Editor’s Note: Our Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-along readers are thinking about Chapter 15: “First Books for Readers.” Beginning readers should be primed with a rhyme, and an enthusiastic grownup interpreter! The Joy of Nursery Rhymes Originally published on the Tumblon website, January 16, 2009 Want a delightful book for a very young child? Get Mem Fox’s Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. Mem Fox , who lives in Australia, has done some wonderfully creative books for children, and here she is teamed up with illustrator Helen Oxenbury who lives in England. Along with charming pictures of children from all over the world, marveling…

(Note: Betsy and I are indebted to Ethan Pettit, librarian and Children’s Literature professor from Covenant College, who enlightened us so much in seeing Christ in literature and taught us to discern Truth and Story.) “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…” Psalm 24:1 (ESV) This verse applies to books and readers, too. This is the foundation of why we read to the glory of God, because we have Him to thank for excellent literature. What are we at Redeemed Reader looking for when we read? Above all, TRUTH and STORY. God is a God of words. God uses words to reveal…

Mouse siblings Violet and Jobie must suddenly fend for themselves in a world both terrifying and lovely. Violet & Jobie in the Wild by Lynn Rae Perkins. Greenwillow, 2022, 227 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 4-8 as a read-aloud; 7-10 for independent readers Back to Nature It all began with the cheese game, otherwise known as a mousetrap. Siblings Violet and Jobie have learned to beat the game with the aid of some slender object (like a pencil) capable of snapping the trap without injury to mice. They’ve become quite clever at indoor life, even to understanding some of human language due to long exposure…

Just for fun, here’s a round-up of some delightful version of the classic folktale “The Three Little Pigs” along with some funny spoofs and spins. Enjoy! Note: titles are linked to amazon. We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here. The Three Little Pigs Book List The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone (a great “classic” version) The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall (funny!) The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (good for upper elementary kids who know the “real” story) The Three Little…

Simonetta Carr’s Church History is a must-have for Christian families, good for years of reference and encouragement. *Church History by Simonetta Carr. Reformation Heritage, 265 pages including glossary and index. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 9-up What do kids know about the historical church? The Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s carefully-researched account of the earliest Christians, might be considered the first “church history.” The book ends with Paul awaiting trial in Rome, and most Christians don’t know much about what happened after that. It’s not for lack of good information. Few historical movements have been as well documented, partly because the church was always a preserver…

Eighteenth century Korea comes to life in The Red Palace, a gripping—and gritty—historical mystery for teens. *The Red Palace by Jane Hur. Feiwel and Friends, 2022. 336 pages. Reading Level: Teens, Ages 15-18. Recommended For: Ages 14 and up. Nurse Hyeon knows she must not question the physician who requires her and Nurse Jieun to accompany him to prince’s quarters. It’s after dark, and they stealthily walk through the castle compound. She remembers her medical teachers’ whispered warnings: To enter the palace means to walk a path stained in blood. There will be bloodshed. I only hope it will not be yours. ~p. 2 When Hyeon and Jieun arrive with…

Editor’s Note: In our Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-Along this month, we’re considering Chapter 15: “First Books for Readers.” Settle in for some good advice about how to judge literary quality. How to know the best children’s books Originally published on the Tumblon website, September 22, 2009 Good children’s books are usually written by grownups who are still children inside. They aren’t written down to children or written for children. Children’s authors must be people who haven’t lost their childhood. In the best of circumstances, people should grow old from the outside in, not from the inside out. Which led C.S. Lewis to say that any book worth reading…

Farmhouse and House Finds a Home honor the ordinary structures that shelter and sustain growing families. Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall. Little, Brown, 2022, 48 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 2-10 “Over a hill, at the end of a road, by a glittering stream that twists and turns, stands a house . . .” Thus begins one very long sentence that twists and turns through the history of a single family with twelve children that occupies a two-story white frame house in the country. Seasons turn, the family grows, the little ones get in trouble, the older ones milk cows in the pre-dawn hours, Mother cooks…