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Man Up: ARPA leaderboards and the call to courageous action

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How to stay sane in an overstimulated age

Reconnect information and action ***** In today’s hyperconnected world, information comes at us fast and furious, from every direction, 24-7. We w...

Being the Church

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Internet

How to use AI like a Christian boss

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Assorted

Fun is something you make

11 tips for family road trips ***** “Bored” is a curse word in our house. Say that word, and my mom is liable to wash your mouth out with soap. Because here’s the thing: boredom is just a socially acceptable word for ingratitude, for being discontent with the things God gives us. Your kids have plenty of toys and activities to occupy themselves, so why are they coming to you looking for something to do? Maybe it’s because we tend to think the toys are the ones doing all the work, the ones keeping kids from getting bored, when in reality, the child is the one bringing the fun. As with everything else, this is a heart issue. This is an attitude that needs changing. And that is all well and good if you are in your home, surrounded by possibilities during a normal day. But let’s say you’re in a situation where you literally have nothing to do, like waiting in the waiting room of the hospital, or driving six long hours to visit relatives, or standing in a long line at the grocery store. How do you teach them to occupy themselves? How do you ban boredom from your family? It is fair to say that my family and I have done a lot of driving. We have always been the one family that is farther away from relatives, from town, from church, and from practically everything, so we have had to learn how to pass the time well! It bears repeating, so I’ll say again that with the tips and suggestions I have for you the key to the success of all remains gratitude. Without gratitude, without recognizing that God has given you the exact moment you are in and equipped you to delight in it, you are waiting for the game to entertain you, which almost always end in boredom. But if you enter everything with gratitude, it’s like sitting with your hands outstretched, just waiting for God to bless you with that present you know you’re getting. And the gift is ten times better when received in thankfulness. With that said, here is a list of things that have helped my siblings and me numerous times. Would you rather? A simple game where one player makes up two scenarios, and each of you say aloud which you would rather do if given the choice. Questions can be as wild or as ridiculous as can be! Encourage the players to explain the pros and cons of each situation, and the hows and whys. I have played this very recently, and my brother gave the following scenario: “Would you rather be on the very top of a skyscraper, or below the earth approximately the same height as the skyscraper?” Personally, I’d choose the skyscraper, because there’s no oxygen the deeper into the dirt you go, but my brother was assuming there would be air. See how many digressions there can be within one topic? Rock, paper, scissors A classic that is highly underrated! Play multiple rounds high speed, and your kids will dissolve into giggles. (Maybe it’s only me...) We have learned a trick to the game from watching YouTuber Mark Rober: You have rock, paper and scissors in a row in your head. Let’s say you start with rock. If you win with rock, you move to right, which would be paper. If you win with paper, you continue with scissors. Now, if you lost with rock, you go to the left, which would mean you would play scissors. If you lose with scissors, you play paper. This is a tested strategy by Mark Rober that, if followed, will help you win a disproportionate percentage of time. But if you want to have plain fun without all the technical junk, just play the game as you normally would. It’s still fun either way. 20 questions Definitely a go-to for us, because each person comes up with the weirdest things to think about! Each person has 20 questions to ask the one who has the topic in their head. If I’m thinking about spiders, well, you have 20 questions to find that out. No cheating! No giving hints! And make your topic as clear as possible. I once picked oblivion as a topic, and my siblings were infuriated because they couldn’t figure it out. It’s literally nothingness! You can’t guess that! (Which is why I chose it.) Make everything a competition I cannot begin to relate how many things my siblings and I turned into a competition! Who can leave their bare hand on the icy car window the longest? Who can hold their water bottle at arm’s length the longest? Who can make the silliest face? Who can hold their breath the longest? And the list goes on! (All of those examples are real competitions that have been hosted in our van on long drives, and all too recently. I participated in them all. In fact, I came up with them. Mad skills, anyone?) Buggy Fingers What an odd name for such a simple game that can be played anywhere, because everybody I know possesses fingers! Many long hospital stays granted us ample opportunity to play Buggy Fingers. You stick your pointer finger out, and this becomes the head and face of “Buggy,” while the rest of the fingers on that hand act as the legs. Now, the original character, made by my father, was named Artie, and Artie would eat everything in sight, but finding it inedible, would spit it out and grunt, “Needs salt.” The future generations of Artie broadened their horizons, and tales were spun surrounding these little misbehaving fingers. Stuffed animal adventures Grab those stuffed animals, because you’ll be needing them here. My older sister and I would place our stuffed animals on the ledge of the windowsill of the car, and pretend they were on a motorcycle. The motorcycle would travel along the scenery that rushed past our windows. Was Kitty Cat about to collide with a barbed wire fence? Well, for pity’s sake, JUMP! Once you were over that obstacle, you might have to navigate through a field of smelly cows, and end up on the other side without getting caught by the farmer. So many stories and exciting adventures are at your fingertips here! Sing hymns My whole family loves to sing around the piano, and in fact our parents are trained musicians, so a love for singing runs deep in our veins. We enjoy bringing our church hymnal, the Cantus Christi, into the car, and singing in harmony to the various hymns selected, especially the 4-part melodies. It is much like caroling, but not in winter. And not to an audience. So feel free to warble your way through a song. We won’t laugh. Count cars Who hasn’t done this, seriously? My brother is an avid vehicle enthusiast, and he and my little sister began counting how many Teslas they would see on any given drive, because we live in the Seattle area, and Teslas seem to be popular there. There were so many Teslas, we soon got tired of counting them, so we have now moved on to cool and unusual cars, as well as vintage vehicles. Make landmarks We have driven across Washington State many, many times, and we have come to recognize familiar landmarks along the way. There’s the lonely tractor that’s always sitting at the base of a hill; there’s the bicycle that is parked by a street sign; there’s the company that Grandpa used to work for years ago, before we were born; there’s the blue bridge with the American flag mounted on it; there’s the train yard, where we count how many trains’ lights are on. I have such happy memories of those drives, and the excitement of searching for the “landmarks.” Make traditions As a child, my older sister and I were forever going to the children’s hospital in Seattle, and those doctor trips were depressing and no fun in and of themselves, but we made the time fun. There are a couple of tunnels you have to drive through on your way to that specific hospital, and my sister and I, as soon as we entered the tunnel, would suck in our breaths and hold them until the car emerged out the other side. Of course, Dad would slow down on purpose and see how purple he could make our faces by the time we finally could draw a breath. Another tradition we had was ducking under tunnels, overhead signs, and traffic signals. To signify this, we would shout “Duck!” To signal that it was clear, we would shout “Peacock!” The point is, make your own fun. With a bit of prodding, and a dreary situation to be placed in, you can come up with a lot of great games and memories that will be treasured for decades, and will hopefully help you survive those long relentless hours with nothing to do. Count it all joy I’ll say again, how much fun your kids have with these will depend largely on the gratitude they bring. They might not like you for reminding them of this, but they should take even boredom as an opportunity for joy, like the Apostle James says in James 1:2; “My brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” God has given you so many gifts; you just have to use them....

Theology

Celebrating the Sabbath

“Many people see the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, as an infringement of their personal liberty – a day that God has taken from them, instead of a gift that He has given to them, for rest, worship and celebration” – Rev. Bruce Ray ***** Scientists and secular historians can account for the division of time into years, seasons, months and days on the basis of ancient observations of the cycles of nature. The year and the day obviously are tied to the cycle of the sun and the rotation of the earth. A month finds its origin in the cycles of the moon. But secular historians are puzzled by the week. There is no natural basis for the week, and since they reject Holy Scripture as a historical source they can’t turn to it for an explanation. However, whether they acknowledge it or not, the weekly, seven-day pattern of work and rest has its origin in God’s work of creation. We have the week because God ordained it, and indeed this is the origin of Time, not only of the week, but all divisions of Time. God is the Sovereign over Time. This is one of the first points that Bruce Ray makes in his book Celebrating the Sabbath. And he notes that if God is sovereign over time, then it only makes sense that He is sovereign over what we do with time, both work and rest: "Six days you shall labor" God said, “but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work.” The Sabbath through time Now many people assume that work is the result of the Fall, but Adam had a job assigned to him before the Fall (Gen 2:18-20) so that assumption is wrong. And just as Adam had work do before the fall, so too there was a Sabbath rest before the fall. In fact Bruce Ray identifies from the Scriptures four distinct stages in the Sabbath: 1. Creation Sabbath – Sabbath rest before fall into sin 2. Exodus Sabbath – Sabbath rest given to Israel 3. Resurrection Sabbath – New covenant, new Sabbath 4. Final Sabbath – Christ’s return ushers in this final rest Intention of the Sabbath "The Sabbath was designed as a day of gladness and not as a day of gloom," notes Ray. It was intended by its Creator to be a day of rest and worship in celebration of God’s wonderful works. The Sabbath promised both physical and spiritual refreshment for the whole man. The Sabbath was a day off from work, a day when men and women, their families and servants, visitors, and even livestock could enjoy the gift of rest from God. It was a day for "complete rest" (Exodus 35:2), a day to leave the briefcase at the office, and the tools locked up in the shed. Even during the busy times of the year, during the plowing season and the harvest (Ex. 34:21) the people were commanded to rest on the seventh day in honor of, and in obedience to, the Lord who made heaven and earth. "Moonlighting" was prohibited on the Sabbath. The worker who tried to get ahead of others by working on the Sabbath was even subject to the death penalty! Exodus 23:12 reads: "that you may REST" and rest here isn’t only about “not working." The Sabbath was appointed to minister to the whole person, and it was therefore also a day of spiritual rest. Legalism Bruce Ray writes an interesting little chapter on the "Babylonian Sabbath." During the Babylonian Captivity the elders and Rabbis of Israel became very interested in spelling out precisely what people could and could not do on the Sabbath. Eventually they came up with over 1000 rules. The spirit and intention of the law became lost in a sea of technicalities. When Jesus came, that is, when God, the eternal Son, took upon Himself the nature of a man and visited His people, He came to set the captives free, including the captive Sabbath. Jesus challenged the Pharisaic distortions of His holy day. He repeatedly and purposely did things on the Sabbath that violated their legalistic understanding of Sabbath keeping. But make no mistake, Jesus came to restore the Law, including the fourth commandment, not to dismantle it (Matt 5:17-20). So Jesus blasted the Pharisaic Sabbath, but in doing so, he did not harm the biblical Sabbath at all. Indeed He liberated it, restored it, and filled it full of meaning once again (Matt 5:17) Ray examines one by one, the six skirmishes Jesus had with the Pharisees over the Sabbath Day: 1. The Battle of the Wheat Field (Mark 2:23-28) 2. The Shrivelled Hand skirmish (Mark 3:1-6) 3. The crippled-woman conflict (Luke 13:10-17) 4. The Dropsy disaster (Luke 14:1-6) 5. The Battle of Bethesda (John 5: 1-9) 6. The Spit Spat (John 9:1-41) These texts are well worth looking up and show, as Ray puts it, how "the conflict was not so much a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, as a conflict between the Holy Sabbath of God and the painfully distorted Pharisaic Sabbath. It was part of Jesus’ mission to liberate, heal and redeem the Sabbath from captivity.” Do’s and Don’ts? Coming to our modern day celebration of the Sabbath/Lord’s Day, Ray speaks about keeping the Sabbath "Holily and Happily," saying: "In the fourth commandment, God declares that He is sovereign over time (He made it), and over our use of it (He made us!). He has from the very beginning of time appointed one day in seven as a day for rest and refreshment in Him" "All people observe the Sabbath, all people everywhere do. Sunday comes along once every week without fail, and we all do something with the day. The question is not whether we observe, but how we observe it." Now, finally the reader may be thinking to yourself: "He is going to get to what I wanted in the first place. I can still have my laminated, wallet sized card with "do’s and don’ts" after all." Sorry folks – as author Bruce Ray writes, life just is not that simple. It is about thinking out principles. That is the real hard part. Many of us would like to have someone in authority – a pastor perhaps – tell us what to do and what not to do in great detail. That would certainly make life simpler and tidier. May I jog on Sunday? Go sailing in the afternoon? Mow my lawn? Go shopping at the Mall? Fire up the grill for a barbeque? And so on. But don’t despair. The good news, Ray writes, (that is if you are a Christian), is that you have everything you need to figure out what God wants you to do on the Sabbath. God has given you His Word and His Spirit. What then are the general principles that will help us to keep the Sabbath as the Lord wants us to? The author mentions four: Keep it Holily, Happily, Honestly and Humbly. Keep it Holily This includes gathering with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day and realizing that corporate worship is necessary, not optional. Keep it Happily The author stresses the great importance of bringing joyful worship to our God, and quotes Psalm 100 "shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs." Keep it Honestly The Sabbath is also a day for physical, emotional, and even intellectual "rest." God is concerned with our bodies as well as with our souls. On the Sabbath we need to cease from our works and pause and refresh in God’s rest. Rest, however, does not require idleness. Rest can also be active. Throughout the Old Testament rest is defined as refreshment. The prophet Isaiah zeros in on the essence of the Lord’s Day (Is. 58:13-14 – this is another great text to look up). He brings into clear and bold focus: whose Day is it? Who is the Lord of the Sabbath and will I bow before Him? How does the Lord of the Sabbath want me to use the day for my good and His glory? Keep it Humbly The Sabbath is admittedly a problem for many Christians, but that problem is primarily spiritual in nature. That is because of the rebellion in our hearts. We must remember not to come into our King’s presence and to our spiritual family reunion tired, late and unprepared to worship Him Conclusion In conclusion: Sabbath keeping is a means of Grace to all who love the Lord. Someone said about this book:" Bruce Ray’s book is a wise and balanced book, helpful, biblical and encouragingly, taking a fresh look at what the Lord’s Day should be for every Christian." Definitely recommended....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Demi's fresh folk tales

Demi (1942- ) is the nickname that Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt's father gave her as a child because she was half the size of her sister. Demi grew up to be a prolific author, crafting more than 300 picture books so far. Her popular output can be divided into two categories: biographies of famous figures, many of them religious, folktales from most Eastern countries like India, Russia, and especially China. It's these folk tales that drew me in. We're so familiar with our Western catalog of Hansel and Gretel, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk that a new-to-us folktale is quite a treat. That freshness is what drew me in, but there's a real educational value here too – these offer a taste of foreign lands and cultures. Of course, it's that same originality that bears watching – these are not Christian tales. A few of her biographies could also be worth a read, but the biggest problem with Demi is her lack of discernment. She always lauds whoever she is writing about, and since the people she covers come from a variety of religions that contradict one another, these figures can't all be good – it only takes a little logic to understand that if two people say opposite things about what most matters in life, then at least one must be wrong. But Demi celebrates Jesus and also Muhammad, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Buddha. This lack of discernment means parents and Christian school librarians shouldn't buy her books en masse. And, that need for parental and Christian school librarian discernment is all the more important because of Demi's 4-8-year-old target audience, who have yet to learn much discernment themselves. I've read 40+ of her books so far, and what follows are the 11 I can recommend, 5 more that could be good with some parental or teacher involvement, and then an overview of her many books that would be best avoided. I've also focused on her books that are the most available, so I think you should be able to find copies of most of these either at Amazon, or from your local library. They are ordered by year published. RECOMMENDED (11) Marie Curie 2018 / 32 pages Marie Curie was, without a doubt, a genius, being one of just four people to win two Nobel Prizes. This is the story of her upbringing, education, and marriage to fellow scientist Pierre Curie, and how they discovered radioactivity, which was both a brilliant accomplishment and, they learned too late, a very dangerous one. While radiation can be used for good and to cure via inventions like X-ray machines, radiation can also cause sickness, especially after prolonged exposure, which is why Marie died of leukemia at age 66. Her husband also suffered ill effects from radiation, but was struck dead in the street in an accident, or he too might have died of some radiation-related illness. Demi has a tendency to hype who she profiles, and while that hagiographic approach can be a problem (especially when she inserts legends as if they are facts), in this book it is a boon – it means that while she mentions the grim effects of radiation, she doesn't dwell on it, making this book appropriate for even small children in a way that a more detailed, and consequently more grim, book wouldn't have been. The shady tree 2016 / 32 pages The boy Ping (from The Empty Pot, see below) makes his return, this time as a poor boy who just wants some shade on a hot day and sits down in the shade of a tree. Rich boy Tan Tan chases Ping away, declaring that, "This is my tree! I own all of it: the trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the shade – everything." All Ping wants is the shade, so he makes an offer on it. The rich boy, thinking he is scamming Ping, accepts. But the joke is on Tan Tan, because a tree's shade moves throughout the day, and the new owner of that shade is moving with it, right into Tan Tan's house and even his bedroom! Tan Tan can't go back on his deal, and in frustration, eventually moves away... but far from any friends. So, at book's end he comes back, and Ping is very happy to share his shade. This is a fun folk tale with an understated moral (maybe, share? or, don't scam folks?). Demi first published a version of this story in 1979 under the title The Shade of the Mulberry Tree, with the principal difference being that instead of two boys, the story is about two men, and the rich man never comes back. Florence Nightingale 2014/ 40 pages This is an inspiring account of the life of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the "mother" of modern nursing. A brief nod to her love for the Lord is made: "Florence was a religious person, and she felt that God wanted her to help people." Her innovations are taken for granted now, but were life-changing then – she made sure patients got good food, and were living in clean conditions. She had also traveled to different hospitals across Europe, noting their best practices. The results her approach garnered had her being consulted by the English army, the US government, and by the Queen too. As her true tale highlights, she was a hardworking, smart woman who was responsible for medical care improvements that saved countless lives. The magic pillow 2008 / 32 pages Ping makes another appearance, and this time he comes across a magician with a magic pillow that can grant your every wish. When poor Ping falls asleep on it, he dreams of becoming rich and powerful. But with his wealth and power comes jealousy, and people begin telling lies about him and accusing him, until he is thrown in jail. After a long time he is set free, and regains his power and wealth. But then he sees his sons and grandsons seeking power and wealth too. When they gain it, people become jealous of them too, and tell lies about them too, and get them thrown in jail too. On and on it repeats, the rise and fall of his family. Then Ping woke up. When he did, he thanked the magician and told him he was now content to live as he was, and did not need wealth or power. The hungry coat 2004/ 40 pages "Once upon a time in Turkey there lived a funny, little wise man named Nasrettin Hoca. He wore a huge, white turban and a worn-out coat made of patches upon patches. Riding about on his little gray donkey, he liked to help whomever he could." Nasrettin was popular, but when he helps catch a goat and then heads to his friend's party in his patched coat – now smelling of goat – his friends won't even sit next to him. So he heads home, gets cleaned up, and puts on a new fabulous coat. When he returns to the party, he is now the guest of honor, placed right next to the host. But as the food and wine is shared, Naserttin does a strange thing. He starts to feed his coat. "Eat coat, eat," he says as he tucks lamb chops, sugar cakes, figs, and apples in his coat. When asked to explain himself he notes that he is only treating his coat as the guest of honor. It was clear, from when he was here earlier, that it was not him they liked, otherwise they would have treated him better when he first arrived. But now that he is back with a better coat, they love him, so it must be the coat that is the guest and not him. It's a clever way to call out his friends, and they take it well, praising him for his wisdom. The donkey and the rock 1999 / 32 pages When a wood seller's donkey knocks an oil jar off a rock, the oil salesman is distraught – how will he feed his family now? Who is at fault, and what can be done? The two men – wood seller and oil salesman – are both honest, hardworking, and good fathers and husbands, so they decide to go to the king for his judgment. He rules them both not responsible, and demands that the donkey and rock be arrested and brought to trial. That has folks wondering what's going on, so they all come to see this trial of the century. And when they arrive, the king charges them all money, because they came to see a spectacle. Then he gives the money to the oil salesman to make up for what he lost. Seems like there is a lesson here parents could share about always wanting to see the latest thing – itching eyes are not a new phenomenon. One grain of rice: a mathematical folktale 1997 / 32 pages Set in India, this tells a tale that begins a bit like Joseph's advice to Pharoah to store up grain. Each year the local raja takes most of the people's grain, promising to store it safely "so that in a time of famine everyone will have rice to eat and no one will go hungry." But when the famine does come, he won't release the grain, keeping it for himself in case the famine is very long. But when a peasant girl earns a reward from the raja, she asks for what seems a modest reward. She would be given a single grain of rice, but given two the next day, and continuing to double each day thereafter for thirty days. The raja agrees. For the first week it is only a paltry reward – she gets 1, then, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and finally 64 grains of rice, the last of which isn't even a handful. But by the end of two weeks, she is now getting two full bowls of rice grains. As adults may realize, by the end of the thirty days she will have all the raja's grain, as the compounding really adds up. This is, as the subtitle notes, quite the "mathematical folktale"! The one practical problem is that this book features a two-page foldout to show just how many elephants were needed to carry all the grain on the last day. And such foldouts are liable to not be refolded with due care, and can get a bit crumpled, as happened with the copy I read. But otherwise, a very good book! Grass sandals: the travels of Basho 1997 / 32 pages Basho was one of Japan's masters of the haiku, and this brief biography follows him on a walking tour of Japan. Each double-page spread includes a hundred or so words describing his latest stop, but also a haiku covering the same topic. The quiet nature of the story (the illustrator shares her daughter's complaint, "Mom, nothing happens in this book") means that while it would make a charming introduction to haiku poetry, it won't be enjoyed simply as a picture book. The firebird 1994 / 32 pages This Russian tale's title makes it seem as if it is about a bird. But none of the three main figures here can fly. The first two are an archer and his loyal talking horse, and their opponent is the tsar they serve, who won't let any good deed go unpunished. He sends the pair out on one hazardous magical mission after another, but in the end he gets his just, self-inflicted desserts, and the archer and his pony get their happily ever after. The empty pot 1990 / 32 pages George Bush Sr.'s wife, Barbara picked this one, when it first came out, for her Mrs. Bush's Story Time radio program. It's about a Chinese boy named Ping (who shows up in The Shady Tree too) who has the greenest of green thumbs – he can make anything grow, almost like magic. The country's aged emperor needs to pick an heir and settles on giving all the children a flower seed to grow, and tells them "Whoever can show me their best in a year's time will succeed me to the throne." Ping figures he has a great chance, but try as he might, he can't get the seed to grow. He tries everything, but.... nothing. When the year passes all he has is an empty pot, whereas all the other children have all sorts of gorgeous flowers to show the emperor. It turns out, however that the emperor cooked all the seeds, so none of them could have grown, and only Ping was honest enough to show his true best effort, so the Emperor names the boy as his successor! The moral of this story and its surprise twist (I don't think little kids will see it coming) make this quite the powerful little lesson. Liang and the magic paintbrush 1980 / 32 pages Liang desperately wants to learn to paint, but the local art teacher will not give lessons to someone as poor as Liang. However, as he slept "an old man appeared on a phoenix and placed a brush in Liang's hand." It was a magic brush able to turn real whatever he painted (reminiscent of Harold and the Purple Crayon). When the emperor hears of it, he demands that Liang paint a dragon. Liang paints a frog instead and is sent to prison. He makes a deal that he'll "paint whatever the emperor wished." The emperor demands Liang draw a sea, a boat, and, after getting on the boat, the emperor demands Liang draw him wind. So Liang does – lots of wind! The boat capsizes with the emperor on board. This is a "just desserts" tale, as many a folk tale is. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT (5) These are not bad books so much as they have a caution or two that parents should consider. King Midas: the golden touch 2002 / 48 pages You likely know about the curse that came with King Midas's golden touch. He asked a Greek god for the power to turn anything he touched to gold, but then found he was going to starve to death, as even his food turned golden. But did you hear about how he was cursed with donkey's ears? This is a longer retelling of the myth of King Midas, including this donkey bit that often doesn't make the cut. The downside is that the Greek god Silenus is depicted as covered with roses rather than clothes. You don't see anything, but some skin tone shows up through the flowers in places that should really be covered. I'm making it sound worse than it is – there are a lot of roses – but it did strike me as weird to have any skin showing through in a kids' book. The other downside is a practical one for any school library considering this book. It has a two-page foldout that is bound to get crumpled... as it was in the copy I borrowed from our public library. The greatest treasure 1998 / 32 pages Pang, a rich man, finds it hard to keep track of how much money he has, because whenever he is counting it, the poor man next door, Li, distracts him with his flute playing. So the rich Pang decides to give Li a generous monetary gift... but only to distract him from playing his flute. And it works. Li is soon so busy worrying about and counting and hiding his money that he doesn't play his flute at all. Finally, his wife steps in and reminds him, "He who has heaven in his heart is never poor." Li agrees, and gives the money back, along with flutes for the whole Pang family! This warns of how money can be an obsession, and I would have rated it higher but for the title. Peace and happiness are good indeed, but children need to understand that they are not "the greatest treasure of all" any more than money is. So, this could be a good one to get out of the public library and read along with your kids. The stonecutter 1995 / 32 pages An envious stonecutter thinks the grass is always greener elsewhere but eventually learns contentment. How does he learn his lesson? By being granted his wishes. First, he's envious of a rich man, and wishes to be one. When that wish is granted, he becomes envious of the governor, and wishes to be one. But even when that's granted, there always seems someone stronger and greater, so on and on his wishes go. Finally, he wishes to be an enormous, immovable stone – what is stronger than that? Well, stonecutters. And so his final wish is granted and he returns to stone cutting, content in his life. The only reason Stonecutter got bumped down here is that the wish granter is an angel, and, as opposed to genies, angels are real and don't act this way, and we shouldn't confuse kids on that point. But it could be a good read with a parent along for the ride. Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina 1988 / 32 pages With lots of text on each page, this is quite a lengthy retelling of Thumbelina, the girl who was only a thumb tall. This a more fairy than folk tale, with fairies at the start, and fairies at the end. As she does in every version, Thumbelina has quite the series of adventures, getting kidnapped by a frog, and basically imprisoned by a mole and mouse, before being freed by a swallow she'd nursed back to health. There is a happy ending, with Thumbelina finally finding the right match for her. As nice as the story is, it's also a pointless one, which is why it is in the "Take it or leave it" section. Chen Ping and his magic axe 1987 / 32 pages A poor Chinese boy, Chen Ping, is sent to the forest to chop wood for his master. His master is very stern, so when Ping accidentally drops his axe into the river, all he can do is sit down and cry. Fortunately, a mysterious stranger appears and dives in to retrieve Ping's axe for him. When the stranger surfaces, he asks if the beautiful silver axe he has recovered is Ping's. "No," Ping replies honestly, "that is not my axe." Next up is an even more amazing golden axe, but Ping again tells the truth that it is not his. Finally, the stranger comes up with Ping's axe and notes that for his honesty, the axe will now magically do most of the work for him. When Ping's master hears Ping's story, he heads straight to the river and drops in an axe. Sure enough, the stranger appears and offers to retrieve it. But the master keeps saying that each axe the stranger retrieves is not splendid enough to be his. When the stranger comes up with a huge gold one, the master excitedly claims it as his own. But on his way home, in his excitement, he jumps up and down and breaks the bridge, and falls into the river, never to be seen again. This is a classic folk tale complete with a moral to the story that honesty is good and lying is bad. I was going to place it in the recommended section, but will note a caution for it: unfamiliar folktales are both a treat (different than another retelling of Cinderella), and have a little bit of a danger in that they can confusingly sound like the miracles of the Bible. So, for example, Elisha recovered an axe too, making an axe head float (2 Kings 6:4-6), and the chariot the stranger comes riding in on could have a child thinking of the chariot Elijah rode off on (2 Kings 2:11-12). So, this is a good book, but one that'd be better with a parent or teacher reading and explaining it. DON'T BOTHER Demi authored 300 titles and among those are many stories lauding pagan religious figures. She doesn't pick sides, praising Florence Nightingale as a Christian heroine and then praising Muhammad and Confucius in the same manner. This has me thinking of 1 Kings 18:21 where we read about how: "...Elijah approached all the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people did not answer a word." Demi waffles as well, which means lots of her books are not worth bothering with. Even her biographies of Christian figures – laudatory though they are – should sometimes be avoided because she treats as fact some legends. So, for example, in her biography of St. Nicholas (the real man who inspired the mythical Santa Claus), we learn that "on his very first day he stood up in his bath and prayed to God!" Her Mary is full of what I presume is Roman Catholic nonsense about Mary being raised in the temple from the age of 3. As there are actually far too many bad titles to cover, I'll share just a partial list to give you a feel of what to avoid: Confucius: great teacher of China The legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching Buddha stories Muhammad Mother Teresa The fantastic adventures of Krishna The wisdom of Solomon CONCLUSION Demi may have quite a bundle of titles to avoid – she might have many more bad than good – but her best titles offer a new and fresh-for-us twist on folktales. That makes these recommended reads worth trying to track down. You and your kids will love them!...

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

10 picture book authors parents will love

Ready to settle down and read your kids a cozy bedtime story? Looking for some new and fun ideas? When choosing a picture book, some things to look for are a high quality story, great illustrations, and a tale that teaches without being preachy. And the very best books bring a smile to the face of adults as well as children. Here are some fantastic picture book authors we’ve covered in Reformed Perspective over the years, and why they’re great. Since not every book by an author can be a winner, we also break down a few books to be cautious about, or to avoid so click on the author names for detailed reviews on which books are their very best. That's also where you'll find the full list of their recommended books. These authors have so many books to love – more than a 170 are recommended below. Exploring their works will give you enough bedtime reading for nights and nights to come! So grab hold of your library card, and let’s go! Keiko Kasza: All about cartoon critters (12 titles) Keiko Kasza’s skill is in sharing a gentle moral in a playful way! Colorful illustrations of furry and feathered friends fill the pages of her books, and each story builds to a fun punchline. This makes them a joy to read. Check out Ready for Anything, where Raccoon wants to be prepared for every disaster while Duck can only imagine all the good things that could happen. Or try The Dog Who Cried Wolf, where the family dog learns that living like a wolf is not all the fun he imagines it would be! Jerry Pinkney: Making the classics kindle (10 titles) We often want to introduce our children to classics, but that can be challenging because even classic children’s stories can cover all kinds of mature (and dark!) topics. Introducing Jerry Pinkney, who makes these stories more approachable for younger readers. And by adding his own spin, he brings in his creativity instead of simply retelling these stories. Some of the classic stories he covers are Aesop’s Fables, Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (by Rudyard Kipling). Even adults might find a new appreciation for some of these stories! Virginia Lee Burton: Queen of nostalgia (4 titles) Nostalgia can be fun to indulge in, and Virginia Lee Burton’s stories excel at presenting an idyllic yesteryear. Even better, parents might remember reading some of these stories from their own childhood. We might have to remind our children that everything in the past is not necessarily better than the present, but with that in mind, these stories are delightful. Katy and the Big Snow is a classic, where a red crawler tractor named Katy saves the day by clearing snow off the road for police cars, ambulances and more. And Maybelle the Cable Car imagines the life of a cable car in San Francisco. David Wiesner: Weird and wonderful (7 titles) Children’s books that aren’t predictable! This is the achievement of David Wiesner, whose stories are full of living clouds, flying frogs, artistic lizards and super creativity. And if you’re on the hunt for a few wordless picture books, some of his works are excellent options. Art & Max is an incredibly creative story about two lizards, one who can paint and one who wants to learn. Max, who wants to learn, is challenged to figure it out quickly when he needs to help out his friend. If you’re looking for a wordless book to try, check out Free Fall, where you get to come alongside a little boy in his dreams. Jan Brett: Picture books’ peak (20 titles) Illustrations are a huge part of what makes picture books come alive, and that means Jan Brett needs to be mentioned! Brett excels at using the edges of pages to give hints about what’s coming next, which rewards children who pay extra attention to all the details on the page. Some standout books are The Mittens: A Ukrainian Folktale, which follows what happens to a lost mitten, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where Brett goes into detail about exactly how the bears knew Goldilocks had been in their chairs and beds. David Macaulay: Author and architect (14 titles) Does your child have an inquisitive mind that needs to know how things work? That’s exactly who David Macaulay’s books are for. He’s explored how pyramids, jet planes, our bodies, and even toilets work. Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction is his first and a classic. It dives into every detail of the whole construction process, complete with illustrations. As cathedrals took over a hundred years to build, the book covers a lot of ground, and even adults can learn something. Another fantastic book to explore is Castle: How It Works, which explores the construction of a castle in a similar way. Excellent books for budding engineers. Cynthia Rylant: Mr. Putter & Tabby’s sweet stories (25 titles) Cynthia Rylant has created a sweet series of stories about two lovely seniors and their pets. Mr. Putter and Tabby are the main male and cat pair, and they go on adventures with Mrs. Teaberry and her dog, Zeke. Throughout the stories they bake cakes, pick pears, paint a porch and more. Some intriguing titles in this series are Mr. Putter and Tabby Dance the Dance and Mr. Putter and Tabby See the Stars. Mo Willems: So many to choose from! (51 titles) Mo Willems has worked for Sesame Street and Nickelodeon, so it’s no surprise he has a knack for creating fun and entertaining picture books for kids. Christian parents might wonder if that means his books are suitable for their children, and thankfully they are. His most well known characters, Elephant and Piggie, and Pigeon, are well on their way to becoming classic children’s book characters. The stories are all simple, energetic tales full of silly fun. Pick up Let’s Go for a Drive! to find out what Elephant and Piggie think they’ll need to take on a trip, or We Are in a Book!, which is an inventive story in which Elephant and Piggie actually realize they are inside a book. For even more Mo Willems ideas, check out the books which feature Pigeon as well! Amy Krouse Rosenthal: The Ginger Rogers of picture books (19 titles) Amy Krouse Rosenthal published more than 30 picture books before her death at 51 in 2017 and there are so many innovative and fun selections in her works. Take I Scream! Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordles, which pairs up soundalike words and invites the reader to guess them. Another, This Plus That, creates fun “equations” like “1 + 1 = us” and “somersaults + somersaults + somersaults = dizzy.” Having fun with words and pictures through her books makes story time interactive and exciting. Check out our review for all of her best, as well as a few that can be skipped. Demi's fresh folk tales (11 titles) We're so used to Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, that it can be quite a treat to hear folks tales from lands further afield. Demi's selection from India, Russia, and especially China will be a treat to both young and, maybe more so, old, who will appreciate getting to read something they haven't read a million times before. As refreshing as Demi's folk tales are, her output isn't all good, so do be sure to click through for which of her books are recommended and which are rejected. Conclusion There you have it – more than 170 picture books to fill your story times for a long time to come! These authors have many tales to delight you, make you laugh, and teach you something new. We hope you enjoy reading them, and if you have any other authors Reformed Perspective should check out, be sure to let us know at ReformedPerspective.ca/contact....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Amy Krouse Rosenthal: the Ginger Rogers of children's lit

Amy Krouse Rosenthal (1965-2017) was a prolific children's picture book author, crafting more than 30 in just a dozen years. Together with illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, who worked with her at least a dozen times, they were called the “Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire of children’s literature.” But that wasn't Rosenthal's only outlet: she made quirky videos, adult books, and, after getting diagnosed with terminal cancer, tried to get her husband a new wife, by publishing an essay, "You May Want to Marry My Husband," in the New York Times just ten days before she died. While she might be best known for her series of unicorn books, I was impressed by what else she had to offer. I've ordered them below from my most to least favorite. RECOMMENDED (19) I Scream! Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordles 2014 /40 pages What are wordles, you might ask? They are, as this book explains, "groups of words that sound exactly the same but mean different things," like "I scream" and "Ice cream." In each instance that follows the first wordle is presented, and then the reader can guess what the soundalike will be, before turning the page to find out. Super fun! Little Miss Big Sis 2015 / 40 pages With just a half dozen words each page, but loads of rhymes, this is a wonderful early reader about the arrival of a new baby in the family, and how his (or her?) Big Sis is ready to step up. Could be a good one to read to prep a Big Sis-to-be. Little Pea (3) 2005 / 30 pages This is the one that started it all, about a little pea that loved to roll, and play with his dad, and hear stories from his mama about what it was like when she was a little pea. But there was one thing he hated: candy. He absolutely hated eating it, but, in a fun, silly twist, if you want to grow up to be a big strong pea, you have to finish all your candy. And his stern parents won't let him have any dessert until he has at least five pieces of candy first. What's for dessert? Pea's favorite: spinach! What a great joke for a pint-sized audience! A sequel, Little Hoot (2009 / 32 pages) plays on this same reversal theme, with a young owl desperately wishing he could go to bed early. But in his house, the rule is, you have to stay up late, because that's what owls do! The third and last in the series, Little Oink (2009 / 32 pages) has a piglet just wishing he could clean up his room, but his parents need him to keep it messy because, after all, they are pigs! All three are available as picture books and also as a board book set. Spoon (3) 2009 / 40 pages Little Spoon is a part of a very big spoon family, and at bedtime he likes nothing better than to hear "the story about his adventurous great-grandmother, who fell in love with a dish and ran off to a distant land." But Spoon is a bit jealous of his friends, Knife and Fork, who seem to live more exciting lives. "Knife is so lucky! He gets to cut, he gets to spread. I never get to cut or spread." Mom Spoon agrees Knife is pretty "spiffy" that way, and Fork, and the Chopsticks too, all "are something else, aren't they?" But it turns out his friends think Spoon is pretty lucky too, for the fun he can have banging on pots, measuring stuff, and diving headfirst into a bowl of ice cream. It's a wonderful, creative lesson, in appreciating both your friends, and all they can do, but appreciating the abilities and opportunities you've been blessed with too. Two sequels are also fun. Chopsticks (2012 / 40 pages) is an inventive tale about how the two of them always work in tandem, until the day one of them breaks and, after a quick surgical intervention by the Glue Bottle, Chopstick #2 has to take some time off to recover. Then Chopstick #1 has to figure out how to contribute on his own. Then, in Straw (2020 / 48 pages), a bendy straw learns that being first isn't always the most important thing. Sometimes, instead of slurping things right up, it's nice to take it slow and savor. This Plus That 2011 / 40 pages Some great math problems in this one, with equations like "1 + 1 = us" and "somersaults + somersaults + somersaults = dizzy." There's also some fun pairs, like, "chalk + sitting = school" versus "chalk + jumping = hopscotch." I read this to my kids as a guessing game: I didn't show them the pictures, but just read the equations and paused on some of them to give them a chance to provide the answer. I'll sometimes make additions to stories as I read them (just to mix things up and keep myself engaged) so when I read "blaming + eye rolling ≠ sincere apology" one daughter asked if I had made an insertion. But nope, it's in the book! Very fun! Duck! Rabbit! 2009 / 32 pages Is it a duck, or is it a rabbit? A back and forth debate is more entertaining than I thought it could be, with the two sides each making a series of pretty compelling points. I wonder if this might be something to inspire a kid to take up drawing, as they see that a picture doesn't even have to be clearly one thing or the other to make it into a picture book! Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons (3) 2005 / 40 pages This is part dictionary, part cookbook, and part lessons for life. Each page begins with a picture of a child taking on some baking task, often helped by a fully-dressed dog, rabbit, frog, or kitten. I'm guessing those might be their stuffies, come to life to give an assist. Each page also starts with a word, and the definition is then the lesson. For example: "Modest means you don't run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if you know it to be true." And: "Greedy means taking all the cookies for myself." Each page is worth a pause to consider. And the book ends (of course!) with a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Two sequels, Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love (2010 / 40 pages) and One Smart Cookie: Bite-Size Life Lessons for the School Years and Beyond (2010 / 40 pages), are every bit as nice, though there is a bit of repetition from one book to the next. Exclamation Mark! 2013 / 56 pages An exclamation mark doesn't fit in with all the periods around him. But when he meets a question mark, he realizes that standing out isn't a bad thing. And he has a special talent for making things exciting! A great book to get kids excited about punctuation! Choo-Choo School 2020 / 34 pages What kind of puns can you come up with if you pretend a train full of cars were actually kids heading to school? Well, the Conductor would lead music class, of course. And the Diner car would make a joke during lunch about how they were now a "chew-chew choo-choo train." Lots more humor that First Graders will appreciate. Friendshape 2015 / 40 pages A square, circle, triangle, and rectangle share lessons about getting along with folks who are a bit different from us. I Wish You More 2015/ 40 pages This is a book of wishes: "I wish you more ups than downs," "I wish you more give than take," and "I wish you more will than hill." The weakness of the book is that it is secular so these wishes, however well-meant, are just sent out into the air. But that doesn't mean the book can't serve as some good inspiration for Christians on what we can bring to our God regarding our friends and neighbors. the OK book 2007 / 36 pages The gimmick here is that if you turn the world "OK" sideways it can look like a stick person. From page to page we see this "okay" person (boy? girl? it's not clear, and doesn't really matter) explaining how, while they like to try a lot of different things, "I'm not great at all of them, but I enjoy them just the same." It's an encouragement to enjoy doing, even when you aren't all that good, just because that's fun, and in part because that's how you'll find out what you are good at. On the Spot 2017 / 32 pages Reusable stickers can be placed in specific spots throughout the book to change the story. So, for example, a child could place a pig in a certain spot so an old favorite nursery rhyme now goes, "Twinkle, twinkle, little pig..." As my daughter put it, it's kind of a reusable Mad-Lib. So, a fun book, but those reusable stickers would get quickly lost in a school library setting. That means this could make for a good gift, but not a good school purchase. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons 2008 / 40 pages A sequel to her Cookies: Bite-Size Lessons for Life, recommended above, this is more of the same, with a Christmas cookie recipe in the back instead. The reason it got bumped down to "Take It or Leave It" is its handling of Santa. The definition reads, "Believe means I might never see it happen, but he will come and eat . I just know it." I'm not a big fan of encouraging our kids to believe in a never-seen, amazingly powerful entity that knows when you've been bad or good, but who is not God, but made up. I think that would quite logically breed distrust when we would later reveal that, no, Santa isn't actually real... but God still is. It's only one of the 40 pages (or sort of two) so it's not a big deal, especially if your kids already know Santa isn't real. Yes Day! 2009 / 40 pages On one day of the year, this boy's parents have agreed to say yes to whatever he ask. Pizza for breakfast? Yes. Can I clean my room tomorrow instead? Yes. Can we get ice cream? Yes indeed. Even when the boy asks if they can have a food fight, his parents say yes (though they take it outside). Aside from the food fight, the requests here are of a modest sort (staying up late, piggyback, etc.) so the only reason this got bumped down here is that this could inspire some kids to think they should have a yes day too, but with less reasonable requests. It's still a fun read, and I think parents might be inspired to, every now and again (and maybe without even telling your kids) set aside a day in which you and your spouse agree to grant every reasonable request your kids ask. Could be interesting! The Wonder Book 2010 / 80 pages All sorts of amazing poems, palindromes, and short stories fill page after page. The only reason it got bumped down here is that there is an instance of potty humor ("Tinkle, Tinkle, in the sea. Don't look under while I pee.") and a weird Dracula-looking kid shows up a couple of times. A couple more reasons to check it out include a great poem about brats, and all those palindromes. Moo-Moo, I Love You! 2020 /40 pages A cow explains that her love for you is as big as a "moo-se." A couple dozen more moo jokes fill out the book. It is funny, but the humor is repetitive, making it one of those books that I sure wouldn't want to have to read again and again. Plant a Kiss 2011 / 36 pages A girl plants a kiss and when a strange and wonderful tree-like thing sprouts, she is willing to share its fruit with everyone. You might think that sharing the fruit of a kissing tree might involve some actual kissing. But nope. Only one kiss in this book. An odd one, that I don't really get (other than the overall message that sharing is caring). One of Those Days 2006 / 32 pages If your kid is having "one of those days" days, this might be a book you could read with them. It highlights how all sorts of days are those sorts of days including "your best friend acting like your beast friend day," "favorite pants too short day" and "annoying sibling day." With a parent along for the ride, this could be a lesson in empathy and sympathy. Without a parent, reading about all this bad stuff happening might not help, fostering whining rather than seeing difficulties for the small problems they actually are. Dear Girl 2017 / 40 pages This a book of encouragements, perhaps intended to be given by a mother to her daughter. Overall, it is pretty good, with insightful thoughts like, ""Find people like you. Find people unlike you." and "You know what's really boring? When people say how bored they are." But one of the encouragements is something I would discourage: "there are no rules about what to wear, or how to cut your hair." So, one to read with your kid and discuss. DON'T BOTHER Bedtime for Mommy takes the same sort of reversal idea we saw in Little Oink, Little Hoot, and Little Pea, but now has a little girl putting her mommy to bed, including getting her bathed. For me, that crosses the line from funny to weird. Uni the Unicorn knows that little girls are real, no matter what anyone else says. In an age when people really do think that believing can make something so, this idea of a unicorn believing in a girl, and a girl believing in a unicorn, and them being right because they believed so strong, just isn't an idea I want to pitch to my kids. This original story spawned a whole series (10 more so far) of Uni books, and while the original was at least clever, these others are not. Al Pha's Bet is an alphabet book, and while a little less boring than most such books, is boring still. It also has "Al Pha" repeatedly saying "Gee" as he names the seventh letter in the alphabet. Awake Beautiful Child is sort of an alphabet book too, though it focuses on only the first three letters. The three words on each page begin with A, then B, and finally C, as in "All begins cheerily" and "Amusing breakfast chatter." An odd artistic style doesn't improve things. Page after page of lame moo jokes aren't reason enough to overlook the problematic title of Holy Cow, I Sure Do Love You! And a staring contest with an owl isn't reason enough to overlook minced oaths like "Dang" and "Jeepers" in Don’t Blink! There is no "d9" it, Wumbers is very clever, with words "cre8ed" with numbers. But two pages of clueless angels, sitting on clouds wondering where they are ("I think it is 7" says one, to which the other replies, "I suppose it is our f8") pitches the popular and wrong notion that people become angels when we die. That's Me Loving You promises something to a child that isn't true: that their loved ones will never really be far from them. "That shimmering star? That's me winking at you." "That inviting ocean? That's me waving at you." This notion directs kids to look to their imagination for what only God can give them. God actually is everywhere they go, and He can always be right nearby. So this book misdirects kids. It's Not Fair is just one whine after another. Some of them are funny whines – "Why can't books go on and on? No more endings, only Once Upons..." – but these whines end with "It's not fair." There aren't many kids who'd benefit from hearing or reading "It's not fair" a dozen times....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Mo Willems: so many to choose from!

Mo Willems might be the new Dr. Seuss, simply the most prolific and best known picture book author of this generation. With 70 (or so) children's titles to his name, there's always another Mo Willems book to read. Some of them are, of course, better than others, but even when we just pick the very best, we're left with almost 50 to choose from! Willems has garnered three Caldecott Honors, two of them for his Knuffle Bunny series, and one for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, but those might not even be his best books! The favorites in our house, by far, are his many Elephant and Piggie books. I've ordered his books from our family's most, to least, favorite in three categories: Recommended, Take It or Leave It, and Don't Bother. RECOMMENDED (51) Today I Will Fly (25) 2007 / 64 pages In this, the first of Willems' 25-book Elephant and Piggie series, Piggie decides she is going to fly. The ever practical Gerald the Elephant takes it upon himself to explain that Piggie will not fly. "You will not fly today. You will not fly tomorrow. You will not fly next week. YOU WILL NEVER FLY!" To which an unflustered Piggie replies, "I will try." First she just pretends to fly, flapping as she goes. But Gerald, killjoy Gerald, informs her that "You need help." She refuses to even hear the discouragement, and actually recruits help: she gets a dog to scare her into flying, and leaps all the way up to the top of Gerald's head. But again, Gerald puts a damper on her accomplishment. "You did not fly. You jumped." But Piggie keeps trying. And eventually, with a little help indeed – a pelican hoists her up on a string – she does fly, much to Gerald's amazement: "You are flying!" But this time it is Piggie's turn to do the correcting: "I am not flying. I am getting help." And the perfect conclusion to the book: a still astonished Gerald decides, "Tomorrow, I will fly!" Piggie's reply? To give a blank stare right at the reader because she knows, and we know, that unless a pterodactyl shows up, that ain't happening! Then she wishes Gerald, "Good luck." It's quiet comic genius that, from about the time my first girl was about three years old, our whole family has just loved. I think Willems was inspired by the classic comic duo of Abbott and Costello. Piggie is the more exuberant, expressive Costello-like of the two friends. Gerald the Elephant is more strait-laced and even uptight at times (though he can get bouncy and loud, too) like Abbott. It's the perfect combo! When I’d bring a new Elephant and Piggie book home from the library, oftentimes my littlest would squeal with delight – before having kids, I always thought "squeal with delight" was just an expression, but now I know better. There's so much to love here that I'm going to resort to bullet points: The drawings are attractive and energetic, but also simple. Young artists inspired to attempt to copy them will be able to do so with some success. With only a half dozen or so words per page, they make for great early readers, with dad or mom taking one of the duo's lines, and your First Grader reading the other's. Most teach simple moral lessons without being obvious about it. For example, in Listen to My Trumpet, Piggie’s performance is so bad that Elephant doesn’t know quite how to tell her. So he praises her for what he can: her trumpet is shiny, and she can play it loud, and she holds it very well. But when Piggie insists on hearing his opinion of her playing, he is honest. Fortunately, it turns out that Piggie wasn’t trying to play music, but was instead trying to sound like an elephant, so it all works out in the end. What a great example of honesty and tactfulness! With mostly just two main characters, dads will be able to do the voices easily enough. With 25 titles in the series, dad won't have to go batty reading the same beloved book again and again. Each book can serve as a script for your kids to do Piggie and Gerald plays! They are recommended for 3-9, but nostalgia has even our tween and teen kids looking at them now and again. For short reviews of each individual title you can click here but otherwise, all you need is a list of the titles to start checking them out from your local library. They are all equally as good as any other, so I've listed them here in the order they were published: Today I Will Fly!, My Friend is Sad, I Am Invited to a Party!, There Is a Bird On Your Head!, I Love My New Toy!, I Will Surprise My Friend!, Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Watch Me Throw the Ball!, Elephants Cannot Dance!, Pigs Make Me Sneeze!,I Am Going!, Can I Play Too?, We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Happy Pig Day!, Listen to My Trumpet!, Let’s Go for a Drive!, A Big Guy Took My Ball!, I’m a Frog!, My New Friend Is So Fun!, Waiting Is Not Easy!, I Will Take a Nap!, I Really Like Slop! and The Thank You Book. Each story is 50+ pages, and while they come in softcover, if you are buying them I'd go for more durable hardcovers, because these will be read again and again. And the whole series has now been collected in 5 “biggie” books for a pretty thrifty price. These really are fantastic! Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (8) 2003 / 40 pages In the very first of Mo Willems' Pigeon books, a bus driver asks readers not to let Pigeon drive his bus. The problem is, Pigeon isn't going to make it easy on us. He begs and pleads and sulks – turns out driving a bus is something he's always been desperate to do! Now, a sulky main character might not seem like the best ingredient for a great book, but what makes this a keeper is the role child readers have to take on. They have to tell him "no!" again and again! While the Pigeon is drawn with only a few simple lines, Willems manages to make him incredibly expressive – this is one excitable bird. Dad and mom will have a fun time mimicking Pigeon's angst. And his bargaining is going to strike most kids as pretty familiar: “I never get to do anything!” “What’s the big deal?” “I’ll be your best friend!” “No fair!” “I bet your mom would let me.” While Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is the first in the series, my own favorite, and the one I think will be most appreciated by all parents, is Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. The bus driver is back, asking us for our help to make sure Pigeon goes to bed on time. And Pigeon is back, pleading for "just five more minutes." And the readers are back, telling Pigeon no, no, no! That’s an important lesson for any child to learn – that pleading isn't going to get them anywhere – and this is a fun way for them to learn it. It also gives parents some useful shorthand when your kids start their own can’t-we-stay-up-5-more-minutes? pleas. I've told my girls: "Hold on now, you're starting to sound like Pigeon." There are 8 Pigeon books really worth reading, and if you want a short review of each you can click here. I'll list them here in the order of my most to least favorite: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!, The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?, The Pigeon Needs a Bath!, The Pigeon Has to Go to School!, and The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! With all these sequels comes a warning. While Willems’ Elephant & Piggie series can be enjoyed with or without mom and dad’s involvement, there is a real sense in which these Pigeon books should be rated PG for Parental Guidance. A somewhat bratty bird teaching kids how not to behave is quite the useful tool so long as a parent is alongside to make sure their kids understand we are actually laughing at Pigeon’s ridiculous behavior, and are not looking to copy it. There are four other Pigeon books that didn't make the recommended list, for reason you can read about further on. Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale (3) 2004 / 36 pages When a toddler who can’t talk yet loses her stuffed “knuffle bunny” at the laundromat, she tries whatever she can to explain it to dad. Kids will love the silly, loud baby talk. Dutch parents will appreciate the Netherlands as a setting for book three. The books’ striking look comes from Willems’ choice to use sepia-toned photographs for the backgrounds, and colorful cartoons for the characters. If the baby seems a bit bratty in the first book, the girl she grows up to be by book three is thoughtful indeed. In Knuffle Bunny Too Trixie has grown up some and takes her bunny to school only to discover another girl has one too. And when they argue over how to say “knuffle” (is the “k” silent or not?) the teacher confiscates both bunnies, returning them only when they head for home. But what do both girls discover that night? They have the wrong bunny! But, they both have pretty special dads, who ride to the rescue. A great sequel to the original, and a third in the series, Knuffle Bunny Free, brings together one of the most satisfying conclusions you’ll find to any trilogy! The Frustrating Book! (3) 2022 / 82 pages This is a very large, very fun book starring a host of squirrels and one duck (though he is called “Flappy Squirrel”). Lots of goofy puns, and 4 separate stories loosely strung together make this an easier read for Grade 1, but the sheer size of the book will make them feel a sense of accomplishment too. Funniest bit is when Zoom Squirrel goes to a booth offering feelings, and he asks the two squirrels there to give him a feeling he’s never felt before. The pair ask him if he’s ever felt disappointment before. No, he answers, and he’s quite excited to give it a try. But then they tell him they can’t disappoint him now. He’ll need to book a “disappointment appointment” for later. That leaves Zoom Squirrel feeling something he can’t quite put a finger on, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. That same sort of goofy humor continues on to the end. Very fun. A couple more in this Unlimited Squirrels series are also quite fun – Guess What (2021), and I Lost My Tooth (2018). But not every title is as good. Who is the Mystery Reader? and I Want to Sleep under the Stars have been demoted down below to the "Take It or Leave It" and "Not Recommended" categories, respectively. Edwina: the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct 2006 / 36 pages Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie is a little boy with a big name who is angry that no one will admit that their town’s favorite dinosaur, Edwina, isn’t actually real, because, after all, dinosaurs are extinct! Goofy story, with an indeterminate moral: is it that the facts don’t care about Reginald’s feelings? I don’t know that the book is that deep. It might just be goofy. But it is fun. With a dinosaur featured, I was wondering if there would be evolutionary propaganda, and thankfully there is not. Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs 2012 / 36 pages In this retelling of the classic, the three dinosaurs totally aren’t trying to get Goldilocks to stuff herself full of chocolate pudding “like one of those delicious chocolate-filled-little-girl-bonbons (which, by the way, are totally not the favorite thing in the whole world for hungry Dinosaurs).” A clever take that kids familiar with the original will love! Time to Say “Please”! 2005 / 36 pages A helpful narrator, and a throng of mice, help the reader learn that if you “really really want something, don’t just grab it” but instead find a “big person” and “please say please.” Children will learn other polite terms like “Excuse me,” “Sorry” and “thank you.” Because 2019 / 36 pages Co-authored with Amber Ren, this is a celebration of all that’s involved in playing orchestral music. Because Ludwig van Beethoven made his music, Franz Schubert was inspired to make his own. Each two-page spread has another “because” moment like that, including the girl herself heading to the concert only because her uncle had a cold so the girl’s aunt took her instead. And, because of what she heard, she went on to write her own music. A wonderful circle of becauses! Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator 2011 / 70 pages When Amanda is away at the library getting books, her alligator is not all that patient about waiting. He paces. He fiddles with his tail. But Amanda is worth the wait! When Amanda surprises him with a big “Boo!” he wants to surprise her too, but realizes it can’t be a “Boo!” too. So the cute little guy puts on his literal thinking cap, eventually thinking up a tickle attack. It’s a cute book, with 6.5 “surprising stories” within! City Dog, Country Frog 2010 / 56 pages An energetic city hound finds freedom when, at the start of Spring, he’s taken out to the wide open spaces of the country. There he meets a frog who tells the dog that he was just waiting around for a friend, and with a playful smile, he adds, “But you’ll do.” Together they play Country Frog games. When Summer arrives, it is now the dog’s turn, and they play City Dog games. Come Fall, frog is tuckered, and instead of running around, he asks if they could just hang out together remembering the fun they’ve had. As the snow ushers in Winter, the dog can’t find his flippered friend. Adult readers will know why – how long do frogs live? – though I was rather hoping he was just hibernating somewhere under the snow. Come Spring, dog sets out after him to find frog again, waiting on their rock for his friend's arrival. No frog. But a squirrel comes by and asks what dog is doing. “Waiting for a friend” he replies sadly. The book's last line reads: “Then he smiled a froggy smile and said… But you’ll do.” A little melancholy, but also just a reminder of the impact of friendship and of being friendly. Leonardo the Terrible Monster (2) 2005 / 42 pages This is a goofy story about a monster that couldn’t scare anyone, not even the most scaredy-cat kid in the world, Sam. But maybe, if Leonardo couldn’t be a terrible monster, he could become a wonderful friend. The sequel, Sam and the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World, has Sam scared by everything… except his friend Leonardo the Terrible Monster. What a quirk! But then he meets Kerry, who is also a scaredy-cat and both of them are terrified of each other. Until they get over it. Ridiculous and fun. The Story of Diva and Flea 2017 / 70 pages What we have here is an adventurous Parisian boy cat, who has been everywhere except inside a home, meeting a homebound girl dog who never gets out at all. Encouragement from one to the other has them both trying new things. Fun and sweet. Are You Small? (2) 2024 / 30 pages The child reading this might be small, but the book is smaller still. And you know what's really small? A hamster. It's way smaller than this book. And a baby tooth is smaller still, though, as Mo Willems notes, "it's a BIG deal when it comes out). Smaller and smaller we go, to hydrogen atoms, electrons, and even quarks. An intriguing look at size and the miniscule. The perfect compliment is Willems' Are You Big? which goes all the way through storms, to continents, to the moon, then the Earth, and onward and bigger until it reaches galaxy clusters! Big Frog Can’t Fit In: A Pop-Out Book 2009 / 12 pages Frog is “sad” so what can her friends do? It turns out they can stand by her. This is a super fun pop-up book about Frog who is so big she doesn't even fit in this book – she pops right out as you turn the first page! Not fitting in makes Frog sad, so what can she do? Can she make herself smaller? Or more bendable? Nope, of course not. But her friends have an idea. How about making the book bigger, and on the last page, the whole thing pops out, twice as big as before, leaving plenty of room for a happy Frog. Pop-out books don't last in any sort of library setting, so this isn't one to buy for your school. But if you have a careful child, it will be a wonder to them to see how all this origami-paper folding works out! TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT These are books you may not want to buy, but might still want to check out from the library. Nanette’s Baguette 2016 / 36 pages Nanette is a little froggy girl sent for the very first time to bring home the family’s baguette. On the way to the bakery she passes her friends Georgette, Suzette, and Bret (with his clarinet), but neither they, nor all the wonderful rhymes throughout, will stop Nanette from getting her baguette. There is a problem though: on the way home Nanette samples her baguette! And before she knows it, there isn’t any baguette left. She feels very bad, and what comes next is why this could be a great book for parents or a teacher to read with children, but it’s also why this wouldn’t be a great one for them to read on their own. Nanette begins to fret at how her mom will be upset, so she considers running away to Tibet, by jet. But when she returns home her mom gives her a hug, and they try again, though this time with mom holding the baguette. So, repentance and forgiveness, which parents can highlight and explore. But also a child considering running away rather than facing the music. Yes, Nanette doesn’t choose the jet to Tibet, but the young target audience will need a little more than that to understand what a bad idea running away really is. So two thumbs up for adults to read to kids, and two thumbs down for kids to read on their own. Who Is the Mystery Reader? 2019 / 96 pages Who Is the Mystery Reader? is another fun "Unlimited Squirrels" title. This time the squirrels are struggling to figure out what a sign says. Fortunately “the Mystery Reader” arrives just in time to help – it’s Wink Squirrel, but now wearing a red mask, cape, and underpants to hide his identity. It’s good silly fun, but the four uses of the word “underpants” it’s going to get kids tittering for the wrong reasons, and that got this demoted. In addition, the squirrels investigate the origin of writing for a couple of pages and I suspect their info might have some old earth dating assumptions. Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon 2023 / 80 pages This is intended more for adults, and only worth a borrow from the library. There are a few laughs, like “You only get one chance to make a twenty-third impression.” Pigeon Loves Things That Go (2) 2005 / 12 pages This is one of Willems' “smidgen of Pigeon” board books, and the problem I have with it, and the other, The Pigeon Has Feelings Too, is that I just don’t get the target audience. The stories are too short to stand on their own – you'd have to have read the other full-size Pigeon books to know what's going on here. But if a kid is old enough to appreciate the picture book versions, are they really going to want to read an abridged board book? Cat the Cat, Who is that? (4) 2010 / 24 pages The simple rhythms of Mo Willems’ "Cat the Cat" series might really appeal to some kids. But the repetition – Cat the Cat meets Mouse the Mouse, then Duck the Duck, and Fish the Fish – will drive some parents a little batty, especially if this becomes a regular request. The repetition continues in three sequels: Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly (which might be the most interesting book in the series, but that is not high praise), What’s Your Sound, Hound the Hound? and Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep! DON’T BOTHER These are better left on the library or store shelf. Done in the style of an old silent movie with title cards, That is NOT a Good Idea! has a fox inviting a goose to dinner. And as they head towards his house, with the soup pot already furiously boiling, a half dozen chicks repeatedly interject “That is not a good idea!” And as the innocent and decidedly plump goose’s peril becomes ever more urgent, so too do the chicks' warnings… until finally it happens! But there is a twist, the chicks weren't actually warning the goose – they were warning the fox! He gets bonked on the head and put in the pot and fed to the chicks, who, it turns out, are goose chicks. It's a fun turnabout, but a little too grim for such a cutesy book. A Busy Creature’s Day Eating! is an alphabet book, with a little creature eating through the alphabet. He starts with apples, berries, cereal, doughnuts, and eggs, but has some problems with F. But as a creature, eating furniture is an option. Could have been a cute one, but the midway point, P is for potty, because, of course, he has eaten himself sick, which eventually leads on to V for “vomit.” Wilbur is a Naked Mole Rat who doesn’t like being naked - he likes to wear clothes. And that bothers all the other naked mole rats who declare “Naked Mole Rats don’t wear clothes!” Willems thinks this is funny, because naked mole rats are a real creature. But they are not a real creature that the tittering children this book is intended for need to find out about at their age. That's why Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed ranks right up there with “Captain Underpants” for my least favorite children’s books. Our kids benefited from a book about going potty, so I am not principally opposed to a title like Time to Pee. But I do think it could be done without the naked backside pictures (albeit in cartoon style) that occur here. A board book of sorts, Welcome: A Mo Willems Guide for New Arrivals is meant to be read by a parent to their very small child. It struck me as a book that is too childish for adults – they’ll be bored – and with not enough interesting pictures for babies who I think will be bored too. Add to that Willems’ line that a baby is a result of luck, and it's easy to give this a miss. Kind of like a shapes book for babies, Opposites Abstract is instead a series of abstract paintings about concepts like “mechanical” vs. “organic” and “intentional” vs. “accidental.” I don't get the intended audience: this is too abstract for little kids, and too boring for older kids. I Want to Sleep Under the Stars is yet another fun "Unlimited Squirrels" book, but it has a mention of how stars can be billions of years old. It’s a brief bit, and if this was for older kids I might have recommended it and just noted there was a need for discernment on this point. But because it is for Grade 1, and there are so many other great books (even so many other great Mo Willems books) we might as well give this one a miss. Parents can give a miss to Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, which pretends that Christmas is all about Santa and, just to make it even easier to bypass, that Easter is about eggs and bunnies. I'll also mention that Mo Willems authored a couple of books that he didn't intend for children but which a kid with a library card might think to check out. Don’t Pigeonhole Me! Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook includes both preliminary sketches for his many children’s books, and cartoon nudity and drunkenness. You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons, about his one-year travel odyssey, depicted with one cartoon a day, is also completely unsuitable for children....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Keiko Kasza: All about cartoon critters

Author and illustrator Keiko Kasza was born in Japan and moved to the US for college only to meet and marry an American and then become American herself. On her website she shares the fun factoid that while her last name sounds Japanese, it actually comes from her husband, whose family has Hungarian roots. Kasza loves to people her stories with adorable furry and feathered friends, and illustrates in a somewhat cartoonish style, coloring characters in bright colors and surrounding them with plenty of bright white space. There's often a gentle moral shared, and of the sort that'd we'd appreciate, like: adoption is good, try to be brave, grandparents have lessons to share, and sometimes two disagreeing friends may discover they have both been a little wrong and a little right. There's a sense of playfulness to her work, perhaps because some of her books come off a little like a joke, the build-up leading to a satisfying punchline. And, at 32 pages each (and shorter for the board book), they are all pretty quick reads, which means you can share two or three at a time with your little ones. Sadly, some of her titles aren't readily available, so I've noted the ones that are easier to get by including a cover picture. But all twelve of the recommendations are worth putting in some effort to track down. RECOMMENDED (12) Silly Goose's Big Story (2012) Goose is so good at making up stories, his friends always ask him for more. But when the roles get handed out, his friends start noticing that Goose always gets the hero role. And they want a turn too. Goose isn't about to do that. Then a wolf interrupts things, swoops up Goose, and tells him, "So you're the hero, huh? More like a hero sandwich to me!" Goose can't get away. But he can tell a story. So Goose tells the most outlandish story about a wolf-eating monster that lives in the area. And who should be coming through the woods right then, but the monster himself! Wolf runs off, and we discover the monster is nothing more than Goose's three friends stacked atop each other. Goose gives them thanks, and notes that they are the real heroes! It's a sweet story, where friends fight, but figure it out... with some help from a wolf. :) Ready for Anything! (2009) Duck wants to go on a picnic, but Raccoon wonders, what if killer bees, or a terrible storm, or even a ferocious dragon make an appearance? In contrast, Duck is a glass-half-full kind of guy, and has his own what ifs to share: what if butterflies pass by, and what if the weather is warm and the breeze just strong enough to blow a kite? Raccoon agrees to go, but brings loads of gear – he’s ready for anything! – and actually saves the day when Duck forgets to bring their food. I loved that both friends learn a lesson: Raccoon learns not to obsess about the bad, and Duck learns that it’s not crazy to prepare for bad stuff, because it does sometimes happen. The Dog Who Cried Wolf (2005) When Moka's owner reads a book about wolves, Moka starts getting jealous. He wishes he could be a wolf. So the next day he takes off for the mountains. The only caution for the book concerns his celebration: "He ran. He jumped. He danced. And he peed where he wanted." That is, however, the only bit of potty humor. And soon after celebrating his freedom Moka realizes it isn't all that it is cracked up to be. He is soon very hungry, and he can't catch his dinner. Then, when he meets a pack of real wolves, Moka realizes that he never understood how good he had it back home. When he runs back, he's met at the gate by his master, her arms wide open to hug him – this could have been titled "The Prodigal Dog"! The Mightiest (2003) A lion, bear, and elephant happen upon a crown with an inscription that says it is for the mightiest. To figure out how should get it, they take turns trying to scare an old lady. Each, in turn, manages to "scare the daylights out of" the old lady. But then the three of them get scared themselves when a giant comes along and scoops them all up. "Help!" they all cry, and who should rescue them but the little old lady. She is the giant's mama, and since he's sure scared to disobey her, isn't she the mightiest of this whole lot? My Lucky Day (2003) A hungry wolf thinks it must be his lucky day when a delicious piglet, looking for his friend rabbit, knocks on the door. But as the wolf’s dinner prep begins, the piglet notes “I’m filthy. Shouldn’t you wash me first?” And so the wolf sets out to collect wood, start a fire, draw the water and give the piglet a wonderful scrub. As they head back to the kitchen the piglet notes, he’s quite small, and wouldn’t he be more delicious if the wolf fattened him up. Yes, the wolf agrees, and he picks tomatoes, cooks spaghetti, bakes cookies, etc. Piglet ends up having such a wonderful time that he thinks it must be his lucky day. And the wolf gets so tuckered, the piglet easily makes his escape. There is a sequel, My Lucky Birthday (2013), that's almost its match, marred by one use of “gosh.” Don’t Laugh, Joe! (1997) Joe is a young possum who can’t help but giggle. That’s fun for all his friends, but his mom is worried that it might give him away when danger comes – after all, possums evade danger by playing dead, and no predator is going to believe a laughing possum is dead. But with a little help from a grumpy bear, he figures it out… and helps the grumpy bear see the funny side of things too. A Mother for Choco (1996) A little bird looking for a mother finds a giraffe that’s the right color… but she doesn’t have wings. A penguin mother has wings, but doesn’t have Choco’s round cheeks. And so the hunt goes on. Finally she meets mother bear, who looks nothing like Choco, but wants to hug and kiss her like a mom would. And they decide that’s what matters. Choco heads home with the bear, and discovers she has other children that also don’t look like her: a pig, a crocodile, and a hippo. I think the point of this is to celebrate adoption, and it does a good job (though I would have liked it more if dad bear had shown up). Grandpa Toad’s Secrets (1995) On a walk in the forest, Grandpa toad shares with his little grandson three secrets to dealing with danger. The first is to be brave, and when a snake jumps out to eat them, Grandpa puts his advice into action. He puffs himself up, until he’s twice his normal size and shoos the snake away. His second piece of advice? Be smart! When a huge snapping turtle tries to eat them, Grandpa tells the turtle about an even tastier snack that just slithered by only moments before. Before he can give his third piece of advice, a monster grabs him. Thankfully, little grandson has been listening, and uses the first two tips to mount a very brave and very smart rescue of his dear ol’ grandpappy. A very fun story! When the Elephant Walks (1990) A scared elephant scares a bear, who in turn scares a crocodile, and so on, until we have a running raccoon accidentally scaring a mouse. Will it all stop with the mouse? Who would be scared by a mouse? Well... an elephant of course! So round we go once more. This board book is clever, but it is very short, taking just a minute to read. The Pig’s Picnic (1988) Mr. Pig wants to ask Miss Pig out for a picnic, and on the way to her house, he meets three friends, who all want to help him look his very best. Fox loans the pig his bushy tail, while Lion gives his hair, and Zebra shares his stripes. But with Mr. Pig now looking so very different, Miss Pig slams the door on him. And when he comes back looking like himself, she is happy to go on a picnic with him, and eager to tell him about the ugly monster that had visited that morning. The moral of the story is to be yourself, not someone else. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew (1987) A wolf anticipates eating a wonderful chicken stew. But before pouncing on the chicken, he leaves gifts of 100 pancakes, followed by 100 doughnuts, then a 100-pound cake, all in an effort to fatten the chicken up. When he finally thinks it’s time to pounce, he goes to her house only to discover a grateful brood of 100 chicks who have been enjoying his cooking. The newly minted “Uncle Wolf” gratefully receives their 100 kisses. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT (1) Badger’s Fancy Meal (2007) Badger has plenty to eat in his hole, but wants something fancy. So he goes after a mole, rat, and rabbit, all of them escaping in turn by diving into the hole he just left…where they find what, in their eyes at least, is a fancy feast just waiting for them. When the Badger finally returns to his den he finds his food gone. All that’s left is a note, signed by three critters: “Sorry for dropping by uninvited. A nasty badger was chasing us and we had nowhere else to hide. The apples, worms and roots were delicious.” The bad guy gets what he deserves, which is good. But the reason I didn’t rate this higher is because as parents we also need to teach our children that we should be thankful that God is not giving us what we deserve. DON’T BOTHER (3) Finders, Keepers! (2015) A little squirrel in a bright red hat finds a big acorn and celebrates with a shout of “Finders Keepers.” He buries it for later, marking the spot with his hat, which is later found by a bird, who thinks it would make for a great nest and takes his turn at declaring “Finders Keepers.” And on it goes. This is a light-hearted tale but only because it completely ignores that finders keeping leads to losers weeping. We don't want our kids living out the moral of this story: instead of being keepers, finders should try to be returners. Dorothy and Mikey (2000) Two hippopotamus best friends share three stories here, all three of which center around fights. In the second, Dorothy pulls a trick on Mikey because he's being all braggadocios about how much better he is at their contests. She challenges him to a contest of standing on one leg with eyes closed to see who can do it longer. But once they start, she goes home and enjoys a nice cool lemonade while Mike continues standing on one leg in the hot sun for hours, thinking she is there too. This is just returning evil for evil, which God doesn't want us to do (1 Pet. 3:9). The Rat and the Tiger (1993) A little rat is best friends with a big tiger who isn’t always looking out for his little friend. For example, when they play cowboys, Tiger always gets to be the good guy, and Rat has to be the bad guy. After a lot of this, Rat gets fed up and won’t be friends with Tiger until Tiger gets a taste of his own treatment. But while Tiger was thoughtless, Rat treats Tiger badly on purpose. This is one to give a miss because as much as the world preaches it, we don’t want our kids to ever believe two wrongs make a right. ...

Articles, Book Reviews, Teen fiction

Rediscovering Gordon Korman

Gordon Korman famously wrote his first book, This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!, when he was twelve years old. By the time I was twelve, he’d written a dozen or so more – which was fortunate for me, because I was eagerly reading and re-reading them all. Why did I love his novels? They were funny; they were quirky. There was also an essential good-naturedness to them that appealed to me. Although the characters got into plenty of trouble, at heart they were usually kids with integrity, showing loyalty, generosity, and kindness. As time went on, Korman continued to write prolifically and successfully. He still wrote some of the humorous novels for kids and teens that had made him famous, but he branched into other genres as well, writing, for example, several sports series and adventure trilogies. By now I had more or less outgrown his books . . . but I still had a soft spot for this favorite author, and occasionally checked out his new releases. I found many of them less memorable than his earlier “classics”; and some of them seemed edgier, with less likeable (though more realistic) characters. I was troubled by one teen novel called Pop (2000) – a book Korman was particularly proud of – because of the eventual suicide of the aging, dementia-stricken former football star, which is portrayed as a sympathetic, even noble act. Although I nostalgically looked forward to sharing my old favorite Korman novels with my own young kids, I wasn’t so sure about his newer ones. Then, within the last six or seven years, a few new Gordon Korman books caught my eye – books like Slacker (2016), Restart (2017), The Unteachables (2019), and more. Nephews and nieces were raving about them, and soon I was hooked too. They felt like a new era of Korman novels – like the novels I would’ve expected this talented author to grow up to write. Some of Korman’s recent books are more or less pure silliness, but clean and positive, with creative storylines, fun characters, and some laugh-out-loud lines. Others are surprisingly serious, dealing with topics like the realities of war and the Holocaust, as well as domestic abuse (some of these books are definitely not for younger readers). Single parents and broken families are presented matter-of-factly, though not glamorized; many of Korman’s characters are struggling with life changes such as their parents’ divorce. In general, the characters feel a bit “older” than some of the kids in our communities, as the seventh- and eighth-graders are often quite caught up in social media and sometimes in girlfriend/boyfriend relationships. Unfortunately Korman does occasionally (though rarely) use God’s name in vain. In both Restart and Linked, for example – award-winning and otherwise commendable books – there is a flippant use or two. To me, Restart marked the real beginning of Korman at his thoughtful best, as he deals with interesting questions about good and evil, human nature, character, and choices; and Linked addresses deep questions about the purpose of life, religion, and faith, as the main character searches for what’s real and meaningful. So I regret that I can’t wholeheartedly recommend these two. Here, though, are a few others I can. Slacker 2016 / 240 pages Cameron Boxer is all about video gaming. When his parents get concerned that he’s missing out on real life, he starts a fake school group, the Positive Action Group, to appease the adults in his life. Unexpectedly, the “PAG” takes off, dragging the unenthusiastic gamer along – and, of course, surprising him by showing how much more satisfying a purposeful, other-centered life can be. One of the strengths of this (very funny) book is how Korman gets into the heads of his characters, and especially of the underachieving adolescent Boxer, whose life choices (i.e., gaming above all) make perfect sense to him, and who is honestly miffed when real-life concerns “disturb his lifestyle.” By the end, thankfully, Boxer is able to reflect that PAG “started as a hoax, but . . . ended up the realest thing about me.” Operation Do-over 2022 / 320 pages Twelve-year-old Mason made one big mistake – he betrayed his lifelong best friend over a girl they both liked. Five years later, through a mysterious time warp, he finds himself back in time, to just before the fateful incident occurred – with a unique chance for a “do-over.” He takes the chance, with the benefit of hindsight and some extra maturity, to change several things in his life this time around: try out for a team, stand up to a bully, treat a classmate better, and even keep his beloved dog from a premature death. (Interestingly, he realizes he’s not able to prevent his parents’ divorce, though he tries.) As in Restart, Korman leaves his readers with some hopeful and encouraging ideas: our “fate” isn’t predetermined, and we can make choices that change our trajectory and lead to a more positive future. The Fort 2022 / 256 pages This novel, Korman’s milestone 100th book, is a serious (and a moving) one, and although the characters are eighth-graders, the topics are pretty weighty for middle-school readers. A group of friends discover a Cold-War-era bunker in the woods, and it becomes their secret hide-out. All of them are dealing with difficult issues – OCD, family breakdown, the challenge of fitting in, family members with drug addictions – and one of them, unknown to everyone else, has a violent stepfather at home. For him, the fort becomes his literal escape, and the novel largely revolves around his story. Korman writes the different chapters, powerfully, from the points of view of the different characters. Despite the serious subject matter, we see friends showing loyalty and self-sacrifice, and are again left with the idea that positive change is possible. Conclusion Although Korman has said he’s “not a message kind of guy,” he is interested in the power of stories to help readers explore ideas and see things from different perspectives. And even if he’s not pushing a particular agenda, books do inevitably communicate something of the worldview of a writer. In the case of Korman’s books, there are a lot of hopeful takeaways for young readers: people can change, and we can make choices to change our futures for the better. Understanding and empathy can triumph over bullying and racism. Our lives can and should be about something bigger than ourselves, and grappling with what that means is a worthwhile pursuit. Positive messages, and true . . . but so incomplete. Now my oldest son is nearly twelve. (And yes, he’s been enjoying many of my old favorite Gordon Korman books.) As he and his siblings and peers grow up and confront the big questions of life, I’m grateful that we have more complete answers, and real hope, to offer – far beyond anything they’ll find in a Korman novel. At the same time, books like Korman’s have their place – as thought-provoking reads, or sometimes just as well-written stories that bring joy and make us laugh. And I know that I, and my kids, are looking forward to seeing where Gordon Korman takes us in the books to come....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Virginia Lee Burton: Queen of nostalgia

A mom reading Katy and the Big Snow to her daughters might remember her own parents reading the same book to her. Since they first came out in the 1940s, Virginia Lee Burton's books have been enjoyed by three generations. These are classics! But there's more to the nostalgia, because even when they were brand new, they likely had a timeless feel because, rather than being about Burton's present, they were a look back, celebrating a not-so-distant past that seemed calmer, simpler, better. The idyllic yesteryear that Burton presents is just a bit before her own childhood, in the transition period between the late 19th and early 20th century. It's a curious time to pick as the wistful pinnacle of civilization. It's an age in which mechanization is already in place, so why is Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel worth celebrating, but the diesel shovels that followed are somehow threatening? But that is the pinnacle she picks, not only in Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, but Maybelle the Cable Car, and then again in The Little House. While these stories are all quiet laments at the technological advances that were revolutionizing the Western way of life, they are also a hubbub of activity, with all sorts of machines at work, and so much to see on every page. This busyness is then contrasted by the happy, calm conclusion to each story. While it's fun to take a peek at the past from someone who really appreciates the age she's depicting, parents might remind their children of what the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes 7:10: "Say not 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this." To romanticize the past can sometimes be to overlook the many blessings God is showering on us right now. Recommended Burton's four most popular are available separately and also in a compendium together. They are wonderful! Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel 1939 / 48 pages Mike Mulligan and his beautiful red steam shovel, Mary Anne, do a lot of digging in this story: cutting canals, lowering hills, straightening curves. But as technology advances, and new electric, diesel, and gasoline shovels come along, no one wants to hire a steam shovel. But instead of sending Mary Anne to the junkyard, Mike takes her to a small town looking to dig the cellar for their new town hall. He tells them that Mary Anne can do the job in a day, or they won't have to pay him. The real fun here is not in finding out whether she gets the job done in time, but in the sweet way the story ends, with Mary Anne and Mike finding new jobs to keep them both busy. The Little House 1942 / 44 pages The story starts with a solid little house in the country that can just see the lights of the city on the horizon at night. But as the decades pass, the city approaches and then engulfs the little house, making her sad. But when the first owner's great-great-granddaughter comes across it, she decides to move the solid little house to a new spot, out in the country once more. Katy and the Big Snow 1943 / 40 pages A big red crawler tractor named Katy can push dirt in the summer, but when winter comes, she's the only one strong enough to push through all the snow. When a "big snow" hits, and all the plow trucks get stuck, and the snow piles up to three feet, five feet, and even more, then it's time for Katy to save the day. She clears roads for ambulances, fire trucks, the police, the mailman, the phone and electric company, and then even clears the runway for a plane that otherwise would have crashed. Katy saved the day! Maybelle the Cable Car 1952 / 52 pages Maybelle is a cable car who spends her days going up and down San Fransisco's steepest streets, and she's been doing so for decades. But now the city wants to do away with all the cable cars and replace them with big new buses. Will Maybelle be out of a job? No, because a campaign by citizens to keep the money-losing cable cars wins the day. Yay? What this presumes is that, so long as the majority says so, it's okay to use tax dollars for non-necessities of all sorts, including wistful ones. Parents might have to talk their children through this one, to ensure little ones don't walk away with that lesson. Take it or leave it Fun to read once or twice, these don't need to make the cut for personal or school library shelves. Calico, the Wonder Horse 1941 / 67 pages A peaceful Western county is disrupted by a gang of bad guys. The wonder horse Calico disguises herself with a black mud bath so that Stewy Stinker, leader of the gang, will mistake her for his horse. When he does, she gives him a wild ride to jail. He escapes and makes plans to hold up the stagecoach only to discover that it is full of presents for the town's children for Christmas Eve. Stinky starts crying because "I didn't know I was that mean… holding up Santa on Christmas Eve. I'm never going to be bad anymore." So the bad guys all decide to be good. This is a fun exciting story, but this people-are-only-bad-because-they-are-misunderstood turn at the end obscures that there is real evil in the world, people who are fully determined to be wicked, and they must be fought and not coddled. Choo Choo 1937 / 48 pages A hard-working train engine, Choo Choo takes a bratty turn and decides she wants to go out on her own, so she runs away. After a misadventure, causing all sorts of mishaps as she flies through crossings and even leaps over an open train drawbridge, Choo Choo eventually runs out of steam and is left all on her own at the end of an abandoned line. Fortunately, her conductor, engineer, and fireman go after her, find her, and bring her home, much to Choo Choo's relief – she's learned her lesson and pledges never to run away again. Don't bother The second book below made this category on, admittedly, a bit of nitpick, but the first earned its spot, being nothing but propoganda. Life Story - At 80 pages, this is Burton's biggest book by far, and all of it a godless evolutionary account of how life on earth originated. We move through millions of years of history until, in the concluding pages set in Burton's time, there is on display, her wistful longing for a simple, country life. The Emperor's New Clothes - Burton illustrated this Hans Christian Anderson classic. As much as I like the story, what I'm looking for in an illustrated version for children is for the Emperor's nakedness to be strategically and artfully obscured. Burton almost pulls it off, but on the last page we have a naked butt, and yes, it is a cartoonish naked butt. However, she's already shown in previous pages that this nudity is unneeded. For this tittering age group, one naked butt is one too many. Conclusion If one could overdose on Virginia Lee Burton that might lead a child to romanticize the past, and maybe even take an anti-progress, almost Luddite turn. But Burton didn't write all that much, so this isn't much of a concern. Instead we can just enjoy her timeless books for the lovely look back that they are. We can dig up our own old copy, and point out all the action going on, the favorite bits that we recall from so many years ago "when your grandpappy used to read this to me." Burton at her best offers up stories that will endure at least long enough for you to read them to your grandchildren too....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Jerry Pinkney: Making the classics kinder

In addition to the dozens of books Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021) has illustrated for others, he has also retold a number of tales from Aesop’s Fables, Hans Christian Andersen, and Rudyard Kipling. While loyal to these classics, he always adds in his own spin, which is often kinder than the original. This gentler take comes out in his illustrations too, where his use of watercolor makes his pictures bright, but soft. He loved drawing animals with people’s facial quirks and often packed his pages with detail. What follows is a summary review of his most popular picture books. Recommended Rikki-Tikki-Tavi 1997 / 48 pages This is a gorgeous treatment of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a lost mongoose taken in by an English family in India. But he’s not simply a pet – mongooses are snake killers, and there are three snakes in the family garden that he has to fight, one by one. The story is scary in parts, but each fight is quickly told, which might make this a great book to introduce young readers to a bit of tension. Pinkney’s watercolor paintings add enormously to the story. The Ugly Duckling 1999 / 40 pages Everyone seems a little bit nicer (or maybe a little less mean) to the ugly duckling in Pinkney’s version, though he does still get picked on for looking so different from the other ducklings. It’s only when he discovers he is a swan, not a duck, that he finds his place in the world. The moral to this story is one that parents can shape to a degree: is it about finding the right peer group – one that will accept you for who you are – or is what’s important finding out who God intends you to be? Aesop’s Fables 2000 / 96 pages This is a fabulous collection of more than 60 of Aesop’s fables. Even if you aren’t familiar with the ancient Greek author Aesop, you’ve certainly heard at least a few of his fables, ones like The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Lion and the Mouse. In this collection the stories are at their shortest, just half a page to maybe two, which means you can read a handful at a time to your children. There is a moral to each story, again, and while most of them are insightful and foster common sense, these are not inspired. We found some of them are disputable, or right in one situation and may be wrong in another. That makes them all the more fun to read together, because examining the moral spurs on the discussion. That might be a reason parents would want to read this one with their kids, and not simply hand it off to them. None of the morals taught are all that horrible, so it isn’t a dangerous book: just a limited one, that gets some things only partly right, which means, also partly wrong. The Little Red Hen 2006 / 32 pages A red hen asks her barnyard companions if any of them will help her plant, harvest, carry, or bake her grain, and the pig, dog, rat, and goat all answer in turn, “Not I!” So, when it comes to the eating of the bread, the hen decides that they won’t have any part in that either. This is a tale about justice, so it is worth reminding kids that we shouldn’t be so quick to deliver justice to others, as Jesus satisfied the just judgment coming our way so that we would instead receive mercy. Little Red Riding Hood 2007 / 40 pages I love the little details Pinkney adds: in this one, he offers a reason as to why the wolf didn’t just gobble Little Red Riding Hood when he first met her in the forest – “he heard the chop, chop of woodcutters working nearby.” The wolf then gets ahead of Little Red by suggesting she stop to collect some kindling for a fire to warm her grandmother. Parents can point out that while this might seem a nice idea, it’s actually disobeying Red’s mother, who told her to head straight there with no delay. I was surprised when not only grandma but Red herself gets swallowed up. But, of course, the woodcutter does come to the rescue. The Lion and the Mouse 2009 / 40 pages When a tiny mouse disturbs the rest of the King of the Beasts, the King seems intent on having a quick snack. But instead, after some back and forth with the tiny petitioner, the lion lets the mouse go. Why? Readers already familiar with this Aesop Tale will remember that the mouse has pledged to help the king if ever he is in trouble. But in Pinkney’s almost entirely wordless version – there are only a few squeaks, one owl screech, and a lion’s roar – it isn’t as clear. But no worries, we can follow along well enough. Then when hunters trap the mighty lion in a net, it is the mouse that comes to the rescue, chewing through the rope to set the lion free. The moral of the story? Even the strongest will need help. Three Little Kittens 2010 / 40 pages Three little kittens lose their mittens, and consequently, lose their chance to eat their mother’s pie. Pinkney has extended but only lightly altered this classic tale, and paired it with page after page of adorable kitty pictures that any child will love to look at. The Tortoise and the Hare 2013 / 40 pages In this nearly wordless retelling (just 27 in all) we get treated to a double-page spread of the hare stretched out galloping with everything he’s got. In some versions of the story, the rabbit succumbs to ego and flattery, falling behind when he does stunts to impress the fans (particularly the girl fans) but Pinkney gives him a less obnoxious flaw, distracting him instead with a plump lettuce garden, where he overindulges and falls asleep. And that’s when the slow but steady turtle can make his move. The story concludes with the hare being a good sport and celebrating the turtle’s victory. The Grasshopper & the Ants 2015 / 40 pages In this version the grasshopper is a one-man band, singing his encouragements to the ants to forgo their work for play. Of course, when winter comes, we see the (unstated) moral to the story play out: that we should not put off until tomorrow what we can do today. But Pinkney’s ending, with the ants offering the grasshopper a place to winter, leaves us wondering if the grasshopper learned that lesson. Three Billy Goats Gruff 2017 / 40 pages This is the best version of this classic tale you will find, with wonderful artwork paired with an updated and improved version of the story. The three goats come, one by one, the smallest first, to cross a bridge to get to some delicious grassland. A troll pops up to devour the first goat, but this little one promises that his bigger, tastier brother is coming, and the troll should really wait for him. When the second comes, he says the same about his even bigger brother, and the troll lets him pass too. But when the biggest Billy Goat Gruff comes, he knocks the troll right off the bridge. That’s usually the end of the story, but Pinkney has the troll land in a river where a giant fish tries to devour him! After his narrow escape, the question is, has the troll learned his lesson? This is a story parents could maybe use to talk about bullying, but they would have to note that even though the troll got what he deserved here, that doesn’t mean we have to do to others as they were going to do to us. Take it or leave it Noah’s Ark 2002 / 40 pages I’m leery of biblical adaptations in large part because those that do them are often casual about how closely their summaries line up with what the Bible says, and the visual dimension will add details that weren’t in the biblical text. However, Pinkney is quite careful, with his most notable departure the omission that, in addition to the pairs of creatures two by two, seven of each clean animals were also taken (or, likely, seven pairs of each clean animal – Gen. 7:2-3). Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star 2011 / 30 pages A chipmunk stars in this retelling of the classic bedtime nursery rhyme, and early on he is finding “little stars” everywhere, from a dandelion fluff floating in the sky, to water droplets glistening on a spider’s web. But then, suddenly, he’s in a boat sailing to the moon. Clearly, he must be dreaming here, but the transition from the waking world is abrupt and I think most children (and many an adult) will be mystified as to what just happened. Don't bother The Little Match Girl 1999 / 32 pages I have to say I’ve never liked the original version of this Hans Christian Andersen tale, and nothing has changed with Jerry Pinkney's update. It is well done, but such a sad tale. And while it is important for adults to know of the needy, I don’t know that I have to confront my Grade 1 child with these difficulties. The Nightingale 2002 / 40 pages An African adaptation of an odd and lesser-known Hans Christian Andersen tale. It features death as a creepy character which is why I’m content to have it remain a lesser-known tale. Puss in Boots 2012 / 40 pages A beautiful version of a less than heroic tale about a clever but deceitful cat who tricks everyone into believing his master is a Count. The Little Mermaid 2020 / 48 pages In his version, the Little Mermaid doesn’t fall in love at first sight, doesn’t give up her life underwater for a man who doesn’t even know she exists, and doesn’t trade her tail for legs that constantly feel like she’s walking on blades. So, an improvement on the original? Maybe. But Pinkney’s version has a witch that looks like Satan himself, all red and horned, and a tack-on “girl-power” ending with the Little Mermaid suddenly able to beat all the bad guys all by herself for reasons that remain elusive. There’s no reason to get this one. Conclusion In the many articles prompted by Pinkney’s passing late last year, mention was made of how this prolific author struggled with reading in his youth. It was only decades later that he discovered he had dyslexia. Pinkney credited his parents’ positive outlook with enabling him to persist, and while he had struggles in one area, he found out that he was gifted in another: right from the start, he had a talent for art. These obituaries also spoke of his advocacy for African Americans. He grew up in a tumultuous time. He was almost the same age as Emmett Till, a young black boy who was famously murdered for simply flirting with a white woman. It wasn’t until Pinkney started having children himself that black children started being depicted in picture books. He’s made a point of including them frequently in his own work – for example, he has a black Red Riding Hood – though the inclusion is done naturally, without any particular note made. Even his advocacy is gentle. What never seemed to be mentioned was anything about Pinkney’s relationship with his Maker. The closest was a passing reference to his wife being a minister, which would have us suspect he was a liberal Christian. If so, his love for the old classics seems to have kept him from pushing any such liberalism in his books. He is an author that Christian parents will love to share with their little ones, particularly because he so often put a new spin on familiar fare....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

David Wiesner: weird and wonderful

Super creative? Ultra creative? Mega creative? Every good picture book author is imaginative, but somehow David Wiesner (1956- ) manages to be all the more so. His living clouds, flying frogs, and artistic lizards always provide a surprise – a reader starting one of Wiesner's stories will never be able to predict how it is going to end. That's a joy for parents to experience right along with their kids: a children's story that isn't predictable! And since several of Wiesner's works are wordless, they can also be great books for reluctant readers to tackle alongside mom or dad. Wordless doesn't mean it's an easy "read" but together parent and child can put their detective skills to work to figure out all that's going on! What follows are my family's recommendations – our favorites – and then a few that we've read but which for this reason or that, I'm not going to recommend like the rest. Finally, there are three that really aren't worth bothering with. RECOMMENDED Free Fall 1988 / 32 pages A little boy falls asleep and we get to come along in his dream. As dreams often are, this is wordless throughout, one page streaming into the next as the boy goes from meeting a dragon to growing giant-sized, to flying home on a leaf. It makes sense only in the ways that dreams do. But the smart-eyed reader will be able to spot on the last page, when the boy wakes up, all the objects in the room that inspired the different parts of his dream. This is one to “read” slowly and enjoy every picture. Hurricane 1990 / 32 pages Two brothers are worried about a coming hurricane. But when the lights go out, and the family is still together, the boys realize it's not so bad after all. It even gets quite good the next day, when they discover a huge fallen tree in their neighbor’s yard. In the days that follow the huge trunk becomes their spaceship, and the branches a jungle, and the both of them together a pirate-hunting sailboat. Tuesday 1991 / 32 pages The only words we see tell us the time, and that it is a Tuesday. For reasons that are left entirely mysterious, at around 8 pm, a swarm of frogs suddenly starts flying (or is it their lily-pads that are doing the levitating?). They flock into town, chase some birds for fun, watch a little telly, and then, just as they are heading back, dawn breaks, and the sun's rays seem to sap their flying powers. That leaves the whole lot of them hopping back to their pond. This is silly nonsense and kids are sure to love it. Sector 7 1999 / 48 pages A boy on a field trip to the Empire State Building meets a rambunctious cloud (he discovers that clouds are people!) who takes him back to “Sector 7” high up in the sky where the clouds get their orders about what shape of cloud they should be. But the clouds seem a bit bored with these shapes and appear to ask the boy to draw them up some alternatives. And what fun to see clouds mimicking the sea creatures he draws! Eventually, the rambunctious cloud returns the boy to the Empire State Building, but his visit to Sector 7 might have some lasting impact, as the clouds quite like being fish-shaped. This is another of Wiesner’s wordless books and another one that parent and child will have pouring over to see all that the pictures have to say. The Three Pigs 2001 / 40 pages When our middle daughter discovered this one she just had to share it with her younger sister right there and then. This is a creative spin on the old tale as the Big Bad Wolf blows the pigs right out of the story and into some others (including Wiesner's own The Loathsome Dragon). As they travel from storybook to storybook the pigs decide there is no place like home, but also decide to bring along a guest from another story – a dragon! – to give this pesky wolf quite the surprise. Art & Max 2010 / 40 pages This might be my favorite picture book. It involves just two characters, which makes this one easy to read out loud to the kids, and there’s so much energy on each page that performing it becomes so easy to do. Art knows how to paint, and Max desperately wants to learn. (Both are lizards, but aside from the fun way they look, that doesn't really matter.) But who should Max paint? When Aurthur suggests himself, Max literally starts to throw paint on Art. And that’s when it gets wacky! As Max tries to clean the paint off Art, he starts to clean all the color off him. Art is see-through; he’s just lines! Then, when that line starts to unravel, Art becomes just a scribble. Fortunately, his friend Max is on it, and proves, as he turns that scribble into a work of Art, that he has some mad skills too. I Got It! 2018 / 32 pages Once again David Wiesner lets the pictures do (almost) all the talking, When a long flyball is hit into the outfield, a boy declares, “I’ve got it!” which are the only words in the story. But does he really have it? One dropped ball is followed by another, and it’s almost like there are obstacles (getting bigger and bigger) just reaching out to trip him up. His repeated drops have his teammates moving in closer to catch it for him, since he can’t. But then, in one last stretching leap, our boy in red jumps past the obstacles and beats his teammates to the ball for a wonderful game-winning catch. This is a very fun story, but I could see some kids needing a little help to understand what’s going on. But hey, reading together is fantastic! TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT The Loathsome Dragon 1987 / 32 pages An evil queen/stepmother casts a spell which turns a princess into a loathsome dragon. Along comes a brave prince who has to kiss the dragon three times to break the spell. The only twist in this tale is that the brave prince is her brother, and not a husband-to-be, but that’s not enough to make this seem fresh. I should add that while I was unimpressed, my girls liked this a lot more than I did. June 29, 1999 1992 / 32 pages A young girl, Holly, sends vegetable seedlings into the ionosphere for her science project just to see what might happen. Soon after giant vegetables – house-sized and bigger! – start floating down from the sky. But wait! Some of these vegetables are not the sorts that she sent up. So where did those come from? At book’s end we discover the giant vegetables came from a giant alien chef accidentally losing his ingredients while flying above Earth. Very fun to see the giant vegetables all over the landscape but I think it would have been better without the aliens tacked on at the end. Flotsam 2006 / 40 pages When a boy discovers an old-style underwater camera washed up on the beach, he brings the film in to be developed. There he discovers pictures, seemingly taken by underwater creatures themselves, and the world that they live in when we aren’t looking is certainly something to behold: little mermaids and mermen, robotic fish, giant turtles carrying shell cities on their backs, and even what looks like aliens taking rides on the guppies. Done without any text at all, each picture is another discovery. The very last snapshot is of a girl holding up a picture. And in that picture is a boy holding a picture of a girl holding a picture of a boy. A look through a magnifying picture shows this goes deeper still, and further back in time. The boy’s microscope reveals more still layers to the photo. This is inventive and fun, with the only cautions being that the young target audience may have to be informed that though the photos look quite realistic, the aliens and mermen are fantasy, not fact. DON'T BOTHER Mr. Wuffles Tiny tiny aliens have landed, but unfortunately for them, their ship attracts the attention of Mr. Wuffles, who thinks it’s one of his cat toys. To repair their ship the little aliens recruit help from ants and bugs – their treasure trove of lost marbles, pencils, loose change, and paperclips turn out to be just what the aliens need to fix things up. There's some vague religious-type imagery written by the bugs on the house walls that, along with the aliens, makes this one I'd rather just skip. Fish Girl Wiesner’s only graphic novel is the story of a mermaid girl kept captive in an aquarium by the owner who she believes is the god Neptune. It’s odd all the way around, and that she is swimming around topless for most of its 192 pages (though always with strategically placed hair, or fishes) makes this another good one to skip. Robobaby Robots get their babies in a box, with some assembly required. This story has its quirky charm, but when Mom and Dad, Uncle Manny, and even the Robobaby tech service can’t assemble Junior properly, but the child amongst them knows just what to do, this become just one more adults-are-dumb-and-kids-know-everything story that we can really do without (Prov. 20:29, 22:15). CAUTIONS David Wiesner is an incredibly imaginative picture book author, which makes him very fun to read, but it's that same active imagination that seems to lead him into a bit of over-the-top weirdness now and again. I couldn't figure out what Wiesner's worldview/philosophy is, and it'd be a bit much to conclude he must not be Christian just because he features aliens on occasion, though aliens (at least the intelligent sort) would seem to be incompatible with Christianity (but demons masquerading as aliens would not be). However, there's nothing in his books that would give us reason to conclude he must be Christian. In lieu of evidence one way or the other, that's good reason for parents to approach his future output with some caution. CONCLUSION If you have a creative kid, Wiesner's best could be just the spark they need to think bigger and bolder. And if you have a not-particularly-creative kid, Wiesner might be an inspiration for them too, showing them how there are all sorts of possibilities to explore and fresh ways of looking at things. Finally, if you have a reluctant reader, Wiesner's wordless books – Freefall, Tuesday, Sector 7, and I Got it! – might be an encouragement for them to page through, especially if mom or dad comes alongside....

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Jan Brett: picture books' peak

What sets Jan Brett (1949- ) apart as a picture book illustrator is how much she packs into every page. There’s always lots going on right there in the middle of her double-page pictures, and then there's even more to see toward the edges – Brett’s trademark is to use the side and bottom borders to give hints to the attentive child of what might be coming next. So, for example, in The Mitten, the small picture on the right-hand border of every two-page spread gives us our first glimpse of the next animal to try to squeeze into the already crowded mitten. What sets Brett apart as an author is the creative twists she brings to otherwise familiar fairytales. Goldilocks, the Gingerbread Man, Cinderella, and the Big Bad Wolf are all taken to new settings, with the most unusual reimagining being Cinderella as told with chickens. RECOMMENDED All of her books are 32 pages, and all are aimed at the pre-school to Grade 2 age group (though older children will certainly enjoy revisiting them for years to come). But which Brett should you begin with? And which would make ideal gifts for the kids or grandkids, or purchases for the school library? With more than 40 books so far, there’s certainly lots to enjoy. What follows are my recommendations grouped by theme. FOUR SETS OF MITTENS I couldn’t track down which is Brett’s most popular book, but in that she’s written three sequels to it, I’d think Brett’s favorite has to be The Mitten. The Mitten: a Ukrainian folktale (1989) After his grandmother knits him some snow-white mittens, Nicki loses one in the forest. But one boy’s loss is a mole’s gain, who finds it just the perfect size to crawl into and stay cozy and warm. A passing rabbit has the same thought, and, despite there really being no room, joins the mole, only to have a hedgehog, owl, and more squeeze in. The charming story has a fun twist at the end when Nicki recovers his lost mitten. The Hat (1997) Hedgie gets a woolen sock stuck to her head, and the other animals use the rest of the drying laundry to fashion their own hats. The Umbrella (2002) This retelling of The Mitten takes place in the jungle and begins with a little frog trying to find refuge in a little boy’s lost umbrella. But it isn’t too long before he has a lot of very close neighbors. Cozy (2020) An Alaskan Muskox named Cozy becomes a refuge for cold animals seeking shelter. It starts with some lemmings, then a snowshoe rabbit, and so on. The attentive young reader will notice that this is another retelling of The Mitten but with its own creative twists. HEDGIE’S BOOKS Hedgie the hedgehog makes frequent appearances in Brett’s books, showing up in at least twenty of them. Most often it’s somewhere in the background (he’s carved into a bedpost in Goldilocks and the Three Bears) but in The Hat above, and in the books below, he has a bigger role. Trouble with Trolls (1994) A little girl, Treva, has to contend with some troublesome trolls who really want her pet dog for their own. Though she outsmarts them in the end, children might feel a little sorry for the trolls, who just wanted a pet. But the observant child will notice that, though they don’t deserve it, by story’s end, the trolls do end up with a wonderful pet. Guess who it is! Hedgie’s Surprise (2002) Hedgie helps a hen stop a thieving Tomten (a Danish gremlin) from taking her eggs so that she can have a family. The borders are done as needlepoint for added charm. The Snowy Nap (2018) Hedgie puts off hibernation long enough to see the farm in wintertime. FAIRYTALES WELL (RE)TOLD There is a reason the same fairytales we heard as kids are still being told – they are classics for a reason. But Brett’s taken on the challenge of improving on them, and in these four her success is obvious. The first three here are all versions of Goldilocks and there’s something to love about each one. Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1987) What sets this faithful retelling apart is the detailed, gorgeous pictures - there is so much to see! And the author also explains (which few other versions do) how the Papa and Mama bears could tell Goldilocks had been on their chairs and beds. The Three Snow Bears (2007) An Inuit girl, Aloo-ki, ends up at the igloo house of a family of polar bears. She’s less destructive than in the original, and the bears are more forgiving. The arctic landscape brings added charm. The Mermaid (2017) This time Goldilocks is a mermaid visiting the home of the three octopuses. The ending is a little happier than it usually is – the little one gets a gift from “Goldilocks.” Beauty and the Beast (1989) To save her father, a girl agrees to live with a beast and his animal servants. That’s always made this my least favorite fairytale – what sort of loving father would let his daughter sacrifice herself for him? But while Brett’s version still includes this troublesome opening, the artwork makes it special. An observant child will notice the paintings shown on the castle hallway walls reveal what the animal servants used to look like back when they were human. Town Mouse · Country Mouse (1994) When a pair of country mice switch places with two city mice, they both learn that there’s no place like home. An added element to this version: a city cat and a country owl both intent on getting dinner. Gingerbread baby (1997) While the title character is full of sass, this is a kinder, gentler twist on the classic Gingerbread Man tale. The 3 little Dassies (2010) Brett has taken The Three Little Pigs to Africa, swapping in dassies (gopher-like creatures) as the architects, and an eagle as the windbag. It’s a little scarier than its source material because the eagle actually catches the first two dassies, But never fear – in the picture borders we can watch as they are rescued by a friendly lizard even as the eagle makes his unsuccessful attempt at Dassie #3. THE REST OF THE BEST Among this potpourri are original stories from Jan Brett, as well as folktales from other countries. Annie and the Wild animals (1985) When a little girl’s pet cat goes missing, she tries to find a new pet from among the wild animals in the forest. What she discovers is that none of them are a good fit. Fortunately, her cat comes back...and she brings some surprises with her. Fritz and the beautiful horses (1987) A scruffy pony wishes that someone would ride him but all anyone does is laugh at how he looks. But when the town’s bridge breaks, the sure-footed Fritz is able to do something the beautiful horses won’t – he can bring the town’s children through the river back to their parents. Hurray for Fritz! Berlioz the Bear (1991) A bear and his band of musicians are stuck on their way to the gala – their donkey won’t budge. Can the rooster, cat, goat, or ox get him to move? No, but children will enjoy seeing how something much smaller can change the stubborn beast’s mind! Daisy comes home (2002) Set in China, this is the tale of a quiet meek chicken who gets picked on by other chickens. But on an unexpected journey, she has to fight a monkey, a dog, and more, and her courage helps her stand up to the chicken bullies when she gets back home. Honey.. honey... Lion! (2005) The honeyguide bird and honey badger normally work together, with the little bird showing the badger where to find honey, and the badger breaking things open so they can both feast. But one day, when honey badger decides not to share, honeyguide knows exactly how to teach him a lesson. The Turnip (2015) Based on an old Russian folktale, the badger family can’t pull their giant turnip out of the ground, no matter how much help they get. But when a rooster tries it on his own, and, unnoticed to all, he gets some help from below - bears pushing the turnip up out of their den – the turnip finally comes out. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT Armadillo Rodeo A near-sighted armadillo befriends a pair of red cowboy boots and follows wherever their owner takes them. It’s fine, but just not as interesting as Brett’s best. Cinders, a chicken Cinderella This is both a bizarre but enjoyable take on Cinderella, with chickens playing the principal parts. The only downside to this book is from a school library perspective: it has a double-page foldout in the middle, that’ll quickly get crumpled up. Gingerbread Friends In this sequel to Gingerbread Baby, the baby goes on a journey in search of friends only to find out that other baked goods can’t talk or dance. But when he returns home to find that his friend has baked him a whole bunch of gingerbread friends. Kids will probably appreciate this sequel, but parents will find it less creative than the first. Hedgie Blasts Off Hedgie goes to space to unplug a planet that shoots sparkles, much to the alien tourists’ delight. There’s nothing all that wrong with it (aside maybe from the aliens, because aliens don’t actually exist… but, of course, talking animals don’t either). However, its simpler format (no border pictures) and science fiction elements make it different and just not as enjoyable as Brett’s usual fare. Mossy A unique turtle – she has a mossy garden growing on her back – is put on display in a museum. But Mossy pines to be back with the new friend (and budding romantic partner?) Scooty. To help the lonely turtle, the museum director releases her back into the wild. This is a gorgeous book, but its message about creature care is in line with environmentalism’s general “hands off” approach which stands in opposition to the “hands on” role God has assigned us as stewards. While this will go over kids’ heads I’m noting it because Brett is pointedly preaching here – there is a message to this book – and she’s directing that point to young impressionable readers. While I’d have no problem reading this with my children, it is one I would want to read with them. I’d tell them that, yes, it is important to address Mossy’s loneliness, but returning her to Nature wasn’t the only option – Scooty could also have been brought indoors. The Owl and the Pussycat Brett illustrates the poem by Edward Lear, about the romance of an owl and pussycat. As always, the illustrations are beautiful, but the story is very simple. It is in rhyme so there is that. Maybe one to get out of the library, but not one to buy. The Tale of the Tiger Slippers Tiger tries to throw out his old raggedy shoes that served him well as he worked his way to wealth, but no matter what he tries, they end up coming back. The story doesn’t have the usual Jan Brett spark, and because the tigers are dressed as people their clothing doesn’t allow Brett’s art to capture the real beauty of these animals. DON’T BOTHER Of the twelve books listed below, 8 have Christmas in the title, one is about Easter, and the other about Noah’s Ark. The problem here is not so much with anything in the individual titles but in what’s missing from all of them: God. His complete absence is so conspicuous it’s even noticeable to unbelievers – Publisher’s Weekly, in their review of On Noah’s Ark, noted how Brett: "omits the biblical framework…. There's no mention of God or his relationship to Noah, nor any reason given for the Flood.” If you read one of her Christmas books God’s absence won’t be as conspicuous since many a Christmas story skips over the real reason for the season, so that she does too doesn’t seem so glaring. But when an author writes eight books about Christmas and Christ never comes up, we have to wonder, what’s going on? In The Twelve Days of Christmas, Brett follows the song with “A Brief History” of the Twelve Days. She writes that: “The Twelve Days of Christmas are the days linking Christmas on December 25 and the Epiphany on January 6, when the three Magi offered the first Christmas presents – gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Gifts to Who? The Magi get a nod, but Jesus is still ignored? Individually, Brett’s Christmas books are simply fluffy fun, but collectively they are a studious avoidance of any mention of the God who became Man. So, why bother with them? Christmas Trolls – Young girl teaches trolls that Christmas is about generosity. The Easter Egg – An Easter Rabbit becomes the focus of the season. On Noah’s ark - The boat itself is far smaller than the Bible describes and, contrary to Scripture, it says the mountaintops were not covered. The Wild Christmas Reindeer – Elf learns that reindeer respond better to kindness than bullying. Gingerbread Christmas - The Gingerbread baby and his band celebrate Christmas… with no mention of Christ. The night before Christmas - The classic poem, with Jan Brett’s art. The Twelve Days of Christmas - Brett notes that though the song is “named for this religious holiday” it “is actually quite pagan in tone.” The Animal’s Santa – A rabbit discovers that Santa is “truly, truly true.” Sigh. Home for Christmas - A young troll eventually learns there is no place like home. The Christmas in the title has no relevance in the story. Who’s that knocking on Christmas Eve? – A boy and his giant ice bear scare trolls away from a Christmas feast. Two others also worth giving a miss: Comet’s nine lives - On an island where dogs are people, but cats are just cats, we follow along as a cat (rather gently) dies eight times. The first dog – A cave boy turns a helpful wolf into his pet and names him “dog.” There’s a touch of evolution here in her presumption that this occurred 12,000-55,000 years ago. CONCLUSION If your kids are into picture books, then they’ll love Jan Brett – it’s as simple as that. Her detailed full-page illustrations are genius, wonderfully capturing the beauty of the many different animals she’s featured. There’s no one better. You can watch below as Jan Brett reads her book "The Mitten." ...

Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

David Macaulay: author and architect

David Macaulay (1946-) is a children's author who loves to investigate how things are made and how they work. He covers everything from architecture (skyscrapers, bridges, etc.) to machines (computers, inclined planes), and even biology (cells, the human body). Macaulay is first an artist and then an author, so even though he writes for all ages, his books are always picture books. His first, Cathedral: the story of its construction (1973), set the template for much that would follow. It was filled with detailed, full-page illustrations showing the whole construction process, right from the decision to build in 1252, all the way to the church's completion more than a hundred years later. It isn't the history of any real, specific cathedral, so, to give added color, Macaulay included a fictitious backstory. While this narrative is interesting, it's also quite bare-bones - we learn the architect's name and hear about some of the monetary troubles involved in paying for the cathedral, but not much more than that. Most of the "story" details the construction challenges these ancient builders faced, and the ingenious solutions they came up with to solve them. Many people are mentioned, but the story is more a biography of the building than its creators. A combination of detailed text, and big pictures, gives Cathedral a cross-age appeal. Younger, elementary-aged children can flip through it (maybe with some help from mom or dad), while teens and adults will likely read it front to back. Cathedral was followed by others of a similar sort, exploring how pyramids, jet planes, inclined planes, and even toilets work. Then, in more recent years, Macaulay has delved into the way our bodies work. RECOMMENDED So what Macaulay books would be great to check out of your local library? Or might be good purchases for your home or Christian school library? The following list isn't exhaustive - Macaulay's output is impressive, so I haven't gotten to them all yet - but what follows are my recommendations, grouped by age group. Kindergarten to Grade 4 While many Macaulay books are oversized, these are more typically sized, just right for the younger reader to hold and flip through. But mom and dad will also enjoy reading these to their kidlets. Toilet: How it works 32 pages / 2013 A great one to start boys on. Considering the topic matter, it is quite remarkable that this is free of any potty humor. Jet Plane: How it works 32 pages / 2012 Eye: How it works 32 pages / 2013 A very fun look at just how amazing the eye is. Castle: How it works 32 pages / 2012 A much simpler version of his earlier Castle (1977) book, it might create interest in that bigger volume. Shortcut 64 pages / 1995 This is a creative mesh of several seemingly unrelated storylines, and the fun for kids is to figure out how they are all interconnected. This brightly colored picture book is a departure from any other Macaulay book, being more a mystery than anything architectural. Black and White 32 pages / 1990 A Caldecott winner, this unique book has 4 stories being told simultaneously on each two-page spread. Or is it all just one story? Very fun, but not for the impatient, as the answer reveals itself slowly. How Machines Work: Zoo break 32 pages / 2015 This is a pop-up book with flaps and gears and more, that uses the escape plans of two zoo animals – Sloth and Sengi – to teach us all about basic machines. The two friends make use of inclined planes, levers, pulleys, and more, to try to make it over the wall. By then end we're cheering them on, and while they never quite pull it off, it's wonderful to see they do get a happy ending. Grades 3 to adult - bigger books These architectural books are all big, but not too big to scare away the elementary reader. I've grouped them in order of preference, leading with the very best. But if a child loves any one of these, they'll likely enjoy them all. Castle 80 pages / 1977/2010 A Caldecott Award honoree, it tells the detailed, historically-accurate (though fictitious) story of how an English castle was constructed in the late 1200s. Be sure to get the 2010 version, which has all the full-page pictures in full color. Castles are the coolest, so if you were to get just one Macaulay book, this should be it. Cathedral 80 pagers / 1973/2013 The one that started it all. Its oversized pages showcase in words and wonderful, detailed pictures how a medieval people, lacking all our modern construction tools, could build something that would marvel us still today. The black and white original was redone in color in 2013, and the added vibrancy is wonderful. UnBuilding 80 pages / 1980 A fictional, fantastically illustrated story of how a rich Arab prince buys the Empire State Building to move it to his home country. It is a floor by floor account of how something this big would be “unbuilt.” City 112 pages / 1974 Describes how the Roman Empire would plan and build their cities. Pyramid 80 pages / 1975 As you might imagine, there is some mention made about the ancient Egyptians' pagan beliefs, but nothing that the target audience, Grade 3 and up, shouldn't be able to see through. But they might not realize that Macaulay is including some guesswork in amongst the facts since there are a few theories about how exactly the pyramids were made. Grade 6 and up - huge tomes Building Big 192 pages / 2000 This might be my favorite of all Macaulay's books, with short treatments of various historic bridges, tunnels, dams, domes, and skyscrapers. More than 30 structures are covered, going as far back as the Pantheon, all the way to today's skyscrapers. It's a treat to see just how creative engineers have been in building bigger, higher, and deeper, even as they used less and cheaper materials. I'll own up to not understanding even half of what Macaulay explains, but that didn't detract from the enjoyment. Crossing on Time 128 pages / 2019 This is part autobiography, sharing the author's trip across the Atlantic Ocean when he was only a young boy and his family immigrated from Great Britain to America. But it is, even more, a story about the development of the steam engine, passenger ships in general, and the SS United States specifically. As always, detailed pictures provide lots for the viewer to explore. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT Mosque Another big book about how a building gets built, and while there is no real reason to avoid it – it treats Islam with deference, but doesn't actually promote it, as this is about a building rather than the religion – there is also no pressing reason to get it either. I know it wouldn't have interested me as a boy, especially when compared to his book on castles. The Way We Work In this enormous tome (300+ pages), Macaulay explores how amazingly well-designed we are (though he doesn't put it quite like that). He details it from the atomic level on up to cells, eyes, and even our reproduction system. It is the brief section on sex that makes this a take-it-or-leave-it book. It is quite restrained and comparatively tame to what else is out there, but this isn't a topic that kids should tackle without adult supervision, making this a questionable book for a school library. And while parents could conceivably use it to introduce and discuss this topic with their kids, there are better, specifically Christian, books available. So I'd only recommend this for an age group who already knows the basics about sex since for them this could be a fascinating overview of the whole body (and the sex section isn't remotely titillating). I'll also note the passing mention made, 2 or 3 times, of ancient ancestors or of evolution. However, the more important worldview implication is the glaring omission of any mention of God, even as His handiwork is explored and praised. The creation is praised rather than the Creator, and kids may miss the significance of that misdirection, so parents will need to make that plain. The Way Things Work Now Macaulay uses cute mammoths to explain everything from how basic machines like screws and inclined planes work, to the inner workings of computers and jets. There is the very occasional mention of millions of years, and, on a few pages, some tiny angel-like creatures appear to help illustrate how a machine works. It's a mystery why he uses them there instead of the mammoths that are everywhere else. Mammoth Science Mammoths are used to illustrate and introduce scientific topics as varied as light, molecules, density, bacteria, pressure, hydraulics, and magnetism. But evolution is a minor theme, popping up at least a half dozen times, including a couple of pages devoted specifically to it. Angelo This is the story of Angelo, who cleans and restores ancient architecture, and the pigeon he saves. It is a charming and different perspective on these ancient buildings, but Angelo dies at the end and that made my girls cry. So, at least in our house, two thumbs down. DON'T BOTHER Baaa Strange dystopian picture book in which humans have disappeared due to overpopulation, and then sheep follow in their footsteps. A Malthusian/overpopulation allegory. Simply nonsense. Underground This is not a bad book, but it isn't a good one. It details what is found underneath a downtown city street, but the book is dry and dusty because there is no story element. Great Moments in Architecture This is an attempt at humor, with various strange works of impossible, fanciful architecture shown, but it ends up being odd and weird, not funny. TV SERIES While this review is about Macaulay's books, I'll briefly mention a video series based on one of them. The Way Things Work is 26-episodes long and utterly fantastic, and while the $200+ price tag is too expensive for parents to buy, many public libraries carry it. To learn more, see my review here. CAUTIONS There aren't many worldview conflicts to be found. It comes out that Macaulay does think people are really something, which, of course, we do too, though likely for a different reason. We know our worth comes from outside ourselves – it comes from being made in the very Image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) – whereas Macaulay seems to believe that what makes us special comes from what we can do. In the preface to his updated Cathedral (2013), he writes: “Whatever magical or superhuman notions these buildings may stir, castles and cathedrals are tangible reminders of human potential. Understanding how they came to be is just the first step in recognizing that potential in each of us.” If you were to ask, "Who or what is the 'god' of Macaulay's books? Who or what is the object of worship?" this would be the answer: human ability and human potential. In the same book, he also offers a seemingly cynical take on medieval Christianity: “For hundreds of years the people were taught by the church that God was the most important force in their lives. If they prospered, they thanked God for his kindness. If they suffered, they begged for God’s mercy, for surely He was punishing them.” Of course, as children of the Reformation, we know there was a good deal about the medieval Church to be cynical about, so maybe there is no fault to find here. A clearer problem lies in the one or two dozen mentions Macaulay makes about evolution and millions of years. But these mentions are spread out over his many books, such that in a book of 300+ pages it might happen twice or thrice, and in his shorter books, not at all. The most overt worldview conflict I've found is in his strange dystopian Baaa (1985), in which humans have overpopulated themselves out of existence, only to have sheep take their place and then repeat their mistake. The overpopulation lesson preached here is in opposition to God's command to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). CONCLUSION If you have a budding engineer in your family, they'll love David Macaulay. He has books for all ages, and sometimes two books on the same subject, with one for a younger age group and the other for a couple or so years older. Because so many of these books are about engineering marvels, they might be categorized as "boy books" but my girls were interested too. I think they could also be a way to hook a reluctant reader into working through a very big book – they might open the book for the illustrations, but then curiosity will get them to start reading this page and that. There's certainly good reason that David Macaulay remains a favorite of so many, even 50 years after his first book!...

Education

Home education - a way of life

"I get to help bake bread!" "Jason, can I read to you while you paint?" "Let's invite somebody over today. We can make cream puffs." Another day has begun. In our 'school' every day is a new adventure and the children plan their days as much as I do. It's been called "delight-directed learning," and we are enthusiastic advocates of this approach to home-education. The basic idea is to find out what interests your child has, and then to guide him to useful resources and experiences so he becomes an "expert in his field". Because we are not bound to a curriculum, we can use whatever books and resources we believe will be helpful and they can work at the pace which allows them to absorb the subject to the highest degree. Another advantage is that we can wait until our children are ready before teaching them new concepts, and we found this especially beneficial in teaching our son to read. Not everyone follows this approach. In 1997, there were over 6000 families home-educating in the province of Alberta, and each family chose the methods which were best for their children. Many home-educating parents follow a curriculum that provides daily lesson plans, workbooks and textbooks. They like the structure this provides and need the assurance that everything is being covered. Even so, they usually find that because one-on-one teaching is so effective, they can finish all the bookwork in the morning and use the afternoons to pursue other things. What Should They Be Taught? "But how do you know that your children are learning everything they need to know for adulthood??!" This is a question which we are frequently asked. It's true that they won't know everything by the time they turn eighteen, but then again, who does? Education should prepare children for a lifetime of learning, and the best thing we, as parents, can do when our children are young, is instill in them a love of learning and teach them how to communicate effectively, to write well, to be respectful and self-disciplined. These are the kinds of things young people need in the world, and if they don't know who the second president of the United States was, they'll know where to find the answer if they need it! Not that I'm downplaying the importance of history - our children need to know that there was life before they came along! We believe that the most important thing our children need to be trained in is good character. Developing patience, perseverance, diligence, obedience, generosity, self-control, discernment, resourcefulness, orderliness, compassion, deference, and a host of other qualities is a life-long pursuit which is best begun when our children are young. Nobody has a greater interest in our children's character development than we parents do, and nobody has a greater motivation either - we have to live with them! Here's a quick quiz for you: what do Winston Churchill, Alexander Graham Bell, Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, Philip Melanchthon, Leonardo da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and John Wesley have in common? They were all home-educated! I'm not saying that every home-educated child will grow up to be a genius, believe me, but I was very interested to read about these famous home-educated people, and I wonder what curriculum (or lack of it) they used! So how were we introduced to the concept of home-education? A friend of ours, who knew that we were looking into education options, called me up and said, "I heard this guy on the radio talking about home-schooling. It sounds kind of interesting; here's his phone number." And that was the beginning of a whirlwind of phone calls and questions, because this was only two months before our eldest was to start school. We decided to take the plunge and try it for a year, since kindergarten wasn't compulsory, and if it didn't work out we could put her in school for grade one. Instead, it has turned out to be a great source of joy for us to see our children grow and mature, to talk with them often, to have the best hours of the day with them, and to guide them in the ways of the Lord. And our children have the freedom to pursue their interests, to spend as much time as they want on what they are working on, and to be best friends with each other! What About Socialization? This is another thing we are often questioned about. What is "socialization," anyway? Is it not learning how to interact appropriately with others of all ages, having good manners and good habits, and behaving properly? These can all be learned very effectively in the setting of a family and in spending time with friends in the church and neighborhood. Peer pressure is avoided and they are free to be themselves and grow up slowly! So what do our kids do all day? We have three children: Jessica (12), Michelle (9), and Jason (8). Jessica does a lot of reading, Michelle is a craft enthusiast, and Jason plays with Lego a lot. They spend time together outside and get in each other's way occasionally. They have chores to do every day (dishes are a favorite), but a lot of their time is their own. Every so often, I say the word "math" and everyone dives for cover. Unfortunately for them, some things just have to be done, and times tables, borrowing and carrying, and fractions have all had their turn on the table. Spelling, handwriting, and phonics are other non-options. But then there are social and science topics that are theirs to choose. Middle Ages, Australia, bears, South America, seals, tigers, and beavers have all been covered, and the science kit is always available. The little electric circuit with a car wired in is fun to get out once in a while. Scooping creatures out of Grandad's pond and raising tadpoles has also been exciting for some (dad was unimpressed!). We are blessed in Alberta to have very reasonable home-school regulations that allow us the freedom to choose our own curriculum and teaching methods. We are required to register with a school board in the province. Various options are available to fulfill this requirement. The school board keeps records of our children's progress and assigns a facilitator who visits twice a year. They provide tests (government achievement tests, Canadian Test of Basic Skills, and others) if the parents want to make use of these. The board also provides funding for supplies (up to $510 per child per year upon sending in receipts, starting in Grade 1), and group lessons. Art supplies, books, and educational games are all covered by this funding. Where's Your Education Degree? "But you're not qualified to teach your children!" This is a misconception that holds many parents back from home-educating their own children, but studies have shown that even high school dropouts can effectively teach their children. All the parents need is to be literate and to have a love and concern for the overall development of the children that God has entrusted to them. It's true we are not government certified teachers, and it's true we're not experts on all the topics our kids ask us questions about, but some of the most rewarding experiences we have with our children are when we are learning together with them. There are always going to be things that we don't know, but we can show them where to find the answers, and let them discover things for themselves. Books, other people, educational videos, and field trips have been wonderful sources of information for us. We visit the library frequently and request books on topics the children are interested in. Setting an example of enthusiasm for learning is much more of a motivation for our children than trying to give them the impression that we know it all! We are members of a Christian support group in our city consisting of over one hundred families. We meet once per month to exchange ideas, hear about new opportunities, and use the library that belongs to the group. Each year a science fair is organized where the children can do a project and explain it to others. A field trip committee organizes various outings which families can go on together. Some of our favorites have been the John Walter Museum, Safety City, voyageur canoeing, and the Ukrainian Pioneer Village. These field trips are an opportunity to meet with other home-educating families. In the spring one of the families in the support group organized a track and field day, which was great fun! We try to take advantage of opportunities which we feel will advance the academic, social, and character development of our children. On to University Another query that home-educators often hear is "What if they want to go on to college or university?" We are not experts on this, as our oldest is only in grade seven at the moment, but from information which we have gleaned from meetings, conferences, and home-school families with older children, most colleges and universities have become much more open to the "home-school graduate" in the last five or ten years. Applicants from home-school families are not as rare as they once were, and for some colleges the writing of standardized equivalency tests is all that is necessary. For others, the Math and English Departmental exams must be written. In most cases though, it is recommended that students meet with the registrar ahead of time (in grade ten or eleven) to discuss options. It is also possible to qualify as a "mature student" upon reaching the age specified by the college (sometimes as low as 16 if the student has been out of school for one year). Another option students have to learn a trade is apprenticeship. This idea has been growing rapidly in home-school circles as it allows parents to have input into who their child's "teacher" will be. It is usually possible to find a Christian individual who does just what your young person wants to do, and most would be glad to have an assistant who works for free in exchange for being taught the necessary skills. This is just one of the ways that apprenticeship could work. Opportunities abound for motivated young people! As home-educators, we are often told that our children are naive. I must confess when we hear this we are encouraged. Do we really want them to be "worldly-wise," aware of all that goes on in the world around them? Their young minds are not equipped to deal with that kind of information. Should we talk to them about the evil practices of the world so that we can explain why they are wrong? That isn't right. Romans 16:19 says, "I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil." It is our duty as parents to shield our children from wrong influences and ideas. They will hear about it soon enough when they are older, and then they will be better able to deal with it and to stand firm in the faith they were brought up in. We are thankful that we heard about home education when we did. Our children are a gift from our Heavenly Father, and we treasure every day we have with them - they will be grown before we know it! Home education is a wonderful way to stay close to our children, to know what they are learning, and to guide them in the ways of the Lord. The primary responsibility of raising and educating children rests with their parents, and we have chosen to fulfill that responsibility ourselves instead of delegating it to others. It has become a way of life for us, and we are grateful for the opportunity to teach our children at home!...

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Home education - a way of life