Promise Me, Dad
by Joe Biden
Flatiron Books (2017)
Pages 258 Price $27

“Promise Me Dad” by Joe Biden is an inspirational book about loss and faith.The Biden family faced the loss of Beau Biden, their son, who struggled with cancer for 15 months.

This beautiful tribute to a son by a father is spiritually moving. Father and son were very close. As Vice President with many meetings and appointments dealing with world issues, Biden’s mind was always on his son Beau at Walter Reed Hospital. His faith and hope kept him going. Beau was only 46 and the family hoped Beau would make it.

Biden sat in a doctor’s office at Walter Reed Hospital listening to a medical team about the condition of his son Beau. A speakerphone in the center of the room revealed messages from doctors of  the world famous cancer center, M.D. Anderson Hospital in Texas, that there was nothing more that could be done for Beau. ”He will not recover,” were the words the Biden family did not want to hear.

The family was told and gathered at Walter Reed Hospital immediately. After months of hope, tests, and different medications, this was the end. Nobody left the hospital that night. On May 30, 2015 at 7:51 a.m. Beau passed away surrounded by his family. Even when you are told death will occur, it comes as a shock. You never give up hope. It is a terrible shock.

Twenty four hours later, Air Force Two landed in Delaware with Joe and Jill Biden on their way home. Standing on the tarmac waiting for them was General Frank Vavala, Commander of the Delaware National Guard, in which Beau had served. Both General Vavala and his wife had loved Beau. Friends sharing their loss, being there as they arrived home after their loss, helped them by their very presence.

The book reveals that it was faith and friends that brought Joe Biden and his family through this difficult time.As he shares his loss in this book, he helps others facing the same situation across the nation with great sensitivity and generosity of spirit. He never gives up hope for new research and help for others in the future.

An important conversation before Beau died took place between father and son. Beau told his father he must run for president and keep on going. Joe promised he would keep on going. However, whether he would run for president he put on the back burner. He would think about it another day, but a promise between father and son was understood. More than 70,000 letters of condolences came to the White House. Biden and his family were deeply moved. He could not make a decision to run for president right after his son’s death in 2015.

But now in 2018, it looks like Joe Biden might possibly run for president, and follow his son’s advice. One can never tell what will happen in politics, but whatever the choice that Joe Biden makes, his love  for his son Beau, and tribute to him in this book, will remain forever indelible, and an inspiration for others facing the same tragic events.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul
The wonder of Christmas (2018)
Edited by Amy Newmark
Pages 334 Price $14.95 paperback

If you are looking for a Christmas gift at the last minute, this book is it because there is a smile for you on every page even found in some poignant works. One hundred and one stories about the joy of the season are in this book. Each story is short and up lifting. It is the type of book that you take to bed with you on a cold winter night and can complete a story before you fall asleep.Each story has a different style and all are professional.

Ten different sections cover specific themes including such titles as: “Christmas Miracles,”  “Giving Thanks,” “The Perfect Gift,” “Four Legged Festivities,” ”Holiday Hiccups,” and “Special Memories” to name only a few.

Amy Newmark is the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series which started in 1993. She is credited with revising this series in 2008. Newmark graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University. For three decades she worked as a Wall Street analyst and corporate executive. When she entered the world of publishing of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, she found a way to touch readers across America with humor, wisdom, and creativity. Sharing happiness, inspiration and hope are the goals of these stories.The book states ,”We all have had Chicken Soup for the Soul moments in our lives. If you would like to share your story, go to chickensoup.com and click on “Submit Your Story.” They only accept stories through their website. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts in the mail.

One writer from Maine has an interesting short story in this edition. Her name is Kathy Eliscu. She is a retired RN and has written many different articles and a humorous novel titled, “Not Even Dark Chocolate Can Fix This Mess.”

In her story in this edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Kathy Eliscu wrote about her mother, Margery Eliscu, who was a later in life humor columnist, for the Portland Press Herald, and died in July 2006 at 81.

Moving her parents to an assisted-care residence was a challenge and she explains her trials and triumphs. She states, “On Christmas Eve, I was upstairs speed wrapping some gifts, when I was called downstairs to hear some carolers at the door. Relatives had come from New York to surprise me.” It was memorable Christmas for all. If you want to hear about what happened when packages were opened on Christmas day, you will have to read the short story titled, “Unpacking Christmas,” by Kathy Eliscu.

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Steven Spielberg
A Life in Films
by Molly Haskell
Published by Yale University Press (2007)
Pages 205 Price $25

“Everything about me is in my films,” Steven Spielberg has said.  From: ”Jaws,”  “Indiana Jones,” “Jurassic Park,” “Saving Private Ryan,” to “Schindler’s List,” you will find a little of Steven Spielberg in each of these films. In fact, “Schindler’s List” will be returning to the screen in 2019 to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Spielberg was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His first experience with films was in a Boy Scout group. He wanted to fulfill a requirement for a photography merit badge. His dad’s still- camera was broken so he asked the scout master if he could use his dad’s  movie camera. He made a film and got his merit badge and that is how he got started in films!!!!! He applied to the University of Southern California ’s film school but got rejected because he only had a “C” average. Perseverance, creativity, and originality were his strengths. He got accepted at California State University and went on and completed his BA in  Film and Electronic Arts  later in life, in 2002 after creating such famous films as “Jaws” in 1975  “E.T.” in 1982, “Indiana Jones” in 1984 “Jurassic Park” in 1993, and “Saving Private Ryan” in 1998. Can you imagine having Steven Spielberg as a student in your classroom in 2002?

On Dec. 18, 2016,  Spielberg turned 70. In his eighth decade on earth he is still making movies. If you are interested in the films of Spielberg, read this book by Molly Haskell. Haskell is a film critic. She has taught at Columbia, Barnard, and Sarah Lawrence. The book is written very well but some parts are so detailed they become a tad dry. She has, however, written articles for the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and the Nation. This book is a remarkable little volume that is packed with interesting information, and recommended highly.

Pat Davidson Reef is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. She received her Masters Degree at the University of Southern Maine.She taught English and Art History at Catherine McAuley High for many years.She now teaches at the University of Southern Maine in Portland in the  Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Classic Films. She recently wrote a children’s book,”Dahlov Ipcar Artist, and is now writing another children’s book “Bernard Langlais Revisited.”