Guarding Young Hearts: Two Moms' Guide to Tackling Children's Books and Inappropriate Reads [Guest: Redeemed Reader Team]

J. B. Cheaney (Janie to her friends) became a reader early on, but never thought she’d become a writer. As a shy, skinny kid growing up in Texas, books were her best friends. Sometime in her mid-twenties, she thought she might try writing one. While waiting to get a book published (20 years!), Janie turned her writing practice into Wordsmith, a series of creative writing workbooks to help kids discover the joys of competent writing for themselves.

Now that she’s overcome her shyness, books are no longer Janie’s best friends. But a well-crafted story or poem still moves her to tears or laughter or constructive disagreement or deeper understanding of herself and this endlessly fascinating world we live in. That’s the value of a good book. If you’re reading this, you probably want your own children or students to discover that value for themselves. So every single week, Janie shares her ongoing book-reading adventures with you, right here on Redeemed Reader.

Janie has written six novels for tweens and teens: My Friend the Enemy, In the Middle of Somewhere, Somebody on This Bus is Going to Be Famous, I Don’t Know How the Story Ends, The Playmaker, and The True Prince. She is also a long-time and well-respected contributor to WORLD Magazine.

All great stories point to THE story of Christ redeeming his people. Betsy loves helping people find those stories and know how to talk about them. To date, she’s helped hundreds of children and teens (and their parents and teachers) discover great reads. One of her young friends calls her, “The Good Book Lady.” When she's reading ahead for you, she does so with sticky notes (instead of book darts) and willfully dog ears pages. She's a fan of George MacDonald, robust book discussion, and the Oxford comma.

After earning a BA from Covenant College and an MA (in children’s literature) from Hollins University, Betsy taught middle and high school English. She later earned an MSIS from the University of Tennessee and worked a short stint as a school librarian. Betsy has also served on state book award committees and the World Children’s Book of the Year committee. She lives with her Renaissance man and their three children in the Pacific Northwest where they serve in their local OPC church, go hiking whenever they get a chance, and play board games regularly (when they're not reading, that is).