Praise and Critique the Books Waiting for Her Isaac by Mr. & Mrs. Steven B. Castleberry In this day and age when most “Christian” books for teenage girls are filled with talk of boys, romance, and impart not-too-conservative values, “Waiting for Her Isaac” is indeed one of a kind! This book deals with what we feel many homeschooling, conservative girls struggle with- that being, a feeling of aloneness, as well as the attitude of: “With all these weird convictions I hold to, who in the world is going to marry me? And even if there IS someone who would marry me, how is he going to FIND me?” As Beth, the main character in the book, learns that those in her family can be her best friends, her focus in life shifts somewhat. Because of the trials that the Lord takes her through, she becomes closer to her family, and later she can see how the Lord was preparing her for her future marriage through them. ...As she continues to struggle with doubts about who she is going to marry, her father reminds her one day, “I won’t find a husband for you, Mom won’t, and you won’t. God will.” The Lord doesn't forget Beth, and after a very pure courtship, she is married. This book is a must for girls that struggle with accepting God’s plan for their lives- as well an encouragement for those that hold to courtship. "Waiting for Her Isaac" can be ordered through: Castleberry Farms Press / Dept. TE / P.O. Box 337 / Popular, WI 54864 - Summer and Melody Chapin Hearth and Home by Karey Swan Here is a wonderful homemaking book that has absolutely thrilled my mother and I! Written by Karey Swan and available through HIS Publishing Company (a very nice catalog of homeschooling resources; write for free catalog - P.O. Box 9881, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33310-9881), "Hearth and Home" is a homemaking skills/cookbook. My mom and I have especially enjoyed the little personal notes Karey has written between the recipes, and the chapters that have stories about her family and her thoughts on homeschooling, biblical matters, children, literature, married life, and more. There are 14 chapters in this 236-page book, including chapters on gardening, common sense nutrition, homemade soap, and of course chapters devoted to an abundance of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. (We’ve tried quite a few of Karey Swan’s recipes and they’ve been great! =) ) Quite a ‘treasure chest’! "Hearth and Home" is very similar in style to Edith Schaeffer’s homemaking book (“The Hidden Art of Homemaking”), but in Karey’s book you get the practical, “how-to-do-it” aspect of homemaking instead of just getting the idea and “talk” of homemaking. This book has been called the perfect ‘textbook’ from which any girl could learn her homemaking skills, and I agree! What’s more, with this book you will just want to curl up in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea and just read and read and read for enjoyment (and I speak from personal experience! =) ) What an encouraging and valuable book for any mother and her daughter(s) to have!!! - Amy Zander, Bardwell, KY Ester Reid’s Awakening by Isabella Alden A book that I have read and enjoyed over and over is “Ester Reid’s Awakening”, written by Isabella Alden. The book is about Ester Reid, a young girl running her family’s boardinghouse largely on her own in the early 1900’s. Her mother being quite often sick, Ester has a very large share of the responsibilities. The hard work makes her irritable, and it is hard to keep her patience with the many people she must deal with daily, especially her bright younger sister, Sadie. Ester often finds it very difficult to keep her promise of several years before - to follow Jesus. Then one day Ester gets an unexpected invitation to the home of Abby, her cousin with whom she has kept up a steady correspondence through many years. Her surprise upon arrival, a few choice words on a small card, and the tragedy that shakes the whole big house cause her to take a closer look at her commitment to follow Christ. Was it too late to do anything about it? This book has helped me to better understand the meaning of the old saying, “Bloom where you are planted”. I think that it would be profitable reading for any girl over 12 or 13, as any younger than that wouldn’t be able to grasp the full meaning of the story. It should be available at your local library or at a Christian bookstore. Amanda Davis - Grand Prairie, TX Let Me Be a Woman: Notes to My Daughter on the Meaning of Womanhood By Elizabeth Elliot We are called to be women. The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be. In order to learn what it means to be a woman, we must start with the one who made her. By Elizabeth Elliot, from her book Let Me Be a Woman Several weeks before the marriage of her daughter, Valerie, Christian author Elizabeth Elliot penned these words which became the introduction to one of her most cherishable, and sadly, little-known books. You sisters who may have read some of my letters and articles will realize that God is teaching me how to be a godly woman and preparing me to be a godly wife. This book has been the single most strengthening and encouraging extra-Biblical source for my learning, and one that I would strongly and lovingly exhort any Christian (or even unbelieving) young woman to read, as she contemplates what it will take for her to be a strong, supportive and godly wife. The place of a woman as explained by Elizabeth Elliot moves her from where the secular world places her into a role far more precious and becoming, into being the kind of woman that God created her to be. Here are three excerpts from my favorite chapters: “Pride [Loyalty] involves identity. You must identify yourself with someone in order to be proud of him. We are proud of American achievements only because we are Americans. We are proud of the local football team and say we won. In the doodles I’ve found on your desk and on the telephone pad I see your new name, written many times and with many flourishes. You can hardly wait to acquire this new identity. You have already begun to think of yourself as his and you want the world to know it. This loyalty will bring you suffering. You have asked for specifics when I have talked to you about the suffering that love may entail. Here’s one of them. If you are proud of your man and loyal to him, you will suffer when he is criticized. No man in a public position escapes criticism, and you must stand by him when it comes. You will know sometimes that the criticism is a just one, and because you are loyal you will suffer more. You will be, by your identification with this man, included in the criticism. When he fails, you cannot be proud of his failure, but you can be loyal. You can maintain that faith in the idea that God had when He made him, and you can comfort and support him, giving him strength of your love and the incentive which your pride in him will always instill.” “One of God’s purposes in arranging things as He has is the restraint of power. Both men and women are given special kinds of power, and each kind needs to be specially restrained. Husbands, who are to initiate, command, and dominate, are specifically commanded to LOVE their wives. It is no ordinary kind of love that is meant here. He is to love his wife “as his own body,” which means he is to nourish and cherish her. This is like Christ. The church IS His Body. Christ’s love for the Church is a nourishing and cherishing love, a love that takes responsibility for the care of her. His [a man’s] acceptance of the authority God has given him is his obedience to God. His acceptance of the way that authority is to be exerted will prove his love for the woman. As a man’s power over woman is restrained by love, woman’s power over man is restrained by the command to submit. Any woman knows that she has ways of getting her own way. It is not physical strength that is most powerful. It is not the ability to deal with high-level abstractions. She may be as intelligent as or more intelligent than her husband, she may be more gifted than he is. Whether this is the case or not, she also has wiles, emotional power. These must be restrained. The kind of restraint God asks of her is submission. Paul also reminded us that we are to submit to ONE ANOTHER. Surely there are times when the Christian husband, in loving his wife as Christ loved the Church, submits to her wishes. It is impossible for love not to give, and that giving often means giving over one’s own preferences. The husband is not in such a case acknowledging his wife’s authority. He is laying down his life.” “I believe a woman, in order to be a good wife, must be (among other things) both sensual and maternal. Marriage entails sensuality - an appreciation of the body and the senses as distinguished from the intellect - but a woman must also have a certain maternal feeling toward her husband. Not that she babies him. Deep resentment is sometimes felt by women who feel that their husbands want to be babied. But a wife must want to take care of her husband and to minister to him AS GLADLY as a mother ministers to her child. The husband has a corresponding task. The word husband carries the connotation of conserving, caring for, managing, or protecting. A wife needs to allow herself to be cherished. Let him “husband” you. This is easy for certain women. It is perhaps too easy, and they may not only allow themselves to be cherished, but they require coddling. You know me well enough to know that this is not what I mean. You have not been coddled. So I am not fearful of your being a clinging vine. But do let him cherish you. He is your husband.” This book can be obtained at your local bookstore, or by writing to Living Books, a division of Tyndale House Publishers at Tyndale House Publishers / Tyndale Family Products Dept., / Box 448 / Wheaten IL 60189 Crystal Rae Nelson - Faribault, MN In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon “In His Steps”, by Charles M. Sheldon, is said in it’s introduction to be “among the very few truly classic inspirational books, and thus lives with the ages.” The introduction states also that “In His Steps” has already been translated into more than 21 languages and has sold countless millions of copies... -After reading the book for myself, I personally can see why it would be so! As you will find when you read it, this novel was not written merely to titillate the senses by its exciting plot, but rather, it was written to challenge Christians to be more like Christ in the ways they live their daily lives. -So often we may think wistfully of what it would be like to be perfect...but then drop our heads in despair when we realize that our own sinful natures would be at such a battle within us if we even tried to walk as a Christian should- that is, constantly striving to be like Jesus in all we say and do to those around us- (not that we can attain complete perfection now, but rather that we should constantly be striving in that direction on a daily basis.) Jesus left a perfect example for us to follow as Christians, and we should be striving to follow that example with all of our hearts! “In His Steps” portrays this fact so clearly. The theme of the book is this: We are to do only what, and all that we feel Jesus would do if He were placed in our situations... which ultimately leads every reader to the conclusion that if we are to do this, it means we must take up our daily crosses, just as He did, and suffer. Yes, suffer! We must give up our own selfish desires -yes, even nail them to the cross so that we may become more like Christ. Some may find such a thing as this to be too heavy a burden to bear, as did also several characters in the book. And yet, there were some others who stood steadfast to their resolutions to do only what they personally felt Christ would do if He were in the situations they themselves were placed in on a daily basis. I do not wish to spoil the reading of this marvelous book for you by giving away the plot, so I won’t. =) I only would encourage every single one of you to get this book and read it, expecting it to change your lives drastically afterward. For who can read such a book and not be affected? “In His Steps” is published by: Brownlow Publishing Company, Inc. / 6309 Airport Freeway / FortWorth, TX 76117 -Summer Chapin The King’s Daughter and other stories for girls ...is a must for every Christian girl’s library! This original 1910 classic is full of wonderful stories, encouraging godly morals and Christ like characters. One of the stories (“What One Lie Did”) is so moving and emotional! I hardly ever cry about a story or book, but I was almost brought to tears by this story expressing the awfulness of a lie. “The Barn That Blossomed”, “Two Ways of Reading the Bible”, “The Little Sisters”, and “A Story of School Life” (also a sad story), are some of my favorites. I greatly encourage every one of you to get this wonderful book, instilling character. Republished by: AB Publishing / 9746 N. Mason Rd. / Wheeler, MI 48662 -Mollie Cassidy - Arlington, TX NOTICE: In response to Jana Baldridge’s book review of the "Ellie People" series (Vol. 2, No.2, Sept./Oct. issue of “YWSH”) and her inability to find where the series could be ordered: They can be ordered from the two following sources: In His Steps / 1618 Kendolph / Denton, TX 76205 # 1-800-583-1336 They have a brochure available listing all their materials and can get many things not listed - just ask them to order for you. OR Provident Bookstores / 616 Walnut Avenue / Scottdale, PA 15683-1999 / # 1-800-759-4447 Ask the “Harold Press” catalog for more selections. -Beverly Manney - Argyle,TX YWSH Main Page