SK Bell: June 2025

Friday, June 13, 2025

Good Books by Christian Musicians

I went through a phase in college where I almost exclusively read chick lit with bright pink covers and biographies/memoirs of musicians. I have been enjoying the occasional musician biography/memoir again, this time with a focus on Christian musicians. I imagine this list will just grow and grow.

🎶 Adorning the Dark... Andrew Peterson talks alot here about creativity in general and I learned a lot about albums from this one.

🎶 The Chase... This one is about young adult relationships, not music, but I included it here since author Kyle Kupecky is a musician.

🎶 City on Our Kness... This TobyMac book will light a fire in you to make a difference in your community.

🎶 I Can Only Imagine... This is the story of Bart Millard from MercyMe and has also been made into a movie.

🎶 I Still Believe... Jeremy Camp's novel about his first wife's young death has also been made into a movie.

🎶 In Unison... I liked this Jeremy Camp book, too, written with his wife Adrienne. This one is focused more on marriage advice but still shares music details, too.

🎶 Like a River... Granger Smith's story is heartbreaking but powerful and this memoir was so well done! He's a great writer.

🎶 My Jesus... Anne Wilson's music story starts with grief. The first halfof the book really broke my heart but this girl has such a lovely heart!

🎶 Rescue Story... Zach Williams lived fast and hard before he really found Jesus. He talks a lot here about substance abuse and a dysfunctional if not abusive marriage in the beginning of his testimony so be ready for that.

🎶 Slow Down... Nichole Nordeman's motherhood book wasn't my personal favorite but I did enjoy it.

Thursday, June 5, 2025

May Reads

I did a good bit of reading again in May. I did a book list inventory near the end of the month and realized I need my kid reading to focus primarily on YA and upper middle grade novels now so that's my goal in June. Build up our 7th and 8th grade book list!

First, grown-up reads...

📖 Bible study: My husband and I have still been studying God's covenant with Moses and trying to understand how/why they aren't a part of most modern Christian denominations' practices. This has been quite the project! June was heavily focused on Passover.

📖 I Really Do Miss Your Smile (Christian, fiction, short story)... This is the prequel to the Christiansen Family series, the story of how John and Ingrid got together. I really liked it! I can't get enough of these Christiansen books!

📖 Jimmy (Christian, fiction)... Jimmy is great for fans of To Kill a Mockingbird. This was a very moving story but it definitely made me cry. 😭

📖 Rescue Story (Christian, nonfiction)... This is a memoir if Christian musician Zach Williams' journey into his faith and career. I liked it alright. There's a lot of substance abuse in his background and he and his wife also had a dysfunctional\abusive beginning so be prepared if you decide to read it.

📖 Self Heal by Design (Christian, nonfiction, health, science)... This was an overall good read for health nerds like myself but I don't agree with every word because of some things from other health books.

📖 Plus the designated chapters of my ongoing baby reads this year, What to Expect: The First Year // The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding // The Wonder Weeks

And for my kids' shelves...

📖 Adventure Cat (secular, nonfiction)... One of my kids really loves these nonfiction animal stories and this one was no exception.

📖 Bernard Pepperlin (secular, fiction)... This was a fun and cute story about the dormouse from Alice in Wonderland but there's a final battle svene that'll be a bit much for sensitive readers. I added this to our 5th grade list.

📖 Buzzer Beater (Christian, middle grade, fiction)... This basketball story is the second in a sports series but works as a standalone since each book is about different children playing different sports. I've never enjoyed basketball but I liked this pride/sportsmanship story just fine and it was a hit with my oldest. 4th grade list.

📖 Emmy in the Key of Code (secular, middle grade, fiction, novel in verse)... This was a fun, quick read about a girl taking a coding class at school. I actually enjoyed learning about coding + music and I enjoyed observing Emmy's relationship dynamics with her parents, her coding teacher and classmates, and her new friend. 6th grade list.

📖 Horse Heroes (secular, nonfiction)... I don't like the fiction series by this author but I have liked her nonfiction research books just fine for third graders. (So far, at least!)

📖 Lightfall #1: The Girl and the Galdurian (secular, middle grade, fantasy, graphic novel)... This quick-read graphic novel was a big hit for my oldest. We hope the second will be a yes, too!

📖 Lucky Scramble (secular, middle grade, graphic novel)... This quick read is about a speed cubing competition. I added it to our 5th grade list.

📖 Mouse Scouts 1-4 (secular, chapter book, fiction, TGTB book list)... These are cute, basically a mouse version of girl scouts.

📖 The Secret of the Yellow Death (secular, YA, nonfiction)... I always enjoy health/medical stories so of course I enjoyed this one. I added it to our 8th grade list.

Picture books we enjoyed this month: Amish Christmas // Audrey Bunny // Books by Horseback // Elsa's Chessboard // The Girl Who Built an Ocean // The Horse's Haiku // It Will Be Okay // Knit Your Bit // Mother to Tigers // Saving the Countryside // Toe Shoe Mouse // Whoosh!