Best Selling Books by Dave Jackson

The second Trailblazers collection presents missionary to India Amy Carmichael as well as missionary to China Hudson Taylor, Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, Gospel Recordings founder Joy Ridderhof, and Peruvian pastor Rómulo Sauñe.

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 ...

Was no one there to care or to help?

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.

In "Sinking the Dayspring", 14-year-old Kevin Gilmore is stranded on an island of cannibals when the ship is damaged.

Twelve-year-old Alastair, a son of Christian missionaries on the Philippine Islasnd of Palawan, finds a way for Joy Ridderhof to record the gospels in the native language.

When those strange Salvation Army people approach them on the street, should Jack and Amy run away? Can the General and Catherine Booth be trusted?

Jova''s search leads him all the way to America. There, he is at last reunited with the missing prince, now known as Samuel Morris. Inspired by Samuel''s faith, Jova returns to Africa with news of a new, even greater Prince for his people.

When he is taken aboard a ship bound for China, twelve-year-old Neil Thompson is befriended by Hudson Taylor and shares adventures with him during the voyage and in China, where Taylor sets up a mission.

Godon McLean tells how gang members have been changed through the truths of Jesus Christ and the impact of Christ''s love. From the rough barrios of L.A. to the war zone of Chicago''s West Side, McLean carried God''s message to whoever would listen.

In 1660, after his father is imprisoned in the Tower of London, Richard Winslow goes to stay with his uncle who is in charge of the Bedford jail and there meets and is helped by the Puritan preacher John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim''s Progress.

Thrilling adventure stories introducing young readers (ages 8-12) to Christian heroes of the past. Jerry Newman doesn''t mean to keep getting into trouble -- it just sort of happens. But when a practical joke goes wrong, burning down a church in his small east Texas town, Jerry''s widowed mother quickly sends him to live with his journalist uncle in Los Angeles. Jerry is secretly pleased -- not only to avoid being punished for his crime but also to live in California...the end of the earth! On the night before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Jerry and his uncle go to investigate a popular warehouse church in Los Angeles. There, they hear a man predict the coming quake. But Jerry is even more impressed by the powerful preacher, William Seymour, and by the hundreds of blacks and whites worshipping and praying together in strange "tongues". Jerry wants to believe Seymour''s message, but will he do so when it means confessing his dangerous secret?

Stories with accompanying Scripture quotations and discussion questions suggest ways to deal with anger over unfair punishment, conflict with a bully, and damage done by a young sibling.

Trailblazer Books makes history exciting and relevant for both boys and girls. Mehdi Ksara, a Muslim boy in Morocco, collects items he finds among the foreigners living in his village. He knows he risks his parents'' wrath by treasuring the pictures of Jesus given to him by missionary Maude Cary. Will the missionary''s God save Mehdi when his pictures are discovered?

With God''s love, Curly, a young nineteenth-century English boy convicted of armed robbery, reforms his ways after being sent to one of George Müller''s orphan homes.

MASK OF THE WOLF BOY, Introducing Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth -- In the Chinese city of Changte, Chou Fu-lin is known simply as "Wolf Boy." Plagued by recurring nightmares of a childhood accident, Fu-lin hides more than his face behind his carefully tied bandana. Still, he enjoys his job as a house servant for Canadian missionaries Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth, and has recently become a Christian himself, joining their growing church. The Wolf Boy''s faith is soon put to the test with the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Goforths are forced to flee the country, and Fu-lin gladly goes with them. But as the refugee Christians are greeted with ever louder and more violent protests, Fu-lin is sorely tempted to hide his faith and disappear into the crowd. Will Chou Fu-lin have the courage to face his greatest fears and finally expose the truth? Who will be revealed when the Wolf Boy removes his mask?

Thirteen-year-old Drea learns a lesson about responsibility when she''s forced to cancel her exciting weekend plans to babysit for Rebecca and Matt.

FLIGHT OF THE FUGITIVES Introducing Gladys Aylward Six-year-old Mei-en screamed in terror when she realized her gypsy owner was about to sell her to a foreign lady. Times were hard in the mountainous region of China in 1934, and orphans were often sold for pennies. But foreigners in China were considered "devils," and Mei-en thought surely the little woman in Chinese clothes would eat her for supper! But this time Mei-en''s new owner was the compassionate and respected missionary, Gladys Aylward. One day outside her new home, Mei-en saw wonderful silver "birds" flying in the sky-but her delight turned to dread when they began dropping bombs that exploded all over the city. Suddenly their lives, and those of nearly a hundred orphan children, were in terrible danger! With the enemy in hot pursuit, their only escape is over the mountains!

THE THIEVES OF TYBURN SQUARE, Introducing Elizabeth Fry -- Betsey and Loren Maxwell are on their own in early nineteenth-century England after their mother is deported to New South Wales for stealing two silver candlesticks. Faced with few options, the young Maxwells are forced to live and work in a gloomy London workhouse. Betsey and her brother have a terrible time enduring the harsh treatment and strict rules of the workhouse overseers. Then Loren sees an opportunity to escape, and the pair soon find themselves back on the dangerous streets of London-with only a stolen pouch of money to support them. Their new life takes a disastrous turn when Betsey and Loren are jailed for pickpocketing in Tyburn Square. Betsey is terrified that she''ll never see her brother or mother again, but a visit from a kind Quaker woman named Elizabeth Fry gives her courage. Can this compassionate prison reformer save Betsey and her brother from the gallows in Tyburn Square? Alone and in prison with no one to turn to . . .

THE BETRAYER''S FORTUNE Introducing Menno Simons Adriaen Wens was frightened-for his own life and for his mother''s. In 1543, many Christians in northeastern Europe were suffering cruel persecution, even execution, for following the beliefs of Menno Simons, the leader of a group called the Anabaptists. When Adriaen''s mother was arrested, he had to flee during the night with Menno, knowing that to stay in the city would mean his own arrest. Soon after, Adriaen discovered there was a reward of a hundred gold pieces for the capture of Menno Simons. With so much gold, Adriaen could free his mother and rescue his family from the city! But could he turn in the underground church leader, even if it meant the man''s execution? If Adriaen betrays the leader, his family will go free!

THE RUNAWAY''S REVENGE, Introducing John Newton -- Thirteen-year-old slave Hamilton Jones seizes his freedom when his cruel master dies on a trip to England in 1775. Driven by a desire for revenge after years of mistreatment, the boy hunts down former slave trader John Newton-the man responsible for bringing Hamilton''s mother to the United States. Hamilton wants only one thing: to make the man pay with his life for his evil crime! But the John Newton that Hamilton meets is nothing like the horrible person he imagined. Instead of reacting with fear when threatened with death, the little man seems calm and unafraid. Newton even agrees he deserves to die-and claims to be something worse than a slave trader! Astonished, Hamilton stays to listen to the preacher''s story. What could be worse than being a slave trader? Hamilton sees his chance for revenge . . . but will he go thorough with it?

When Annabelle Fortune, the fastest gunslinger in the wild west, inadvertently stops a stranger from attacking a train - and he wears a suit that enables him to fly! - the government believes she''s the only one to have witnessed the Locomotive Reaper and survived to tell the tale. Promising to find out what he can about her missing father, the Director of the Secret Service persuades Annie to swear in. Too soon, her detested nickname re-stakes its claim. Partnered with Beau Slokam, whose penchant for gambling leads them straight to the Doom Gang, Misfortune Annie guides the smooth-talking Southerner in a chase through the Rockies, with her Cheyenne friend, Wontoa, rounding out their unlikely trio. When Annie again meets the Locomotive Reaper, his gadgetry proves far more advanced - and deadly - than even top scientists could have imagined.

His friendship with Peter Cartwright, a Methodist circuit-rider evangelist, enables thirteen-year-old Gil to pursue his dream of locating his mother who was kidnapped by the Sauk Indians during the War of 1812.