CHRISTIAN YA FICTION Contemporary series: ------------------- Bethany House - publisher SpringSong Books, romances by various popular Christian writers by Sigmund Brouwer - good stylist and subtle religion Winds of Light series (sort of a retelling of King Arthur) Short Cuts series (sports/action-adventure, plus *very* short) CyberQuest series (sci-fi/historical/time travel, plus *very* short) Lightning on Ice series (ice hockey) Dr. Drabble series (SF spoof) by Frank Peretti The Cooper Kids Adventure Series (action-adventure) by Bill Myers Forbidden Doors series (great for teens who want R.L. Stine/X-Files, but whose parents are concerned about content) Journeys to Fayrah series (sci-fi/fantasy) by Laura Peyton Roberts (and published by Bantam!) Clearwater Crossing series (sort of inspirational SVH) by Patricia H. Rushford Jennie McGrady Mystery series by Judy Baer Live from Brentwood High series (light mysteries) Cedar River Daydreams by Gilbert Morris The Time Navigators series (time travel/sci-fi/historical) Bonnets and Bugles series (historical--Civil War) by Yvonne Lehman A White Dove (romance) by Beverly Lewis Holly's Heart series (general teen life novels for younger teens) Summerhill Secrets series (light mysteries with an Amish twist for younger teens) by Shirley Brinkerhoff The Nikki Sheridan Series (teen life issues) by Michael R. Joens Twilight of the Gods series (historical and the author used to be a comic artist so the covers are really cool) by Ethel Herr The Seekers series (historical) by T.L. Tedrow The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder (loosely based on her life, but he is not as good a writer as she was) Books that encourage exploration of (Christian) faith: ----------------------------------------------------- "Save Halloween" by Stephanie Tolan "Asylum for Nightface" by Bruce Brooks A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant: a boy loses his faith because of the betrayal of a preacher he has come to trust. Not Christian- positive. Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix: heroine also encounters a manipulative clergyman and gets caught up in a destructive cult, and her faith is considerably shaken; however, at the end of the book, she does not give up on her religious beliefs, but grows more sophisticated and self-reliant about listening to God rather than blindly submitting to authority. Drummers of Jericho by Carolyn Meyer: Jewish kid moves to Texas Christian town, marching band. The Drowning of Stephan Jones by Bette Greene Memoirs of a Bookbat by Kathryn Lasky Is That You, Miss Blue by M.E. Kerr A LIVE COAL IN THE SEA(*) by Madeline L'Engle: A sensitive Christian writer trying to make sense of Evil from a Christian world view. N.I.K.: Now I Know by Aidan Chambers (op, unfortunately) - a story about a boy who "crucifies" himself from a building crane in an excess of religious zeal, but is humbled later by getting to know a girl whose life is completely committed to what she sees as God's work. Certainly Asylum for Nightface should be on any "faith issues" list, although its deadly accurate and very funny parody of evangelical teens would probably have your Christian parents going ballistic. And how about tossing in, for Christians who've forgotten that Jesus was Jewish, The Singing Mountain by Sonia Levitin, in which an American young man finds himself enormously attracted to tracing his cultural and religious roots by living in a yeshiva in Israel. Talk about conservative! And everybody, please do read A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles, this year's Delacorte Press Prize winner. C.S. Lewis fans will relate. Adult Christian Fiction that's not romance: ------------------------------------------ Mysteries: William Kritlow Gayle Roper Athol Dickson Historicals: Brock and Bodie Thoene Angela Hunt Michael Phillips Thrillers: Christopher Land Harry Lee Kraus Bill Myers Westerns: Jim Walker W. E. Davis Science Fiction: Stephen Lawhead Other adult authors: C. S. Lewis Lew Wallace Pearl Buck Henryk Sienkiewicz Lloyd C. Douglas, Beth Streeter Aldrich Grace Livingston Hill Gene Stratton-Porter Janette Oke Jan Karon Adult series fiction: Gilbert Morris (historical) Janette Oke Terri Blackstock Lauraine Snelling Francine Rivers Bodie and Brock Thoene Angela Hunt T. Davis Bunn Jane Peart Evangelical fiction: Walter Wangerin Augusta Trobaugh James Calvin Schaap - all three thought-provoking Frank Peretti (a "clean, subtle Steven King") Recommendations from John Mort's column in Booktalk, Dec. 1 1998 http://www.ala.org/booklist/v95/youth/de1/55yatalk.html Bentz, Joseph. Song of Fire. 1995. Thomas Nelson, paper, $12.99 (0-7852-7882-6). A young musician named Jeremy wakes in an alternative world where he seems to be some sort of prophet. There are strange machines and processes around him, as in a Jules Verne novel, but there are also clear forces of good and evil. Eventually, Jeremy joins a persecuted people who have fled to a land of milk and honey and begins to battle evil. Demsky, Andy. Dark Refuge. 1995. Pacific, paper, $11.99 (0-8163-1241-9). A brilliant but unhappy teenage girl breaks away from her emotionally abusive mother to strike out on her own, only to come under the influence of a self-styled but compelling preacher and his cult. Horton, David. A Legion of Honor. 1995. Chariot-Victor, paper, $9.99 (1-56476-540-7). In 1942, after the Nazis abduct his father, young Marcel Boussant wants to leave the farm and join the French Resistance. Instead, with other Protestants, he becomes part of an underground railroad smuggling Jews out of Vichy France--boring if necessary work, he thinks, until he falls in love with beautiful, Jewish Isabelle Karmazin. Jackson, Dave. Lost River Conspiracy. 1995. Good Books, paper, $8.95 (1-56148-183-1). In this sturdy western, a Mennonite who is drifting West becomes embroiled in the treacheries of the Modoc Indian War of 1872. Karon, Jan. At Home in Mitford. 1996. Chariot-Victor, paper, $11.95 (0-74592-629-0). Gentle Father Tim is an Episcopalian rector who enjoys a gentle romance in a gentle North Carolina town full of quirky, unthreatening characters, reminiscent of those who lived in television's Mayberry. Books in the Mitford series are also available from Penguin, giving them the rare distinction of having crossed over from a Christian to a mainstream publishing house. McCourtney, Lorena. Canyon. 1998. Multnomah, paper, $9.99 (1-57673-287-8). Just as Kit Holloway and Tyler McCord are to be married, Kit's father leaves her mother for Tyler's widowed stepmother. Should Kit and Tyler forgive their parents' sins or consign the grownups to hellfire? The dilemma affects their own relationship. Maddoux, Marlin. The Seal of Gaia. 1998. Word, paper, $13.99 (0-8499-3715-9). Maddoux depicts the almost anticlimactic rise of an Antichrist in the frightening world of 2031, a time when nuclear wars have devastated large portions of the planet and much of humankind has gravitated toward the idea that Earth is a living organism near death and that drastic means are necessary to save it. The best to date of a host of novels about the Antichrist that Christian publishers are offering in anticipation of the year 2000. Myers, Bill. Threshold. 1997. Zondervan, paper, $12.99 (0-310-20120-9). Brandon Martus, a tough young factory worker in northern Indiana, begins having visions that foretell the future. Enter Dr. Sarah Winerraub, a neurobiologist researching the paranormal, and her boss, sleazy Dr. Helmut Reichner. They document Brandon's gift but cannot control the struggles between God and Satan that will make Brandon into Christ or Antichrist, depending on Brandon's will. Oke, Janette. The Tender Years. 1997. Bethany, $15.99 (1-556-61952-9); paper, $9.99 (1-55661-951-0). When Jenny Woods moves to town from the "big city," bringing with her a fierce sense of independence and daring, Virginia Simpson must choose between the somewhat dubious new adventures Jenny offers and her own parents' rigid code. In the process, she learns that growing up and being a steadfast friend can be very hard. Peretti, Frank E. This Present Darkness. 1989. Crossway, paper, $12.99 (0-89107-390-6). In this scary contemporary classic from Christian fiction's most talented writer, a reporter and a pastor battle in a terrible New Age plot. Peretti evokes a paranoia not unlike that of the classic sf film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Rivers, Francine. The Last Sin Eater. 1998. Tyndale, $16.99 (0-842-33570-6). Rivers breaks from her romances and historicals to tell the unusual story of Cadi Forbes, growing up in the 1850s in an Appalachian-Welsh community, where all believe in the "sin eater," a mystical being who takes up the sins of the dead to ease their passage into the afterlife. Shaw, Lou. Honor Thy Son. 1994. Abingdon, paper, $12.95 (0-68709-982-X). This touching, often hilarious story focuses on a teenage boy with Down syndrome who is accused of murder and his estranged father's attempts to get to know him and clear his name. Shott, James R. Bathsheba. 1996. Herald, paper, $8.99 (0-8361-9039-4). Placing the blame for David and Bathsheba's assignation completely with David, Shott entertainingly takes readers through David's death and the rise of Solomon, including a nice portrait of the wise man, Nathan, who counsels Bathsheba that her marriage has Yahweh's sanction. Stallsmith, Audrey. Rosemary for Remembrance. 1998. WaterBrook, paper, $6.95 (1-57856-040-3). In the first book in the new Thyme Will Tell series, mild Regan Culver, shocked to find herself accused of killing her own father, can't utter a line that isn't ironic, lamenting that she can't "even occupy center stage at her own arrest." Stallsmith's characters are real, not cardboard stand-ins. Tatlock, Ann. A Room of My Own. 1998. Bethany, paper, $10.99 (0-7642-2023-3). It's 1932, and the Depression has hit hard in 13-year-old Ginny Eide's small Minnesota town. While Ginny's father, a physician, patiently attends to the Soo City poor, Ginny learns that in a world of universal hardship, the noblest stance is to be of service. Wise, Steven. Long Train Passing. 1996. Thomas Nelson, $16.99 (0-7852-7705-6). A schoolteacher and a grave digger are drawn together by their wish to befriend a youngster named Jewel, who shows the potential to be a fine scholar but is cursed with a brutal, alcoholic father, the owner of a local pool hall and bar called The Kingdom. Wojtasik, Ted. No Strange Fire. 1996. Herald, paper, $14.99 (0-8361-9041-6). Wojtasik's mystery, set among the "Nebraska" Amish of Pennsylvania, speculates on the causes of barn fires that nearly destroyed the community in 1992. The chief suspect is disaffected Jacob Hostetler, who, nearing baptism, the rite of passage for the Amish, strikes out into the world of the "Englisch," where he smokes Kools, drinks, learns to drive, and finds a girlfriend--but still can't seem to fit in. Yoder, James D. Black Spider over Tiegenhof. 1995. Herald, paper, $11.99 (0-83619-012-2). Yoder tells a tragic story in which the heroic efforts of a Mennonite family fail, and the young Jewish girl they have tried to protect is taken away to a Nazi concentration camp.