Take a look at all of the fun things the New Classics authors have been up to this past year. Homeschool conventions, new books, winning awards, and more! The authors are listed in no particular order.
Susan K. Marlow
A couple really exciting things came about in 2025. In the spring, Kregel Publications released books 7 and 8 in my popular middle-grade series, Circle C Adventures. The two books are a collection of short stories that fill in the weeks or months between the various books in the series and feature Andi Carter, her family, and of course her horse, Taffy.
Then, this fall, Kregel contracted me to write a brand-new middle-grade series, tentatively titled TIMBERLAND TRAILS. The first book, Trouble in Tacoma, releases May of 2027. The books follow twelve-year-old Jenny Grant (Andi’s best friend from San Francisco Smugglers and Trouble with Treasure) in adventures of her own (along with a couple of her brothers) in the wild and dangerous Pacific Northwest of 1880. You can read the FIRST CHAPTER as a sneak peek.
Donna Patton
Sometimes, a character just grips a writer’s heart and has to be written. It was that way for me with Jenny Cameron. The Cattle Rustling Catastrophe story is actually about fifteen years old. It went through a lot of revisions and setbacks before I wrote “the end” last year (2024). I was thrilled to be invited to become a New Classics author this year. But good news kept coming!
Jenny caught the eye of the judges at the Will Rogers Medallion Award. I’ll never forget sitting in a Starbuck’s on a hot summer day, seeing my name listed as a finalist! The awards were given at the end of October 2025 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. How exciting to be in a room with some of the greatest of western writers, filmmakers, and musicians! When my Jenny book won a silver medallion (second place in Young Reader’s Fiction), it was a dream come true.
Phyllis Wheeler
For me, 2025 brought a whole new genre: picture books. I was so blessed to find an amazing illustrator who lives far away in South Africa. Eliza adored my wandering duckling, Roland, and brought him to life. She illustrated the two books for kids 3-8: Roland Looks for God, and Roland Runs from God. So far, readers are delighted!
In July I also published the fourth and final book in my chapter book series, Guardians of Time, perfect for kids 8-11. My time-traveling trio of kids from present day aim to rescue a misplaced cave lion. Then they find a man held by ruthless raiders, so they work to rescue him too. Return of the Cave Lion has already won a significant award, finalist for the Cascade Christian Writers contest. I’m delighted that the series is complete, after five years of working on it! Series audio now available on WindowSeat and lots of other places too. Find out more at my website, https://www.phylliswheeler.com.
Becca Wierwille
What a fun year! In the first half of 2025, I published the third and final book in my award-winning Road Trip Rescue series, Road Trip Redemption. In this story, a girl finds a stray dog—along with hope for a chance to make things right. My friend Amanda Trumpower and I also started a Christian book podcast for kids called Ice Cream with Authors.
In the second half of the year, I pre-launched a funny, heartwarming new chapter book series for kids 6-10 called the Scout and Barnaby Mysteries. These lightly illustrated mysteries star a girl and her unusually perceptive dog who team up to solve mysteries at a Christian wilderness camp. The first three books in the series will officially release in January, February, and March 2026, but you can download a free ebook or free audiobook of book one, The Case of the Four-Legged Friend, as a sneak peek!
Adare Elyse
This year Adare Elyse stayed mostly close to home with her first baby and focused on new motherhood. She did venture out for a few writerly adventures, including her annual favorite, the Realm Makers conference, and several local events where she introduced her books to new readers. Her book On Hidden Wings also won its second award this year, the American Christian Fiction Writers Kingdom Kidlit Award, which was another special honor.
Mark Redmond
For years I’ve been planning to turn my books into audiobooks. In 2025, I published my first one and signed a contract for the second one. I’m publishing my Bounty Hunter Nate Landry series first; then I plan to record the Box M Gang books.
Susie and I travel as I do research for future books. This year, the most amazing trip we took involved staying in two hotels built in the 1880’s and riding on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad that runs between them. We also returned to the Tombstone Festival of Western Books and had an additional book signing at the BootHill Graveyard Gift Shop. We had a wonderful year!
Kandi Wyatt
Kandi J Wyatt enjoyed vendor events both near and far. Local markets enabled her to see return readers, meet dragon fans, and connect with other vendors–some of which who even bought her books! Realm Makers Expo was a highlight because she was able to be across from S. D. Smith and the Green Ember booth which featured Helmer and the Dragon Tomb game that she’d backed via Kickstarter. She also was able to enjoy the voice actors of Larry the Cucumber and Connie Kendall from Adventures in Odyssey performing with the Main Street Music Show. Another favorite was to dress up as a character from her favorite Wayne Thomas Batson series and introduce herself as the character to him. He fell into character and used the voices she loved from the story.
As far as books go, Kandi released Kristjan’s Rise, a young adult fantasy about a young man struggling to find his place in the world as well as his worth to live! She also hosted two successful Kickstarters–one for Kristjan’s Rise, and the other for the tenth anniversary of her first book, Dragon’s Future. There’ll be more Kickstarters next year–the first being a cooperative card game for the whole family.
Rachel Newhouse
This year has been a wild ride of open doors and exciting opportunities! Perhaps the biggest change is that I was offered a teaching position. I now teach fiction writing to homeschoolers and currently have over 100 students, most of whom are high schoolers. Needless to say, suddenly welcoming 100 teenagers into my heart has thrown my life into chaos, but I couldn’t be more honored. I am so thrilled that I have the opportunity to invest in homeschool families and inspire a love of writing in these students.
This year also saw several milestones for the RED RAIN series. Omnibus Volume 3 released over the summer, marking the end of “arc 3” and bringing the series to 18 total books! I’m now working on the last and final arc. I also released several audiobooks (with many more on the way for 2026) and started a much-anticipated project: the graphic novel adaptation of Book #1! I can’t wait to share more with readers in the coming year.
