About the Book

Book: Freedom Rings

Author: Rachel Keith

Genre: Christian Middle-grade Animal Fantasy

Release Date: June 16, 2025

Freedom rings out. Who will hear it?

Tina the wolf and her adopted animal siblings narrowly escaped childhood enslavement and lead a quiet, secluded life together. But when they find out the usurping Authorities ravage their world of Neftar to capture more slaves, Tina feels that she and her squad are being called to free their fellow Neftarians.

As they plunge into their abolition quest, however, untold dangers arise—from betrayals, to life-threatening peril, to the discovery of Tina’s forbidden heritage.

Can Tina and her siblings fight for freedom, or will they be put to death for their rebellion… and for Tina’s outlawed bloodline?

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Author Interview

1. What is your favorite part about writing?
I love to see a story come to life! There’s nothing more fun about writing than finding you’re
spectating more than working. There are parts of stories that require some extra effort in order
to see them through, but oftentimes it’s simply typing while watching a scene or dialogue or
environment seamlessly come together. That’s my favorite part about writing.

2. What is your least favorite part about writing?
Oddly enough… my least favorite thing about writing is writing climaxes! Readers have told me I do a good job with climaxes, and yet I hate writing them. I always worry I’ll make them too short or too easy. There are some climaxes I enjoy writing, but usually, I get overwhelmed by them.

3. When did you become a writer?
I wrote my first story when I was six, and I’ve been writing all sorts of stories since then. When I was twelve, I created the characters and storyline that we know today as The Squad: Rising
series, and that’s when I became a serious writer.

4. How long does it usually take you to write a book?
Freedom Rings—and The Squad: Rising series as a whole—took me six years to complete,
since I wrote it when I was twelve and it needed a lot of editing and even total rewriting before I published Freedom Rings at age eighteen. But since then, my writing and storytelling has
improved dramatically. Nowadays, it usually takes me a month to write a 25k-word novella—and I will note that I don’t use AI for any of that!

5. Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?
Bits of myself definitely show up in my characters. Tina the wolf, the main character, is basically a wolf-ified knockoff of myself, though the two of us still have plenty of differences. But even physically, we look similar (blue eyes; her orange fur and my red hair). The other characters have smaller bits of myself in them, as well. And Sy the cat, a secondary main character, has apersonality that embodies a lot of my mom’s enthusiasm.

About the Author

Rachel Keith created and finished the world of The Squad at an early age. Inspired to share her faith and glorify God through her passion of writing, she used her extensive knowledge of animals, artistry, graphic design, and fanaticism for a certain video game hedgehog to bring the world of Neftar to life.

When not writing, praying, or geeking out over her video games, Rachel draws custom betta fish portraits, pampers her unusual pets, jams to Christian radio, and reads. And reads. And READS.

Because there’s no such thing as too much of a great story.

Rachel lives in her native land of Nashville, Tennessee, with her menagerie, Bible, and animal encyclopedia.

More from Rachel

I’m Rachel Keith, an 18-year-old homeschool graduate from Franklin, Tennessee. I understand how difficult it is for homeschool families to find safe, clean, Christ-centered fiction that also resonates with young readers, and that’s why I wrote The Squad: Rising series. The series focuses on Tina, an anthropomorphic wolf in a vibrant world of anthropomorphic animals. She and her squad of adopted siblings see the oppression their world is facing, and together, they fight to free their world and establish peace. Though they face plenty of perils, they trust that The Most High will guide them. Each book includes fun resources, including an animal species guide and discussion questions! Inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog and The Chronicles of Narnia, this series—beginning with book 1, Freedom Rings—is a fun new trailblazing series for middle grade fantasy, especially for Christians and anthro lovers!