Mary Magdalene (Real Reads)

Mary’s childhood in Magdala leaves her with emotional scars she fears will never heal – until she meets Jesus. Recognizing the importance of Jesus’s work, she decides to do all that she can to support him, but what good can a woman do in a man’s world? Will Mary ever be accepted by Jesus’s other disciples? What will she learn from the miracles she witnesses and from her many conversations with the Son of God? To Mary the message seems simple, so why can’t others believe? After witnessing Jesus’s agonizing death, Mary is the first to see the empty tomb, the first to see the risen Christ. What role can she play in spreading the news about Jesus after his death?

Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world’s greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.

KAREN DONNELLY lives in the English seaside town of Brighton, where for the past twenty years she has been working as a fulltime illustrator, mostly of children’s books. She has solid experience in illustration for publishing, advertising and commercial clients.

ALAN MOORE is a cultural and religious historian with a particular interest in the connections between history and education. He has also trained as a psychotherapist specializing in family work. He lives in Cheltenham, England.

GILL TAVNER was an English Teacher and Head of Department before turning to writing when she had young children of her own. She has also taught English in South East Asia, worked as a personal trainer, been a management trainee in an insurance company, led treks in Africa, run her own business and painted fake tattoos on Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Perhaps it is this variety that makes her such a versatile writer.