What if you could see things no one else could?
Meet Oscar, a new kid navigating life in a new town, at a new school, with no friends to lean on. Just as he's decided to shuffle his way through freshman year and settle for lonely lunches on the football bleachers, something extraordinary happens―Oscar begins to see glowing orbs that no one else can see. Confused and curious, he soon discovers he's not the only one at his school with a mysterious power.
Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs launches The Sensate Saga, a middle-grade adventure brimming with courage, curiosity, and faith—perfect for fans of The Wingfeather Saga and The Sherlock Society.
Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs launches The Sensate Saga, a middle-grade adventure brimming with courage, curiosity, and faith—perfect for fans of The Wingfeather Saga and The Sherlock Society.
Purchase Link: IVP Press.
Book Excerpt:
Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs
Excerpt ch. 1, “Oscar Climbs the Steepest Steps”
Oscar Owens stood in the morning sun staring down at his Bilbo Baggins T-shirt.
Book Excerpt:
Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs
Excerpt ch. 1, “Oscar Climbs the Steepest Steps”
Oscar Owens stood in the morning sun staring down at his Bilbo Baggins T-shirt.
He had washed it and carefully laid it out the night before because it was, by far, his favorite shirt. But in the light of day, Oscar was suddenly having second thoughts. Is this something a high schooler would wear?
“Hijo!” Amá called from downstairs, “It’s time to go!”
Oscar checked the time and started rooting frantically through his dresser. His heart beat double time as he pulled out shirt after shirt with images of dragons or elves or wizards or enchanted forests. Do I own even a single normal shirt?
While searching, Oscar couldn’t help but relive the argument he’d had with his dad and stepmom during dinner the night before. It turned out their new house was too close to the high school for Oscar to take a bus, so Dad and Amá calmly suggested Oscar just walk.
Usually Oscar tried not to make a huge deal about his legs around his parents, knowing how guilty they still felt about the accident. But this crossed a line. Do the Oscar Shuffle all the way through downtown while kids in buses and cars stare at the new freak in town? No way! Oscar’s voice had cracked in that embarrassing new way as he tried to get them to see how unfair they were being.
Eventually Amá agreed to drop Oscar off on the first day. But after that? She was unbending, “Oscar, you’re a high schooler now. It’s time to act like it.”
Oscar couldn’t believe her words, or Dad’s firm agreement. So. Unfair.
And now his stepmom was yelling from downstairs because he was going to be late. Since the accident four years ago, Oscar had found that nothing was worse than shuffling into a classroom with everyone already seated, all eyes watching you make your way to your desk. So he quickly threw on trusty Bilbo, ran a comb through his stubborn brown hair, and took a last look at himself in the mirror.
Oscar felt average in size and looks. Nothing too special about him, he thought.
Oscar glanced down at the reflection of Bilbo in the mirror and the backward reflection of the quote that had made him smile when he first saw the shirt: “I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.”
Oscar wasn’t sure he felt the same.
“Vamos!” Amá’s voice had a ring of urgency to it.
“Ya voy!” Oscar said to the open door and then looked back into his own eyes in the mirror. Okay then, Oscar. And with that he grabbed the faded gray JanSport he’d been using since sixth grade and shuffled downstairs.
In the end, the drive only took two minutes.
The short trip made Oscar feel silly for insisting on the ride and made his stomach start to churn like an off-balance washing machine.
Amá pulled up to the curb and put the white station wagon into park. Oscar just sat there staring at the front steps while a group of loud kids streamed around their car toward the imposing redbrick building.
Eventually Amá spoke softly. “Te amo, Hijo.”
Oscar didn’t dare turn to respond. Finally he opened the door and shot a gruff “See ya tonight” over his shoulder. It came out rougher than he intended, but he couldn’t worry about Amá’s feelings right now.
He shut the door and slowly shuffled away from the car toward the unfamiliar redbrick steps. He stopped and glared up at the imposing front door he’d been dreading. “Centerville High School” it read above the door. Sounded innocent enough. But for some reason Oscar was reminded of the door he’d read about in Coraline, a seemingly ordinary door that wound up leading to a dangerous place.
Oscar shook away the thought and started up.
The steps felt annoyingly steep to Oscar, almost unnaturally steep. As he climbed up each step, slower than all the strangers around him, Oscar grumped his way, for the hundredth time, through a set of well-worn questions.
Why did Dad and Amá have to get new jobs?
Why did they drag Oscar away from everything he’d ever known?
And why in the world did they move into an old house that was possibly haunted?
Oscar paused on the top step, considering the open door in front of him, a scary threshold he wasn’t sure he was ready to cross.
Taken from Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs by Don Everts. Copyright (c) 2026 by Donald Dean Everts II. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com
Book Endorsements:
"Thanks to a compelling blend of contemporary social commentary and urban fantasy, Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs is an engaging, ultimately uplifting read about finding your voice, accepting your flaws, and realizing that your greatest weakness can become your greatest strength—an ideal read for anyone who enjoys character-driven narratives, secret-society tropes, and stories that use the fantastical to explore real-world issues of identity, courage, and social justice." —The Children's Book Review
"This cozy story weaves Christian themes of faith and friendship into a slow-burn mystery with spots of humor and drama. Everts develops the large, racially diverse cast of characters through strong dialogue that propels the plot." ― Kirkus Reviews
About the Author:
Don Everts is the senior pastor at First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Missouri, and has been serving in ministry for over thirty years—on campus with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and in the local church with the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. He is also an award-winning author who has published over twenty books including Jesus with Dirty Feet, I Once Was Lost, and The Spiritually Vibrant Home. An avid reader, frequenter of rocking chairs, and amateur chicken farmer, Don and his wife, Wendy, have three adult children and live in a home solidly built in 1887.
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