Theme+of+Impact+or+Influence+of+religion+on+one's+life

**Abdel-Fattah,Randa** / Does my head look big in this  (Grade 7 Up—Australian 11th-grader Amal is smart, funny, outspoken, a good student, and a loyal friend. She is also a devout Muslim who decides to wear the hijab, or head covering, full-time. The story tells of her emotional and spiritual journey as she copes with a mad crush on a boy, befriends an elderly Greek neighbor, and tries to help a friend who aspires to be a lawyer but whose well-intentioned mother is trying to force her to leave school and get married. Amal is also battling the misconceptions of non-Muslims about her religion and culture.) **Adams, Richard** /Shardik  (in some respects a pretty awful book, but does offer quite a good portrayal of the way a religion might develop. It also has the advantage of being more of a 'boy book', if that is a consideration) **Adams, Richard /**Watership down  (the rabbits have a very well-defined system of belief!) **Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi** / Purple hisbicus  ( Fifteen-year-old Kambili's world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kambili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father's authority. The visit will lift the silence from their world and, in time, give rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways. This is a book about the promise of freedom; about the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new. Critical reputation as author. Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys prize and was winner of the Hurston/Wright legacy award for debut fiction also a San Francisco chronicle book of the year.) **Aslam, Nadeem** / Maps for lost lovers ( book about the lives of a group Muslim women when they go to live in England. The writing is very poetic. Written for an adult audience but a year 13 student should be well able to enjoy / appreciate this story)
 * Books showing influence/impact of Religion on a person – Year 13 or younger (some including religious restriction – suggestions from Listserv ) **

 **Beale, Fleur** / I am not Esther  **Bennett, Ronan** / Havoc in its third year (Very thought-provoking, with at least 2 aspects of religious motivation explored) Brooks, Geraldine / People of the book (The story of an ancient Jewish manuscript through the ages. ) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Brooks, Geraldine / Year of wonders

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Card, Orson Scott** / Tales of Alvin Maker <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">**Carey, Peter** / Oscar and Lucinda <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Chesterton, G.K.** / The Man Who Was Thursday (is fascinating - not one I'd recommend lightly to a teenager, but a few will love it. Chesterton himself subtitled it a nightmare, and it is a phantasmagoric exploration of the 'orthodoxy' he championed. <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Cowley, Joy** / Holy days <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Cross, Ian** / The god boy

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Douglas, Lloyd C.** / The big fisherman <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Douglas, Lloyd C.** / The robe

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Elphistone, Margaret** /Hi Brasil (one character is directly influenced by religion, several more subtly so, and I think you could say that a theme of the book is "keeping faith" in its wider sense.) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Elphinstone, Margaret** / Voyageurs ( historical novel, 1820s I think, about a Quaker searching for his sister in early-settler Canada. More people should know about her books! Well worth reading on any count. ) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Enger, Leif** / Peace like a river

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Fox, Catherine** / Angels and men (I can't decide if Fox's books are perceptive critiques of the issues facing CofE clergy in the modern world or just fairly intelligent chicklit, but 'Angels and Men' in particular offers some ideas to explore.

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Greene, Graham** /A burnt out case (show religion as a positive and meaning-making force) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Greene, Graham** / Power and the glory (show religion as a positive and meaning-making force)

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> **Hamid, Mohsin** / The reluctant fundamentalist. <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> **Hayes, Rosemary** / Mixing it – (When Fatimah, a devout Muslim, helps Steve when he is injured in a terrorist attack, they are photographed together. This leads to trouble for them and their families.... <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">**Hosseini, Khaled** / The kite runner <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Hosseini, Khaled** / A thousand splendid suns

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Kingsolver, Barbara** / The poisonwood bible

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Lasenby, Jack** / The conjuror

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Mahmoody, Betty** / Not without my daughter <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Mantel, Hilary** / A place of greater safety(: religion is peripheral but important in her books,one of my Top Ten Books of All Time - all about the French Revolution and very good. The student would need to be a perceptive reader, though.) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Murdoch, Iris** / The bell

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Olsen, Mark Andrew** / The watchers

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Picoult, Jodi** / The plain truth <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">**Potok, Chaim** / The chosen ( <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">the friendship between two Jewish boys, one destined to be a rabbi to the Hassidic community, and the other an Orthodox Jew.It's beautifully written and gives a fascinating insight into the Jewish faith.His other titles are worth reading too. )

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Rivers, Francine** / The last sin eater <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">**Russell, Mary Doria** / The sparrow ( <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Jesuit priest travelling to other planets. Science fiction too! It's a while since I read it but as I recall it is a lot about the priest, Emilio, grappling with the whole missionary business and faith and life and love and everything. ) <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> **Russell, Mary Doria** / Children of God (sequel to ‘The sparrow’)

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Swindells, Robert** / Abomination <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">**Satrapi, Marjane** / Persepolis

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Trollope, Anthony** / The warden (old-fashioned but short and simple enough to be accessible)

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> **Vickers, Salley** / Miss Garnet’s angel(Spinsterish woman goes to Venice, finds love and mystery in the churches and religious art, but also with the mysteries of the Book of Tobin, and the travel of the Angel Raphael.Her journey forces her to re-evaluate her life and her beliefs, and how she has lived in a closed-in <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> world and barely begun to live. <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">**Virtue, Noel** / The redemption of Elsdon Bird

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Young, William P** / The shack

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> **Zimler, Richard** / The last Kabbalist – (set in medieval Portugal)

**<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Religious persecution **
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Jewish persecution over the centuries.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Chrysalid by John Wyndham

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The secret purpose by David Baddiel

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shylocks daughter by Mirjam Pressler

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Chosen by Chaim Potok - Jewish persecution with inner Jewish factions

**<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Film **
<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> Not without my daughter <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">The kite runner