Summer Reading UPDATE / REVIEW

Another book off The List!

I wish I could say the same for The Middle Schooler... who actually, only had one required book on her list. Shall we say it's... "Slow Going." The Social Life tends to get right square in the way of books.

Here's a review of My List so far...

1. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
2. A Seperate Country, by Robert Hicks
3. The Carrie Diaries, by Candace Bushnell
4. The Shack, by William P. Young
5. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
6. If You Want to Write... by Brenda Ueland
7. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
8. Half Broke Horses, by Jeanette Walls
9. Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough
10.Heaven is For Real, by Todd and Colton Burpo

You'll notice I did a fancy, "Skip to the End" move.

I added "Heaven is For Real" to the end of my list after seeing it in the famed Target book department. It looked bright and cheery, cute and - most of all - it looked, LIGHT! I figure everyone who is making a Summer Reading list should include at least one "easy" read.

Grabbed it up right before our Fabulous Fourth Weekend at the Lake adventure, and threw it in my bag... along with my unread "Country Living" issues and my "Farmhouse Ideas" notebook. Afterall, when one plans to spend the weekend at the lake, one should assume there will be PLENTY of time for reading, decorating and creative brainstorming right? Wrong! Keeping toddlers ON the boat deck is way, way more time consuming. Grumble. Dang kids.

Thanks much to Josh and his willingness to do all of the heavy lifting and life saving, I was able to pick up the book and "dive in". WOOO! Another summer pun. We're 2 for 2 now folks. Keep your seats.

"Heaven is For Real" is the story of Colton Burpo, a four year old boy who becomes seriously ill with a nasty case of appendicitis. Misdiagnosed and largely untreated, when his parents arrived at a larger hospital, his outlook was, at best - grim. His father, a Wesleyan minister, even found himself angry with God. However, miraculously, after a couple of surgeries, and several weeks in the hospital, Colton was discharged, having made a full recovery.

The story is the chapters following - as Colton begins to recount his "out of body" experiences meeting Jesus, and in heaven. Colton meets more than just Jesus and angels... without spoiling the story for you, I can just tell you that his stories moved his family in ways that changed them forever.

This was a VERY easy read - I finished in about two days. In some small way, I was a little disappointed with how quickly I finished it up.... I had to remind myself that I chose the book for it's simplistic story and look. On that note, it delivered. Also, for a girl raised in Sunday School and Wednesday Night Suppers, the stories Colton tells about the angels and their swords and about how many children are in heaven - were fulfilling and warmed my Jesus Loves Me heart.

There are over a million copies of this book in print, and the Burpo family has donated a large portion of the proceeds. That's pretty special in itself.

The New York Times shares a review / article here.

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Remember our first book, "The Help"? There's a movie on the way! Here is the official trailer. Looks pretty awesome. However, ALWAYS glad I read the book first. RIGHT?!

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Ps. Josh would just like me to say again that he did all the heavy lifting and hard work while enjoying our weekend at the lake.

Off to the next book on the list.