Small Talk (Review & Giveaway)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

I expected this book to be sort of light and fluffy. You know, cute stuff from children mixed in with the sometimes startling, often thought-provoking things that children say. Small Talk is so much more than that! It is surprisingly deep, touching, and emotional. Amy Julia Becker has a warm, easy style. Reading her book feels as if you've been invited to sit at her table, drink a cup of tea, and share about motherhood, faith, hardship, loss, blessings, and grace. Her brutal honesty about her struggles with motherhood and faith (especially her run-ins with her rambunctious son) reminded me that I'm not alone.  

Small Talk is a must read and would make a perfect gift for any mother, especially mothers of children with special needs. I think it would even be appropriate for use as a devotional.  I enjoyed this book and I learned a great deal from it. 

More about the book:

Every day, one of Amy Julie Becker’s children says something that prompts her to think about life in a new way. “Mom, does Santa love me?” William asks, after his mother explains the meaning of Christmas…In a chat with her dad about the children who died in the Sandy Hook shootings, Penny asks, “Did they go to heaven?” …”You was a jerk, Mommy?” asks Marilee one morning in the car.

These conversations deepen Amy Julia’s relationships with her children, but they also refine her understanding of what she believes and what God is doing in her own life.

In Small Talk, Amy Julia draws from the wisdom and curiosity of those young voices to reflect on beauty and kindness, tragedy and disability, prayer and miracles. As she moves through the basic questions her kids posed when they were very young to the more intellectual questions of later childhood, she invites us to learn from our own day-to-day conversations with the children in our lives.

This eloquent parenting memoir is about the big questions little hearts ask, the thoughts their words provoke, and the laughter and soul-searching their honesty brings—to adult and child alike.

About the author:

Amy Julia Becker writes about faith, family, and disability for Parents.com, the New York Times Motherlode blog, TheAtlantic.com, The Huffington Post parents page, Christianity Today, The Christian century, and numerous other publications. Her first book, A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny, was named one of the Top Ten Religion Books of 2011 by Publishers Weekly. Amy Julia lives in western Connecticut with her husband and three children.

Official Website: http://www.zondervan.com/small-talk

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFiRKM19JZY 

Amy’s Website: http://amyjuliabecker.com

      Follow her on Twitter here!

      Check out her Facebook page here!

One of my readers will win a copy of this wonderful book! Enter here: 

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"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”