Grades 6-8

God King is a very engaging tale set in Egypt and Judah in approximately 701 B.C. Like Joanne Williamson's other Bethelehem Books title Hittite Warrior, God King helps the reader connect major stories from the Bible with contemporary events in secular history. The Egyptian perspective gives us a more complete look at the fierceness of the Assyrians and the great danger they posed to all the surrounding nations - providing greater insight into God's miraculous intervention on behalf of Jerusalem and King Hezekiah.

This is a rather interesting story, set in Biblical times (about 1200 B.C.) of a great battle led by the Hebrew Barak (at the time of Deborah) and told from the perspective of a young Hittite Warrior, Uriah - one of the enemy. The story gives the reader a real sense of the culture of the time - from the land of the Hittites, to Ancient Israel, to the major Canaanite cities of Tyre and Sidon (where the people fearfully sacrifice a child to the god Moloch in time of difficulty).

If you want to go to sleep, don't read Young Faces of Holiness by Ann Ball. The stories are absolutely fascinating. The thirty-five stories include young people from all walks of life and countries of the world who are either Blessed, Venerable, or candidates for canonization.

This is an interesting biography of one of our nation's most colorful presidents. It was interesting to discover that Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919) was a rather sickly youth who suffered from asthma. His determination in overcoming his illness and living a full life despite his rather frail body help to make him a man who loved life and tried to live his life to the fullest - especially enjoying the world around him.

Pierre-Jean De Smet (1801-1873) was a beloved missionary in the American West who brought the Gospels and the Catholic Faith to many Indians as well as fighting for peace and justice for the Indians and those suffering from the Civil War. A substantial figure in American history, many may remember from the Little House Books that the city in South Dakota that the Ingalls settled in was named after this renowned priest.

In this first book of the new series The Danville Chronicles, Joan Stromberg has found a fun and exciting way to teach faith to your children ten years and older. It will capture their imagination and keep their minds thinking.

This "Budget Book" offers four full-length stories in one volume...

This charming story, a Newbery Honor Book for 1928, has just been reprinted by Bethlehem Books. Set on the Island of Nantucket, off of Cape Cod in Massachusetts in the 1810s and 1820s, the story follows the Coffyn family in the largely Quaker community of Nantucket, and especially their daughter Dionis "Dencey". Dencey is a young girl from a proper Quaker family with a temper and a heart of gold. She befriends an outcast boy and teaches him to read in order to make up for hurting him in a fit of temper.

This book is now included in the Bethlehem Budget Book The Flying Ensign, also reviewed on this site.

I really liked this book. I can vouch for my wife's statement that this is a great read aloud. I read it to my children at bedtime (ages 3 through 9) - they were engaged... though the younger ones usually fell asleep. The older two LOVED it.

In their latest "Budget Book", Bethlehem Books gives us a double dose of adventure featuring Ensign Peter Byrd of the "Fighting 95th" Riflemen of the British army.... The Flying Ensign (copyright 1960)