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Joni and Ken by Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada

Jul22

Even the title and cover picture says it: there are issues related to being married to a famous Christian author, artist, speaker and quadriplegic who heads a world-wide ministry to disabled persons. Whose name (and ministry) comes first? Ken Tada knew about some of the difficulties when he married Joni, but the “daily-ness” of Joni’s physical needs plus the annoyance of always living life in Joni’s shadow was enough to wear down Ken’s dedication to Joni and to their life together and transform their marriage into a series of tasks that had to be done instead of a joyful journey.

In case you don’t know, Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, an organization that provides practical support and spiritual help to special needs families worldwide, and equips thousands of churches in developing disability ministry. Joni is the author of numerous best-selling books, including When God Weeps, The God I Love, Heaven: Your Real Home, Joni, and A Step Further. Ken Tada recently retired from thirty-two years of teaching school. He and Joni have been married for over 30 years.

Joni and Ken is a great “anatomy of a marriage” kind of memoir that probes deep into what it means to love someone consistently, daily, and sacrificially. Ken knew what he was getting into when he married Joni. She was already a bestselling author and a quadriplegic when the two of them met, began dating, and eventually married, believing that they could serve God together better than apart. Ken knew, in a sense that he would have to take care of Joni physically for the rest of their lives, that there would be difficulties in their marriage that able-bodied spouses can only imagine. He knew, but mostly on an intellectual level. He didn’t know how exhausting the quotidian tasks of caring for Joni, supporting her emotionally, and following behind her in her calling would become. After many years, Ken seems to have done what many spouses who are in difficult marriages do, both men and women: he checked out emotionally. He And in response to his distancing himself from her, Joni began to pull back, too. It happens in many (most?) relationships, even those with far fewer challenges than Joni’s and Ken’s marriage.

This book would be a good read for someone who is caregiver for a disabled spouse or parent or child. The narrative could have been improved with a more chronological organization of the story and with more information from Ken’s point of view about the couple’s struggles. However, the lack of particulars about how Ken was feeling and what he was thinking may come from a difference in the personalities of the two people involved. I get the idea that Ken tends to keep his thoughts and feelings more hidden and unspoken whereas Joni comes across as the more emotive and dramatic of the pair.

Marriage is an endlessly fascinating subject. How do two people get married and stay married? What makes a good marriage? Do all marriages go through seasons of aridity and apathy? How does a married couple go about renewing their passion and love for one another? Where does the ardor for a lifetime of mutual submission and servanthood and love come from?

The answer to that last question: the Holy Spirit himself who is the Maker and Sustainer of any marriage, even, I believe, non Christian marriages. But no one ever said it was going to be easy. Worthwhile, yes, but not easy.

No Dark Valley by Jamie Langston Turner

Jul21

Jamie Langston Turner is one of my “go-to” authors for Christian-themed fiction. So when I saw a copy of a novel by Ms. Turner that I hadn’t yet read while I was perusing the shelves at Half-Price Books, I bought it without a second thought. And I’m glad I did.

No Dark Valley is a little more “religious” than some of Ms. Turner’s other novels, although all of them are about how ordinary people find redemption and strength through faith in Jesus. Nevertheless, just like the characters in her other books, the characters in No Dark Valley are real. I can imagine meeting these people, talking to them, understanding them. There are no pasteboard saints in this story, although Ms. Turner does indulge in a meta-fiction thread that runs through the novel about how Celia, the protagonist, imagines that her life and the people in it would never be believable as fiction:

“Another reason her life would make a bad novel, Celia had decided, was that the characters would seem so stereotyped. Nobody would believe that one person could have so many rigidly religious relatives, all stuck in the rut of such predictable, countrified ways of viewing life, all trekking to church several times a week, all so unaware that the twentieth century had come and gone. You could get by with one or two characters like that in a book, for quirky splashes of color, but not dozens and dozens of them. The whole thing would turn into a farce.”

Of course, the funny thing about No Dark Valley was that I found the characters to be quite plausible and true to life–my life in the South, in the Bible Belt. I’m not sure if Ms. Turner was actually worried that readers would find her Christian characters stereotypical and so wrote her concerns into the book, or if she was simply having fun with Celia and her own rigid ways of thinking. (Celia is a champion at projecting her own rigidity and prejudice onto her relatives and others.) Either way, Celia’s interior monologue, and later in the novel when the point of view switches to Celia’s neighbor, Bruce Healy, his thoughts, are both relatable and authentic.

No Dark Valley is both a romance story and a conversion story. Jamie Langston Turner’s prose is intelligent, vivid, and sometimes crosses over into the poetic. I really enjoy Ms. Turner’s novels. If they can be classified as “Christian chicklit”, it’s excellent, smart Christian chick lit.

Jamie Langston Turner’s other books:
Suncatchers
Some Wildflower in My Heart (1998)
By the Light of a Thousand Stars (1999)
A Garden to Keep (2001)
Winter Birds (2006)
Sometimes a Light Surprises (2009)

And if you like a series of novels with recurring and overlapping characters, Ms Turner’s novels, like those of another of my favorite writers, Madeleine L’Engle, have characters from one novel that reappear in later books. In No Dark Valley, Eldeen Rafferty from Suncatchers makes a (loud) appearance. Margaret Tuttle, from Some Wildflower in My Heart, is the friend of a friend. And Elizabeth Landis from A Garden to Keep becomes a friend and mentor to Celia as the two women play on a tennis team together.

And now I have to admit that Ms. Turner and I have a little bit of a mutual admiration society going here, and I am pleased to read that she has a new novel coming out in 2014.

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright

Jul16

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright.

Wow! After reading Mr. Wright’s exposé of L. Ron Hubbard’s “new religion” of Scientology, I want to make sure that I and my family never even read any of Mr. Hubbard’s multitudinous works of fiction, much less his supposed nonfiction best sellers such as Dianetics and Self Analysis, to name only a couple of the many, many books he wrote and published. (Mitt Romney said during his run for the presidency that his favorite novel was Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. That’s a little disturbing on several levels.) Yes, I know that sounds a little paranoid, and the books themselves may or may not be harmlessly entertaining, but the information about the abusiveness of Scientology in Going Clear is just that disturbing. So disturbing that I’m looking for my ten foot pole.

Scientology doesn’t get many (any) kudos in this book by a Pulitzer prize winning author and journalist. Famous Scientologists come across as either well-meaning fools (John Travolta) or deluded jerks (Tom Cruise). Hubbard himself seems to have been a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur and a sadistic streak. Then, of course, he did establish a religious empire with millions of dollars in assets and a lot (Scientology won’t say exactly how many, with estimates varying widely and wildly) of adherents.

I won’t go into the specific abuses and illegalities that Mr. Wright alleges against Hubbard and the Scientology organization. You can read the book for more corrupt and salacious details than you probably want to know. I will warn anyone who is even considering taking one of Scientology’s copious and expensive courses that he or she should read Wright’s book first. If even half of what Mr. Wright writes is right, then you will want to stay as far away from Scientology as possible.

Of course, Lawrence implies in the final chapters of his book that all religious faiths are much the same as Scientology in their irrationality and odd beliefs. He writes, ” . . . every religion features bizarre and uncanny elements.” Then he proceeds to compare Scientology to Christian Science, the Amish, Shakers, Buddhists, Pentecostals, and several other groups. He’s struggling to put Scientology into some sort of context, but there is very little precedent for an L. Ron Hubbard and his invention of a money-making pseudo-science that outlived its founder. To invoke one of those beliefs that Mr. Wright classifies as bizarre, I think Scientology is simply demonic.

Read the book and weep for those who are enmeshed in a belief system that defies belief. I especially felt moved to pray for those children who are raised and indoctrinated in Mr. Hubbard’s exploitative religion. I believe the only Power that can free them from such an insidious and insane cult is the power and sanity of Jesus Christ.

Famous Scientologists and former Scientologists. I was surprised to read (not in this book but online as I looked up information) that author Neil Gaiman was raised in a Scientology family. He has left the Church of Scientology as an adult, but prefers not to talk about it either negatively or positively, probably because he still has family members who are deeply involved in Scientology.

Other author connections with Scientology:
Science fiction author Robert Heinlein was close friends with L. Ron Hubbard in their early days in the 1940’s as aspiring writers of science fiction. In fact, Hubbard had an affair with Heinlein’s wife, after which they weren’t such good friends anymore.

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest for new writers of science fiction and Illustrators of the Future contest are “prestigious and lucrative. They feature judges who are among the biggest names in the field, and they’ve helped launch the careers of important new artists.” These contests are administrated, sponsored, and funded by a subsidiary of The Church of Scientology. However, the judges and the authors who win the annual contests are, for the most part, not members of the Church of Scientology. (Scientology’s Writers of the Future Contest, Village Voice, by Tony Ortega)

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Jul15

First, I read Ally Carter’s novelette, Double Crossed, on my Kindle. It’s an intersection between her Gallagher Girls books and her Heist Society adventure novels. Macey Henry, Gallagher Girl, meets W.W. Hale the Fifth and his maybe girlfriend Katarina Bishop, the daughter of an infamous family of con men and criminals. Macey and Hale foil a gang of would-be jewel thieves at a high society charity event while Kat and Gallagher Girls’ Covert Operations teacher, Abby Cameron, provide help from the outside.

So, after getting a taste of Heist Society adventure, I remembered that I hadn’t yet found the time to read the second book in the Heist Society series, Uncommon Criminals, even though I bought it for Brown Bear Daughter for Christmas. And since said daughter is in Slovakia, I have unfettered access to her books. So, while waiting for the fireworks to start at the 4th of July celebration in Friendswood, I read about jewel thieves and con artists and the people who love them.

The book reads like a movie, a romantic adventure sort of movie, which, if one could go back in time, would suit a young Cary Grant playing opposite Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn. Most of the story takes place in Monaco, which is probably why I thought of Grace Kelly. Alfred Hitchcock, of course, would direct. A young Jimmy Stewart could play the second love interest, Nick. I’m not sure who would play Katarina and Hale in a movie made with actual actors who are available nowadays.

At any rate, Ms. Carter has created a couple of fine, entertaining series for teens: The Gallagher Girls spy novels and the Heist Society crime caper novels. Try either series, but read the books in order and get ready to have some fun. Classify these as light summer (or anytime) reading when you’re in the mood for a little mind candy.

Gallagher Girls Series
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You (2006)
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (2007)
Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover (2009)
Only the Good Spy Young (2010)
Out of Sight, Out of Time (2012)
United We Spy(2013)

Heist Society Series
Heist Society (2010)
Uncommon Criminals (2011)
Perfect Scoundrels (2013)

Novella cross between the two series: Double-Crossed (2013)

Now, I still need to read United We Spy and Perfect Scoundrels. I’ll probably save them for my next summer event that involves waiting in a crowd or mild distractions that aren’t conducive to reading more serious tomes. Actually, these books would be just the right ones to keep on your e-reader and pull up in case of just such a reading emergency.

New Clothes for New Year’s Day by Hyun-Joo Bae

Jul13

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

An adorable little Korean girl puts on her new clothes for New Year’s Day. She’s wearing:
Saekdong jeogori–a jacket made of colorful fabric. The one in the book has a rainbow of stripes down the sleeves with tiny images on the vest part.

Norigae–a charm that hangs from the jacket. I might skip this part of the text if I didn’t want to explain good luck charms to my read aloud buddy.

Chima–a red silk skirt.

Baessi Danggi–a decorated headband.

Ttitdon–a special ornament to link the charm to the jacket.

Jumeoni–a lucky bag.

Jobawi–a hat worn behind the headband to keep her head warm.

Beoseon–cotton socks with embroidered decorations on them.

Kkotsin–leather shoes covered with embroidered silk.

The book shows the unnamed little girl putting on each piece of her new wardrobe—all by herself and very carefully. In one picture the girl tumbles head over heels as she pulls on her new socks. In another, she struggles with her hair ribbon, until she gets it just right. One page does mention the “good luck charm” and “lucky bag”, but the emphasis is on starting out the new year with new clothes and a new attitude.

This picture book was originally published in Korea, and the illustrations are crisp, bright, colorful, and confined, to give a brilliant introduction to traditional Korean clothes and furnishings. In fact, the text is OK, but it’s the pictures in this one that shine. Read this one to your little girl, and she will want her own Korean New Year’s outfit. Time to play dress-up.

Other reviews:
Kelly at BigALittleA: “It’s a simple, yet beautiful and optimistic tale, completed by Hyun-Joo Bae’s stunning illustrations.”

The Miss Rumphius Effect: “Reading this made me reflect back on all those days of grade school when I waited anxiously to put on my “best” new outfit for that important first day. You can’t help but feel the excitement of the young girl as she dresses from head to toe.”

Jama’s Alphabet Soup: “There is joy in each piece, from the crimson silk skirt, to the rainbow-striped jacket, delicate socks embroidered with flowers, to the hair ribbon of red and gold.”

The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon by Janie Jaehyun Park

Jul12

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

Wikipedia: “Persimmons are eaten fresh, dried, raw, or cooked. When eaten fresh they are usually eaten whole like an apple or cut into quarters, though with some varieties it is best to peel the skin first. One way to consume very ripe persimmons, which can have the texture of pudding, is to remove the top leaf with a paring knife and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Riper persimmons can also be eaten by removing the top leaf, breaking the fruit in half and eating from the inside out. The flesh ranges from firm to mushy, and the texture is unique. The flesh is very sweet.”

In Korea, according to this folktale that author Janie Park heard from her grandmother, dried persimmons were given to children as a sweet treat. I’ve never tried persimmon dried or any other way. Have you?

The tale itself features a foolish tiger, a crying baby, and a hapless thief. The tiger learn a lesson about pride, the baby gets a treat, and the thief turns into an honest man–all because of a bit of dried persimmon fruit. I’m not sure there is any moral to the story, but it is an incentive to think about tigers, persimmons, babies, and thieves–all subjects I’ve not thought much about, certainly not in conjunction with one another.

The illustrations are a bit oddball for my tastes–an orange tiger with blueish purple stripes? The author/illustrator says she used “gesso, to make a unique texture on the paper, and then . . . acrylics” to create “brilliant, swirling illustrations” in “modern adaptions of the grand Korean artistic tradition.” I’m not enough of an art expert or an expert on Korea to know how successful she has been, but I prefer my pictures more crisp and detailed, less blobby and texturized. Some other reviewer for Booklist said the tiger in Ms. Park’s illustrations was “a coiled calligraphic mass of fear.” “Each to his own.

I did like the story. Unlike many folktales, it’s just scary enough with the tiger, but not really violent or horrific. The tiger is rather silly in his misunderstanding of the interactions between baby and mother, and the thief reforms himself after his accidental wild tiger ride. Preschoolers and primary age children should enjoy this taste of Korean folklore.

Maybe they would also enjoy a Korean persimmon treat, too. You can purchase an 8 oz. bag of dried persimmon slices at Amazon for about $10.00.

Goyangi Means Cat by Christine McDonnell

Jul11

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

Soo Min comes from Korea to join her adoptive family in the United States. Everything is strange and foreign to her, except for Goyangi, the cat. When Goyangi slips out the open front door and is lost, Soo Min feels lost and alone, too, and only the return of Goyangi the cat can make Soo Min feel at home in this new place.

This book is unlike the others I’ve reviewed this week in that it’s set in the U.S, not in Korea. However, the story gives insight into Korean culture and life, highlighting Korean vocabulary and opening the door to empathy for young readers who can imagine what it would feel like to be a new place where they couldn’t understand the language or the customs. Goyangi the cat becomes a familiar comfort for Soo Min as she navigates her new life in America.

Christine McDonnell, the author of this simple adoption story, is the mother of two Korean-born children. Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, the illustrators are a married couple who used “paper collage and acrylic and oil paint” to create the artwork in the book. “The Patterns used in the paper collage were selected to reflect the Eastern and Western worlds of Soo Min.” Korean words written in Korean hanja are embedded into each of the illustrations.

So, are you ready to earn some Korean words (with English spelling, not hanja)?

Anyah=No
Ah-po=hurt
Gom=teddy bear
Mok-da=eat
Jip=house
Bahp=rice
Chim-dae=bed
Po-po=kiss
Omah=mother
Apah=dad
Goyangi=cat

We have a dog named Domo, from the Japanese (abreviated) “thank you”. Maybe our next cat, a very unlikely acquisition, will be named Goyangi, if I can figure out how to pronounce the word. This picture book is informative, but it doesn’t include a pronunciation guide.

Peach Heaven by Yangsook Choi

Jul9

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

The setting is Puchon, South Korea, 1976. Yangsook is day-dreaming about a peach garden in heaven–just like the calendar picture of children playing in a peach orchard that is posted above her desk. Puchon is famous for growing beautiful, juicy peaches that are sold all over Korea.

The voices of her grandma and her little brother come intruding into Yangsook’s daydream, telling her to come and look at the rain which has turned to hail. But it’s not hail—it’s raining peaches!

There were a couple of oddities in this story, which is actually based on a childhood memory of the author. First of all, I’ve never heard of peaches raining down from the sky, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief. But the other odd scene is when the the townsfolk bring the peaches back to the farmers’ orchards and tie them to the trees with yarn. Why? To console the farmers for the loss of most of their peach crop. I suppose it made a good visual image to tie the peaches to the trees, but it seems rather superfluous in practical terms.

Anyway, I doubt children will have the same questions that I did. Instead, they will most likely enjoy this quiet little story of a girl growing up in South Korea and an memorable episode in her childhood. The watercolor illustrations, which were done by the author, complement the story and its mood quite well.

The Firekeeper’s Son by Linda Sue Park

Jul8

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea

“We live in an important village,” Sang-hee’s father said.

The village doesn’t look very important to Sang-hee. However, it is a special place because Sang-hee’s father climbs the mountain near the coastal village in Korea every evening to light the watchfire. Then the firekeeper on the next mountain sees the fire that signals that everything is peaceful, no invaders, and he lights his fire as a signal to the next firekeeper and so on, all the way to the king’s palace in central Korea. The king sees the series of mountaintop watchfires and knows that his kingdom is safe.

If there is no fire, it means that the kingdom of Korea is in danger, and the king will send brave, noble soldiers to defend the land. Sang-hee knows the importance of peace in the land but wishes he could see the king’s soldiers just once. What will Sang-hee do when one night the watchfire doesn’t appear?

In an Author’s Note at the end of the book, Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park says that the bonfire signal system was used in Korea up until the late nineteenth century to protect the land from invasion. The actual system of fires was more complicated and extensive than the simple chain of watchfires presented in this picture book, but as a vehicle for character development and for conveying some information about the history and culture of Korea, the “firekeeper system” is a friendly and constructive image.

Sang-hee finds himself in a situation where he must decide whether to take responsibility and live up to his position as the firekeeper’s son, or to indulge his own fantasies at the expense of developing his character. It’s a decision that all of us, both children and adults, face frequently.

Julie Downing’s watercolor paintings bring out the colors and beauty of early nineteenth century Korea for those of us (me sometimes) who tend to think of the past in shades of gray. One illustration in particular (pages 18-19) is all purples and greens and yellows with a stunning late evening feel to it as Sang-hee and his mother look to the mountain and realize that something is wrong because the evening watchfire has not been lit.

Linda Sue Park is an exceptionally talented Korean American author who won the Newbery Award for her historical fiction novel, A Single Shard. She’s written several other books for young adults and middle grade readers, including Seesaw Girl, The Kite Fighters, A Long Walk to Water, and Keeping Score. Other picture books by Ms. Park include The Third Gift, a Christmas story about where the wise men may have gotten the gift of myrrh, and Bee-Bim Bop!, a book about a family cooking rice Korean-style.