The Priest with Dirty Clothes by R.C. Sproul

 

I am constantly on the lookout for good books to read to my children. So it was great when I came across and was able to review “The Priest with Dirty Clothes” by R.C. Sproul.

 The story is based upon Zechariah 3:1-15, and does a wonderful job of conveying the biblical truths found in that passage in a way that is easy for children to understand. I read it to my daughters (a 6yr old and 3yr old) and they were completely captivated by the storyline and beautiful illustrations. When we were finished reading, I asked them the questions that are provided at the end of the book and my oldest daughter was able to answer most of them, showing that she comprehended the biblical truths the story was trying to convey.

It’s been awhile since I have found such a great children's book as this one. 

This is my favorite of R.C. Sproul’s children's books he has written to date and I know that we will return to it again and again during our family reading time. So, that being said, I think this should be in every family’s home library.

 A review copy of this book was provided by Reformation Trust in exchange for an honest review.

Upside by Bradley R.E. Wright

What if the world was actually getting better? This is what author Bradley Wright sets out to prove in his new book “Upside: Surprising news about the state of our world”. 

Most people are inclined to think that the world is continuing to get worse and worse on a daily basis. From television, magazines, and newspapers, we are constantly being shown how society is deteriorating. Now, that may be true in certain areas, but what Wright shows us is that there has been a constant increase in our quality of life over the last few centuries and that there is a wealth of data to prove this.

This book is full of great charts, graphs, and statistics. Almost every page has some form data to peruse and look at. Some of the areas that he covers are the economy, environment, crime, marriages, health and many others. Being someone who LOVES statistics, this was exactly what I was looking for in a book like this. Many of the subjects he addresses I had no idea were improving. Wright shows that we can’t just look at the day to day or even the year to year to judge how things are going, but looking back over the decades and even centuries is where you get a good picture of how far things have improved. He acknowledges that there are many areas that we need to continue to work on as a society and gives his opinion and solutions in how to do that at the end of the book.

It is really refreshing to see a book like this come out instead of the usual doomsday books that pack the shelves of bookstores. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is obsessed with statistics like I am or anyone who is interested in seeing for themselves how things are on the upside!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review. My opinion of this book is my own and was not influenced by the publisher or author.