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Mount Hood Oregon
J.N. Courtney

Children's Book Author  ℘  Occupational Therapist

JN Courtney Children's Book Author Occupational Therapist

Books I Enjoy

Books for Adults

An American in Scotland
James Patterson by James Patterson
Diet for the Mind
Simple Abundance
Joyful

  • An Amer­i­can in Scot­land: A Scot­tish Isle Mys­tery by Lucy Con­nel­ly. A clever and invit­ing mys­tery set in North­ern Scot­land. Warm and quirky char­ac­ters with well-paced plot. So enjoyed — can’t wait until the sec­ond in the series comes out in 2024. 

  • James Pat­ter­son by James Pat­ter­son: The Sto­ries of My Life by James Pat­ter­son. Fun­ny with won­der­ful sto­ries, and I real­ly appre­ci­at­ed his shar­ing how out­lines make a dif­fer­ence in his writ­ing, and how he advo­cates for chil­dren’s literacy.

  • Diet for the Mind: The Lat­est Sci­ence on What to Eat to Pre­vent Alzheimer’s and Cog­ni­tive Decline by Dr. Martha Clare Mor­ris. Pro­pos­es new diet com­bin­ing the Dash and Mediter­ranean Diets based on sci­en­tif­ic research. I like the sug­ges­tions for dai­ly and week­ly food recommendations.

  • Sim­ple Abun­dance: A Day­book of Com­fort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breath­nach. Full of ideas for under­stand­ing self and oth­ers, and liv­ing a full joy-filled life …

  • Joy­ful: The Sur­pris­ing Pow­er of Ordi­nary Things to Cre­ate Extra­or­di­nary Hap­pi­ness by Ingrid Fetell Lee. High­ly inspi­ra­tional! Cre­ative­ly explores the pow­er of sen­so­ry input in our envi­ron­ment and our lives. 

Atomic Habits James Clear
Fast Asleep Dr Michael Mosley
How to Lead David M. Rubenstein
Only Time Will Tell Jeffrey Archer
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  • Atom­ic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear. Book clar­i­fies the habit-build­ing process, a won­der­ful ref­er­ence when you feel stuck in adapt­ing a new habit. 
  • Fast Asleep: Improve Brain Func­tion, Lose Weight, Boost Your Mood, Become a Bet­ter Sleep­er by Dr. Michael Mosley. Full of recent research with ready-to-try strategies.
  • How To Lead: Wis­dom from the World’s Great­est CEOs, Founders, and Game Chang­ers  by David M. Ruben­stein. Inspir­ing from the first page!
  • The Clifton Chron­i­cles by Jef­fery Archer. Sev­en-book adult series, an “I can’t put it down series.” Be wary if you have back issues. 

Children’s Books

What Feelings Do When No One's Looking
Mad for Math an Ocean of Calculations
Africa is Not a Country
The Magic Faraway Tree The Enchanted Wood
Daughter of the Deep
  • What Feel­ings Do When No One’s Look­ing by Tina Oziewicz, illus­trat­ed by Alek­san­dra Zajac, trans­lat­ed into Eng­lish (from Pol­ish) by Jen­nifer Croft. Heart­warm­ing and unique illus­tra­tions, and thought­ful ideas about emo­tions relat­able by all ages.
  • Mad for Math: An Ocean of Cal­cu­la­tions edit­ed by Tec­no­scien­za, illus­trat­ed by Agnese Baruzzi. Cre­ative, fun, and chal­leng­ing with imag­i­na­tive illus­tra­tions. A math work­book for ages 7–9.
  • Africa is Not a Coun­try by Mar­gy Burns Knight and Mark Mel­ni­cove. Beau­ti­ful­ly writ­ten about how chil­dren in dif­fer­ent coun­tries in the con­ti­nent of Africa begin and end their day.

  • The Mag­ic Far­away Tree: The Enchant­ed Wood by Enid Bly­ton. Imag­i­na­tive, cre­ative, and fun. I know a sev­en-year-old who has cho­sen it as a favorite book.

  • Daugh­ter of the Deep by Rick Rior­dan. I love this book! High­ly cre­ative under­wa­ter adven­ture with fas­ci­nat­ing inter­na­tion­al and var­ied char­ac­ters with their dif­fer­ences and sen­si­tiv­i­ties (one char­ac­ter is on the autism spectrum). 

Dog Songs Poems Mary Oliver
Wing & Claw
No Frogs in School A Lafaye Eglantine Ceulemans
Thesaurus Has a Secret by Anya Glazer
Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog Lisa Papp

  • Dog Songs: Poems by Mary Oliv­er. Beau­ti­ful and thought­ful col­lec­tion of poems. 

  • Wing & Claw, a three-book chil­dren’s series by Lin­da Sue Park. Thought­ful, cre­ative, and inspir­ing book.

  • No Frogs in School, by A. LaFaye, illus­trat­ed by Églan­tine Ceule­mans. A col­or­ful, play­ful book about a boy and his love of animals.

  • The­saurus Has a Secret by Anya Glaz­er. About the chal­lenges of hav­ing a secret hob­by and its won­der­ful dis­cov­ery by oth­ers. Fun and sur­pris­ing with cre­ative dinosaur illustrations. 

  • Made­line Finn and the Ther­a­py Dog by Lisa Papp. About shar­ing, the joy of respon­si­bil­i­ty and help­ing others.

The Most Beautiful Thing Kao Kalia Yang Khoa Le
Khalil and Mr. Hagerty and the Backyard Treasures Tricia Springstubb
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek A Tall Thin Tale Deborah Hopkinson John Hendrix
A Little Space for Me Jennifer Gray Olson
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  • The Most Beau­ti­ful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, illus­trat­ed by Khoa Le. Heart­warm­ing and inspi­ra­tional sto­ry of car­ing for and appre­ci­at­ing oth­ers despite hard­ship, through love and under­stand­ing. Sto­ry draws from author’s expe­ri­ences as a Hmong refugee.

  • Khalil and Mr. Hager­ty and the Back­yard Trea­sures by Tri­cia Springstubb, illus­trat­ed by Ela­heh Taher­ian. An endear­ing sto­ry of two friends.

  • Abe Lin­coln Cross­es a Creek: A Tall Thin Tale by Deb­o­rah Hop­kin­son and John Hen­drix. A sto­ry of Abe Lin­col­n’s unsung hero and loy­al friend.

  • A Lit­tle Space for Me by Jen­nifer Gray Olson. Cre­ative and sen­si­tive book. 

Happy Reading!