A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant, is the story of thirteen-year-old Pete Cassidy's struggle to find his God. Pete is an only child. His parents love their son but do not share his spirituality and his quest to grow closer to the Lord. There is some tension in the Cassidy household over the disparate views on religion between parents and son. Pete never misses a Sunday church service. His mother goes occasionally and his father never attends. When he confronts his parents about their lack of spirituality, he complains he would like support. He would like them to attend church with him. People in their small North Carolina town, he tells them, surely must think it's strange that they never accompany him.

Walter, Pete's father, lets his son know in no uncertain terms that religion is a personal choice and something that is not to...