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The Neighbour by Gemma Rogers
A Compelling Read The Neighbour by Gemma Rogers was a compulsive contemporary psychological suspense that gripped me from the start. A cul de sac of six houses should be the ideal place to live – but no one expected the neighbour. Fresh from one nightmare situation and dropped into another. Can you guess what goes […]
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There’s No Place Like Home by Jane Lovering
Wow – Heart Racing! There’s No Place Like Home by Jane Lovering is a contemporary adventure novel that entertained me from the start. The premise is a reality tv show shot in the wilds of the Yorkshire moors, with contestants on the hunt for evidence of a big cat. Financial reward beckons as the group […]
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The German Messenger by M J Hollows
Rising From The Ruins The German Messenger by M J Hollows is a mesmerizing historical novel that gripped me from the start. The story is set in Liverpool 1940-1941 at the height of the blitz. M J Hollows writes of the horrors facing the brave people of the city. As the city burns, we witness […]
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The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson
In The Lucky Ones, an impoverished family in the rural south takes a big step up during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s. The Lucky Ones by Linda Williams Jackson. Candlewick, 2022, 304 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Portrait of Poverty Ellis Earl Brown has ambitions: he’s going to become a lawyer or a teacher, or maybe both. It seems a reasonable goal for an 11-year-old who applies himself at school, but Ellis Earl happens to live in Mississippi in 1967, a middle child in a large black family whose single mother barely earns enough to buy food. His older siblings, all school…
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Wintry Stories: A Book List for Middle Grades and Teens
Whether you live in a place with snow or not, January is the perfect month for a cozy snow story (or three). Look for some of these at your local library and enjoy a long winter’s evening story time. WINTRY STORIES: A BOOK LIST FOR MIDDLE GRADES AND TEENS The Wintry Stories book list below includes books for independent readers (roughly ages 7-18). Do check reviews if you are unfamiliar with a title or aren’t sure whether it’s a good fit for your children or students. Enjoy! CHAPTER BOOKS *A Long Road on a Short Day by Gary Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. Clarion Books, 2020. 59 pages.…
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Where The River Takes Us by Lesley Parr
Friendship & Adventure Where The River Takes Us by Lesley Parr is a very engaging children’s novel set in the Welsh valleys in 1974. 1974 was a time of unrest in Britain with three day working weeks and regular power cuts. Times were hard for many but even harder for the leading character and his […]
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Newbery Buzz #1: A Rover’s Story
It’s that time again, readers! The hour for selecting winners of the world’s most prestigious children’s book award draws near. Redeemed Reader has little (that is, NO) influence on that decision, but we like to speculate. This year we’ve set apart five likely buzzed-about titles for a closer look. Betsy leads off with Jasmine Warga’s A Rover’s Story. Betsy: Jasmine Warga is no stranger to Newbery love: Other Words for Home earned a Newbery Honor in 2020 (see our review). Other Words for Home is a novel in verse about a refugee girl; A Rover’s Story centers around a robot headed to Mars. The rover’s name is Resilience, Res for…
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Wintry Picture Books: A Book List
Whether you live in a place with snow or not, January is the perfect month for a cozy snow story (or three). Look for some of these at your local library and enjoy a long winter’s evening story time. The Wintry Picture Books book list below includes books both old and new. Enjoy! WINTRY PICTURE BOOKS: A BOOK LIST Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Scholastic, 1994. 40 pages. All Ages. A marvelously well-illustrated anthology of poems all about winter: snow, bird migrations, sleigh bells, even sickness! Read our review. Snow by Uri Shulevitz. Sunburst Books, 2004. In spite of the doubtful predictions in the media and…
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New Neighbours For Coronation Close by Lizzie Lane
A Snapshot In Time New Neighbours For Coronation Close by Lizzie Lane is a marvelous historical novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. The book is set in Bristol in 1936 and provides a social commentary on the times. We see terrible slum conditions that some find themselves living in. This contrasts with the new council houses. […]
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Gladys Hunt on the Value of Fantasy
Editor’s Note: We kick off the New Year, and Month #5 of our Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-along, with one of the most popular and venerable genres in children’s books. George the Dragon-Slayer Originally published on the Tumblon website May 19, 2009 “A serious attack on the fairy tale as children’s literature comes from those who do not wish children to be frightened,” writes C.S. Lewis in an essay entitled, Three Ways of Writing for Children. Those who say that children must not be frightened mean two things. First, they mean that we must not do anything likely to give the child haunting and disabling fears, and secondly, they…
