Teens and Faith: Three Final Reviews

These three short reviews by regular contributor Virginia Thomas mark the end of our 6 week series on books that reflect experiences of teens and faith.  We’d love to hear your suggestions about other books we didn’t review!

Title:  Ordinary Miracles

Author: Stephanie S. Tolan

Publisher: Harper Trophy Book

ISBN: 9780380733224

Audience: Ages 10 and up

Summary: Mark and Matt Filkins are identical twins, 8^th graders, whose lives are so closely intertwined  that they often have the same dreams. An equally strong bond is their conservative, evangelical faith. Their father is a minister in an independent church and they  are destined to be fourth generation ministers in a family of ministers.  Matthew is excited about this; Mark is having reservations. When he meets Dr. Colin Hendrick, a Nobel prize winner in science, his life takes a new direction.  Dr. Hendrick has been invited to help with the 8^th grade science class and Mark is completely enthralled by his exposure to new knowledge, including genetic engineering.  Mark’s father disapproves, saying that God is the creator, not man. As Mark  tries to reconcile his family’s faith with Colin’s lack of belief, he learns that Colin is dying of pancreatic cancer.  Now his belief about prayer is tested and when Colin dies he must re-think his faith and find a more independent relationship with Matthew.

Colin is a dedicated scientist who loves the world; he can only believe in what can be tested and proven.  Mark’s family, though generous and charitable in their dealings with others, has deep convictions.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and Colin will not choose this way.  How do we know what to believe?  There is no scientific proof for the Christian faith.  Colin sees ordinary miracles all around him in the natural world.  Mark is looking for a different kind of miracle, that God will spare Mark’s life.  This is a sensitive, thoughtful book that faces the conflict that is often seen between science and religion.  The ordinary miracle that helps Mark after Colin’s death may not satisfy everyone but the total experience of living with sincere believers and a sincere agnostic is powerful.

Title:  The Boy Who Dared

Author:  Susann Campbell Bartoletti

Publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 9780439680134

Audience: Ages 9 and up

Summary: Seventeen year old Helmuth Hubener was the youngest person executed for treason by the Third Reich. The story begins with the chilling words, “The Executioner works on Tuesday.” The ending is a foregone conclusion; this is, after all, fictionalized history but Helmuth’s memories of the events and the growing convictions that brought him to this place hold our interest..   He is convicted for listening to a shortwave BBC station that gives accurate news about the war and distributing this news through pamphlets that he and three friends distribute secretly. His testimony in court guarantees that his three friends will not be executed but seals his fate .  Helmuth was an active member of the Mormon Church, organized by American missionaries, and his trust in God sustains him through his trial and death.

The Boy Who Dared raises a number of issues that Christians as citizens should ponder.  Throughout the rise of the Third Reich many German Christians claim Hitler is a leader supplied by God; opposing this idea is at first difficult, then truly dangerous.  How do we decide what good citizenship is?  Helmuth’s brothers argue that his actions will harm the family, that to oppose the German government is a pointless act of folly. How and when does one choose between prudence and daring action? How does a government like the Third Reich rise to power?  What motivates Helmuth to risk his life?  At one point in the story Helmuth wonders about the purpose of his life in this situation.  His decisions make inspiring reading.

Title:  Caleb’s Wars

Author: Davis L. Dudley

Publisher: Clarion Books

ISBN:  9780547239972

Audience: Ages 14 and up

Summary:  The time: summer, 1944, prior to the Civil Rights movement. The place: rural Georgia. Caleb, a 15 year old African-American, is engaged in several wars: the war in Europe where his brother Randall is a prisoner of war; a war with his domineering, abusive father who wants Caleb to work in his carpenter shop; a war with the white culture which limits and demeans him; and a war that centers on his faith and God’s call.  The book begins with Caleb’s baptism in which he hears God name him as his servant.  The call has little meaning for him as blacks in the south have always been servants.  He knows he has heard a voice, externally and internally, but he tends to ignore it as he goes to work in the Dixie Belle restaurant, defying his father.  Andreas, a German prisoner of war is brought in from the prisoner of war camp to work in the restaurant and Caleb establishes a tentative friendship with his brother’s enemy.  Scattered through the book are incidents of physical conflict with bullying white boys, of verbal conflicts with a racist waitress and a patronizing white man.  Caleb is led to pray for two persons who need healing and, to his amazement, his prayers are answered. Is this what it means to be a servant? The answer seems to come when Caleb has the courage to demand to be served in the Dixie Belle in the name of his brother Randall.

Here is a picture of the South during World War II with all of its prejudices and injustice.  The author does a commendable job of showing what this culture does to a person who suppresses the anger the treatment creates.  Caleb’s father has no faith in a God who lets such conditions exist.  Caleb’s Ma makes a strong case for the failure of male violence to lead the world to peace. Caleb’s struggle with God’s call is a thread throughout the book.  He prays but hears nothing.  In the courage to oppose an injustice in the restaurant, Caleb seems to understand God’s call and to anticipate a continuing struggle to be a servant. In keeping with the times, African-Americans are referred to as “niggers” and “colored.”   This book has good possibilities for young people in confirmation classes. It could prompt a discussion on which is the greater gift-the ability to heal physically or the courage to oppose injustices?

Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct

Title:  Edwina,The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct

Author:  Mo Willems

Illustrator:  Mo Willems

Publisher:  Hyperion Books

ISBN:  978-0786837489

Audience: Ages 4-8

Summary: Who doesn’t love Edwina?  She feeds the birds, plays with children, helps little old ladies across the street, and bakes delicious chocolate chip cookies for everyone.  Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie  doesn’t love her because she’s a dinosaur and he knows that dinosaurs are extinct.  Reginald sets out to prove this to his school class using all the scientific knowledge at his command but the class just leaves to eat some of Edwina’s freshly baked cookies.  Reginald is discouraged because no one will listen to him until Edwina volunteers.  Edwina listens so attentively to all the facts that Reginald feels wonderful.  No one had ever listened to him like that before. Now Edwina realizes that she’s extinct.  However she doesn’t care, and by then neither does Reginald who is now eating some of her chocolate chip cookies.

Literary elements at work in the story: As in most Willems’ books, the pictures do the work.  The above synopsis may have more words than the story. Edwina is a very large, pale green dinosaur with a pearl necklace, a purse, a beribboned straw hat, and toenail polish. (Possibly a mapusaurus). The pictures convey Reginald as a man on a mission: making posters, distributing leaflets, making noise and dramatizing extinction with appropriate expressions, usually in black and white. The colors are a wash of blues, greens, yellow with lots of space and nothing flamboyant except Reginald’s emotions.  By their facial expressions and their actions, it’s easy to see his audience is unimpressed.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to thestory? Edwina is a charming, loving, listening female and Reginald is a hard headed, stubborn, fact obsessed male.  These are stereotypes but probably no one will notice.

Theological Conversation Partners: There’s a great deal written these days about the conflict of science and religion.  For many,  scientific proof is the basis of all knowledge.  Children in the designated age group may be experts in trust but belief in the theological sense comes a bit later in development. Still children can feel secure in God’s love without scientific proof at any age. It’s good for the top of this age range to understand what science can and cannot do.  The importance of community and relationships in the development of faith is vital. The story of Thomas (John 20:24-29)  is a good example of belief resting on proof and faith resting on experience, another kind of proof. Hebrews 11:1,2 is one biblical definition of faith.  John 7:20 is Jesus’ guide to certainty about him.  And don’t overlook the impact of a good listener.  This book could serve as an introduction to a unit of study about creation, conversations about evolution, or any study where science is involved with young people.

Faith Talk Questions for children and youth

1. How do the people in the town know Edwina exists?
2. Why is Reginald so sure that she doesn’t exist?
3. What are some things that can’t be proven by observable facts (goodness, beauty, parent’s love, friendship) ?
4. What are some things that science can tell us?
5. What clues tell you that your parents love you, that God loves you?
6. Why is listening carefully to someone with a problem important?
7. Why is a community important for faith?
8. A line in a hymn from the 11^th C goes, “The love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know.” Can you explain this?
9. Is faith more about facts or about relationships?

Review prepared by regular contributor Virginia Thomas