Bøger i Trailblazer Books serien

SINKING THE DAYSPRING, Introducing John Paton -- Working at the docks is a dangerous occupation--especially for someone who doesn't know how to swim. But it's all Kevin Gilmore can do to keep himself and his ailing mother afloat. When Kevin is suddenly fired one day, their lives are dealt a terrible blow. The next thing he knows, his mother is dead, and he's on his own. All Kevin has of value are the one hundred shares he and his mother bought from a missionary raising money to build a ship called the Dayspring. The new ship will bring supplies to missionaries living on the islands of the South Sea. When he hears that the very same missionary, John Paton, is in Australia again and ready to launch the Dayspring, Kevin goes to him to cash in his shares, but instead ends up traveling with the missionary on the boat's first trip to the islands. Will the infamous pirate ships that trade rum for goods capture them before the Dayspring is able to reach the island people? IT'S SINK OR SWIM FOR THE BOY WHOSE FEAR IS WATER. . . .

AMBUSHED IN JAGUAR SWAMP, Introducing Barbrooke Grubb -- "Someday, foreigners will come who will reveal the mysteries of the spirit world." It seems clear to fourteen-year-old Kyemap that this ancient Lengua prophecy is fulfilled by Barbrooke Grubb. Kyemap wants to accept the missionary's teachings. But he fears the powerful witch doctors whose superstitious murders threaten the tribe's very survival. Kyemap's older cousin Poit takes an interest in the Englishman, too, offering to help him reach other Paraguayan tribes. But Kyemap knows his cousin only too well and suspects Poit is up to no good. Then Grubb takes a trip home, and Poit agrees to watch his herd of cattle. But Poit soon becomes impatient, butchering some cattle and holding feasts to impress tribal leaders. When Grubb returns and asks to see the herd, Poit leads him deep into the treacherous Jaguar Swamp. Kyemap fears the worst. Must he betray his cousin to protect the man whose message could save the Lengua people? Torn between his family and his future, Kyemap seeks the truth ...

ASSASSINS IN THE CATHEDRAL, Introducing Festo Kivengere -- With the help of Uganda's famous evangelist Festo Kivengere, Yacobo Kabaza and his family move to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where Yacobo's father will be the new driver for Archbishop Luwum. As part of the cathedral's upcoming Centennial celebration, the archbishop asks Yacobo, an aspiring author, to write a play about the legendary three boys who became Uganda's first Christian martyrs. The young teenager is thrilled. However, the growing reign of terror of General Idi Amin and his "Special Forces," who falsely suspect the church of helping the rebels, overshadows Yacobo's excitement. When the archbishop doesn't return from a meeting with Amin, officials claim he died in a "car accident." Kivengere is forced to flee the country. But the church bravely goes on with preparations for the Centennial, and Yacobo's play begins rehearsals, with his brother, Blasio, playing the youngest martyr. As the Special Forces circle closer, and the legend of the martyrs becomes alarmingly real, will Yacobo have the strength to survive? Faced with death, their weapon is love.

THE DRUMMER BOY'S BATTLE, Introducing Florence Nightingale -- After their father dies, Robbie Robinson and his older brother, Peter, join the British army in order to make a living for their family. At first, army life is exciting, even fun. Then in 1854, they are sent to Russia to right in the Crimean War-Peter as a member of the famous Light Horse Brigade and twelve-year-old Robbie as a drummer boy. But the brothers are separated during the doomed charge of the Light Brigade, and Robbie fears for Peter's life. An injury to his left hand brings Robbie to Barracks Hospital in Scutari, Turkey, where he hopes to find Peter. Instead he meets Florence Nightingale, a nurse working hard to change for the better the way nurses do their jobs. Robbie becomes Florence's "right-hand man," running errands, delivering messages, and reporting alarming hospital conditions to her. But the doctors and officers running the hospital want to put a stop to Florence's improvements. Will Robbie and his friend find a way to succeed in spite of the challenges? Soldiers are dying all around him, and only Florence Nightingale can help save them!

QUEST FOR THE LOST PRINCE, Introducing Samuel Morris -- When the dying Kru king offers a ransom for his missing son, fourteen-year-old Jova determines to find Prince Kaboo, no matter what the danger. Without a prince to take the old king's place, his people will almost surely be defeated by their long-time enemies, the Grebos! And as a former captive of the cruel Grebos, there is nothing Jova fears more. But Jova has a secret advantage over the other young warriors who set out on the dangerous quest-he knows where to look for the missing prince! Only Jova followed Prince Kaboo when he miraculously escaped the Grebo village where they both were held. And only Jova knows the prince traveled to the dreaded "white man's city"-a place filled with people so strange-looking Jova was too fearful to enter. Now his search must take him right to that terrible place. What will he find when he arrives? For six long years, Jova has kept the secret. . . .

DANGER ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE: Introducing D.L. Moody -- Fourteen-year-old Casey Watkins wants nothing more than to escape his family's dreary, bare-bones life in the Philadelphia of 1893. When he learns of an opening in Adam Forepaugh's Circus, it seems like the perfect escape, and he convinces his mother and sister to join with him. Then "The Flying Eugenes," a family of trapeze artists, offer Casey a role in their death-defying act, and he is elated. Flying on the trapeze is more exciting than he ever dreamed! The pressure is on-Casey has only a few weeks to learn the act before the circus arrives in Chicago in time for the famous World's Fair. Once in Chicago, the boy is fascinated by D. L. Moody, the dynamic evangelist who preaches to standing-room-only crowds in the circus Big Top Sunday mornings. Casey never imagined that church could be more popular than the circus! But then a dangerous accident leaves him paralyzed with fear, and he runs to Moody looking for a way out. Will the evangelist be able to help him? The circus is counting on him . . . what if he falls?

THE QUEEN'S SMUGGLER Introducing William Tyndale Sarah Poyntz is the daughter of an English merchant who operates a shipping business from Antwerp, Belgium, in 1535. Her father is very interested in the ideas of William Tyndale, who has fled England as a condemned outlaw for refusing to stop his translation work of the English Bible. Tyndale believes that the Word of God should be read by the common people in their own language, a belief shared by the Poyntz family. But when Tyndale is captured and imprisoned, Sarah becomes the only hope for saving his fife. If she can successfully smuggle a copy of Tyndale's New Testament into the hands of the king's wife, Queen Anne, perhaps she can persuade him to spare Tyndale's life. If Sarah's desperate mission fails, her family is in peril of their lives. Will she have the courage to go through with it? Can Tyndale's life be spared?

ESCAPE FROM THE SLAVE TRADERS Introducing David Livingstone An urgent call for help cut through the morning mists that floated along the shore of Lake Shirwa. Two young African boys, Wikatani and Chuma, had been captured by slave traders, but the desperate cry would never reach their village. Easily overpowered by their captors, the boys' only hope is to endure a ruthless march through the jungles that takes them far from their village to a destination unknown. Where are the cruel Red Caps taking them? What chance might the boys have to escape? If they manage to escape, how will they ever find their way home again? Fortunately for Wikatani and Chuma, there is help on the way. David Livingstone, a missionary and British government official, is doing everything he can to put a halt to the slave traders who are devastating southeastern Africa during the 1860s. But is there any reason to hope that he might help two young boys? Will they have the courage to face the phenomenal adventure and peril before them?