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Seeds of Change

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Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace Written by Jean Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Kids

Wangari Maathai was born in Kenya, to the Kikuyu people who loved and respected nature and taught little Wangari to do the same. Girls weren’t educated in her culture but she learned from nature and from her brother who went to school. When her parents saw how smart and curious she was, they finally sent Wangari to school too! A hard worker, she did well in her studies, even when she had to go away from home for school. At college in far-away America, she learned about science, and also learned that women could do anything! But her home and her people were always in her heart, so Wangari went back to Kenya, taking this freedom and knowledge to all Kenyan women. When she returned, she discovered the government was selling Kenya’s land to big companies who cut down many trees for lumber or coffee plantations. This destroyed the land, and dried out the rivers so crops wouldn’t grow. Her people were hungry.  What could she do? “Harambee (all pull together)!” she said to the women of Kenya. ” Together, let’s plant new trees, and make a change here!” And they did plant trees, millions of them! Throughout her life the unstoppable Wangari worked hard despite those who disagreed with her and traveled all over the world planting her “seeds of change”, showing people everywhere how to work together in caring for the Earth and all who live there. I also loved the colorful illustrations by Sonya Sadler!

Wangari Maathai is one of my heroes of the environmental movement. After reading Seeds of Change, you may just feel the same!

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This is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

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This is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences by Sarah E. Hill
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults and Teens

Will your moods go up—or down—once you’re on the pill?

Does using hormonal birth control change your ability to remember events in your life?

Can being on the pill influence who you choose to marry?

Scientists have found the answers, but the vast majority of women have no idea that they should even be asking these questions. This is Your Brain on Birth Control aims to change that situation. Sarah Hill, a psychologist (and birth-control user) explains how a seemingly simple decision about which method of pregnancy prevention to use can affect far more of your life than you’d ever suspect.

This book is no anti-birth-control polemic, though. Hill argues that the best path forward is not the restriction of access, but the spread of information. Women, once adequately informed, can make the best decisions for themselves about this matter of critical importance to women’s (and, it turns out, men’s) lives.

This is Your Brain on Birth Control feels like a conversation with your witty best friend who happens to have a PhD. If you’ve ever used hormonal birth control, plan to use it in the future, or are close to someone who does, you just might want to find it in the catalog.

The Bucket List

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The Bucket List by Georgia Clark
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

For the most part, Lacey Whitman’s life is going the way she wants it. She has a job she mostly likes and friends she can sometimes count on. However, everything she knows comes crashing down around her when she learns that she has inherited the breast cancer gene. Now she must make the life-altering decision of whether or not to have a double mastectomy at the young age of twenty-five. Lacey knows this is not a decision to be made lightly and, like any good Type-A millennial, enlists the help of her friends in making a pro-con list. Their verdict? Make a “boob bucket list” and give herself one year to complete everything she wants to do with and for her breasts before her possible surgery. Thus begins a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance you won’t want to miss.

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Prayers for Sale

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Prayers for Sale  by Sandra Dallas
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

“Prayers for Sale is one of Sandra Dallas’s most popular novels.  Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort tells us the story of her last months in the mining community of Middle Swan, Colorado in 1936. She is a widow and her daughter wishes for her to move to Illinois before the snows come. Hennie forms a friendship with a young newlywed girl named Nit Spindle who has recently moved to the Rocky Mountain town.  Nit sees the sign outside of Hennie’s fence that states “Prayers for Sale.”  Hennie does not actually sell prayers but will invite a person in to hear the story of the sign.  Hennie also has a quilting group who meets at her house. She invites Nit to attend and we meet more women from the community. As the story progresses, Hennie tells Nit many stories about her life and the people in the town.  This is a story about these two women’s friendship, their relationships, plus the everyday life and drama that comes with being a mining town in 1936 in the aftermath of the Great Depression.” -Goodreads and Publisher blurb

I had previously read another novel by Dallas and was not too impressed. I decided to try this one because it is the reason Sandra Dallas came on my radar and why her books are on my TBR (to-be-read) list.  I liked the narrator, 86-year-old Hennie Comfort, and the way she told stories. I also liked the historical aspects, the descriptions of mining and life in high-country Colorado 1936. Dallas did not bog down the novel with copious details but enough to get a very good idea of the way things worked in that era.  The other people in the town and their stories were also very interesting, not just filler.  This is a quick read that at times produced surprisingly strong emotions.  I like this book enough to try her other very popular novel, Tallgrass. I would recommended Prayers for Sale for people who like a slower paced novel with historical elements that is mainly focused on women’s relationships.

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