Book reviews are finally here! See the other post I wrote on these books here.
John?Bunyan?is well known, but did you know the story of his daughter? ?Although she was born blind, she does not let it stop her.When her father, who she is very close to, is imprisoned, she help her stepmother with the younger children and carries food to her father in jail.
In the market she meets a gypsy family and befriends their daughter, Sofia. Together with her grandmother, Sofia helps Mary deal with her father being in prison. They show her what trust and faith is through stories and?symbolism. The story of salvation is explained by Timoz, Sofia’s father, in a sweet and simple way.
Mary wants to have everything under control and save her family.??Slowly, with her father’s and?friend’s?help, she learns she cannot do it through her own?strength. She needs Jesus. I love the way her journey in all of this is told as she tells her sister Bets, her best friend, what she is feeling and learning and thinking. How she learns to go to her Heavenly Father instead of frantically trying to hold all the pieces?together?on her own.
Anita is a little girl that loves to dance. But as the war comes closer, she learns the bitter?consequences?of having a?Jewish?mother. More and more she is excluded from things and on top of this her father abandons the family. It becomes more dangerous and with a friends’ help, her sister Hella escapes to England just in time. It is too late for Anita and her mother to join them.After a long time of?expecting?it, the Gestapo knocks on the door and they are taken to a camp.
A story of faith, Anita trusts God to cover her with the shadow of his hand as she tries to escape the camp, whether she makes it out alive or not.
“I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you with the shadow of my hand” is?Anita’s?favorite verse, and she often feels God’s hand?protecting her.
I love the way her faith shines as a light, giving others the courage to have faith as well. Reading her story teaches reminds me how I am, truly, under the cover of His hand.
This one is one of my favorites from this series. It is not a happy, carefree story, but it is so encouraging and challenging!It tells the story of a pioneer family that went out west but everything goes wrong when they choose a wrong party to join. The wagon train disbands but her dad wants to go on,?despite the ?danger.
Olive and her sister Mary Ann are captured by Indians and taken to their home. The courage of Olive and faith of Mary Ann are an inspiration, and their story is one of faith in the midst of tragedy; love in the midst of trials. The relationship between Olive and Mary Ann and the conversations about life, faith and hope are sweet. The way the chief’s wife and daughter care for them is heartwarming and reminds us how love can cross so many cultural differences and difficulties.
A story of being ransomed, in more ways then one. It teaches me to keep on trusting in God even when everything seems to be going wrong.
This story is about a family making the difficult decision to move from the Netherlands to America. Back then, if you went, you didn’t come back for a visit now and then. It was a lifelong decision. The journey across the Atlantic wasn’t a cruise, either. We follow Mary and her friends and family on their difficult and heartbreaking journey.I?love the quiet and sensitive, yet strong, Mary. I love the way she keeps going on and serves other in the midst of her own troubles. And I love the way the story ends, when she knows she is home. Alone, but not forsaken and not without a new home and loving family.
Janxa is named Phillis and God is watching over her as she is bought by a compassionate family who teach her to read and do not treat her as a slave.Phyllis went on to become an author, and her poems were published!She gets to know Jesus, listens to His voice and prays for guidance in daily difficulties that arise from the other slaves who are jealous of the way she is treated. And keeps her faith as she has to deal with people who do not believe a slave could write poetry. The happy ending in this story is that she is given her freedom at the end.
My first blog in 2007 was named hallelujah Lass after this book.The story is about a delicate girly-girl in England.?Her life is turned upside down when the Salvation Army comes: groups of people walking along the streets, singing songs and preaching to rowdy workmen. Her friend Beck becomes more and more involved, and Eliza longs to follow her in this.
When she gets her parents permission to become a Hallelujah Lass she is sent to a little mining village by William and Catherine Booth. In the end we see her traveling to America to start up the first Salvation Army place there with her parents!
This girl let God use her, going far beyond her comfort zone. And I love that. Although I am personally not a big fan of women on soapboxes.
To top this story of…she eats marzipan, my favorite candy. I pity anybody who does not like it and I pity everyone who has not had it. For real.
I have read many books about?Harriet?Tubman, and this one has things in it that I never knew before. For example, did you know her given name is ‘Araminta Ross’ ? ?Her nickname was Minty, which I personally think is just too sweet. She was a spunky little thing, and when I read her story I can almost see the little slave girl hauling buckets of water across the field to let the others drink, wearing a raggedy dress and no shoes or sandals, beautiful black curly hair framing her little face with big black eyes.We follow her as she goes from being a small girl helping with the babies, scared when the master comes home because he might have sold more of their family members down south. Then when she gets a little older, the master hires her out to learn to become a weaver and help in the house. After being returned to her master she is sent into the fields to become a field hand and although her mother is?disappointed, Harriet is relieved.
Throughout the story we see her become who she will be. A?courageous?woman with strong faith that lets God use her for His purpose in the midst of horrible and unfair situations.
Pocahontas is an inquisitive girl. She want to see, she wants to know, she wants to learn. Because she is the chief’s favorite daughter, she has more freedom then other girls to do what she wants and go where she goes.She goes to spy on the white people and we all know how the story goes. But in this book, we see how she gets to know Jesus, how she hears his voice and feels His?presence. She intercedes for John and has compassion for these white people, who do not know what they are doing in this strange?country.
After she is taken captive and her father does not pay the ransom, she learns more and more about?the ‘white?people’ and about God.
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