Author Archives: designpointaaron

AUTHOR: Nehemiah

GENRE: Religious Text

SUMMARY: After 70 years in exile, the Jews had returned home and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. They were able to worship God in their own land, but the city still lay in ruins. The once-great capital of the promised land was a depressing rubble heap exposed to her enemies. When Nehemiah hears this, he sets out to restore the city walls.

The book of Nehemiah is his story in his own words. It is about reestablishing God’s people both physically and spiritually.

In the first part of the book, Nehemiah restores Jerusalem in a physical sense. When Nehemiah hears that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire,” he gets permission from Persian King Artaxerxes to rebuild the city. The governors of surrounding territories viciously oppose Nehemiah’s efforts, but the wall is finished in just 52 days. Nehemiah also restores economic justice in the land, admonishing the wealthy for taking advantage of their less fortunate brothers.

In the second section, Nehemiah and Ezra bring spiritual revival to Jerusalem. Ezra reads the law of Moses aloud to the people, and the nation rededicates to obeying God. Later on, Nehemiah works diligently to point people back to the law of Moses.

Nehemiah’s story is peppered with personal commentary—sometimes it reads like a historical account, and sometimes it reads like Nehemiah’s journal. We know when he is afraid. We know when he is angry. We even see him break his own narrative with prayers to God. This book gives us a look into the mind of an Old Testament man of God, giving us examples of how to lead, pray, and deal with discouragement.

AUTHOR: Gloria Whelan

GENRE: Historical Fiction

SUMMARY: Africa is the only home Rachel Sheridan has ever known. But when her missionary parents are struck with influenza, she is left vulnerable to her family’s malicious neighbors. Surrounded by greed and lies, Rachel is entangled in a criminal scheme and sent to England, where she’s forced into a life of deception. Like the lion, she must be patient and strong, awaiting the moment when she can take control of her own fate — and find her way home again at last.

AUTHOR: Yona Zeldis McDonough

GENRE: Non-Fiction

SUMMARY: No one knows where the term Underground Railroad came from — there were no trains or tracks, only “conductors” who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about “passengers” on the “Railroad,” this book chronicles slaves’ close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom.

AUTHOR: Eleanor Estes

GENRE: Fiction

SUMMARY: Meet the marvelous Pyes— There is Mrs. Pye, the youngest mother in town; Mr. Pye, a famous bird man, who handles all the nation’s important bird problems; Rachel Pye, who is so reasonable she can make unreasonable ideas sound like good ones; Jerry Pye, who knows about rocks of all sorts and plans to grow up to be a rock man; Uncle Bennie, who is Jerry and Rachel’s uncle—even though he’s only three years old. Lastly is Ginger Pye, the “intellectual dog,” who Jerry bought for a hard-earned dollar. The most famous pup in all of Cranbury, Ginger knows tons of tricks, is as loyal as he is smart, and steals the hearts of everyone he meets… until someone steals him!

AUTHOR: R.J. Palacio

GENRE: Juvenile Fiction

SUMMARY: August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER begins from Auggie’s point of view but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

AUTHOR: Patricia MacLachlan

GENRE: Historical Fiction

SUMMARY: Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna’s point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa’s advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay? Sarah, Plain and Tall gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.

AUTHOR: Priscilla Shirer

GENRE: Fantasy Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Christian Fiction, Religious Fiction

SUMMARY: In this second book in The Prince Warriors trilogy, the Prince Warriors face new challenges on earth and in the unseen realm of Ahoratos. The enemy, angry about his last defeat, is targeting them with weapons and tactics they had never imagined, including the flaming Olethron. The kids must turn to Ruwach and the Source, who can give them more pieces of armor to help them stand strong against this deadly threat.

AUTHOR: C.S. Lewis

GENRE: Fantasy

SUMMARY: When the Pevensie children go to Narnia for the second time it is as if King Arthur had come back to England today. This story takes place a year after the children had gone to Narnia the first time, but they find that hundreds of years had passed in Narnian time. During that time Narnia had been conquered by a people called the Telmarines and all of the old Narnian creatures had died or had been in hiding for years.

The story actually begins with one of the Telamrine rulers, Caspian, who was only a child and had been usurped from his throne by his evil Uncle Miraz. As Caspian flees for his life, he finds the Old Narnians in their hiding place. They rally around him when he promises to create a Narnia for both men and beasts, forming an army to attack Miraz. Failing their initial attacks miserably, they blow a magic Horn which had once belonged to Queen Susan and was supposed to bring help to those who blow it. The help comes in the form of the children who had once been Kings and Queens of Narnia.

The children are sitting in a railway station when they feel themselves being tugged back into Narnia. They are somehow transported to Cair Paravel, their former castle, which is now a ruin. There they are found by a dwarf who brings them back to Caspian. Together with Caspian and of course, Aslan, who also comes to help, they defeat the Telmarines and set Caspian on the throne of a united Narnia. At the end of the story, Susan and Peter are told that this will be their last trip to Narnia as they are growing up.