"Finding Moosewood, Finding God" by Jack Perkins

About the book:   For twenty-five years, millions of Americans watched Jack Perkins on NBC News as a correspondent, commentator, and anchorman. People were familiar with his face, his bearing, and his rich, reassuring bass. Yet at the age of fifty-two and at the height of his career, Jack Perkins disappeared from the public eye and moved with his wife, Mary Jo, to a bare-necessities cabin on an uninhabited island off the coast ofMaine. This isolated home they came to call Moosewood was the setting for Jack and Mary Jo's spiritual awakening. In the busy years of Jack's career inLos Angeleshe hadn't felt the need for God. In their new, quiet, and difficult life, though, he began to rethink everything he thought he knew. For thirteen years they endured (and learned to enjoy) snowbound winters, shuttling supplies from the mainland, testing themselves and their marriage, and discovering the rewards of a close-to-nature life, acknowledging that the hand guiding their blessed new lives was the hand of a gracious God who knew them long before they acknowledged him.

Review:  Finding Moosewood, Finding God was a delightful and interesting autobiography written by Jack Perkins, a former NBC News correspondent, commentator, and anchorman.  The book weaves together Jack’s personal story and details from various interviews and experiences that Jack encountered during his news career.  At the age of 52, when Jack’s career was at its peak, he and his wife Mary Jo chose to leave their former life of prominence for a remote cabin on an island off the shore of Bar Harbor, Maine which could only be reached during low tide.  The isolated home, which they named “Moosewood” after the trees of the same name that populated the island, became the setting for Jack and Mary Jo to “be still and know that I am God.”

    During Jack’s busy years of his career among the rich and famous, he never felt the need for God; but, in this new and quiet, isolated life, Jack began to rethink all he knew.  For the 13 years while at Moosewood, Jack and his wife discovered that all through their lives there was the unseen Hand of God guiding their very steps and paths.

I would highly recommend this book to any teen or adult reader.  Jack Perkins is a “word-smith” who weaves an almost poetic literary style with vocabulary that is not only delightful, but stretches the reader to discover new words and their meanings. It is also a wonderful reminder that those whom the Lord is seeking, He always finds.  Read and enjoy Finding Moosewood, Finding God. (rev. J.LaTour)

DISCLOSURE: A complimentary copy was given to the school for its library.