Guest Author - Diana Pederson

Parents, are your children a bit bored with summer vacation? Why not encourage them in their Christian faith by providing one or more of these books for them to read?

Rebecca Davis. Fanny Crosby: Queen of Gospel Songs. Journey Forth. 2003. Age group: 7-9.

Fanny Crosby, a prolific writer of hymns, became blind shortly after birth. In the early 1800s doctors didn’t always know how to save eye sight from infections. Her father died shortly after her birth leaving her twenty-one old mother a widow.

This is the story of how Fanny Crosby overcame the odds to become a well known hymn writer. Even today, congregations continue to sing many of her hymns.


Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Lost Prince of Samavia. Journey Forth. 2004. Ages 9-12.

The Lost Prince of Samavia is an abridged edition of “The Lost Prince”.

This is a combination fantasy and adventure story. It is the imaginary tale of a “prince” who seeks to return to his native country. It is the story of the adventures the prince and his father must pass through successfully in order to be restored to their rightful places as rulers of Samavia.

If your child has an active imagination, this book is for them. If they prefer stories that are a bit more realistic, you many want to pass over this book.


Thomas J. Brodeur. Regina Silsby’s Secret War. Journey Forth. 2004. Christian Fiction for Young Adults.

Rachel is a young person just before the American Revolutionary War. Although some of the events described are pure fiction, many are based on fact too. Middle school aged youth will enjoy learning how a young person was able to scare British soldiers by relying on her culture’s superstitions.

This book is both a historical novel and a mystery novel combined in one. I remember learning about some of the book’s characters while studying American History. Your daughter(s) and son(s) will find it interesting too see how the colonists’ Christian beliefs were lived out in spite of the revolutionary war.