Robert Treskillard concludes his terrific YA Merlin trilogy with this book, Merlin’s Nightmare (2014), leaving some threads open for starting a new work focused on Arthur. I’m really enjoying Treskillard’s re-imagining of Merlin as a non-magician. Merlin is a...
I reviewed the first book in the series, Merlin’s Blade. This second book, Merlin’s Shadow (2013), like any middle book in a three-book series, leads us through some majors trials for the main characters. Merlin finds himself fleeing the traitor Vortigern, who...
In the movie “The Hate U Give,” 16-year-old Starr is an African-American living in what she calls “the ‘hood,” a place called Garden Heights, while attending a nearly all-white high school. She lives in both worlds, trying to fit in both...
Carl Ellis Jr. tells Christians to speak into the culture, affirming core Biblical values without necessarily naming them as Biblical, in order to nudge the culture back toward Biblical norms and begin the process of preparing the soil for planting, so to speak. Tim...
Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore Published 2012 by Thomas Nelson, 311 pages Genre: Young adult supernatural with romance elements, Christian Brielle is crippled by her despair as she blames herself for her best friend’s death. To learn to cope, she returns to her...
We have four children who are young adults, and I am glad to report that all of them are Christians. But I don’t take credit for it. So many Christian parents I know are struggling and praying for their adult children who have left the fold. I was one of those...
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Published 2008 by Scholastic, 384 pages Genre: Young adult, dystopian futuristic. Not suitable for 15 and under in my opinion because of violence. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old living in America some time in the future when it has...
Replication by Jill Williamson Published December 2011 by Zonderkidz Genre: Christian young adult suspense with sci-fi flavoring Abby Goyer’s not too happy when her scientist father moves her to Alaska from Washington, D.C. He’s secretive about his new...
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Published 2011 by HarperCollins, 435 pages Genre: Young adult supernatural Clara, 16 years old, learns from her mother that she is 1/4 angel. What?? There’s a verse in Genesis to support the mixing of angel and humankind: “The...
