Minder - Book Review

I don't read nearly as much fiction as I used to, but occasionally I will see a book on Amazon for free that I think to myself, "hmm. That sounds interesting." Minder was one of those books.

I was drawn into this book for a few reasons: One, it was free. It is no longer free, but it was listed with the free books for a short time. That can easily draw me in.

A second reason I was drawn into this book was the basic premise, as shared through the book's description on Amazon. It reads:

Oh, Parents. If you knew what was inside that security blanket, you'd never throw it away. Childhood is governed from a sacred place within the trees, lit by fireflies, and overseen by ancient souls devoted to the sanctity of youth. Some kids are lucky enough to visit this place, but mortal danger arises for Sophia, who arrives uninvited. Readers are carried through a whimsical, often nail-biting adventure as brother and sister confront every parent's worst nightmare. Dragons and fairies are alive and well in this old-world tale, where scary things happen to children who ignore their Minders.
P.S. Childhood ends at 30. And this book proves it.

Parallel worlds and children travelling there is one of my favorite story ideas. I don't think that it was C.S. Lewis who originally thought of the idea, but it was definitely through his storytelling in the Chronicles of Narnia that opened up my mind to the wonderful idea of another place. Minder follows this basic idea through to a whole world of creatures and personalities that only children can get to.

Third, this book pulled me in because of the positive reviews. I always check some reviews on Amazon before purchasing a book. (Even if it is free.) This book had great reviews. I don't believe that there was one negative review, at least when I was checking it out. Many times on Amazon, books get negative reviews simply because of poor spelling and bad grammar, most likely one of the pitfalls of self-publishing. This book seemed quite well written. In fact, that idea is related to my final point that I would like to make.

Finally, this book captured my attention because of the author's writing ability. I found myself not wanting to put this book down. It captured my attention right at the very beginning and held it throughout the rest of the book. It had a nice pace and a good rhythm to the storytelling.

I must say that the overall story wasn't quite the Chronicles of Narnia Caliber, but it was still enjoyable.

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome! According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written. If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events? Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

HARMLESS THOUGHTS

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