And the winner is…

By Betsy Farquhar | January 13, 2014

And the winner for our New Children’s Bible giveaway is… Joey E. Congratulations, Joey! And thanks to those who shared their New Year’s goals with us and entered the giveaway.

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A New Year: Goals + Giveaway

By Betsy Farquhar | January 6, 2014

(Giveaway is now closed) Reading-Oriented New Year’s Goals I’m one of those folks who enjoy making New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer the term “goal” to “resolution” because goals are usually more specific (and therefore more likely to get achieved). An avid reader (surprise, surprise), I am making a few New Year’s Goals specifically targeted towards…

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Rounding Up Some Good YA Reads

By Janie Cheaney | December 20, 2013

As Hayley noted earlier this week, the much-heralded final volume of Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy was a disappointment.  Much-heralded final volumes often disappoint, but what’s worse, they draw attention away from less-heralded novels that deserve notice.  These three titles range wide in content and theme, but all are worthy additions to the literary, mystery, and…

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Pilgrim’s Progress adapted by Anna Trimiew

By Janie Cheaney | December 9, 2013

Pilgrim’s Progress: John Bunyan’s Classic Story Adapted for Children, by Anna Trimiew, illustrated by Drew Rose.  Great Commissions Press, 2013, 109 pages, including glossary and index.  Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: This adaptation of Pilgrim’s Progress from Great Commissions Press can serve as a readable introduction to Bunyan’s…

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Truth in the Tinsel: A Family Advent Tradition

By emily | November 29, 2013

Truth in the Tinsel Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I suppose the Christmas race has officially begun now, and with that in mind, I wanted to share with you an advent devotional my kids and I will be doing this year. I know that there are many worthy Advent studies.  (For instance, I…

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Librarians’ List: Favorite Picture Books of 2013

By Betsy Farquhar | November 23, 2013

It’s time for another Librarians’ List! Since it’s picture book month, we’re indulging our list-making hobbies and bringing you yet another list of our favorites. Last week, we looked at Retro Reads, books published before 2000. Today, the list includes our favorite hot-off-the-press titles, all of which have been published this year (we’ll see how…

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cover of rapunzel

Reading Rapunzel

By Megan Saben | November 21, 2013

Today I’m going to demonstrate a close reading of one version of a classic fairy tale. My favorite book to use in demonstrating the illustrative power of a picture book is the Caldecott-award winning Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky. I wish I could include some images in this post to show all our dear readers…

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Sci-fi Contest Winner and Podcast: From Ender’s Game to Hunger Games

By emily | November 20, 2013

To listen to our a read along with real teens or find discussion questions about Ender’s Game, please see our Ender’s Game Read Along.  Also, to read the stories in our contest, see our Short Story Finalists post. Sci-fi Contest Winner Back when I was in high school, my short story contest submissions were read…

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Character in the Midst of Diversity: 8 Titles to Note

By Betsy Farquhar | November 20, 2013

2013 has given us lots of excellent diverse picture book titles: books about minority cultures, folktale retellings, and books by (or illustrated by) people of color. Some of them offer snapshots of a different culture without much commentary. Others show people (or animals) developing character and using hard work to fight opposition or simply to…

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Winter Book Fair: Gift Books to Support Redeemedreader

By emily | November 19, 2013

Dear Redeemedreaders, We appreciate you!  If you have appreciated Redeemedreader this year, we’d love to have your support during the holiday season.  We have narrowed down some of our best gift book recommendations for this time of year below.  Plus, to make things a little more fun, we’ve recorded the Redeemedreader team talking about some…

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