"Everyone Can Be a Ninja" by Akbar Gbajabiamila

Everyone Can Be A Ninja by Akbar Gbajabiamila, host of American Ninja Warrior, is his story about how he got to where he is today and the obstacles he had to overcome to reach his dream.  This is an inspirational read that was pretty interesting.  He shared advice from his dad, his mentors and how he overcame many bad circumstances in his life.  I especially liked how he shared learning from his failures and how he moved on.

I liked him as a host of the Ninja Warrior shows and like him even more after reading his book!  The gist of the book is that everyone has some gift from God and we need to use our gifts to help others and accomplish God's purpose for our life.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 32:  Don't be ashamed of who you are and what you want to accomplish.  To others, it might sound crazy, absurd, a waste of time.

See a blog post I wrote about American Ninja Warrior September 1917:  American Ninja Warrior Was Disappointing.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"They Both Die At The End" by Adam Silvera

In They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, Mateo and Rufus are both young teen boys.  Death-cast calls chill them and tell them that today will be their last day to live!  Even though you know how it plays out, this book still works!  The boys were really great characters and it was interesting how they bonded.

Teaser from page 41:  Everyone wanted so much more out of me, myself included.  I have to honor this.  It's my last day to do so.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)  

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Lead For God'Sake! by Todd G. Congwer--Must Read!

Great Gift for Any Coach--Good addition to any library!

Lead...for God'Sake! by Todd G. Congwer is a quick inspirational read about a coach struggling with his basketball team who gets advice from Joe, the school janitor.  Joe had a personal ministry of counseling and I liked how the author used his conversations to get his point across to the reader.  This book is philosophical about finding true purpose in life and influencing others based on scripture.  It's about being selfless rather than self-centered.  It's a wonderful example of what a true Christian looks like who is a genuine follower of Christ. 

I enjoyed reading it and agreed with the Christian view about living one's life.  I took a lot of notes from this one and would be a great one to add to my library.  It reminded me a little bit of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Leading With The Heart by Mike Kryzewski, which I loved!  I highly recommend it!  I think anyone would benefit from reading this book, parent, employer, employee, teacher, coach etc.
(Karen's review, rating:  5 stars)

Gerard's review, rating 5++ stars:

Lead For God's Sake by Todd G. Congwer is a must read!  Wow, oh Wow!  What an outstanding book!  I got the idea to order this book from reading an article about Urban Meyer, the new Ohio State football coach.  He mentioned that he loved this book and so did I!  It tells the story of a frustrated high school basketball coach having trouble both with his team and his home life.  He gets help from the most unlikely person you would imagine. 

The ending was great, but I hated to see it end.  This is a must read for all coaches and people in leadership roles.  I feel real good knowing Urban Meyer is the OSU football coach now--go bucks!


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Every Day a Friday" by Joel Osteen tells How To Be Happy

Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen gives advice on how to choose to be happy every day and not let circumstances steal your joy.  It is an inspirational book that I think anyone could benefit by reading.  There are a lot of good ideas in this book involving our relationship to others.  One of the topics that spoke to me most was to Make sure you see people through eyes of love, not eyes of judgment. (P. 190)  His illustration about the rude checkout clerk really stood out to me.

I found this book to be a challenge to live as God intends us to live—full of joy and seeking to help and encourage others.  As a result of reading this book, I am going to make it a point to smile more, laugh often, and encourage others.  The seven major sections are broken down into small chapters that make it easy to read a little at a time instead of it being a page-turner that you don’t want to put down.  I would recommend this to anyone.  If people would put these principles into practice, the world would be a better place.
(Karen's review)

In Every Day A Friday Joel Osteen describes how you can be happy every day of the week, not just on Friday at 4:00 p.m. for me.  The bad news for me is that I fall far short of this.  The good news is that I'm not the only one.  Through stories, which I thought was the best part of the book, and Bible teachings, he tells you how.  I am going to try to find some middle ground.  I just don't think I can be that happy all the time, but I liked this book a lot!
(Gerard's Review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs to Caroline's Kids Pet Rescue to help homeless cats this month.

"This Life Is In Your Hands" by Melissa Coleman

This Life Is In Your Hands--A Dream, Sixty Acres and A Family Undone by Melissa Coleman is about how her family lived by the land with no electric devices nor a bathroom. I enjoyed the story of how they built their house and had their garden for food. What they thought would be paradise turned out to be anything but. I liked how Melissa told the story.
(Gerard's Review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"The Power Of Half" by Kevin and Hannah Salwen

This video was made by the brother in the book explaining about their family project which the book is all about.

The Power of Half by Kevin and Hannah Salwen is an inspirational true story about how their family lived with less to make a sizable contribution to really make a difference for a lot of people.  Hannah the teen daughter, co-author of this book, had a deep desire to help people less fortunate than her and was instrumental in getting her family to take a trip to Africa to actually see the people they were going to help with their donation to The Hunger Project.  The parents wanted to get their children to be more involved in their charitable decision making so agreed to go along with Hannah’s suggestion to down-size, sell their $1.95 million home and give half to charity. 

This book was written to encourage families to be more involved in helping others and share their story on how they did it.  It in no way recommends that everyone sell their home and move into a smaller one like they did.  Kevin, the father, summarizes the benefits their family experienced by going through the process of deciding how much to give, what charity to give it to and down-sizing by getting rid of a lot of things they didn’t need.  Through this process his family drew closer, communicated on a deeper level, enjoyed having a common goal to work towards, and an increased respect for each other.  His teens became more self-confident and developed leadership skills. 

One of the key points in the process that really gave the teens ownership of the project was to give every family member an equal vote in the decision making.  It was interesting to see the inner workings of this family and how they worked together.  I thought they should have actually sold their house first and then decided what to do with the money instead of promising the money to a charity before the house even sold.  You can visit their website at www.thepowerofhalf.com.  Some other suggested websites mentioned in the book are:  www.rebuiildingtogether.org, www.sharesavespend.com, www.handsonnetwork.org.

I liked Hannah’s heart but found myself plowing through the book to finish it.  I recommend it to parents who are looking for a way to unite their family and draw them closer or to anyone looking for help on how to get their children to be less selfish. 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is a popular book full of good advice for living written by a terminally ill cancer patient, a husband of 8 years and father to three young children.  Randy Pausch was a college professor who lived a full life and had an optimistic attitude.  He gives lots of tips that parents could find useful.  The book has lots of good advice in it and I highly recommend it.  The actual “last Lecture” can be viewed at www.thelastlecture.com.
(Karen's review 8/7/09)