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It’s been 5 years since our last round of Meet the Team. It has been an eventful 5 years, so half a decade later, here is our Christmas 2025 edition. Today we are introducing you to our Community Relations Manager, Hayley Morell. (Answering her own interview questions!)
As we head into the fall/winter season, what is your beverage of choice?
Cold apple cider or hot rooibos tea, depending on my mood! (And for a special treat, mulled wine, made to a medieval recipe my husband Joel has translated.)
Now, are you the kind of reader who likes to snack while you read? Do you have a favorite holiday snack?
I wrote this question because I am a shameless snacker! Around the holidays, we tend to have extra cheese and crackers on hand, and that makes this Wisconsin girl very happy. Following Christmas, I will also gleefully read while eating all my stocking candy!
Looking back over 2025, what are some of your favorite books you read this year?
Oooh, hard question.
- For Picture Book fans: *Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson
- For Boys/practical readers: *Working Boats (apparently there’s a coloring book, too!)
- For History lovers: *The Bletchley Riddle
- For MG girls: I really enjoyed Anna Rose Johnson’s historical fiction, *The Blossoming Summer
- For YA girls, I LOVED Elizabeth Lim’s gorgeous fantasy, *A Forgery of Fate (the story, and the book itself are lovely!)
Do you have a favorite book that someone gave you this year?
Yes! With our first baby arriving, I received so many good books this year. Some were favorites from my childhood, like I am a Bunny (Ole Risom and Richard Scarry) and The Pig in the Pond (Martin Waddel and Jill Barton). But some were new discoveries. My mom gave me a copy of Linda Sue Park’s Bee-bim Bop! and I love it. (Fun fact: I spent 2.5 months in Korea after I graduated from high school, and I love Korean food to this day!)
What new books have you discovered this year that you are looking forward to giving/recommending as gifts?
I think I’d have to revert to my favorite list, above. In particular Don’t Trust Fish has been a hit with our nieces and nephews. (Postscript: we just had our Christmas gathering and my 3-year-old niece let out a happy squeal when she opened her present, exclaiming, “Don’t Trust Fish!” I love that she remembered the title -I last read it to her over Thanksgiving, but it’s memorable!)
Do you have a favorite Advent book or tradition?
As a couple, we’ve acquired two advent books though we haven’t made it through either. This could be the year though! We have Malcolm Guite’s Waiting on the Word, and Janet Morley’s Haphazard by Starlight. Both are a poem a day, and intended for adults, though from what I’ve read they would be suitable for teen readers, too. I recently saw Sarah Arthur’s 2014 work Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. That might be joining my list this year.
As a couple, we have started the tradition of, when Christmas is not on a Sunday, going to a neighboring church’s Christmas morning service. While neither of us came from traditions that had Christmas morning services, we love starting the day with a reminder of what we’re celebrating.
What is your favorite picture book about Christmas? Beyond picture books, favorite Christmas story?
This is hard! But my favorite picture book featuring the Christmas story would be Joyce Dunbar’s This is the Star. Beyond that, my two all-time favorite Christmas stories are The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey and Rumer Godden’s The Story of Holly and Ivy -illustrated by Barbara Cooney.
2025 was a year of changes for our team; what did that look like for you? What are you looking forward to in 2026?
I spent this year laughing that it was the year I got to have both a book baby and a real baby! Working on The Redeemed Reader was an amazing opportunity and challenge for me. My co-writers were especially gracious as we hit editing just as I arrived at my first trimester; not an experience I’d recommend or wish on anyone …. It was a year of preparation, getting ready for Charlie to arrive. It’s been exciting gathering the books I want to read to him, and getting to read books as a mom -as well as a reviewer!
Looking ahead, next year it’s going to be a year with a lot of introductions. It is so fun getting to see Charlie grow and introducing him to favorite books, old and new. We’re also food lovers; this morning I found myself telling Charlie how much he is going to like cherries: there is so much good food he’s going to be introduced to in 2026! Lord-willing we’ll be doing some travelling, too. It’s going to be fun to introduce Charlie to more friends and family including, Lord-willing, my amazing co-workers here at Redeemed Reader!
Read the Interviews with the Rest of the Team!
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