Book Review: The Girl Who Could Fly

"The Girl Who Could Fly" by Victoria Forester

One of the taglines on this book describes this book as Little House on the Prairie meets X-Men. I would have to say, that odd little combination is a pretty accurate description. This book is about a young girl, Piper McCloud, who discovers she has the ability to fly. As she grows, Piper develops and harnesses that ability. But not everyone around her is as thrilled as she is. Her parents keep her hidden away and home from school for years, in an effort to hide her ability to fly. Then one day, they attend a community event and as fate would have it, her ability is exposed and the fall out is just as they expected; rumors, gossip and unwanted media attention. Then Dr. Letitia Hellion comes to the rescue and invites her to stay with other children who have similar abilities in a secure and safe location. But is it really a rescue? You must read to find out!

The clever writing immediately sucked me into the story. Piper really is from Little House on the Prairie it seems, and Victoria Forester does a great job expressing a unique voice for Piper. From a young reader's perspective, this book has it all. Adventure, unique characters, super hero elements, a bad guy (lady) and a bit of mystery. 

Piper seemed a little out of place, naïve and old-school, of course she was isolated at home with old-fashioned parents in a very small, backwoods sort of community. The other supporting characters are more current and nicely developed. The antagonist, Dr. Hellion, also has a valid backstory. The setting is believable and fun, especially for a young reader. 

Near the end, the writing seemed to stumble and was uncharacteristic of the rest of the novel, which is unfortunate because it was right in the middle of the climax. There was also a mysterious character who shows up a few times and you're left wondering who he is and why he was even there. It leaves a loose-end like there may be more to come. But honestly, I would prefer it as a stand alone book. 

Not compelling enough to span age groups, I think it is a great book for early readers, 3-5 grade level.

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2nd Draft

I printed out my 2nd draft of Witcherella. I must say, I am quite impressed. That's a lot of paper. That's a lot of words. That's a whole story right there and I wrote every word. Even if the words aren't always compelling or polished, I still feel pretty darn good looking at that stack of paper. 

After I printed it, I just sort of walked around the house for a while holding it close to my chest. I wrote a book! Time will tell if it's a good one. I will be handing it over to my book club on Thursday and then we'll discuss it at our April meeting. I'm nervous and excited. I can't wait to get the feedback and start on the 3rd draft. 

Regardless of where this goes, it's very fulfilling to see and hold these pages.

Gospel Doctrine OT C11: Joseph sold into slavery

Gospel Doctrine OT c11

Joseph sold to slavery/Potiphar’s wife

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Leah               Zilpah             Bilhah                        Rachel

1.Reuben      7. Gad            5. Dan                      11. Joseph    Ephraim/Mannaseh

2.Simeon      8.Asher         6.Nephtali                 12.Benjamin

3.Levi

4. Judah

9. Issachar

10.Zebulun

Dinah

Genesis 37 Joseph Sold Into Slavery

Scan over Gen 37

???What do you learn from/about the brothers?

            Downfall of favoritism and jealousy

Joseph is obedient and diligent: He is asked to check on his brothers. He

travels 45+12 miles and wanders in fields to find them

Reuben tried to save Joseph

Judah has the idea to sell Joseph to the Middianites

Speaking of Judah, Gen 38 is about him and it is not favorable. It seems like it is set up as a contrast to the Joseph’s experience with Potiphar’s wife.

Genesis 39 Potiphar’s wife

Scan over Gen 39

Joseph was approx.. 17 yrs old when he was sold. He served approx. 13 yrs in Potiphar’s house (3-4 in prison)

???What do you learn? What stands out?

???What do you think about Temptation?

???Can we avoid it? Is it as easy as running away?

Will-power can be depleted. No matter how good you are, if you keep putting yourself in tempting situations, you will be depleted.

1 Cor. 10:12 – “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

"The temptation itself created a cost. Imagine that your morning is full of temptation: muffin, croissant, Facebook, YouTube, saying something nasty to your boss (or kids, in my case), the morning is just full of temptation. And you've been able to resist all of that, good for you, but by the time you've resisted all of them, you've already paid the price. And the price you've paid is the price of depletion."

“The kids who resist temptation don't just sit there and stare at the marshmallow. They do things. They sit on their hands, they watch the ceiling, they sing a song, they turn around, they do things. That, I think, suggests that... there is training. And Walter Mischel did this very nice experiment in which he asked the kids to think about the marshmallows as clouds, and that basically eliminated the temptation to a large degree." (Dan Ariely)

Morality was Joseph’s temptation in this particular story.

Immorality vs Amorality

How do you stay virtuous? How do you teach your children?

God stayed with Joseph . Gen 39:2-3; 39:21-23

Why? What did Joseph do to keep God with him?

Where did Joseph find the strength to stay moral?

"The Lord needs to know if he can trust us to do the right thing in every situation. Joseph of Egypt had a fine position as Potiphar’s principal steward. Then the wife of Potiphar attempted to entice him to sin. Joseph was far from home and family. He was a trusted slave, but still a slave nonetheless. No one would know or care about his morals. To spurn the woman would certainly bring severe complications to his life, but he was true to his noble character. He fled sin, was caught, and imprisoned. He paid a price for his purity; yet to have done otherwise would have been a tragic flaw in his character. Nephi’s strength of character led him to obey a commandment. He could easily have been slain by the wicked Laban. Yet to not obey, when he had the testimony that the Lord would open the way for him to obtain the plates, would have been a flaw in his character. The Lord could trust Joseph and Nephi." (The Cs of Spirituality, Robert E Wells, Oct. 1978)

What do Nephi and Joseph have in common? The testimony that the Lord would open the way.

The bigger picture.

"Clearly the brothers, and apparently also Jacob, had misunderstood the nature of their bowing to Joseph. They understandably, but incorrectly took that to mean they would worship Joseph, or took it as some kind of measure of their relative value of worth. Wonderfully we learn that Joseph was elevated to his position in order to serve them. And, their bowing was an act of receiving their brother’s help, not meant to establish some kind of family pecking order." (Phillip Allred, LDSLiving Mag, Mar 4, 2014) 

Servitude vs. Submission/ willingness to serve

Can this apply to parenthood?

Serving others:
"In this way – the same as Joseph had done during his lifetime – Joseph’s progeny are to become saviors to their brethren of Israel (and by extension the rest of Father’s children). During this last dispensation, Joseph’s descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family. With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern Temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities." (Phillip Allred)

Good quote on Morality, Immorality, Amorality:

It’s not immorality that we hate in movies, it’s amorality. Immorality, accurately portrayed complete with consequences, is a part of many good stories, including those from the scriptures.

But amorality, depicted without context or consequence, is an insidious evil that drags down all of society, particularly its younger members.

When dishonesty or violence or especially jumping into bed together on first acquaintance is depicted as the norm — portrayed as what everybody does — it can lead kids thoughtlessly into the same behaviors.

“Our Love-Hate Relationship with Movies” Richard & Linda Eyre, DesNews, Tues March 4, 2014

Gospel Doctrine OT C9: Provide a Lamb

Gospel Doctrine Old Testament C9

God Will Provide Himself a Lamb (Gen 15-17, 21-22)

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History: Abraham 1:5-7 Evil times

                                1:15 Abraham is saved

                                1:16-19 Jehovah speaks to Abraham

                                1:20 altar and evil priest are destroyed

??What is learned when Jehovah speaks to Abraham?

                -God will deliver him from his evil surroundings v16

-Sometimes deliverance takes us to strange lands v16

-People are evil because they turn their hearts away from the true God. If we want to be delivered and not destroyed, we need to keep our hearts turned toward God v17

        -God will lead him by the hand, give him the priesthood and power v18

                               

??How might Abraham’s experience on the altar of the false priests have helped prepare him for future trials? How can our trials help us prepare for future difficulties?

History: ??What promise did the Lord give Abraham regarding children? That they would be as numerous as the stars in the heaven.

??What was the problem? Sarah was barren. Gen 16:1-2.

She gave Hagar to her husband to bear children. Hagar bore Ishmael.

Abraham has a vision. Gen 17:15-17, 19. Sarah will bear a son a name him Isaac.

??What can the revelation that Abraham and Sarah would have a son teach us about how God fulfills his promises? God will fulfill his promises, though not necessarily in the way or at the tie we might expect. We are often asked to wait by the Lord.

We can look at what Abraham has learned, just in the readings of this lesson, (not taking into consideration the visions he had of the creation and worlds without number), and we see great mercy, love and attention from the Lord. It supports my personal Old Testament theme:

Moroni 10:3 “Remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.”

And then comes this. Video: Akedah (The Binding)

CHRISTYPE:

??What Christ-type do you see in the offering of Isaac?

                Abraham as the father, Isaac as the son

                Isaac as us, the ram in the thicket as Christ

Elder Dallin H Oaks said: “This story … shows the goodness of God in protecting Isaac and in providing a substitute so he would not have to die. Because of our sins and our mortality, we, like Isaac, are condemned to death. When all other hope is gone, our Father in Heaven provides the Lamb of God, and we are saved by his sacrifice” (Ensign, Nov 1992)

Of course the sacrifice of Isaac would be difficult on so many levels.

??What are some specific reasons it would be so hard for Abraham?

                -he had to wait for so long for a son. Isaac was his miracle

                -God had promised that the Abrahamic covenant would continue through Isaac and his descendants

                -Abraham’s personal history of almost being offered a sacrifice himself. We talked earlier about how that experience could prepare him? Do you think it did?

Our trials are all different, but can be no less difficult than what others are called to bear.

??What are things you or people you know struggle with?

It may be health issues, depression, work and employment, family issues, struggling with testimony and doubts. The thing that is the same is that we all have trials and we all are asked to sacrifice.

FOR ME: Take it for what it’s worth:  It made a different kind of sense to me to realize, these are not just trials. I’m not just muddling through and trying to come out the best I can. These are trials that require sacrifices in which I prove my faithfulness and obedience; my willingness to sacrifice. (Sterling misses passing the sacrament to his children)

??What have you been asked to give up? Ideal health? Can’t eat what you want? A big home? Extravagant vacations? Family relationships? The need to have concrete answers to spiritual questions? 

Elder Spencer W. Kimball: “Exceeding faith was shown by Abraham when the superhuman test was applied to him His young ‘child of promise,’ destined to be the father of empires, must now be offered upon the sacrificial altar. It was God’s command, but it seemed so contradictory! How could his son, Isaac, be the father of an uncountable posterity if in his youth his mortal life was to be terminated? Why should he, Abraham, be called upon to do this revolting deed? It was irreconcilable, impossible! And yet he believed God. His undaunted faith carried him with breaking heart toward the land of Moriah with this young son who little suspected the agonies through which his father must have been passing.” (Conf Report, Oct. 1952)

FOR ME: Taking it one step further:  Sometimes God’s commands may seem contradictory or too difficult to accomplish. I’m thinking of social issues in and out of the church that are difficult to understand. Same gender issues, women and the priesthood to name a few. We must follow the example of Abraham and live with exceeding faith.

President Hugh B. Brown said that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac because “Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham” (in Truman G. Madsen, The Highest in Us [1978], 49).

D&C 101:4 – “Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.”

Henry B Eyring: “We need strength beyond ourselves to keep the commandments in whatever circumstance life brings to us. For some it may be poverty, but for others it may be prosperity. It may be the ravages of age or the exuberance of youth. The combination of trials and their duration are as varied as are the children of our Heavenly Father. No two are alike. But what is being tested is the same, at all times in our lives and for every person: will we do whatsoever the Lord our God will command us? (Conf Rep Apr 2004)

I don’t think we will ever be asked to sacrifice a child but we WILL be asked to sacrifice. The response either way should be faithful obedience. Will we do whatsoever the Lord our God will command us? That is the goal, the measure of our faith

Spencer W. Kimball: “How often do Church members arise early in the morning to do the will of the Lord? How often do we say, “Yes, I will have home evening with my family, but the children are so young now; I will start when they are older”? How often do we say, “Yes, I will obey the commandment to store food and to help others, but just now I have neither the time nor the money to spare; I will obey later”? Oh, foolish people! While we procrastinate, the harvest will be over and we will not be saved. Now is the time to follow Abraham’s example; now is the time to repent; now is the time for prompt obedience to God’s will.” (“The Example of Abraham,” Ensign, June 1975).