Shakespeare 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 MoreMake Your Own Book
We’re talking about Shakespeare this week, and one of the difficulties of introducing him to kids is finding books that aren’t too dark or perverse in the hands of professional illustrators. I’ve sifted through a lot of the books for you and found a few jewels. But another approach would be to make your own!…
Read MoreJanie on Chris Fabry Live!
Welcome old friends and new! Most of you probably know by now that Janie was interviewed on Chris Fabry Live! on July 13th. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, Chris Fabry has been involved in a number of successful radio shows over the years, including A Love Worth Finding. His daily show…
Read MoreAnother Half-Happy Birthday: Our Blog Story
What does it take to make a blog? Besides a computer, internet connection, and credit card, of course? Some might say passion, intelligence, computer saavy. But for me at least, I think the key ingredient is this: I’ve got nothing better to do. In Janie’s case, she could be working on essays and novels that…
Read More1/2 Birthday Bash: Janie’s Best
Happy Half-Birthday, guys! Redeemed Reader has been online for roughly six months this week. It seems ages ago since that cold, February morning when Janie and I opened up the door, inviting all from the highways and hedges to come in. So much has happened since that time. And I hope tomorrow to look at…
Read MoreChrist in Literature: History (pt. 3)
In my previous post, I tried to show that Sally Lloyd Jones uses two broad ways of finding Christ in the Old Testament: 1) historical and 2) symbolic. For instance, when we approach the story of Abraham and Isaac, we must first admit that these are real people in space and time. (For a wonderful…
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 MoreRR Podcast 5: Douglas Bond from Scotland
Today’s podcast is a follow-up to our last interview with Mr. Bond, RR Podcast 4: Douglas Bond on Fatherhood. Last time we talked about his devotional books for young men and their fathers, Fathers and Sons. But this time we focused more on his fiction–including his series on hymns of the church featuring Mr. Pipes,…
Read MoreFree Audiobook: BBC’s Romeo and Juliet
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Overdrive software in relation to online library rentals of audiobooks. Today Sync Audiobooks, a website that offers free YA audiobooks each week, is offering a BBC radio recording of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a free audiobook through that same software. And although there is a little effort…
Read More4th of July Round-up
Here it is: my 4th of July round-up! Books about the Revolutionary War era recommended for ages 4-12, arranged from youngest to oldest. Saving the Liberty Bell by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Marsha Gray Carrington. Ages 4-8. 32 pgs. This is perhaps the best story of the lot. It held the interest of my three…
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