Bekah's Bookshelf

 

Reading has been a bit more challenging lately as I’ve balanced learning my new role at work and all the summery things that need to be done here at home. But I do have two more books to tell you about!

            When I was hired at my new job with LifeWise Academy, I received a little swag bag of gifts, including a t-shirt, journal, pen, and the founder’s new book called During School Hours. Happily, the book bore a bright red cover (the main color for LifeWise), and that just so happened to fulfill a category on my reading challenge. Yes! There was a category for a book with a red cover!

            The just-released book tells the why and the how of LifeWise Academy and provided not only compelling and convicting words, but also great training for me as I began my new job.

            The title of the book comes from the key phrase to the mission of LifeWise, which is that the program can take place During School Hours. It is not a before or after school program.

            The book is broken up in two main sections. The first explains why LifeWise is reinstalling religious education. In order to understand that, we first have to understand why it was removed and the ramifications from that. There was a lot of interesting history about our nation and education system to be found in that portion of the book, and I appreciated the tone in which it was shared, because I know that can be a very sensitive topic among many!

            From there, the remainder of the book explains the released time religious instruction ruling by the Supreme Court and how this can work in schools across the country. It also explains how LifeWise Academy was born and what it looks like as of right now. (And it’s changing every day!)

            Joel, the founder of the organization, spent the first part of his career as a motivational speaker, and that comes across most pleasantly in his writing too. He’s engaging, easy to read, and even the history parts of the book are welcoming and not dry.

            If you’re interested in learning more about LifeWise as a whole, what it would be like to have in your community, or how you can get involved, this book explains it all. Joel has many great videos and podcasts you could also watch/listen to if reading isn’t your thing, but if you need to be able to go back to something and see it in print again, the book is a great choice. I’m so glad he wrote it and that it came out right when I was joining the team, so I could learn from it as I trained!

            My next read wasn’t part of my book challenge, but it involved a book that caught my attention when I saw it mentioned on a post somewhere recently. It’s called A Homemade Life and is written by Molly Wizenberg. I’d never heard of her before, but apparently she’s well known as an author and food blogger.

            The book is a recipe memoir and was the one I referenced the other day as I shared about our own recipe stories. Molly writes about her life from childhood onward and shares some of the recipes associated with her most poignant memories. (And the recipes are normal things – not weird stuff that no one would ever try.)

            I really loved her writing style and enjoyed reading about her adventures throughout her life. She and I are about the same age, and we both wrestle with anxiety, so I found myself nodding at some of her experiences. (The similarities ended when she moved to France. Probably won’t have that in common, ever, but I still enjoyed reading about it!) I appreciated the reminder of how much our recipes and kitchen lives shape us, and the whole experience of reading her book has inspired me to want to work harder at my own writing. I appreciate the book for that most of all, but I also appreciated the sheer enjoyment it brought as I made my way through the chapters.

            I will probably try one or two of the recipes, just for fun. Some of them are a little outside my comfort zone, but most sounded pretty delicious!

            If you enjoy food and cozy reading, I think you would really love this book. If you love writing, it might just inspire you! There are a few words peppered throughout that I could have lived without, but the majority of the book is clean.