IVP - Behind the Books - Readers Archives

Nerd Alert

Thanks to my brother-in-law for turning me onto the webcomic XKCD. This particular episode has everything a nerdy book editor would want:

—a poke at e-books

—stick figures

—the illusion of world travel and wild adventure

—a poke at Kindle(tm)

—an homage to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

If you don’t laugh, you’re probably cooler than I am.

Check All That Apply

I has some exciting news this morning. Sundee Frazier, author of Check All That Apply, is going to be on the Today Show on Friday, July 11, at 9:45 am (in all time zones). A new book she has written for Delacorte, Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It, will be featured.

Sundee also recently forwarded to me the following email from a reader, Mark Crumbliss, about how her book Check All That Apply helped him in his ethnic identity formation. Mark has given permission for me to share it here.

I was a new student at UT San Antonio in the fall of 2002. I had looked online for different Christian organizations on campus before moving to San Antonio. I saw InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, although I knew very little about it. I had become a Christian about two years prior to that time. One of the staff workers, Eric Teague, gave me a book called Check All That Apply. I am a mixed person: my grandmother was from Mexico, her husband was half Italian and half French Canadian. On my dad's side, I think everything can be traced to Ireland or Scotland. Although I had spent most of my life more or less really ripped up inside about this. I never really talked about it or thought that I should really. The reasons for that were deep, but the book Check All That Apply really confronted some inner, self-directed hatred I had and exposed a wonderful image of people from all nations, tribes, and tongues working together (Rev 7:9-10).

That book was really difficult to read because of the straightforwardness of some of the content. I did finish it, though, because I knew I needed to do that. Usually now if people ask me what books have really been an influence in sorting through ethnic identity or social justice things, I will say, the Bible, Check All That Apply and The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that Check All That Apply is a part of God's plan for me to be free.

In case you are wondering, I am preparing for missionary service with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Cameroon at this time.

God bless you,

Mark Crumbliss

Sundee has a passion for encouraging multiracial people in find their journey toward wholeness. Both of her books deal with this too-seldom-explored topic. I commend them to you.

Longing for More

I learned a long time ago that pastors love to hear something more specific about their preaching than, 'Nice sermon, pastor" (especially if those specifics don't involve the parishioner dragging out a Scofield Bible and correcting the pastor's Scripture interpretation). The same is true for authors! They love to hear from readers.

You might be surprised how little real input most authors (and editors for that matter) hear from the end readers. When we get some concrete input from how our books make a difference in someone's life, it fills another day at the office with purpose!

Here is some reader input on our book Longing for More that was happily received by the author, Ruth Haley Barton, and forwarded to me. The writer of this note has given permission for us to share her thoughts on this blog.

Dear Mrs. Barton,
Thank you so much for your work in Longing for More. I literally just finished it and felt moved to tell you that you gave voice to my own journey over the last two years; no, over a lifetime.

I was pregnant with my son, after giving birth to two daughters, when I began wrestling with this idea of gender. I have felt for my entire life that I was "wrongly born." My gifting and calling seemed more suited to a man's body. And yet, there I was. I withdrew and hid from my gifts in order to embrace being feminine. But when I discovered that I was carrying a boy an indefinable need to understand this idea of gender overtook me. I wanted to have a true sense of what made me a woman so that I could be clear in forming him into a man.

It was scary to open the door to this journey. I am a minister's wife who has atrophied in myself, not by my husband's desire but in order to be the correct minister's wife. Much of my reading and searching leaned over into
the world of feminism and I couldn't digest that. Parts of the dialogue were familiar but the conclusions were inconceivable.

Longing for More is the first link I have found to answer those parts of myself that are buried but still be a godly woman in the church. Thank you for showing me the place where the two parts of myself could meet again and begin to journey together for the first time.

Grace and peace,
Rhesa Higgins

If you want to read more, Rhesa has blogged about Longing for More at www.danceofthedevoteddaughter.blogspot.com.