Moving and beautiful, this post-Holocaust novel offers hope after horror. *What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper.  Knopf, 2018, 249 pages. Reading Level: Teen, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 15-up On the day the British liberated the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, Gerta Rausch was too weak to walk; a soldier pulled her from the arms of her dead bunkmate and carried her out into the sunshine.  There she very slowly realized she was still alive, among the piles of the dead.  That thought is enough for days, weeks, even months.  But slowly, as flaccid muscles firm up on her bones and strength returns, she realizes the script of her life…

In these four tales inspired by Kipling’s Jungle Book, Mowgli the man-cub learns the backstories of his fellow creatures. *Into the Jungle: Stories for Mowgli by Katherine Rundell.  Walker Books, 2018, 231 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: All ages as a read-aloud, ages 8-12 as independent readers Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book ends with Mowgli, the man cub, returning to his own people.  But before that happened, he must have had many more adventures with his wolf-pack siblings and the other animals in the wild.  And between those adventures, wiser heads, including his wolf parents, would have had stories to tell him.  The four tales recounted here,…

It’s time to reclaim “Women’s History Month” (March). How about “Women in the Church Month,” complete with deep conversation about our shared faith, discussion about great books, and multi-generational fellowship? Let’s pursue godly, real world relationships, particularly in our Christian communities and churches. Faith, Fiction, & Fellowship Gather your daughter(s) for a book club experience like no other. No daughters at home? No problem. Gather your friends, some college girls at church, a group of teens at the high school where you teach, other women in your church…. We’ve got you covered with books for multiple age groups, discussion questions, recipes, and more! Put aside those social media “relationships” and…

A teenage Syrian refugee is the “Nowhere Boy” whose fate falls into the hands of an American 13-year-old. Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh.  Roaring Brook, 2018, 353 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-15 Ahmed’s short life was already ravaged when a bomb killed his mother and siblings in Aleppo, Syria.  But in the water passage from Turkey to Greece, he lost his father as well.  Tagging along with another refugee family to Brussels, he decides to cut loose and try to get to France.  That plan goes awry on a cold and rainy night, when he’s robbed and threatened by an unscrupulous smuggler. Desperate, he…