Read Aloud Reviews: When Stars Are Scattered

So many things to say about this book. Which is why I am giving it it’s own review. It deserves it. To see other chapter books I have read aloud while homeschooling my children this year click HERE.

When Stars are Scattered is the true story of young brothers Omar and Hassan and their life in a refugee camp in Kenya. There are many really hard topics that are touched on, such as an arranged marriage of a young girl that results in pregnancy, a father beating his child, death, war, hunger, etc. This book is brilliant because it takes difficult subject matter and makes it easily digestible for older children to early tweens because it is told in a graphic novel.

Yes this book is heavy and sad. But my word do you root for these boys and just want the best for them. This book brought out so many meaningful conversations with my kids we would have never had anytime soon. Plus the illustrations are fantastic and really add to the dialogue and flow of the story.

While this book has really tough topics, it was an excellent way to teach my kids about how other children in the world live. Another moment to have meaningful conversations with them about how you really don’t know someones full story or what they are going through or have gone through. We need to be kind and compassionate to everyone.

Our family has never prayed for refugees before reading this and now we do. Our kids have a deeper appreciation for what we have and the house we live in.

At the end of the book there are pictures of Omar and Hassen and what their lives are like today. It is so uplifting and inspiring. I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to spoil the story or the ending. My kids were eager each night to read When Stars are Scattered and always asked to read another chapter.

We laughed, I cried several times, and overall just really enjoyed this book. The kids asked if there was a part 2. Just for reference there isn’t, yet, maybe there will be in the future.

I would strongly suggest parents to read this book ahead of time because of the adult themes presented. That being said I highly recommend this book even if you the parent are the only one who reads it. For reference I read this book with my 6 and 8 year old.

To close out this post I will end with a word from Hassan. If you want to know what the following word means you have to read When Stars Are Scattered.

“HOOYO!”

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Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

While I was nursing my third baby I started reading a blog series by Tim Challies called Christian Men and their Godly Moms. I would be so excited when he posted in this series and would sit in my baby’s room feeding and rocking him while I would read. Sometimes I would sob while reading about these amazing mother’s and how devoted they were to the Lord.

I am so thankful for Tim taking the time to research and share about these women. His blog posts were instrumental in encouraging me to continue reading the bible myself as well as to my 4 and 2 year old at the time. I am happy to say that our family devotions have continued over the years and while they aren’t perfect they have been fruitful.

I recently discovered that this blog series was expanded upon and turned into a book, Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms, and I just finished reading it. It was so good and I highly recommend it to any mother regardless of how old her children are. I still sobbed at certain portions even though I knew the story. There were great takeaways and a helpful section at the end of each chapter with reflection questions.

If you are pregnant, a mom to a newborn, or a mom of adult children this is a great book to add to your reading list! Seriously all mama’s could benefit from reading this book. And if you have daughters read this as well! So many things inside that will encourage you as you strive to raise Godly children who love the Lord.

Praying For Your Children

Here are just a few takeaways from what I read that you could begin implementing today in your prayer life.

Pray for the ability to teach his truths to your children. Ask him to store these truths in their memory and use them as a foundation for their commitment to Christ.

Pray for your children to remain faithful. Ask him to stregthen their faith when their beliefs are under attack.

Pray for your own life to be an example to your children. Ask that you be willing to surrender your children to his plan for them, no matter the cost to you—or to them.

Pray for the strength to continue to meet your obligations. Ask for for fruits of the spirit to overflow out of you so that you do not become bitter about your workload.

Name a personality trait for each of your children that is a cause for concern unless it is brought under the lordship of Christ. Pray that God will use these traits for his glory.

This book will inspire you as you read examples of women from the past and present who have succeeded in raising their children to honor and glorify the Lord.

Challies, Tim. Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

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Parenting with Loving Correction: Practical Help for Raising Young Children

Parenting while joyful can sometimes be painful. How you respond to the the little people God has given you can shine light on your innermost thoughts. I have leaned that how I react and respond to my children when they are disobeying can directly reflect at times my idolatrous thinking. It has and will continue to be an opportunity for me to grow in sanctification and self control.

I am thankful for books like Parenting with Loving Correction: Practical Help for Raising Young Children by Sam Crabtree that point me back towards the gospel and away from my own sinful nature. In doing this I am a more effective parent because I realize that God gave me the four children I have for their good and for mine as well as to glorify God.

Below are just a few highlights from this book. I highly recommend it if you are in need of encouragement or new strategies to deal with disciplining your child. It is a short read and will be well worth your time and money!

I received a copy of this book from Crossway to review. All opinions are my own. 

What is Corrective Discipline?

Corrective discipline means:

  1. Identifying actions or attitudes of your child that are unacceptable when weighted against clear and explicit standards, then
  2. acting promptly and decisively to move your child in the direction of compliance with those standards.

The Heart of The Matter

Discipline aims at fostering a specified pattern of character, in the strength God supplies. If you just address outward behaviors without getting to the heart the risk greatly increases for a child to gravitate to external conformity, moralism, and legalism.

While it is great if your child obeys when it comes to discipline the goal should be to impact the heart. Heart transformation will lead to sincere cooperation because that is change that God fully creates and sustains. Proverbs 20:11 tells us that “Even a child makes himself known by his acts, weather his conduct is pure and upright”. A child’s true character will be known by his behavior.

Young children are spiritually unregenerate. Using wise discipline that requires obedience from children can cause them to become aware of their own sin and their need for Christ.

The most important point here is to note that when correction is done well it honors God. As parents we can’t change or stop our children from sinning but we can create a clear association between a rebellious action so that our child understands the consequences to disobedience. If we can’t and don’t expect our children to yield to our authority how can we ever expect them to yield to God.

3 Core Imperatives for Wise Correction

Discipline does not destroy the child but attacks the things that would destroy him. Failing to discipline invites your child to a regrettable future. Wise correction is regret management for all concerned. There are 3 core things to keep in mind for wise correction.

  1. Keep it God centered.
  2. Speak truth – always mean what you say.
  3. Reward obedience, not disobedience.

These several chapters were filled with amazing insight! God is loving and holy and good. I appreciated the example of aiming our children to be good and not “normal” (conforming to everyone else). Parents need to aim for their children’s goodness. When the author’s children became older he would say to them as they were leaving the house “Don’t be normal. Be good”.

Being normal in our culture is an unwise goal because our culture is broken and corrupt. If we tell our kids to “act normal” we are inviting them to look around to their peers to set the standard.

Good correcting must also be preceded by lots and lots of good affirmation. By saying yes often you establish many affirmations with your children and they are more likely to accept your no when they make an unwise request.

There is an entire section devoted to practical strategies to help with before you correct, in the moment, plus questions from parents.

Parenting with Loving Correction: Practical Help for Raising Young Children by Sam Crabtree is available on Amazon.

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