A Kind of Courage

Title: A Kind of Courage
Author: Mary Burkholder
Major Themes: Christian Life, Short Stories
Synopsis: Twenty short stories encourage young people to live a Godly life.

I chose to buy A Kind of Courage because of the subtitle, Challenging stories of young teens facing hard choices, because I happen to have several teens in my home and need all the help and tools I can get for them! I really enjoyed this book, and plan to read it aloud to them.

There are twenty stories in this volume. They alternate between having boys or girls for the main character. Each story is short, only 4-6 pages long. In each one, the boy or girl faces a challenge that is common to many people in their early teens, and with encouragement from their parents they emerge victorious from the temptations they have faced.

Many subjects are covered in these stories. Several of them show young people dealing with peer pressure or having a hard time acting lovingly toward their siblings. One story depicts a young man who had to decide what to do when his cousins talked dirty. Another, which struck close to home because it could have been written about someone in my family, involved a young man who rarely got passing grades in school. Each of these stories will encourage young people to live a Godly life.

No warnings!