Janet Heimlich's book, "Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment" is a deeply researched, devastatingly accurate portrayal of the abuse happening to children living inside authoritarian religious environments.

It's a difficult book to read because it reveals the underlying beliefs to which many Christians adhere (ie. that breaking a child's will is necessary for discipline and that humans are inherently evil) and how these beliefs often motivate and justify harmful methods of discipline.

I read this book cover-to-cover and kept shouting YES! YES! while highlighting almost every other paragraph. Ultimately, it's a book that exposes the harmful effects of "Biblical Child-Training" like the methods espoused by Mike & Debi Pearl (among many others) and offers analysis on how parents can identify whether they are raising their children in a harmful religious environment.

Even if you're unfamiliar with harmful religious environments, this book is a must-read for ANYONE working with children. It will educate, inform and help people understand how to help children who are silently crying out for help.

I had the privilege of speaking with Janet personally and she was compassionate, intelligent and knowledgeable. For more information on the important work she is doing, please browse through the Religious Child Maltreatment website, follow Janet on Twitter and Facebook.

"The Queen and the Cats" by Calee Lee is a story for children about St. Helena. This lovely, illustrated book brings to life the true story of how St. Helena--a Queen!--brought cats to the island of Cyprus to kill off an infestation of snakes in the church. "The Queen and the Cats" is available for Nook, Kindle or on Amazon.

"If Protestantism is True" by Devin Rose is a thorough and gracious examination of Catholic apologetics. It's the last book of apologetics I'll be reading for awhile simply because it's so exhaustive. It answers every single Protestant argument I'd ever had against the Catholic Church. I've spent the last four years researching and reading my way into the Catholic Church and if this book had been available back then, I could have saved myself a lot of heart-ache (not to mention eye-strain!).  I would highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand the claims of the Catholic Church--especially if you come from a Protestant background.

Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of these books. A favorable review was not required and I was not compensated for my reviews. All opinions are my own.