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The above titles are three very well-written and interesting novels for middle-schoolers. What is special about them is that they are written from a Christian worldview. What I mean is that the spiritual aspects of peoples’ characters and the spiritual dimensions of their actions are naturally and openly addressed as they come into the story. In the best juvenile novels, especially those we consider to be classics, there is a moral worldview, right is different from wrong, but the religious parts of the story are mainly not mentioned. There are some obvious exceptions, I know, such as The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli, or Heidi by Johanna Spyri, but for the most part this statement is true. I’m not saying that all novels must have an explicit religious or spiritual dimension, just that is nice to read books that do.
Brave the Wild Trail, by Millie Howard, sounds like a Western adventure book. It is not! The story is set just after the Civil War in Florida, where there were historical cattle drives the length of Florida, for reasons similar to those out West. The turmoil that always exists after a major war ends, combined with the danger and adventure of the wilderness that was Florida back then, unite to make a very exciting story.
Sheriff at Waterstop, by Andy Thomson, is set in the little town of Waterstop, Wyoming, about 1870, so just after the American Civil War when the West was quickly being opened up, especially by the newly-finished transcontinental railroad (you can read about this incredible feat in a Landmark book). The Jensen family are moving west and become trapped by their poverty in Waterstop. Mr. Jensen, a quiet and godly man, soon shows that he can effectively stand against evil and becomes the new, badly-needed, sheriff of the town. This impresses his son Bret, who did not know his father was a brave man, besides being a man of faith. Sheriff Jensen’s struggle to bring the rule of law to the town, aided by his son, Bret, makes for a compelling story.
In Renegade in the Hills, by Andy Thomson, the main character and narrator, Josiah Eagle, has a renegade father, who is a robber. Josiah Eagle, his son, is torn between being with his father and wanting to obey the law and live right. A local rancher, Mr. Gibson, doesn’t care about any of that – he just wants the money he thinks Josiah’s father has hidden. Many of the local neighbors in Wyoming think that Josiah is the same as his father, bad through and through. The people at the Methodist Boy’s Home want Josiah to be good and transcend his upbringing but more than that, to know God through Jesus Christ for himself. The combination of robbers, unscrupulous men, stolen money, and a struggle for the soul of a boy results in a story that is adventurous on many levels.
The above three books were published by Bob Jones University Press, a Christian college-based publisher, mainly of home school and Christian school textbooks. As of 2026, they are still publishing a few fiction titles but apparently not the above three.