Children's Book Review: Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Nest

Author: Esther Ehrlich

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Date: September 9, 2014

Length: 338 Pages



About the Author
Amy Ehrlich is the author of more than thirty books for young readers and is also a winner of The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award for her novel Joyride, which was also chosen Booklist Choice Best Book of the Decade. She lives on a farm in Northern Vermont with her husband and a great many domestic and agricultural animals.

A Coming Of Age Story
Eleven-year-old Naomi Orenstein is nicknamed “Chirp” because of her love of birds and bird-watching. Her sister Rachel and her father are close, and Chirp enjoys a special bond with her mother, a former dancer. The story is set in 1972 on Cape Cod.

Chirp's mother is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (M.S.) and is severely depressed as a result of her illness. Chirp copes with her mother's illness by spending time alone with her beloved birds and befriending a neighbor boy named Joey.

This is a story about a family dealing with severe hardships. Chirp is a survivor and learns the true meaning of friendship and family.

My Thoughts
This was a very emotional book. It was written for middle school students and it deals with problems that many youngsters have probably been sheltered from. These issues included terminal illness of a parent, child abuse, running away from home and suicide.

I believe the author presented this story in a realistic and sensitive manner. This book will make readers understand and appreciate the meaning of the love and devotion of family and friends.

Chirp learned that bad things happen to good people but life goes on. The story illustrates the grieving process and the emotions that are felt by each of the family members. Love never dies.

Highly recommended for middle school students through adults.

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley.

Book Review: You'll Never Guess Who's Dying From Cancer

You'll Never Guess Who's Dying From Cancer

By Michael Antcliffe

CreateSpace, 2012

Michael Antcliffe was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2008. Upon hearing that his cancer had returned and that death was the inevitable outcome, Michael Antcliffe, on the verge of his 36th birthday, decided that he wanted to make a difference in the lives of those who found themselves in a similar position. Thus began a movement that started with a handful of people on Michael’s Facebook friends list and grew to number in the thousands.

Living and Dying With Cancer

This book is a collection of poignant journal posts that Michael Antcliffe has shared with his Facebook friends over the past year. Michael is fighting for his life and wants to make each moment count. He is on a mission to collect one million dollars to provide care and comfort for other people who have cancer.

Michael posted the following message on Facebook on April 21, 2011;

"You'll never guess who's dying from cancer. Gather around children, take a knee, and let me tell you a story. I am in the 12th round of a fight that began three years ago. My opponent has quite an impressive record. The truth, which I now find myself at peace with, is that I'm going to lose.

I need your help to make something happen here. I need each of you to owe me 10 bucks after I die, and I need you to ask all of your Facebook friends to do the same. I wanna raise a million dollars to provide care and comfort for people in my position."



Michael Antcliffe has been posting regular updates on Facebook about his life with cancer. He is very honest about the struggles and problems that he has been forced to deal with. He describes his treatments and the medication that he takes. He describes the doctors and nurses that have worked with him over the past months. He expresses his appreciation to his family and friends for standing with him and supporting him.

My Thoughts

The author expresses determination, persistence and hope in this book. I found the book very inspiring and uplifting. Michael does not dwell on his terminal disease, but he is always striving to make the most of the time that he has left.

I think this book is a wonderful gift to the thousands of Facebook friends that have come to treasure each and every post that Michael has shared. This book was written from the heart and will leave a lasting mark on the reader's heart and soul.

Michael is actively recruiting Facebook friends and will gladly accept friend requests from people who would like to share his journey. His mission is not to bring attention to himself but to help others. This mission has given Michael the strength to continue the fight against this staunch enemy. I recommend this book to all who are looking for an example of true courage.

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

A Personal Note

I received the request to read and review this book soon after I learned that a very close family member has been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. My son-in-law will be going to M.D. Anderson hospital tomorrow to see a cancer specialist. I am requesting your fervent prayers.

FYI ~ I received a digital copy of this book to read and review from Stacey Voss. Thank you!

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Book Review: What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying

A "perfect storm" is brewing for 79 million members of the baby boom generation, according to Colorado physician Karen Wyatt. With advancing age, these individuals must cope with the passing of their parents while also confronting the inevitability of their own death.
"What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying" by Karen M. Wyatt, M.D., is a collection of stories about dying patients and their insights on living and dying.


About The Author
Karen M. Wyatt is a family physician who has spent her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospices, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She has founded a free medical clinic in a homeless shelter, accompanied three medical mission teams to Honduras, and led a non-profit clinic for the uninsured in its growth from a 4-hour per week all-volunteer operation to a full-time, full-service medical center.

7 Lessons For Living
This book was written by a physician who has spent many years caring for hospice patients. She wrote this book to share the life lessons that she learned from her patients. The lessons are based on seven statements that Jesus Christ uttered on the cross;

• The meaning of Suffering "I thirst."
• Love and recognizing life's priorities "Woman behold your son; behold your mother."
• Forgiveness and letting go of limiting beliefs and past traumas "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing."
• Paradise "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."
• The true Purpose of existence "My God, my God for this I was kept (this was the destiny for which I was born.)"
• Surrender and the key to unlocking the flow of grace "O my Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit."
• Impermanence and transcending fear "It is fulfilled."

This book uses verses from the Bible but it's spiritual focus is not limited to any particular religious belief. The book has a strong message for readers of any faith or philosophy.

The chapters in this book include case studies of specific patients that Dr. Wyatt has worked with in the past. These stories illustrate how patients and their family members can experience profound spiritual growth during the final days of life.

My Thoughts
I read this book because of the experiences that my family had with hospice care when my father suffered from congestive heart failure and passed away in October, 2010.

I found the case studies and the teachings in this book to be very poignant and touching. I found myself in tears many times as I read this book.

I think one of the hardest lessons to learn is that we will all die and that death is not to be feared. We must stop denying death and focus on living lives that really matter. The final chapter in this book provides ideas for implementing the "7 Lessons" in daily life. I think you will find much food for thought in this book. This book will inspire and motivate you to make some changes in your life.
Highly Recommended!

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I received a paperback copy of this book to read and review from the author's publicist. Thank you!

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below

Visions Trips And Crowded Rooms

I read Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms: Who and What You See Before You Die by David Kessler this week.  I read the book in digital format on my Kindle.   I borrowed this book from a fellow member of the Kindle Lending Club. 
David Kessler is a well-known expert and lecturer on grief and loss. He co-authored two bestsellers with the legendary Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss and Life Lessons: How Our Morality Can Teach Us About Life and Living. 
Mr Kessler shares the stories of doctors, nurses, hospice workers, social workers and family members who have reported the pre-death visions in loved ones during there final days of life.  The author has divided these pre-death experiences into three categories:
(1) Visions of deceased loved ones, angels or Jesus entering their room and communicating with them.  These images almost always occur in the upper corner of the room.  The visions are very real to the patients and usually leave them with a feeling of inner peace and contentment.
(2) Some people believe they are going on a trip when death is near.  The book gave examples of very ill patients wanting to pack their bags so that they could catch the bus or train. 
(3) Patients sometimes see a crowd of people gathering in their room.  Some of the people are unknown by the patient but some are recognized as people that were known in the past but are now deceased.  One story told of a woman who had been a school teacher for 40 years.  Many of the people gathered in her room were former students and co-workers.
This is the second book that I have reviewed this week on the subject of pre-death visions and experiences.  I read Into the Light: Real Life Stories About Angelic Visits, Visions of the Afterlife, and Other Pre-Death Experiences , by John Lerma, and wrote a book review on this blog earlier in the week.  Dr. Lerma's book was much more personal because he wrote about patients that he knew and cared for at the Hospice Center.  He went into much more detail about what the patient saw and how he was feeling.  Mr. Kessler provided more research on the history of pre-death visions in literature and the arts.  He provided many stories about specific pre-death experiences but did not go into the great detail that Dr. Lerma did. Mr. Kessler's book provided more useful facts and information on the terminally ill patient and the process of dying.
Mr. Kessler stated that the purpose of this book was to provide people with hope.  A hope that we will someday be reunited with loved ones who have gone before us.  This book provides hope and understanding. 

Into The Light

I recently read the Kindle version of Into the Light: Real Life Stories About Angelic Visits, Visions of the Afterlife, and Other Pre-Death Experiences by Dr. John Lerma.  I borrowed this book from a fellow member of the Kindle Lending Club.  I was drawn to this book because my father was under hospice care for about a month before he died of congestive heart failure.  Dr. Lerma is a physician who specializes in hospice and palliative medicine.  He worked for many years as the inpatient medical director at the Medical Center Hospice in Houston, Texas.  Dr. Lerma states that he interviewed more than two thousand terminally ill patients and recorded more than five hundred pre-death experiences. 
The author states that "the religious aspects of the stories come from the individuals and do not necessarily reflect my beliefs, for I am still observing and holding a place of scientific observation and skepticism while considering all of the possibilities." 
The patients in this book all experienced visits from deceased loved ones and angels in their final days of life. The author notes that the angels almost always appeared in the upper corners of the room and the loved ones appeared standing at the foot of the bed.  The angels helped the patients review their lives and make things right with loved ones.  A nine-year-old cancer patient learned from the angels that his death would help his mother find God.  A young mother of three was dying of cancer but could not be at peace until she found someone to raise the children after she was gone.  The father of two of the children had a vivid dream about his former wife being ill and needing him.  He and his wife agreed to raise all three children in a loving, Christian home.  A 78-year-old Baptist minister was dying from colon cancer.  The angels persuaded him to expresss love to his wife and children.  He had been so busy working and preaching that he neglected them most of his life. A man came to Houston from Argentina to receive treatments for lung cancer.  He was moved to the hospice house when his death was imminent.  He told Dr. Lerma that he had been an officer in Hitler's army during World War II and had participated in the extermination of many innocent people.  Angels brought him out of his self-imposed hell of guilt and shame.  He died peacefully serveral days later.
I found these accounts of pre-death experiences very interesting.  Many of these stories were amazing and hard to believe, but I do believe that God is loving, compassionate, forgiving and very, very good.  I pray that I will one day see the Lord and experience His glory!