Sugar Birds, a genre-crossing novel by Cheryl Bostrom, has received an Award of Merit from Christianity Today, tying with another title in the fiction category for the magazine’s list of top books for 2022.
Related: Mixed Media review: Sugar Birds by Cheryl Bostrom
Bostrom is a member of Sonlight Church, a Christian Reformed congregation in Lynden, Wash. She said she was “thrilled and humbled” by what she sees as the “Lord’s ongoing direction” in the recognition. Christianity Today defined books on the list as “the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.” Bostrom said as she was working on the book, “I felt compelled to write an accessible story where characters grapple with issues rampant in today’s culture: shame, anger, and loss. Where they explore God’s nearness and grace in suffering.
“I pray that readers in both the general market, where the book launched, and in the Christian community will consider those themes and, perhaps, reach conclusions that bless them.”
Sugar Birds was also a winner in three categories (literary fiction, general fiction, and cross genre fiction) in the 2021 American Fiction Awards, sponsored by American Book Fest. In those awards, the book was a finalist in the religious fiction category. The book earned a silver medal in the inspirational fiction category in the 2021 Readers' Favorite award contest.
Sugar Birds is Bostrom’s first work of fiction. Earlier books include 2001’s The View from Goose Ridge, a compilation of devotional essays from her weekly columns on womenoffaith.com, and a parenting book, Children At Promise: 9 Principles to Help Kids Thrive in an At Risk World, co-written in 2003.
About the Author
Alissa Vernon is the news editor for The Banner.