Books
Craig Fadel’s ‘The Songless Bird’ Offers Children a Message of Self-Acceptance Through Musical Metaphor
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Craig Fadel, a pastor and adjunct professor, has released a new children’s book, "The Songless Bird," published through Christian Faith Publishing.
The story centers on Ronen, a young character in a world where all creatures possess unique musical abilities. According to the publisher’s synopsis, Ronen observes others sharing their melodies and building friendships while he cannot unlock his own song he believes is somewhere inside him. Per the book’s description, hope arrives through an unexpected new voice that helps him find his way forward.
Fadel says the book grew out of his work helping others find a sense of purpose, an outgrowth of his ministry background. In the announcement, he described wanting to write "a story that speaks directly to children who feel like outsiders," and said Ronen’s arc reflects what he calls a common experience of longing to belong while learning to accept oneself. The announcement also credits his family life, including his wife Mary and their three children, as an influence on the book’s themes of acceptance and belonging.
The publisher describes the book as aimed at young readers navigating feelings of difference or isolation, with a message conveying that feeling different or silent doesn’t diminish one’s value. It’s marketed as juvenile fiction and is being sold through major retailers including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and the Apple iTunes Store, as well as in bookstores.
Studio CarryOnHarry sees a crowded shelf of picture books built around belonging and self-acceptance, but the specific hook here, a literal songless bird in a world defined by song, gives the theme a concrete image kids can hold onto rather than just an abstract lesson.
Studio CarryOnHarry Perspective
The appeal here may be less about novelty and more about authorial credibility. Fadel isn’t writing from a parenting instinct alone—he’s writing from years spent in both pastoral counseling and classroom settings, two places where he’s witnessed real children struggling with belonging. That dual perspective means the book likely avoids the saccharine tone that can undermine well-meaning messages about self-worth.
In practice, this matters most in the read-aloud moment. A parent or teacher reading this aloud has an author who understands both emotional development and faith formation, which means the story probably works on multiple registers—the literal plot about finding a song, and an underlying current about discovering purpose. That layered approach is rare in the children’s market and gives adults a reason to reach for this one over similar titles.
The limitation is that we don’t yet know whether the book’s message about "different doesn’t diminish your value" lands through earned character growth or feels more like a delivered lesson. Fadel’s vocational background suggests he understands how to build meaning through narrative rather than sermon, but the book itself needs to prove that in its execution.
The real value may depend less on whether this is the only book about belonging your child needs, and more on whether it offers educators and parents a text that respects both the child’s genuine feelings of alienation and the adult’s desire to guide them toward acceptance—two things that often feel at odds in children’s literature.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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Books
Hospital Chaplain John Goodjohn Publishes ‘The Gospel of Scripture,’ a Self-Study Approach to Biblical Text
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
John Goodjohn, a hospital chaplain with a background in pastoral ministry and seminary instruction, has published "The Gospel of Scripture," a book that sets out to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the Bible’s own text as the primary interpretive tool, according to the announcement. The book is subtitled "The Gospel of Jesus Christ as Defined and Explained in the Bible, by the Bible Itself," and is published through Page Publishing.
The book’s premise, as described in the announcement, is that readers can study Scripture directly, without relying on denominational commentary or secondary interpretive frameworks, to understand what it says on its own terms. Goodjohn frames this as an alternative to conventional devotional literature and study guides.
Goodjohn’s path to the project is unusual for religious publishing. According to the announcement, his vocations span university administration, organic farming, competitive figure skating, long-distance sailing, roller-disco management in the Hamptons, and business ownership, in addition to his pastoral and academic work. He has described himself as having once been an outsider to organized Christianity before dedicating himself to study of the Bible’s teachings apart from what he characterizes as the "thousands of differing, often contradictory interpretations" found across modern religious practice.
"My journey from skepticism about organized Christianity to a life grounded solely in biblical teaching has convinced me that readers hunger for authenticity," Goodjohn said in the announcement. "This book exists to help people encounter the Gospel through Scripture’s own voice, free from the complications of external influence."
The idea of returning to Scripture’s own language as a corrective to accumulated tradition and interpretation has precedent in Christian publishing — Brennan Manning’s "The Ragamuffin Gospel," first published in 1990, built a similar case around God’s love and grace stripped of religious performance, and remains widely read decades later. Goodjohn’s book positions itself in that same lineage of works arguing that direct engagement with the text, rather than inherited interpretation, is where readers will find clarity.
"The Gospel of Scripture" is available through Page Publishing’s website, as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and the Apple iTunes Store.
Studio CarryOnHarry will leave it to readers to judge whether a text can ever be studied entirely free of interpretation, but the author’s own winding path to this project is a story in itself.
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Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
John Goodjohn, a hospital chaplain with a background in pastoral ministry and seminary teaching, has released "The Gospel of Scripture," a book that sets out to examine what the Bible says about the Gospel of Jesus Christ using Scripture alone, without relying on outside commentary or denominational interpretation. The book, published through Page Publishing, is available in bookstores and through major online retailers including Amazon, Apple’s iTunes Store, Google Play and Barnes & Noble.
The book’s full title, "The Gospel of Scripture: The Gospel of Jesus Christ as Defined and Explained in the Bible, by the Bible Itself," signals its central method: allowing Scripture to explain itself, avoiding the lens of external interpretive materials. According to the announcement, Goodjohn intends the book as a tool for self-study, aimed at readers who want to work through Scripture’s own language directly rather than through devotionals or study guides built around a particular tradition.
Goodjohn’s path to writing it is unusual for religious publishing. Before entering pastoral work, he held jobs in competitive figure skating, roller-disco management in the Hamptons, organic farming, long-distance sailing and business ownership, according to the announcement. He has also worked in university administration and taught at Bible college and seminary level. By his own account, he was once an outsider to organized Christianity, and that distance is what the book draws on: an attempt to approach the text without inherited assumptions about what it’s supposed to say.
"My journey from skepticism about organized Christianity to a life grounded solely in biblical teaching has convinced me that readers hunger for authenticity," Goodjohn said in the announcement. "This book exists to help people encounter the Gospel through Scripture’s own voice, free from the complications of external influence."
The idea of returning to Scripture’s own internal logic, rather than accumulated interpretation, places Goodjohn’s book in a tradition that runs through much of Protestant devotional writing, from Jerry Bridges’ work on grace and sanctification to Brennan Manning’s "The Ragamuffin Gospel." What distinguishes Goodjohn’s approach, per the publisher’s description, is the explicit method: using the Bible to explain the Bible, with as little external framework as the author could manage.
For Studio CarryOnHarry, the more interesting story here isn’t the book’s theology but the author’s path to it — a chaplain who spent decades in roller-disco management and long-distance sailing before turning to seminary teaching is a biography worth knowing more about on its own terms.
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