Young Midori is excited as she tugs at Jichan—her grandfather—and pulls him toward the peach orchard, asking, “Is it ready yet?” Jichan hands Midori a peach and asks her what she hears when she bites into it. Crunch! The peach is hard and inedible.Midori is impatient, wondering when the peaches will
Christian author Mitali Perkins is renowned for her middle school and young adult novels, such as Bamboo People and You Bring the Distant Near, as well as her children’s picture books—Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas, Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week, and more.In thi
If you loved The Devil Wears Prada, you will probably relish the sequel, if only to be reunited with the Fab Four from the first movie: Miranda, Andy, Emily, and Nigel—Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.It’s great fun to catch up with their characters 20 years after we left
Written in free verse and based on her Hmong family’s escape from Laos in May 1975 when the country fell to a communist regime, author V. T. Bidania relates the narrative from the perspective of her oldest sister, Gao Sheng, who was 11 years old at the time. Bidania herself was a few months old as t
In this charming, rhyming picture book, author Hosanna Wong invites children to understand what God says about them and the names he calls them: “No matter where you choose to go, / the people you meet, or the things you do, / it’s important that you always know / the wonderful things God says about
To Olivia is a difficult grief story of a couple who has lost a beloved child. An additional layer to the story is just who this married pair happens to be: the famous author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal, whose fragilities and failures make the story painful and true.The movie’s artful filmi
In his detailed, scholarly exploration of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, author and theologian Ross Hastings points out the need for such a study, given, what he claims, is “the relative infrequence of reference to ascension in the academy and the pulpit.” However, the dearth of attention focused on
Based on author Rachel Joy Welcher’s experiences, this gentle, compassionate picture book assures children (and adults) that God never leaves them so they don’t need to be anxious. As a child, Welcher was afraid of the dark and, when she woke up in the night, her fears overwhelmed her. When her pare
Note: The Banner has a subscription to republish articles from Religion News Service. This interview by Kathryn Post was published on March 27, 2026, on religionnews.com. It has been edited for length and Banner style.(RNS) — Seven years after first airing, the mega-hit biographical Jesus drama The
Shooting Up isn’t, as I first assumed, a memoir of a drug addict. This is author Jonathan Tepper’s wild, loving, and harrowing story of growing up as a missionary kid among heroin addicts. Billed as a mix of Angela’s Ashes and The Cross and the Switchblade, this memoir lives up to both titles. It’s
Author Jaime C. Finn is the founder and president of Foster the Family, a U.S.-based national nonprofit that serves vulnerable children and the foster families with whom they find shelter, and other initiatives to assist foster families. God Loves Kids is based on her experiences as a foster parent
A young girl knows that Jesus was once a child like she is now. She imagines what it would be like if Jesus came to her school for a day. How would Jesus act? What would he say? What would she show Jesus?Author April Graney’s playful, rhyming text and illustrator Yana Kozak’s cheerful, bright pictur
It’s been 14 years since the trio Point of Grace offered a new full-length album, but the wait is over. The 10-track recording Lady Wisdom features the beautiful harmony and God-centered focus that helped the group capture 27 No. 1 songs and 13 Dove Awards.“The older we get, the more we see pain and
For those who want to go deeper into the spiritual practice of hospitality, this loving book holds a gentle invitation to go beyond entertaining to cultivating a posture of welcome, at home and out and about.Spiritual director Laura Baghdassarian Murray draws on the hospitality of her Armenian cultu
Amanda Janson’s debut record, Sinner to Saint, provides an intimate, vulnerable look into the singer/songwriter’s life. “Sinner to Saint is written as a journey,” Janson said in a release. “It starts in tension, doubt, and broken places, then slowly walks toward surrender, healing, and identity in C
When Stephanie Miller was 16 years old, her parents died in a car crash. The Amish teen was forced to live with her aunt and uncle, a dour couple who compelled her to do most of the household chores and to care for their growing family. Keeping a tight rein on the young woman, they allowed her to go
Matthew Goode translates his standard sardonic character into a new version in Dept. Q: a PTSD-riddled detective making lemonade from the lemons he’s been given.Detective Carl Morck is not a nice guy when we meet him. He’s not likable or sympathetic. And then—that moment that changes everything arri
Abigail loves “first Saturdays”—the first Saturday of each month when she and her younger brother and parents go for a nature hike, often to their favorite place, a waterfall deep in the woods. As they make their way beneath huge trees and over large rocks, Abigail thinks about what her parents taug
Lynn Austin is well known for her historical and biblical fiction, with more that 2.5 million copies of her books sold through the years. Her newest is sure to continue that trajectory as she takes on a dual-timeline story. She also stays close to her West Michigan home, setting her novel in an 1873
In their thought-provoking exploration of the nature of work lived out in a fallen world within God’s good boundaries of finitude, authors David Buschart and Ryan Tafilowski critique the faith and work movement, pointing out that a theology of work for the real world needs to be grounded, not in the