"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?

"Half A Life" by Darin Strauss is a "Must Read"

Half A Life is a memoir of Darin Strauss, who at age 18 while driving, had a car accident that killed a girl.  This book is good; read it in two days.  It was hard to put down because I never read anything like it before.  It is all about how Darin handled what happened.  I kept thinking about what if I did this?  Half A Life is an outstanding and a memorable read.  The writing is superb!  I highly recommend it!  (10 stars)
(Gerard's review)

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

Tuesday Teaser: "The Power Of Half" and "Half A Life"

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following:          

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser. 

We have two non-fiction teasers for you today:
Karen's:

She started talking slowly, thinking as she went.  "Dad," she began, "if that man"--she pointed to the Mercedes--"had a less nice car, that man there"--she pointed to the homeless man--"could have a meal."

Taken from p. 24 of One Family's Decision To Stop Taking And Start Giving Back--the Power of Half by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen

Gerard's:

What I want to write is that I lay there until morning, with tear-stained eyes, a tear-stained pillow, a tear-stained life.  What can one do with levels of gloom and guilt, fear and disbelief, of bewilderment above one's capacity to register?  I slept soundly.

Taken from p. 30 of Half A Life by Darin Strauss (My review of this will be posted tomorrow.)

Meet Us On Monday

Here's the questions from last week's meme hosted by Never Growing Old to help our readers get to know us better so sometimes we'll post it on this blog, and sometimes on our Right Where We Belong personal blog.

Questions:

1.  Do you like your ice cream in a dish, waffle cone, pretzel cone, sugar cone or cake cone?

Gerard likes his in a bowl. Karen likes it all those ways! My favorite flavor is Turkey Hill's chocolate marshmallow. Related posts: Grab A Spoon And Meet Me For Ice Cream and I Made Ice Cream Cake, Cereal On Ice Cream

2.  Do you read the newspaper daily?

Moe, our first cat reading paper with Gerard

Gerard does but Karen usually reads it every day except Sunday. Related posts: "How Do You Read The Newspaper?",
Poop Bags,
Interview Your Pet

3.  Marinara or meat sauce? We both like Marinara better.


4.  Last time you cried?

A Very Sad Day when 3 cats had to be put down

Gerard doesn't remember when he last cried but Karen cried Jan. 1 of this year when I read on Mountain Woman's blog that she had to have her beloved dog, Faeden put down over the holidays. Having our first cat die on New Year's Eve of 2007 and having to have three of my dad's cats put down, I empathize with anyone experiencing this. I know Mountain Woman had a very special long-lasting bond with Faegen. He had bone cancer and was in great pain. Related post: Sylvester Went Out A Champ

5.  What word/phrase do you find really annoying?
Gerard's is "It is what it is." Karen's is: "At the end of the day."

"On Tall Pine Lake" by Dorothy Garlock

On Tall Pine Lake by Dorothy Garlock is quite an action-packed adventure for Nona Conrad and her sister, Maggie, and good friend Mabel that takes place at a fishing campgrounds in Arkansas.  This is a fast-paced novel involving criminal activity that the reader is let in on as well as some the reader is left to figure out.  There is suspense, some mystery and some romance in the novel.  It is a quick read because it keeps your interest with all the action in it that makes you eager to see what will happen next.  As Nona had a hard time deciding who she should trust, so does the reader.  The theme is basically that some people will do just about anything for money.

(Karen's 3/25/09)


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