Lately we’ve had a run of good luck with several great youth books for my oldest daughter. There are numerous historical fiction accounts that we’ve been treated to and enjoyed here on the pages of thriftymommasbrainfood. This novel Shades of Truth is not historical fiction, but it is inspirational Christian young adult fiction and my daughter quite enjoyed it. Shades of Truth is by Naomi Kinsman and it is intended to be the first in a series.

Guest Review by Payton Schuck

Shades of Truth is about a girl named Sadie who moves away from her friends. Her family moves from California to Owl Creek, Michigan. Her Dad is a mediator and he gets a job trying to bridge the gap between researchers and bear hunters. He buys a gun to fit in with the rest of the hunters. Sadie feels strongly about this and tries to persuade her Dad to get rid of the gun. The bears in Michigan have become a problem for residents. They are rooting through the town’s garbage and scaring younger children. Some residents think they need to shoot the bears to protect their families. There is a scientist named Helen who is studying the bears and documenting their behaviour, their denning sites and how many cubs they have. She argues they should not be shot and wants to keep studying them.

Sadie’s Mom has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and it makes her exhausted often. They are at the point where they have given up on treatments because they keep failing and causing their hopes to be dashed.  Sadie’s Mom starts to get better the more time she spends outside and she seems to do better in Michigan than she did in California.

At school, Sadie has trouble fitting in and a few of the kids tell her she should move out of town. Sadie is sad about the move, but eventually she makes a friend named Ruth who takes her to a youth group where they talk about God and how he influences life. Sadie is entranced by the group and keeps going even when the friendship gets rocky. Sadie soon sees that praying and speaking to God can help you in many ways. She sees God as a constant and reliable voice and friend.

This is a story of her spiritual awakening. Sadie discovers God. She also discovers art. She starts shading and sketching with her art teacher Vivian. She focuses on drawing eyes and starts with her Mom and Dad’s eyes and then begins drawing bear’s eyes and bullies eyes. She sees this as a great way to express herself. Just by shading, she can show if the eyes are sad, scared, angry, surprised. She learns to show how she feels without using words.

This book is very inspiring and there is interesting communication back and forth between Sadie and her old friends. Their emails break up the story. There is also a lot of intriguing detail about trivia and nature in Shades of Truth. There are helpful tips here like how to get tree sap out of your hair. This book also gives helpful details about how to see the world differently.

Shades of Truth is by Naomi Kinsmen, Zonderkidz, by Zondervan, $7.99 and 205 paperback.
$$$$$ out of $$$$$ – this is our highest rating. Payton loved it. She called it very inspiring.

(Thanks to Payton for reviewing this one entirely on her own. We received no compensation for this review. Our opinions are all our own. We received a copy of the book to facilitate this review.)