12-year-old Nour has just lost her father/Baba, and her family is moving back to Syria from NYC, where she has lived her whole life. She feels different than the rest of her family, who remember Syria, while she doesn't. As she grows accustomed to her new home, violence begins to escalate, eventually demolishing Nour and her family's home. Nour, Zahra, Huda, and their mother must make the trek south to see if they can apply for refugee status and get somewhere safe. Throughout their journey, Nour remembers the stories that Baba told her, particularly the one about Rawiya and the map-maker.

I was originally driven by the plot of this story more than anything, but as the story unfolded, I really loved what Joukhadar was doing in this story. Her empathy for refugees and those searching for "home" rings true and pure, and I really loved her character development. I loved that the "fantasy" story stayed true to the way that these stories were originally written - it took me a bit to figure this out, but Rawiya is unstoppable because this is how the stories were told - to give hope. There were a few small writing quirks that I didn't prefer, but the message of the story soars above my preferences. Recommended.

Wimberly's "spiritual retreat in book form" helps those who care for the spirituality of others care for themselves. He leads the reader into examining their own lives and discover the "mythologies" (love this term) that we function out of that are in our peripheral vision. Naming these mythologies allows us to change them over time, resulting in a renewal of calling and a refreshment of the job ahead of us, avoiding burnout.

The questions in this book are so valuable, as Wimberly leads the reader through discovering her/his/their own mythologies and how to dismantle them. These questions and the multiple examples he shares are helpful in demonstrating how to use the materials he presents.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who works with people, especially those in ministry or working with ministers regularly. There's really good stuff here.

Jeff Chu takes a journey across America examining churches all over the map - from Westboro Baptist Church to Metropolitan Community Church, Chu examines what it means to be a Gay Christian in the United States.

Part of my bias is that Chu is asking many of the same questions I am asking, and while he definitely offers his opinion (but not in a preachy way at all), his reporting is stellar and his writing style is friendly yet unapologetic. He does not gloss over the hard things, but gives a great examination of the full spectrum of this experience in the US. It was very eye opening and helpful as someone who is trying to learn more in order to be an advocate. I'd recommend it.

I was also surprised that several of the people in this book were people that I knew personally, and we'll leave it at that. :)

I started reading this in 2012 and got about 200-300 pages in. I might try again someday.

Revered Nollop has created the sacred text "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"...but when the letters on the statue start falling, is Nollop trying to tell them something? Is he asking them to change the way they use language? All told in written letters, we follow the family and friends of Ella as they navigate the quickly changing totalitarian language police as the letters fall one by one.

This was a cute book and a quick read - while the book is delightfully clever and fun, I still feel "just okay" about the book rather than just loving it.