Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2025 Reads So Far

 

I didn’t have as much time to read this month as I hoped…because this month was heavy on writing and creating and all manner of other fun projects. But I do have a couple of books to share with you from my reading time.

                Early this month, as I scrolled Facebook, I happened upon a sponsored ad for a new book from Annie Downs. I don’t follow Annie and honestly have no idea why this ad showed up in my feed, but I clicked on it. (I also rarely do that with unsolicited ads.) Annie has been writing for years and (fun fact!) was the first full-hour interview I ever had at WBCL. This new book Annie has written is for children and came about after Annie’s sister lost a baby boy. The book is designed to help children whose families have been touched by infant loss.

                It caught my eye, because you know this is a topic tender to my own heart, and now that I work in ministry, it’s a topic I know I’m likely to run into upon occasion, and I want to be prepared. I told our children’s ministry director about the book, and she ordered a copy. She brought it to staff meeting one day, and I read it before the meeting started, and that’s why I wanted to share it with you today.

The book is called Where Did TJ Go? and I wanted to share my thoughts after my (admittedly) quick read of the book. To be honest, I wish I would have asked to borrow the book so I could read it another time or two, because I feel like I could be more accurate in sharing my thoughts. Alas, I did not, so this is based on what I remember from that day.

Grief is complicated for anyone, and so much more so for children. I’ve walked that road as a child, and I’ve walked alongside others navigating it with their children. There isn’t a universal way to approach explaining it that works for everyone. (A couple of the low-star reviews I read took offense that this wasn’t good with dealing with grief on the whole. It wasn’t intended to, though. It is specifically a book about infant loss and trying to explain Heaven to kids. That’s a lot to pack into one little children’s book.)

Personally, I appreciated that the book honored the truth (and mystery) of Heaven without bringing in common grief consolations that aren’t actually true about Heaven or people who die.

I don’t know of many books for children on the topic of infant loss, so for that reason, I’m excited that this book exists, while also absolutely hating the need for this book to exist.

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                The other book I read this month was a new release from Rebekah Binkley Montgomery, called Ancient Secrets of Ten Bible Women.

                Rebekah and I are name twins who attend the same church! I had the privilege of going to visit Rebekah a few weeks ago, and we had the best time talking all about writing and our love for it. When I left, she sent me home with several of her books, and this was the first one I pulled from the stack to read. It was also my first time to read any of her writing.

                This book is a ten-chapter book that covers the lives of some women in the Bible – from Rahab to Dorcas. The book can be used as an regular read or as an individual or group study. (The end of the book contains notes for Bible study leaders.)

                Her style reminds me so much of my own. (She’s been writing longer than I have, so maybe I should say my style reminds me of hers!) She approaches these chapters as I did when I wrote my Advent book: sticking to the facts of Scripture, but weaving in some imagination of what these people might have been like in personality. One benefit Rebekah has is that she’s studied in Israel, so she’s seen some of these places in person and has learned about the customs of the ancient days.

                I learned so much and even made notes in my Bible about some of the things she taught in her chapters. The book was easy to read, but not simple and fluffy in content. The words and lessons were so rich. I enjoyed reading it on my own, but it would work so well as a group study if you want to use it that way. The main part of the book is 98 pages, so if long books are off-putting to you, this is a great choice! I’m excited to jump in to some of the other books she sent home with me!