Farm life can be idyllic when everyone pitches in. But for a fragmenting household, farming is a struggle that requires strong faith. Allen Brokken’s Light of Mine tells the allegorical tale of three children, Ethan, Aiden, and Lauren. Their lives in nineteenth-century rural America get upended when their dad leaves to fight approaching Darkness. Then, when their mother leaves to rescue Dad, the kids must decide whom they can trust, and how they must work together to use the weapons of faith their father left for them. How-to descriptions of building and cooking are interspersed with moral instruction: other characters see and remedy the children’s mistakes, and the story conveys a sound faith lesson.

Best for: Homeschooling families and other young readers.

Discern: Low-intensity fight scenes as well as the people of Darkness using a ritual involving pentagrams to call up spirits.