Papa’s Pearls- Schoolhouse Review

Recently I was able to review Papa’s Pearls by Diane Flynn Keith. Papa’s Pearls is an uplifting biographical book that shares the wisdom and lessons Ms. Keith’s papa shared with her and her family. Not only is it a book of parental wisdom, but also the story of a man who turned himself around. Throughout the book, Ms. Keith shares these pearls of wisdom, or phrases Papa often said. She uses stories from his life and memories of hers and other family members.

The book is intended primarily for adults, but many of the messages shared could be of value for any age. I don’t think I would hand it to my children to read though. Some of the stories were a little more mature and there was one or two expletives.

While many of the pearls were not necessarily new to me, they were presented in a new way or with different words. In a few cases this helped clarify to me how I wanted to apply certain principles to my family. While I often agreed with Papa about many things, there were a few small things I didn’t agree with-I am not sure that I would send my 11 year old to ride a bus to another city without supervision. Overall, this is a book about hard work, honesty, love for fellow men and family, and tooling children to be able to go out into the real world and be successful adults. Papa was a man who loved his family unconditionally, and I found myself inspired to be a better mom.

Papa’s Pearls was a quick read of 110 pages and 17 chapters, but it was full of sage advice. I think my very favorite chapter was the very last one entitled “Fantastic.” An autographed copy of Papa’s Pearls is available for $14.97 plus $7 shipping. The author also has a link to Amazon for paperback or Kindle editions. If you want to know why it is called “Fantastic,” you will have to read it.