Light Keepers by Irene Howat

This middle grade biography series highlights ten boys or girls per book. Each chapter tells a very abbreviated version of their life story. There are ten volumes in this series and with ten people highlighted in each, this series covers 100 Christians. The ten titles include:

Ten Girls Who Used Their Talents
Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents
Ten Girls Who Made a Difference
Ten Boys Who Made a Difference
Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In
Ten Boys Who Didn’t Give In
Ten Girls Who Made History
Ten Boys Who Made History
Ten Girls Who Changed the World
Ten Boys Who Changed the World

This series is a wonderful introduction to 100 notable Christians and how they used their lives to glorify God. They are written in third person narrative, to read like a story opposed to a biography, with the conversations included being a bit of fictional liberty. Because they all have the same author, the entire series has a similar tone and flow. For example, from Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In, from the chapter about Perpetua:

“The day soon came when the young people were to die. The men were schedule to be killed by wild beasts in the arena, all for the enjoyment of those people of Carthage who had paid to watch the spectacle. But the boar turned on its keeper, and the bear refused to leave its cage. The captive leopard, which was hungry and desperate for food, pounced on one of the young men and fatally injured him.”

I have not read all the books in the series, so do know that this isn’t an exhaustive review, but rather a series recommendation based off of what I have read, with the caveat that each book is unique and will contain differing levels of violence, turmoil, hardships and more, depending on each person’s life. The book about boys or girls who didn’t give in are about martyrs (like the excerpt from above) and will be more graphic than others.

I prefer these titles best as a read aloud option as any editing can be done on the fly for younger listeners and kids can ask you questions following each chapter.

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