GPS Your Best Life

Authors Charmaine Hammond and Debra Kasowski helps the reader navigate along their destination with a fabulous book entitled: "GPS Your Best Life." This is a great book on helping the reader understand how to not allow circumstances in life detour one from their main purposes of life. Everyone is traveling along life's journey and getting side-tracked is easy to do, but the authors give tremendous insight and wisdom on how to stay focused and move forward in grand fashion. 

One chapter deals with dreams and how they seems to be the fuel to your engine. Everyone needs dreams and a drive to move in the direction they have placed their goals and ideals. There is also great wisdom shared in the chapter entitled: "Roadblocks, Detours and Potholes." Everyone will face these types of situations within their lives; however what they do with them is what changes the course of the journey. 

When difficulties come one's way, there is the choice to be detained by the circumstances or overcome them and become the person you were designed to be. There is also the beautiful point that is shared that one must celebrate along the journey by "gratitude, giving and gifting." When we express thankfulness, give of ourselves and give gifts we become a person that others desires to be around.

This is a very insightful and well written book. It is a book that any reader should find strength, encouragement and support from. I would quickly recommend it.

5 of 5 Stars

A-Z The Universe In Me

Author Michal Noah does a wonderful job of explaining his passion in why he wrote this book and its purpose in his note to parents and teachers. He explains how the book can be most helpful to young children, by giving easy to follow guidelines for the adult to best engage their young reader.

This book is well written and very encouraging. It instills within the young reader many encouraging thoughts and ideals to make them stronger in who they are. There is a continual flow through the alphabet of lettered words to engage the reader of order and clarity of the lettering system. There are many positive influences that the author points the reader to within themselves and others around them. Powerful words are used such as: Confident, Determined, Magnificent, Valuable, Wise and X-traordinary. The graphics are incredibly clear and helpful to paint a beautiful picture of what the written word is saying. While I understand the author is making the book very open concerning any religious views, the only negative I found was the word universe used several times rather than God. However, with the concept of trying to get placed in public and school libraries I certainly understand the general wording. This wouldn't keep me from sharing this book with others.

This is a book that I personally would find enjoyable to share with younger children and feel while not only would the words build them up and encourage them, the graphics would capture them. 

5 of 5 stars

Nate Rocks The School

Nate seems to be a typical teenager but soon the reader finds out that he is indeed very different. While Nate likes to dream, his dreams take him along a variety of paths that call upon him to help save the day. He may help people escape a building, find a missing child or many other adventurous activities. While the school class is getting ready to go to New York, they need to raise funds in order to afford the trip as the schools funds have been severally cut. Nate and his friends work hard to come up with fund raising events, but always come up short until the night of the auction when someone truly makes a believer out of Nate that dreams can come true. Nate's mother isn't the best of cooks and he certainly appreciates the abilities and creativity of his friend’s mothers as they invite him to share a meal with them. He tries to avoid getting paired up with a girl that his mom thinks he would be great with, yet he finds himself constantly around her.
Nate is looked upon as a superhero and performs hero acts within this book. This would be a great read to have in schools and for children to share at home with their parents. If someone is looking for a book for their child, this is truly a book of adventure and excitement, very interesting and fun to read. It never seems to bog down, always moving forward with adventure.

5 of 5 stars

Cage Life

 Author Karin Cox does a great job of allowing the reader into the life of a young lady who interacts with a young man named Damien. They soon find themselves involved sexually and she comes up pregnant. While this young baby doesn't have the best of environments to live in this couple tries to do what is right. Their past is filled with regrets and mistakes and soon this young girl’s friend comes over for an afternoon away from the baby and gets her high. This event will change the course of life for this young lady forever. After the two ladies get high it's time for the visitor to leave but she is blocked in the drive. While moving the automobile, the mom hears a thud and after getting out realizes that she just ran over her precious little girl. After trying to do what they could the doctors realized that the injuries were too severe and this little girl wouldn't make it.

This story is filled with heartache, hurts and life in general. The pain was too much for this couple to live with and after much trying they separated and went their own ways. Relationships are tough and it takes lots of work to make them successful. Ms. Cox does a wonderful job of giving the reader a strong taste of reality of the real world. This isn't a feel good book, rather one that helps one to see things as real and matter of fact.

4 of 5 stars

Break Your Addiction To Conflict

"Break Your Addiction to Conflict" is a wonderful book to help the reader explore the opportunities to overcome negative situations that many find within their life from time to time.  Author Nathan J. Snow does a wonderful job of giving the reader twelve tools to quiet the mind and move forward from their present conflict. He instructs the reader to create a Gratitude List and be reminded of how many things a person truly has to be thankful for within their life. He also mentions a Resentful List and how from time to time the same thing that one could be grateful for, they might find it over on the resentful list. There are great insights into how a person can overcome the negative emotions and doubt that seem to plague one's life.

Concerning Tool# 8 and "Power Down" Mr. Snow gives great detail into how one can pull away from the constant barrage of technology that seems to overtake a person and allow the individual to learn to breath, relax, enjoy their family and life. He also instructs the reader to live their own life and tell their own story. No one can be as great as the person they are gifted to be.

The principles found within this book are very helpful and insightful. There is a "Cheat Sheet" summary of the 12 Tools listed at the end of the book. The greatest issue would be the constant reference to a higher power, light, etc... while this opens the book up for readers of any faith, the lack of reference to God and Him alone is somewhat disturbing. For that reason this book would receive 4 of 5 stars.