Kathryn Lindskoog, a renowned C.S. Lewis' scholar, has greatly expanded and updated her classic study of the Narnia series, The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land, with a brand-new section, "Exploring the Narnian Chronicles." She has also added a study guide with questions plus a chronological exploration of these seven books. Filled with fresh background information, it provides the reader with the context for these books, explaining many English terms unfamiliar to the American reader. Included are Biblical parallels which illumine the plots. When C.S. Lewis read the first draft of this manuscript he commented, "You are in the centre of the target everywhere. For one thing, you know my work better than anyone else I've met; certainly better than I do myself." 

This charming story by Basil Entwistle describes how the initiative of a dedicated couple made a difference in their town and is a "a blueprint for the citizen action" America's cities need. A retired couple, John and Denise Wood, began quietly and persistently to go about uniting fellow citizens to deal with the problems facing their community: drugs, high unemployment among minority youth and children raised in poverty without proper health care. The resulting success of various programs generated through such efforts gives hope to all who would impact their neighborhood.

Looking for an explanation for why her father, the scion of a wealthy Chicago family, had estranged himself from his friends and family 13 years earlier, Mary Ames Mitchell not only stumbles on long-hidden truths about her father’s eccentric behavior, but also discovers a treasure he has hidden away. Supplemented by 39 personal photographs, this candid narrative grew out of Ms. Mitchell’s need to figure out what had actually happened to this unique and colorful character as he ambled towards mental illness. She traces his story backwards from Pasadena, California, where she grew up through nearly 400 years of family records in America describing their Puritan roots.

Although the Vatican has forbidden the clerical hierarchy to discuss optional celibacy and a married priesthood, this prohibition cannot extend to laypeople. Thus Michele Prince, a layperson, has written this book to open up a discussion of a topic much in the news that looks at the theological and historical issues related to mandatory celibacy as well as the social, psychological and health issues that come from celibacy with some thoughts about how changing this obligation is not only possible but would contribute greatly to the health of the Roman Catholic church today.

This is "a poignantly intimate account of one of the most important events of our lives, rarely shared in such a personal way," says Dr. Joyce Dungan, professor at the University of Hawaii School of Nursing. Most teenagers Patty Smith think of themselves as indestructible. At 17, Patty had no reason to feel otherwise as she began a personal-experiences journal for a high school class. In the midst of graduating from high school, Patty discovers she must deal with the larger issues of death and life when a lump on her arm proves not to be benign. Life becomes fragile, finite, and more than ever, precious. Early on she admits she has no talent for suffering, but comes to understand that "When all your nightmares start to come true, you can't comfort yourself with the dawn any longer. You have to learn to live in the darkness." How Patty responds could well stand as a model of how we would want to react in similar circumstances.

A bright collection of 52 true-to-life mission stories from around the world, brought together by retired missionary Lawrence Driskill, this is a wonderful compilation for children who love to read about far-away places. "The possibilities for use in vacation church schools, camps and conferences are limited only by one's imagination. Each story could be made into a drama, a puppet show or an exercise in the study of people and cultures," says The Princeton Seminary Bulletin.

A firsthand account of frontier missionary work in Eastern Tibet by Ralph Covell, Ph.D. which describes what it was like to function as foreigners during the Chinese Communist revolution. Filled with stories of war lords, opium, romance, house-arrest and death, it tells also of the humdrum of daily living, language study and interpersonal squabbling in a candid assessment of missionary work, exploring why the Chinese church grew so remarkably once the missionary presence was withdrawn.