When God Made Light by Matthew Paul Turner

This is a nice little story that explains simply that God is the creator and one of his creations is light. Some of it reads more like a tongue twister, but children will enjoy the lighthearted story.  I didn’t, however, care for the illustrations.  The pictures are water color style, but the children were just too odd looking. Large heads, and large bellies with an overly thin neck. It wasn’t a cute cartoon image. One picture looks like the child has had her eye ripped out.  It was just an okay book for me.

A copy of this book was provided to me for an honest review.

Lullaby Road by James Anderson

While this book is a bit of a rambler, the interesting characters made this book an interesting read. A bit quirky, but definitely unique characters you would expect to meet in a hideaway rural area. Don’t expect too realistic of a story and just be entertained by where the story goes. The main character of Ben is a warm, generous and caring person, although he would never admit to it. The strong characters are enhanced by the beautifully described locations.

The author has one previous book, The Never-Open Diner, that would best be read first. I received a copy of Lullaby Road from the Blogging For Books program in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Christians by Andreas Knapp

Andreas Knapp, a German priest, traveled to Iraq to accompany a friend to his father’s funeral. He brought back the stories of the suffering of Christians and Muslims under IS (ISIS), as they have been driven out of their homelands and are flooding the western countries as refugees.

There are many heart-wrenching stories of the devastation and destruction of homes and historic churches. He wrote of his experience with children living and playing as if nothing has happened, a 75 year-old man learning a new language, and some horrible frightening abuses. The culture of both the Christians and Muslims of this area is difficult for a westerner to understand. The women and children are left behind as the men escape. In one case the author was going to be taken to a dangerous area and the women and children were taken along so that the men traveling together wouldn’t be suspicious.

This is very much a political opinion book. There are criticisms of the United States based on “investigations” that go without names, explanation or footnotes. His conclusion is that there should be no borders, no borders, or fences and countries should accept anyone, Christian and Muslim. The insinuation that the United States is not doing enough is insulting to someone who is living in an area that was flooded with hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees that have to be given food, housing, and medical care.