Posts by Janie Cheaney
Soldier Bear
Soldier Bear, by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman. Translated by Laura Watkinson. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2011, 145 pages. Age/interest level: 9-12 World War II started when the Germans and the Russians went into Poland, the Germans from the left and the Russians from the right. They stopped exactly in the middle, where they…
Read MoreBible Reading Challenge, Week 8
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Read MoreCountdown by Deborah Wiles
Countdown (the Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah wiles. Scholastic, 2010, 377 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages 10-12) and up Bottom Line: Countdown takes middle-grade readers back to the Cuban missile crisis, as 11-year-old Franny Chapman deals with the fear of events spinning out of control. To Franny Chapman, whose father…
Read MoreThe Apothecary by Maile Meloy
The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy. Putnam/Penguin, 2011, 353 pages. Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-15 Maturity Level: 5 (ages 12-14) Bottom Line: The Apothecary is a Cold-War-era thriller for the upper-middle grade/YA age, with a supernatural angle that stretches credulity. Janie Scott, age 14, has just moved to London with her parents, TV writers who…
Read MoreBetween Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys. Penguin/Philomel, 2011, 338 pages. Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-15 Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15-18) and up June 14, 1941, Kaunas, Lithuania: They took me in my nightgown. Fifteen-year-old Lina had no preparation for what would happen that night, but looking back, it added up: her parents had…
Read MoreBreaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin
Breaking Stalin’s Nose, written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. Henry Holt & Company: 2011, 154 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 5 (ages 12-14) and up Sasha Zaichik, age 10, is writing a gushy letter to Comrade Stalin when the story opens. His naiveté should be charming but very soon it turns…
Read MoreHeart and Soul
Heart and Soul: the story of America and African Americans, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. HarperCollins, 2011, 108 pages (including bibliography, index, and chronology). Age/interest level: 10-up. This year’s winner of the Coretta Scott King Award (for excellence in children’s literature that reflects the African-American experience), is mostly a treasure. Spanning the history of…
Read MoreNo Place Like Norvelt
Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos, FSG, 2011, 341 pages. Age/interest level: 10-13. (2012 Newbery Medal winner) Norvelt, PA, 1962: a depression-era-town that’s slowly dying, along with its many elderly residents. Jack Gantos is one of the few kids—enough to fill a baseball roster—but at the beginning of the summer it looks like he…
Read MoreBible Reading Challenge, Week 6
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Read MoreDickens Resource Roundup: Web and Video
On the web Even without a Dickens bicentennial to ramp them up, there are lots of Dickens sites, containing links to other sites containing links to lesson plans, online biographies, historical and social background material. Who has time to comb through them all? Not me—but here are some of the more fun and helpful sources…
Read MoreA Roundup of Dickens Resources: Books
My first exposure to Charles Dickens was the original Classics Illustrated edition of A Tale of Two Cities. The last panel of Sidney Carton climbing the steps to the guillotine (“It is a far, far better thing I do now . . .”) is burned into my memory. So I’m perfectly fine with graphic-novel versions…
Read MoreThe Best of Toms
We’re kicking off Dickens week with a fun excursion into the heart of Victorian London. Be sure and enter our Dickens trivia contest for a chance to win your own copy! The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, drawings by Barry Moser. Peachtree: 2011, 228 pages. …
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Mr. Dickens!
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, which makes this coming Tuesday his bicentennial. They’ve been making a big deal of it for some time in the U.K., no surprise (here’s the Bicentennial Website), but we like him over here, too. Charles Dickens was one of the most successful authors who ever lived, both…
Read MoreDon’t Try This At Home?
So, last Friday the whole boys-and-reading subject came up, and why boys seem to prefer non-fiction. I think this generally true, though there are plenty of exceptions, and boys will read fiction if it includes fires and explosions. (Just kidding.) I think there are a number of reasons for the nonfiction preference, and they apply…
Read MoreOscar Night for Librarians
Actually, it’s not at night, but first thing in the morning. And there are no backless evening gowns or acceptance speeches (those come later). But school and public librarians who were unable to attend the ALA’s midwinter conference, held this year in Dallas, tuned in as breathlessly as any movie-lover to the live webcast of…
Read MoreJust the Facts, Mom
Everybody likes stories. But a significant number of bodies prefer their stories to be true, or at least factual. I’ve long heard it rumored among librarians and classroom teachers that if boys have to read, they’re often more likely to reach for a non-fiction book than a novel. It’s an inclination that persists into adulthood,…
Read MoreRaising Readers: An Interview with Alan Jacobs
Alan Jacobs is Professor of Literature at Wheaton College, where he went to teach for two semesters and stayed for 28 years. Teaching is his joy, and writing is his particular gift, and God has placed him where he can speak to both the Christian and the secular academic world (see this interview with PBS,…
Read MorePleasures and Distractions
The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, by Alan Jacobs. Oxford University Press, 2011, 150 pages. Age/interest: adult. Heads-up: Watch for our interview with Alan Jacobs on Tuesday! Somewhere on my shelves is a loosely-bound copy of How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler. It seemed a good idea at the time:…
Read More*Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck
*Secrets at Sea, by Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Dial, 2011, 239 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-10 and up Bottom Line: In Secrets at Sea, a quartet of mouse siblings set out for the adventure of their lives: a fantasy saga that’s fun and literate and even profound…
Read MoreTollbooth and Its Imitators
Last August saw the 50th anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth—has it been that long already? We’re a little late but wanted to observe the occasion with a double review. Tollbooth is a classic of its kind: a “puzzle” story, where structure and characters contribute to the puzzle and can be used to illustrate mathematical or…
Read MoreOur 2012 Bible Reading Challenge: an Introduction
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Read MoreA Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole
A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home by Henry Cole. HarperCollins, 2010, 336 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-10 and up Celeste lives in the wall of a Louisiana plantation house, where she weaves baskets of grass and any other material at hand—lately…
Read MoreWhat’s Lefse?
The Invention of Lefse: a Christmas Story, by Larry Woiwode. Crossway, 2011, 63 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. “Lefse? What’s lefse?” is the epigraph at the beginning of Larry Woiwode’s latest story. That was my question, too: Is it a machine? a person? an idea? No (as some readers will already know)—it’s something more…
Read MoreWar Horse
War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo. Scholastic, 2011 (originally published 1982), 192 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. Michael Morpurgo was already established in the UK as a poet, playwright, and children’s writer when he and his wife began a hands-on charity called Farms for City Children. This was a program that took poor children from…
Read MorePOW! The Comic-Book Surge
The December 21 opening of The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn, should focus attention not only on the boy from Belgium but also on the graphic arts medium. That’s why I’m using this opportunity to introduce Kingstone Media group—but first, a little detour around Tintin. It’s a funny name for a…
Read MoreHearing “The Voice”
The Voice Bible proposes to do something new: present God’s word narratively rather than propositionally. That may be an overstatement, as the Bible is propositional as well as narrative—that is, it makes statements of truth (also as poetic expressions, laments, songs, psychological evaluation, moral judgments, and rousing exhortations) while it tells a story. But story…
Read MoreRecommendations for Teens
As reported by the L.A. Times only a week ago, “Young adult continues to be the literary world’s fastest-growing genre.” There are a lot of reasons for that, some discussed here, but one big reason is that, after fifty or so years of pretentious, plotless literary fiction, adults are lining up for good stories. At…
Read MoreBooks for Emerging Book-Lovers
Picture books are traditional, and YA is new and glamorous, but the area of literature I consider to be “classic children’s” is that big glorious milestone middle—the golden years between, say, eight and twelve, when you were old enough to hop on your bike and seek adventure in the neighboring woods and vacant lots, when…
Read MoreThoughts on A Christmas Carol: Reading and Watching
Charles Dickens, unlike other great authors like Herman Melville, had the good fortune of enjoying widespread fame and popularity during his lifetime. A Christmas Carol appeared on the upswing of his fame, written in six weeks during the autumn of 1843 and published that same year, on December 17. It was an instant classic, not…
Read MorePicture Book Roundup
Late last year an article in the New York Times caused the book world to shiver and shake and ask itself, “Is the picture book dead?” The death of various entities has been proclaimed fairly often but reports are usually exaggerated–the picture book seems to be getting by just fine off life support. They’re more…
Read MoreA More Excellent Way
On Friday we looked at some very popular picture books that you just might find under your tree. Some of them are better than others, but in the spirit of I Cor. 12:31 I’d like to suggest a more excellent way to get the Christmas message across with picture books. So allow me to roll…
Read MoreThanks Anyway . . .
Any bookstore manager can tell you that one of the most reliable customer types is the older woman with no children in the household (either never had them, or they’re grown) shopping for a children’s book. I’m a grandma buyer myself and don’t want to misrepresent the breed, but I have a fairly experienced view…
Read MoreHe’s Coming!
In the fundamentalist church where I grew up, we never did advent. I never even understood what the word meant until well into my twenties, when we began to visit other churches. The practice of advent, whether in family devotions or in church, can grow as stale and rote as any other, but it’s something…
Read MoreMillion-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
Million-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica. Penguin, 2009, 244 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Mike Lupika’s young hero in Million-Dollar Throw endures a pressure cooker of emotion and competition but comes out stronger for it. If recent scandals have taught us anything, it’s that when football (or any…
Read MoreThrough My Eyes by Tim Tebow
Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow and Nathan Whitaker. Harper, 2011, 272 pps. Ages 9 and up. Review by Emily Whitten. Tim Tebow is one of the biggest names in football these days, and one of the most divisive. Unlike many media darlings, the fame he enjoys (or doesn’t) is based in some part to…
Read MoreHome-Field Advantage by Justin Tuck
Home Field Advantage by Justin Tuck, illustrated by Leonardo Rodriguiez. Simon & Shuster, 2011, 22 pages. Reading Level: Picture book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 4-6 Bottom Line: NFL star Justin Tuck tells a humorous story from his childhood that underscores the value of family. Justin Tuck sounds like a good guy. He and his…
Read MoreWays to Be Grateful
I’m sitting in an upstairs bedroom as the smell of pumpkin pie wafts up the stairwell. Tomorrow the family will arrive, starting around noon: not just relatives, but friends and tag-alongs and people I’ve never met before who will be family for one day. Thanksgiving unites us like no other holiday. No matter what one’s…
Read MoreWhat’s on the Menu? Literary Cookbooks!
Food occupies our minds a lot this time of year—to gather around, to give away, to serve to strangers at the Salvation Army, to stuff into ourselves at the Thanksgiving table. What better time to round up a selection of cookbooks inspired by children’s classics—good for reading and munching. Fairy Tale Feasts: a Literary Cookbook…
Read MoreThankful for Cheryl Harness
The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish, by Cheryl Harness. National Geographic, 2006, 143 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. Thanksgiving means a raid on the supply cabinet to find those orange and brown streamers, fat turkeys and apple-cheeked pilgrim boys and girls to staple to the bulletin board. But who were the pilgrims, really? As…
Read MoreThose Who Served–And Serve
Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that sneak up on me. I intend to write a note to a veteran, wear red, pray a special prayer . . . and usually don’t. This year is no exception; otherwise I would have prepared this post a week ago to give any interested parents and teachers…
Read MoreSalem’s curse
Wicked Girls, by Stephanie Hemphill. HarperCollins, 2010, 389 pages. Young Adult Father of Lies, by Ann Turner. HarperTeen, 2011, 326 pages. Young Adult There are a lot of reasons why the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 continue to attract attention. It’s a story that feeds into a lot of current political and sociological trends: feminism,…
Read MoreThe Pilgrim’s Progress, Part 4: Home At Last
If you’re just joining us, here’s the Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. For the Project Gutenberg online version, go here. The worst is over—in a way. In another sense, Christian’s greatest trial is still ahead, but for awhile longer he will be plodding along with Hopeful, encountering other travelers and engaging in…
Read MoreThe Story Behind the Confessions
Faithfulness Under Fire: The Story of Guido de Bres (2010) and The Quest for Comfort: The Story of the Heidelberg Catechism (2011), by William Boekestein. Reformation Heritage Books, 28 pp. Age/interest level: 10-14. Ten years ago, I was not very clear on what Reformed churches call the “Three Forms of Unity.” I may have read…
Read MoreThe Pilgrim’s Progress, Part 3: Dangerous Detours
Introduction Part One Part Two (The online text we’re using is located at Project Gutenberg, here.) Vanity Fair After leaving Talkative behind, Christian and Faithful notice Evangelist catching up to them. Even though he’s going in the same direction, he has probably lingered to encourage and instruct other pilgrims on the way. His speech is…
Read MoreHall of Heroes
Reformation Heroes, by Diana Kleyn with Joel R. Beeke. Reformation Heritage Books, 2009, 250 pages. Age/interest level: 11-up. October 31, 2017 (only six years from now) will be the 500th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, sparking the Protestant Reformation. It’s impossible to over-emphasize the importance…
Read MoreThe Pilgrim’s Progress 2: Salvation Highway
Introduction Part One Slackers and Interlopers Right away, Christian learns that salvation is not for sissies! The sleeping men have for various reasons failed to take the faith seriously: can anyone relate? I must guard myself against presumption, or assuming that just because I’ve said or done certain things I don’t have to be on…
Read MoreHow to Be Good
Saint Training, by Elizabeth Fixmer. Zondervan, 2010, 233 pages. Age/interest level, 10-14. Mary Claire, sixth grader at St. Maria Goretti School in Wisconsin, has lofty ambitions: she’s determined to become a saint. But, as they say, “God has other ideas.” From early spring to the fall of 1967, Mary Claire’s life becomes a little case…
Read MorePilgrim’s Progress: From the City of Destruction to the Cross
This is Part One of our read along of The Prilgrim’s Progress for high school age and up. Here’s the Introduction. The City of Destruction Something about Bunyan’s day that is very different from ours: everybody was a “Christian,” and almost everybody went to church. That’s why the Pilgrim’s dilemma is so hard for his…
Read MoreThe Pilgrim’s Progress: Introduction
John Bunyan was a dissenting pastor of the mid-17th century: “dissenting” meaning that some of his biblical interpretations differed from those of the established (state-supported) Church of England. His views were not so different that they were something other than Christianity; he was most definitely a Christian. Where he differed from the established church was…
Read MoreAutism: Fiction and Fact
Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X Stork. Scholastic, 2009, 312 pages. Age/interest level: 14-up. Dancing With Max, by Emily Colson. Zondervan, 2010, 200 pages. Age/interest level: 18-up. How do I describe it? It is like listening to very loud music with headphones. Only the music seems to be coming from inside the brain.…
Read MoreLiving With Autism
Nobody knows yet exactly what causes it, or why it occurs more in certain income levels, or even quite what defines it, but autism becomes more of an issue with each passing year. It may be in your family or church or neighborhood, and your children have questions. Two well-received novels and one picture book…
Read MoreThe Use and Abuse of Youth Literature
Using YA literature as therapy is a road marked with pitfalls.
Read MoreWhat Gets a Book “Banned”?
In my post on Tuesday, I included a brief survey of the ALA’s “Top Ten Banned Books for 2010.” Let’s take a closer look at that list, just to see what kinds of books are “banned” and what might be the problem with them. Counting up from the bottom, they are 10. Twilight, by Stephanie…
Read MoreInterview With Meghan Cox Gurdon
Early last June, the YA publishing world was rocked by a column in the Wall Street Journal by Meg Cox Gurdon, who reviews children’s books for the paper. Titled “Darkness Too Visible,” the short piece related the experience of Amy Freeman, mother of three, who visited the local Barnes & Noble to buy a book…
Read MoreBanned Books Week: Live It, Love It, Get the T-Shirt!
Back in 1984, that fateful year when we first decided to teach our kids at home, very little curriculum was available—strange as it may seem to those moms and dads who wander the apparently endless curriculum halls of homeschooling conventions today. You can pore over catalogues and websites until your eyes glaze over, and still…
Read MoreLord of Light
They had guessed before that this was an island: clambering among the pink rocks, with the sea on either side, and the crystal heights of air, they had known by some instinct that the sea lay on every side. But there seemed something more fitting in leaving the last word until they stood on the…
Read MoreThe Meaning of Life
Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley. Atheneum, 2011, 240 pages. Age-interest level: 16-up. UPDATE: Where Things Come Back has won a gold medal from the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards in two categories: the Prinz award for excellence in youth literature, and the Morris Award for best novel by a first-time…
Read MoreThe Strange Condition Called Middle School
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger. Abrams, 2010, 141 pages. Age/interest level: 9-12. Sixth grade is the witching time for authors of middle-grade (mg) novels. That’s because twelve is the magic age, for both sexes: a turning-point year. Girls are not quite out of the pink-bedspread and silky-pony stage, but are thinking…
Read MorePicturing God
Images of God for Young Children, by Marie-Helene Delval (illustrated by Barbara Nascimbeni) Eerdmans, 2011. Brother Sun, Sister Moon, by Katherine Paterson, illustrated by Pamela Dalton. Chronicle, 2011. At this distance, thousands of years from the old Canaanite religions and the Nile deities, it’s hard to appreciate the radical nature of the Second Commandment for…
Read MoreBrixton Brothers: Ace Detective
The Brixton Brothers, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex, published by Simon & Schuster. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (2009), 179 pages. The Ghostwriter Secret (2010), 226 pages. Age/interest level: 9-13. Steve Brixton’s #1 favorite book is whichever Bailey Brothers detective novel he happens to be reading, and his #1 ambition is…
Read MoreOne More Movie Post: The Lightning Thief
In our continuing tradition of slopping over themes to the following week, I wanted to weigh in one more time on our book/movie emphasis. Partly because John Kwasny’s excellent post from last Monday inspired me to click on over to Netflix and queue up a few DVDs I’d been intending to watch. What came first…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 4: Denouement
For earlier posts, start with the Introduction. Denouement is not a common word in everyday conversation, so for a long time I didn’t know how to pronounce it. It’s day-noo-MAHN (go easy on the final n). It’s the resolution, or (according to my dictionary), “the events following the climax of a drama or novel in…
Read MoreThe Abolition of Man, Part Three
Part One. Part Two. In the second essay of The Abolition of Man, “The Way,” Lewis showed that humanity seemed to have only one code of ethics, one set of standards for determining what’s good. Though it goes by many names, western tradition calls it Natural Law. Lewis tagged it the Tao, as a way of…
Read MoreHomelanders Series by Andrew Klavan
Homelanders, by Andrew Klavan. Published by Thomas Nelson in four parts: The Last Thing I Remember (2009), The Long Way Home (2010), The Truth of the Matter (2010), and The Final Hour (2011). Age/interest level: 12-up. “Suddenly I woke up strapped to a chair.” If that’s not an opening sentence calculated to get a teenager…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 3: Climax
Previous posts: Introduction, Part One: Setup, Part Two: Development. Climax? Isn’t it a little early for that? Most of us have the idea that the climax is a high point of the story (as the word would seem to suggest), after which nothing is left but tying up loose ends. But there’s another way to…
Read MoreThe Abolition of Man, Part Two
This week, widespread rioting in Britain has blanketed the news, along with commentators asking the eternal question, “Why?” Shaking my head over the pictures of well-dressed kids smashing store windows, I turn from the computer screen and pick up my copy of The Abolition of Man to read this, the first sentence in the second…
Read MoreClose to Famous by Joan Bauer
Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer. Viking, 2011, 250 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 11-13 Bottom Line: In this feel-good middle grade novel, 12-year-old Foster gets to realize her dream of baking the world’s best cupcake. Foster McPhee, 12, is an ordinary girl who doesn’t live up to standard expectations but…
Read MoreRules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer. Speak, 2005. 208 pages Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 12-16 Bottom Line: Good-hearted Jenna Boller overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve her dream of becoming the world’s best shoe salesperson. It’s not easy being the tallest girl in the whole school and living with an…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 2: Development
Previous Posts: Introduction Part One: Setup Almost all the main characters have been introduced and the potential conflicts are in place. Now development: that phase of a novel that builds tension and raises the stakes. All the major plot elements will be rounded up and herded in one direction, although the reader should feel that…
Read MoreThe Abolition of Man, Part One
(Beginning a three-part study intended to accompany our reading of That Hideous Strength this month.) In February of 1943 Lewis delivered three evening lectures at King’s College in Newcastle. Later that year the lectures were published in book form under the title of the third: The Abolition of Man. Over time Lewis came to regard…
Read More*The Dragon’s Tooth by N. D. Wilson
*The Dragon’s Tooth (Ashtown Burials, Book One), by N. D. Wilson. Random House, 2011, 482 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 10 and up Bottom Line: N. D. Wilson dives into antiquity to serve up this rich fantasy about a pair of “ordinary” siblings and an ancient fellowship that resembles the…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 1: the Setup
Beginning our first-ever Readalong: here’s the Introduction. The action takes place at three fictional locations: Edgetow, a university town similar to Cambridge, but smaller; St. Anne’s-on-the-Hill, a nearby village; and Belbury, a village in the opposite direction, currently undergoing a process of modernization. Much of it, especially at the beginning, concerns University politics, so it helps…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength: An Introduction
In the summer of 1945, George Orwell wrote a review for the Manchester Evening News, beginning, “On the whole, novels are better when there are no miracles in them.” That said, he was ready to give a grudging thumbs-up to C. S. Lewis’s latest, which completed the cycle begun with Out of the Silent Planet…
Read MoreOn Eagle’s Wings
Book 2 of the epic adventures of the three children who are heirs to a kingdom, sought by the Fangs of Dang, and as normal as any other set of siblings. North! Or Be Eaten, by Andrew Peterson (Vol. 2 of The Wingfeather Saga). Waterbrook Press, 2009, 323 pages. Reading Level: Ages 10 and up Recommended…
Read MoreShakespeare R Us
Dallas, 1970: Storm clouds gather over the Texas prairie, where the students of a small junior college are presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream in an outdoor courtyard. With a student body of only 200, the talent pool is tiny; half the actors have never performed for an audience in their lives. But this play, often…
Read MoreIn Front of God and Everybody by K. D. McCrite
The Confessions of April Grace: In Front of God and Everybody, by K. D. McCrite. Thomas Nelson, 2011, 390 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-12 Bottom Line: The Confessions of April Grace series kicks off with a humorous but far-fetched take on the quandaries of growing up in a small…
Read MoreSmall Town Summers
The Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisaker. Candlewick, 2011, 224 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 Bottom Line: The Luck of the Buttons is a winsome look at small-town life in the 1920s. Goodhue, Iowa, 1929: Tugs (not a nickname) Button may have been unlucky in her name and…
Read MoreGod-Haunted
The death of God has been announced since the beginning of time (see Ps. 14:1), but God doesn’t seem to stay dead–not even with Darwinism and nihilism and existentialism and all the heavy guns of academia trained on Him. Pascal said that there is a longing in each human heart (often stated as the “God-shaped vacuum” that hints of a…
Read MoreOne More For the Road
Around the World in 100 Days, by Gary Blackwood. Dutton, 2010, 358 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Gary Blackwood spins an adventurous yarn about the progeny of Phineas Fogg making his own around-the-world bet. Age 17 is a bit young to be thrown into the holding cell…
Read MoreThe Living Past: An Interview With Cheryl Harness
We end our extended history week with what some consider to be the purest form of history: biography. The old argument of whether great events, great thoughts, or great people make history will always be with us, but there’s no doubt in our subject’s mind what the most important history-making factor is: “People, definitely.” Without…
Read MoreIs Historical Fiction Dead?
Short answer: no, but it’s showing signs of dementia. Historical fiction has one of the longest roots of any literary form. You might say that Homer was a historial novelist (if he didn’t insist on being a poet) because the events he described in the Iliad had some basis in fact—even if the incidents of…
Read MoreCovenanters: Then and Now
Duncan’s War, by Douglas Bond (Crown and Covenant #1). P&R Publishing, 2002. 270 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: Duncan’s War, first in the Crown and Covenant Series, introduces middle-graders to a little-known chapter of Scottish and Reformation history. Duncan M’Kethe, age 14, shepherds his family’s flock…
Read MoreThe Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird
The Betrayal of Maggie Blair, by Elizabeth Laird. Houghton Mifflin, 2011, 420 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, Ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 14 and up Bottom Line: Faith and doubt receive honest examination in this story of a teenage Scottish girl accused of witchcraft during the time of the Covenanters. We meet 17-year-old Maggie Blair…
Read More*Entwined by Heather Dixon
*Entwined, by Heather Dixon. Greenwillow, 2011, 472 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Entwined is a fairy-tale romance for teens that deftly makes profound points about relationships, love and marriage. The royal family of Eathesbury is rich in girls, but not much else. On the night Princess Azalea…
Read MoreEnchanted: Three new fairy tales
Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Bethany House, 2010. Age/interest level: 14-up (first in a series) Princess Una is a romantic sort, indulged by her father and plagued by her little brother. But when the Twelve-Year Market–a collection of bizarre vendors and exotic goods–emerges from Goldstone Wood, something alien enters her heart. Or was it already there? …
Read MoreRebel by R. J. Anderson
Rebel, a story of modern-day fairies for young adults, is equally about faith, grace, and doubt.
Read MoreReflection in a Dragon’s Eye
The main problem with Christian fantasy may be, what do you do with Christ? Honestly: can it be “Christian” without him? But it’s not easy to represent him without tipping the story into dogma, propaganda, or even heresy. His character in the gospel is indelible, and yet elusive; even when he can be located, chronicled, and quoted,…
Read MoreKnights in Training
The Brave Young Knight, by Karen Kingsbury, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard. Zonderkidz, 2011. Age/interest level, 4-7 In the spirit of Will, God’s Mighty Warrior, here’s another picture book for encouraging manly virtue in young boys. The Brave Young Knight (no name) lives in the west village of the kingdom where he enjoys a good reputation. Villagers…
Read MoreJonathan Rogers on Reading and Writing, Boys and Dads
We’re delighted to welcome Jonathan Rogers to our site today, as one of our “writing fathers.” Jonathan is Georgia-born, with an undergraduate degree from Furman University and a PhD in 17th-century English literature from Vanderbilt. Today he calls Nashville home, where he and his wife are raising a “houseful of robustious children.” Last week we…
Read MoreWho’s Your Daddy?
Of all the charges hurled against Christianity in the modern age, one of the most potent is “paternalistic.” Christianity, it’s said, has kept women in the kitchen and society in the dark ages; I recall listening to a radio program long ago in which a caller insisted that the whole point of the faith was…
Read MoreTurn On the Light
At least twice a year, it seems, there’s a controversy blowing up in the Young-Adult book trade. The latest brouhaha began with an article in the Wall Street Journal by Meg Cox Gurdon, entitled “Darkness Too Visible.” Ms. Gurdon, who used to write on culture and parenting issues for National Review and now writes about children’s…
Read More*The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers
*The Charlatan’s Boy, by Jonathan Rogers. WaterBrook Press, 2010, 305 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: The 12-year-old hero The Charlatan’s Boy uses creative vocabulary and evocative swampy setting to walk the thin line between truth and lies. I don’t care who you are–when it comes…
Read MoreProm and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
Prom and Prejudice, by Elizabeth Eulberg. Point (Scholastic), 2011, 227 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: Prom and Prejudice updates Jane Austen’s classic with a slightly sharper edge that enhances some aspects of the original story but blunts others. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that…
Read MoreEnthusiasm by Polly Schulman
Enthusiasm, by Polly Schulman. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006, 198 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 Bottom Line: Enthusiasm, a modern-day takeoff on Pride and Prejudice, is a fun romantic read that bears no relation to reality. There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding…
Read More*The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg
*The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg. Clarion, 2011, 241 pages with author note. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: This mother-daughter adventure, based on a true story, is a vivid picture of a relationship “forged in adversity” as the two attempt to walk across…
Read More*Press Here by Herve Tullet
*Press Here by Herve Tullet. Chronicle Books, 2011. 56 pages. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 0-4 Recommended for: Ages 0-4 and up Those of you who know my mixed feelings about book “apps” may understand why I’m glad to hear about a picture book that’s taking the preschool set by storm. Press Here is the title. …
Read MoreQueen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg
Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg. Houghton Mifflin, 2011, 37 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 9-12 Recommended for: Ages 4-8 On the subject of mature ladies doing extraordinary things, who could top Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor, the first human being to actually go over Niagra Falls in a barrel? No kidding–in 1901,…
Read MoreSex, Cats, and Stereotypes
Just when you thought we’d done a pretty good job of knocking down stereotypes, a new study (those three words have to be among the most irritating in the English language these days) shows that gender disparity is still rampant in children’s books. True, there’s been some progress since the 1990s, with an almost-equal balance…
Read MoreInterview with Dr. Veith: Part Two
Part Two of our Interview with Gene Edward Veith In Part Two of the interview, we’re talking about how to prepare our kids for college–and whether they need to go to college at all! But don’t miss Part One. 3. Sometimes, parents send their children to a Christian college thinking they will escape the most dangerous pitfalls…
Read MoreInterview with Dr. Gene Edward Veith
Gene Edward Veith: Parent + Educator + Writer Many–if not all–of our readers are praying earnestly for their children to lead God-centered, successful lives. Of course, God can work with any sort of material, but we’d like to minimize the hard lessons and wasted time as much as possible. Not just for our kids–for us,…
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