The World and Everything in It: November 18, 2025

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Most states in the U.S. have Safe Haven laws aimed at protecting newborns — but some recent cases show those laws may not go far enough.

ZNACHKO: We’ve got to do a better job getting to them with the message that we have resources to offer.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today: Afghan service members worry about family still stuck in Afghanistan and, holiday travel rebounds after the shutdown.

Later, a tiny invader taking a big bite out of East Coast vineyards.

WANT: We lost close to 50 percent of our fruit between the weather events and the spotted lanternfly damage.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, November 18th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump: U.S. to sell F35s to Saudi Arabia » President Trump will host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House today.

And ahead of that meeting, the president said he will approve the sale of cutting-edge U.S. F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis.

That, he says, is a reward for being a reliable U.S. ally, and specifically for helping the U.S. carry out targeted strikes against nuclear targets in Iran back in June.

TRUMP:  They've gotta like us very much look at the Iran situation, what we did in terms of, uh, obliterating, you know, their, we obliterated their nuclear capability. Yeah, I, I will say that, uh, we will be doing that. We'll be selling F-35s.

Trump is hoping to persuade the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords — the U.S.-brokered deals that opened diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab nations.

It’s the crown prince’s first U.S. visit since journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 killing, which U.S. intelligence says he likely directed, prompting sanctions on Saudi officials.

Trump on Epstein files » President Trump is now urging House Republicans to back a bill that would force the Justice Department to release files on the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation.

That’s a shift from his earlier warning not to fall for what he called a “Democrat hoax.”

He says he’s tired of Democrats using it for political attacks that imply his administration is hiding something.

TRUMP:  We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do. All of his friends were Democrats. You look at this, Reid Hoffman, you look at, uh, Larry Summers, bill Clinton. They went to his island all the time and many others. All Democrats.

He now says it’s time to let them have what they want to get it out of the way and refocus on more important things.

The Justice Department has faced growing backlash since July, when it said it found no evidence to prosecute Epstein’s clients, and refused to release further records.

The House bill would compel the release of all unclassified documents tied to Epstein.

Israel latest » In New York:

AUDIO: The result of the voting is as follows: 14 votes in favor, zero votes against, two abstentions. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2803 (2025).

And with that, the United Nations Security Council last night voted to adopt the U.S. draft resolution endorsing President Trump's post-war plan for Gaza.

The plan calls for the creation of an international stabilization force to take over security at and within Gaza's borders and oversee the flow of humanitarian aid.

It would also oversee the disarmament of the Hamas terror group and train a new Palestinian police force.

The plan also outlines a pathway for the creation of a Palestinian state, but only after certain conditions are met.

Fentanyl bust » Meantime, in Colorado, law enforcement carried out a massive drug bust.

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly says the haul was staggering.

WEEKLY: 198 kilos, about 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills. Another 12 kilos of fentanyl powder.

Investigators also seized methamphetamine.

Investigators from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation tied the cache to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

CBI Director Armando Saldate says the operation centered on one storage locker used by the traffickers.

SALDATE: That storage locker belonged to a drug courier linked to this organization.

Agents arrested several suspects during coordinated raids across the Denver area, with more raids expected in the coming days.

But investigators believe the network may have already pushed millions of fake pills onto Colorado streets.

Florida largest child rescue operation ever » Meantime, in Florida, officials say they’ve carried out one of the largest child rescue operations in U.S. history, dubbed Operation Home for the Holidays.

Over two weeks, a task force saved 122 missing or endangered children across Florida. Many of the kids, ranging from about 2 to 17 years old were believed to have been kidnapped, trafficked and abused by cartels, gangs and others.

Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier:

UTHMEIER: Here in Florida, our prosecutors have you hurt our kids. We will go after you to the absolute fullest. We will lock you up for as long as possible. Where eligible we will seek the death penalty.

At least a half-dozen suspects now face felony charges, including sexual battery of a child and custodial interference.

Authorities say they’re still working to locate and rescue other trafficked children.

Nigeria girls abducted » Authorities in Nigeria say gunmen stormed a girls’ boarding school in a northwestern region, abducting dozens of students. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Police say the assailants stormed into the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi State before dawn on Monday.

The attackers broke through a fence and exchanged gunfire with security forces, wounding at least one guard.

A vice-principal was killed in the assault.

Police tactical units, soldiers, and even local vigilantes have been combing the nearby forests and escape routes in a coordinated rescue effort.

The school targeted is a secular public school, but the White House has been putting heavy pressure on the government of Nigerian to step up counter-terrorism efforts amid widespread attacks against Christians in the country.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: states wrestle with the best approach for saving abandoned babies. Plus, Afghans who worked with the American military are still trying to escape the Taliban.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 18th of November.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Across the country, more fire stations and hospitals are installing so-called “baby boxes.” These are secure Safe Haven drop-off sites where parents in crisis can surrender a newborn safely and anonymously.

Supporters contend they’re saving lives. Others say more oversight is called for.

Here’s WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: On Labor Day, a 12-year-old boy found the body of a newborn baby girl at an Indianapolis park.

FOX 59: The baby was found here in this small wooded clearing by kids who were playing at the park. INPD is still investigating the death...

The coroner’s office later determined that she was around 30 weeks gestation, but police have not said how she died or identified her mother.

FUNERAL AUDIO: Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.

Community members gathered at a cemetery chapel last month to honor the baby girl after the organization He Knows Your Name claimed her body from the coroner to arrange her funeral. Linda Znachko is the founder of the nonprofit that names and buries abandoned babies.

ZNACHKO: This baby was lost. This baby is now found.

Znachko’s organization named the baby girl Haven Grace Hope. Her name refers to Indiana’s safe haven law that allows women to surrender their infants to officials at designated locations.

All 50 states have laws that enable parents to legally and anonymously surrender an unharmed infant at a fire station, hospital, police station, or other designated location. According to the National Safe Haven Alliance, more than 5,200 [fifty-two hundred] babies have been safely surrendered in the United States since the first haven law was passed in 1999. But dozens of babies are still illegally abandoned in the U.S. every year, with just over half surviving.

POLICE: I call it the miracle on 34th street.

Last month, police in New York City found a newborn baby girl, wrapped in a blanket, alone at the base of a staircase in a Manhattan subway station. In September, residents at an apartment complex in Austin, Texas, found a baby girl in a dumpster. In both cases the babies survived, and authorities later located and arrested their mothers.

Back in Indianapolis, Znachko spoke to Fox News after Haven was found.

ZNACHKO: There are women falling through the cracks and we’ve got to do a better job getting to them somehow with the message that they are not alone and that we have resources to offer them.

He Knows Your Name advocates for better awareness about safe haven laws, and it also partners with an organization called Safe Haven Baby Boxes. That nonprofit installs wall compartments that are secure and temperature-controlled, offering a surrender option free from human contact. One of the boxes is about five miles from where Haven was found.

After installing its first box in 2016, the group has now placed nearly 400 boxes across the country. About half of all states now allow the boxes, though New York does not. Some advocates say the completely anonymous option could help save more babies.

In Montgomery, Alabama, Assistant Fire Chief Craig Carr Jr. said he advocated for the new fire station to include a box.

CARR: We opened the station in May, and by August we had our first surrender in the box. She was perfectly healthy. She still had her umbilical cord, so she was less than five days old.

Before the Baby Box was an option, Carr responded to calls about abandoned babies as a first responder.

CARR: We’ve had babies that were abandoned in trash receptacles or bathrooms. That’s what we want to avoid. We don’t want that to ever be an option here.

Just days after Carr’s team received the latest baby girl, police across the border in Georgia discovered a newborn baby boy in a dumpster outside a motel. The baby survived, and his 22-year-old mother was arrested, but the case sparked calls for the state to permit the boxes.

Georgia is one of many states where lawmakers have tried and failed to amend the safe haven laws to allow the option. Opponents say the unregulated boxes could pose safety and legal risks. They argue it is difficult to determine if a surrendered baby has been abused, neglected, trafficked, or kidnapped if a trained professional does not interact with the adult leaving the baby.

Dawn Geras is the founder of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation in Illinois and helped advocate for her home state to adopt its safe haven law in 2001. She says parents who call a hotline or who speak to someone at a safe haven location can receive medical help and information about options that could help them keep their baby.

GERAS: Not having direct contact with a human being, there’s no opportunity to offer the mom any kind of supportive services. In 25% of the cases, we’ve been able to help the parent make a parenting plan and actually keep the baby, or make a traditional adoption plan, both of which are better than safe haven.

On its website, Safe Haven Baby Boxes responds to many of the common concerns about their boxes. It agrees that infant surrender should always be the last option…but it should be an option. The nonprofit declined to speak to WORLD for this story.

Meanwhile, other safe haven advocates argue better public education will help make sure fewer babies are abandoned. Heather Burner is the executive director for the National Safe Haven Alliance. She says federal legislation could also help clarify the laws.

BURNER: I think having some minimum standards across the board would be really, really good, because then you don’t have a three-day law and a 30-day law with states that are right next to each other.

One thing advocates can agree on is that a woman should have access to all possible support to keep her baby.

BURNER: Safe haven is a beautiful, life-saving law. But it should also be the last resort.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Afghan families in limbo.

Some Afghan war allies who resettled in the US after the fall of Kabul have been waiting for their families to join them. But the Trump administration’s refugee cap of 7,500 has paused many of those admissions.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Those allies say the cap puts their families at risk. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Phillip’s brother has been trapped in Afghanistan since the American withdrawal in 2021.

PHILLIP: Anytime any moment I could I may not hear from him that he could get prosecuted or killed by the Taliban.

To clarify, “Phillip” isn’t this man’s real name. We’ve agreed to use a pseudonym to protect his brother’s identity. We’ll be referring to two other Afghan servicemembers quoted in this piece by pseudonyms as well. In each case, we’re trying to protect the identities of their families.

Phillip used to work alongside the US military in Afghanistan and faced threats to himself.

PHILLIP: I was able to secure a special immigrant visa, migrated to the U.S., and immediately, in order to give back, I enlisted in the military in 2015.

Since then, Phillip has deployed as a soldier to Iraq, Kuwait, and his native country of Afghanistan. With the Taliban back in power, Phillip has been working to secure his brother’s safe passage to the United States. The process ground to a halt after President Donald Trump took office in January.

PHILLIP: There is no sort of like a communication to see what the progress has been done of their relocation to safety.

Just hours after beginning his second term, Trump shut down the US Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP. The White House claimed the Biden administration overextended the program, leaving the nation ill-equipped to take in large numbers of new refugees. As such, the country wouldn’t take in any more refugees until it, quote, “aligns with the interests of the United States.”

But some advocates say the program aligns with the interests of the United States right now. Shawn VanDiver is the president of AfghanEvac, an organization that advocates for America’s Afghan Allies.

VANDIVER: It is bad politics. It's bad for our national security. And this program is popular. 90% of the American public, want our wartime allies to be able to come here.

VanDiver says his organization has repeatedly petitioned the administration with letters and emails on behalf of the family members of soldiers like Phillip.

For ten months, VanDiver says they’ve received no response.

So, earlier this month, VanDiver and Phillip took to the halls of Congress to meet with federal officials in person.

VANDIVER: These are people's lives that are on the line. And people in Washington, D.C., enjoying a cocktail while the families of our service members are being hunted down by the Taliban? That’s just unacceptable.

It isn’t just people in Afghanistan that the administration has prevented from coming to the United States. Some Afghan family members of U-S servicemembers are currently in Qatar.

JACK: I was worried about my siblings. After the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021, I was worried about them because of their association with me as a service member.

Jack has been serving in the U.S. Army Reserves since 2021—at about the same time the Taliban takeover put his family in jeopardy.

Late last year, two of his siblings got relocated to Qatar, and they were scheduled to move to the United States in February. But once Trump took office in January, those plans were cancelled.

VanDiver explains that Jack’s family is in the same boat as a lot of other Afghan servicemembers’ families. And it’s a boat the Trump administration could easily bail them out of.

VANDIVER: Some of these folks have family on the site at Camp Al Saliyah in Doha. That is a State Department-run facility where they could just decide to bring them here. They have the power within the Executive Order 14163 to just approve exemptions. But they haven't even tried.

All those individuals have been vetted and cleared to travel, VanDiver explained.

Another Afghan soldier in the U-S Army Reserves joined VanDiver, Phillip, and Jack on their trip to the Hill.

Mark started as a translator and interpreter for the U.S. Military in 2005.

MARK: I was in various missions and all sorts of operations supporting U.S. military there. And in 2012, when I come to the U.S., I joined the U.S. Army. And since then, I am still serving in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Mark says his family members still in Afghanistan were vetted and cleared for travel to the United States before President Trump took office. When he found out about the administration’s new refugee cap 10 months later, Mark said he was disappointed.

MARK: I thought my family would not make it in at least the next three years. I'm hopeful that President, maybe I think President Trump doesn't know about family members of U.S. military service members. And if he knows, probably he will take action and he will do something.

The White House last week told WORLD in an email that no refugees would be coming to the United States at all until the government reopened. In response to a follow-up this week, the White House referred me to the Department of Homeland Security and to the State Department. They did not immediately respond to my request for comment.

But Mark—who told me he voted for Trump—says he’s holding out hope the White House might change course:

MARK: If he wants to take action, the family members of U.S. military are not exceeding like maybe more than 2,000 or something. And he can still include those to bring them over here and to give them a pathway at least.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher in Washington, D.C

NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next, the Holiday rush. Triple A projects six million Americans are planning to board domestic flights around Thanksgiving, starting a week from today through December 1st.

WORLD’s Myrna Brown reports.

SOUND: [Dog snorting]

AUDIO: This is Winne the frenchie

MYRNA BROWN: Sarah and Chuck DeStefano are not looking forward to traveling next week without their French and English bulldogs, Winnie and Calypso.

SARAH DeSTEFANO: Who’s going to take care of the animals because we feed them twice a day. They go walking numerous times a day. So I think that’s our biggest anxiety about leaving is making sure the animals are ok.

But finding suitable pet sitters may be the least of their worries this time. The Alabama couple knew a year ago they’d be traveling to California for Thanksgiving. But Chuck DeStefano says they waited to firm up their travel plans.

CHUCK DeSTEFANO: We waited because of the government shutdown. So we weren’t sure. And we still don’t know if we’re going to be able to do it.

BOB POOLE: I hope most of them will make their trips, but I would not bet on it…

Bob Poole is a transportation expert and director of Transportation Policy at Reason Foundation, a non-profit think tank. He says the air traffic controller shortage is to blame for all the travel drama.

POOLE: I just read this morning the FAA saying, oh everything is going to be back to normal….all flights bla, bla, bla… but the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy last week said that they had over 600 retirements of controllers during the 43-day shutdown.

SEAN DUFFY: I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown. I’m now up to 15 to 20 a day retiring.

Poole did the math on Secretary Duffy’s statistics.

POOLE: And so I took the lower number and multiplied that by 43 days and whoa, that got to that big number…six hundred and something. And that’s probably the minimum number. So the FAA is in a tough situation now.

Poole calls it a vicious but preventable cycle. One that is likely to continue.

POOLE: The FAA is still going to have its funding cut back or not there. Controllers will be working without pay. This was the 13th, 14th government shutdown since 1980. It’s very predictable it’s going to be another one within the next five years and so we can expect the same thing if they don’t change any policy.

Poole has spent the last three decades trying to convince policymakers to take steps to protect air travel from the recurring government shutdown.

POOLE: Ninety-five countries have depoliticized their air traffic systems. Taken them out of the government budget, made them self supporting from air traffic control fees and charges. We are one of the very few countries that does not have direct user fees for airliners and business jets that fly in our air space.

Poole says the fee structure is simple and universal: the gross weight of the plane times the number of miles flown.

POOLE: Our Congress has deprived us of the ability to have an independent funding source for air traffic control. I’ve been talking about this for 30 years off and on. It still hasn’t happened.

Poole says the current attention to the air traffic control system is the perfect opportunity to do something about funding before the next shutdown happens.

Though that doesn’t do much to help travelers next week. So, what does that mean for families like the DeStefanos?

POOLE: The long hauls from east coast to west coast are probably less likely to be a problem than flights needing to change a plane somewhere from a smaller place to a hub, then to some other smaller place.

Chuck and Sarah DeStefano just may make their coast to coast connection. But if things don’t go as planned:

SARAH DeSTEFANO: Chuck does it the best. He gets on. He knows we’re going to get there. He falls right to sleep. I don’t. But he just enjoys the process.

CHUCK DeSTEFANO: I view every airport as like Disneyland. I just enjoy the airport, enjoy the people, enjoy what it has to offer. I’ve traveled so much in the past few years, I’ve just learned to enjoy it and just roll with the flow.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A woman out for a sunset walk on an Oregon beach saw something strange in the sand: Audio from TV station KGW:

DUNN: Probably about like 15 feet in front of me, I saw something that looked like driftwood, and then I noticed it was moving.

She drew closer and realized it was a shark, gasping for oxygen and now thrashing around, trying to get back into the water.

DUNN: I had seen enough Shark Week to know… if you can grab them by the tail, they can't reach back and bite you.

And surely hoping her memory was right.

So, she did grab the shark by the tail and dragged him back into surf. Experts thought the shark suffered cold shock and that knocked him off course. In any event, course corrected, and this shark week, it was the shark needing the rescue.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, November 18th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the hitchhiking pest that officials on the East Coast are begging you to stomp.

NEWS ANCHOR: Millions of trees and plants across the country are being killed by an invasive species. Scientists say the spotted lanternfly has been found in up to 19 states after first being discovered in the United States about a decade ago.

EICHER: The spotted lanternfly likely arrived from Asia on a shipment of stone in 2012. Two years later, adult insects began showing up in Pennsylvania—and this expert hitchhiker has been spreading ever since … nearly 20 U.S. states at last check.

REICHARD: WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has been following the spread.

LUEDTKE: You can see, like under here, those are their egg masses, and they like cover them with, like a brown layer.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Genny Luedtke is searching the grape leaves at Fables and Feathers Winery for an unwelcome visitor.

LUEDTKE: They usually don't look so like, brown and gross. They usually get a little bit more just, like, reddish. They don't turn, like, bright red, like a maple leaf or anything in the fall. But they don't usually look so gnarly.

The spotted lanternfly is responsible for the leaves' grayish-brown color.

LUEDTKE: They suck the sap out of the leaves and then leave behind, like a residue that gets gross.

Luedtke first noticed the pest among the vines a few months ago.

LUEDTKE: You would walk out here before, and you could, like, shake the vine, and they just all come falling out. It was so gross. Oh here’s an actual one. Ah!

Her family’s winery is situated on a small vineyard in the mountains of central Virginia. The bugs haven’t caused too much damage for the Luedtkes—yet.

But WORLD reporter Addie Offereins spoke with others who are seeing some serious problems. About an hour from Washington D.C. the bugs are wreaking havoc at Casanel Vineyards in Loudon County. Anna Want is the winery’s general manager.

WANT: Not only is it affecting the fruit quality and the vines themselves, but people don't want to be hit in the face. They jump, they hop, you know, they don't bite or hurt. But there's a lot of them. It does affect the traffic and the tasting room as well.

The bugs are easy to identify. They’re about an inch long and their large, gray-ish wings are covered in striking black spots. When they take off in flight or jump to their next perch, their underwings flash a bright scarlet.

WANT: We lost close to 50% of our fruit, between the weather events and the spotted lanternfly damage, which was really unfortunate.

The insects suck the sap out of the plants, crippling entire vines.

And it’s not just vines. They also feed on a variety of plants and hardwood trees. The problem is that they leave behind a sticky sugary substance and that attracts funguses and other insects—both of which can damage the plant.

LOGUE: We were very fortunate to not find it in New York state until the summer of 2020, which did give us some time to get prepared for spotted lanternfly.

Chris Logue works with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

LOGUE: Spotted lanternfly is a very good hitchhiker, and the two main ways that we tend to see it moving were in commercial as well as just regular highway traffic and also along the rail lines. Pennsylvania had set up a permit system for commercial shippers who were coming out of their quarantine areas. We actually worked with the state of Pennsylvania on doing roadside stops.

Despite their best efforts, the fly still sneaked into New York and first showed up on Staten Island. Logue said his state then turned to technology to track the spread.

LOGUE: One of the things that we wanted to avoid was, you know, having to have a person on the phone all the time taking reports. So we utilized an online reporting form where the general public could go in and put GPS coordinates in, they could put a picture in there.

They’ve also started using drones to spot the adults in the canopies of trees and scout for egg masses. The state government partners with Rutgers University to track the genetic material the flies leave behind. That helps them predict where the next infestation might pop up.

Logue said while the flies primarily damage grapevines, there’s other economic costs, too.

LOGUE: There're 31 states that don't have it and that don't want it. California has an exterior quarantine on spotted lanternfly. We've had to begin to look at shipments of products going out and certifying that they're free from spotted lanternfly.

Back in Virginia, Beth Sastre is a commercial horticulturalist helping farmers in Loudon County adapt to their new neighbors.

SASTRE: Each female will lay down between two and three egg masses. Each egg mass has between 30 and 50 eggs. We are not going to exterminate it. We are not going to eradicate it. We can slow the spread, and then till they learn, or they learn, to coexist in our environment. That's the way it happens with all the invasive plants and insects.

She said despite officials’ best efforts, it’s likely the fly will keep spreading west thanks to people who might not even realize they’re transporting the bug.

SASTRE: It started spreading by egg masses and hitchhiking in cars, in construction trucks, and everything. They hitchhike on anything that moves.

She tells homeowners to wrap sticky paper around trees to catch the bugs. For vineyard owners, Sastre says pesticides are an option, but should be a last resort and only with great care.

SASTRE: We warn people that you know when you start spraying pesticides, in this case, insecticides, you are going to kill not just spotted lanternfly. You are going to kill everything else.

Anna Want said they’ve put employees—and guests—to work swatting the bugs at Casenel Vineyards. She bought 500 fly swatters.

WANT: Every event I went to, I had them out. It was a free thing to give people. I was telling all the little children, you need to kill all the bugs for me.

Want said this isn’t the first infestation they’ve dealt with and it probably won’t be the last.

WANT: We've been comparing it to our couple of seasons where we dealt with the stink bugs. There will be a way to fix it, but it might be a rough couple years.

At Fables and Feathers Winery, Luedtke says the staff are already preparing for next year’s growing season. That includes spraying a pesticide on the vines to keep them from laying as many eggs and scraping away the egg masses the flies have already laid.

LUEDTKE: I've been told, like, Dollar Tree spatulas are the best weapon. And you just make sure that they're smushed. I’ve seen other vineyards that use blowtorches and I’m excited to try that. It seems therapeutic to go out there with a flamethrower. Ha.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin with reporting from Addie Offereins.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, November 18th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, WORLD Opinions contributor Candice Watters reviews a new book from a trustworthy source, it’s for discerning parents who seek good literature for their children.

CANDICE WATTERS: “We’re reading ahead for you.” That’s the tagline of RedeemedReader.com, a 14-year-old website that reviews new children’s books from a Christian perspective. WORLD senior writer Janie B. Cheaney and her fellow editors of the site have now released a book of their own: The Redeemed Reader, published by Moody Publishers.

The goal is to help parents cultivate their children’s discernment and imagination through Truth and Story.

Parents who are weary of too much screen time don’t always know where to begin. And those concerned about what’s being offered to their children by their public library will be glad for the help.

These four women have condensed years of book wisdom into a relatable guide that covers everything from “what to read when,” to navigating hard stories, reading across genres, and organizing a home library. Each chapter ends with suggested book titles by reading level.

These authors love books. But they’re also clear that the books they point to are not meant to take away from the Book. They include a whole chapter on choosing Bibles for your children. And more than once they remind readers that “The only required book is the Bible.” All the other books on the “To Be Read” pile are “optional.” They say that’s because “Books and stories impact readers, but they do not save readers. Jesus saves.”

They help parents choose books that will do more than entertain. They recommend books that will, in the words of Hebrews 10:24, “spur children on to love and good deeds.”

Some readers might be nervous with their inclusion of titles like: The Hunger Games, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and Everything Sad is Untrue. They call books like these that “grapple with sin…‘messy books’.” And they review them because they are stories that “honestly reflect the human condition.” They say the goal of messy books is “discernment, not comfort…[and] growing in discernment includes facing uncomfortable topics.” But their selections don’t present sin as funny or entertaining and they don’t recommend books with sinful characters who “don’t mature out of their deplorable state.” They recommend messy books with care, and with qualifications. They also offer a helpful list of elements for deciding which of these messy books have a place in your home.

Still, they caution parents about giving children messy books too early. Just because middle grade students can decode the words doesn’t mean they can handle the stories. They say children who aren’t developmentally ready for messy books “may get caught up in the … sinful actions” of the characters and “miss the greater [redemptive] story.”

The authors trust parents to know their children best, to know what’s in the books they’re giving their children, and to steer clear of books that glorify sin at every age. They say “we pray regularly for wisdom…and encourage you to do likewise.”

The Redeemed Reader in book form is both practical and inspiring. A worthwhile reference that doesn’t require a WiFi password. Whether you’re a new parent who's just starting to read aloud, or have been at it for years and are in search of new ideas for your voracious readers, this book will help you “shepherd [your] children’s imagination” through books.

I’m Candice Watters.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: the Epstein files are once again in the news…we’ll talk about that and many other political stories of the week with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday. And, a conversation with apologist Os Guinness. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” —Galatians 6:1, 2

Go now in grace and peace.

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