One Hand, Two Hands

One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado is a pretty good children's book. It has your standard cute-ness required of a chilren's book and a pretty good message as well, which is always a plus. There were a couple of little oddities I noticed while reading through this book, however. There's a few parts that don't quite rhyme that are a little awkward to read. And one line about snapping your hands - maybe he meant fingers, I'm not quite sure - that didn't seem to make much sense. That being said, the book had a fantastic ending where the true message came through. I would've liked to see more of the message of using our hands for things God would want us to do throughout the book, rather than seemingly tacked on at the end. The moral of the story is still told, but I would’ve liked to see it begin coming into play sooner.
One of the best things about this book is the work of illustrator Gaby Hansen. Every page shows a cute scene that the little ones are sure to enjoy. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted good illustration in a children’s book, but let’s face it, that’s what the kids are most interested in (to start with anyway). Overall, I thought this was a very nice children’s book with a good message and fantastic illustrations. Though there were a couple oddities with the writing, I wouldn’t say they pulled the book down. While it’s not the greatest children’s book in the world, it is one of those with a great message to relay to the little ones. That, in my opinion, is what matters when it comes to children’s books.

'The Map' by David Murrow

Robert Langdon he is not. I was very excited about this book when it became available on BookSneeze. The premise, half pulse-pounding mystery novel, half insightful book on men and their general absence in the church, was quite promising. As the Dan Brown novels, while not exactly historically accurate, are amazingly fun reads, I was very interested in this book. It was when I received the book and began reading it that my fascination began to decline. To be honest, I didn’t even finish the first half.
Perhaps I set my expectations too high. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the pure entertainment of the Robert Langdon novels. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t even make it through the first half of this book. In particular, what really broke me out of any kind of connection I had with the story was how often Murrow mentions his previous works. I realize he’s playing this off as being actual events in his life, but saying on multiple occasions something to the effect of: ‘I’m David Murrow, author of ____ book and _____ book’ was a bit much. I half expected him to finish the thought with ‘… available at online retailers for the low price of $9.99 plus tax!” When I read an entertainment book (even if it only makes up half the actual book) I want to be entertained. Not reminded of the author’s other accomplishments.
This, coupled with the obvious attempt at writing a Dan Brown-esque half-book, without fully succeeding, caused me to not even make it to the second half of the book. (Which, from what I’ve read, is the actual message!)
This being said, I believe that this half-fiction, half-inspirational/educational method has a lot of potential. I know I’ve mentioned Dan Brown a lot in positive ways, but I was even unable to get through his first two books. Perhaps Murrow should take another crack at this method of book-writing. Perhaps someone else should. Either way, whoever the next author is to attempt this, I hope they realize that they need to put a lot of thought and time into getting the reader interested in both halves of the book. I give The Map 2 out of 5 stars for it’s premise and attempt to get his message out to mystery/action readers.