You Shall Love...

My kids REALLY enjoy these books and they come to me with LOTS of questions about the characters and why they do certain things. I OWN 10 of these books and LOVE THEM! You don't have to be into Japanese art or Manga or even know what those terms are... I work with youth full time and THIS is the way that many of them act. The questions presented are ones that they have, the situations are realistic and in REAL LIFE, these are the kind of characters I have in my youth group. They are relational for kids in the teenage and tweenage years, but are not written for Suzie Sunday School as their crowd. They are aimed at presenting the Gospel to kids who would normally not even be interested. Serenity accepts Christ in Book SIX but it is important to see what it took to get her there. BOTTOM LINE: This series IS racey, to reach the "right crowd" but not inappropriately so. The topics are edgy, but not anything that teens and tweens aren't experiencing in your OWN living rooms and schools. They are also inexpensive and entertaining, but not for us, 20's to 30's. Those that didn't think thre was adequate character development or that the characters were flat, you're right...but you should probably be reading something more on level!

Billed as "inspirational manga", the Serenity series from Realbuzz Studios is a full-color comic book series focusing on slice-of-life teenage drama. The stories revolve around the interaction between the title character (a newly transferred high school student with a troubled past) and the school's Christian club (whose members have themselves struggled through a wide range of temptations and who have "adopted" Serenity as one of their own). Summary of Serenity volume 6: You Shall Love Recovering from her ill-fated ski trip, the housebound Serenity is forced to confront all her doubts that have been building up over the course of the series so far. Despite being pulled back and forth by the preaching (and anti-preaching) of various friends and teachers, Serenity ultimately decides for herself to embrace the love of God promised in the Bible. This volume concludes the first major "story arc" of the series, and sets up Serenity's first steps on a journey of faith that will continue through the rest of the books in the series. (Possible parental advisory: "Serenity" is set amid the pressures of a modern high school, and as such the teenage characters are confronted with realistic issues that range from boredom and jealousy to drug addiction and sexuality. Through it all, the stories present the honest struggle between Serenity's fragile faith and the lure of her former self-destructive lifestyle.)