Books with author Annie Fellows- Johnston

Joel is a book written about a young crippled boy living in the time of Jesus Ministry. Joel a Levite is full of hate for the boy who made him a cripple and shattered his dreams of becoming a priest. A kind carpenter and his family bring back some hope to Joel's life, but he is still bitter. One day, Joel meets Jesus, a man who can heal him . . but it comes with a choice. Will Joel choose what is right? This book does a great job of illustrating Jewish culture around the time of Jesus Ministry.

Excerpted so that the other children came running back to me. When he saw them coming, he gave me a great push that sent me rolling over a rocky bank. It was not very high, but there were sharp stones below."They thought I was dead when they picked me up. It was months before I could walk at all; and I can never be any better than I am now. Just as my father was about to take me back to Jerusalem, he took a sudden fever, and died. So I was left, a poor helpless burden for my aunt to take care of. It has been six years since then."Joel threw himself full length on the grass, and scowled up at the sky."Where is that boy that hurt you," asked Jesse."Rehum?" questioned Joel. "I wish I knew," he muttered fiercely. "Oh, how I hate him! I can never be a priest as my father intended. I can never serve in the beautiful temple with the white pillars and golden gates. I can never be like other people, but must drag along, deformed and full of pain as long as I live. And it's all his fault!

Annie Fellows Johnston (1863–1931) was an American author of children's fiction who wrote the popular "Little Colonel" series, which was the basis for the 1935 Shirley Temple film The Little Colonel. She was born and grew up in McCutchanville, Indiana, a small unincorporated town near Evansville, Indiana.Excerpt:"Blackberries! blackberries!" called a shrill little voice on the platform. A barefoot girl, wearing a sunbonnet, passed under the car windows, holding up a basket full, that shone like great black beads. A gentleman who had just helped two ladies to alight from the stepsof a parlor car called to her and began to fumble in his pockets for the right change.