What do you think?
Rate this book
From Sadie's Sketchbook #3
Waves of Light
Where is God when you need him? After struggling to fit into a new town and school, Sadie faces questions about her faith, family, and friendships, questioning all she has come to believe. Sadie’s life is spinning out of control. Her friend moved away, her mom remains ill, and her dad wants to leave town. At least the play Sadie is helping produce appears to be going well. After all, she gets to create the sets with her art teacher’s help. But even that falls apart when a flash flood destroys her teacher’s home and art. How can she trust or even believe in a God who would allow all this? God isn’t fair. With everything crumbling and her faith on the edge, Sadie must find strength in the God she’s questioning in order to hold on in the midst of her struggles.
203 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 9, 2012
6 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Kinsman
26 books32 followersNaomi Kinsman is the author of Spilled Ink (winner of the 2009 Moonbeam Gold Medal for Educational/Activity book) as well as the From Sadie’s Sketchbook series (Zondervan). She has written and directed over 50 plays for young audiences, and has written for Highlights, Spider and Devozine magazines.
As founder of the Society of Young Inklings, Naomi shares her passion for writing and creativity with young people across the country. Society of Young Inklings offers game-based classes, unique resources, national club membership and publishing opportunities for young writers. Naomi has a BA in Theatre Arts from Seattle Pacific University, has studied theatre with the Piven Theatre Workshop and ACT, and has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University.
She is the Regional Advisor for the San Francisco South chapter of SCBWI. Naomi lives in Northern California with her husband, and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese Water Dog.
As founder of the Society of Young Inklings, Naomi shares her passion for writing and creativity with young people across the country. Society of Young Inklings offers game-based classes, unique resources, national club membership and publishing opportunities for young writers. Naomi has a BA in Theatre Arts from Seattle Pacific University, has studied theatre with the Piven Theatre Workshop and ACT, and has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University.
She is the Regional Advisor for the San Francisco South chapter of SCBWI. Naomi lives in Northern California with her husband, and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese Water Dog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 16, 2014
I choose to read this book just out of the blue, since I haven’t read children to young teen book for a long time. Sure the cover was creative, simple yet cute, but from the looks of it, the story dwells on younger or coming-to-age teens. Fortunately, I found this book easy to read and relate to even if I’m no longer on the ages 7 and up category..:D
Waves of a Light is the third book in the Faithgirlz!/From Sadie's Sketchbook series. But don’t worry, even I who hadn’t read the first two books followed the story well. They can be stand-alones I think.
Naomi Kinsman wrote the story in a simple yet nurturing way. We might find Sadie’s life/struggles boring but for a girl just starting to see life and finding her relationships with God, a lot’s been going on already. This is what the beauty of this book, creating a good story amidst its simplicity.
I enjoyed the emails in the book and I think it was written well. You might think the book is all about younger teens problems but actually the author also throw in grown-up topics, so basically the book is also for adult and young at heart..:)
Kinsman captured a young girl’s essence perfectly. As if she was Sadie herself. Sadie’s questions were genuine and honest. She was strong and mature for her age and yet the growing attraction to Andrew is pretty something I could relate to, I think anyone experienced having crushes for the first time, and it’s actually hard for Sadie since Andrew is her friend.
The author beautifully described faith even when we think God had left us. This book had a lot of subtle messages without appearing too preachy.
Waves of Light is an interesting book for tween readers, especially for girls ages 7 and up and even the younger ones.:) It’s about finding ourselves and our relationship with God. Highly Recommended!
More reviews on: Bookshelf Confessions
Waves of a Light is the third book in the Faithgirlz!/From Sadie's Sketchbook series. But don’t worry, even I who hadn’t read the first two books followed the story well. They can be stand-alones I think.
Naomi Kinsman wrote the story in a simple yet nurturing way. We might find Sadie’s life/struggles boring but for a girl just starting to see life and finding her relationships with God, a lot’s been going on already. This is what the beauty of this book, creating a good story amidst its simplicity.
I enjoyed the emails in the book and I think it was written well. You might think the book is all about younger teens problems but actually the author also throw in grown-up topics, so basically the book is also for adult and young at heart..:)
Kinsman captured a young girl’s essence perfectly. As if she was Sadie herself. Sadie’s questions were genuine and honest. She was strong and mature for her age and yet the growing attraction to Andrew is pretty something I could relate to, I think anyone experienced having crushes for the first time, and it’s actually hard for Sadie since Andrew is her friend.
The author beautifully described faith even when we think God had left us. This book had a lot of subtle messages without appearing too preachy.
Waves of Light is an interesting book for tween readers, especially for girls ages 7 and up and even the younger ones.:) It’s about finding ourselves and our relationship with God. Highly Recommended!
More reviews on: Bookshelf Confessions
September 19, 2013
This book was an amazing journey for one of my favorite characters, Sadie Douglas. As a young teenage girl, she’s dealing with so much more than people realize. She’s tough. She tries to handle it all on her own. It doesn’t work so well for her. With everything swirling around her, chaos nipping at every moment of her life, and very little peace to be had, Sadie definitely hits a breaking point in this book. And who can blame her?
Naomi Kinsman’s writing stays fresh and tight – growing these young characters instead of letting them stagnate into caricatures of teenagers. It would be easy to let Sadie slide into misery and much angst with the plot revolving around so much chaos. Thankfully, Kinsman handles the situations with a deft lightness that keeps Sadie’s struggles realistic and dramatic instead of spiraling toward overly dramatic plot twists. Sadie’s friends and family love her and care for her, but are unsure of how to help her. Sadie isn’t sure how to help herself in the middle of overwhelming situations.
I love that Sadie doesn’t always have all the answers. She makes mistakes just like the rest of us and she learns from them as well. She doesn’t degrade into a whiny, angsty teenager. She remains a character that we all love and care for as we’re reading. A few times in this book I reached the point of tears for this young girl. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and just give her love and affection. I’ve prayed for the Lord to show me if there are any of my daughter’s friends who need this sort of love and support from an adult. Even my daughter said she wished she could be Sadie’s friend and help her.
Kinsman shines in this series and this latest entry in Sadie’s life shows that she has no intention of slowing down. I loved this book!
Review copy provided by the publisher. Thank you!
Naomi Kinsman’s writing stays fresh and tight – growing these young characters instead of letting them stagnate into caricatures of teenagers. It would be easy to let Sadie slide into misery and much angst with the plot revolving around so much chaos. Thankfully, Kinsman handles the situations with a deft lightness that keeps Sadie’s struggles realistic and dramatic instead of spiraling toward overly dramatic plot twists. Sadie’s friends and family love her and care for her, but are unsure of how to help her. Sadie isn’t sure how to help herself in the middle of overwhelming situations.
I love that Sadie doesn’t always have all the answers. She makes mistakes just like the rest of us and she learns from them as well. She doesn’t degrade into a whiny, angsty teenager. She remains a character that we all love and care for as we’re reading. A few times in this book I reached the point of tears for this young girl. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and just give her love and affection. I’ve prayed for the Lord to show me if there are any of my daughter’s friends who need this sort of love and support from an adult. Even my daughter said she wished she could be Sadie’s friend and help her.
Kinsman shines in this series and this latest entry in Sadie’s life shows that she has no intention of slowing down. I loved this book!
Review copy provided by the publisher. Thank you!
October 22, 2016
This book was an amazing journey for one of my favorite characters, Sadie Douglas. As a young teenage girl, she’s dealing with so much more than people realize. She’s tough. She tries to handle it all on her own. It doesn’t work so well for her. With everything swirling around her, chaos nipping at every moment of her life, and very little peace to be had, Sadie definitely hits a breaking point in this book. And who can blame her?
Naomi Kinsman’s writing stays fresh and tight – growing these young characters instead of letting them stagnate into caricatures of teenagers. It would be easy to let Sadie slide into misery and much angst with the plot revolving around so much chaos. Thankfully, Kinsman handles the situations with a deft lightness that keeps Sadie’s struggles realistic and dramatic instead of spiraling toward overly dramatic plot twists. Sadie’s friends and family love her and care for her, but are unsure of how to help her. Sadie isn’t sure how to help herself in the middle of overwhelming situations.
I love that Sadie doesn’t always have all the answers. She makes mistakes just like the rest of us and she learns from them as well. She doesn’t degrade into a whiny, angsty teenager. She remains a character that we all love and care for as we’re reading. A few times in this book I reached the point of tears for this young girl. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and just give her love and affection. I’ve prayed for the Lord to show me if there are any of my daughter’s friends who need this sort of love and support from an adult. Even my daughter said she wished she could be Sadie’s friend and help her.
Kinsman shines in this series and this latest entry in Sadie’s life shows that she has no intention of slowing down. I loved this book!
Naomi Kinsman’s writing stays fresh and tight – growing these young characters instead of letting them stagnate into caricatures of teenagers. It would be easy to let Sadie slide into misery and much angst with the plot revolving around so much chaos. Thankfully, Kinsman handles the situations with a deft lightness that keeps Sadie’s struggles realistic and dramatic instead of spiraling toward overly dramatic plot twists. Sadie’s friends and family love her and care for her, but are unsure of how to help her. Sadie isn’t sure how to help herself in the middle of overwhelming situations.
I love that Sadie doesn’t always have all the answers. She makes mistakes just like the rest of us and she learns from them as well. She doesn’t degrade into a whiny, angsty teenager. She remains a character that we all love and care for as we’re reading. A few times in this book I reached the point of tears for this young girl. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and just give her love and affection. I’ve prayed for the Lord to show me if there are any of my daughter’s friends who need this sort of love and support from an adult. Even my daughter said she wished she could be Sadie’s friend and help her.
Kinsman shines in this series and this latest entry in Sadie’s life shows that she has no intention of slowing down. I loved this book!
September 7, 2012
What I Loved: I wasn't so sure I'd really like this coming-of-age story, but I was wrong, as I found myself really really in-like with Waves of Light! It was so full of wonder, questions, hope, faith, trials, love and friendship...all for this spunky 'n' artsy young girl named Sadie to sift her way through and draw closer to God and her loved ones all at the same time.
The characters were so alive. The writing was beautifully vivid. And the story was super excellent.
You know, I really wish that there would have been more series for young ladies like the From Sadie's Sketchbook series when I was in Middle-School. I really do.
What I Didn't Like So Much: I hadn’t read the first two books in the faithGirlz!/From Sadie’s Sketchbook Series ( {1} Shades of Truth and {2} Flickering Hope ) so I did end up feeling a little bit lost at times in the midst of the already well established story and characters. Other than that I have no more complaints whatsoever.
I’m recommending this book… If you are looking for a hard-hitting coming-of-age story for a middle-grade reader about faith, family and answers about where God actually is when you need him, then this will be a fun, quick read for you! Prepare to smile. Prepare to be charmed. Prepare to fall in love with little lady named Sadie! I give this good-read 4.5 stars!
The characters were so alive. The writing was beautifully vivid. And the story was super excellent.
You know, I really wish that there would have been more series for young ladies like the From Sadie's Sketchbook series when I was in Middle-School. I really do.
What I Didn't Like So Much: I hadn’t read the first two books in the faithGirlz!/From Sadie’s Sketchbook Series ( {1} Shades of Truth and {2} Flickering Hope ) so I did end up feeling a little bit lost at times in the midst of the already well established story and characters. Other than that I have no more complaints whatsoever.
I’m recommending this book… If you are looking for a hard-hitting coming-of-age story for a middle-grade reader about faith, family and answers about where God actually is when you need him, then this will be a fun, quick read for you! Prepare to smile. Prepare to be charmed. Prepare to fall in love with little lady named Sadie! I give this good-read 4.5 stars!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews