Bookish links- September 2024

Christianbook.com has a Labor Day clearance sale until the 3rd 

Hispanic Heritage Month starts September 15th. Here's an old list of great Hispanic Heritage reads I just recently updated. 

5 ways to decorate with old books 

I haven't vetted every book in this list but check it out, a list of summer reading recommendations for K-8 kids by Christian parents! 

Also haven't checked each of these but 270 wonderful faith & character-building books for homeschoolers! 

Mini review of a cookbook stand I recently bought on Amazon now that I've used it 10+ times: love the look, love the size. Three pieces that easily snap together. It does fall apart if I bump it with no book in it so I sometimes think about nailing it in place but then it wouldn't tuck away into a drawer so I haven't decided yet. 

Lou has put together such a great list of Christian booktubers! 

Why cats love to sit on books 

I love a good glimpse at another family's homeschool morning time. 

15 things to do while you listen to an audio book // How to find a book club

This coffee table book is so beautiful!  

I really enjoyed this recent interview with one of my favorite cookbook authors 

The price is obnoxious but I love this daddy-daughter story time figurine! 

Faith's prayer journal is so fun and pretty

My series TBR

Recap, for those who are new/don't remember: I never used to be a series girl, aside from a brief obsession with Baby-Sitter's Club: Little Sister and Mary-Kate and Ashley Mysteries in 3rd grade. I read stand-alones only. Or I'd occasionally read a riveting book one and think, "Wow, book 2 is going to be great!" knowing I'd never read it.

There were a few notable exceptions, all secular and none which meet my moral standards these days (😬) but that changed when I finally dove into The Baxters.

If you're new here, The Baxter Family books are like a much more conservative version of the TV shows Parenthood and This is Us... All the family! They do tackle edgier topics but they do it from a Christian worldview and characters experience consequences + repent.

That series made me brave enough to try others and now, cue Sesame Street, I'm a serial girl 😉.

I have two Baxter books left (and I am dying to watch the show!) and these are the series I hope to read next! Again I'll reiterate that I have NOT read these and can't review their content.

Angels Walking... Another by Karen Kingsbury and the premise reminds me of Touched by an Angel. I have wanted to read these for so long! There are 3 in this series.

Christiansen Family by Susan May Warren... I mainly just want to read this one because of the family element. I think it'll be romance-heavy (not my fav) and probably more episodic than serialized (one family member's relationship in each book rather than ongoing stories) but I still want to try it! There are six novels in this series + two Christmas novellas. (This one doesn't pull up in the series list)

Fog Harbor Romance by Nicole Deese... This one is also a romance series and seems to be episodic as well with a different set of characters in each one. I loved book one (and another Nicole Deese novel) enough that I at least want to try book 2 nut hopefully want to read all of them! At this point there are 3 in the series.

Left Behind... I always love dystopian/post-apocalyptic movies but still wasn't a series girl when I tried the first 2 or 3 Left Behind books, set after the rapture. I believe there are 12 in the series, plus some spin-off series, and I keep meaning to come back to these again.

Legacy of Faith by Robin Lee Hatcher... This is another of my favorite authors and I have loved the premise of this trilogy since I heard about it in a podcast interview. This follows a family Bible as it's passed down to different family members. I think it'll be more episodic for that reason but that common thread might make it feel more serialized? We'll see! 

Promises of God... I loved Though I Stumble. It was exactly the kind of family-focused, issues-driven, growth-filled book of spiritual content I love! But I realized there are books about these family members even before this series so I have been meaning to start at the beginning. 

Thatcher Sisters by Beth K Vogt... Another family-focused series because that's a favorite fiction theme for me... Families supporting and encouraging each other, learning from each other, and working through conflict! This series has three novels and a Christmas novella.

YA novels by location

This is the shortest list now but fear not! It'll grow 😁

I feel the need to remind you that the YA genre (even the Christian version of it) tends to be gritty so parents may want to research and choose for themselves what they're comfortable with. Not every book on this list is one I've added to my own children's lists but none were wildly inappropriate by my own standards 

🇺🇸 USA 🇺🇸

Alaska- Replication

California- Summer Promise

Colorado- The Silence Between Us

Idaho- Beyond // some of the Out of Time books 

Illinois- Left Behind: The Kids

Missouri- A Time to Die

North Carolina- Meet the Sky

Pennsylvania- The Color of Lies

Texas- The Delusion

Washington- Echo Island 

🌎 International 🌎 

Antarctica- some of the Out of Time books 

Costa Verde- If We Survive (major violence trigger warnings... This sensitive reader could not finish!)

England- Dust // Fawkes // The Merchant's Daughter

Germany- The Healer's Apprentice  

Great Christian Movies

This will just be a big master list I'll keep updating. Any favorites you'd recommend?

📺 90 Minutes in Heaven (I also liked the book)...  Based on a true story, about a man who was declared dead for 90 minutes after a terrible car accident yet survived with no brain damage.

📺 Breakthrough (I also liked the book)... Based on a true story, this one is about the powerful faith of a mother whose teenage son fell through the ice of a lake and drowned yet miraculously survived.  

📺 The Case for Christ... I really enjoyed this account of Lee Strobel's true story, an atheist journalist who set out to disprove Christ and wound up becoming a believer instead.

📺 The Chosen series... We have only been able to watch season 1 so far but loved it and can't wait for more.

📺 Courageous... This one has a strong focus on the importance of a father's role in his children's lives.

📺 Fireproof... Kirk Cameron stars in this one and the focus is on healing a damaged marriage. You might also like the book The Love Dare, the marriage healing challenges used in the movie.

📺 God's Not Dead 2... I loved this one, where Melissa Joan Hart plays a teacher under fire for answering a student's question about Jesus. I still haven't watched the first one but I've heard such great things about it!

📺 Heaven is for Real (I also liked the book)...  Based on a true story about a young child who woke up from his emergency appendectomy claiming to haven been to Heaven. I love stories of people who died and were resuscitated with stories of Heaven but what makes this one unique is that little Colton didn't die. 

📺 I'm Not Ashamed... This story of the infamous Columbine shooting martyr is sad and inspiring at once.

📺 Left Behind (Kirk Cameron version) // Nicholas Cage version (I also liked the books)... I still haven't finished this 12-book fiction series about the rapture but I was really into it for a while. I liked the KC version fine but the Nicholas Cage version has better, more modern graphics and quality.

📺 Lifemark (I also liked the book)... This is a great adoption story told from multiple perspectives. We see the young teen parents who choose the adoption path, the teenage boy looking for those biological parents, and the biological parents as adults.

📺 Miracles from Heaven (I also liked the book)... I loved this awesome true story, about a young girl with a debilitating disease who falls deep into the inside of a rotten, hollowed-out tree, and miraculously loses that disease when she is rescued.

📺 Overcomer... I feel like this one, about a high school runner and her coach, will appeal a lot to parents and teens watching together.

📺 Saving Sarah Cain... This one is based on a Beverly Lewis book, about a woman suddenly inheriting her Amish nieces and nephews.

📺 The Shunning trilogy (The Shunning // The Confession // The Reckoning) (I also liked the books)...  This trilogy is also an Amish story by Beverly Lewis, this one about a young woman discovering she was adopted and attempting to find her biological family.

📺 Someone Like You (I also liked the book)... This Karen Kingsbury story is about a young woman learning she was adopted as an embryo and learning more about her biological family. The original book is a Baxter Family story but the movie and movie version of the novel are changed to reflect different characters and settings.

📺 Soul Surfer (I also liked the book)... Based on a true story, this one is about professional surfer Bethany Hamilton who had her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing. One of my kids is dying to read this one.

📺 Testament: The Story of Moses... This docuseries about Moses was high quality and held our attention very well.

📺 A Thousand Tomorrows (I also liked the book)... I loved this rodeo love story, originally written by Karen Kingsbury.

📺 Vanished (Left Behind: The Next Generation)... This is a teen version of the infamous Left Behind rapture series but it is not a recreation of the teen books.

📺 War Room... Loved this one, in which Priscilla Shirer learns to "go to war" (through prayer) to take back her marriage and family.

📺 When the Game Stands Tall... I really look forward to watching this football movie with my son when he gets older! 

📺 Woodlawn... Another football movie... I do love a good football movie but a faith-based version (and especially one set in the 70s!) can't be beat! 

Bookish links- August 2024

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I was thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and then looking for some good, inspiring Christian biographies that might hit the way Bonhoeffer biographies do. Thought I'd share- 11 Christian biography resources for homeschool. 

Handmade Christian charms for your Crocs

If you liked that, try this- Biblical fiction edition!  

These Bible cookies, made with Fig Newtons, look so easy and cute, Sunday School/VBS teachers! And fyi, for those with food allergy students, Nature's Bakery makes some that are gluten + dairy + egg free (also some that aren't so check the boxes carefully). 

15 Christian fiction books that are not romance 

I love this "Bookworm" tiny house and its reading nook but it could never hold my full book collection. 

Favorite daily devotionals

I haven't seen this family's other videos so I don't know if their other content is clean or not but WOW, the details in this storybook-themed first birthday party! I mean, I could never spend this much time or money but I still enjoyed seeing the details 😆 

And while we're talking birthday parties- Book Scavenger is a (secular) series that's much loved around here. How fun is this Book Scavenger birthday party idea?! 

5 easy ways to fill your home with God's word 

Arts & crafts ladies: so many cute church busy book ideas here! 

For those who are traveling or traveling vicariously this summer- I'm still regularly updating my lists of books by location! Adult Christian fiction // middle grade // picture books