Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

Author Liz Curtis Higgs has always been one of my favorites.  She has a fascinating way of re-telling a Biblical story set in Scotland of old.  Here Burns My Candle is a take on the Biblical book of Ruth and is set in 18th century Edinburgh during the Jacobite Rising.  Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage.  She is caught between the auld ways and those of her husband, Lord Donald Kerr, and the novel follows this family as secrets come out amid Prince Charlie and his rebel army riding through the streets of Edinburgh in September 1745.  Due to circumstances, Lady Elisabeth is left with her mother-in-law, the dowager Lady Marjory, to sift through family secrets and pick up the pieces as they lose everything they hold dear. 

I would highly recommend reading Here Burns My Candle, and I am looking forward to reading the follow-up novel to find out how Lady Elisabeth and Lady Majory's journey ends. 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

God Gave Us the World by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Following in line with the other great books in this series, Lisa Tawn Bergren's book God Gave Us the World follows Little Cub as he learns something new about God and His creation.  Little Cub takes a trip to a museum exhibit called "Bears Around the World."  He has all kinds of questions about why bears from the different parts of the world look different from him, so Mama Bear explains to him where God has put the different bears to live, what they eat, and the kind of fur they have.  Little Cub is curious about why God didn't just make all the bears the same.  Mama Bear teaches Little Cub that God created all the bears and each bear has a special purpose for being in the world.

My two children really enjoyed this book and brought up thought provoking questions of their own.  They loved the bright, colorful pictures, and were quick to point out the difference they noticed in the bears and where they lived.  This is a great book for families to use when teaching young children about their roles in God's world and about diversity among the people around them.  We loved it!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.