Straight Talk About the Birds and the Bees
This is a review specifically for parents; librarians and teachers may benefit as well, but children should ask their parents first before reading further. This is also part reflection/part review, so the format is a bit different and longer than our usual reviews. With Valentine’s Day hovering, love is not just in the air, but has been assaulting our…
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2017 Newbery Buzz: Some Writer! and Snow White
Historically—and overwhelmingly—the Newbery Award has graced the covers of fictional prose novels. And yet, even “back in the day,” there were some outliers. Nancy Willard’s A Visit to William Blake’s Inn was both a book of poetry and a picture book. But there certainly seems to be more diversity of format in the past five years: verse…
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2017 Newbery Buzz: Ghost and Booked
Janie: Last Friday, we discussed two middle grade novels that were filled with sadness. Today we turn to a couple of sports-related novels by authors who have already been generously recognized by the American Library Association. In fact, Kwame Alexander won the coveted Newbery medal two years ago for his basketball-related verse novel, The Crossover. …
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Go 3D This Year: a Dewey Decimal Dare
Remember when you were in elementary school and dutifully learned the Dewey Decimal system? If you’re like me, you got to college and promptly forgot those Dewey numbers as you prowled stacks labeled by Library of Congress (LOC) numbers and letters. Crazy. And yet, a very short time into my elementary school library work, and I…
Read More2017 Reading Challenge for Kids with Printable
The Grown-Ups’ 2017 Reading Challenge Perhaps you have seen Tim Challies‘s 2017 Reading Challenge. Inspired in part by an original PopSugar reading challenge, Challies has broken his challenge down into different levels of readers: those who might just want to tackle one book a month (“Light”) all the way to those who want to read two books every week…
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Road Trip! 10 Audio Book Suggestions for the Whole Family
a popular post from our archives! Christmas is coming! And with it, lots of potential travel time…in the car…all together now…. If you’re a screen-free-whilst-driving kind of family like my own, sometimes it can be a challenge to figure out how to entertain folks and maintain peace, especially if there are presents squished in around…
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40 Books for Dads to Read to Their Kids
Strong father figures, adventures, humor, and general fun await! 40 books for DADS to read to their kids: fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction. Humor, adventure, coming-of-age, thought-provoking, silly…. there’s a little something for every dad on this list. This list represents some of the Redeemed Reader team’s favorite books for dads to read to their…
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Twelfth Night: Shakespeare’s Christmas Play
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is not exactly a Christmas play, I’ll admit. But “Twelfth Night” does refer to the 12th night of the 12 Days of Christmas parties celebrations when order is restored. Although neither Christmas nor Twelfth Night is mentioned in the play itself, the theme of the play is one we as…
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Pearl Harbor Child: an Interview with Dorinda Nicholson
Her father was from Kansas City; her mother was native Hawaiian, and Dorinda Makanaonalani Stagner grew up on Pearl City Peninsula, just around the bend from the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Dad worked at the Honolulu Post office and Mom had a job at the Pan-American World Airways Clipper Base. In the fall…
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Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is: Christmas Gifts!
Upholding My Reputation I’ve written before about the reputation I must uphold each year with my nieces and nephews. And it’s that time of year again–time to put my money where my mouth is and actually BUY books. Really, any excuse will do, but it’s so much fun to load up the ol’ amazon cart…
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