You're on break. You have extra time. Why not use it to read some good books?

1. The Mission Walker

This book is on my list to finish this break. My mom first found it and has been sending me quotes from the book for weeks now as she finishes it. Now, my mom is known as the best book-finder of the family, so her recommendation is not to be taken lightly. It’s a story of perseverance and amazing life lessons – I can’t wait to read it!

The Amazon description says it best:

“This story is not about avoiding death. It’s about living life.

Immerse yourself in the amazing story of Edie Littlefield Sundby, who, after being told she had only 3 months to live, survived 79 rounds of chemotherapy, radical liver and lung surgeries, and then walked 800 miles along the California Mission Trail, averaging 14 miles a day, and stopping at life-giving missions to revive her body and her soul.

When she finished she yearned to walk the mission trail from its start – in Mexico. But no one had traversed that trail in 250 years.

As you will learn in the pages of this book, Edie doesn’t care about what some deem impossible. It is that spirit that has allowed her to live, despite the odds.

With fading strength and only one lung, she walked another 800 miles through the rugged mountains and deserts of Baja Mexico to the California border. In a walk of triumph, of harrowing adventure, and of spiritual enlightenment, she carried her mortality in every step and in the process opened up a profound communion with God and his creation, and the true meaning of life.

And all of this with a terminal cancer that was chasing her every step of the way. It still is, and she continues to walk with it every day.”

2. Life in a Jar

“He who changes one person, changes the world whole." - Jewish Talmud.

One person can make a difference. One person can change the world. You never know who you’re going to impact when you do the right thing - or the chain of events and people you can set into motion.

Life in a Jar is a beautiful tale of a Polish social worker named Irena Sendler who witnessed Jews imprisoned in the Nazi-erected Warsaw Ghetto. She couldn’t stand idly by, and so began smuggling children out of the ghetto. Fast-forward 50 years to the story of three small-town high school girls, and their history project on the very same Irena Sendler. Life in a Jar is about unsung heroes, perseverance, and the ability of one person to make a difference.

3. Unbroken

I could speak for days about Unbroken. I had the opportunity to meet Louie Zamperini a few years ago, and I can say beyond a doubt that his story has influenced my life more than almost any other. I come back to the lessons of resilience and perseverance daily. The Amazon description sums it up best:

“In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand.”

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Around December 1^st, I always get a hankering to re-read the most well-known book in the Chronicles of Narnia. Aside from being a delightful story, C.S. Lewis’ writing is beautiful and holds a lot of depth. Each time I return to this story, I find something new hidden in the forest of Narnia and the characters. Reading good fiction ignites my imagination and inspires my creativity. I don’t know about you, but I always look at the world differently after finishing a good fictional story. As G.K. Chesterton said:

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

5. A Wrinkle in Time

I am SO excited for this movie to come out. A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books, because of its combination of great storytelling and fascinating science. Somehow, Madeline L’Engle explores incomprehensible space science while also telling the story of Meg Murry, a misfit girl and her equally misfit little brother, Charles Wallace. As put by the Amazon description:

“It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.”

What are some books you'll be reading this break?