Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

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Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner, joins the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. As a bombadier aboard a B-24, he defies death and escapes enemy fire while flying dangerous missions. Nevertheless, the day comes when his plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean, and Louie must survive the terrors of the open waters as well as enemy-occupied land.

Never was there a more fitting title for a book. Louie’s spirit, from childhood on, was indomitable.  Yet the unimaginable things he experienced during World War II brought him to the brink of destruction. Like many war veterans, his body returned from the war but his mind and spirit were not at peace. That is, until one blinding moment of redemption, when everything changed for Louie Zamperini.

Highly recommended.

Follett Titlewave

Charlie West, age 17, wakes up bloodied and bruised, strapped to a chair.

Strangely, he has no recollection of how he got there. His last memory is of falling asleep in his bedroom.

Using his black belt karate skills, Charlie makes a harrowing escape from his captors only to find that the life he remembers no longer exists. Not only are the bad guys after him, but his parents have relocated and he’s been convicted of a crime he is sure he did not commit.

Where can Charlie turn for help as he tries to make sense of his living nightmare?

Good news: Teenage boys, the target audience, will like this book.

There’s non-stop action, karate, terrorists, guns, cars, police officers, a bomb, survival and adventure. Throw in an adoring girlfriend, and what’s there not to like?

Bad news:  The author’s multiple reference to skin tone–”white,” “dark brown, the color of chocolate,” “brown-skinned and foreign-looking,” “black guy”–are jarringly overt. Charlie gives his captors names like Rat Face and Chunky and describes them as having “mean, stupid features” (p.42) and “idiot eyes” (p.29).

Good news: There is absolutely no hint of inappropriate sexual content. In fact, Charlie likes his girlfriend (whom he describes in a “knee-length skirt”) because she’s a warm and caring person. That’s a positive example for teenage guys. Will it ring true with the readers?

Bad news: The school principal comes off looking bumbling and incompetent. Maybe the author, Andrew Klaven, is trying to portray him the way a teenage boy typically looks at a school principal. However, I felt the character was unrealistic and Klaven’s development of him communicated disrespect for authority (which teenage boys don’t need a lot of help fostering).

Good news:Klaven uses Charlie’s karate teacher, Sensei Mike, to communicate a helpful truth:

The truth is:  you can’t be anything you want to be. All that talk is garbage. I mean, I could try till my ears smoked, but I couldn’t write a symphony–not a good one, anyway.  I couldn’t throw a baseball ninety-five miles an hour or hit one out of a major-league park. I want to do all those things, but it doesn’t matter how hard I try–I just wasn’t given those abilities . . . . But this is also the truth:  if you try your best and better than your best, and work and push yourself until you think you can’t go on and then push yourself some more–then–then if you have a little bit of luck on your side–then you can be all the good things God made you to be. (pp. 136-7)

The Last Thing I Remember, book 1 in The Homelanders Series,  is on the 2011-2012 Truman Award Final Nominees List.

Other titles in the 4-book series include The Long Way Home, The Truth of the Matter, and The Final Hour.

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In true John Piper style, this book is both scholarly and practical. (John Piper might say that the whole point of this book is that scholarship is very practical!)

On the scholarly side, the author makes a case against relativism and Christian anti-intellectualism and discusses the role of thinking when a person comes to faith.

Most meaningful to me was Piper’s teaching on what it means to love God with our all our minds.

“I wrote this book to remind myself of the place of thinking in the pursuit of God.” (p. 18)

“Thinking is indispensable on the path to passion for God. Thinking is not an end in itself. Nothing but God himself is finally an end in itself. Thinking is not the goal in life. Thinking, like nonthinking, can be the ground for boasting. Thinking, without prayer, without the Holy Spirit, without obedience, without love, will puff up and destroy (1 Cor. 8:1). But thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love–such thinking is indispensable in a life of fullest praise to God.” (p.27)

“. . . the mind is mainly the servant of the heart. That  is, the mind serves to know the truth that fuels the fires of the heart. The apex of glorifying God is enjoying him with the heart. But this is an empty emotionalism where that job is not awakened and sustained by true views of God for who he really is.” (p.36-37)

“Thinking and knowing are given to us by God for the purpose of loving God and loving people.” (p.160)

“Without a profound work of grace in the heart , knowledge–the fruit of thinking–puffs up. But with that grace, thinking opens the door of humble knowledge. And that knowledge is the fuel of the fire of love for God and man. If we turn away from serious thinking in our pursuit of God, that fire will eventually go out.” (p

When civilizer Aidan returns home to Corenwald after three years in Feechiefen Swamp, he is shocked to discover a newly formed party known as the Aidanites. They believe the revered “Wilderking Chant” makes reference to Aidan, and that he is destined to overthrow the tyrant King Darrow.

But wait, Aidan has no intention of leading any such rebellion. However, as Corenwald weakens, and the enemy Pyrthens threaten to invade, it’s clear the Aidenites are the only army his people have left. What soon transpires among civilizers, feechiefolk, Corenwalders, and Pyrthens alike, no one could have imagined.

-Publishers description

As the final book in the Wilderking Trilogy, “The Way of the Wilderking” provides a satisfying conclusion to a great story. Rogers continues the Biblical analogy with incredible descriptions unusual settings and characters. It is a hard book to put down.

This is classified as Youth Fiction but as with the previous installments, fantasy fans of all ages will enjoy this story. The author does a good job of drawing various story threads together into an exciting climax and conclusion. I definitely recommend the entire series.

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The fourth-grade library class at Webster Christian School researches the great horned owl each fall.

After the class creates  a “Know/Want to Know” chart about the great horned owl, each  student chooses one question to research.Their questions and answers are listed below.

The project culminates with a visit from Krittr Kris (Kristin Forsythe) who brings 2 rehabilitated wild birds  (including a great horned owl and a turkey vulture) to the classroom for an hour-long presentation and question/answer time.

Krittr Kris with Great Horned Owl

Krittr Kris with Turkey Vulture

What are the wings like? (EE)

The Great Horned Owl has a great big wingspread. Its wingspread is 50 inches  long! They also have an edge on its wing to make it silent.

How do they interact with people? (JS)

The only large owl with ear tufts, it uses them like a dog. If the owl is upset, the ear tufts lie flat. If the owl is curious, the ear tufts stand up.

How strong are their talons? (JL)

Their talons are strong enough to pick up a skunk. It has forward and rear facing talons that lock like pincers. As soon as it’s prey goes into it’s claws it’s a goner.

How do they turn their heads around? (JS)

Owls have 14 neck bones. They actually twist their head around 270 degrees.

How do they get their prey? (NF)

They sneak up on their prey. They swoop down silently and kill their prey with their claws. It snatches their prey silently.

Why is their name the Great Horned Owl? (AT)

The Great Horned Owl got it’s name from it’s tufts of feathers on their head that look like a horn.

Where do they live? (LM)

The owls are found in deserts, fields and woods. Even in your back yard! They’re in America.

How do their eyes work? (PK)

The owls eyes can’t move they have to move their head. They can also see well at night. An owls eyes are in front of his head. It can turn it’s head half way around, to also see its prey. They can see in the morning. There eyes are 100% stronger than humans. Owls can blink like people. There eyes can see far and close. There eyes are able to get more light.

What hunts Great Horned Owls? (CH)

Nothing will eat them but crows will attack and pick at them.

How big is it? (GS)

It is about 18-25 inches. Weighs about 4 pounds.  There wings are a little bit bigger than 5 feet long.

What do they eat? (CH)

Owls eat rabbits, squirrels, gofers, mice, possums, and birds. Bigger owls hunt bigger animals. Smaller ones hunt smaller animals. They cough up bones and fur called pellets.

Follett Titlewave

It’s 1962, and aspiring author, Skeeter Phelan, decides to write a book about the experiences of black maids working for white employers in Jackson, Mississippi.

As a well-to-do native of Jackson, Skeeter was lovingly raised by a black maid. Although she is sympathetic to the winds of social change, Skeeter finds it difficult to gain the trust of the maids who fear the potentially horrific backlash for their truth-telling.

Skeeter’s own social life is up-ended as she increasingly distances herself from people who treat blacks as inferior or who do not have the moral courage to care or help effect change.

Told in the first person with alternating chapters for “Miss Skeeter” and two of the maids, Aibilene and Minny, the immediacy of the story draws the reader into the maids’ world as well as that of a white woman who witnesses things from both sides of the fence.

Although significant events such as the murder of Medgar Evers are interjected, the story mainly focuses on these hard-working women–the  injustices they faced as well as the loving bonds forged with some of their employers’ family members.

The author, Kathryn Stockett, was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and was sweetly nurtured by a black maid named Demetrie. Kathryn says, in her own words at the end of the book,

I’m pretty sure I can say that no one in my family ever asked Demetrie what it felt like to be black in Mississippi, working for our white family. . . . I have wished, for many years, that I’d been old enough and thoughtful enough to ask Demetrie that question. She died when I was sixteen. I’ve spent years imagining what her answer would be, and that is why I wrote this book.

This #1 New York Times bestseller let me “walk in another man’s moccasins.” I’m grateful for that.

I object to the prurient incident of a naked house intruder. In addition, although the considerable amount of swearing is probably authentic, I wish that my Lord’s name had not been taken in vain.

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“The highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display.” (p.25)

“When sin entered the world, it ruined the harmony of marriage not because it brought headship and submission into existence, but because it twisted man’s humble, loving headship toward hostile domination in some men and lazy indifference in others. And it twisted woman’s intelligent, willing, happy, creative, articulate submission toward manipulative obsequiousness in some women and brazen insubordination in others. Sin didn’t create headship and submission; it ruined them and distorted them and made them ugly and destructive.” (p.79)

“Headship is the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christlike, servant leadership, protection, and provision in the home. Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.” (p.80)

“. . . faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life; all other relationships get their final significance from this. No family relationship is ultimate; relationship to Christ is.” (p.114)

Follett Titlewave

Six-year-old Helen Keller is clearly brilliant but wild as an untamed horse when Annie Sullivan arrives to try to teach the blind and deaf child to communicate.

Helen’s family pities the child and does little to control her behavior.

WATCH OUT!  Helen has met her match in Miss Spitfire (Annie Sullivan).

Annie, an orphan who was born half-blind and cross-eyed, has had to battle for everything good in her life. She instinctively understands that Helen must learn to obey and love her before Annie can teach Helen.

This fictionalized account covers the first month after Annie arrived at the Kellers’ home and the battle of her Irish will against Helen and her doting parents. Interspersed amidst those events are flashbacks to Annie’s incredibly sad life–the twenty years she lived in a dysfunctional home, a poor house for orphans, and then a school for the blind.

In the book’s afterword “About Annie and Helen,” the author notes that while Helen went on to great fame, Annie remained at Helen’s side for much of the next 50 years but was often overlooked.

This story is a great testament to a woman who fought through incredible adversity, reaching for the impossible–for a miracle.

Highly recommended for grades 6-12.

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Two seventh-grade Kentucky girls–one from a private school in Lexington and the other from a public school in the “hollows” of the Cumberland Gap–participate in a student exchange program.

As Ivy June and Catherine spend two weeks living with the other girl’s family and attending school along side of her, the differences in their cultures come to the surface. Yet, when the girls both face a family crisis, their friendship grows stronger through that common bond.

The author, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, does an admirable job of not overstating the differences between the two families. She tactfully brings out some prejudices felt in each community towards the other, but mainly she focuses on differences between the families that could be true of families anywhere.

Ivy June notices that people in Catherine’s world are quick to affirm one another verbally, whereas in her family everyone is expected just to do their part. Catherine notices that Ivy June and her siblings need to do chores, work outside the home, or take care of family members in order to help their family survive. Conversely, Catherine’s parents don’t depend on their children in that way.

This is a gentle, true-to-life story that mainly gives insight into the lives of people located in remote communities. Includes many natural references to church, faith and prayer.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

Awards/Lists: Children’s Crown Award Nominee 2011-2012.