by Sevastiane, Summer ‘24 Intern
There are so many books out in the world, and not all of them are edifying. What we put into our brains matters. If we put junk into our brains it will affect our souls and our thoughts, but if we put edifying knowledge and pure thoughts into our brains, it will be beneficial for us. Our faith calls us to keep a pure mind and heart, for what goes in comes out. Sometimes it is hard to find good books and it is even harder to find good Christian and Orthodox books for teens and children to read. So here are some I have enjoyed!
Letters to Saint Lydia by Melinda Johnson: I would recommend this book for somewhat older teens. It follows a non-Orthodox girl and her journey to finding the faith through her letters to her patron, Saint Lydia. Lydia’s family converts to Orthodoxy without her and she doesn’t know what she wants to do, so she writes to Saint Lydia. This book is very relatable since it is set in modern times and covers a lot of difficult topics teens face today. I loved this book very much and I recommend it to everyone I know. Ten out of ten for sure!
Voyage to the Rock By Father Matthew Penney: For those of you who like mystery books, this one is great. It is like any other mystery book you would find in the bookstore, but the main characters are Orthodox! This one is great as a read-aloud or for tweens who want to read it themselves. It follows Martin, a priest’s kid, who has to move to Newfoundland, Canada to help his family build a parish. There he finds an old cross. Is it the cross from the voyage of Saint Brendan the Navigator? With his sister and his new friend Ashley, Martin tries to figure out the mystery of the cross, all while the evil Sullivan O’Connell hunts them down. This one is an enjoyable read.
Saint Spyridon’s Shoes by Christine Rogers: This book is good for any age. This book takes place in Corfu, where Spyros fishes on the beach and longs to attend school like his friend, Nico. He then meets an old man on the beach and befriends him. This is a story about their friendship. The friendship turns out to be a lot more important than Spyros realizes. This book is short and sweet and a great one for everyone to read!
Who is God? Who am I? Who Are You? by Dee Pennock: This is one of my favorite books to read. This book also covers a lot of difficult topics for teens about living in the world. It has tons of good quotes and talks about free will and how to love our neighbor. This book covers all the hard topics but formats them in a fun and interesting way to read. The illustrations might look funny, but this book is truly one of the best for teens!
Icon by Georgia Briggs: I cannot stress enough the importance of this book for teens. I love this book with all my heart. Sometimes living in the world as an Orthodox Christian can be hard. Christ says to live in this world but not of this world, and sometimes we can get mixed up and start to morph to the expectations and pressure from our friends and non-Christian family and the secular world. We can start to think that it is more important for us to have money and lots of clothing and to keep up to date with the latest trends. This book is a great example for remembering our faith in the modern world. . Icon is about a young Euphrosyne, whose family is killed, so she has to move in with her grandparents. It is set in a future where being Christian is illegal, and people have to change their names and their whole identity. This book is about one girl fighting for what she believes in and putting her trust in Christ in times of struggle. Euphrosyne is a character you can both relate to and try to imitate. This book is a good reminder of what our time on earth is really for.
My Elder, Joseph the Heschycast by Elder Ephraim of Arizona: Saint Joseph is one of my favorite saints and this book is his thorough life story. It is thicker than the books mentioned above, and it is not fiction, but his life story is amazing. At the start of the story, he struggles with the same problems we all have, like anger, but he overcomes them and achieves a state of complete grace and prayer from the heart. Elder Joseph also had a very close relationship with the Theotokos, and he would pray to her all the time, for any need. Saint Joseph was able to see demons and physically had to fight them for them to disappear. I really love this book and think it is a great book for early teens.
Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit by Protecting Veil Press: The contemporary elders of Greece are all newer saints or people believed to be saints but awaiting canonization. This book covers many of their lives. It has a short biography about each of them, as well as the counsel or advice that they gave. I love this book because it has so many saints, many of which are newer saints. Their advice is priceless and you can learn a lot from reading this book. This book is more for teens, and adults can read it too!
While these are just some of the many Orthodox books out there, all of these books are fantastic reads, and there is something for everyone, from mystery to biography. I loved reading these books, and I hope you will too. I hope you can learn from reading these books!