My ear worm keeps repeating that Bing Crosby song “What Can You Do with a General Who Stops Being a General?” What can you do with a teacher who stops being a teacher and becomes a writer? Submit an all-important book review. Give her book a five-star rating. 😊
Reading those reviews from my former students has been like that final scene in White Christmas when the general reunites with his former soldiers.
That’s amore! 💕
Because the month of February is associated with love and Valentine’s Day, I want to transition into a couple of reviews on love-themed books. My goal in 2025 is to return to others some of that book review love bestowed on me.
Let’s start with a book I’ve mentioned before, Adriana Trigiani’s The House of Love, illustrated by Amy June Bates. This is a beautiful picture book about a young girl who loves Valentine’s Day. I give it five stars!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(As a side note, I fell in love with Trigiani’s Big Stone Gap series years ago and have been a fan of her writing ever since.)
With A Tree Grows in Brooklyn vibe, The House of Love focuses on a family lacking in material possessions but abundant in what matters most.
Mia Valentina is the youngest in a family of nine, and she loves Valentine’s Day because her name means My Valentine! In preparation for this festive day, Mia helps her mother clean and decorate and “bedazzle” every room in their house. Then they spend the afternoon making personalized valentines and baking delicious cupcakes. When Mia thinks she may have been forgotten because she hasn’t found her own valentine, she discovers her house is truly filled with love. As a fun bonus, the book flap contains cute valentines available for cutout!
Speaking of overflowing love, a very important scripture reminds us that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.
In her book Nothing, Natalee Creech captivates readers both young and old with her rhyming words based on Romans 8:38-39. Illustrator Joseph Cowman brings these words to life with his images of seascapes, mountains, valleys, volcanoes, rocket ships, deserts, and so many more visuals from above and below the earth.
Creech reminds her readers:
You are loved and forgiven.
What a wonderful thing!
You’re adopted as God’s own.
You’re a child of the King!
This scripture has always been a personally reassuring reminder that God loves me in spite of my weaknesses, and this book helps these verses come alive. I think it deserves five stars and should be in every home. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A perfect example of this month’s theme can also be found in another of my favorite books: Amy Parker’s How Big Is Love?
Yes! Mama gives Little One some great advice! Our love does grow every time we give it away!
I have been blessed by the love you’ve given to me with your reviews of Look for the Pink Ribbons, and I hope you’ll continue to share that love. 🩷
Here are links to order and/or leave a review:
Amazon: https://a.co/d/3AZHmj0
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/look-for-the-pink-ribbons-joyce-mccullough/1145832325?ean=9781649606129
Books a Million https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Look-Pink-Ribbons/Joyce-McCullough/9781649606129?id=8642261383944
Walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/Look-for-the-Pink-Ribbons-Paperback-9781649606433/6861670620?from=/search
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
You can also help love grow by applying to your own life these characteristics of love from the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Hebrews 13:16: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
“Love seeketh not itself to please.”—William Blake
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”—William Shakespeare
“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”—Thumper
John 3:16; 1 John 4:19; Romans 12:9; Proverbs 10:12; Jeremiah 31:3
Thumpers advice is the best one for sure in our troubled times and social media posts run the lives and minds of many people.
I agree. I don’t feel comfortable “tooting my own horn” on social media, but it’s what the publishers want us to do. I’m glad you read to the end. 😊