same kind of different As Me. By Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

A New York Times bestseller. Astonishing. Heart-wrenching. A true story. A book you will be unable to put down until you have entirely read it. You might even want to read it twice.

same kind of different As Me is a story about three people coming together as a family: Denver, a homeless man; Ron, an art dealer; and Deborah, the wife of the art dealer. Denver is a black man, while Ron and Deborah are white and very rich. Journey with them as each one of them finds God and lives accordingly.

The story is written in the narrative between Denver and Ron, taking you through their experiences of childhood through adulthood. The theme centers on homelessness: becoming homeless, living homeless, helping the homeless, etc. This book should make you change your views about homelessness and should make you want to do more for the homeless. I wish everyone, rich and poor, would read this book so that they could become like Denver, Ron, and Deborah, and the other people mentioned in the book who got involved with the homeless.

I immensely enjoyed this book and finished 7/8ths of it before I put it down. I would have finished it, but it was very, very late so I had to put it down. However, the very next day I got right up and it was the first thing I read and finished it. It is not very often that I get a book that I cannot put down until I have finished it and I plan to read it again. Denver, Ron, and Lynn Vincent did an outstanding job in putting this book together. I now want to read Denver and Ron’s (along with Lynn Vincent) second book, What difference do it make? (stories of hope and healing), for I truly enjoyed their first, same kind of different As Me.

If I Could Ask God Anything by Kathryn Slattery

Have you ever had trouble answering kids’ questions about God? I have and it is very difficult for me to speak about GOD to kids in a manner which they can understand, that is, relate to. If I Could Ask God Anything by Kathryn Slattery, written specifically for children, makes this task for us less difficult. She has written her book in a question/answer format: presents the question and then answers the question with Bible authority references. The questions she presents are profound and her perspective answers to these questions are very good. One of my favorites is “If God is Invisible, How Can I Know He Is Real?” Her answer to this question is just profound.

She claims her book is for all denominations, but I do not think so. For one reason, not all people celebrate the holidays discussed in her book, and I am one of them. For example, she presents questions/answers regarding holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and Easter. In her book, she states that the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs are pagan practices. Yet, she condones the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs: “Americans love the Easter Bunny! And why not? Giving and receiving baskets filled with colorful jellybeans…is fun and delicious!”

Even though I do not agree with some things Slattery has discussed in her book, it is a good, informative, and enjoyable book to read. I also feel that this book is good for adults too, for many adults have the same questions.

Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers

Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers is a condensed biography of Saint Patrick’s deeds in converting the Irish to Christianity. Rogers bases his writing of Saint Patrick on two documents written by Saint Patrick, “The Confession” and “The Letter.” These two documents are very moving and Rogers attaches them as appendices. In this book, Rogers relates to us how Saint Patrick, the son of Roman British nobility, became a slave in Ireland, became a Christian, gave up his nobility status, and became a crusader bent on converting Ireland to Christianity. Rogers relates both the factual and legendary, but only in clarifying fact from fiction. While I am not a Catholic, I was curious about St. Patrick, and as such, decided to read this book. I now know, since reading Saint Patrick, that all I knew was legendary (fictional). I am very glad I read this book for I am no longer ignorant about who was Saint Patrick; on the contrary, I now admire Saint Patrick very much and now would like to do some research on him. Overall, for a very short work, I feel that Jonathan Rogers has done an excellent job, especially when he had to cover so much time in history.

The White Horse King by Benjamin Merkle

Benjamin Merkle does an outstanding job in telling his story of the life of Alfred the Great. Merkle tells us about Alfred’s family tree and his accomplishments. He tells us about how Alfred became king of Wessex and how Alfred became known as Alfred the Great. The story unfolds with telling how Britain and, most importantly, Wessex had to continually fight the Vikings (Danes), who were trying to control all of Britain. We are further told how Alfred the Great became Christian and passed this belief onto the people of his kingdom. This book relates how Alfred the Great accomplished many things for Britain. What a book! I immensely enjoyed it. It is very readable. I love history and although I am no history critic, I do feel that anyone who enjoys history would enjoy The White Horse King.