middle grades
*The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
By Janie Cheaney |
*The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Harcourt Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 237 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages 10-12) and up Bottom ...
Read More Bible Review: The Family Reading Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
The Family Reading Bible: a Joyful Discovery: Explore God's Word Together, NIV. Zondervan, 2010, 2336 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: all ...
Read More Bible Review: The Story Teen Edition
By Janie Cheaney |
The Story: Teen Edition. Zondervan, 2011, 498 pages (paperback). Reading Level: Middle Grades ages 10-13 Recommended for: ages 12-15 Bottom Line: This teen edition of ...
Read More Bible Review: The Big Picture Interactive Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
Big Picture Interactive Bible: Connecting Christ through God’s Story (HCSB)*. Broadman &Holman Kids, 2014, 1350 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages ...
Read More Bible Review: The Jesus Bible (NIV)
By Janie Cheaney |
The NIV Jesus Bible, Zondervan, 2014, 1760 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 Bottom Line: This children's version of the NIV ...
Read More Bible Review: ESV Journal Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
ESV Journal Bible, Crossway, 2012 (latest edition), 1380 pages. Reading Level:Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 12 and up Bottom Line: Though limited in ...
Read More The Shakespeare Stealer–and an Interview with Author Gary Blackwood
By Janie Cheaney |
The Shakespeare Stealer (1998), Shakespeare's Scribe (2000), and Shakespeare's Spy (2003), by Gary Blackwood. Penguin Group; Puffin Books. Age/interest level: 12-16. True story: in 1998 ...
Read More The Playmaker by (our very own) J. B. Cheaney
By Betsy Farquhar |
When I first read this book, I did not know Janie personally. I knew of her from WORLD Magazine, but it took a flyer at ...
Read More Adventuring with Wilder Good, Gannon & Wyatt, and a Giveaway!
By Janie Cheaney |
The Adventures of Wilder Good: Elk Hunt, by S. J. Dahlstron. Paul Dry Books, 2013, 101 pages. Age/interest level: 9-13. The title says it all: ...
Read More Ukraine: Lessons in Liberty and Compassion, Pt. 2
By Hayley Morell |
Last week, we began our Ukrainian series with a personal reflection from our executive assistant, Hayley. Having recently visited orphans in Ukraine, Hayley gave us insight ...
Read More Retro Reads: Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain
By Betsy Farquhar |
It's Retro Reads week with Lloyd Alexander! Today, we take a look back to Lloyd Alexander's marvelous Chronicles of Prydain, the first of which was ...
Read More Retro Reads: The Sword in the Stone
By Janie Cheaney |
This week we begin a series of occasional posts called Retro Reads: those modern-day classics you may have missed in your teen years or before ...
Read More Sequelville: in Which We Follow up on Some Old Favorites
By Janie Cheaney |
Sometimes fans of a popular book DEMAND a sequel (see Origami Yoda, below), and sometimes the entire series is planned out from the beginning. Whether ...
Read More Middle Grade Winners: Cheesie Mack and Jack Strong
By Janie Cheaney |
We've written about "middle-grade losers" before--those feckless, clueless fifth-and-sixth grader boys (exhibit A being The Wimpy Kid) so popular with boy readers of that age ...
Read More Portrait of the Fantacist as a Young Man: Carpet People
By Janie Cheaney |
The Carpet People, written and illustrated by Terry Pratchett. Clarion, 2013, 261 pages. Age/interest level: 11-up Sir Terry Pratchett, grand old man of fantasy/science fiction, ...
Read More Dragons and Time Fetches: More Middle-Grade Fantasy
By Janie Cheaney |
Handbook for Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell. HarperCollins, 2013, 226 pages. Age/interest level: 10-up. When our story begins, Tilda, age 13, has no interest in ...
Read More Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
By Betsy Farquhar |
This book is a "Best of the Best" pick from our Winter Book Fair. CLICK HERE to see more gift ideas! Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by ...
Read More Middle Grade Fantasy: Twistrose and Jinx
By Hayley Morell |
Fantasy for middle grades (4th-8th/ages 9-12) is ever expanding. Hayley and Betsy look at two new additions to the field, both of which look light ...
Read More *Tommysaurus Rex by Doug TenNapel
By Janie Cheaney |
Tommysaurus Rex by Doug TenNapel. Scholastic (Graphix), ask 2013. 238 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Maturity Level: 3 (ages 8-10) and up Bottom ...
Read More Ghosts: Real or Make Believe?
By Betsy Farquhar |
Ghost stories: most of us relish that slightly spooky feeling we get when an urban legend or hair-raising tall tale is well told around a ...
Read More Newbery Buzz: The Truth of Me, plus one more
By Janie Cheaney |
This is our last "buzz" post, but tomorrow Betsy and I are going to go out on a limb and make some predictions about the ...
Read More Newbery Buzz: True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
By Betsy Farquhar |
We're coming down to the wire with our Newbery discussions. The ALA Youth Media Awards (which include the Newbery and Caldecott) will be announced Monday ...
Read More Newbery Buzz: Counting by 7’s
By Janie Cheaney |
(Janie and Betsy are continuing their chat about some of the outstanding children's literature being touted for the coveted Newbery award--yes, there are people who ...
Read More Twerps and Bullies: Middle Grade fun for boys
By Betsy Farquhar |
I'll admit it: I cracked up when I read Wimpy Kid. Clearly, my sense of humor is rather juvenile (or, maybe I've just spent a LOT of ...
Read More Tough Times: Two Middle-Grade Historical Novels for Boys
By Janie Cheaney |
River Rats, by Leslie J. Wyatt. Royal Fireworks Press, 2013, 212 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14. Kenny Barton would be the first to admit he doesn’t ...
Read More Newbery Buzz: The Center of Everything
By Janie Cheaney |
Betsy and I are back to dialogue about childrens' books that the American Library Association may delight to honor. This year's ALA Youth Media Awards ...
Read More The Case for Christ for Kids: 90-Day Devotional
By Janie Cheaney |
The Case for Christ for Kids 90-Day Devotional, by Lee Strobel and Jesse Florea. Zonderkidz, 2013, 199 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade, ages 8-10 Recommended ...
Read More The Doctrines of Grace by Shane Lems
By Janie Cheaney |
The Doctrines of Grace, Student Edition, by Shane Lems. P&R Publishing, 2013, 143 pages, included appendices. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages ...
Read More Who Do Men Say That I Am?
By Janie Cheaney |
Christmas brings into focus the mystery of the incarnation, when God, in the person of Jesus Christ, took on human flesh in order to meet ...
Read More C. S. Lewis at War: Radio Theatre for Teens and Adults
By emily |
C. S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story Behind Mere Christianity (Radio Theatre) by C.S. Lewis and Paul McCusker. Tyndale Entertainment, 2013. Ages 12 and ...
Read More Pilgrim’s Progress adapted by Anna Trimiew
By Janie Cheaney |
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 ...
Read More Newbery Buzz: The Real Boy
By Janie Cheaney |
If you have any interest in youth literature at all, you know that the Newbery Award, announced in January by the American Library Association, is ...
Read More *Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
By Janie Cheaney |
Twelve Kinds of Ice, by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Barbara McClintock. Houghton Mifflin, 2012, 64 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, Ages 10-12 Maturity Level: ...
Read More Call of the Klondike: a True Gold Rush Adventure by David Meissner
By Janie Cheaney |
This middle grade history uses original letters and contemporary news accounts to recreate the drama of the Alaska Gold Rush. Call of the Klondike: a ...
Read More *Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
By Janie Cheaney |
The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Harpers, 2013, 34 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Maturity Level: All Bottom line: ...
Read More Classics in Comics
By Janie Cheaney |
We round out Picture-book month at Redeemed Reader with a look at some recent comic-book adaptations of enduring literary works--even though graphic novels, technically speaking, ...
Read More The Thing About Luck: National Book Award Winner
By Betsy Farquhar |
The National Book Award Finalists were announced earlier this fall, and this past week, the winners were announced. This year's winner for Young People's Literature ...
Read More November 22, 1963
By Janie Cheaney |
Fifty years ago a president was violently assassinated. John F. Kennedy’s place in history is mostly emblematic: baby-boomers remember his ease and charm and clever ...
Read More *Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt
By Janie Cheaney |
Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt and Isobelle Arsenault (translated from the original French). Groundwood, 2014, 101 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ...
Read More Middle-Grade Losers, or, What Hath Greg Heffley Wrought?
By Janie Cheaney |
The Wimpy Kid phenomenon keeps on going, and so far has outlasted the dystopia phenomenon, the vampire phenomenon, and the zombie phenomenon. Volume 8 in ...
Read More Ghost Stories
By Janie Cheaney |
Do you believe in ghosts? I discount many of the ghost stories I hear, but can’t quit discount the whole phenomenon. That is, there is ...
Read More The Dogs of History
By Janie Cheaney |
Duke, by Kirby Larson. Scholastic, 2013, 229 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 Boy loves dog; boy loses dog. That’s what ...
Read More Lara’s Gift by Annemarie O’Brien
By Janie Cheaney |
Lara’s Gift, by Annemarie O’Brien. Knopf, 2013, 193pages, including appendix Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12, Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 10-15 Bottom ...
Read More Early America: Friendship and War
By Janie Cheaney |
Friends of Liberty, by Beatrice Gormley. Eermans, 2013, 184 pages. Age/interest level: 8-14. Sally Gifford, as the daughter of an honest craftsman in 18th-century Boston, ...
Read More How God Used a Thunderstorm by Joel R. Beeke and Diana Kleyn
By Megan Saben |
*How God Used a Thunderstorm and Other Devotional Stories by Joel R. Beeke and Diana Kleyn, illustrated by Jeff Anderson (Building on the Rock Series). ...
Read More Anselm: An Interview with Simonetta Carr
By emily |
Anselm of Canterbury (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) by Simonetta Carr. Reformation Heritage Books, 2013. 64 pgs. Ages 8-up. Simonetta Carr recently published Anselm of ...
Read More Sugar and P.S. Be Eleven: Middle Grade Historical Fiction
By Betsy Farquhar |
It's another dual review by Janie and Betsy today! We're teaming up to bring you reviews of two middle grade historical fiction novels during our ...
Read More Fun But Not Fantastic: Mr. Lemoncello and the Family Whipple
By Janie Cheaney |
The American tradition of the “tall tale,” which you may think died with Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, is alive and well in a genre ...
Read More Scientific Fiction or Fictional Science? Three Genre-Busting Reads
By Betsy Farquhar |
Janie and Betsy team up once again to bring you reviews of three recent scientific fiction works! Janie does the first and Betsy the second ...
Read More More Favorite Science Books
By emily |
Welcome back to Science September at Redeemedreader! Last week, we heard from Janie on Science Biographies, as well as Betsy on some of her favorite ...
Read More Solving Mysteries with Science (and a disappointing collective biography)
By Megan Saben |
One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! by Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder. Science Naturally, 2013. When I was growing up, ...
Read More The Secret Lives of Scientists
By Janie Cheaney |
On a Beam of Light: a Story of Albert Einstein, by Jennifer Berre, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. Chronicle, 2013, 50 pages. Age/interest level: 6-9 Despite ...
Read More New Worlds, Spirit Animals, and Frog Warriors: New Middle-Grade Fantasy
By Janie Cheaney |
Betsy and Janie, the middle-grade readers, are joining forces today to tell you about three brand-new fantasy series for middle-graders. Betsy reviews the first two, ...
Read More *Little Britches by Ralph Moody
By Megan Saben |
*Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody. Bison Books, 1991. 260 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10, ages 10-12 and upRecommended ...
Read More Boy Overcoming
By Janie Cheaney |
Paperboy, by Vince Vawter. Delacorte, 2013m 224 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14 "I'm typing about the stabbing for a good reason. I can't talk." Life is ...
Read More Podcast 34: A Kids’ Review of Amish Fiction
By emily |
Big Year for Lily, A (The Adventures of Lily Lapp) by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger. Revell, 2013. 272 pgs. Ages 8-up. With ...
Read More Getting Rich Quick: Two Novels about Sudden Fortunes
By Janie Cheaney |
A Whole Lot of Lucky, by Danette Haworth. Walker Books, 2013, 288 pages. Age/interest level: 9-13 Hailee Richardson has plenty to complain about—her screechy old ...
Read More How to Skim a Book: The Lost Medallion by Bill Muir and Alex Kendrick
By emily |
To Skim or Not to Skim It's seven o'clock, and you remember you have a book review due in the morning. But alas, you haven't ...
Read More Kids at War
By Janie Cheaney |
If we were picking favorite periods of history, World War II would be near the top of the list. Though it's fast fading from living ...
Read More *Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette Cate
By Janie Cheaney |
*Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard, by Annette le Blank Cate. Candlewick, 2013, 54 pages. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ...
Read More Summer Reading Challenge, Week 6: The Lightning Thief
By Hayley Morell |
Welcome to Week 6 of our Summer Reading Challenge! If you’d like to see other posts in this series,
Read More One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson
By Betsy Farquhar |
A lonely boy and a lonely girl team up to rescue their dog friends and end up each finding a true home in this feel-good ...
Read More Summer Reading Challenge, Week 5: The Light Princess
By Megan Saben |
Welcome to Week 5 of our Summer Reading Challenge! If you'd like to see other posts in this series, check out our Summer Reading Challenge ...
Read More American Lives
By Janie Cheaney |
“There is properly no history, only biography,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson—an exaggeration with a lot of truth in it. When I was growing up, I ...
Read More Mission Work for Kids: Sewing School and Crafts for Hope
By emily |
In our Summer Reading Challenge, we've just read the story of Nate Saint, one of the men who entered glory alongside Jim Elliot trying to ...
Read More Two Ways to See the World
By Janie Cheaney |
Geography, like Grammar (and God), is a neglected subject in today’s public school system. Too bad—I well recall my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Nelson, a ...
Read More Summer Reading Challenge, Week 3: Mr. Popper’s Penguins
By emily |
Introduction We've added a Summer Reading Challenge tab at the top of our website, to help you keep up with the posts as the summer ...
Read More Let’s Take a Road Trip–and Write a Story!
By Janie Cheaney |
Our Around the World reading challenge book this week is The Middle of Somewhere, and it’s written by . . . um . . . ...
Read More Summer Reading Challenge, Week 2: The Middle of Somewhere by (our very own) J. B. Cheaney
By Betsy Farquhar |
If you're new to our Summer Reading Challenge, welcome! If you started our Around the World adventure last week with us, congratulations and let's continue ...
Read More Throwing Strikes with R. A. Dickey
By Janie Cheaney |
Throwing Strikes: My Quest for Truth and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R. A. Dickey. Dial, 2013, 296 pages. Age/interest level: 12-16. Last year Dickey’s autobiography, ...
Read More We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson
By Betsy Farquhar |
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. Jump at the Sun, 2008. 96 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages ...
Read More No Battlefield Like Home
By Janie Cheaney |
Chasing Jupiter, by Rachel Coker. Zondervan, 2012, 221 pages. Age/interest level: 12-up. Our story begins in small-town Georgia, 1969—but 16-year-old Scarlett’s world seems even smaller ...
Read More A Novel in Verse and Verse in a Novel
By Janie Cheaney |
We're rounding out our Poetry Month coverage with three books for middle-graders: Gone Fishing: a Novel in Verse, by Tamera Will Wissinger, illustrated by Matthew ...
Read More Good Old Fashioned Adventure
By Janie Cheaney |
The False Prince (2012) and The Runaway King (2013), by Jennifer A. Nielson. Scholastic, about 350 pages each. Age/interest level: 10-up. When we first encounter ...
Read More Destiny, Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
By Janie Cheaney |
Destiny, Rewritten, by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. HarperCollins, 2013, 335 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 (especially girls) Bottom Line: Destiny, Rewritten ...
Read More A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
By Janie Cheaney |
A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff. Philomel, 2013, 233 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: ...
Read More Poetry Anthologies
By Megan Saben |
A good poetry anthology is like going to a friend's house with a basket, and being told, "Oh, you must read this one, and this one, and ...
Read More The Real Sherlock Holmes
By Janie Cheaney |
Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story in a British periodical in 1887, to moderate interest. Three novels and fifty-odd short stories later, ...
Read More Final Four (Plus One)
By Janie Cheaney |
This post should have gone up during March Madness, but even if the NCAA tournament is over this weekend, the NBA has few months to ...
Read More Bible Review: The Deep Blue Kids Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
The Deep Blue Kids Bible (CEB), 2012, Abingdon Press, 1526 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: no one Bottom Line: The Deep ...
Read More *Bible Review: ESV Grow! Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
*ESV Grow! Bible. Crossway, 2011, 1600 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: The ESV Grow! Bible ...
Read More Bible Review: NLT Hands-on Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
NLT Hands-on Bible, Tyndale for Kids, 2010, 1440 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-10 Bottom Line: Though it leads off ...
Read More *Bible Review: NKJV Early Readers Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
*NKJV Early Readers Bible. Thomas Nelson, 2006, 1664 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-14 and up Bottom Line: This New ...
Read More Bible Review: NIV Faithgirlz! Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
NIV Faithgirlz! Bible. Zonderkidz, 2012, 1504 page. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 (especially girls!) Bottom Line: The Faithgirlz! Bible, geared ...
Read More Bible Review: NIV Boys Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
NIV Boys' Bible. Zonderkidz, 2012, 1504 pages. For ages 9-13. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 (obviously, boys) Bottom Line: The ...
Read More *Bible Review: ESV Children’s Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
*ESV Children’s Bible. Crossway, 2008, 1648 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10. Recommended for: ages 6-10 Bottom Line: The ESV contains excellent study helps, ...
Read More *Bible Review: The HCSB Illustrated Study Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
*The HCSB Illustrated Study Bible for Kids. Boardman and Holman, 2007, 1104 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: ...
Read More Choosing Your Child’s First REAL Bible: Some Considerations
By Janie Cheaney |
Last Tuesday we looked at a range of new Bible storybooks and early reader “Bibles.” On Friday, we picked our way through the field of ...
Read More Food for the Soul–and for the Reader
By Janie Cheaney |
My mother-in-law once observed how different life would be if we didn’t have to eat. She might have been having a bad day, because in ...
Read More New Nonfiction: Titanic, Moonbird, and Bodyguards
By Janie Cheaney |
These three books have nothing in common except their general category and the fact that the first two won honors in the ALA Youth Media ...
Read More The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus 3) by Rick Riordan
By Janie Cheaney |
The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3), by Rick Riordan. Hyperion, 2012, 608 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages ...
Read More Zeus, King of the Gods by George O’Connor
By Janie Cheaney |
Zeus, King of the Gods, (#1 in The Olympians graphic-novel series) by George O’Connor. First Second, 2012, 80 pages. Reading Level: Picture books (graphic novel), ...
Read More The Hard Work of Growing Up
By Janie Cheaney |
It’s what every child has to do, and they accomplish it with varying degrees of success. In a sense, "growing up" is the theme of ...
Read More Cake: Love, Chickens, and a Taste of Peculiar by Joyce Magnin
By Janie Cheaney |
Cake: Love, Chickens and a Taste of Peculiar, by Joyce Magnin. Zonderkidz, 2013, 221 pages. Age/interest level: 8-14. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended ...
Read More Bible Review: KJV Kids’ Study Bible
By Janie Cheaney |
KJV Kids’ Study Bible. Zonderkidz, 2001. 1600 pages Reading level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 (for study features) Recommended for: ages 8-12 Bottom Line: Child-friendly activities ...
Read More Bliss by Katherine Littlewood
By Janie Cheaney |
Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood. HarperCollins, 2012, 374 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Bliss mixes ...
Read More ALA Awards: Newberys and Caldecotts, Splendors and Glooms
By Janie Cheaney |
One month ago was “Oscar night for Librarians,” when the American Library Association announced their “best of” picks for children’s literature. We’ve given some space ...
Read More The Real George Washington
By Janie Cheaney |
When did history get so complicated? Not too long ago, “The father of his country” was a monumental figure deserving nothing but praise. Now, depending ...
Read More Metaphysics, Graphics-Style
By Janie Cheaney |
For some folks, graphic novels are actually a discipline to be learned—their eyes don’t know where to go first and they tend to jump from ...
Read More Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln
By Janie Cheaney |
I’ve heard that aside from William Shakespeare, more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other historical figure. That makes it difficult to ...
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