BJU Press Blog

JourneyForth

Best Books for Vacation

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Is your family taking a trip this year? Whether it’s a weekend at the beach, a cross-country camping trip, or a visit with family, your kids will need some books to keep them occupied along the way. During the summer, encourage your children to read what they enjoy—for the sheer love of the story! For your next vacation, check out this list of books that they won’t be able to put down.

A King for Brass Cobweb (ages 6–7)

Filled with lush, beautiful pictures, A King for Brass Cobweb by Dawn Watkins is just right for early readers who need plenty of engaging visuals with their text. Large print, simple words, and delightful characters make this adventure perfect for reading aloud or independently.

The Mice of the Herring Bone Series (ages 6–7+)

What’s a better vacation book than a swashbuckling tale of pirate seadogs and clever mice? Mice of the Herring Bone by Tim Davis is the first book in a set of five seafaring tales that are sure to delight any child who’s ready for chapter books!

The Nick Newton Series (ages 9–12)

This lighthearted, futuristic adventure series follows the antics of an inventive boy from the country of Thauma. Nick Newton Is Not a Genius by S. E. M. Ishida is an excellent choice for kids who are into science and technology since it blends a love of STEM with a fascinating mystery. The second book in the series, Nick Newton: The Highest Bidder, is a fun, encouraging novel about friendship, persistence, and applied creativity.

Brave the Wild Trail (ages 9–12)

Is your family headed westward to cattle country or south to Florida? Milly Howard’s Brave the Wild Trail is a historical cowboy adventure set in the South, featuring the bullwhip-wielding Florida Crackers who used to drive herds through the Florida wilderness. Vicious outlaws, wild animals, and other dangers of the trail will keep your kid glued to the page.

False Coin, True Coin (young adult)

In this historical fiction novel, False Coin, True Coin by Lois Hoadley Dick, a young girl faces the perils of seventeenth-century London. As the daughter of a jailkeeper, Cissy meets the Christian hero John Bunyan when he was imprisoned for preaching Christ. She also meets a young outlaw who steals her heart. Making the right choices is not easy for Cissy, especially when peril, plague, and persecution confront her at every turn.

You can purchase these novels and lots more books for vacation from the Journeyforth website or on Amazon. Explore the available titles with your kids and have them make a summer book wishlist. Happy reading!

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

JourneyForth’s First Novel Turns Thirty

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Dignity with authenticity. Depth of feeling in understatement. Believable characters in a story that is quietly riveting. It’s rare for an author’s first novel to be as beautifully pristine as Jenny Wren by Dawn Watkins. Now celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, as JourneyForth’s first publication, Jenny Wren has proven to be an outstanding inaugural choice.

As the novel opens, the age gap between the main characters was something I immediately noticed because this ordinarily foreshadows homefront conflict. An older couple takes on the challenge of investing themselves in a needy youngster’s day-to-day training. But surprisingly, within the confines of the home at least, the old-fashioned, time-honored methods of Mr. and Mrs. Logan aren’t an issue with Jenny. They answer perfectly to her need for love and security.

BJU Press Jenny Wren Silver Anniversary Edition book cover

The healing power of regular routine soon shows up in the setting and seasons of farm life. Surrounded by fresh air and rural peacefulness, Jenny’s guarded distrust begins to fall away. Whether in the forest “helping” Mr. Logan log while peppering him with questions, or in the kitchen devouring a bowl of Mrs. Logan’s homemade soup—the young girl watches for and absorbs every loving nuance sent her way by the caring couple.

However, bureaucracy casts its shadow over the Logan household. Social service personnel question the couple’s fitness as permanent guardians and threaten to transfer Jenny to what they consider to be a more suitable arrangement. Jenny becomes painfully aware that her security hangs in the balance and, in a moment of despair, complicates her circumstances by running away. But a silver lining accompanies even this impulsive mistake. Through the experience she awakens to the immense value of what she has had in the Logan’s home.

Still, clarity alone, isn’t enough to rescue Jenny from the well-meaning adults who ultimately decide her placement. A newcomer on this chessboard of characters shows up at the last minute. And not even the Logans see his surprise play coming.

A thirty-year favorite I personally treasure (which you will too), Jenny Wren is sheer reading pleasure for generations young, old, and in between.

Read the opening pages of Jenny Wren.

 

Life Lessons from Roses on Baker Street

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If you’re looking for a story with characters that communicate depth of feeling without a trace of melodrama and that successfully portray the genuine conflicts of a young heart with candor and authenticity, you’ll be richly rewarded by Roses on Baker Street by Eileen Berry. Roses takes its place in your heart like gently falling snow—quietly, subtly, softly.

book cover for Roses on Baker Street by Eileen Berry. published by BJU Press

It begins when we are introduced to a missionary family returning to the States from France for a year-long furlough. Their youngest daughter, a third grader named Danae, enters her new, un-France-like world with caution and unavoidable comparisons. The streets are different. The houses are different. The language is different. Even the bread is different. And the hardest part of all to grasp is her father’s advice to his homesick daughter: “Look for the roses—not the thorns.” Danae combs the neighborhood and doesn’t find a single rose. In France they peppered the landscape, gracefully climbing the walls of her village.

In school, Danae’s teacher tries her best to make Danae feel welcome, and in the classroom, the children show some interest in their new classmate’s home on the other side of the ocean. But after observing giggling and whispers in the lunchroom, Danae returns from her first day of school feeling friendless. And it is here—in my favorite scene in the story—that her father steps in and enters into his daughter’s feelings of loneliness in a special way.

Roses on Baker Street ends in a surprising blaze of color that will linger with five- to nine-year-olds long after they close the covers of this touching tale. With its lessons in patience and contentment, its beautiful color illustrations by master artist John Roberts, and Berry’s characteristically gentle style, Roses waits to take its place on your library shelf and in the heart of every child who reads it.

Mice of the Herring Bone: The Triumph of Civility

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TWP-Mice-Herring-Bone-12-2015he mouse-duo of Charles and Oliver scamper across the pages of Tim Davis’s adventure tale being clever, brave, and comical. Their first perilous encounter is with some rough-hewn pirate canines, who convincingly flaunt their lack of class. At first unaware of the presence of mouse spies, the undignified and impetuous sea-dogs spill their plot to steal a sunken treasure after her majesty’s ship—the Nine Lives—has done all the work of bringing it up. Excitement follows when Charles and Oliver are discovered and captured by the motley crew. But through a series of unfortunate and fortunate events, the mice escape from the Herring Bone and resolve to take their chances aboard the Nine Lives, which—as its name indicates—is “manned” by a mouse’s worst real-world enemies.

Spoiler Alert!

Where “rough and rude” was the order of the day on the Herring Bone, by contrast, the Nine Lives proves to be a place of polite decorum. And Charles and Oliver’s brave risk and cleverness save the day for the patient felines. The Nine Lives crew gets to hang on to the treasure, the crusty canines get marooned on an island, and the mice sail off into the sunset with the prospect of reward from the queen herself. As civility triumphs, Charles and Oliver are likely to become your child’s new heroes.

Few fictional characters delight young readers more than well-personified animals. Believable personalities combined with a stellar plot easily draw listeners/readers into a satisfying fantasy experience. Charming ink illustrations pepper the pages. Kick off this JourneyForth series with Mice of the Herring Bone and then continue your delightful midwinter romp with Mice of the Nine Lives, Mice of the Seven Seas, and Mice of the Westing Winds Books 1 & 2.

Benjamin’s Sling

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In searching for a new Christmas story for K4 through beginning readers, I was deeply impressed when I discovered Eileen Berry’s Benjamin’s Sling. Initially, I saw it as a fresh, beautifully, simple children’s Christmas story. But as I read further, I unearthed abundantly satisfying answers to some of life’s most complex and timeless questions. Perhaps like me, you may be surprised that Benjamin’s Sling appeals to everyone from grandparents to preschoolers.

book cover of Benjamin's Sling by Eileen Berry

The story opens with a sleepless night. An orphaned shepherd boy wrestles with the comforts that he sees around him but that have been denied him personally. The twinkling lights of Bethlehem just before it slumbers stir his envy of those with a normal family life as he looks down on the town from the pastures he calls home. Fear and loneliness run deep for this child—the sad results of trauma and loss—and the author brings them vividly forward in the pastoral musings of the boy’s heart.

Jumpy and trigger-happy when it comes to using his sling, Benjamin has joined the ranks of the hyper-aware at a young age. Modern readers easily identify with the questions and doubts that swirl in his head concerning God’s sovereignty and whether His good will toward men is real. “Why didn’t God—who is able—prevent his father’s untimely death? What dangers yet await him, as a vulnerable lad?” An older shepherd—Caleb, who is Benjamin’s close and kind guardian—doesn’t have all the answers to the boy’s questions. But, as is characteristic of the wise guide, he points Benjamin to the One who does. Fully aware that there are places only experience, maturity, and divine grace can take Benjamin, Caleb reminds him of his father’s strong love and of God’s protection of that most famous shepherd—David. But words are not enough to bring Benjamin to peace with his past.

Only seeing the Savior can quiet the shepherd boy’s trembling heart—and it all begins with some very loud voices on the hillside.

You, your children, and your grandchildren will thrill again when you read of these simple shepherds meeting with the King of Kings. You will rejoice at the transforming power experienced by the humble few, chosen to experience that first Christmas. In this rich, poetic setting of Eileen Berry’s enthralling account, I found the perfect Christmas gift. I cannot recommend highly enough this classic story that will bless your family year after year.

View the opening pages of Benjamin’s Sling at bjupresshomeschool.com. Discussion questions are also available on the product page.