In My Mailbox/Mailbox Monday - 12/14/09

I'm a little late with this post, but better late than never, right?  Today was our Teacher Christmas Luncheon at school.  The principal and I planned the menu, cooked, and served our staff today.  So, I spent all of yesterday making 4 King Ranch Chicken Casseroles, 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 3 dozen mint crisps, and 4 dozen brownie bites.  Then, today, I mixed salad, warmed casseroles and bread, made tea, passed out presents, lit candles, and played Christmas music on the CD player.  Needless to say, I'm exhausted, but blog posting is therapeutic, so here I am.  Besides, I've missed you all, and with Christmas coming, I feel the need to get in a lot of blogging so that I can enjoy my family.  Yes, I will be scheduling posts, but these I needed to get in.

Welcome to another edition of In My Mailbox/Mailbox Monday, where I show you what books came into my house via the mailbox. In My Mailbox is hosted every Sunday by Kristi at The Story Siren and Mailbox Monday is hosted on Mondays by Marcia at the Printed Page. Both ladies have wonderful blogs, that I hope you will take the time to visit. I appreciate each of them for hosting these memes so that book bloggers can share the books that they receive to review. To see what others have gotten this week, visit these ladies and check it out!

For the first time in a while, I had a slow week.  I've gotten more selective about the books I request and/or accept for review.  I'm glad for the slow week, because the books I received are going to take up most of my reading time during the holidays, as they are both books I want to read and study to use with my teachers at school.

Simple Compassion: Devotions to Make a Difference in Your Neighborhood and Your World by Keri Wyatt Kent
“True devotionals should stir us to devote our lives to something bigger than ourselves. [Simple Compassion] will not just warm your heart but will actually break your heart with the things that break God’s.” —Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and recovering sinner "Keri's journey of compassion is truly a reflective of a woman who wants to impact her community and her world ... I think these stories will stir others to do the same." —Heather Larson, Director of Compassion and Justice Ministries, Willow Creek Community Church An invitation to change the world, one life at a time. Starting with your own. This fifty-two-week devotional invites you to discover a life overflowing with creative compassion. Through poignant stories and fresh insights from the Bible, you’ll learn how small acts by ordinary women just like you can lead to meaningful change. Along with a clear vision of God’s heart for the poor and marginalized, Simple Compassion provides manageable action steps to help you move beyond asking, “What difference can I make?” to actually doing something. In each week’s reading, you’ll find inspiring meditations from the Bible blended with suggestions for living out principles of justice and compassion right where you are. Step into the adventure of following God’s heart, and discover the power of Simple Compassion.

This is one that I'm really looking forward to starting in the new year.  I received a review copy from The Blog Tour Spot, who will be touring the book on blogs from Jan 4-8.  I will be joining in the tour as well as the Simple Compassion Challenge:

Take the ideas from Simple Compassion to the next level by implementing them. Choose to intentionally perform one "act of compassion" per week for the month of January. It could be as simple as writing a note of encouragement to a friend or as involved as giving up a Saturday to take sandwiches to the homeless in your area. Feel free to be creative, the only stipulation is to be intentional. Then tell us about your experience(s) either on your blog or at SayitFacetoFace.com (details on how to post your video there will be found on our tour site).

Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to Potential with Challenging Youth by Larry K. Brendtro; PhD, Martin L. Mitchell, EdD; Herman J. McCall, EdD
Professionals with decades of experience working in the field, Larry K. Brendtro, Martin L. Mitchell and Herman J. McCall set out to demonstrate how combining brain research, human values and practice expertise can lead to success with at-risk youth. Much has been written about educating and working with challenging children, but what's often missing from those theories are what youth think and how they feel. According to Dr. Brown of the William Gladden Foundation, "This book places the voice of the young person at the center of evidence-based practice, building respectful alliance to surmount challenges."  Deep Brain Learning uses the voices of youth, case studies and insights gained over decades in the field, to create powerful principles for success with youth, who often are more concerned with looking good than doing good. The road maps created in this book show that true, lasting transformations come from person-centered approaches where quality relationships are key. You will discover 25 principles that lead to transformational change in challenging children.
I'm reviewing this one for Basil & Spice and will be reading it over the holiday break.  We have some challenging students on our campus, and I'm hoping that this will give me some insight and new ideas to use with them.

What did you receive in your mailbox last week?

Review: Nana, What's Cancer?

Title:  Nana, What's Cancer?

Author:  Beverlye Hyman Fead & Tessa Mae Hamermesh

Illustrator:  Shennen Bersani

Review Copy Provided by:  publisher,

About the Book:  Tessa is a 10-year-old girl who wants to understand the confusing world of cancer and then to be able to explain it to other children. She embarks on her quest by asking questions of her Nana, whose answers are designed to both ease children’s fears and provide them with factual information.

My Review:  What a great little book for children who have loved ones with cancer!  More and more children today have loved ones battling cancer, have survived cancer, or who have passed away from cancer, but they don't always understand what their loved one is going through.  This book is a great conversation starter for young ones, or an independent read and then discussion point, for older children.  I'm so glad there is a book that puts cancer into terms that children can understand.

Nana, What's Cancer is a beautifully illustrated book that poses a new question about cancer in each chapter.  They are actually questions that children would have and they are answered in a story like way that is easily understood.  Some of the questions include:  "What causes cancer?", "Why are some cancers worse than others?", "Do animals ever get cancer?", and Do children get cancer too?"  Altogether, there are 12 questions, each answered in 2 or 3 pages of text and pictures.  In the text, there are bold words, which are further explained in the glossary at the back of the book.

The author, is a cancer survivor, and the co-author, her granddaughter was 8 years old when they started writing the book.  Tess, the granddaughter, actually had the idea for the book, because all of her grandparents had cancer and she wanted a book that would explain it to children.  Kudos to her for her idea!!  The illustrator is a cancer survivor also.  The pictures she created for this book are very realistic.  She took actual pictures of Beveryle and Tess and recreated them in her illustrations.  They are just beautiful!  You can see expressions and emotion in each one.

I was very impressed with this book and will be passing it on to my 6 year old grand daughter because we just recently learned that her mawmaw has colon cancer.  I think my step-daughter will be glad to answer some of her questions with this book.   I hope that you will consider purchasing it for someone you know.

Nana, What's Cancer? is put out by The American Cancer Society, but you can also find it at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

This review will be cross-posted at Basil and Spice.