Book Review – A Century Turns by William J. Bennett

This is, without a doubt, the best political history of recent times that I’ve read. 
A Century Turns is a detailed chronology of the past two decades, from 1998 and the election of George H. W. Bush up to the recent election of Barack Obama.  I have lived this historical time, yet never have I understood it as thoroughly as I do now, thanks to Bill Bennett.
Not only is this book about politics, it’s about popular culture and world events… and how all of it has influenced our nation and brought us to where we are today.  Bennett, a known conservative, does an admirable job of providing an objective point of view when discussing events.  His opinion, when shared, is stated as such, and differing opinions are explained and respected as well.  The narration of events is peppered with Bennett’s personal anecdotes (he was closely involved with the major players in many events), which makes the book highly enjoyable.
This would work well as a history textbook (if only my high school history texts had been as interesting and compelling as this one!); at the very least it can be used as an extremely detailed chronological timeline of this period. 
I’m recommending this book to everyone I know.  Bennett has fascinated me with the history of my own time, and I am very grateful. 
Thank you to Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book to review.

The Art Box – April 12, 2010

 The Art Box stayed pretty much the same this past week as it was the previous week (lazy mama syndrome), with the addition of some stickers and a wooden caboose to go with the train M has been putting together.

M needs a kick in the pants.  Or something.  He has been following me around for the past week saying “what can I do?  Can I watch TV? (no)  I can’t think of anything to dooo… whine, whine, whine.”  I’m pretty fed up with it.  He is suddenly not interested in even looking through his art box, unless it’s as a final resort to tackle the boredom. 

Anyway, this is all just to say what was done here was done only half-heartedly and I’m thinking of taking the art box away for a couple of weeks and simply putting out an art project (open ended, but not entirely child-directed) that he can choose to do or not do.  I am hoping to renew his interest in using his imagination and creativity.  My theory is he’s been sick on and off for the past 2 to 3 weeks and during that time has been allowed to watch too much tv and videos.  They can be a lifesaver sometimes with a sick kid, but they sure can become addictive and stifle the imagination pretty quickly!  I’ll still be doing my Art Box posts, but they may look a bit different for a couple of weeks.

M did enjoy painting his wooden caboose, albeit reluctantly:

 

He colored this coloring page with his sparkly gel pens:I love how close he’s getting to actually staying within the lines.  And I wish you could see how this thing glimmers in the sunlight!

 

M picked out two little pots at Target to move his sprouts into.  We planted some forget-me-not and shamrock seeds a while back and they are doing quite well.  It’s definitely time to move them to larger pots.  He decorated these first with some foam stickers:

Finished product (minus the plants):

 

He drew a picture for Daddy:

Then taped pieces of scrap paper to the back of it:

Then drew one for Mommy:He gave this to me, then very sweetly asked me to be his Valentine. :)  It’s a good thing Mama thinks you’re cute, kiddo!

Have some children’s artwork you’d like to share?  Link it up below, and make sure to include a link back here in your blog post! 

Have a beautiful day! :)