by Phyllis | Dec 16, 2020 | Book reviews
His Gift by Joan C. Benson tells the inspirational story of a gifted teenage concert pianist. Molly has entered a competition sponsored by the Detroit Symphony in the fateful fall of 1929. Can she compete with all the other skilled young people? Might she even win?...
by Phyllis | Jun 3, 2020 | Book reviews, Middle-grade voice example
Sometimes I stray from my core mission of reviewing middle grade novels. This novel is almost a middle-grade novel. After all, its narrator is twelve, perfect for middle grade. But the real protagonist is thirteen or fourteen, a boy who’s already lived enough...
by Phyllis | May 18, 2020 | Book reviews
In this young-adult book, Kia, a shy biracial kid whose issues usually keep her hiding in the shadows, is just entering high school. When a cool new coach shows up, she decides to join the track team. Turns out she’s good at it, because she’s been working on the new...
by Phyllis | Nov 20, 2019 | Book reviews
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...
by Phyllis | Nov 19, 2019 | Book reviews
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...
by Phyllis | Nov 7, 2018 | Book reviews, Film reviews
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...
by Phyllis | Sep 5, 2013 | For writers
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...
by Phyllis | Jun 18, 2012 | Book reviews
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...
by Phyllis | May 14, 2012 | Thoughts to share
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...
