Read-Aloud Revival ®

Have you ever read a book and thought, “Wow, how did the author do that?!” 

Or maybe you’d love to sit down with your favorite author and pick their brain about their writing process or tips and tricks for when you get stuck.

Today, the Read-Aloud Revival team has compiled some of our favorite advice about getting creative from the archives of RAR Premium’s Family Book Clubs. 

Whether you write, draw, paint, or en...

If you’ve been around the Read-Aloud Revival for a minute, you might know that C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters is one of my all-time favorite books. 

It’s the book I have read and re-read the most, and it’s also the source of some of my favorite read-aloud memories with my young adult son.

Today’s guest has written a book in a similar style with the modern woman in mind, and in this episode we talk about how the ...

On the last episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, we talked about why Shakespeare is not a school subject. I hope we were able to convince you!

But if we know that Shakespeare isn’t a school subject or an item on a checklist, how do we actually do it? And how do we make Shakespeare not just doable in our homeschools, but delightful?

Today, we’ll talk through a simple framework your family can use to experience one of th...

When most of us hear the name “Shakespeare,” we probably think back to a high school classroom, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, while we struggled through Romeo and Juliet line by line—“wherefore art thou” and all that.

But here’s the truth:

Shakespeare was never meant to be dissected like a frog under a microscope.

His work, in fact, was never meant to be read AT ALL. He meant for his plays to be experienced. To be pe...

Why should we read the classics? 

So many of us want to read and enjoy them, but we don’t want to spend our precious free time feeling like we’re incompetent because we just don’t get it or that the internet has completely ruined our brains (is this just me?).

This winter in RAR Premium, we did a whole retreat about falling in love with your reading life again, and today I'm sharing one of those sessions, called How to Read ...

In this episode, RAR Community Manager Kelsey Murphy and I sat down to tackle some of your listener questions. 

We put our heads together to answer questions about loved ones who don’t support your choice to homeschool, curriculum overwhelm, reading aloud with older kids or a wide age range of ages, how to encourage your kids to read high quality literature, and more!

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• How to make pea...

Today, one of my very favorite authors returns to Read-Aloud Revival. 

You know him as the author of Sweep, The Night Gardener, the Peter Nimble series, and The Fabled Stables. That’s right–Jonathan Auxier is back!

This time, we’re talking about the much-awaited conclusion to the Peter Nimble series, The War of the Maps. In our conversation, we delve into the guiding questions he explores during the writing process, ...

One of my favorite reads of 2024 was The Myth Makers by John Hendrix.

This gorgeous graphic novel tells the story of the remarkable friendship of C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I thought I already knew quite a bit about these Inklings, but there was even more to uncover.

Today, I’m delighted to share my conversation with the author and illustrator of The Myth Makers, John Hendrix. We dive into his research and writi...

What comes to mind when you think of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

There’s a good chance a lot of us are seeing very similar pictures. We’re seeing images that swept us into the whimsical world of wonder beyond the wardrobe (and into the Shire). 

The beloved images of these childhood stories remain with us. 

But it’s likely we don’t know much about the woman who created the iconi...

Today, I’m thrilled to share a peek at the riches inside RAR Premium, our online community that helps you make meaningful and lasting connections with your books and helps homeschool mamas become the peace-filled, joyful mamas they’re called to be.

Last summer, our Family Book Club selection was On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, the first book in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. And we were lucky enough t...

Have you ever read a book and felt like you’d actually been to that place?

Me too. Once, while standing in line at an amusement park, I met a couple who told me they were visiting from Maine. And I almost said, “Oh, I was just in Maine!” Except I’ve never actually been to Maine. I had just read a book that was set in Maine, and it was so immersive, it felt like I’d been there.

That’s the power of books. They take you...

Lately here at RAR we’ve been talking about reading for refreshment—reading for the pure joy of it—and how our own reading lives can be a source of energy and joy even in the throes of the busiest seasons of motherhood.

This week on the podcast, we're revisiting an episode that dives into why reading isn’t just good for us and our kids, but why reading for fun is also an important part of our jobs.

In this episode, w...

Dear Duck, Please Come! is the most fun I’ve ever had writing a book. 

But writing the words is only half the story for a picture book. Which is why today, I’m delighted to share my conversation with the illustrator of Dear Duck, Please Come!, Charles Santoso.

Charles was born in Indonesia, raised in Australia, and now lives in Singapore. He’s illustrated tons of books we love here at Read-Aloud Revival, and I was ov...

At the start of a new year, we are overwhelmed with the phrase “New Year, new you!” And of course, we want to be better wives, better mothers, and better people. 

This desire to improve ourselves filters into our reading lives, too. It’s easy to justify a lot of our reading if it helps us be better for our families and communities. 

But what about reading for fun? What about reading fiction? When you’re a busy mom, i...

Gather your aspiring writers and littlest book lovers for this episode. 

I am so excited to welcome back author Millie Florence to talk about the beautiful book we created together, Beyond Mulberry Glen.

Millie and I are chatting about the making of the book from inspiration to final draft with a series of fun questions from what scene was the hardest to write to what character she’d want to hang out with for an afte...

What if I told you there’s an Icelandic Christmas tradition where the whole point is to spend an evening sitting around, sipping hot cocoa, and reading books?

Sign me up, right?

Today, we’re talking about Jolabokaflod, which loosely translates to “Yule Book Flood,” how it started, and how you can bring the magic of this bookish tradition into your home this Christmas.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Where the Icelan...

"Marley was dead, to begin with."

That is one of the most famous first lines in English literature. It comes from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which is perhaps the greatest Christmas ghost story ever told.

What is it that speaks to so many of us about this story of Scrooge and his ghosts?

Today I want to talk about what makes this story so beloved and enduring–from its original bestselling release in 1843...

As homeschooling moms, we often focus more on what we’re not doing than what we are doing. We fret about the lessons we should be teaching or the projects we should be creating.

But here’s what we want you to remember (and what we try to remind ourselves): what you’re already doing is powerful. It’s purposeful. And best of all, what you’re already doing builds an enduring family culture.

In this bonus episode, you’ll...

How do you know a good book when you see it?

I remember walking into the big, beautiful children’s section at the library with my oldest, who was a baby. I wanted to find books to read aloud to her, but it was hard to know which ones we would love. 

That longing to find good books for my children was the spark that eventually became the Read-Aloud Revival podcast and RAR Premium community, where we’re always trying t...