Megan (VanderHart) Saben ’99 remembers when the turning point came. She was in Professor Ethan Pettit’s Children’s Literature class her senior year at Covenant when he taught them about truth and story in literature. He explained to them, “You can have truth with either an uppercase ‘T’ or a lowercase ‘t.’ You can have story with an uppercase ‘S’ or a lowercase ‘s’” says Megan. "And how you can mix and match them. Truth can be found in a story, Story with truth, and truth with story. The best of all is finding Truth with Story," she continues, “How it applied to children’s literature was so enlightening and became a turning point.” She says that Ethan Pettit showed the class how Truth and Story can be woven together by studying works of literature. Megan says it was in this class that she saw the gospel and biblical worldview applied to something she loved: children’s literature. 

Studying Children’s Literature

Megan and Betsy (Matthews) Farquhar ’97 were both English majors at Covenant and bonded over their shared love of children’s literature. Megan went on to study children’s literature at Hollins College in the summers while earning a library degree at University of Iowa in the fall and spring. She invited Betsy to join her at Hollins one summer where they continued the conversation about Truth and Story that started in that Children’s Literature class at Covenant. At Hollins, they wrestled together with Truth and Story as professors had them deconstruct stories they loved so well, like Little House on the Prairie. Their Covenant education equipped them to think critically and to filter what they learned through a biblical worldview. In fact, a big takeaway for Megan and Betsy from their days at Covenant is that any subject is open to study. Megan said, “We learned to apply a biblical worldview to whatever we studied and read.” This was especially true of children’s literature. They always ask the question: What is the purpose of what is in the book? Betsy also says that her Covenant professor, Professor Ralston, prepared her well for success in graduate school when she had to write a ten-page bibliography to accompany her senior thesis project on George MacDonald’s children’s literature. 

Redeemed Reader Partnership

Fast forward a few years and they are both working together on a children’s book review blog, applying Truth and Story to children’s book reviews. Not long after starting their blog, they met the founders of a new website, Redeemed Reader, who were also doing reviews of children’s literature, and Megan and Betsy were invited to join the team. Their website states, “we’re reading ahead for you so that you can confidently choose books for your children and teens.” In their reviews, they tell parents any areas of concern to be on the lookout for and where a book may conflict with a biblical worldview. In 2016, Betsy took on a temporary role as managing editor and has remained in this role ever since. Megan serves as the associate editor.

Redeemed Reader continues to grow as they serve more and more families. These days they partner with Story Glory Kids (a group that provides book fairs to Christian schools) and Westminster Kids (a website that sells children’s books). They also have a quarterly magazine. Betsy returns to the mountain each year to teach in Dr. Bagby’s Children’s Literature class on the topic of book reviews. Megan recently published her own children’s book on the topic of resurrection titled Something Better is Coming. And, next year, the Redeemed Reader team will release a book with Moody Publishers about the concept of Truth and Story. 

Megan and Betsy’s common love of children’s literature set them on a path the Lord laid out for them. They were equipped by their education at Covenant to advance in their training and to help parents choose quality literature for their children to read. As it states on Redeemed Reader’s website, “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.”

To learn more about Redeemed Reader and to read their latest reviews, click here.

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