Friday, June 29, 2007

One-Eyed Jack by Paula Miller

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This is a cute story about Nate and his dog, One-Eyed Jack. Think "Little House on the Prairie" told from a boy's perspective. It's also the first in a new children's series titled "Faces of History".

Paula Miller has created a fun and easy to read series for ages 7 and up, introducing children and young teens to different periods of history through fiction.

Her characters are well developed, and she includes lots of little known facts about the historical period. "One-Eyed Jack" includes facts from the 1880's, such as how to tan pelts and "riding sign".

What I loved most about the story was her Bible teaching. Ma and Pa demonstrate Christ to their family, and Grandpa has some interesting things to share with Nate about respecting your parents.

In all, I think this is a series for any family, but especially for homeschool Christian families. I can see this being added to a history curriculum, making it fun and interesting.

A couple of things I would like to see added: maybe a small glossary of terms at the end (for instance, some might wonder what a hoecake is), and maybe some period recipes for the readers to try (again, how does one make Indian Pudding??). That would make this series totally ROCK!

"One-Eyed Jack" gets 4 out of 5 bookmarks from me...with a little chicken charm...and you'll just have to read the book to know why!!

Happy Reading!

Deena

3 comments:

Denise said...

Sounds good, I love little house books.

Delete said...

What a wonderful review! It is going on my reading list for the girls right now. Thanks!

Jenny

Paula J. Miller said...

Hi Deena,

Thanks for the great review! Just thought I'd pop in and let you know that I have created a study guide for "One-Eyed Jack". You can take a look at www.paulajmiller.com/studyguide

Thanks again!

Paula J. Miller