The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

© 2005, Pan McMillan, Australia (US version © 2006, Knopf, NY)

I first started noticing this one on bookstore shelves about five or six years ago. The Book Thief. What a great title for a book-lover like myself. I wanted to read it. Then I heard that it was getting an award or two. That made me want to read it more. Then they made it into a movie—now I have to read it before viewing the movie. Well, now, I’ve read it and haven’t decided whether to rent the movie or not (you can let me know what to decide in the comments section). While I was waiting for the book to make it to me on library request, we found a nice trade paperback copy at the local school Scholastic Book Fair. As I bought it the librarian indicated that another parent had said it was “one of the best books ever.” Now, I’m hooked.

I must tell you, dear reader, it took me about three months with stops and starts to get through the book. It isn’t a page-turner as such, and it isn’t for the light of heart. American publishers chose to market it under a YA labeling (Knopf Books for Young Readers was the first to release it), and I’m not sure that I’d place it in the Juvenile section. There is some really dark imagery in the book, the subject matter is really heavy, and from time to time the language is not appropriate for younger readers. That said, I would let my soon to be thirteen-year-old read it if she so chose with the proviso that she and I make some discussion out of it.

It wasn’t until after I started reading the book that I realized that it dealt with the Holocaust. That’s not necessarily a problem, I just hadn’t done my usual fly-leaf, book back scanning, and so I had to put on my Anne Frank/Hiding Place glasses to get into the book. The story, narrated by none other than Death himself, follows the life of Liesel Meminger—a young German girl who loses her family and is thrust into the home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann as a foster daughter. It is with a compelling eye and a heavy heart that you dive into the society of Nazi Germany on the poor side of a Munich suburb and feel all of the tragedy that befalls people who are just trying to survive. And then the air raids start.

Readers are not spared the death, the politics, the cruelty, or the heroism that could be witnessed in the streets of Germany during a horrible time in world history. We see the maltreatment of the Jews—just for being Jewish; the harsh punishment for people—just for being humane; and the travesty for boys—just for being boys. From the story side, this book is good, but not great.

From the literary side, this book is a masterpiece. I cannot say that it is the best book I have ever read, but the weaving of the language to build the right word pictures is nothing less than stellar. I would recommend this one over Frank’s Diary to study the Holocaust if the purpose was to see the event from a literary side (from a historical viewpoint, stick with Anne Frank).

This book is not for everyone, but it deserves accolades and it gets four out of five reading glasses from me.

—Benjamin Potter, September 17, 2014

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Barbara Robinson

©1972 Avon Books (first Avon edition, 1979), New York

Many of you have read (or at least seen the play based on) this Christmas classic. I read it again just the other day. The writing was so good, and the sentiment so perfect, that I’m reading it (a chapter at a time) for the kids’ bed-time story over the next several days.

“The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.” That opening sentence tells it all. The little book tells the story of how these horrible children got involved in and, to everyone’s surprise, did not ruin the Christmas pageant. Everything had gone wrong this year—the regular director broke her leg, and then the Herdmans showed up.

If you’ve never read TheBest Christmas Pageant Ever, you should read it this year. If you’ve never seen the stage play, find a local drama group that’s performing it, and go. If you absolutely have to, you can watch the video of the Loretta Swit version that was produced about thirty years ago (but you’ll be happier if you go to a stage production or read the book).

This book should be on your Christmas read list right along with the Biblical account, and Dickens’ AChristmas Carol (and SomethingSpecial at Leonard’s Inn). Another five-reading glass read.

Merry Christmas—Benjamin Potter, December 9, 2011

The Book of 7 Truths – Calvin Miller

© 1997, HarperSanFransisco (an imprint of HarperCollins), New York

Calvin Miller is one of my faith heroes. He is also what is as close to a renaissance man to walk the ground in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He is a poet, writer, and artist. He has also been everything from a pastor to a professor in the realm of Christian life. Several years ago, he penned this little treasure—a story within a story.

Narrator Antón Beaufort recounts the events surrounding the loss of his legs at the age of ten. Those events were complicated by the Great Depression which pressured his parents to move the small family from their Louisiana farm to the jobless factories of Chicago and the north. The promise of work and sustenance eludes the family and throws them into the path of Hajji Rhovee—an old turbaned doctor who appears in their lives only to leave copies of a little red book. In the book, is the story of Hajji’s youth. A tale that encourages and challenges people of the Christian faith what their faith is all about. The seven truths:

1. Follow Only the Guide Who’s Been Where You Want to Go
2. The Task Ahead of You Is not as Great as the Power within You
3. You Cannot Help People if You Are Always with People
4. Happiness Is a Choice, Misery Is an Option
5. Wisdom Lives Only on the Far Side of Pain
6. Never Love Life More Than the Reason It Was Given to You
7. Stop Living Only When You Die

As tales go, the story within the story is the more compelling of the two tales. The occasion for the retelling of Hajji’s journey to help a village he did not want to help is more predictable and serves simply as the opportunity to hear the real story—Hajji’s story. If all you read is the chapters in which Hajji’s little red book is recorded, you’ll be glad you did. Find a copy of The Book of 7 Truths and enjoy.

4½ out of 5 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, January 27, 2011

O Shepherd, Where Art Thou? – Calvin Miller

© 2006, B & H Publishing Group, Nashville

In the inspiring fashion of The Sermon Maker: Tales of a Transformed Preacher, Calvin Miller takes his readers down another worn-out path for many pastors—pastoral ministry, namely the task of caring for the parishioners. Employing the fictional Sam, again, Miller addresses the issues faced by many ministers who have struggled through years of leading a typical congregation, only to be jealous of the pastor down the street who is wowing the crowds.

In this new story, Sam finds himself seeking the advice of a nationally renowned preacher who leads a left-coast mega-church and advocates that every minister should delegate, delegate, delegate. In so doing, the preacher will find more time to think mega-thoughts, prepare mega-sermons, and build his own mega-church, with the people getting lost in the tidal wave of flash and show.

The book design might be at first distracting because of its unorthodox presentation. But just like this books predecessor, O Shepherd is a small volume with lots of volume. In the fictionalization of everyday pastoral life, Miller uses not an angel this time, but the ghost of one of the greats in Christian History—Richard Baxter of Kidderminster who advocated spending time being the shepherd of your sheep—to bring Sam back to the straight and narrow of being a pastor. Again the volume is rounded out with commentary on the left-hand pages with scholarly notes in the back.

While not as inspiring as The Sermon Maker, through the voice of Baxter Miller drives home some well-needed lessons for the pastor in these days of “bigger is better” church life. This is a welcome volume for any pastor’s library.

4 out of 5 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, May 27, 2010

The Sermon Maker – Calvin Miller

© 2002, Zondervan, Grand Rapids

At a recent conference I had opportunity to rub elbows with one of my favorite Christian authors—Calvin Miller. A long time pastor, educator and writer, Miller embodies many of the characteristics I want when I grow up to be a real preacher. One of the best things that Miller does is communicate. And he has a desire to see all preachers do that better and better. And so he has created some short volumes to inspire the pastor to be the best pastor he can be. This is the first of those volumes.

One of the great things about reading Miller is that you never know what you’re going to get—much like Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates. Within the 150 or so pages of this book you will encounter the fictional story of Sam, the beleaguered pastor who is rediscovering how his call to preach can take him beyond the typical mundanity (I know, I know: not a word) of three points and a poem cleverly alliterated for ease in memorization. Sam inspires the minister to re-visit his calling and so refresh his exposition.

The story of Sam is worth the price of admission in and of itself, especially as he interacts with Sermoniel the Angel of Homiletics. But Miller throws in commentary that allows the reader to dive deeper into the why of preaching via the story pattern. And the author puts a cherry on top of his sweet volume by including scholarly endnotes, if only to prove that he did his homework in the writing.

I must admit, I almost passed up this book because of the unorthodox packaging – story on the right-hand page, commentary on the left, with notes at the end of the book – but once I got into the reading, I found it wasn’t distracting at all. I also found that this design allowed to read just the story for continuity’s sake; just the commentary for clarification; or combine the reading to see how each relates to the other.

My recommendation for this book goes out to pastors who are caught in the grind of weekly cranking out lackluster sermons, to those who are looking for a new take on the old art of sermon-writing that will bring life back to their pulpit ministry, or to ministers who find themselves being weighed down by the monotony of taking on their own “Emma Johnsons” week after week. If you’d like to see your pastor revive the life in his sermons, you might consider gifting him this book.

5 out of 5 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, May 25, 2010