Only the Beautiful
I think most people are aware of the eugenics movement through Hitler’s experiments in WWII Germany. But fewer people know that the United States had its own eugenics “pioneers” from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The goal was to eliminate undesirable genetic human traits through selective breeding. This evolved to forced...
The All-American
Some of my favorite middle school memories are bicycling to the baseball diamond and keeping score for my cousin’s team. It was a boy’s team, of course. It was the 1970s. No option for girls to play in my small Michigan town. But this was the closest I could get to the heartbeat of the game. I also wanted to be a batboy...
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip
During the last few days of my mother’s life, she was in a hospice facility which proved to be the best possible place she could have been for receiving care, comfort, and compassion. My sister and I stayed with her—even overnight—for four days straight. We reminisced, read scripture, encouraged her, pondered about...
The Songs That Could Have Been
I appreciate authors who tackle difficult topics. Amanda Wen is one of those. In The Songs That Could Have Been, she takes on three issues: bulimia, alcoholism, and a mixed race romance. Each occurs in separate timelines of a split-time novel. A few facts about bulimia nervosa: It’s a mental disorder Its hallmark is...
The Choices She Made
Writing a novel is challenging enough. But tackling issues that nobody likes to talk about can take that challenge to a whole new level. Especially when an author wants to give those topics a sensitive treatment, incurring empathy for the protagonist while conveying the difficulty—sometimes horrors—of what she has...
The Lost Manuscript
Who doesn’t love a castle setting for a novel? Especially in the British countryside. Reading The Lost Manuscript by Mollie Rushmeyer gave me the opportunity for a little armchair travel to a spectacular castle in Northumberland in northeastern England. It’s called Alnwick Castle (pronounced a-nik, A as in apple,...
Under the Magnolias
How has your life been touched by mental illness? Do you know someone who struggles from depression, anxiety, OCD, ODD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, or eating disorders? Maybe that person is in your own family. But if not, you don’t have to look far. Facts from National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) 1...
Hope Between the Pages
Decades ago, on my first trip to Southern Appalachia during college, I visited the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. That’s when I fell in love with the Smoky Mountains, the surrounding area, and its people—as an outsider and a Northerner. But author Pepper Basham is the real deal, born and bred in the Blue...
Thief of Glory
For years I read snippets about author Sigmund Brouwer and his books in my Calvin College alumni magazine, The Spark. I kept thinking I ought to read something of his. After all, we had things in common. We overlapped at Calvin (though we never met), we’re both authors (though he’s much more prolific), and we both have...
A Novel Proposal
I don’t read on the beach anymore. The wind and sand drive me crazy! So my light-hearted beach reads are more likely to take place by the pool, without any sand. But whether you prefer the beach or a pool, A Novel Proposal by Denise Hunter is the perfect summer read. Not only does it have all the necessary romantic...
Whose Waves These Are
Whenever I visit new places, I often buy a piece of artwork by a local artist, usually a painting or drawing. In Maine, the lighthouses intrigued me the most. Of course I couldn’t decide among them, so I ended up with two framed prints. One of them is the Pemaquic Point Lighthouse in Bristol, Maine. Decades ago, when Tim...
The Nature of Fragile Things
Twenty years ago, I finally had the opportunity to visit San Francisco. My husband, Tim, and our two daughters, thirteen and eleven, experienced all the thrills: street performers and artists on Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square (yum!), cable cars and Lombard Street, the Victorian homes in Haight-Ashbury, Giants baseball at...
Almost Home
In Michigan during World War II, my grandfather and his brother had to cease selling automobiles at the car dealership they’d built from the ground up since 1926. All consumer cars, trucks, and parts production halted from February 1942 to October 1945. Even customers who’d ordered cars previously couldn’t receive...
The Bookshop of Secrets
The bookshop setting with a mystery enticed me to read Mollie Rushmeyer’s The Bookshop of Secrets. The mystery itself is tied to first print editions that once belonged to the protagonist’s mother. Classic old books, a bookstore, family secrets, mysteries, treasure—what more do you need? Mollie writes “Contemporary...
Everything is Just Beginning
Years ago, when I taught high school art, I wanted students to embrace the process of creating art and enjoy the journey. That’s why I graded their steps along the way, not just the end-product. My motto was: Creating a Product without the Process is like having the Sizzle without the Steak. I liken the Sizzle to the...
Night Bird Calling
Author Cathy Gohlke does not hesitate delving into rough territory through her novels, going where angels fear to tread. With masterful storytelling, she champions the oppressed and victims of abuse. This includes those found in Christian circles—abuse that nobody likes to acknowledge or talk about. I mean the corruption...
Count the Nights by Stars
When I read Devil in the White City years ago, I was fascinated by the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Not just the World’s Fair and all its creativity, but the juxtaposition of evil running rampant at the same time. Four years later came the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, the state’s historic centennial...
The Right Kind of Fool
When I realized that The Right Kind of Fool by Sarah Loudin Thomas had a deaf protagonist, I didn’t know if I was ready to tackle that story not. How do you write from the perspective of a boy who can neither hear nor speak? How do you convey his experiences without being clunky and awkward? But Sarah does an...
The Memory House
We all have memories associated with a place we call home, particularly ones we grew up in. Some memories are happy and pleasant, some might be sorrowful. But a house is much more than a place where we spend time growing up. At best, it’s a place of laughter, learning, and thriving. It can be a place of respite and...
What I Would Tell You
My daughter and son recently got 23andMe DNA tests. Fortunately, no unknown relatives showed up. But we did learn a few things. I have a lot of Dutch on my side of the family, but it was confirmed we had more French in our background than expected. Besides my husband's French roots (among other things), my Dutch ancestors...
Coming soon: Fifteen Minutes with Mr. Baum, a novel
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