What do you think?
Rate this book
The Storytellers' Collection Book 2: Tales from Home
A great idea is always worth repeating! In one volume, Christian readers' favorite fiction authors-including Randy Alcorn, Terri Blackstock, Angela Elwell Hunt, Melody Carlson, Nancy Moser, and Karen Kingsbury-offer delightful new short stories about hometown faith and foibles. This hard-to-put-down book, which features story settings all around North America in a variety of time periods, reminds readers about what values really spell home. And the contributors celebrate a home-based ministry by donating their royalties to Prison Fellowship!
- GenresChristian Fiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2001
2 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Karen Ball
19 books49 followersKaren's latest full-length novel, What Lies Within, has been nominated as the Best Inspirational Novel of the Year. Readers regularly call Karen's writing powerful, uplifting, and fun. She writes from her home in Oregon, where she lives with her husband, Don, and their two "kids": Dasha, a mischievous 4-month-old Siberian husky, and Dakota, an Aussie-Terrier mix that should have been named Psycho.
Next to working with words, Karen's greatest joys are playing with her dogs, laughing, savoring nature and wildlife, and finding wonder in everyday life.
Next to working with words, Karen's greatest joys are playing with her dogs, laughing, savoring nature and wildlife, and finding wonder in everyday life.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 31, 2024
An improvement from Volume 1. (4 stars)
After being rather disappointed by the short stories in the first Storytellers’ Collection, I was pleasantly surprised by the improved quality of volume two. Consisting of 37 short stories, it is a collaboration of the members of ChilLibris, which includes successful Christian novelists like Karen Kingsbury, Randy Alcorn, Angela Elwell Hunt, Terri Blackstock, and others. As with the first volume, the royalties go to a worthwhile organization, in this case Prison Fellowship Ministries, founded by Chuck Colson in 1976.
While the first volume of stories focused on travelling, these tales are more about hearts and homes. The change in focus seems to be a successful one – the stories themselves are rather interesting and effective, and not hampered by as many theological problems as those in the first volume.
Two of the especially memorable stories were:
- “Fragments of Truth” by Carol Cox is an excellent mystery story.
- “Jessica’s Gift” by Karen Kingsbury, which shows the effect of the gospel on a broken marriage through the eyes of a young girl with cerebral palsy.
But many of the other stories in the collection are also worth reading:
- Shari MacDonald’s “Homecoming” shows the struggle of a new bride who leaves her husband after six months when she discovers that marriage isn’t all a honeymoon.
- Karen Ball’s “The Orchard” is a must-read to remind fathers of the importance of spending time with family in light of the eternal things that really matter.
- Jefferson Scott’s “A Matter of Perspective” shows how you can look at an ordinary day in two completely different ways depending on your perspective.
- Carole Gift Page’s “Home to Southfiled, Mourning” features a husband and wife who discover the isolation between them after a funeral.
- Lori Copeland’s “Communication” is a humorous tale about a wife who fries her husband’s trophy fish.
- Colleen Coble’s “Heart Treasure” highlights the truth of Matthew 6, as a mother gives up her baby for adoption and must choose between giving her child Christian parents, or gaining wealth for herself.
- Neta Jackon’s “Fences” is an extended metaphor about taking down fences and building bridges between people.
- Athol Dickson’s “The Coward” uses the story of a boy whose love for his grandfather overcomes his fear of heights to illustrate the Scriptural idea that “Perfect love drives out fear” (1Jn 4:18).
- Terri Blackstock’s “The Blue Convertible” puts a face on a criminal and through the eyes of a young girl helps the reader to identify with a prisoner.
- Patricia Hickman’s “Diary of a Farmer’s Wife” is an allegory that shows how the bride of Christ often acts like a woman who lives her life selfishly and throws away the most precious treasure of all.
- Randy Alcorn’s “Brothers” in true Alcorn style demonstrates the importance of living for eternity and heaven, in a situation between two detached brothers whose father dies.
- Judith McCoy-Miller’s “In The Matter of Grace” portrays a widow who learns to deal with grief and see her blessings.
These stories are probably the highlights of the collection. They may be fiction, but the spiritual values and truths that they underline are very real. Skip Volume 1 (aside from three gems which it does have) and go straight to Volume 2 – there’s lots of stories here that will inspire and entertain you with a short bite-sized and spiritually nourishing read!
After being rather disappointed by the short stories in the first Storytellers’ Collection, I was pleasantly surprised by the improved quality of volume two. Consisting of 37 short stories, it is a collaboration of the members of ChilLibris, which includes successful Christian novelists like Karen Kingsbury, Randy Alcorn, Angela Elwell Hunt, Terri Blackstock, and others. As with the first volume, the royalties go to a worthwhile organization, in this case Prison Fellowship Ministries, founded by Chuck Colson in 1976.
While the first volume of stories focused on travelling, these tales are more about hearts and homes. The change in focus seems to be a successful one – the stories themselves are rather interesting and effective, and not hampered by as many theological problems as those in the first volume.
Two of the especially memorable stories were:
- “Fragments of Truth” by Carol Cox is an excellent mystery story.
- “Jessica’s Gift” by Karen Kingsbury, which shows the effect of the gospel on a broken marriage through the eyes of a young girl with cerebral palsy.
But many of the other stories in the collection are also worth reading:
- Shari MacDonald’s “Homecoming” shows the struggle of a new bride who leaves her husband after six months when she discovers that marriage isn’t all a honeymoon.
- Karen Ball’s “The Orchard” is a must-read to remind fathers of the importance of spending time with family in light of the eternal things that really matter.
- Jefferson Scott’s “A Matter of Perspective” shows how you can look at an ordinary day in two completely different ways depending on your perspective.
- Carole Gift Page’s “Home to Southfiled, Mourning” features a husband and wife who discover the isolation between them after a funeral.
- Lori Copeland’s “Communication” is a humorous tale about a wife who fries her husband’s trophy fish.
- Colleen Coble’s “Heart Treasure” highlights the truth of Matthew 6, as a mother gives up her baby for adoption and must choose between giving her child Christian parents, or gaining wealth for herself.
- Neta Jackon’s “Fences” is an extended metaphor about taking down fences and building bridges between people.
- Athol Dickson’s “The Coward” uses the story of a boy whose love for his grandfather overcomes his fear of heights to illustrate the Scriptural idea that “Perfect love drives out fear” (1Jn 4:18).
- Terri Blackstock’s “The Blue Convertible” puts a face on a criminal and through the eyes of a young girl helps the reader to identify with a prisoner.
- Patricia Hickman’s “Diary of a Farmer’s Wife” is an allegory that shows how the bride of Christ often acts like a woman who lives her life selfishly and throws away the most precious treasure of all.
- Randy Alcorn’s “Brothers” in true Alcorn style demonstrates the importance of living for eternity and heaven, in a situation between two detached brothers whose father dies.
- Judith McCoy-Miller’s “In The Matter of Grace” portrays a widow who learns to deal with grief and see her blessings.
These stories are probably the highlights of the collection. They may be fiction, but the spiritual values and truths that they underline are very real. Skip Volume 1 (aside from three gems which it does have) and go straight to Volume 2 – there’s lots of stories here that will inspire and entertain you with a short bite-sized and spiritually nourishing read!
January 9, 2022
Some of these stories were so well written and engaging and really satisfying. Then others were heavy-handed moral lessons that were painful to read!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews