2016 Reading Program Books at Arab First United Methodist Church

Because I Am A Girl: I Can Change The World

Before We Eat: From Farm To Table

Blue Gold: A Novel

Chasing The Divine In The Holy Land

Coaltown Jesus

Coffee, Tea, and Holy Water: One Woman’s Journey to Experience Christianity Around

The Globe

Crazy

Cured But Not Healed: How To Experience Deeper Faith On Your Journey With God

Dreamers: An Immigrant Generations’ Fight For Their American Dream

Dreaming In Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices

Girls With Swords: How To Carry Your Cross Like A Hero

House Of Purple Cedar

I Love Growing Older, But I’ll Never Grow Old

In Defense Of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption

Miss Brenda And The Loveladies: A Heartwarming True Story Of Grace, God, And

Gumption

Nature Girl: A Guide To Caring For God’s Creation

Our Rights: How Kids Are Changing The World

The Soda Bottle School

The Underground Girls Of Kabul: In Search Of A Hidden Resistance In Afghanistan

The Weight Of Mercy: A Novice Pastor On The City Streets

The White Umbrella: Walking With Survivors Of Sex Trafficking

Tilly: A Story of Hope And Resilience

Twenty-Two Cents: Muhammad Yunus And The Village Bank

Uprising: A New Age Is Dawning For Every Mother’s Daughter

BECAUSE I AM A GIRL:

I CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Rosemary McCarney and Jen Albaugh

Second Story Press (2014)

72 pages

Leadership Development - Children

These amazing girls from all over the world tell stories of lives that are sometimes hard to

imagine. In Because I Am a Girl, we hear of the barriers and dangers that they, and millions of

girls like them, face every day. But despite their hardships, they have great hope for the future

and are willing to do whatever they can to make their lives and those of their families and

communities better.

BEFORE WE EAT: From Farm to Table

Pat Brisson and Mary Azarian (Illustrator)

Tilbury House Publishers (2014)

32 pages

Spiritual Growth – Children

A family sits down to enjoy a meal. Thoughts of those who provide the food, from farmers who

plant and tend seed and animals to store clerks who sell groceries, fill each one with gratitude.

BLUE GOLD: A Novel

Elizabeth Stewart

Annick Press (2014)

296 pages

Social Action - Youth

Three teen girls on three continents are linked by the rare mineral coltan, also known as blue

gold, used in the manufacture of technology. Sylvie lives in the Congo, where she has fled the

conflict over the mineral; Laiping lives in China and works in a factory building components;

and Fiona lives in Canada ; but they are all connected by one thing — cell phones.

CHASING THE DIVINE

IN THE HOLY LAND

Ruth Everhart

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2012)

176 pages

Education For Mission

Ruth Everhart jumped at the offer to travel to the Holy Land as one of several ministers taking

part in a documentary about pilgrimage. Little did she know just how demanding and rewarding

her transformation from Presbyterian minister, wife and mom to pilgrim would be. In these pages

she writes about her trip into the dust and beauty of Christianity’s cradle.

COALTOWN JESUS

Ron Koertge

Candlewick Press (2013)

Spiritual Growth - Youth

Even though he’d prayed for help for his mother, who hasn’t stopped crying since his brother

died two months ago, Walker was still surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his

bedroom. But as astounding as Jesus’ appearance is, it’s going to take more than divine

intervention for Walker to come to terms with Noah’s death. Why would God take 17-year-old

Noah? Why would he send Jesus to pick up the pieces? Why didn’t he just keep Noah from

dying?

COFFEE, TEA, AND HOLY WATER:

One Woman’s Journey to Experience

Christianity Around the Globe

Amanda Hudson

Abingdon Press (2015)

224 pages

Education For Mission

In Coffee, Tea, and Holy Water, Amanda Hudson provides a personal touch to profound

questions about the nature and practice of faith as she travels to Brazil, Wales, Tanzania, China

and Honduras. This book is about the places we meet what we share, and learning that the steps

we take to cross geographical, cultural and personal borders make all the difference.

CRAZY

Linda Vigen Phllips

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (2014)

320 pages

Nurturing For Community - Youth

Fifteen-year-old Laura is a typical teenager navigating her way through classes, friendships and

even a new romance. But she’s carrying around a secret — her mother is suffering from a mental

illness. No one in her family will talk about it, and Laura is confused and frightened. She finds

solace in art, but when her mother, also an artist, breaks down, Laura fears she will follow in her

footsteps.

CURED BUT NOT HEALED:

How to Experience Deeper Faith on

Your Journey with God

Kymberley Clemons-Jones

Professional Woman Publishing (2012)

168 pages

Spiritual Growth

Reverend Clemons-Jones asks, “can you be cured but not healed?” In this book, you will find

instructions on how to develop a better relationship with your Creator. You will find the author’s

words challenging and comforting at times and you will find encouragement to keep seeking the

Lord with all your body, mind, and spirit. By the end, you will find restoration in your newly

engaged relationship with God. Bible study is included.

DREAMERS: An Immigrant Generation’s

Fight for their American Dream

Eileen Truax

Beacon Press (2015)

224 pages

Nurturing For Community

In Dreamers, Eileen Truax illuminates the stories of the roughly two million undocumented

immigrants living in the United States who came here as children. They grew up here, going to

elementary, middle, and high school, but are ineligible for financial aid for college and are

unable to be legally employed. In recent years, this young generation of dreamers has begun

organizing, becoming the newest face of the human rights movement.

DREAMING IN INDIAN:

Contemporary Native American Voices

Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

Annick Press (2014)

128 pages

Nurturing For Community - Youth

This beautiful, powerful and visually stunning anthology from some of the most groundbreaking

Native artists working in North America today is universal in its themes. Dreaming shatters

commonly held stereotypes about what it’s like to grow up Native American. Over 50 emerging

and established contemporary artists contribute to this astounding collection with poignant pieces

dealing with everything from painful first loves to the tragic legacy of residential schools.

GIRLS WITH SWORDS:

How to Carry Your Cross Like a Hero

Lisa Bevere

Gale Cengage Learning (2014)

332 pages

Leadership Development

What if you discovered you have been entrusted with an invisible, invincible and incorruptible

weapon? Would you use it? Move beyond only study and begin to wield the Word of God.

World-wide women are the targets of prejudice, human trafficking, abuse and gendercide. It’s

time women become the heroes God created them to be and stand — courageous, discerning,

forgiving and wise.

HOUSE OF PURPLE CEDAR

Tim Tingle

Cinco Puntos Press (2014)

192 pages

Nurturing For Community

“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville.” Thus begins

Rose Goode’s story of growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a

once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson of

New Hope Academy for Girls on New Year’s Eve, 1896. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose

escaped. Soon after the fire, her grandfather Amafo is humiliated in front of the town’s people.

But, instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge him, her grandfather decides to follow

the path of forgiveness. And so unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and

deep wisdom.

I LOVE GROWING OLDER,

BUT I’LL NEVER GROW OLD

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Abingdon Press (2013)

160 pages

Nurturing For Community

J. Ellsworth Kalas says, “Older is a journey. Old is a destination”. This book is about learning

how to “make peace with whatever you are right now.” It’s aboutlearning from the past and then

moving past it. It’s about growing and continuing to grow-personally, spiritually and in our

relationships with God and with others.

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD:

An Eater’s Manifesto

Michael Pollan

Gale Cengage Learning (2009)

$16.95 (Paperback)

329 pages

Social Action

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues.

But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been

confused, complicated and distorted by food marketers, nutritionists and journalists who all have

something to gain. Pollan’s manifesto shows us how to recover a more balanced and pleasurable

approach to food.

JUST MERCY:

A Story of Justice and Redemption

Bryan Stevenson

Spiegel & Grau (2015)

368 pages

Social Action – Bonus Book

A powerful, true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us and a call to fix our broken

system of justice, from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. Bryan

Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice

dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and

women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system.

MISS BRENDA AND THE LOVELADIES:

A Heartwarming True Story of Grace, God,

and Gumption

Brenda Spahn and Irene Zutell

WaterBrook Press (2015)

240 pages

Nurturing For Community

Brenda Spahn was a businesswoman who wouldn’t take no for an answer when she discovered

that God wouldn’t either. When she invited seven hardened parolees into her home, she expected

to house them, not love them. But her reluctant decision to serve female prisoners developed into

a career, a calling and a ministry that has helped thousands of women leave prison behind for

good.

NATURE GIRL:

A Guide to Caring for God’s Creation

Karen Whiting and Rebecca White

Zonderkidz (2014)

176 pages

Leadership Development - Youth

Nature Girl offers fun ways to care for God’s creations while becoming an expert in all things

green. With activities, recipes, science experiments and much more, you will learn to create

recycled jewelry, plan a spa day with friends, and green care for animals. From the flowers at

your feet to the air you breathe, discover how you can make a difference for our planet.

OUR RIGHTS:

How Kids Are Changing the World

Janet Wilson

Second Story Press (2013)

32 pages

Education For Mission

Here are true stories of kids just like you who are standing up for their rights and making a

difference. Learn about Dylan Mahalingam from the United States, who started an online charity

to raise money to fight child poverty, and child-bride Nujood Ali Mohammed from Yemen, who

inspired other girls forced to marry too young. All of these young people are making a difference

for children’s rights, and you can, too.

THE SODA BOTTLE SCHOOL

Laura Kutner, Suzanne Slade and Aileen Darragh (Illustrator)

Tilbury House Publishers (2014)

32 pages

Social Action – Children

In a tiny village in Guatemala, the people faced two huge problems: they had too much trash, and

their school was too small. The villagers had tried building a bigger school but ran out of money

for materials. Then one person got a wonderful, crazy idea, and an amazing thing happened.

THE UNDERGROUND GIRLS OF KABUL:

In Search of a Hidden Resistance in

Afghanistan

Jenny Nordberg

Broadway Books (2015)

384 Pages

Education For Mission

In Afghanistan, where the birth of a son is celebrated and the arrival of a daughter is mourned, a

bacha posh (meaning “dressed up like a boy” in Dari) is a third kind of child — a girl

temporarily raised as a boy with all the opportunities and freedoms boys enjoy. Written by the

reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times, this is the story of

Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice for her fourth daughter — but what

happens when the girl refuses to change back?

THE WEIGHT OF MERCY:

A Novice Pastor on the City Streets

Deb Richardson-Moore

Monarch Books (2012)

288 pages

Leadership Development

Deb Richardson-Moore spent 27 years as a journalist in the Deep South. She then retrained as a

Baptist pastor and accepted a post at a run-down, inner-city church where the homeless gathered.

Initially shocked, she gradually learned whom she could trust and whom she couldn’t. She found

that sometimes the best person to handle a situation was a drug addict, and that sometimes Jesus

has the face of a prostitute. All were fiercely welcomed into this bewildering church family.

THE WHITE UMBRELLA:

Walking with Survivors of Sex Trafficking

Mary Francis Bowley

Moody Publishers (2012)

208 pages

Social Action

Every year, over 100,000 children in the United States are forced to do someone’s sexual

bidding. Most of them are between the ages of 9 and 19. This is not a faraway, foreign problem;

this is in our neighborhoods, our towns and cities. Throughout these pages are the stories of these

survivors and the people who have come alongside them to hold the white umbrella of protection

and purity over them on the road to restoration.

TILLY: A Story of Hope and Resilience

Monique Gray Smith

Sono Nis Press (2014)

208 pages

Spiritual Growth

Tilly has always known she’s part Lakota on her dad’s side. She’s grown up with the traditional

teachings of her grandma, relishing the life lessons of her beloved mentor. But it isn’t until an

angry man shouts something on the street that Tilly realizes her mom is also Aboriginal, a Cree

woman taken from her parents as a baby. Loosely based on author Monique Gray Smith’s own

life, this revealing, important work of creative nonfiction tells the story of a young indigenous

woman coming of age in the 1980s. In a spirit of hope, this unique story captures the

irrepressible resilience of Tilly and of indigenous people everywhere.

TWENTY-TWO CENTS:

Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank

Paula Yoo and Jamel Akib (Illustrator)

Lee & Low Books (2014)

40 pages

Education For Mission

This is the biography of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who from a young age

was determined to make a difference in the world and eventually revolutionized global

antipoverty efforts by developing the ground-breaking economic model of micro-banking.

UPRISING: A New Age Is Dawning

for Every Mother’s Daughter

Sally Armstrong

Thomas Dunne Books (2014)

288 pages

Education For Mission

Meet the game changers, from Asia and Africa to America. From New York to Nairobi and from

Kabul to Caracas, women are altering the status quo and organizing to protest rape, honor

killings, polygamy, stoning and a dozen other religiously or culturally sanctified acts of violence

against females. Author Sally Armstrong says “the earth is shifting” when it comes to the status

of women.