In Everything Give Thanks

This winner of the annual Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild is long on nostalgia but a bit creaky around the edges. It's 1963, and 15-year-old Matthew Collins is grieving the loss of his father, who recently died in a drunk driving accident (a cliche that continues to plague Christian novels). Matt's small town world of Bethel is further complicated when Wade Hampton Scott, a 17-year-old with cerebral palsy, moves in next door and declares Matt to be his best friend. Racial prejudice, suspected adultery, and small-town politics both in and out of church threaten the stability of the small town. Matt grapples with peer pressure, bitterness, loss of faith, and his own coming of age as he logs long distance mileage for the sheer joy of running. Preachiness creeps in, and Barnes sometimes tells instead of shows. Stiffness pops up in dialogue and descriptions (""a flowerbed surrounded the house and there were also many rosebushes...A large sugar maple dominated the front yard, and there were other trees too.""). The end is a foregone conclusion. Runners, however, will identify with Matt's passion, and faith readers of a certain age will relish reliving the early 1960s, when soda pop was still a treat and everyone turned out for a small-town parade.