The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World

Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher (Amish Grace) team up once more to offer insight into the often misunderstood world of the Amish. Refreshingly, this study makes a point of focusing on the spiritual and theological aspects of their world rather than simply cataloguing the outward cultural characteristics. Horse-drawn transportation and simple clothing do make their appearances, but they are revealed to be simply incidental to a deeply felt faith rather than something to gawk at. Focusing on a triumvirate of religious beliefs, practices, and affections, the authors weave the spirituality of the Amish through the everyday fibers of existence. Chapters are organized by broad themes including, "nature," "sorrow," and "family," then further subdivided into short vignettes featuring a particular practice or belief. The final chapter contains the broadest appeal. It includes a candid appraisal of the costs of living the Amish way, but, more importantly, also suggest how American culture could greatly benefit from the patient faith of this proudly "peculiar" people. All together, the book reads quickly and provides a fine and appropriately simple introduction to the Amish faith.

Publishers Weekly Review

BLISS, REMEMBERED

This, a story written by Frank DeFord, is from the 1936 Berlin Olympics to the end of World War II. Sydney Stringfellow, a naive young swimmer from Maryland goes to Europe to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and meets a young German man, Horst Gerhardt, the son of a high-ranking diplomat. They fall madly in love but are separated during World War II. Love is hard to pursue when you have a heated war between you. Sydney is broken hearted at losing Horst, but eventually meets and marries a kind young American named Jimmy Branch, who then is killed at Guadalcanal. Horst comes to America and they meet each other again but his life is in much danger since he is a spy. Sydney is recalling all of this "remembered bliss" and having her son record the information for she is dying of an incurable illness. Her son and daughter had never heard any of their mother's story of her first love or that she could have been a famous American Olympic swimmer. DeFord comes up with some wonderful surpises that keeps the story from becoming mundane. This book has humor, love, intrigue, history, and action. BLISS, REMEMBERED IS A FABULOUS historical read.

The Perfect Shot is a 3-pointer!

The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin is an exciting murder mystery set in Indiana! Brian's girlfriend, Amanda, her little brother and mother have all been murdered. The police think it was her father. Brian isn't so sure. But everyone he knows is telling him to move on and get over it! Focus on basketball and on being the best forward you can be. Focus on hitting that perfect shot!
Brian hopes that the system will work for Amanda and her father. An innocent man couldn't be wrongly convicted, could he? But then Brian does a school project on Leo Frank, a Jewish man lynched decades ago for the murder of a teenage girl---a murder he didn't commit.
Worse still, Brian's teammate and best friend, Julius gets arrested for nothing more than being a black kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brian can't deny that the system is flawed.
As Amanda's father goes on trial, Brian admits to himself that he knows something that could break the case: it is a mysterious jogger he saw on the day of the murder. He is haunted by this jogger who seemed to be hiding in his gray sweat suit hoodie as he ran past Brian the day of the murder. This could break the case against Amanda's father, but then Brian fears that if he should come forward with this information, he will become the target for another kind of perfect shot.
This book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end! You'll find it in the Teen room. This great sports mystery will score with all those looking for a gripping who-done-it! Check out The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin.

Heaven is For Real!

There are many books out there about experiences of heaven and hell; some worth your time and some not I suppose. But Heaven is For Real, by Todd Burpo, is unique in that it is the experience of a small child - the author's 3 year old (nearly 4) son.

Colton is the son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives his surgery and one day mentions that he was able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in a small room off by himself. Colton, over time, begins revealing more of his experiences of heaven.

Of course, as it would be with you and me, the family didn't know what to believe or if to believe at all. But then came the proof - Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and also his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born. Now they believed.

This book is sure to do one of several things for you; it may bring you peace about a lost child or loved one; it may bring revelation about what is to come; and it will surely give you a glimpse of the heart of God as it glorifies Christ throughout. I will not reveal anymore, but encourage you to find this book on your library shelf or at a bookstore. Be blessed.

Winter's Bone

Ree has never known anything but the poverty of the Ozarks and wishes to leave it behind her. Unfortunately, that may never happen after her father puts their house and property up as his bail bond and then vanishes into thin air.

Attempting to raise her younger brothers and care for her mentally ill mother, the house is all they have, so young Ree embarks on a desperate and brutal search to find her father. But it's not an easy task. The family clan is tight-lipped yet they hold the key to her father's whereabouts.

A novel which truly paints a sad and very accurate portrait of the underbelly of the Missouri Ozarks, Winter' Bone is a harsh, yet heart-wrenching story of how far one would go to keep family together and provided for.