Review and Giveaway: As One Devil to Another

As One Devil to Another is an astonishing debut work that C. S. Lewis’s biographer and foremost Lewis authority Walter Hooper calls “a stunning achievement, the finest example of the genre of diabolical correspondence to appear since this genre was popularized by C. S. Lewis.” Enter into this chilling and diabolical tale, one that reveals the very tricks and strategies of Hell. 

Through a series of letters between devils created by Platt, senior devil Slashreap trains his young protégé, Scardagger, to win an individual soul away from Heaven and into their clutches. As the devils plot their way to triumph, they reveal the spiritual dangers and risks we face in today’s society. Their frighteningly accurate perspective on issues such as contemporary technology and sexual mores is interwoven with timeless matters such as the power of prayer, the purpose of suffering, and the promises held out by Heaven . . . and Hell.(publisher's book description)

Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis has been on my to-read list for many years.  In fact, the very book has been sitting in my nightstand drawer for about a year.  So, when I had the opportunity to review Richard Platt's As One Devil to Another, written in the style of C.S. Lewis, my interest was piqued.

I actually started reading Screwtape Letters in anticipation of the arrival of Platt's book.  I wanted to have an idea of the comparison of the two.  Part of my concern is that Platt's book would seem unoriginal and too much copy of Lewis' unique style in Screwtape Letters to the point of annoyance.  I needn't have worried.

I found the tale woven among the letters between senior devil Slashread and student Scardagger thought-provoking and interesting.  I enjoyed the little nods to C.S. Lewis or the original Screwtape Letters.  For example, Slashread is Screwtape's brother.  Slashread warns Scardagger that the "client's" aunt has titles by "a pestilential writer named Lewis" and later references a lion and children (from the popular Naria Series, for those unfamiliar).

The "fiendish correspondence" gives the read a glimpse into all the tricks and strategies of Hell in order to turn one away from the "Adversary" (Slashread's address of God) all with a modern twist of issues of today.  Political correctness, homosexuality, reality TV, the sexual revolution, and the Internet are all topics addressed.  Also addressed are those issues and questions with which humanity has always struggled: competition, sufferance, pride, humility, good works, and more.

While there was at least once I questioned some theology as presented, overall I found it was good read.  At just under 200 pages, it won't bog you down, but it also has enough meat to it to make you think. I'll likely require my high school student to read this title, after reading Screwtape Letters first, especially since the "client" is a young woman at the university pursuing an English degree, an area of interest for my daughter.

Giveaway! (Closed)

Congrats to commenter #5, Julieanne!

I have one certificate for a copy of As One Devil to Another to giveaway to one lucky U.S. reader. See below for how you can enter.  Please make sure to leave your contact info in each comment.

Mandatory entry:

• Do you have a favorite C.S. Lewis book?

For additional entries (leave a comment for each):

• Follow this blog through Google Friend Connect
• Subscribe to this blog (rss or email)
• Like Chatter, Clatter, and Things That Matter on Facebook.
• Follow Chatter and Clatter on Twitter
• Leave a comment on another post on this blog. Let me know which post.
• Post about this giveaway on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, or others (please specify in your comment).  This will count for two entries for each! Make sure you leave two comments.

The giveaway will end on May 25th at 6 p.m. EST and will be chosen by a random number generator. 

Disclaimer/Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book mentioned above for free from Tyndale Publishers in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. All opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Sneak Peeks with K.E. Weeks: Books with Gentle Themes for Advanced Readers

This feature is presented by guest blogger, K.E.Weeks.

This week, I wanted to do something a little different with my book reviews. Usually, I review one or two books or a series. Today, I am responding to a friend of mine who has asked that I “just make a list” to make it easier for her to order good books. Thus, I will be “making a list” periodically, instead of reviewing one book in depth.

This week’s list is for advanced elementary school readers who are not quite ready for more “mature” themes, like death, disease, war, etc., such as students in second grade who are reading at a fifth grade level. The vocabulary in these books is more challenging, but they have either gentle stories, such as farm or prairie tales, or serious historical stories addressed with a light touch.


The Freddy series by Walter R. Brooks
 
Freddy the Detective, Freddy Goes to Florida, Freddy and the Bean Home News, Freddy the Cowboy.... My children loved these. We have them both in book form and on tape. My early-advanced reader could read them in 3^rd grade and my struggling reader listened to them on tape for hours. Originally published in 1927, these books have solid themes such as friendship, loyalty, and honesty. The pen and ink drawings are simple and the vocabulary is challenging, reminiscent of a time when children’s books were not “watered down” for sound-byte attention spans: “They were getting much too bold, and some of their exploits were decidedly foolhardy” (Brooks Cowboy 135). Freddy the Pig always gets his man.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muňoz Ryan


I reviewed this in depth here:

Sneak Peeks with K.E. Weeks: Esperanza Rising
 
All-Of-A-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor 
 
My daughter adored these stories of a Jewish family at the turn of the 19^th century in New York City. The vocabulary includes Yiddish words (with explanations through context), but the situations the family faces are commonplace and gentle: childhood illnesses, chores, lost library books, and stolen candy. The family faces every obstacle with grace and compassion.

The Borrowers series by Mary Norton

You may have seen the movie based on this series, but the book is always better. Arrietty is a little person who lives beneath the floor with her mother and father and who “borrow” what the big “human beans” carelessly discard. This series is full of suspenseful tales of dodging cats, birds, and human boys with pet ferrets. Norton was an English writer, so the vocabulary is decidedly British, such as “hat pins” and “blotting paper.”

The Indian in the Cupboard series by Lynne Reid Banks
 
While one would think boys would be especially drawn to this tale of a boy whose plastic Indian and cowboy come to life, my daughter loved them, too. These books address every child’s belief that his toys are alive when he is not present. The stories discuss friendship and the responsibilities of caring for another.

Little Britches series by Ralph Moody
 
A story of an eleven-year-old boy on the American West who must support his family after his father dies of Tuberculosis. Filled with tales of breaking colts and selling baked goods door to door, my son loved these novels. The vocabulary is sometimes challenging because Moody describes processes most people no longer do and words for farm equipment we no longer have, such as “hackamore rope” and “lariat,” but the meaning is fairly clear from context.

R My Name is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff
 
A detailed review can be found here:

Sneak Peeks with K.E. Weeks: R My Name is Rachel


Disclaimer: The purpose of this review is to guide parents into selecting appropriate, significant, high-quality literature for their teens and tweens. I have no connection with the author or publisher of this book. I am a home educator of two children, 12 and 14, with a Master of Art degree in American Literature and a keen interest in young adult fiction and nonfiction.

Guiding Your Gifted Reader

Are you looking for strategies to keep your advanced reader happily engrossed in reading material this summer?  Check out my column today at Homeschool Mosaics.

Strategies for Guiding Your Advanced Reader

Also, this week's Sneak Peeks with K.E. Weeks column here at Chatter, Clatter, and Things that Matter will offer up book series suggestions for young advanced readers.  Stop in tomorrow to check it out.

Next month at Homeschool Mosaics I plan to talk about how to encourage your bright but struggling reader. 

Bread Machine Fail

It was still surprisingly light and yummy!

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures, click here.

Sneak Peeks with K.E. Weeks: The Year We Were Famous

This feature is presented by guest blogger, K.E.Weeks.

Have you ever considered walking across the United States? It sounds like an impossible feat, right? Well, mother and daughter, Helga and Clara Estby, did it in seven months in 1896 to win $10,000 from a book publisher in an attempt to save their farm in Washington state. The resulting book, written 115 years later by the great-grand-daughter and great-grand-niece, is The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg ($12.74; Clarion Books; April 4, 2011). The book details their adventures through lava fields, over mountain ranges, in flash floods, and blizzards, with highwaymen and American Indians.





Sadly, The Year We Were Famous starts slowly, so slowly, in fact, that I almost didn’t keep reading until I got to the “good part.” The beginning is a dull portrait of a dysfunctional family, and the action does not pick up until page 70. The book would have benefitted from starting in a different point, introducing the reader to Clara and getting the reader to love her before introducing the unlikeable mother. After the beginning, there is a good deal of drama and excitement to keep the reader engaged. Thus, if you can persevere through the preparations and the packing chapters, the remainder of the novel is entertaining.

Each chapter is headed by the date in 1896, the number of days on the journey, and the location, such as “August 16, 1896; Day 103; Laramie, Wyoming,” which makes it easy to follow. The front and back cover have a map of the women’s route, which is very useful. Clara is a practical narrator who is at a crossroads in her life, wondering if she should marry the boy next door, marry the young newspaper reporter she just met, or go on to college alone. The biggest source of conflict, though, is her relationship with her mother. Thus, girls who have a contentious or sometimes-strained relationship with their mothers may enjoy this book. For instance:

Ma thrived on attention, being different, marching with the suffragists, tromping clear across the country, and getting her picture in the New York World. I would do anything to avoid attention. Her notions had her blooming fiery orange like her Austrian Copper rose, then going dormant as a stick. I was more like a pine tree, never blooming—just a steady, predictable green (Dagg 124).

Or, this:

“If you wanted to talk, you should have taken Ida,” I said, reaching over my shoulder to peel my sweaty shirtwaist from my back.

“Ida wouldn’t have lasted an hour in this heat,” Ma said. “At least you’re still here.”
“Ja, well,” I answered, surprised by the compliment. “I suppose my doggedness is just another way I’m like Pa.”

“Ja, well. You might recall that your Pa didn’t want us to take this trip. Yet here you are, with me.” Ma unbuttoned the first three buttons on her shirtwaist and picked up her bag, ready to walk again. “You might just be more like me than you think.”

Heaven forbid, I thought (Dagg 87). 

This conversation between mother and daughter is representative of the relationship between many mothers and daughters, the desire to be different and the recognition of similarities. Spoiler alert! [Skip the rest of this paragraph if you do not want to be told some important plot twists.] However, what the reader does not see at this time is the foreshadowing that is not so representative of most mother-daughter unions and unexpected in a sweet prairie story—Clara is not her Pa’s daughter at all, but the daughter of Helga’s former beau. Moreover, Clara is not even the age she thinks. She is 19, not 18, as she believes. While this is not such a scandalous situation in a tale for older teens, it is likely inappropriate for readers under twelve years old. This is unfortunate because the yellow, old-fashioned cover and the story overall is really better suited to younger readers than older ones.

There is one point in the book which presents a thought-provoking argument:

“At least one of us has to make it to New York, so men can’t say women are too frail for such a venture, or quit too easily. I have no patience for people who accept whatever life gives them without a fight,” she said. “‘God’s will,’ they say. Well, I say ‘With God, all things are possible.’ The worst is behind us. Once we get to the plains, it’s just a flat walk to the field in New York” (Dagg 141).

Should a person accept what happens in his life as God’s will? Or should he try to do the “impossible” with God’s help? It’s an intriguing question. Other than this and the previous paragraph’s issue, though, the book is simply an entertaining tale, with not much fodder for discussion. Therefore, it isn’t a good choice for a book club.

Overall, it is an entertaining book, with historical value, some good writing, and some exciting parts, but it lacks pacing and consistency. Also, honestly, reading the “Author’s Note” and discovering what happened to the real Clara Estby, sort of ruined the story for me.

My other problem with the book is the mixed audience to whom it is writing. Initially, the story seems to appeal to nine- to twelve-year-olds, but the mature topics are really more suitable for readers over twelve. The Year We Were Famous is well-suited to older readers who enjoy prairie and farm tales and who prefer controversial topics with a soft edge. It would also be a good complement to a study of President McKinley or women’s suffrage rights because a good chunk of the book dwells on this. (If you have a struggling or dyslexic reader, you may want to avoid this book because of the varying fonts. Clara writes and receives letters which are signified by italics and other fonts, which may be difficult for some.)

While I liked the story once I “got into it,” I give it three stars (out of five) because it starts slowly, has some rough edges, and the modern issues it addresses (such as bipolar disorder and race relations between the whites and the American Indians) starkly contrasts with its quaint cover and target audience.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this review is to guide parents into selecting appropriate, significant, high-quality literature for their teens and tweens. I have no connection with the author or publisher of this book. I am a home educator of two children, 12 and 14, with a Master of Art degree in American Literature and a keen interest in young adult fiction and nonfiction.
*Contains affiliate links.

The Neverending Choir

I realized I haven't updated much on our homeschooler-goes-to-public-school story.  I have a few humorous stories (like the girl named Lyric who doesn't sing!) which I'll share at another time, but overall it has been an interesting experience for dd.  Not bad. Not spectacular. Just different. As for me, I'm pretty much ready for our adventure to end.  I'm not cut out for being on a schedule that is not my own.

Now that May is nearly here, much of dd's coursework is winding down.  Her two college classes, the whole reason for this single class at the high school, were completed last week.  Three other classes/subjects will be done in less than two weeks.  Choir? *SEVEN* more weeks. It just seems to be going on and on and on.

As she's always been curious about what it is like to go to school, I inquired if this has satisfied the mystery.  I mentioned we could enroll her full time if the one class didn't cut it. *wink*  Her reply? "I'm so over that!" No, honey, you've got seven more weeks until you can be over it. Come on, June!

Review: Balance Math (Critical Thinking Co)

In case you are short on time today, let me give you the short version of this review.  I LOVE products by Critical Thinking Co. They are very nicely done, easy to use, and just fabulous. Head on over to their website and check out the vast amounts of resources for your homeschool.  Right now.  Go on.  Try not to buy one of everything! (Psst!  They have bundles if you’d like to try!)

Now, for those of you who require more detail and specifics, I was sent two products for review, both covering math topics targeting grades 4-12. 
 
Balance Math Teaches Algebra by Robert Femiano presents algebra with a visual approach using balance scales. There is a 2-page sample at the website to print and try out a few of the 52 activities provided. The activities are presented from simple to complex, building upon the previous pages.

My son,who is currently in pre-algebra, has a pretty mathematical mind. However, during his math work, I noticed that he doesn’t always get balancing equations. He understands how to do the calculations, how to combine like terms, and use other skills needed to balance equations. However, he doesn’t always recognize that the equals sign in an equation means if you did something on one side of the equation, you must do the same on the other to maintain balance. This isn’t too surprising, since he is still working through some directional challenges related to his struggles with dyslexia. It is frustrating, however, and we've been working on recognition of the equals sign as creating two sides of the equation.

When I gave my son his first sheet of Balance Math to complete, he immediately knew how to work the problems. In fact, he was working the problems in his head faster than I was. Usually when new material is presented to him, he needs to go through examples and do a few problems. Balance Math was completely intuitive for my visual learner. It instantly clicked.

Balance Math &More Level 2 by Robert Femiano, includes some of the same activities as Balance Math along with two additional activities called Tic Tac Math and Inside-Out Math.  There is a 3-page sample at the website that will provide examples of the differing puzzles offered in the 38 activities.  There are three levels of this series, with Level 2 focusing on multiplication and division of whole numbers, with a few problems using fractions.

We focused on just the Tic Tac Math and the Inside-Out Math since we were already doing the Balance Math sets from the other book.  One thing I noticed with these types of problems was it wasn’t the math my son struggled with, but the sequencing and accuracy needed. My son is too quick to get frustrated with multi-step problems where the answer to one part is needed for another.  Part of this is because he is very much a big picture person and breaking things down into parts presents more of a challenge.  When adding that to a tendency to rush work and make silly errors, the outcome is one frustrated boy.  I noticed that both of these exercises forced him to practice both his sequencing and accuracy skills in a rather non-threatening and visual manner.  While he didn't enjoy the other activities in this book as much as the Balance Math, I appreciated that they provided some much needed practice in some weak areas.  I always mourn an incorrect answer because of silly calculation errors!

Both of these titles are reproducible for home or classroom use, which makes them a great value as the copyright legally allows use for multiple children. The pages are perforated to make copying convenient.

As expected, these are two titles that I can definitely recommend to those looking for some supplemental math materials. Balance Math Teaches Algebra is available for $14.99 and Balance Math and More Level 2 is available for $9.99. Explore many of the other products available from Critical Thinking Co. with the printable samples and software demos available. 

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew. I was provided the product free of charge in exchange for my honest review. I have received no other compensation. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool. You may read more reviews on this product by visiting here.