SHINE A LIGHT TODAY. AKA: SALT
The Christian & Faith-Based go-to media review series that spotlights faith-driven books, films, and podcasts worth your time.
Magnificent Mulligans: Dolphins in Danger
The Magnificent Mulligans: Dolphins in Danger is another outstanding middle-grade adventure novel written by Bill Myers. In this story, the Mulligans — two parents, eight children, and a whole park full of animals — encounter rogue dolphins, errant tennis players, hungry flamingoes, one giant cougar in a tiny airplane, and a variety of lessons on disobedience and its consequences. All of which are narrated by the delightful Winona, the family chimpanzee.
Magnificent Mulligans: What a Croc!
The fourth book of the Magnificent Mulligans series, What a Croc!, sees the Mulligan family racing around town to catch their wayward animals, all while battling against a supposed curse and preparing for an upcoming mayoral election. With a core message of trusting in God to work out all things for your good, the Mulligans must serenade irate elephants, corral hungry crocodiles, and hunt down…ghosts?
Smoke in the Air!
The Mulligan family is back for another messy and heartfelt adventure in Smoke in the Air! written by Bill Myers and published by Tyndale House Publishing. This third entry into the Magnificent Mulligans series is a red-hot disaster as a raging fire threatens the wildlife park. Split into teams, the family must race to protect each other and the animals under their care, learning important lessons about sacrifice, love, and salvation.
Saintly Creatures
Saintly Creatures is a beautifully illustrated children’s book that outlines the stories of 14 Christian saints and their animal companions.
The Trail Ends in Texas
The Trail Ends in Texas is a beautifully written and theologically powerful Western trilogy by T.W. Lawrence. Set in an ambiguous period of America’s Wild West era, this story follows Cowboy, a man searching for answers to his spiritual restlessness, and his faithful horse Dusty. The journey leads him up into the mountains of Montana, then back down to his home in Texas, meeting various characters and challenges along the way, each with a kernel of Christian truth.
Refiner's Fire
Like a Refiner’s Fire is the Book of Malachi, beautifully illustrated by Stephen Crotts. This illuminated book of the Bible brings a richer context and shines a bright light on this deeply prophetic text.
The Little Red Hen
The Little Red Hen is an audiodrama for children created by the Academy of Arts (same folks who put on Logos Theatre). Designed as a musical play, based off of Aesop’s fables, and with an unshakeable Biblical core, this story follows the adventures of the Little Red Hen as she goes through the laborious process of making cornbread, starting with three kernels of corn. Filled with a variety of farm animal friends (including an owl and a possum), this delightful story focuses on the importance of teamwork, a servant’s heart, and reaping what you sow.
The Inn at the Forest's Edge
The Inn at the Forest’s Edge is a charming, spooky fantasy novelette by debut author Raymond Keith. Set in the fantastical world of Veardalan, this story follows the adventure of young Johann, a stable boy swept up in the myths and magic of the ominous forest that looms large over his village. The inn he works at, sitting peacefully at the forest’s edge, holds a plethora of its own secrets within its walls.
Displaced: Aboard the Leto
Displaced: Aboard the Leto is a shiny new scifi series from creator Sam Rieck with art by Duh Dude and writing by Brannon Hollingsworth. The premise of the story is Norm, a 33-year-old couch potato that finds himself thrown into the middle of a chaotic and violent conflict between the crew of the Leto and their enemy, the Drose. Armed with nothing but a lot of confusion, Norm has to survive not only the impending Drose invasion, but also the crew of the Leto’s distrust.
Borderland, Israel in the Time of Jesus
Borderland: Israel in the Time of Jesus published by Answers in Genesis is an in-depth look behind the scenes for the Borderland exhibit featured by the Creation Museum. This book dives into the processes of development, implementation, and creation of the exhibit from the first inkling of an idea to the exhaustive historical research to the building of the props and, finally, the assembly of the exhibit itself.
Jesus vs. the Bad Guys
Jesus vs. the Bad Guys is a new children’s book written by Connor Shram and Jared Neusch with illustrations by Daniel Duncan. This imaginative and Scripturally-based story takes a look at Jesus’ teachings of nonviolence and the love of one’s enemies. This story presents the richness of the Gospel in a charming and kid-friendly manner using age-appropriate metaphors and comparisons.
God Meant it for Good
God Mean it for Good is another impressive production put on by The Logos Theatre. A Biblically-accurate retelling of the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors (Genesis 37), this play presents the complex story of his dreams, being sold into slavery in Egypt, his eventual rise to power, and the eventual salvation of his entire family during a famine.
Lovely People
Lovely People by Minna Sundberg is a delightfully drawn graphic novel about bunnies living in a world with a social credit system. The purpose of the story is to highlight the dangers of works-based salvation and how we are completely incapable of saving ourselves from even the smallest of sins.
Leviathan
The first book of R.M. Huffman’s antediluvian epic — Leviathan — centers itself around life in the post-Fall, pre-Flood world. Set in a lush landscape filled with the beginnings of human civilization and all manner of now-extinct species (triceratops! Saber-tooth tigers! Moa!), this tale of humanity, faith, and the basics of good vs. evil is a fantastical ride through the early millennia of Earth.
Professor Phineas T. Boggs: Lost in Space
The second installment of the Academy of Art’s Professor Phineas T. Boggs’ adventures, Lost in Space is a delightful audio drama for kids of all ages. In this story, Professor Boggs — along with characters from the previous drama, including Chester, Tina, Jake, Tess, Olivia, Michael, and Bonnie — travel through time to uncovering Biblical truths and learn important life lessons.
Bonus: Cabrini (2024)
This movie has a timeless quality that shines a brilliant, warm spotlight on American’s first saint. This era of the United States was marked by both incredible growth and significant turmoil as nearly 2 million Italian immigrants settled into the country. These immigrants were often treated horribly, and Italian orphans were typically forced to live in the sewers and storm drains beneath the city streets. Cabrini, who steps into New York with her eyes on a future “empire of hope”, starts with one small, rundown orphanage in the worst part of town.
Paul, the Apostle
Paul: The Apostle by Mario DeMatteo is a graphic story Bible that covers the life of Paul (formerly Saul), from the New Testament. This takes the story of his life — both the good and the bad — and faithfully recreates it in a futuristic, sci-fi setting.
Hospital Playlist
Hospital Playlist is a 2020 South Korean drama that follows the friendships of 5 doctors in their 40s working at the Yulje Medical Center. This quintet of doctors — a neurologist, liver transplant specialist, OB/GYN, cardiologist, and pediatric specialist — have been friends since medical school and after reconnecting at Yulje, they decided to form a garage band as a hobby.
Nova
Chuck Black’s first book of the Starlore Legacy series, Nova, is a fighter-pilot space opera for middle-grade to YA students. Crafted in the vein of Dune and Star Wars on the foundation of Biblical retellings, Nova promises great adventure and political intrigue, all wrapped up in a star-spanning, coming-of-age tale.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Using a disguise as a dandified English nobleman, Sir Percy Blakeney goes undercover, pulling of daring missions, in order to rescue innocent French nobles from the guillotine of the French Revolution. Blakeney, along with his wife, Marguerite St. Just, her brother Armand St. Just, and his second in command, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, weave their way through a complex plot of love, lies, misunderstandings, betrayals and the threat of betrayals to rescue the heir to the French monarchy.