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Interview with Rachel Dodge, author of The Secret Garden Devotional

12/2/2022

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The Secret Garden Devotional JustRead Blog Tour

Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Secret Garden Devotional by Rachel Dodge, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Secret Garden Devotional

Author: Rachel Dodge

Publisher: Barbour

Release Date: December 6, 2022

Genre: Devotional

Devotional Inspiration from Mary Lennox's Beautifully Mysterious Secret Garden

The Secret Garden Devotional offers lovely inspiration that explores the themes of faith, family, contentment, wisdom, and joy in the classic Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, cherished by generations of readers.

Each reading corresponds with a chapter from the book and invites you to embrace God’s guiding hand in your life as you are becoming His new creation. With themes of growth, spiritual nourishment, God's love and care, and His transforming power, this beautiful chapter-by-chapter devotional includes original artwork throughout. Each reading includes examples from the novel, scripture, life application, and prayers perfect for groups, book clubs, or personal reflection.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Dodge

Rachel Dodge is the bestselling author of the award-winning Anne of Green Gables Devotional, The Little Women Devotional, and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. Rachel's newest book is The Secret Garden Devotional! Rachel teaches college English classes, gives talks at libraries, teas, and book clubs, and is a writer for the popular Jane Austen's World blog. She is passionate about encouraging and equipping women to grow closer to Jesus through prayer and the study of God's Word. A true kindred spirit at heart, Rachel enjoys books, bonnets, and ball gowns.

Connect with Rachel by visiting racheldodge.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

TOUR GIVEAWAY

(2) winners will receive a signed copy of The Secret Garden Devotional and a hardcover illustrated copy of The Secret Garden along with a bookmark and stickers.

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight November 30, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on December 7, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

Thanks for following along with the blog tour for this book! Rachel kindly agreed to join us for an interview to discuss The Secret Garden Devotional. Welcome, Rachel!

FEH: One of my favorite things about all your devotionals is the way they changed my thinking about the so-called "secular" books I love; each of them now has the opportunity to become an encounter with God. Do you think the authors of these particular books (The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women) intended this, or is it something you foster in all the books you read?
RD: I don’t personally think the faith lessons and themes that I focus on in my devotionals were necessarily planned out by these authors, but I do believe each author purposefully wove beautiful lessons in and through their novels. Unlike didactic literature that’s meant to teach young people moral lessons, the lessons in these novels are subtle and natural; it never feels preachy. The stories are relatable and the characters are just like you and me. They have fears and failures, dreams and successes, and loves and losses. Personally, I always see another layer (or two or three) in everything I read, whether the author put it there on purpose or not, so that’s probably why writing devotional books based on classic novels is my favorite thing to do. I love to analyze books and find ways to apply lessons from them to my own life. I believe there’s a link to the Gospel in almost every story, even if the author didn’t put it there on purpose. I love to find that link and share it with others.

FEH: Is there a specific scene or character in The Secret Garden that most speaks to your own faith?
RD: The “robin who showed the way” is so special to me because of how he helps Mary blossom and learn to play and run like a child. He is her first friend! Then he shows her the key to the garden… and finally the door to the garden. I see such a parallel between the robin and the people in my life who showed me the way to knowing Jesus personally and mentored me and encouraged me in my faith. My “robin” was a girl named Joy I met my freshman year in college. She and several other older girls showed me the way to Jesus and I’ll always be thankful. The seeds they sowed and the example they set made all the difference in my life as a young woman, and there has been lasting fruit in my life, in my work, in my marriage, and in my children’s lives because those senior girls taught me the “good way” and showed me how to walk on God’s paths. (Proverbs 22:6; Jeremiah 6:16)

FEH: This question is just for fun! I've been reading lots of Jane Austen lately, and I know you share my love for her stories. If you could give your book to any of her characters, who do you think would need or appreciate it the most? RD: I’m sure Mary Bennet would really enjoy the religious aspect of my books and possibly read them out loud to the family in a very serious, monotonous tone. Everyone listening would yawn and Lydia would probably make a snide remark! But in all seriousness, I think Elinor Dashwood, Fanny Price, and Anne Elliot would enjoy my devotionals. They tend to be interested in personal growth and take their faith seriously.

FEH: As you wrote this devotional in a chapter-by-chapter format, was there any chapter in which you struggled to find a connection to faith? Or was there one in which you wished you didn't have to limit yourself to word count? RD: The chapter when Mary explores the house on a rainy day was a bit hard for me to figure out at first, but I realized as I prayed that the chapter was all about Mary’s loneliness and her desire for companionship and family, which fits perfectly with the Biblical picture of God’s family when we become children of God. I wrote about how we were made for companionship and fellowship, and how there’s a reason we long for closeness with others. Later in the novel, when Mary and Colin explore together, I was able to come back to that topic and talk about how our rainy days in life don’t have to be lonely days when we are part of God’s family in the Body of Christ. I always love to see how God leads me when I can’t figure out the theme of a chapter! He comes up with the best ideas!
As for a chapter where I had lots and lots to say, I probably could have written about the parallels between the key, the door, and the garden and the Good News of Christ for several days. It’s just so neat to think of how we are separated from the “garden” of eternal life with God by our sin (the locked door), but the good news is that the key of faith in Jesus opens that door into the kingdom of God forever. Wow!! Even now, I feel like I could go on and on. It’s a really beautiful concept!

FEH: I heard you say that you never envisioned yourself as a writer. How did you stumble into this vocation?
RD: I’ve always had a passion for writing and have always written—whether it was papers for English class, letters, journal entries, articles, web site and marketing content, Bibles studies, and so forth. I can’t seem to help but write. I’m built for it. Words tend to flow out of me. I feel weird when I don’t write. But as far as being an author, I said I would never try to publish a book. I guess God had other plans!
I did always have a heart for devotional writing and for classic books, but my journey toward being an author is all God’s doing. I asked the Lord to consecrate my writing to be used for His glory about 10 years ago, without even knowing what that might mean or where it would lead. A few years later He opened the door to write devotional books based on my favorite classic novels through a series of really fun God stories.
I of course work really, really hard at writing, but I have seen God do things I could never ever do in my own strength. It’s been a dream come true because I never planned to write these lovely books, but it’s become my favorite thing to do! Only God can truly bring out in us the dearest desires of our hearts—because sometimes we don’t know what they are until He shows us.

FEH: Do you have any other devotionals based on classic books in the works?
RD: To date, I’ve written Praying with Jane, The Anne of Green Gables Devotional, The Little Women Devotional, and now The Secret Garden Devotional. I would love to write more devotional books based on classic books if God wants to open the doors to do more! I have a few projects I’m currently working on that are very dear to my heart.
This spring, I can’t wait to share the audiobook versions of The Anne of Green Gables Devotional, The Little Women Devotional, and The Secret Garden Devotional. I had the great pleasure of narrating them myself, and I hope readers will enjoy hearing me read to them!

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Find Your Cheerleaders

11/25/2022

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Last Sunday, my three oldest daughters and two of their cousins sat around their grandfather’s kitchen table, snacking on chips and salsa while my oldest, Lucy, read aloud from a story she’s been writing. It’s straight-up fan-ficton; a blend of Keeper of the Lost Cities, the Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, The Lunar Chronicles—and at least a few more, but I can’t keep them straight. All the cousins and a few friends have been working on this saga for months, along with their own, original, works. But this is their special project that fills their fandom-loving hearts with joy. It’s a lovely thing to see.

While Lucy read her work, she was stopped frequently by bursts of laughter and exclamations. “Oh no! Lucy, how could you!” “Yes, yes, yes!” “Ha, this is so good.”

Mark and I were a room over, just listening. This moment, clearly, was the highlight of these girls’ day. It was also certainly the highlight of ours. What would most artists and writers give to be gathered around a table, chips and salsa at the ready, with a team of people just ready to appreciate you?

I used to wonder that so many artists and creators of the past seemed to know each other. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were friends?! John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rosseti and Christina Rosseti all hung out together? Amazing. What a coincidence.

Except... clearly it’s not. Clearly when creative people come together and encourage one another selflessly and generously, amazing things happen. Perhaps if C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien weren’t friends, The Lord of the Rings would never have happened. Perhaps In the Bleak Mid-winter wouldn’t exist if the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood hadn’t let Dante Gabriel’s sister hang around.

In my own life, I’ve certainly seen this dynamic at play. I might never have buckled down to writing if my sister-in-law hadn’t asked one day, “Why do we all keep talking about writing and never actually write anything?” The family critique group that we formed with me, my husband, his sister, and his mother was exactly the encouragement I needed to write a new chapter every week on what seemed then like the impossible task of writing my first novel. Attending my first SCBWI critique group meeting (and many after), the encouragement and solid critiques of professional writers helped me believe that maybe I could succeed as well. Participating in smaller sub-groups of determined writers helped me stick to the task when success wasn’t coming as quickly as I’d hoped. I honed my skill, and hopefully helped my friends hone theirs as well (many of them are published or award-winners now, so I’d like to think my encouragement made a difference to them!). My groups of “cheerleaders” have changed throughout the years, as we all had different needs and schedules and responsibilities. But they’ve always remained there for me in different ways, and that support has buoyed me up through difficult rejections and first drafts that just didn’t work and the months of teething or colicky babies when nothing got written at all.

If you don’t have your group of cheerleaders yet, consider this your invitation to GO FIND THEM. Join a writers’ group (check SCBWI if you write for children, or ask at your local library). Find friends on the internet who could form a virtual group. Leave a comment here, and maybe just the right person will see it! Just find them.

Do you already have a group of friends who encourage you through thick and thin? Let us know how you came together, or share your experience of times they’ve helped you out the most!

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Book to Share: What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

11/20/2022

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Anyone who's been reading my reviews long knows that I lean old-fashioned in my reading. Give me the historicals, the old-fashioned fantasies, the "timeless" contemporary stories, and I'm in book heaven. Today I'm reviewing something totally different from my usual taste in books—but I have to mention all that because it speaks to how dang good this book is.

What Happened to Rachel Riley? is thoroughly, decidedly contemporary. The story is told through transcripts of a podcast recording, emails, and texts. Any reader who has ever complained, "Why don't the kids have cell phones? Everyone has cell phones now!" will find herself totally satisfied here. As you might guess from the previous paragraph, I am not one of those readers. But Claire Swinarski pulled me into her story so masterfully that I didn't care. I enjoyed the novelty of the unique style without ever finding it gimmicky. I felt I knew each and every character, and the sense of place was clear and vivid—and considering the style, I found this particularly impressive.

Before I go on, here's the publisher's description:

In this engrossing and inventive contemporary middle grade novel that's Where'd You Go Bernadette? with a #MeToo message, an eighth grader uses social media posts, passed notes, and other clues to find out why a formerly popular girl is now the pariah of her new school.
Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there’s something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why.
As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there’s always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won’t stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley?
With the entire eighth grade working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Clue after clue, the mystery widens, painting an even more complex story than Anna could have anticipated. But there’s one thing she’s certain of: If you’re going to ask a complicated question, you better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer.

Here's another thing about me: I'm generally unenthusiastic about "issue" books. I find that poorly developed plots often hide behind the issue being discussed, weakening both the story and the message itself. Again, I'm saying this because that's not the case here. What Happened to Rachel Riley? is a story about sexual harassment—but first and foremost it's a story. If you think about it, lots of great books are issue books, but we forget about that because they're just telling the character's story. In this case, Anna's journey as a character and her drive to solve the mystery will keep you totally engrossed throughout.

I'd like to note that while this book is advertised for ages 8 and up, I think I'd generally wait until readers are the age of the protagonist or so (12-13). I was very comfortable handing it to my young teens, but parents will know best what is appropriate for their child—it's worth a pre-read because 1) you'll love it, and 2) it's such a perfect book for creating meaningful and important conversations that you might as well make a parent-child book club out of it, like I did with my daughters.

What Happened to Rachel Riley? comes out early in the new year, but you can pre-order it now! Thanks to the author for providing me a review copy.

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, check out Always in the Middle!

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Quick Lit: What I'm reading in November

11/15/2022

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Here's my read-before-Advent book stack for November!

Three re-reads, two non-fiction, and one I've been meaning to read forever.

The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found, by Karina Yan Glaser, was the one I've been meaning to read—somehow I'd fallen behind on the series without realizing it until the latest book came out and my children scolded for me for beginning it without catching up. This was lovely, as expected! My favorite, favorite part (and skip ahead if you don't want spoilers) was when the children sat at the bedside of an elderly friend who was dying. Death is so, so hard but its hardness seems to make many people overlook the beauty of a happy death. I'm very blessed that my children have been able to be present at wakes and funerals and one death bed, and I'm happy to report that they cherish these memories and were not traumatized (that's not to say they aren't still grieving, but that is a very different thing). But children are very often sheltered from both the hardness and the beauty of death—I was so glad to see it handled sensitively but honestly here. Brava.

Online Marketing for Busy Authors, by Fauzia Burke. Oof. All the things I really need to learn before I get a book published, because we can all admit I've been flying by the seat of my pants for a bit. This book is well-structured and encouraging, as well as full of good sense.

I've just begin Tranquility by Tuesday, by Laura Vanderkam, and I already am gleaning so much wisdom. Her 168 Hours was life-changing for me in terms of time-management and mindset. This follows along the same vein, but with the focus being on contentment and calm rather than productivity alone.

When choosing books for my November reads, I had to go with comfort over everything else, and that's why I pulled from my three favorite authors for re-reads (I don't usually re-read this much in a month). Heaven to Betsy is the first Betsy-Tacy high school book, and Jane of Lantern Hill is one of L. M. Montgomery's most overlooked titles (also the rare story not set on Prince Edward Island). Pure comfort-y goodness. And besides being my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice is on my curriculum for my high school daughters, so we've been reading through it together (it's been a blend of read-aloud, read alone, and audiobook). I LOVE sharing favorite books with my teenagers. This is such a fun stage in our homeschooling journey. I've been loving it so much that I'm planning a post on read-aloud with teenagers, so stay tuned.

Okay, now I need your help: I need recommendations for good December reads! We read lots of picture books as a family during Advent (lots of Jan Brett this year as part of Read Aloud Revival's Christmas school), and I'll be reading the devotional Waiting for the Light. I'd love to add a new-to-me novel to the stack—do you have any you really love? Classic, contemporary, mystery, history—I'm pretty open! Please share your favorites!

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Review: The Secret Garden Devotional, by Rachel Dodge

11/13/2022

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Do you remember the first time you read The Secret Garden? I was about nine, I believe, and I can still recall the spine-tingling spookiness of Misselthwaite Manor, the delight in meeting Martha and Dickon and the wonderfully irascible Ben Weatherstaff, the wonder at Mary's discovery of the garden and passion for growing beautiful things. Even though Mary was quite horrid by all accounts, I was rooting for her from the start--perhaps because when I was nine, I was rather horrid by all accounts, too.

I knew then that I loved the book. Re-reading it as an adult, I realized just how much it had impacted me. Is it really Mrs. Sowerby's advice that my children hear whenever I tell them to go outside if they're sick or grumpy? Did Mary and Colin's encounter with "The Magic" influence the way I'm always on the lookout for the wonder in God's creation? Did Mary's transformation from sour and unlikable to strong and comforting impact my ability to think I could change, too?

I'll never really know all these answers. Obviously I was formed by many things in life, and even if I was just counting books you'd definitely have to throw several L. M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott titles onto the pile. I do know, however, that The Secret Garden changes me for the better every time I read it, and brings me closer to God as well.

This last re-read of Burnett's classic was made even more meaningful by the addition of guided meditations by Rachel Dodge, in her lovely The Secret Garden Devotional. She breaks the book down chapter by chapter and explores the various themes raised by the author, connecting them with our own lives and relationship with God. She points out so many details I would have missed otherwise, using quotations from the story and selections from scripture to guide your experience of The Secret Garden and turn it from mere pleasure reading to a further encounter with the Divine.

And I can't forget to add that the illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova are absolutely adorable. I want an edition of The Secret Garden itself illustrated by her!

This would make a lovely gift for an older middle grade reader, a teen, or any adult who loves this beautiful story. Until tomorrow, you can get an extra 20% off if you pre-order it through this link (provided to me by the author), so it's a perfect time to order it as a Christmas gift.

Thanks so much to Rachel Dodge and the publisher for providing me an e-arc in exchange for this review.

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, check out Always in the Middle!

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The Right Hand of God

11/10/2022

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Watercolor by Lucy M. Hough

This bit of narrative non-fiction was originally published on my old blog five years ago. Recently I've been pondering my strange propensity to adore mice in fictional works and yet be utterly terrified of them in real life. This true story pretty much explains my fear of them… The adoration of their fictional counterparts may have to remain a mystery!

Skitter, scratch.
I opened my eyes, blearily taking in the “12:37” on the alarm clock. “What was that?” I whispered, squeezing Mark’s limp shoulder.
“Huh?”
“That sound! Was that...a mouse in the wall?”
“Probably.” Mark rolled over, draping his arm over me and instantly returning to sleep. Our house is three centuries old. Mice have lived in our walls so long, the current generation probably has a chest in there full of their ancestors’ powdered wigs and tricorn hats.
Skitter, skitter, skitter.
I squirmed out from under the arm. “That was not in the walls. That’s right out there in the room!”
Mark sat up. Straining his eyes, he stared out into the room. “I can’t see it,” he said, “but you’re probably right. I can set a trap tomorrow.”
What is it about mice? Tiny creatures, so far below us on the food chain, they don’t even fit on the same chart. Have you ever looked at one closely? Their little pink noses twitch adorably beneath their sparkling eyes; their fur is silky-soft and smooth. And yet at the thought of one in my room, I sat up in bed, taut as a tug-of-war rope. I swiveled my head at every sound, real or imagined. The heater turning on made my heart pound. Finally, after the clock had scanned through the next two hours and my neck had developed a crick that would last for weeks, I slipped down, rolled my face into my pillow, and fell asleep.
Something moved on the backs of my calves: the most gentle, delicate massage you could imagine, as a minuscule creature crept toward my knees.
I screamed.
Thump. Skitter-like-crazy-scratch. Silence.
I screamed again as realization hit me. Mark bolted upright.
My words came out slowly, perhaps in an effort to calm my Tour de France level heart rate. “There. Was. A. Mouse. On. My. Legs.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just my foot or something?”
“It was a mouse.”
Mark reached for his flashlight and shone it out over the room. “Oh! There it is. Wow.”
“Wow what?”
“It’s really big.”
“Oh, great, thanks.”
I wouldn’t give my enemy the pleasure of knowing I’d bothered to look at it. Instead I shoved my head into my pillow and tried not to listen as Mark wandered the room looking for entrance holes, setting traps against the walls (safely where neither of our toddlers would accidentally grab them), and scanning side to side with his flashlight.
“It’s just so weird,” he said. “I mean, why would they come into the one area of the room where they’re most likely to be sighted by a predator? It’s not like people are eating in here and leaving crumbs.”
I cleared my throat, hopefully not too suspiciously. First trimester nausea had resulted in a few or five or a dozen “toast and tea in bed” breakfasts served by my doting nine-year-old. I flicked a crumb onto the floor as Mark came back to bed with a sigh. “I just don’t see what I can do about it, other than wait,” he said.
I reached for my tablet and clicked into the audiobook app.
“It won’t climb the bed if it hears voices, right?”
“Probably not.”
“Good. I’m putting on the Bible.”
As a side note, I’m pretty sure God’s voice sounds exactly like David Suchet’s. Suchet’s audio version of the Bible, while not my favorite translation (it’s NIV), is so perfectly narrated that you can easily imagine God is standing in the room next to you, covered in glory. Which was exactly the reality I needed a reminder of.
I listened to the entire Pentateuch over the next four nights. I mean, it wasn’t like I was actually going to sleep or anything. I’m not that crazy. Instead I listened to Exodus two or three times, and once through parts of Numbers and Deuteronomy that I confess I’d never managed to thoroughly read before.
There is a lot of smiting going on in those books. This was oddly satisfying, as I did my best to tune out the skittering around the walls (of course the traps didn’t fool anyone) and the biting odor of the peppermint oil with which I’d doused the edges of bed and blankets, remembering an old tip that mice hate peppermint. I muttered prayers like, “Please, God, smite that stupid mouse.” I hesitated, worried that Saint Francis would be ashamed of me. “Okay, I know it isn’t stupid. It’s your creation and everything, but it doesn’t have a very long lifespan anyway, and if you could please let it just die tonight that would be great.” Then I’d hear a skitter again, and my prayers would return to Old Testament fury: “Harden your heart against it, Lord! Smite that darn, darn abomination of a rodent!”
On Friday, after four nights of wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part while the mouse apparently played hopscotch under my dresser, I did what any sane, mature adult would do: I called my mom and cried. “Can I please come sleep at your house tonight so Mark can set out a million traps and wreak destruction upon the wicked?” (Not an exact quote, but close.)
Everyone should live within a half hour of their mothers, for just such a situation as this. My five children were tucked into grandparents’ beds and cuddled down after bedtime stories and tart cherry juice (it’s even better than warm milk, for the record). The sheets on my little sister’s loaned bed were clean and soft and smelled nothing like peppermint. Between hours of blessed, blessed sleep (though I kind of missed David Suchet’s soothing rendition of the smitings), I would call Mark and ask for updates.
Mark is the rare, wonderful kind of husband who does not judge one’s irrational and obsessive fears, but instead calmly goes to work eliminating the need for them. After he dropped me off at my parents’, he drove to the store and armed himself with a bag of coffee, an arsenal of foam insulation tubes, and thirty-two sticky traps (I do not exaggerate). By my first phone call, he had laid out an intricate web of sticky trays around our room, pulled every piece of furniture we own away from the walls, fired insulation into any random crack and cranny in the entire house, and started watching Great Expectations on Netflix to help him stay awake. Like I said, rare and wonderful.
Somewhere around three in the morning, the mouse died. That’s one of many ways to say it... He met his maker. He came to a sticky end. If you want the poetic version, imagine David Suchet’s rich timbre announcing, “And the Lord did set his sticky traps before him, and the mouse avoided them not.”
I can’t tell you whether the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob showed any mercy to the little beast that had plagued my life for the past week. To be honest, I wasn’t really concerned about that. I was too busy murmuring, “Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power; your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy... You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.”

There’s a second ending to this story.
We got a cat.
In fact, we got two cats. Their names are Merry and Pippin, but secretly I call them “Biter” and “Smiter.” If I ever again need to call upon God to harden His heart against my foes, He’ll be able to act through two fluffy, purring felines who can stare down the sleek, pink-nosed adorableness that is mus musculus with the cold impartiality that I entirely lack... “and terror and dread will fall upon them.”

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Book to Share: Miraculous, by Caroline Starr Rose

11/7/2022

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Today’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday read is the spectacular Miraculous, by Caroline Starr Rose. It’s a good, old-fashioned adventure story: gripping plot, vibrant historical setting, wonderful characters. For sheer enjoyment, it was definitely in my top three reads of the year!

From the publisher:

A traveling medicine show promises to cure all, but two kids learn it takes more than faith in the miraculous to fix things that are broken.

Thirteen-year-old Jack knows what cured his baby sister when his family thought she might never get well—Dr. Kingsbury’s “Miraculous Tonic.” Guaranteed to relieve maladies known to man or beast, Dr. Kingsbury’s potion can cure everything from pimples to hearing loss to a broken heart, and Jack himself is a witness to the miraculous results and the doctor’s kindness. When he had no money, the doctor didn’t turn him away but gave him the tonic for free along with a job—to travel with him from city to city selling his cure-all elixir.

When Dr. Kingsbury and Jack arrive in Oakdale, the town at first feels like any other they’ve been to. But it’s clear Oakdale is a town with secrets, and its citizens are slow to trust strangers.

Then Jack meets Cora, and a friendship neither expected starts to bloom. Together they uncover something else they didn’t expect—not only secrets about the town but also Dr. Kingsbury. As they race to discover the truth, they’ll have to decide who and what to believe before it’s too late.

Besides being a fun read, Miraculous felt particularly timely, in a day and age where so many people seem to get caught up by what “everyone” is saying, by the “miracle cures” and the “science.” (And I’ll happily apply this to folks on both sides of recent arguments; no matter how outrageous the claims, everyone seemed to have science AND personal anecdotes on their side.) I’ve never been so focused on teaching my children logic, because I’ve never noticed such a lack of it before. Miraculous was a great way to show them the consequences when logic is abandoned and a sweeping, emotional idea is given free reign.

Hand this one off to any readers who love a good adventure story—I’m putting it on my list for “hard to please boy readers” in particular! You can purchase it from your local bookstore through this link.

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, visit Always in the Middle.

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Book to Share: The Star that Always Stays, by Anna Rose Johnson

10/31/2022

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Happy All Hallow’s Eve! I saved today’s review for today especially because one of the most heart-wrenching yet evocative scenes is a deliciously historical Halloween party. If you loved old-fashioned parties in books like Betsy-Tacy and L. M. Montgomery’s books—you have to find The Star that Always Stays!

The Star that Always Stays, by Anna Rose Johnson is a MG historical novel (set in Michigan at the beginning of WWI) that feels like a classic. I read a couple reviews that called it “slow-paced,” but I would argue that “unhurried” is a better word; the pacing is perfect. The story centers around 14-year-old Norvia Nelson, who is struggling to fit into her new stepfamily and new high school while holding onto her Ojibwe heritage. It reminded me of so many of my favorite childhood classics (many of which get some subtle or overt nods throughout the story), but most strongly of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy high school stories.

I truly loved this story. I loved the style, I loved the plot and the plot construction, I loved the fact that it’s based off the author’s family, and I LOVED the characters. You are going to absolutely fall in love with Norvia’s little sister, Dicta, I guarantee it. While some big families feel somewhat forced, the big family dynamics here were spot on.

But I did have a lot of thoughts and feelings about one element, and I’d love to discuss it with you. A major plot element is Norvia’s mother’s divorce and resulting abandonment of her Catholic faith. Anna Rose Johnson delved deeply into the consequences of one aspect of this: the prejudice and downright meanness with which Norvia’s family was treated as a result of their parents’ divorce and remarriage. My heart broke for Norvia, and I was convicted to be more careful of my own prejudices and pre-conceived ideas. But, as a Catholic, I felt confused that one element was left untouched. To me, leaving my Catholic faith would be a whole lot like abandoning my heritage. While Norvia struggles throughout the book to hold onto her Ojibwe heritage even when it might be difficult, the abandonment of the faith in which she was raised (and which had clearly been important to their family at some point, as evidenced by her sister’s name—Benedicta—and pride in it!) is brushed over very quickly. There don’t seem to be any consequences to it. I imagine that as a Catholic I am more sensitive to this than other readers would be, though it didn’t once stop me from being fully invested in Norvia’s story, watching the way the fall-out from her mother's decisions impacted her life. And of course, it is Norvia’s story, not her mother’s. So what I think of her mother’s decisions are beside the point, in a way (all the more so as this is based on real people!).

Another reason this plot point hit me so strongly—in a different way—is that I kept imagining how a book like this would have impacted my own grandmother if she'd had a chance to read it. When she was a young girl and teen, she experienced incredible cruelty from her peers because of her family situation. Her parents were unmarried; her father was terribly abusive; at some point in her childhood, he ended up in prison because of this abuse. My great-grandmother did what she could to protect her children from the gossip and exclusion they were bound to encounter—but one can only do so much. If my grandmother could have read a book like The Star that Always Stays when she was a child, I imagine it would have been incredibly helpful to see another young girl suffering from prejudice and cruelty because of decisions she had no part in. (Note: none of the parents in this story are cruel, though Norvia's father is less than exemplary.) I wonder how many children, like my grandmother, need a story just like this to show them they're not alone.

On a totally different, lighter note—modern readers who are interested in diversifying their style should take a look at the marvelous construction of this story. Anna Rose Johnson uses a technique I usually only see in older books (like the aforementioned Betsy-Tacy), of overlapping small plot points to keep the story moving forward and keep the reader engaged without the need to add overdramatic or unrealistic elements just to create tension. The plot of this story is unhurried and simple, but it drips with tension. Very, very well done.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this lovely story, especially for lovers of old-fashioned stories and for young teenage readers who may not feel comfortable with the more mature topics in most YA. (Or, you know, adult readers like me who aren’t always comfortable with them, either.)

You can purchase The Star that Always Stays from your local bookstore here.

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, check out Always in the Middle!

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Book to Share: The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese, by Haley Stewart

10/24/2022

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My children love mouse stories so much, they once decided to scatter crumbs about my house every evening specifically to make mice feel more welcome in our home. (I am sorry to say, reader, that it worked.) Since they were found out, they gave up their evening mouse feeding, but none of us has lessened our love for little stories with little mouse heroes.

Haley Stewart's The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese is a worthy successor to Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge. If you were wondering how it was possible to improve upon those stories, I'll tell you: mouse nuns. And a mouse abbey in G. K. Chesterton's floorboards. And characters that could have stepped out of a BBC miniseries of his books--if they BBC were ever to cast mice.

Here's a little more about the book, from the publisher:

Beneath the floorboards of G.K. Chesterton's home, a thrilling pursuit is about to unfold...When the prize cheese at the school fair goes missing, the sisters and students at Saint Wulfhilda's School need all their detective wits to solve the mystery. With some literary inspiration from their upstairs neighbors, can they crack the case--and save their school?

What's not to love, right? You can order The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese from the publisher, here—and even pre-order the next book in the series while you're at it!

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, check here!

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Show off your scars.

10/22/2022

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Today’s post is brought to you by 2019 me, reposted from my old blog. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic lately, as we all struggle with suffering of one kind or another in our lives right now. I hope this will speak to you and encourage you today!

“Did you hear about Princess Eugenie’s wedding dress?” my sister asked.

“Uh…no?” My family, despite a deep, almost obsessive love for many things British (probably underscored by a passion for good tea and Jane Austen), was never known for following tabloid details of royal family life. Unless this dress happened to be made of hand-woven English tweed, which seemed unlikely (though potentially awesome), I couldn’t quite see why Rose was bringing it up.

“She specifically requested a dress design with a low back. It made me think of you.”
“Oh…kay.”

“Because she wanted her scoliosis scar to be visible. She had the same surgery you did when she was younger, and she said it was important to her that the scar could be seen.”

It’s funny how a few words can trigger such a flood of memories: waking up in the recovery bed afraid I was paralyzed because I couldn’t feel my legs…the smell of powdery wildflower perfume the aide wore as she pushed my wheelchair…the searing pain as I struggled to walk a few steps…the way my friend’s faces paled when they saw me try. Later, the slick, coconut-scented sunscreen I poured onto my back every day in summer so my scar wouldn’t burn….the high-backed swimsuits I wore for years so I wouldn’t have to face so many questions. An 20-inch stripe down your back turns out to be an instant awkward conversation starter.

I remembered a dialogue between 18-year-old me and my new boyfriend. “I can’t believe how perfect you are for me,” he’d said. A twinge of concern went through me. I wasn’t perfect. Heaven knew I had personality flaws enough to keep my confessor busy the rest of my life. But even physically, my body bore marks of an imperfection I could never get away from. “Not really perfect,” I answered Mark. “I’ve got a giant scar down my back where doctors fused my spine and put stainless steel rods down either side.”

Mark’s answer may have changed my life and outlook as much as so few words ever could. “Perfect for me,” he repeated. “And your scar is beautiful.”

“Um…I think a little ‘love is blind’ thing is going on here, Mark.”

“No, I’m serious! Think about it. Even in His glorified body, Christ still bears the mark of His passion. He has wounds in His hands and feet and sides–even in Heaven, he has scars! I wonder if the scars of the things that helped up get to heaven will be allowed to remain on our risen bodies, too.” He lightly touched the back of my neck, where my scar began. My long hair shielded it from view most of the time, but it was impossible to hide altogether. “Maybe,” he continued, “we’ll know our scars are beautiful when we see them for what they are.”

First of all, let’s just clarify, readers, that, yes, of course I knew right then that I was definitely marrying this guy, because who says things like that? Two years later I chose my own wedding dress–not with a deeply plunging back, because I’m way too introverted for that kind of drama, but not high enough to hide my scar completely either. Without that scar, after all, I might not even have been alive to get married–my scoliosis was that severe. A few months after that, pregnant with our first baby, I blessed my surgery and those stainless steel rods for allowing me to bear a child–it even helped to avoid some of the lower back fatigue so many of my pregnant friends experienced since I basically got to walk around with a built-in brace.

Back in 1999, soon after my doctors had told me I would need surgery, a priest friend of ours suggested we pray for a miracle of healing. I considered it…but ultimately turned to God in my overdramatic adolescent piety and said, “Okay, listen. I don’t want to be faithless or anything, but it’s hard for me to picture a miraculous healing being very good for me or anyone. Let’s try this: if you want to bring souls closer to you through a healing, you can heal me. If I can help bring more souls to you by suffering through surgery, we’ll do it that way.” Months later, as I lay flat on my back for days and struggled to keep slowly-melting ice chips down–forget about actual food–I rolled my eyes in the general direction of Heaven and thought, “Actually, God, I take it back. This was a bad idea.”

But it wasn’t. My suffering helped me grow as a person–much more quickly than an adolescence without trials would have allowed me to. My time in the hospital taught me what joy can be found in service, as I was surrounded by children with far more serious conditions than I had, yet whose faces radiated happiness as they served one another. A little girl without legs wheeled herself from one room to another to read stories to children who couldn’t speak. A toddler twisted with scoliosis smiled out sunbeams at her parents as they played with her and took care of her. Without my own scoliosis, I never would have seen any of this. Mark was right: my scar was not an imperfection but a sign of a step toward perfection–the only perfection that really matters. My physical suffering allowed me to step into the refiner’s fire and come out more radiant than I ever could have been without it.

When asked about her dress design, Princess Eugenie said, “I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it’s really special to stand up for that.”

Change beauty? Maybe not. But change how we think of it? Absolutely. Beauty is not flawless skin and perfectly straight shoulders (Princess Eugenie’s, like mine, are noticeably uneven because of scoliosis). Beauty can be complicated. Beauty can be harsh. What is more paradoxically beautiful than the Son of God, bleeding and bruised, gazing at us with love from His cross?

As Pope Benedict said, “Whoever believes in God, in the God who manifested himself, precisely in the altered appearance of Christ crucified as love…knows that beauty is truth and truth beauty; but in the suffering of Christ he also learns that the beauty of truth also embraces offence, pain, and even the dark mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not ignoring it.”

How many of our scars, both physical and emotional, do we scramble to hide away from the world? Stretch marks…past injustices…surgery scars… Maybe, like Princess Eugenie, we should rather think of a way to display them for what they are: the mile markers on our journey through life, this grand adventure leading us closer to God.
Viewed in that way, they’re not ugly at all. They’re perfect.

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Interview with Rachel Dodge, author of The Secret Garden Devotional

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Review: The Secret Garden Devotional, by Rachel Dodge

The Right Hand of God

Book to Share: Miraculous, by Caroline Starr Rose

Book to Share: The Star that Always Stays, by Anna Rose Johnson

Book to Share: The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese, by Haley Stewart

Show off your scars.

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