Where Lilacs Still Bloom

Jane Kirkpatrick's Where Lilacs Still Bloom is based on the true story of German immigrant, Hulda Klager, who made new varieties of apples and lilacs using plant hybridization in the late 1800s, early 1900s.  I read another of Miss Kirkpatrick's based-on-a-true-story books, The Daughter's Walk, and thoroughly enjoyed it so thought this one might also capture my interest.

If you've read many of my book reviews or know me, you'll know I like a wide variety of books.  I love both fiction and non-fiction, science fiction, classic literature, children's stories, modern fiction like The Hunger Games, and pretty much any genre you can narrow a book down to.  However, I regret to say I didn't like this book.  I tried to like it (I must admit, even though I don't have to give a good review for any book I receive for free, I'm grateful to the company's who give them to me and appreciate them--I try to like their books but if I don't, I can't lie). 

I waded through 91 pages of boring.  There is no other word for it.  The only good thing that came from discovering this book is that I'd love to visit Hulda Klager's home and garden in Woodland, Washington.  It's worth googling it, and worth visiting if you live near the area. Perhaps if you love gardening or find a great interest in plant hybridization, you'd like this book.  Read a bit on Amazon.com here if you feel so inclined. 

Thanks to the super cool people at Waterbrook Press for providing me with this book to review.

God Gave Us You: Now a Board Book!

I love all of Lisa Tawn Bergren's picture books and now you can get 2 of them as board books: God Gave Us You and God Gave Us Love.  These books are so sweet and special, the perfect gift for your baby or for a baby shower.  I'm giving them to a friend who is having her first baby this summer.  I know she's going to love them!

God Gave Us You is very well-written.  Because of the sweet, eternal message it has, reading it to your baby or toddler will be sure to bond you even closer together.  The illustrations are beautiful.  The story itself is something special along the lines of Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny (which is a classic in children's literature you should definitely read if you haven't already!)  I have to admit, I like this story even better than the famous Miss Brown's because of the inspirational message within its pages. Remember, this specific copy of the book is meant for babies and toddlers--it is in a board book format.

I highly recommend this book and am so glad I had the opportunity to review it!  I also recommend the others I've read in the series: God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Two. You can read my reviews of them by clicking their titles.  Or you can read excerpts from each of them at Amazon. : )

The wonderful people at Waterbrook Multnomah provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for the purposes of this review.  All views presented are my own.