by Summer D Clemenson | Feb 19, 2025 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Books are so important. If there is one thing that stands out that my wife, Karen G Clemenson, and I have in common in our upbringing it is that our families ensured that we could read and they were serious about it. The books I grew up with were part of my childhood...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jan 27, 2025 | Book & Product Reviews, Cancer, Opinions, Queer Community
January has been quite the month. It is the start of a new year and the start of a new presidency. I have been having some dental work done. There are many reasons to turn to children’s books. As I have written before, children’s books are great stress reliever. We...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jan 24, 2025 | Book & Product Reviews, Cancer, Opinions
Santiago is an old Cuban fisherman. He lives alone because his wife has died. He fishes alone because the boy, Manolin, he used to fish with no longer has permission to fish with him after so many day without fish. This does not stop the boy from caring for him...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jan 22, 2025 | Book & Product Reviews, Cancer, Opinions
Mary: A Flesh and Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother by Lesley Hazleton is a very special book that helped me to not only understand some of the culture in the Middle East better, but by knowing about Mary, I have a deeper understanding of Jesus. I really enjoyed...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 28, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Books can take you all sorts of adventures. Some of these books I am sharing this month were books I read as a child. Some of them I read to my preschool students or nieces and nephews. Some of them are brand new to me but they remind me of other people in my life....
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 23, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Politics
Kamala Harris is a strong woman. She is not a person that lets moss grow under her feet, but a woman of action. Raised by immigrants, her mother from India and her father from Jamaica, Harris’ family instilled a powerful work ethic and love for education, the arts,...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 7, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Fuel Your Wellness
This article was originally posted on WellnessWorksNW.com on 9/23/2024. In June I was inspired to join a week long group called Weakless Week hosted by Jason Seib. During this week where Seib inspired the group to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to...
by Summer D Clemenson | Sep 17, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
I believe that Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is one of the saddest stories I have ever read. The first time I ever heard about this book, I was reading The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. This classic fiction novel was on the reading list in this book; since then I...
by Summer D Clemenson | Sep 12, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
In all the world we will never find a love like what we receive from God. I knew that before I read The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning because in all the world I have only met a few people that even came close to God’s ability to accept me and know me and love...
by Summer D Clemenson | Aug 30, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Rosa Parks was an amazing woman and what is special about this biography put out by the Library of Congress is that it is full of pictures of her memorabilia and writings. She was an avid writer and notetaker and would write on anything she had on hand. I find this...
by Summer D Clemenson | Aug 29, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
I can’t believe that summer break is over and school has begun again. Summertime flew by. It seems to go faster every year. I hope you got your reading in. I read 24 books over the summer. I think that is pretty good for me, considering only 9 of them were adult...
by Summer D Clemenson | Aug 8, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
“Bathsheba looked directly toward the threshing floor and the king’s store house directly behind the palace. David was giving a staggering amount to this work [the building of the temple]. But she would expect nothing less of him. He was a man devoted, consumed, in...
by Summer D Clemenson | Aug 2, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Abigail by Jill Eileen Smith is an amazing historical fiction novel based on the story of King David in the bible. Abigail was David’s third wife, but before she was King David’s wife, she was betrothed to Nabal, a cruel, rich man who had inherited debt owed to his...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 31, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Michal by Jill Eileen Smith is biblical fiction and based on history as found in the bible; the story of the rise of King David. “And suddenly she knew. A window to her soul opened, and Michal squirmed at the sight. What a bitter woman she’d become! She’d been so...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 30, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
I am sitting here and thinking about how I can really honor The Last Black Unicorn by TIffany Haddish. This autobiography is for adults. Your kids might want to read it but you might want to read it first because Haddish has had a challenging life and she doesn’t hide...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 26, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg takes place between 1924 and 1988. It is a compilation of stories told by Mrs. Ninny Threadgood to Evelyn Couch when she comes with her husband to visit his mother at Rose Terrace Nursing Home. Evelyn is...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 25, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Descriptions of cultural, racial and physical differences that note “otherness,” these may also include wealth, class and gender; these differences are used to identify an outsider in order to define one’s self. Othering is only taught by example. We want to own and...
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 24, 2024 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
The best times I had as a kid were under the apple trees in my back yard. I would steal my mom’s old sheets and find some string or yarn and make a tent and live in there until I had to come out. When I wasn’t doing my doll’s hair I was reading. It was a great way to...