The First Miracle
By L.A. Willis

In The First Miracle, Ms. Willis’s main character is Abigail, a blind cat. The author does a touching job of conveying Abigail’s longing for her rescuer and friend’s caressing touch and raspy voice. But Rebekah has died and Abigail races blindly through crowded streets bumping into people, walls, and cart wheels. The reader can feel her pain and panic. Finding refuge in a barn, Abigail snuggles down into some soft hay to rest. A sound awakens her and she investigates. A baby has been born during the night; Abigail can smell it. That’s when the miracle happens.

Willow Raven’s art work on both the cover and inside pages matches the story in perfect harmony. While this novel is fiction, it might have happened just as L.A. Willis created it. I’ll be passing this gem of a story on to our granddaughter in a year or so.

The First Miracle is told in sixteen pages of narrative interspersed with small and large colored pictures. Children three to seven or eight years of age will love this story and request it to be read over and over. Readers will enjoy both the story and the captivating art work.

The First Miracle published by 4RVPublishing
ISBN 978-0-9825886-0-4

A STONE IN MY HAND
By Cathryn Clinton

A STONE IN MY HAND, published in 2002, was highly praised by Publishers Weekly, and the School Library Journal as well as several other well known reviewers. Eight years have passed since this insightful book came on the market, and we have a new generation of young adult readers. While dates and names change, the pain, fear, and frustration of children and adults living in war zones remain the same. With today’s crises in the Gaza Strip and other war zones in the Middle East, A Stone in My Hand is a good book to recommend to young adult readers today.

A Stone in My Hand is not a page turner, of high adventure where the hero conquers all, and everything turns out right in the end. Rather, the novel is realistic fiction that will touch the soul of sensitive readers regardless of age. It paints a brutally realistic picture of children and young adults attempting to survive in a war zone, of parents attempting to care for and educate their children, and of families dealing with the uncertainties of daily life and their faith in God.

A Stone in My Hand was published by Candlewick Press in 2002 with 184 pages,
ISBN 0-7636-1388-6