Category Archives: Recs: Middle Grades

Generally 4th-8th, but depends on the person!

Wingfeather Saga Read Aloud (by the author!)

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After last week’s read aloud, I was thinking about what to read next. Lately people have been asking me about whether I’d heard of this series called The Wingfeather Saga, so I was going to read book #1 for you all. I had already done my first few chapters! But like many authors during this time of quarantine, Andrew Peterson (yes, that Andrew Peterson, the Christian singer-songwriter) is posting nightly story time videos you can check out here. So the author himself beat me to it!

I was also curious to know why the series was coming up in conversation more often these days, because this was a series that came out more than ten years ago. And here is what I discovered. The books have been re-released with a brand new cover, and there was a fair amount of publicity about the series.

Here are the original covers of the edition I’ve had ever since Bibliopolis opened five years ago. I have had very little success “selling” these books to people.

Perfectly respectable covers, but not very eye-catching, I guess. It’s a classic look that would only be compelling to more…mature (read: old) readers. Even my most avid readers have done the slow, drawn out, “Uuuuum…weeeeeell…” which is their equivalent of “No, thanks.”

And here are the 2020 covers for books 1 and 2:

More modern and epic fantasy series looking, wouldn’t you say? I don’t know if you realized books get little refreshers like this, but it is necessary to keep drawing in new generations of readers. Ironically enough, timeless classics remain so by modernizing their covers! We say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but publishers and authors know the power of the cover.

All this to say, I do hope more readers will take up this series, as it is quite engrossing! As for my read aloud, stay tuned. 🙂

Have you read the series? What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

 

Good Friday: a Misnomer?

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Today is Good Friday. When I was younger I was confused by this because what was so good about Jesus dying? Shouldn’t it be called Bad Friday? Over the years, I have grown in my understanding of the gospel, and how the bad news is what makes the good news truly good. The bad news of my sin necessitates the badness — the excruciating pain and suffering — of the cross, the cross that is my cross. But the story doesn’t end there. When all hope is lost, Jesus willingly takes my place. And in that Great Exchange, something so terrible becomes something wondrous, beautiful, and Good with a capital “G.”

One of my favorite parts from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe captures this in the way that only C.S. Lewis can:

…”though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

-Chapter 15, “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time”

I was moved by this video Passion City Church made for their Good Friday Service a few years back*. Thankful for the creative people who can communicate the power of the cross to make Death itself start working backward, and turn bad news into truly good news.

*They have several other Good Friday videos that are just as moving. 

The Stuck-at-Home Book Club

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Hello, Gracepoint Family! It’s been awhile. I hope 2019 was a great reading year. I realize that’s a bit belated, since we’re now a quarter of the way through 2020. 😂

With all of us at home from school and work due to Covid-19, this can be an awesome opportunity to make headway in our 2020 reading goals. I’m apparently 3 books behind schedule in my goal to read 0202 books in 2020, but I’m determined to put a big dent in my TBR pile!

This is also an opportunity for me to revive this blog, and to post some recommendations for what you can read with your family, or on your own. There’s also been a call for a Family Reading Challenge, so we’ll see what we can come up with.

For my first Stuck-at-Home Book Club recommendation, I present to you The Green Ember series, written by S.D. Smith. There are four main books (with the fourth coming out April 14th!), plus four other novellas set in the same world.

The-Green-Ember

I don’t want to give away too much about the series, but I will say this: Do *not* let the fact that they are rabbits dissuade you from reading this book! It is a captivating adventure, and there are lessons and themes that are for everyone in the family.

Families have read these aloud together, others have listened to the audiobooks (which are excellent), and other pre-teens, teens, and adults have just read them on their own! This series is so beloved that one of the 7th graders just told me that in anticipation of the April 14th release of Ember’s End, she re-read the series as a refresher.  More great news – the kindle version is only $2.99, and free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

If you’re still not quite convinced, there’s a Green Ember super-fan I’ve asked to provide an endorsement, so stay tuned for that!

What are you and your family reading during the next few weeks? If you want to write a recommendation, send it on over to me, and it might be featured here!