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Soul Surfer #1
Clash: A Novel
It took real faith and courage to get Bethany back on a surfboard after losing her arm to a shark. In this new four-book fiction series based on the life of surfer star Bethany Hamilton, Bethany and her friends discover God’s love and guidance as they tackle the waves that life hands them. Also Soul Surfer™ Bible, Ask Bethany, and Rise Above. In Clash, it’s a challenge to their tight-knit group when a new girl with a secret crowds Bethany and her friends. Important heart issues lead to difficult decisions. In Burned, Bethany has a run-in with an unpleasant kid on a surf trip to Samoa and discovers something in the Samoan culture that brings healing and forgiveness. (added a return) In Storm, Bethany helps a young family lost on the Hanakapiai Trail. As Bethany’s youth group struggles to raise funds for a mission trip, her small act of kindness blesses them all. In Crunch, Bethany meets a little boy at an orphanage in Mexico who must have his foot removed. Concerned by his condition, Bethany makes a promise to the child that threatens her opportunity to surf in a prestigious contest.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 13, 2007
25 people are currently reading
360 people want to read
About the author
Rick Bundschuh
51 books9 followersRick Bundschuh serves as a teaching pastor at Kauai Christian Fellowship, and he also continues to write and illustrate material for various publishers. He lives with his beautiful wife, Lauren, their kids, a weenie dog, and a quiver of surfboards in Poipu, Hawaii.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 4, 2016
About this book:
“It took real faith and courage to get Bethany back on a surfboard after losing her arm to a shark. The Soul Surfer fiction series is based on the life of surfer star Bethany Hamilton, as she and her friends discover God's love and guidance as they tackle the waves life hands them. In book one, Clash, Bethany’s tight-knit group experiences conflict when a new girl named Jenna crowds fourteen-year-old Bethany and her friends—until a wake-up call shows Bethany that sometimes you have to be willing to make hard choices if you want to do the right thing.”
Series: Book #1 in “Soul Surfer” series.
Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are read & mentioned; Many Prayers; Many talks about God & faiths; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Church, Youth Group & a Bible study; Mentions of Bible reading; Mentions of prayers; Mentions of church; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of Christian music; Mentions of the Chronicles of Narnia; A mention of the house built on the sand.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘shoot’s; Talks about & mentions of curses (curses are said by others, but not written); A mention of sarcasm; A few mentions of Bethany’s shark attack (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of sharks eating each other (not-detailed); A mention of Church kids being fun without “the typical mix of s*x, alcohol, or drugs.”.
Sexual Content- A mention of Church kids being fun without “the typical mix of s*x, alcohol, or drugs.”; A mention of Malia being in love with TV show actors; Jenna critiques her body (nothing sexual, just pointing out her “flaws”).
-Bethany Hamilton, age 14
-Jenna, age 13
P.O.V. switches between Bethany, Jenna & Malia (once)
121 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- One Star (and a half)
New Teens- Four Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars (and a half)
I’ve always looked up to Bethany Hamilton since first seeing Soul Surfer when it came out. This, I can tell, will be good series with lots of Spiritual Content! :)
Link to review:
Coming 1/4/16
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
“It took real faith and courage to get Bethany back on a surfboard after losing her arm to a shark. The Soul Surfer fiction series is based on the life of surfer star Bethany Hamilton, as she and her friends discover God's love and guidance as they tackle the waves life hands them. In book one, Clash, Bethany’s tight-knit group experiences conflict when a new girl named Jenna crowds fourteen-year-old Bethany and her friends—until a wake-up call shows Bethany that sometimes you have to be willing to make hard choices if you want to do the right thing.”
Series: Book #1 in “Soul Surfer” series.
Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are read & mentioned; Many Prayers; Many talks about God & faiths; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Church, Youth Group & a Bible study; Mentions of Bible reading; Mentions of prayers; Mentions of church; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of Christian music; Mentions of the Chronicles of Narnia; A mention of the house built on the sand.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘shoot’s; Talks about & mentions of curses (curses are said by others, but not written); A mention of sarcasm; A few mentions of Bethany’s shark attack (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of sharks eating each other (not-detailed); A mention of Church kids being fun without “the typical mix of s*x, alcohol, or drugs.”.
Sexual Content- A mention of Church kids being fun without “the typical mix of s*x, alcohol, or drugs.”; A mention of Malia being in love with TV show actors; Jenna critiques her body (nothing sexual, just pointing out her “flaws”).
-Bethany Hamilton, age 14
-Jenna, age 13
P.O.V. switches between Bethany, Jenna & Malia (once)
121 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- One Star (and a half)
New Teens- Four Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars (and a half)
I’ve always looked up to Bethany Hamilton since first seeing Soul Surfer when it came out. This, I can tell, will be good series with lots of Spiritual Content! :)
Link to review:
Coming 1/4/16
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
September 18, 2016
My grandmother gave my sister and I this book as a gift. I watched a preview for a movie about Bethany Hamilton, but otherwise I knew nothing about her. The book was riveting and really got me thinking. Teenager Bethany Hamilton and her tight group have trouble welcoming the new girl, Jenna, in. Sometimes I feel I should include others more, so this was was a good story for me. Overall, great Christian novel everyone should read sometime.
April 12, 2011
Loved it. Simple read. Happy story. Keeps positive things on your mind.
December 6, 2025
This was an excellent short read. Perfect for after reading an almost 800 pages book. I highly recommend this.
July 20, 2014
This summer, I read Soul Surfer, a well written, terrifying, heart wrenching, and very motivating memoir. Bethany Hamilton has been surfing all her life and the ocean is like her second home. One day, her entire life changed when she was attacked by a shark, and the shark bit her arm off. It was very difficult for her to adapt to her disability, yet she never gave up and kept practicing every day to become stronger. She still competed in all the competitions and won all of them.
I really enjoyed this book because it was extremely motivating as I said before. Bethany never stopped trying, and that makes the readers think to themselves that they shouldn't stop trying either no matter what it is, school, sports, music anything. In my point of view, I wanted to try harder in sports. I'm a swimmer and really enjoy swimming and competing, and Bethany's story makes me think about this one scary day during this one meet in Maryland. I was doing a 200 freestyle and I was halfway done, and I couldn't breath. I was in the shallow end so I could stand, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I almost passed out in the water and one of the life guards pulled me out, and I was okay and started breathing again. My mom didn't think I should swim anymore but I didn't want to stop because it was something I really liked to do and like Bethany, the water is like my second home. Even though my story wasn't as life altering as Bethany Hamilton's, it was still very inspiring.
I really enjoyed this book because it was extremely motivating as I said before. Bethany never stopped trying, and that makes the readers think to themselves that they shouldn't stop trying either no matter what it is, school, sports, music anything. In my point of view, I wanted to try harder in sports. I'm a swimmer and really enjoy swimming and competing, and Bethany's story makes me think about this one scary day during this one meet in Maryland. I was doing a 200 freestyle and I was halfway done, and I couldn't breath. I was in the shallow end so I could stand, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I almost passed out in the water and one of the life guards pulled me out, and I was okay and started breathing again. My mom didn't think I should swim anymore but I didn't want to stop because it was something I really liked to do and like Bethany, the water is like my second home. Even though my story wasn't as life altering as Bethany Hamilton's, it was still very inspiring.
Want to read
June 7, 2014Okay. I understand that this is a book of fiction, and I am okay with that for many reasons. One The author paints a picture of Bethany as a person not defined by having one arm and the author beautifully illustrates who she is as a person. This book depicts her faith and love if God and that is true to her character and that is inspiring. I don't think the authors intentions to depict the real events of Bethany Hamilton, but the person she really is and he executed it beautifully.
October 18, 2011
The book was ok because it was not the real story of Bethany Hamilton. What happened in this was that Bethsny meets a friend that was trying to become very popular. Bethany wasn't very sure about that because it seemed that the girl asked to many questions about her accident with shark.
July 4, 2015
Wonderful young adult read. Our library is having 'shark week' with a hero theme and this fit the bill so wonderfully. A fast read with a wonderful theme of going on even when life is at its worst and life with God.
October 28, 2013
I love Bethany Hamilton, so I thought that I'd give these books a try. Turns out that they're great and I really love them!
Want to read
October 15, 2014Great
June 4, 2021
A good read for a tween, introducing life on the island and surfing. Cheesy at times, but still engaging. Bethany is challenged to meet a new girl in town, who’s going through her own trials and needs a friend.
May 11, 2019
I think this book is a great book a good read for girls my age they will probably benefit from the lessons that are learned from and inside the book. Girls my age in tails ages 10-13 . I loved it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2021
Such a great book! Ordering the others!! This is a must-read book!! I would totally recommend this book! Thanks Rick Bundschuh!
September 16, 2018
Inspiring and meant to be...enjoyed the outcome and not the reason it was needed. Hope she is still doing well.
January 16, 2015
A really good series, with lovable characters.
Read
January 28, 2013THis book is like soul surfer
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews