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.
The Christy Miller Series
The Christy Miller Series is a set of twelve Christian young adult romance novels following the titular character, Christy Miller, throughout her high school years. The series explores a variety of different kinds of relationships, from friendships, family ties, romantic pursuits, and personal relationships with God. Despite being YA, the series shows a real depth and welcome nuance to its theology and in explaining what teens entering the dating sphere can expect — both the good and the bad.
Tina (2024)
Tinā is a 2024 New Zealand choral-themed drama film set three years after the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake. In it, Mareta Percival must struggle to survive in the wake of losing her only daughter in a building collapse. Shut down from the world around her, Mareta finds herself working at a substitute teacher in a snobbish boarding school, wrangling kids that may seem perfect on the outside, but underneath are dealing with a variety of their own traumas and pains.
Case Files: Murder and Meaning (Vol. 1)
CASE FILES: Murder and Meaning is a murder mystery graphic novel by real life detectives J. Warner Wallace and Jimmy Wallace. With an impending retirement, a personal life in shambles, and a serial killer on the loose, Detective Michael “Murph” Murphy is forced to confront his own, innate ideas about a person’s worth and worthiness.
Paintball with Dragons
Paintball with Dragons is a heartfelt, semi-fantastical MG novel by novelist Hope Bolinger. The story features Xander who’s first day of school involves him seeing dragons everywhere — and he seems to be the only one who can see them. From there, well-meaning shenanigans ensue as Xander tries to figure out why he can see dragons and what he’s supposed to do with this knowledge. There’s a medieval history club that needs members, weirdoes that need to be befriended, and faith that needs a little rekindling.
At Home in Mitford
At Home in Mitford is the first of Jan Karon’s New York Times Bestseller series, The Mitford Years. This beloved book introduces Father Tim, an Episcopalian rector as he navigates life in the small and not-quite-so-idyllic Mitford, North Carolina.
Wild Thing (Winnie the Horse Gentler, Book 1)
Wild Thing is the first book of the Winnie the Horse Gentler preteen series by Dandi Daley Mackall. In it, horse “gentler” Winnie Willis must grapple with not just an unruly Arabian, but also the pain of losing her mother and moving to a new city.
The Ultimate Gift
The Ultimate Gift is a 2006 movie starring Drew Fuller based on the novel by Jim Stovall. In this story, a spoiled grandson must navigate a series of odd tasks in order to receive his inheritance from his grandfather.