HERMIE A COMMON CATERPILLAR by MAX LUCADO

This children's book is a Level 2 Reader book. It has easy words and sentences for the beginning reader. I reviewed the Kindle format of the book. Although the pictures are not in color on the Kindle, they are still very detailed and cute.

Hermie is not only a caterpillar, but he feels he is a fairly plain caterpillar. Hermie has a friend, Wormie, who looks like him and interacts with him in the story. In the story they meet a butterfly, an ant, a snail, and a lady bug of which Hermie & Wormie feel they all have things that make them special and wish they had those qualities, too. 

Hermie and Wormie have a common friendship not only because they look alike but also because they both talk to God. God tells them each time they question him about why they are common that he is not finished with them yet. 

Hermie gets tired, goes to sleep and wakes up a butterfly. He encourages, Wormie who hasn't changed yet, that God is not finished with him either. The book ends with Wormie getting tired and going to sleep, which makes for a great bedtime story.

This book would be a good discussion point for parents to talk about changes that God is doing in their child as she is growing, to discuss how everyone has special abilities and aren't really "common," and to discuss dreams their child has for when she is "all grown up."

Waiting for Morning BY Karen Kingsburg

There was a horrific jolt and the defending sound of twisting, sparking metal and shattering glass. Jenny screamed, but it was to late. The explorer took to the air like a child's toy spinning wildly and coming to rest wrapped around a telephone pole a hundred feet away." In Karen Kingsbury's Waiting For Morning, the tragedies represent life experiences. This book is interesting and heart warming. It is hard to put down.
Hannah Ryan waits for her two girls and wonderful husband to come home from a summer camping trip. It is a perfect Christian family with nothing missing or where anything could go wrong. They got in a wreck with an unstable drunk driver. Instantly, her oldest daughter and husband died. The youngest daughter lives, but goes through severe trauma. Hannah tries to convict the driver of first-degree murder. It will be the biggest charge for drunk driving in the history of California. At the same time, it just makes things insoluble between her daughter and herself when both are bewildered about the accident.
Kingsbury makes the characters very easy to understand. Hannah Ryan is portrayed as a dynamic character in direct characterization. Jenny, her daughter, a very round character, struggles with so many difficulties after the deaths of her family members. Both struggle with unspeakable feelings of sorrow and rage that fuse into one chilling purpose for living. All Hannah wants is revenge against Brian Wesley, the drunk driver that causes her all the pain. In fury of things going on, Hannah shuts the Lord out of her life, the biggest mistake of all.
It is not very difficult nor too easy to follow along with. The book's superior ways in the dialogue is extremely intelligible. Although the characters are older, the reading is not too mature for younger teens. The language is internal. It speaks to the inside of your heart. The tone can make a person change completely, or can shake them up. It is also shocking at times with a touch of thrill.
When the holidays arrive, everything becomes a lot harder for everyone. The Novel takes place in a city in the mists of California. It takes place around the time of holidays and vacations, which makes it more difficult on Jenny and Hannah.
The story, told in third person omniscient, revolves around Hannah. A couple of flashbacks take place while she remembers memories, and looks back at old pictures. The foreshadowing works greatly and proves that someone can live for something that they cannot find in themselves. "I don't need God anymore..." becomes the realistic nature of this novel. Horrible circumstances make many people question their faith.
Waiting For Morning, by Karen Kingsbury, a fantastic book on true-life experiences, keeps the reader on edge, waiting for the next sight. It can have a huge effect on a person from laughing, to crying, to smiling. It can and will leave the readers in true amazement. If people need to find themselves or find the truth in the Lord during hard battles, this book is wonderful.