Left Behind: the kids series

                                    
                   
Left behind: the kids is a book series written by Jerry B. Jenkins, although the basis of the story is based on the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye. It is about the end times after the second return of Christ, and is the story of those left behind. The main characters are Judd Thompson Jr., Vicki Byrne, Lionel Washington, and Ryan Daley.
Judd Thompson Jr. is a teen who lives in a Christian family, but is very rebellious and is not a real Christian. When he recieves in the mail a credit card that is mistakenly regestered for Judd Thompson Jr. instead of Judd Thompson Sr., he decides this is his chance to get out. So he goes to the bank and withdraws a bunch of cash, then gets on a flight to London. during the flight 'the disapearances' happen, and the pilot turns around back to America.
Vicki Byrne is a girl who lives in a trailer park with her family, who have recently turned from drinking, smoking, and partying to Jesus, are desperately trying to get Vicki to turn from the same things. but one night, returning late from a party, Vicki sneaks into the house and goes to bed without getting seen. The next morning she finds her sister and her parents pajamas in their beds and relizes what happened.
Lionel Washington is a black kid who lives in a strong Christian home too, only everyone thinks he is just as much as a Christian as they are. The only one who knows his secret is his uncle Andre, who lives a secret life without faith as well. Lionel and his uncle are sleeping in the basement the night it happens, and when Lionel wakes up he imediatly knew what happened and is terrified that he missed it.
Ryan Daley is an only child who lives with his parents, and is neighbors with his best friend Raymie. None of Ryans family is a Christian, including Ryan, but Raymie and his mom are. At first when the disapearances happen Ryan has no idea. He is home alone while his mom is picking his dad up at the airport, and the only notice he has of something strange going on is that his mom wrote him a note saying that he might be scared of the stuff on TV. He finally finds out when he goes over to Raymie's house and finds his dad sobbing in the bedroom. He remembers what Raymie had said about the Rapture, and knows what happened. Jesus had taken the Christians.
Anyway, enough with the drama;). The four kids meet when they all find their way to New Hope Village Church and find a pastor who had never truly accepted Christ. The pastor, Bruce Barnes, shows them a video the senior pastor had made in case the Rapture would happen any time soon. They all believe the message, and then starts what is basically the whole basic subject for the rest of the series.
There are 40 books in the series, and each book has about 12 chapters in it and is about 150-200 pages long. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to read each chapter, so about 3 hours per book. Personally, it is probably my favorite book series; I have read it twice already. I am also planning on buying the audio verson on itunes, so I can have the series on my ipod:). I would say it is for ages 12+, since some parts can be violent and also certain parts a little later in the series needs a good atention span and a mind that doesn't get bored with 'sermons', since there are whole chapters in some cases that are just a letter or sermon by someone (I dont want to specify who in case there is anyone who might consider it 'giving away' the story line;)). Well, thats all for now. I really encourage you to read this series, whether you are a kid or not, because it is very enriching and it gives you a good idea about what the Tribulation might be like.

Love's Enduring Promise

Love's Enduring Promise is the second book of the Love Comes Softly series, written by Janette Oke. This book tells of the beginnings of a very enjoyable and happy marriage between Marty and Clark Davis, as well as their kids, Missy and Clare. During the book 9 years passes by, and during that time they also have Arnie, Ellie and Luke, plus they adopt two older girls named Nandry and Clae. The book's main purpose I think is to show the growing Davis family and their love for the other people in their community. They endure hardships, but there are also many blessings that occur such as gaining a school and teacher, and a church and pastor. I found the story very enjoyable to read, just like the first, although this one took me five days to read rather than one. It is about the same size as the first, 33 chapters and 239 pages, but I just didn't have as much time for reading. Well, I know this is shorter than usual, but there isn't as much to say about a book when it is in a series. I hope to be finishing the Left Behind: the Kids series soon too, so stay tuned for that.

Love Comes Softly

Love Comes Softly, written by Janette Oke, is a novel placed in the 1800's and is the story of a 19-year-old girl named Marty who is going out west with her husband to start a farm. But suddenly, tragedy arrives when Marty's husband has an accident with his horse and dies. To make matters worse, the day of his burial, a strange man comes up and proposes marriage, just for convenience sake. He had a daughter who needed a mother and Marty didn't have any home except a covered wagon with a broken wheel, and to add to things it was late fall. He also said that if she didn't like it at all in the spring he would cover the expenses for her to travel with a wagon train back east, as long as she would take his daughter, Missie. So even though it disgusted her more than anything, she agreed, also because she was pregnant and there was no way she would survive the winter in a broken covered wagon with not a cent. Also the reason they had to do it that day was because the preacher was leaving that day and wasn't coming back until spring. Anyway, the book tells the story of their hardships and joys, and how she learns to love the man, who's name is Clark Davis. It also shows how she becomes a Christian through the influence of Clark, and how she grows in her faith and also learns how to be a good mother. The book is 32 chapters, and 237 pages. I read it in one day, just because it is a Saturday and everyone was gone today so I had a ton of free time. I would say it would be good for ages 12+, just because it is a love story  so for anyone younger it might be boring and 'gross'. I enjoyed it a lot, and am looking forward to reading the other 7 books in the series. We also own all the movies so I am hoping to watch them soon. Also, if you want to get it at the library, I actually found it at the public library, so you might be able to get it there even though it is a Christian book. But, it might just be because of the area I live in, but I just thought I should mention that. Anyway, that's all for now.
PS
Sorry the picture is weird, but I am on a different computer than normal and this one doesn't have a camera, so I had to get a picture from online. Also I couldn't find one of the inside, but I will be reviewing the rest of the series, and they all look the same on the inside.

In His Steps

In His Steps is a book written by Charles M. Sheldon, and was written in the 1980's. The book's time period is late 1800's, and is the story of a pastor, as well as his church and town, who had a young tramp come to their church and give a remarkable speech about following Jesus and before making any decisions asking "what would Jesus do?". It moves the pastor so much that the next week he asks the congregation to take a pledge for one year to do nothing without first asking the question "what would Jesus do?". Amazing things start happening, for example, a newspaper editor decides to stop producing a Sunday paper, take out all adds about liquor and saloons, and only include articles that are wholesome and not time-wasting, meaning taking out things such as prize fights and crime reports. I found the book to be a little boring in the beginning, but around a quarter of the way through it started to get much more interesting. It took me several weeks to finish, mainly because we were on vacation for a week and a half during that time and I didn't read much during that time. The book has 24 chapters, and is 251 pages. It is not a very good book for younger readers, maybe 13-14 years and up, just because it is written for adults and wouldn't be very interesting to a younger person, and also because a large part of it is focused on the slum part of the town and includes drunk people and saloons. But it is still a great book to read, and will really change your perspective of following in Jesus' steps.