Hope Unseen

Capt. Scotty Smiley with Doug Crandall

Howard Books

hardcover, 256 pages, $24.99

978-1-439-18379-3

Smiley, a U.S. Army captain tells of his recovery from a life-altering injury in Hope Unseen: The Story of the U.S. Army’s First Blind Active-Duty Officer. Blinded by an Iraqi insurgent car bomb in 2005, Smiley forges a new way to serve his country, teaching leadership skills at the United States Military Academy.

Desiring a military career from an early age, Smiley descends into despair after losing his sight less than two years into his first deployment. He relies on his family to get through his rehabilitation, particularly his wife, who refuses to sign papers that would have discharged him as a wounded veteran. Smiley eventually accomplishes many things he had once written off as impossible: attending graduate school, extreme sports—surfing, skydiving, mountain climbing—and raising two sons.

Smiley’s autobiographical account is mostly chronological, though he flashes forward or back at appropriate times for effect. Readers will appreciate how Smiley’s faith gives him the will to believe that God still has a purpose for his life. The book includes eight pages of black and white photos.

—John Leatherman

The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin

Stephen Mansfield and David A. Holland

FrontLine (Strang Book Group)

hardcover, 256 pages, $22.99

978-1-616-38164-6

Best-selling author Mansfield and writing partner Holland reflect on the life of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate in The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin: What She Believes and What It Means for America. The book investigates the ways her faith informs and influences her personal and political choices.

Palin took seriously her youth pastor’s challenge to be salt and light, sensing she was destined to serve. Devoted to family, with husband Todd his own man but ever supportive, she is strongly pro-life, which led her to carry her Down’s Syndrome baby, Trig, to full term against medical advice. The authors also write of her stand to see the creation account given a fair hearing in public schools.

Seeking to explain Palin and her views, the authors pause after each of the book’s three sections to learn from her beginnings, reflect on her politics and even offer her advice. The reader will see her as a devoted servant of the people aiming to practice her faith in the public square.

—Christine D. Johnson

City On Our Knees

TobyMac

Bethany House (Baker Publishing Group)

hardcover, 224 pages, $19.99

978-0-764-20865-2

TobyMac’s song “City on Our Knees” took the Christian music world by storm, and now the musician takes his lyrics one step further with this book, which “reflects the message of the song,” he says.

In the song, 
TobyMac sings, “when we step across the line, we can sail across the sea”; in the book he illustrates the lyric with numerous stories of people who have stepped across lines of persecution, doubt, prejudice or despair to change the world one bit at a time. From Augustine of Hippo to young Alexandra Scott and her lemonade stand, from John Wesley to Haiti earthquake survivor Dan Wooley, all have helped create a better world.

Many stories are familiar—George Mueller’s orphanages, The Blind Side’s Michael Oher’s journey to football fame—but just as many aren’t, such as Jeannine Brabon’s work in a Colombian prison.

Yet all, including TobyMac with his own insights, will inspire readers with a strong message of action and love to step across the line.

—Ann E. Byle

Stronger

Jim Daly

David C. Cook

softcover, 240 pages, $14.99

978-1-434-76446-1

Daly, who serves as president and CEO of Focus on the Family, writes about one of the paradoxes of the Christian—the blessing of brokenness—in Stronger: Trading Brokenness for Unbreakable Strength.

No stranger to suffering, as a boy he was abandoned by his alcoholic father and then lost his mother to cancer. He not only shares vignettes from his own life—his marriage and his wife’s struggle with depression—but also relays the stories and struggles of others who’ve crossed his path, offering no easy answers to the “Why, God?” question.

Drawing from David’s Psalms and Paul’s writings, Daly explains that life’s tribulations cause people to become beaten, bitter or broken. The path of brokenness is the preferred road, he says, reminding readers of Paul’s signature philosophy in 2 Cor. 12:10: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Believers will especially appreciate Daly’s teaching on the different facets of hope. Ultimately, he steers readers’ attention to the source of eternal strength, closing with a quote from Psalm 62: “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone.”

—Brian Smith McCallum

Immanuel’s Veins

Ted Dekker

Thomas Nelson

hardcover, 384 pages, $25.99

978-1-595-54009-6

When advance publicity material warns that Dekker’s latest is for everyone, but “not everyone is for this story,” it’s either nervousness or clever marketing. Certainly in this tale of vampires and seduction set in 18th-century Russia, Christian fiction’s favorite provocateur once more pushes the boundaries as he depicts the lure of sin in a way that may make some frown. But there is a strong redemptive thread woven into the adventure for those who persist beyond any initial discomfort.

It’s not all subtle: IV (Get it?) features an ancestral being named Alucard. Yet, the story of warrior Toma Nicolescu’s heroic love for beautiful but bewitched Lucine Cantemir is fast-paced—like a period-themed music video—and rich in imagery about the power of blood to infect or deliver.

This edgy parable—while maybe not for everyone—could entice and then entreat “Twilight” fans to shine a light into the dreamy shadows cast by the vampire series and discover that temptation demands a price that only true love can pay.

—Andy Butcher

Naomi and Her Daughters

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Zondervan

hardcover, 228 pages, $24.99

978-0-310-32734-9

Based on Judges and Ruth, Naomi and Her Daughters weaves the history of ancient Israel into the drama of Naomi’s life as a 
storyteller-poet.

Naomi enters the homes and hearts of the residents of Bethlehem where she ministers to their physical needs, and as their wise woman or Hakamah, teaches them their history. Wangerin’s Boaz becomes a grief-stricken wanderer through the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah as he remembers Naomi’s stories.

With Wangerin’s descriptive touch, even characters briefly mentioned in the Bible seem to take on flesh and blood. Readers will come to care about the pain and struggles, the defeats and victories of Naomi’s contemporaries. The familiar story of Ruth and Boaz retold by this award-winning author affirms the founding of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

—Eilene Ishler

Dancing With Max

Emily Colson

Zondervan

hardcover, 200 pages, $16.99

978-0-310-29368-2

Being a parent of a child with special needs can be isolating and difficult—and a challenge when it comes to faith—or so Colson found her experience with her now 19-year-old son, Max.

In Dancing With Max: A Mother and Son Who Broke Free, Colson shares her experience. Colson—whose husband left when Max was an infant—was overwhelmed with the lack of progress Max was making early on as she saw others his age get along in life just fine, while she suffered through his repeated setbacks and, at times, embarrassing incidents. Finally finding answers, she discovered that Max had autism, enabling her to move forward and grow with Max.

In sharing her discovery of God’s gift to Max of seeing the world with a different but uncluttered view, Colson will bring hope and encouragement to those who have a child with autism. The book includes a prologue and epilogue by author—and Max’s grandfather—Charles Colson.

—Heidi L. Ippolito

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