Emily Rachelle Writes

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt  Click to buy or learn more What if you could live forever? The first week of August is the exact middle of summer - the dog days.  And in 1881, three unrelated events set in motion the strangest first week of August that Winnie Foster had ever seen. Winnie's parents and grandmother were stifling and uptight.  The Fosters were very proud people, and did not interact with the other people in Treegap.  Winnie had never been beyond her metal-fenced yard without an adult Foster to ensure that none of the mysterious terrible things they talked of happened to her.  But on the morning of the second day in August, she decided to prove to her little toad friend that she was not afraid, and she set off into the woods her family owned.  What Winnie never expected was to meet a boy and learn of his dangerous secret. When the Tuck family brought Winnie Foster to the home that hadn't seen a child in eighty years, they n...

I recently read a blog post about a woman who had just completed one year without buying any new clothes.  I wanted to share this post with you, but when I googled it I discovered that finding a certain blog would be difficult.  Why? Apparently this is a big deal. If any of you have seen Confessions of a Shopaholic (amazing movie, btw) or read the book, this will seem rather funny.  But, similar to the one in that book, there is a real online program for shopping addicts.  The website is here, for anyone who wants to look. All that to say, that first post inspired me today to start a One School Year Challenge.  I just thought this up a few minutes ago, so we'll work out the kinks as we go.  But the basic idea is, everybody doing the challenge will agree to give up one thing for the school year.  It can be an activity or food/drink, like my best friend does for Lent, or it can be buying something, like the wholes clothes thing....

Edited and updated in February 2016. Many of you, my lovely readers, know I used to review books. Since that seems to be a popular business for book bloggers, several writers and readers I know have asked me about how book reviews work. Many bloggers, established and looking to try reviewing or newbies setting up a book blog, assume that you have to get started with your own books and your own money. Not so! Even the newest bloggers can get in on the amazing world of review programs. Getting a Book The first step to reviewing a book is reading it. Now, you can read anything off your home bookshelf or the library stacks, but you can also get a free book for reviews. I signed up for the Blogging for Books program . This is the program I started with, and it's a great starting point. Another good choice is BookLook Bloggers . Other programs include... NetGalley  - Reviewers must be eighteen or older. They've got a solid reputation in the book blogging world...

Aquafilic! An expensive lotion that smells funny and looks like the moon.

So, just as a heads-up, I've decided to join my first meme. Not exactly certain how these work, but for The Homeschool Post's A B See Photo Meme, I just post a photo every week that goes with a letter of the alphabet.  While you can start anywhere, I'm one of those people who just has to start with 'A.'  So be on the lookout for my first post. Also, to join the official meme I had to create a Flickr account and 'pool' my photo with the A B See Photo Meme's group... whatever that means. I'm still figuring that out.  But if any of you, my lovely readers, uses Flickr and actually knows how to work it, my username is blogmaniac15 if you're looking.  Although there's nothing there yet. :P

I recently joined Blogelina's Online Community , and followed/joined their website with blogging tips and tricks.  I also joined the Blogging Buddy System and was assigned to Facebook group number 23. :) So, now I comment on and get to know four other bloggers. (Well, right now it's three but when someone else joins the system we'll get our fifth and final member.) We're also trying to spread the word about the others' blogs.  So that's what I'm here to do this beautiful, stormy evening. First off is Laura, a Catholic homeschooling mom.  Her blog is Day by Day in Our World, about her family's homeschooling adventures. Then there's Ellen, who actually has two blogs I know of.  The first blog, which ironically I was following before I met her in the buddy group, is The Socialite's Closet .  It's full of news and reviews regarding women's fashion.  Her second blog, which I get the impression is her main blog, is Confessions of an Overwo...

Click the cover to buy Praying for Your Future Husband by Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer Preparing your heart for his Once upon a time, over twenty years ago, a high school teacher who never thought she'd write finally published the novel her students had pushed her into.  They asked her for a teen romance at the beach; she set her alarm for three in the morning, three mornings a week, and faithfully wrote it.  Little did she or her students know just how far that short novel would go. Fast forward to three years ago - thirty-one books into the multi-series story, Robin Gunn had also written books for women and a few devotionals.  Her influence had reached global proportions, which was how she ended up, one day, talking to 300 girls at their school in Brazil.  These girls - every one of them - had read her books as part of the curriculum. One girl asked her what they should do, since the boys in Brazil weren't reading her books....

She's brilliant.  She's beautiful.  She's witty, clever, gorgeous, understanding, kind, motherly and yet sisterly at the same time, open, honest, realistic while being idealistic, articulate... In other words, she's as close to perfection as humans can get.  At least in my eyes. Her name is Bailey, and you can visit her, too.  (Just don't tell her I called her perfect, 'cause she'll probably get upset with me.) www.bighouseinthelittlewoodsblog.blogspot.com

My last post left a few readers confused.  Allow me to take a few minutes to clarify: - Yes, I am starting a new blog. - No, I am not deleting or abandoning this blog. Whil I may not post nearly as often, I will probably return here once in a while.  But I've decided to give myself a 'fresh start' in cyberworld, this time with a mission in mind.  Rather than just sharing my words and life with others, my new blog will be there to share what I have that others may not or just plain don't have.  My new blog, which is still in-the-making, will be to help and minister to others. Hope that helps clear things up. :)

I skim through the third post, stopping to read anything in bold.  My middle finger races to scroll down the page, allowing my eyes to take in the entire blog within a few seconds.  Once again, I am very impressed by what I see.  My index finger now takes center stage as it scrambles to 'Join this site!' and add another quality Christian blog to my growing list of wonderful writers. Task accomplished, I click on the tiny gray x at the top of the page, and the blog disappears.  In its place is a different blog, also linked to my favorite.   After skimming only two posts I discover that this is just another 'coupon blog,' which can be very helpful... but not to a fifteen-year-old who rarely shops for anything food-related.  My finger skips right up to the x and a third blog appears. This is my routine.  I open a long list of recommended blogs from a favorite site, all in separate tabs.  Then I set to work: this one I like, this one I don't, he...

Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer This formulaic, fairy-tale-based romance will be a favorite with girls. -- School Library Journal Okay, so this review is not an any way related to my Blogging for Books account, but when you buy a great-looking book at BAM for a dollar and end up wanting your money back... well, in my case, you end up just HAVING to write about it.  Click the cover to buy The book starts with Cindy's letter to Castle Heights High's newspaper editor. Of course, none of her letters are ever printed, so it doesn't really matter that the whole thing is about the evils of prom.  When the letter actually  is printed, Cindy becomes a social outcast to everyone except her two best friends.  Will her lower-than-ever status be erased? Or is her nouvea feminist, opinionated and good-willed self destined to live a life of television reruns alone with twenty-some cats? This book really stinks, for a number of reasons. To be fair, some of it...