5 star rating. I received a complimentary copy from Booklookbloggers.com; HarperCollins Christian Publishing. ( booksneeze.com) to read and review. The opinions are my own.

I recommend one buy this series for a Christmas present for a child. I would think a child of 10 or so could read with help and one could read to a younger child. These books can be read over and over and make good conversations for a family get together.

Leona Olson

www.mnleona.blogspot.com

Leona's review on Get to Know Mary: http://mnleona.blogspot.com/2014/07/get-to-know-mary-by-nancy-i-sanders.html

Get to Know Mary by Nancy I. Sanders

MaryGet to Know Series

By Nancy I. Sanders
Published by Zondervan

From booksneeze.com:

Chosen by God, Mary was more than the mother of Jesus. She was a hero of the Bible. She said “Yes!” to God. Learn about Mary and her exciting place in history. Discover what it was like to grow up in Israel and be a part of Jesus’ life on earth. Mary - part of the Get to Know series - will teach you everything you need to know about this young woman whom God used to do great things!

Leona's Review:

This book is about Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

The book is dedicated to: Gertrude Toppin- at 94 the sweetness of Christ from your ever-present smile just as brightly as ever!

There is a Table of Contents which has 12 chapters, Timeline of Mary, Glossary, Selected Bibliography, Source Notes, Student Resources, About the Author.

The chapters are: A Daughter in the House of Jacob, Engaged to Be Married, Birth of the Firstborn Son, The Newborn King, The Town of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph's Home, Sharing Faith with Her Family, Holidays are Holy Days, Life and Death, Dealing with the Messiah, At the Cross and A New Beginning.

Get to Know Mary in the first chapter has Mary as a young girl. It gives the reader information of what life was like during this time.

Some facts about the Jewish people at this time are some poor people lived in caves; there were different coins, Jewish, Romans and Greek; a large stone jar weighed about 1000 pounds; there are seven main Jewish Holidays or Feasts, the marketplace could be on any day except the Sabbath and in Jewish tradition, a new day started at sunset and lasted until sunset the next day.

Get to Know This Book has features that are circles and inside the circle a symbol such as an oil lamp  or scroll. They are: Scripture, look for an oil lamp to read a Scripture from the Bible ; Bible Hero, look for a sandal for information about a Bible hero; Eyewitness Account, look for picture of an eye each time someone who saw what happened tells about it; Did You Know?, look for a clay jar to learn fun facts; and Word Bank, look for a scroll to learn the meanings of new words.   It is a great teaching method for the children and also adults.

I learned quite a bit of the Jewish people. It is a good book for young people. I suggest reading a chapter at a time. 

There are maps and pictures which are always appreciated by this reader.

I am giving Get to Know Mary a 5 star rating.  I received a complimentary copy from booksneeze.com to read and review. The opinions are my own.

Nancy Sanders may be reached at reached at www.nancyisanders.com.

Leona Olson

www.mnleona.blogspot.com

A Voice in the Wind

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

A historical novel set after the the death of Jesus Christ and most of the book is based in Rome. A graphic book with the details of the Gladiators, brutal treatments of the Christian people and also of the Jewish. Rome is the ruler at this time period. The reader is taken into the lives of the people.

An interesting book to read. The research of the time period is very complete. Some historical characters but most are fictional. The details of the Christians, the Romans, the Coliseum, people, dress, food and even the cemeteries are good. For one that has studied Roman history and knows a lot of the customs, it helps the reader.

Hadassah, the main character, is a Jewish slave that has become a Christian. She is the slave of Julia, sister of Marcus who falls in love with Hadassah. The parents of Marcus and Julia is Phoebe and Decimus Valerian. She is very devout to God. Sometimes, I think I wished she could bend a little. A faithful slave and such an understanding of people.

This is the first book of the Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers. Francine Rivers is a New York Times Best Seller Author.

I would not recommend this book for younger readers, I suggest at least High School. Good for a Christian book club. There is a discussion Guide on page 521. There is a color Roman Empire Map- C. 117 AD. The book is 524 pages including the guide.

Contents:

Forward by Mark D. Taylor ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Part l: Jerusalem page 1

Part ll: Germania page 23

Part lll: Rome page 41

Part lV: Ephesus page 349

Francine Rivers has dedicated this book to her mother, Frieda King.

I look forward to reading the other two books of this series, Echo in the Darkness and As Sure of the Dawn

I give A Voice in the Wind a 5 star.

The author may be reached at www.francinerivers.com

I wish to thank Tyndale Publishers and Francine Rivers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Leona Olson

Petra:City of Stone

Petra: City of Stone by T. L. Higley
First, I would like to thank the author for the complimentary electronic version of the book, this is my first time to read T.L.Higley.
The book begins with Julian leaving Rome because of religious persecution and the next chapter is about Cassia who has left Damascus with her son Alexander because of the death of the father of her son, Aretas. Cassia knows that Aretas is from Petra and wants to find his family.
Julian and Cassia meet at the Nymphaeum Fountain in Petra where Alexander and Julian quickly become friends. Julian also meets Malik at the fountain; Malik plays an important part in the lives of Cassia and Julian.
Cassia is robbed and attacked the first night in Petra and awakens to find herself and Alexander under protective care of Malik and his followers. It is here she finds that her son is the grandson of the king, Rabbel and heir to the throne. Alexander's father was the estranged son of Rabbel. Rabbel's first wife, Gamilath, Aretas' mother died; King Rabbel remarried and had a son with Hagiru.
Cassia takes Alexander to the Royal House to see the King but his wife, Queen Hagiru, refuses to let them see him because she said the King was unavailable; later the King comes into the room and does acknowledge Alexander is his grandson. Hagiru is upset because she thought her son, Obadas, would be the heir to the throne. The King leaves the room and Hagiru tells Cassia her son would be raised by them and she should leave Petra.
Julian finds Cassia injured and takes her to Malik. From there the story is based on trying to get Alexander back to Cassia and the finding of Christianity for Cassia.
I liked this book and the history of Petra was evident. I thought it would be more on archaeology but found it is based on Christianity. My major is Anthropology/Archaeology and I always have an interest in this subject. I read somewhere that Petra:City of Stone is a book for adults but would highly recommend it for young Christian adults. This is a good book for a book club for a church group or one interested in history.
Some tag words I found are Jesus, one God, sandals, amphitheater, death, sacrifice, suffering, strength, stone sculptors, power of Jesus, figs, triclinium, incense, siq and gods which bring you into the time era of the book. Some historical names are Petra, Damascus, Jerusalem, Nymphaeum Fountain, Temple al-Uzza. Petra and Paul of Tarsus. Faith and love are two words used quite a bit. Jesus is very involved with the characters in the book and the reader could sense that with feelings. At one point the "faces" are described as peaceful and there was singing from the Christian group.
I found the last chapters of the book more powerful and emotional as Cassia and others try to rescue Alexander from the evil Hagiru.
The book definitely has history and encouraged me as the reader to do more research on Petra. Check out some sites on the Internet for more information. I did find T. L. Higley (Tracy) on Facebook. She has traveled through Greece,Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Italy to research. I look forward to reading more of her books.