Advent Books

Mary Anne has a skeleton in her closet. It means that she keeps a secret life that nobody wants to know. One day, she worked in a mall. Then, this girl Angela appears. The spiers Are so kind because they let Angela spend Christmas in their house. I am so happy about this book =)

I Loved This Book!. Mary Anne spends so much on her father's credit. Mary Anne takes a job at the mall and meet this girl Angela. Mary Anne's parents invited Angela to stay for Christmas!.

In the secret life of Mary Anne Spier sh spends so much on her father's credit card. Mr.Spier told Mary Anne that she would even have to pay interest just like he does.Mary Anne takes a job at the mall and meets this girl Angela and their family helped Angela by inviting them to stay for Christmas.

I liked it! Mary Anne's kind, tender heart gets her into trouble, but I admire how she takes responsibility for her mistake and willingly takes the elf job to pay for it! Also touching is how Mary Anne feels so sorry for Angela, the homeless girl, that she cries quietly under her elf head. Her tender heart is endearing; and her strong sense of responsibility is to be commended. It's hilarious how she goes to extremes to hide her secret job from her friends and boyfriend because she's so easily embarrassed!

Mary Anne keeps on using his father's credit card. Until Mary anne has to pay all the things she bought.

We have enjoyed reading "The Symbols of Christmas" with our son. It has helped us teach him about Christ and the meaning of Christmas. He can still enjoy Santa and Rudolph, but now understands the true sacrifice Christ made for us. We highly recommend this book to teach your child about Jesus and all that makes Christmas so special.

This book is not only an enjoyable reading, but an excellent teaching tool about "Reason for the Season." Taking the common items associated with this blessed holiday, the author paints a beautiful picture of our loving saviour that will forever stay with you. Written for all ages, I would give it to anyone--any age--and know it was a wonderful gift for them to enjoy!

This book is a MUST HAVE for every family with children. From reindeer to mistletoe, the author has brilliantly related symbols of Christmas back to Biblical scripture. This is GREAT for taking the 'commercialism' out of Christmas and back to the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

This book is written for all ages. Bible verses are used to give Christian relavance to most of the common trappings of the commercial side of Christmas. Helps remind you to keep Christ in Christmas.

I think this book keeps true to form with the teaching method of Jesus. He used cultural things to teach spiritual truths. That is what Robert Adams does in his book "The Symbols of Christmas." Christmas is the greatest season to point to who Jesus is...and Robert takes the popular symbols of Christmas and shows us how we can tell others about Jesus. This is more than a great book to give...it is also a great tool.

If you are looking for something different to give your childs teacher, try this book. Have your child dedicate the book to her teacher and in turn, the whole class gets to enjoy the book. It's something different that our teachers appreciated. Fun for all.

This book is cute; not (for me) the Best Book Ever, but certainly fun for reading with kids. My kids especially like the funny pictures.

I had the pleasure of receiving this book as a gift from not one but two different students ... I read it aloud and fell in love with it. The author is a teacher (no surprise), and I ... met him at a conference! He couldn't have been nicer. I have every intention of giving this book as a gift to my own children's teachers ... If you work in an elementary school or know someone who does, this book is a find. Best of all, the kids think it's hysterical!

Clever illustrations and a humorous storyline make this a must- read Christmas picture book for both children and adults. I am a first-grade teacher, and this book is the story of my life. I read this book to my students, and they could not wait to see what funny incident happened next. They have also asked me to read it to them over and over again. I highly recommend this title.

I am a third-grade teacher, and I loved this story. The chaos that is portrayed on the pages of this delightful picture book is so true regarding what it is like the last few days before Christmas vacation. I especially loved reading about the room mom commandos and the yearly Christmas pageant. I have bought this book as a gift for several of my colleagues who have also thoroughly enjoyed it.

This small book, easily read in an afternoon, will fill your heart with inspiration, wonder and joy at the way God works in our lives - yes, still today. The stories are real and powerfully written and all are tied into the miracle of the Christmas season. These are stories you won't forget...and they will increase your faith!

Because Christmas is a time for miracles. And this book is filled with real life miracles. God is alive and well and making his presence known through angels (heavenly and eartly) and unexplicable happenings. These stories are so inspiring because they show how people's lives are blessed through heavenly power and intervention.

Thiw book helps renew your faith in God and miracles. It is truly the perfect book for the holidays!

I also enjoyed:

Story of the Other Wise Man--a wonderful Christmas parable.

Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--a heartwarming, inspiring story.

The stories in this book are heartwarming, inspirational, and uplifting--this book is like one of the great Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Buy a copy for yourself and one for a friend. This is a book to treasure!

I also enjoyed Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--an inspiring and--ultimately--comforting holiday story.

A collection of inspirational stories that is wonderful to read to renew your faith especially at Christmas time. I highly recommend that you slow down and add reading a book like this to your Christmas preparation. It will help you to keep the hustle and bustle in perspective and encourage you to pray for your own special miracle during the Holidays whatever that may be.

Christmas is a time for miracles, a time for peace, yet it is often and usually the most hectic, stressful time of year where very little of the joy that is intended in it is felt. Thank God for people like Ms. Kingsbury, who, with a few simple words can remind us of the true meaning and message of the season. In this small but powerful collection of unbelieveable, but true stories, she shines a light into the reader's heart, showing the reality of God's love, often expressed through the hand of others. Laughter and tears both will fill your heart and soul if you take the time to give yourself the gift of this book.

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

The biblical characters become so relevant with the interpretation of the very talented Katerina Katsarka Whitley. This book of dramatizations revitalized the Advent season and brought me to a new understanding of the Christ event. I loved reading the book. It also would provide good material for churches that include drama in their worship or Sunday School.

I loved this little book--the story of Advent through the eloquent eyes and voices of 30 humans, angels, and animals. Whitley combines scholarly text with the suspense and character development of a good novel.

This book follows along with Katerina's previous books and the reader truly experiences what the people so long ago were feeling. It is an inspirational book that should be part of everyone's Advent reading.

Katy has again joined a vivid imagination with scholarly knowledge of the Bible. This is a wonderful book for Advent reading. Bates Toone

This is an excellent book to read as a family devotion to prepare ourselves spiritually for the birth of Christ. It is such a challenge in our country to keep ourselves and our children focused on the reason we celebrate Christmas. This book provides a fresh look at biblical characters that we have learned about in Sunday School and provides us with a new way to anticipate the birth of Christ.
We plan take turns reading them aloud with our teenage children. There are many voices to choose from so the book can be used for many Advent seasons to come.

I try to read through this collection every Advent, as close to a daily reading as I can. This is a fine collection, ranging from brief meditations to mini-sermons, collected from nearly the entire history of Christian thought. Every year, I find something (usually several somethings) that finds me and speaks to me wherever I am that year. It's not all easy to hear - this isn't just a collection of "Oh how wonderful it is that Christ comes to save us" writings, though some of the gems in this collection are in that vein. But, there are plenty of well argued ideas on how to respond to this revelation. Highly recommended for any thoughtful Christian.

This extraordinarily rich collection of writings, mostly excerpted from larger works, offers stimulating meditations for each day of the Advent and Christmas seasons. The fifty writers include familiar names ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Henri Nouwen, Bernard of Clairvaux to Dorothy Day, John Chrysostom to C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther to Annie Dillard, T. S. Eliot to Kathleen Norris, as well as others less well-known. Nouwen shows how the fear of waiting can lead to hostile "first strike" approaches. Imprisoned, Alfred Delp calls for a "shocked awakening" from our false securities, that our hearts may be open to God's words of promise. Oscar Romero reminds us "Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God." This is a veritable library in one small volume.

If you are looking for a great read for Christmas this is it. You can call the Publisher and they will work out a great price if you want to give this book away for Christmas presents. You might also want to look at there book " Bread And Wine Readings for Lent and Easter. These two books are the greatest books to be published on these two themes.

I wonder as I wander through the pages of this book, how it is that the editors came to choose at least three selections I'd previously read, and having once read, returned to for spiritual nourishment. I felt as if this book had been compiled for me. Gail Godwin's essay on genealogy and grace moved me so much at the time I first read it in one of her novels, that I found myself going back to it over again. Kathleen Norris's writing on The Annunciation compels one to ponder the incomprehensible and embrace the mystery of the holiness of the season. Annie Dillard's description of the Church of the Nativity is rich in detail and provokes consideration of today's Bethlehem. These three readings could fill a season of wonder, but there are enough to cover the time from November 24th to January 7th. From Sylvia Plath to St. Thomas Aquinas, there is enough diversity to please a wide range of preferences. This reader considers it somewhat of a miracle itself that so much could be packed into such a small volume. For readers and thinkers yearning to see beyond the seasonal excesses, I recommend you "Watch for the Light."

Most books of readings arranged like these are full of platitudes and clichés. Not this one. These readings were very carefully selected from very thoughtful writers. They stir one to reflect on the true spiritual meaning of Advent and Christmas - what it means to live in Advent time, in a troubled world in anticipation of the light of God's presence, which both comforts us and shakes us to our core. This book recaptures the spiritual meaning of the season that often gets lost in all the celebration and commercialization. It offers both solace and challenge - a sign of the best spiritual writing.

An absolute hit with all my chidren (4 yrs up to 13 yrs) We would LOVE to find this series of books on CD!

These holiday parody songs tickle the funny bones of elementary school children. A particular favorite is "Hanging Lights" sung to the tune of "Silent Night". The tale of the hapless father hanging lights makes the children laugh each time. These Alan Katz books are great fun.

This book met all of my expectations and then some. My boys are both singers and we all read through this together. Our favorite - "At the Mall" sang to the tune of "Deck the Halls" If you like to laugh and sing or one or the other, buy this book!

I'd suggest adding a CD with a tune so old parents can remember the melody...other than that...great. His favorite is Something in My Brother's Underpants. Of course, he's 5, so why wouldn't a song about stinky diapers be his favorite?

We have every one of Alan Katz's "silly dilly" song books, and we have worn them out. He gave life to lots of old stand-by songs, and now he's done the same to Christmas. I can't tell you the number of nights I've laid in bed with my son singing Katz's adorable, and hysterical new lyrics. If you're not a "silly-dilly" devotee yet, it's never too late to start. Don't have kids without it!

My third grade granddaughter is finding the series to be of historical significance and, at least, bearable. At eight years of age, she knew only a smattering about slavery and its impact on families. She knew a little about the Underground Railroad, but learned what it really was. Thse little books make the era seem more real to her. Addy's Surprise brings together some realities of African Americans growing up just after the Civil War in foreign territory, the heartache of separation, learning how to cope, the hope of tomorrow, the reality that not all white people supported slavery and the fact that "freedom" had its problems. It has a positive,though realistic, ending. The reader is left wanting more. The Looking back and Looking forward features keep the reader engaged. My granddaughter cannot wait to see if her prediction that the family will be united comes true.

The book I am reviewing is "Addy's Surprise," written by Connie Porter. I think this book deserves five stars because it was the best book I ever read. This book is about a girl named Addy who escaped from slavery in 1864. She's living in an apartment above a dress shop that her mother works in. Before Christmas Addy sees a red scarf in a store window that she wants to get her mom for Christmas. To earn money, Addy delivers dresses from her mother's store and keeps the tips. When Addy gets home from school one day, she sees the jar full of money her mother and her have been saving to buy a lamp. Here mother really needs the lamp to sew clothes. Addy decides to put all her tip money in the jar. Then one day, a woman with a young girl walk into the shop and the woman gave back a beautiful dress that Addy's mother worked so hard on to make and says that it was too small, so Addy's mother took it back. The next day, when Addy was in the shop and her mother was in there apartment, Addy sees a long piece of red trimming that she could make into a scarf. Addy worked all that day to make the trimming a scarf. On Christmas Addy's mother gave her the beautiful dress and Addy gave her the scarf she made. They wore their new clothes to church and after church when all the kids were watching a shadow play Addy saw a familiar shadow peeking through the door. Read the book to see who Addy's "surprise" is!

I never can quite pick a favorite American Girls character, but I think Addy's Christmas Story is my favorite of those. I think the selflessness she shows (as does her friend Sarah) throughout the story is a wonderful example of Christian love in action.

This is another in the American Girls series about Addy Walker, a ten-year-old African-American girl living in the America of 1864. With Christmas coming up, Addy spots the perfect gift for her mother, a bright red scarf. However, when their church puts out a plea for money for those arriving from slavery with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Addy and her mother decide that their money should go to those less fortunate. In this book Addy learns a lesson on giving and receiving, and hope.

The final chapter is a look at Christmas for African-American children in the America of 1864. This is another great Addy book, with a great lesson and a moving story. My daughter loves this book, and yours will too.

Addy, an escaped slave, lives during hard times with her escaped mother. She wants Christmas to be happy. Will Christmas be a disappointment? Will they find Sam and Poppa, who were sold before Addy and her mother escaped, or Addy's baby sister, whom they had to leave behind? Get the questions answered in this beautiful tale of hope in hard times.

With handmade ornaments to go with this book and allowing children to hang one on the tree each night, it was the highlight of Christmas for our family.

This is a wonderful family focus for the Christmas season. Each day the children are so excited to have their "Jesse Time". One child gets to find the package numbered for that day under their Jesse Tree and another gets to open it when the devotion is done. I hope this will be a tradition in my family for generations to come. Several ladies and I have made the ornaments and provided complete sets to go along with their purchase of this book and it is truly a magical way to teach children of God's promises and love and the true meaning of Christmas.

THIS BOOK TRACES THE HERITAGE OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTMENT. ADULTS ENJOY THE CHILDREN'S DEVOTIONS AS WELL AS THEIR OWN. EACH DAY AN ORNAMENT IS PLACED ON A TREE TO GO WITH EACH DEVOTIONAL.

THIS BOOK WAS VERY INSPIRATIONAL TO MY FAMILY. IT BROUGHT US SO CLOSE TOGETHER AROUND CHRISTMAS. MOST OF THE TIME ONE LOSES SIGHT OF WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT & THIS BOOK BRINGS IT HOME TO NOT ONLY OUR CHILDREN BUT TO US AS PARENTS.

IT IS A MUST BOOK FOR THE FAMILY LIBRARY TO ENJOY OVER & OVER.

Each year a group of ladies (25) gets together and picks a day's devotional and makes an ornament to go along with that day. Each person makes 25 of their ornament and then everyone gets together and exchanges. Finally, you have a complete set that you can use along with this great devotional book!! Each day has a devotion/symbol and there are readings for children and adults. My children unwrap the ornament for the day and then we read the devotional. It makes a wonderful family time!!

When I first received this book it was overwhelming, it was so long; however, I was pulled in very quickly. The book is very historically interesting and the amount of time put into the characters makes it even better. I found myself unable to put it down and reading way into the night. The end was a big surprise and I eagerly await the sequel to this book.

A wonderful read. Highly recommended to anyone and everyone that enjoys historical fiction, fantasy, or period adventure tales. Heck... if you enjoy reading and are looking for something different and interesting, get this book.

Bravo Fletcher King! Love, adventure, danger, anger, forgiveness, war, and a long journey in a dark country. Excellent first novel that takes the reader to a place the reader has never been. A can't-put-it-down novel. Well crafted, well done.

I was given this book by the author, and, as I am an omnivorous reader, I was asked my opinion of the story. I found the story spellbinding, the type that once you start reading, is difficult to put down. The Author has a style of writing very similar to that of Anne McCaffery. The reading flows, and the story line is very smooth.

Set in A.D. 882 in the medieval kingdom of Speyron, The Advent of the King is a dark novel about a curse of infertility that has descended upon the land, and the rumbling threat of invasion and war from the neighboring kingdom. Remorseless threats and pressures place Speyron's bachelor king in a crucible; his advisors suggest a female serf from an obscure village just might possess the answer to the dual threats to his nation from without and within. Author Fletcher King strives to be as true to medieval history and culture as possible, particularly with regard to what is known of the Catholic church during the era. Graphic depictions of violence and sex are present in dark saga; The Advent of the King is not for squeamish readers, yet its vivid detail paints an unforgettable picture of the grueling difficulties of struggling to survive in medieval times.