Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Touching the hearts of millions of girls has been accomplished by Lucy Maud Montgomery through this series and her other books. Readers meet Anne as an orphan who is looking for a home. She has a playful imagination that leads to trouble when unchecked. Anne grows and changes through the years but still has her happiness and joy in life to carry her through. She is always excited to find another “bosom” friend who understands her thoughts and shares her joy for life.

Anne of Green Gables starts this series and introduces us to Anne and all she has to offer in life. She grows into a young lady with dreams and hopes.

Anne of Avonlea includes more of Anne’s adventures in growing up. Anne takes on her first school teacher position and the many challenging students in the area. On top of that, she helps Marilla bring in two orphans that are loosely related to them. She discovers a wonderful new friend and a student ends up with a new family.

Anne of the Island brings us to a grown-up Anne who is off to Redmond College and ready to take on the world. With old friends and new, her adventures are truly “Anne-style.” Another part of growing up finally catches up with her with a marriage proposal, an engagement, and jealousy over Gilbert.

Anne of Windy Willows/Poplars is the name that Anne gave the house she lives at, waiting for Gilbert to finish his training to become a doctor. While there, she takes the position of principal at the local school. She struggles to make peace with the leading family in town. She comes to loves the house and the people in it, and finds a friend in the most unlikely person.

Anne’s House of Dreams is where Anne stores her dreams for her life with Gilbert. Moving there shortly after their wedding, their first couple of years are spent in this house that Anne brings life to in a series of brides that lived there. New friends and a new place to live, Anne always carries her spirit of joy and happiness wherever she goes.

Anne of Ingleside shows the growing pains that come with the changing of life situations. A long-term visiting relative puts everyone to the test. Anne and Gilbert have been happy for many years but Anne begins to wonder if he really sees her anymore.

Rainbow Valley introduces us more personally to Anne and Gilbert’s children as they grow up and become combinations of both parents yet retain something that is all their own. They have many adventures as children.

Rilla of Ingleside brings this series into reality with WWI. The family is shaken with the trouble in the world but they all strive to stay strong in the daily life of what must go on.

The Game On! Diet by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson

Need some extra motivation to kick-start or re-motivate you on your diet? This book gives guidelines of how to start a game with teams, with individuals, or on your own. Competing with daily scores and weekly weigh-ins, the game is won by points, not by weight lost. While there are bonus points for losing the weekly goal weight, the goal of the game is to establish healthy life habits such as drinking plenty of water, eating the right foods, and exercising regularly. By rewarding the daily tasks that are necessary to lose weight and establish a healthy lifestyle, it is much easier to keep the focus on being healthy and not just losing weight.

I like to see immediate results when I diet and exercise but often immediate results are not always what is healthy for my body. With this plan, I have 100 points to earn a day and that I can see when I add up my points throughout the day. I see results at the end of each day when I tally and report my total. Each day seems easier to follow the steps and guidelines. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to establish healthy life habits, not just interested in losing weight. The book does have some language and some non-Christian thoughts but is overall good and gives knowledgeable advice on healthy living.

SHE by Rebecca St. James and Lynda Hunter Bjorklund

SHE stands for Safe, Healthy, and Empowerd. James and Bjorklund discuss the topics and issues that can keep women from being and feeling as they were created to be. From two different age groups, the topics they address are true of all ages of women. In all topics, they turn it back to how God can heal and help shape the life and perspective of the individual.

The topics the authors discuss can be of help to pre-teen girls and can possibly give them a stronger outlook as they approach the teen years. Probably the book could be read by someone around twelve. Or, if the girl is not ready to read it, the parents could read it and use it to guide discussions with their daughter.

Beverly Cleary Books

With easy to relate to characters, Beverly Cleary tells stories of children and pre-teens that many can identify with. She uses humor to let kids know that they can laugh at themselves and what they are struggling with won’t last forever. While it is easy to tell that some of the books are from past decades, they are still enjoyable and topics can still be understood. The life lessons these characters learn can help kids not feel lost and help them see ways to deal with problems.

Rebel with a Cause by Franklin Graham

Son of the famous Billy Graham, Franklin was looking for a place to fit. He didn’t hold the same ideals that his parents did. He liked living life to have fun. After some well-arranged events, he came face-to-face with the reality of Christ. While the change did not happen immediately, he soon found his place in Christ.

There is a lot of life-experience to learn about Franklin Graham. If looking to share it with someone, the two best age groups might be pre-teens and early twenties. It shows how God can come through a person’s rebellion and reach out to them.

Angels Series by Debbie Macomber

In this three-book series, the angels Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are hoping to be able to help someone over the Christmas season. Gabriel is reluctant since these three have a history of playing on escalators and causing problems with other such modern conveniences. From widowers to the never married, these angels are just waiting to help people who are focused on other people but can’t seem to fix their own problems.

While these books are not biblically accurate, it is kind of fun to read them. With all the problems the angels have, they seem more human than heavenly. There is a little bad language in them, so the age to read them would depend on the person’s preference for their child. As far as content, middle school or high school would be fine to read these.

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A theologian in Germany before and during Hiter’s rise to power, Bonhoeffer taught and wrote about the way that the Christian community should function. Though he focuses on five different areas of Christian life, he reminds us that Christ is what ties us together and enables our lives together to grow us. He teaches that one must focus on Christ and their walk with Christ to resolve discord in life. Once unity in Christ has been reached in one’s own life and with those around, one must look to those who do not know Christ.

Translated from German, this book is often hard to read because of punctuation placement and paragraph changes. But, the words are full of meaning and instruction. The concepts are somewhat abstract. Someone in later high school and in college would enjoy this book. It may be best to read a little everyday in order to think on the truths Bonhoeffer relates.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

As the yearly Christmas pageant rolled around, the Herdman kids decided to go to church. They smoked cigars in the bathroom (even the girls) and stole money out of the offering plate. After Mrs. Armstrong broke her leg, Beth’s mom has to take on the pageant. No one really expected the Herdmans to take an interest in the pageant but they did; and they threatened the other kids into letting them have the key parts. While this is not the traditional pageant, the message is brought through in a new way.

This is a good reminder that we can learn from the most unlikely people. Being easy to read and understand, children in second grade could probably read and enjoy this book.

Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would by Chad Thompson

Homosexuality has been a long-running hot topic in the church. Most of the questions and concerns from people who mean well boil down to, “How do we reach people we don’t understand?” Thompson offers suggestions and ways to reach out to people that fit into this group. He hopes that this book will promote reaching out to those who need love and Christ. Thompson encourages Christians to be an example of love and for homosexuals to consider the love that Christ has for them. If Christians can show that their love is given with sacrifice, there will be more people who are willing to receive it. Thompson quotes John 15:13, “Greater love has no one but this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” At the same time, he does not encourage Christians to change their views on marriage or the lifestyle. He assures that once anyone sees that they are loved unconditionally, the views of the person loving them will not be so harsh because they have known Christ’s love.

This book does not promote homosexuality but love-Christ’s love. We all have sin in our lives and we would not want our community, our world, to push aside because of it. While not condoning the lifestyle, the church needs to find a way to reach out to people who are hurting-and this is one main people group. Everyone needs a safe place-why not a group of believers? I have read this book twice and have learned a lot each time and found it beneficial in not only my worldview but also in how I interact with people on a daily basis. It is pretty easy to read and I think that anyone in eighth grade would be able to read it, if they are ready for the topic maturity-wise.

Daniel by Beth Moore

So, this isn’t a book but it is a great study. Moore addresses the challenging life that Daniel and his friends had. Being Israelite captives in Babylon, they had the decision of living for God or deciding to live as those around them. They chose to live for God and Moore covers what struggles and difficult choices they had to make. Also, we are able to see how God was faithful to them and rewarded them for it. The second part of the study is prophetical and covers the second coming of Christ.

I did this study with a group about 2 years ago. It has 5 lessons to do during the week and the group study is a video and goes over the homework and prepares for the upcoming week. Moore asks participants to give up one area of our lives of excess for the study (getting nails done, spa treatment, something of choice).

90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

After being declared for dead, Don Piper was left in his car until they were able to cut him out. A pastor passing by felt God prodding him to pray for the man trapped in the car. Climbing in the backseat, he was barely able to reach him, he prayed for the man in search of God’s will in the situation…and the man began to sing. He was taken to the hospital and underwent extensive surgery and had a long recovery. He suffered emotionally and spiritually, too. He recounts what he saw during that 90 minutes where he was dead and believes he had a glimpse of heaven. His biggest question was why God had let him see heaven and then bring him back to a life where he was suffering.

No matter if you believe that he died, went to heaven, and came back or not, this book is interesting to read and see how God worked in his life after the accident. There are a lot of different websites approving and unapproving of this book. I think a strong believer could read it as long as they realize it is not as if reading the Bible for truth. While Piper does believe that he saw heaven and God wants him to share his experience, there is a certain amount of reservation to keep in mind.