Sondra Eklund

@sonderbooks.com

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Librarian. Writer. Book Reviewer. Math geek. Knitter. Progressive Christian. She/her. No DMs from strangers. More at https://sondraeklund.com

Photo of a small butterfly perched on purple flowers with a pond and lily pads behind it. Quotation: "Even when we find ourselves less than delightful, God does not delight in us less." -- Gregory Boyle

Cover of Let Them Stare, by Jonathan Van Ness & Julie Murphy. Picture shows a toy tyrannosaurus rex all dressed up in clothes that include a red beret, a pink feather boa, and a purple sweater.

Cover of Zebra and Yak: The Backwards Alphabet Book, by Paul Friedrich. Picture shows a cartoon zebra and yak, the yak holding a red balloon. Both are smiling.

Cover of Angry Girls Will Get Us Through, by Rebecca Traister. Picture features a girl with flames erupting out of what would have been her face.

A shadowed wall of the Fortress of Mont Saint-Michel, with a French flag at the end of it and a blue sky dappled with clouds lit by a sun low in the sky. Quotation: "Do what you can to be peace and to do justice, but never expect or demand perfection on this earth." -- Richard Rohr

Cover of Midsummer Sisters, a graphic novel by Niki Smith. Picture features two girls at the beach, white-skinned, one a brunette and one a redhead. There's a horse and a foal standing on a cliff behind them looking at the ocean.

A white flower on a dark background. Quotation: "God hates sin because sin hurts us. And God hates to see us get hurt." -- Zach Lambert

Cover of Better Ways to Read the Bible: Transforming a Weapon of Harm into a Tool of Healing, by Zach W. Lambert. Background has blotches of color, as if in a stained-glass window.

Photo of the cloister at Mont Saint-Michel, with green grass in the center and a hallway with arches and columns outside it. Quotation: "The vocation of every Christian and of the church as a whole is to stand always against the dehumanization of any person or group." -- Paul Hoard and Billie Hoard

Cover of The Last Best Quest Ever, by F. T. Lukens. Picture shows a person with a circlet on their head above a woman. They're holding an arrow to her chest and she's holding a knife to their throat, and they're looking into each other's eyes. Both are wearing medieval clothes.

A white rose with a bud next to it on a black background. Quotation: "When your enchantment causes you to embrace people you have treated as unclean, that looks a whole lot like the work of the Holy Spirit." -- Richard Beck

Cover of Notre-Dame: The World's Cathedral, by Lynn Curlee. The picture is of the famous cathedral.

Bright orange poppies in a sunny field. Quotation: "To argue with God is to belong to God; it is to embrace a love that surpasses all understanding - and be transformed by it." -- Kat Armas

Cover of Lady Tremaine, by Rachel Hochhauser, read by Bessie Carter. Title features an elaborate gold L wreathed by flowers, with a bird perched on it.

Cover of Spindle's End, by Robin McKinley, read by Justine Eyre. Picture shows a many-turreted mansion, shown through a hole in a thick hedge, with flowers and various small animals peeking between the leaves.

Photo of Mont Saint Michel with the sun low in the sky. The mountain is a silhouette and the sun is reflecting off the water. Clouds criss-cross the sky in lines. Quotation: "At the very heart of God is unfailing love." -- Brian Recker

Cover of Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes, by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Joani Rothenberg. Picture shows the biblical character Miriam dancing in sparkly sandals holding a tambourine above her head. There are swirling colors behind her.

Photo of the silhouette of Mont Saint-Michel with the sun low in the sky and a line of grasses in the foreground. Quotation: "Lament is the bridge between dark clouds and deep mercy." -- Mark Vroegop

Cover of Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanna. Picture shows a brown-skinned girl with a red cape, ponytail, and wielding a long, curved sword, having leapt in the air about a large red-eyed demon. There's a palace behind them.

Cover of Burn the Haystack: Decode Dating, Torch the Duds, and Make Room for Men Who Matter, by Jennie Young, PhD. Cover has a background full of orange cartoon flames.

Cover of Young World, by Soman Chainani. Neon orange cover features the Capitol building upside down and at an angle

Cover of What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty, by Ann Diament Koffsky, illustrated by N. Tarcan. Picture shows New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, with a woman featured in the foreground, wearing clothes from 1876, with a determined look on her face, holding parchment and an old-fashioned pen.

Silhouette of Mont Saint Michel, with the evening sun above it and reflecting off swirling mud and water in the bay.

Photo of the white rock formations at Étretat, France, with blue water behind them. Quotation: "Please remember that certainty - not doubt - is the opposite of faith." -- Richard Rohr

Cover of Whistler, by Ann Patchett, read by the Author. Picture shows a saddled horse standing in a field looking at the viewer.

Cover of Heir, by Sabaa Tahir. Picture is a drawing of mountains and wisps of cloud, with a person standing on the tip top of one of them, facing away.

Cover of We the People Is All the People, written by Howard W. Reeves, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. Title is written with the background of a faint American flag, and a wide variety of people circling the title, looking at the viewer.

Cover of How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction, by Katy Doughty. 8 comic panels show various disasters like a nuclear blast, a meteor falling, a drought-stricken landscape - and a dinosaur taking notes.

Two pink trumpet-shaped dipladenia flowers. Quotation: "I thought God wanted to use me to show gay people how to be straight. Instead God used gay people to show me how to be Christian." -- Rachel Held Evans

Cover of Braving the Truth: Essential Essays for Reckoning with and Reimagining Faith, by Rachel Held Evans, edited by Sarah Bessey. Picture shows a stack of books with a gift bow on top and an origami swan beside them.

Cover of I Don't Wish You Well, by Jumata Emill. The title is red letters on a black background, and features a picture of a bonfire with three shadowy figures in front of it.

A red rose with dark leaves behind it. Quotation: "This is the good news: God loves us and is here to rescue us, not to condemn us." -- Sarah Bessey

Cover of Behind the Scenes: Airports, illustrated by Maxim Usik. There's a busy picture of an airport hall with people coming and going, sitting with luggage, and a big window showing planes at gates and a control tower.

Cover of Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree, read by the Author. Picture shows an Orc Woman with green skin smiling and holding a steaming cup of coffee, standing back to back with a succubus with pink skin and a pointed tail. Pastries and mugs are on a counter in front of them.

A cluster of light purple bluebells, with several buds poking behind blooms. Quotation: "Dear God, please disabuse me of my calcified notions of how you work in this world. Surprise me, please. Please don't ever let me think that I am finished." -- Margaret Dulaney

Cover of Blood at the Root, by LaDarrion Williams. Picture is tinted in blue light of a Black teen boy with a giant mossy tree behind him. In front of him are candles with wispy flames that look like they might be coming from his outstretched fingers. There's a book in the middle of the six candles.

A Tulip field stretching off into the distance with tulips of all shades, especially pink and red, but also yellow and white and purple and orange. Quotation: "The Spirit of God is a Spirit of disruption, making space for the multitude of stories that refuse to stay silent." -- Kat Armas

Cover of Charts for Babies, by Michelle Rial. Illustration features a colorful donut chart with the heading What to do with this book. Slices say Read It Upside Down, Yogurt Handprint, Memorize It, Read It Together, Read It Again, Drool on It, Stare at It, Eat It?, Nap with It, Share It (Thank You).

Cover of A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, by Gisèle Pelicot. Photo of the author with a pleasant smile, hair dyed light red and a light blue blouse.

Cover of Love at Second Sight, by F. T. Lukens. Picture shows a light-skinned person with short blond hair whispering with her arm around a brown-skinned boy with long sideburns, pointy ears, and sharp nails. There's a row of lockers behind them.

A section of a field of red tulips, close together and lit by the sun. Quotation: "How do we account for so much gratuitous and sheer goodness in this world?" -- Richard Rohr

Cover of The Black Mambas: The World's First All-Woman Poaching Unit, by Kelly Krull. Photo shows seven women standing and sitting on a white pickup truck in the wilderness looking off toward the sunset.

A purple iris and pointed leaves with a blue lake behind it. Quotation: "Opposing hatred is how we embody love." -- John Pavlovitz

Cover of The Favorites, by Layne Fargo. Picture is a closeup of a man lifting a woman in a pose. One of her skates is just visible in the corner

Cover of Everything We Never Had, by Randy Ribay. Picture shows three Filipino men walking separately - an older one walking a dog, a middle-aged man wearing a jacket, and a teenage boy wearing a hoodie. They're superimposed over an outline of a hand picking fruit.

Photo shows a tree swallow perched on a nest box. Quotation: "Wonder is about having the presence to pay attention to the commonplace." -- Cole Arthur Riley

Cover of the picture book Sometimes We Pray, by Mary Wagley Copp, illustrated by Felishia Henditirto. Picture shows five children standing in a green field with eyes closed, praying. The sun is shining brightly over them in a blue sky with white puffy clouds and sparkles everywhere. The children all have different skin tones and clothes from different parts of the world.

Cover of How the Word Is Passed: Remembering Slavery and How It Shaped America, by Clint Smith, adapted for young readers by Sonja Cherry-Paul. Picture shows books lined up like dominoes around the title, with the first ones starting to fall.

Photo of a path crossing a stream and heading through the woods along the stream. Trees down the path are lit up by sunshine, shining green. Quotation: "We are all on a journey and the great thing about the universal love of Christ is that one doesn't have to believe in it to experience it." -- Derek Ryan Kubilus

Cover of Dream On, written by Shannon Hale, illustrated by Marcela Cespedes. Pink background shows a white girl sitting down and staring off into space. Behind her are four other kids looking her way as if they expect something from her.

Cover of The Heart of the Psalms: God's Word to the World, by James C. Howell. Title is superimposed over a section of Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Cardinal perched on a bare twig over a pond with the reflection of a treetop behind it. Quotation: "Setting down your anger toward someone doesn't mean excusing or forgiving them - it means protecting yourself." -- Maggie Smith

A cluster of early spring bluebells, including some light purple buds and green leaves. Quotation: "God persists in love, no matter how dark things get." -- Gregory Boyle

Cover of Tall Water, by SJ Sindu and Dion MBD. Has a sticker: Asian Pacific American Literature Honor Book. Picture shows a light-brown skinned girl with dark curly hair on a beach with palm trees blowing in the distance and the shadow of a giant wave looming over her.

Red, pink, and yellow tulips in a field. Quotation: "If Jesus has the power to save, then we have the power to imagine again. We have the ability to theologize bigger. That is the image of God in us." -- Trey Ferguson

Cover of Growing Up Under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution, written by Ying Chang Compestine
illustrated by Xinmei Liu. Picture shows a Chinese girl with braids with her head above a sea of red flags. Behind her is an army of Communists with their hands raised and carrying a picture of Chairman Mao.

Cover of Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher. Black background featuring an apple wrapped with vines and flowers and a snake flicking a long tongue on top.

Cover of The Heart of the World, by Amie Kaufman. Picture shows the head of a young man, with eyes closed and flames coming out the back of his head and neck.

Cover of Now You Know Your ABCs... (Or do you?), written by Caspar Salmon, illustrated by Matt Hunt. Cover is bright red with a big title, and a wolf is taking a bite out of the B.