Enjoy our Mom to Mom Conversation about Daneen Akers’ beautiful new book

THIS WEEK, COVER STORY BEGINS: “Dear Mama God” The moment we see those three words on the cover of a big, colorful book, we know this is a book intended for children. But what may surprise you about this new book is that these pages contain the words of a child—specifically Daneen Akers’ daughter Lucy when she was aged 4-6.

This inspired us to prepare an unusual Cover Story for this week’s issue of our magazine, featuring a Mom to Mom conversation about this delightful new book. Please, enjoy our story and share it with friends—so that this wonderful new book may find its way into the hands of many parents who love reading with their young ones.

And Speaking of Creative Ideas for Children—

Brenda Rosenberg helps to spread interfaith awareness through Girl Scouts

AUTHOR AND PEACE ACTIVIST BRENDA ROSENBERG gives us a photo-illustrated overview of a unique program in southeast Michigan in which Girl Scouts are working on a “My Promise, My Faith” program. Click on the photo or this link to read Brenda’s story, published courtesy of Michigan’s Jewish News.

AND—Wherever you are reading this around the world, you can learn much more about Brenda’s many years of work with young people on building interfaith understanding from a very early age. Her main book describing this process is Reuniting the Children of Abraham: The Sacred Story that Calls Jews, Christians and Muslims to Peace and is available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle editions via Amazon.

Join in the Fun with Laura Elizabeth

FIRST: THE ZIBBYMAG COVER REVEAL

Susan Stitt explains how and why our publishing house arranged to have the influential ZibbyMag produce our worldwide “cover reveal” for Laura’s new cozy mystery.

THEN: 3 WAYS YOU CAN JOIN THE FUN

David Crumm writes about several ways readers who love cozy mysteries can join in the fun right away, even before the book’s official launch date.

Clicking on this photo of Emily Brown, reporting from Montana, will take you to the Amazon page for the book abut the remarkable Brown family: “Shining Brightly.”

Emily and Howard Brown

‘ARE YOU A HOPE MAKER?’

THAT’S A QUESTION raised both by Montana-based TV reporter Emily Brown and her father, the author and nationally known speaker and consultant Howard Brown.

Last week, we linked to Emily’s TV reporting on an especially heartbreaking loss in the movement to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW): the case of hit-and-run victim Mika Westwolf. We also linked to a photo gallery of the June march in Mika’s memory. This week, Mika’s family and friends are asking allies, wherever you may live, to add to the more than 26,000 signatures in an online petition calling for further investigation of Mika’s death.

ALSO THIS WEEK, Emily’s father—author Howard Brown—interviews the inspiring Jenny Mulks on his podcast about the question: Are you a hope maker?

To learn more about Emily, Howard and their remarkable family, order a copy of the memoir Shining Brightly from Amazon right now.

George Mason and Tom Eggebeen

‘INVITING US TO CHOOSE WISELY’

THERE’S ARE SO MANY inspiring and thought-provoking passages in George A. Mason’s new book The Word Made Fresh that readers will come away with a whole lot of fresh ideas—and a challenge to “choose wisely” about the ways all of us can help to heal broken souls. That’s the judgment of popular Presbyterian pastor and writer Tom Eggebeen in a review Tom has posted on his website.

Care to jump over to Amazon and learn more? Please, check out the new book, which is launching in hardcover, paperback and Kindle editions on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

Holidays & Milestones

Planning for Independence Day?

Better start before July 4.

THIS YEAR, the number of Americans hitting the highways and the skies is expected to surpass the previous year as the pandemic fades as a national concern. But if your aim is fireworks, for example, you’ll want to check right now! Many public Fourth of July programs are scheduled well before the actual holiday.

WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com

Click on the movie poster to read Ed McNulty’s review of the new documentary about Yogi Berra.

Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:

IT AIN’T OVER—Ed says: “Yogi Berra’s famous quotations and media celebrity have overshadowed his other amazing accomplishments—and it is this which director Sean Mullin and executive producer Lindsay Berra set out to rectify in this delightful documentary.”
ASTEROID CITY—Ed writes: “I have enjoyed most of Wes Anderson’s droll comedies, especially Moonrise Kingdom and Isle of Dogs. This time his satirical tale set in the desert town of Asteroid City left me a bit cold and nonplussed.”
OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN—”French writer director Rebecca Zlotowski puts a different spin on this rom-com tale of a woman falling in love with a divorced man who is co-parenting a little daughter.”
MENDING THE LINE—”Director Joshua Caldwell and scriptwriter Stephen Camelio tell a familiar story—that of a wounded veteran needing more than just physical healing—but with a different twist.”
POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA—”Writer/director Wes Hurley’s autobiographical dark comedy is about a young boy growing up during the last days of the USSR.”
OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN—”French writer director Rebecca Zlotowski puts a different spin on this rom-com tale of a woman falling in love with a divorced man who is co-parenting a little daughter.”
MAID—”This 10-episode series about an abused wife and mother has more heart and insights than a hundred super hero epics. The series is based on the memoir by Stephanie Land Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive.”
TED LASSO, Season 3—Ed loves this popular TV series and now offers his own faith-and-film reflections on the series.
SABBATH—Ed McNulty offers his review of Martin Doblmeier’s documentary Sabbath, starting with a detailed look at the first part of the national broadcast. For more on this inspiring documentary, you also may want to read our Cover Story interview with Martin, which is headlined: “Do you know it’s healthy to observe ‘Sabbath’?“
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET—”The film, directed and written by Kelly Fremon Craig, follows the novel very faithfully, with every member of the excellent cast contributing to the humor and insights, so that I think fans of the iconic book—it sold 90 million copies!—will agree that the long wait has been well worth it.”