The first half of this verse book has a child ask questions about Jesus's life. The second half has responses that seem to come from Jesus. (Only it is not immediately clear that he is the one answering.) There are some toddler-style pictures to go with it. The text seemed to go over the head of the target audience.
There is a big hockey game on Valentine's Day. Brother gets a mysterious valentine in the mail. He later discovers that "Sweetie Bear" is the goalie on the rival team. It is your typical religious Berenstain Bears book.
The story of the Good Samaritan is told in easy to read language with fun pictures. The length is just right for the story.
Abish is one of the few women mentioned by name in the Book of Mormon. This story tells her story. She was a faithful Christian living among the Lamanites. When the king faints as part of his conversion, she runs to tell everyone. However, when this causes chaos, she wakes the king. Many people follow Christ due to this episode. The story is well told. There are also little cartoon characters that provide small commentary and hints on big words. (They provided a definition for "rebuke" right as the kids asked.)
Skinny: She was starving to fit in... (False Reflections Book 1) by Laura L. Smith
I had this book on my "to read" list with a note that it has a "Bizarre Love Triangle" reference. I wish I could remember how I found out the reference. In the book, the song is mentioned at the very end as a a dance number that the lead character is performing: "It's a jazz routine with a killer beat. You know that 80s tune I've been playing, 'Bizarre Love Triangle'?"
That was it for the reference. The book does name drop a number of songs and artists, including popular bands like the Beatles as well as Christian bands like Audio Adrenaline. the author seems to enjoy doing this, but it is not critical to the story.
As for the book itself, it was not bad. Melissa is a freshman in high school. She is smart and on the dance team. However, she feels that she is too fat. She takes even little comments about weight as something directly towards her. She carefully watches what she eats. She even worries about putting "peaches and cream" lotion or brushing her teeth because that might add weight. Generally she just controls what she takes in. However, there is a case where finds herself indulging in what she feels is too much food and then turns around and vomits up her excess food, and then works to cover it up.
In school, a new boy from Louisiana joins her French class. They fall for each other and begin a budding teen relationship. Things seem to go well. However, after basketball season starts, his parents do not want her spending much time together. This breaks her heart and makes her think that the they have broken up (because, you know, teenagers.)
She is active on her school's dance team and is going to extra early morning "captain tryout" practices. Captainship is open to all girls, and she is the only freshman trying out. However, her eating habits end up hurting her. She doesn't eat before the practice and ends up fainting. After the second time, the dance coach sends her home and won't let her come back until her family takes her to the doctor. She sees the doctor, gets diagnosed with an eating disorder and gets ordered to gain more weight. After she makes the effort to comply, her life starts to get back in order. She actively participates in the dance team and can now spend time with her boy again.
The characters in the book are church-going Christians. However, it deals primarily with the "secular" in-school activities. The girl will read her bible in the evening and write in her journal about her life and how some teachings relate to her life. The characters will also occasionally talk about church activities. Church is part of their lives, but the problems are general ones that happen to everyone.
In school, the class is working on a "future career" project. He is lucky to be on a team with people he gets along with. However, two of the class bullies want him to do their projects for them. With his friends, the token often lights up, leading them to have "experiences" in their future careers. Arcade eventually realizes that he likes helping others as a guidance counselor. Rather than do the bullies' projects, he helps inspire them to use their own talents and passion. A bible verse gets mentioned at the end.
