Conference yukon::christian_v7

    There is a series of Christian Romance novels for teenagers available
    in my church's bookstore, let me get the author's name on Wed., night
    and I'll post.  I hear from other teenagers [15 yrs old], that they are
    GREAT books.
    
    Also, go to the local CHRISTIAN bookstore, there are PLENTY of 'em
    there, so many to choose from.
    
    At 14, autobiographies like "Run Baby Run" by Nicki Cruz though written
    in the 70's is very applicable today.
    
    

    I can't believe the person who wrote 209.23 is touting
    Harlequin-wannabes.  If women want romance, read Song of Solomon.  Next
    thing we'll be putting them out on video with Alec Baldwin and Kim
    Basinger playing lead.

    .2
    
    Mike, you wanna fight?  !!!!
    
    The romance novels are CHRISTIAN and talk about God's Will and choosing
    the right mates and proper dating, etc., etc., etc., they help to
    reinforce the morals that CHRISTIAN mothers and fathers want their
    teens to have.
    
    Yer barking up the wrong tree.

    define proper dating as it appears in these "novels"

    .4
    
    Perhaps, depending on the story and its context.  When I get the
    author's name from our bookstore, buy one read it and then as usual
    tell us what you think of it. :-)
    
    Until then, you're assuming is out of order.

    >    Until then, you're assuming is out of order.
    
    I think you're assuming I haven't read one.  I've skimmed through one
    and thought it was just a Harlequin-wannabe invented to take advantage
    of Christian women.

    Hmmm.. everyone's entitled to his/her opinion.

    I've been reading a series of books by Bodie Thoene called
    the Zion Covenant.  She has written other series' also.
    
    I enjoy, very much, the historical aspect of her books.  Her
    husband (I believe) is a historian and has input on that 
    aspect of the books.  
    
    The Zion Covenant series begins in Germany in 1932 and 
    revolves around a Jewish young lady and the turmoil of
    escaping Nazi Germany and progresses from there.
    
    Pam

My wife and 14 year old and lots of other people in the church have been
reading the Zion Covenant series, and she also has the Zion Chronicle
series and a third (which only has three books written; the others have
6 each).  Each series has been given rave reviews by their readers!

Good pointer, Pam.

    my sister and mom (and I, tho with some suspicion (how do you spell
    that word?) ) read and enjoyed the Joshua series, but I forget who it
    is by, Joseph somethingorother...
    I believe the books to be Biblically impossible, but they are good
    thought provokers...
    

    Joseph Girzone, I believe (re: .10)
    
    I enjoyed the first one, but the second one paled (IMO) and never
    bothered with the next.  You're right - they *are* Biblically
    impossible (I like that phrase ;-) but there was much to ponder by way
    of semi-parable.

    
    Just to verify the "Josuha" series author...it is indeed Joseph
    Girzone (I happen to have "Joshua in the Holy Land" here with
    me at work....starting reading it several months ago....not as
    good as the first book.)
    
    Karen
    

Thanks a lot for the responses. 

Any good secular books? 
How about a list of books that won Pulitzer prize ?

In my school days, we were given a list of classics like Little Women, Tale of
the Two Cities, etc. My girl had gone through most of them. Nowadays, her
teachers don't seem have any standard list, and she just have no idea of what
to choose. As my native tongue is not English, I have exhausted the list I had
at the College level. I hope some of you English teachers can recommend 
something.

Regards,
Ed

    "The Book of Virtues", by William Bennett - possibly a little young for some
    teen-agers, but it basically takes all of the old Judeo-Christian
    values stories and compiles into this volume.  Focus on the Family has 
    had him on to discuss.  Great book.
    
    Daryl

Lord of the Flies, William Golding
  A group of boys is crash-landed on a desert island and they must set
  up a society because they don't know when or if they'll be rescued.
  The book chronicles order to disorder with subtle symbolism throughout.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
  A beautiful young man makes a wish that his image in portrait was the
  object that grows old while he retains his beauty.  He gets his wish
  with some very interesting life lessons.

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
  Adventure for treasure to the lair of a Red Dragon and back in MiddleEarth.
  Five stars, if you like this sort of tale (and many have).
  Also read the subsequent Lord of the Rings trilogy which chronicles
  an epoch adventure of good overcoming unspeakable odds to twart a powerful
  evil that is looking for the "one ring that will rule them all and in the
  darkness bind them."

Time Machine, H.G. Wells
  Man invents a time machine and travels into distant past and future. 
  A very interesting distant future, by the way (not the kind of super
  gizmo technology, but I won't spoil it).

Roots, Alex Haley
  Chronicles a heritage of a man's ancestry beginning with the abduction of
  a young prince (Kunta Kinte) who is stolen for the slave trade in America.

Adolph Hitler, John Toland
  Biography of the human and his journey into inhumanity.  I found this book
  as objective a view as one can take with one of the most infamous figures
  in history.  It tells the story without a lot of editorializing.

The Oz books, L. Frank Baum
  There are 14 Frank Baum works, each easy paperback reading, which will put
  a different perspective on Oz than Judy Garland did.  This is the way the
  author envisioned it.  (By the way, the two Oz movies do a pretty good job
  of keeping a lot of the story intact.  "Return to Oz" combines a couple of
  books to make that movie.)  I have read up to book 9.

  I also understand that a ghost writer (I forget the name) has written an
  additional 14 paperbacks about the Wonderful Land of Oz.  

Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis (7 books)
  Adventure, along the lines of Tolkien (though I think Tolkien has the
  literary edge, personally), but with Christian symbolism throughout.
  Four english youths begin this saga by being transported to Narnia
  through a Wardrobe.

Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis
  Space drama, Christian symbolism.  Mars is visited.
Perelandra, C.S. Lewis
  Space drama, the Eden story is played out (on Venus, aka Perelandra).
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
  Earth drama, apocalyptic theme, set in England.

I detested "Lord of the Flies" !
  ======== 


I missed what age this is for, but heres a few ideas:

              Katherine Marshall's "Christy"  (better for older children)

              Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series & other books

              C.S. Lewis's "Narnia Tales" series.

              Madelaine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time", she has other 
                  children's books as well.

The above are not "inspirational", but they are written by Christian authors
and reflect a Christian world view without being tracts or syrupy goop.  They
are quality literature and great classics.

Older classics that I remember from my childhood are "Heidi" and "The Five
Little Peppers".  And then there's "Wind in the Willows" and Kipling's "Jungle
Book".

Leslie

Oops, I just noticed the title and its for teens, some of the works I
mentioned may be aimed towards a younger group.  Still though, try
"A Wrinkle in Time", and "Christy" of course.

Leslie

� I detested "Lord of the Flies" !
I had to read that for school, and found it distinctly unhelpful also...

I found with my family that choice of reading matter was a very personal thing. 
Dermot would read anything with writing on, while Fergus wouldn't read 
anything - unless it really gripped just him (which might even be Dermot's 
exception...).  I used to read to them while they could stand it, but it's
difficult to cover an age spread.

Meanmwhile, in addition to those already mentioned, how about :
	Swiss Family Robinson
	Sherlock Holmes 	(Arthur Conan Doyle)
	Swallows and Amazons 	(Arthur Ransome) 
		There's about 10 of these, mostly set in the English Lake
		District (N.E. England).  Good viable books, for and about 
		children, with no fluff or romance.  Realistic, though I've 
		heard them disparaged as too upper class.  Are they 
		available in the U.S.?  They've even been televised in the UK.

E.E.Nesbit wrote compulsive stuff, though I'm not too keen on some of it.
Some are :
	'The Railway Children' is about a family who's father is imprisoned 
	over a miscarriage of justice, and focusses primarily on the change 
	of lifestyle involved in the family move to the cheaper country 
	living.  The children's escapades are the main focus of all her 
	books, and in this one an 'accidental' acquaintance proves the means 
	for attaining justice...

	'5 Children and It' rationalises the granting of children's wishes in 
	a very much more down-to-earth (and readable) way than they expected.

I'll have to root around in the loft ... ;-}

						Andrew

         >>Meanmwhile, in addition to those already mentioned, how about :
         >>	Swiss Family Robinson
         
         
         This reminds me of a snippit from a comedy routine heard recently 
         on the radio - does the name Robinson really sound Swiss? Just how 
         many Swiss families do you know who would bear thr name of 
         Robinson?
         
         		and so on...
         
         				  meanwhile, back to the topic...
         
         Paul

Paul, guess that's why it has to specify 'Swiss' ...  to distinguish it 
from ... have you read it /  *were* they Swiss???  Retract that offering if 
language is a constraint.  I can only manage English-ish.

							Andrew

    A book that is interesting along with a message of what it is to 
    be born again, believe it or not is "Robinson Caruso" by
    Daniel Defoe. I read it just a couple years ago and was amazed at the 
    testimony of Caruso's born again experience which he had while being 
    stranded on the deserted island. 
    

    Jim

    I loved the Books by Jim Kjeldgaard  sp?  He wrote Bigred, and several
    other dog books.
    
    The Lassie books were very good.
    
    My friend Flicka and the two sequals are good.
    
    I also read all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy boys books.
    
    My daughter has read the Big Red books, the Flicka and the Lassie as
    well as Tarzan stuff.  She is 13, and has to turn in a book report
    every  Monday and Friday.
    
    Her teacher doesn't allow any "Romance" or "Horror" type books.  She
    assigns classics now and then but lets the students pick most.
    
    She approves of all the Animal type books.  BTW she also required the 
    1st Chronicals of Narnia book.  It's amazing she got away with it.
    
    Sparky

    Re: Note 452.15 by TOKNOW::METCALFE
    
>Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis (7 books) [...]
> Four english youths begin this saga by being transported to Narnia
> through a Wardrobe.
    
    Minor nit, but didn't it start in an attic first?  Book two covered the
    wardrobe... the kids in book one got to see the creation of Narnia.
    
    James

 I think it began in the wardrobe. (thought there were 12 books).






 Jim

    Re: Note 452.24 by CSLALL::HENDERSON
    
>I think it began in the wardrobe. (thought there were 12 books).
    
    I just checked with one of my local experts.  It began in the attic
    in _The Magician's Nephew_, which is the first book.
    
    James

There are 7 'Narnia' books.  Chronologically, they are:

	The Magician's Nephew
	The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
	The Horse and his Boy
	Prince Caspian
	The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
	The Silver Chair
	The Last Battle

However 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' was the first to be written,
is the simplest to start with, and is generally presented first.  It is set
post-WW2 as far as the 'English' side of it goes.  Access to Narnia is via
the wardrobe of the title. 

'The Magician's Nephew' was written later, and introduces the source of
communication between England and Narnia.  It backtracks to lay some
foundations.  It presents access to Narnia as by touching coloured rings. 
The attic is merely how they strayed into the wrong room in a London house.

'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' includes the picture of sacrifice by the 
Narnian representative of God, the Lion, Aslan.

'The Magician's Nephew' includes the picture of the creation of the world 
of Narnia.

'The Last Battle' draws an apocalyptic picture of the end of the (Narnian) 
world.

 - but they're written to be good stories for children too!

The writing of 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' was described in C.S. 
Lewis' biography as the decision to unfold a long-term mental picture of a 
fawn with an umbrella in a wood.  So he sat down to see what it built into. 
This series was the result.

I guess I must have read them to my kids a good few times, but not for ten 
years now....

								Andrew

Actually, if you want to get picky, "The Horse and His Boy" is *during* "The
Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe."  In "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,"
the four children go to Narnia, live full lives there and grow to adults, and
then return through the wardrobe to discover that no time has passed in their
own world and they are children again.  "The Horse and His Boy" is a story
that occurs while they are adults in Narnia.

Paul

    I can't give you any Pulitzer Prize winners, but Nobel-prize-winning 
    Icelandic author Halldor Laxness wrote a series of books for teenagers 
    that are pretty good value for adults too.  Widely available in
    English, fortunately. ;-)  Only title I recall at this minute is Atom
    Station.
    
    God bless,			Richard.