We have a lot of picture books to choose from, so when a child of mine insists on the same picture book two days in a row, I take notice. Not that I hadn’t already noticed Scott James’s new book God Cares for Me: Helping Children Trust God When They’re Sick. My husband is a pediatrician,…
If your kids are anything like my 8-year old, they may be slightly obsessed the the Hello Ninja series on Netflix. It’s loosely based on N.D. Wilson’s picture book of the same title. And after listening to Wilson discuss it on the Stories Are Soulfood podcast episode about poetry for kids, I was curious to give it a try….
The Christmas story is amazing, isn’t it? God wrapped himself in flesh and emerged into the world as a helpless baby. He was totally dependent, yet with a mission to save the world He created. But it can be hard to make the story feel fresh for a kid who’s heard it five bazillion times….
Maybe race is something our family has always talked about, however imperfectly, because of who we are. We may be your average white American family, but our extended family is made up of immigrants and the children of immigrants; some of its members are different races and ethnicities. And it’s absolutely beautiful. But even in…
When my third child was a toddler, I let her have a short amount of “crib time” each day while I homeschooled my oldest daughter. I turned on a calming CD, tossed some soft toys and board books in, and slipped off while she was playing. It was a great way for me to get…
Our family has long enjoyed Randall Goodgame’s Slugs & Bugs albums, and even though my older kids have outgrown asking for them, you might still overhear my 14-year old singing “Tractor Tractor” on occasion. What makes those albums so appealing is Goodgame’s ability to draw kids in with his just-right balance of silliness and sincerity,…
“Sometimes a story’s the only way back from the darkness” — The Warden and the Wolf King Last summer, on our Epic Family Road Trip, we visited Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived in the evening in time to see the bats swirling out into the twilight. The next morning, we said goodbye to the sun and…
My son’s favorite books are the Lord of the Rings series, so buying John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister for his birthday was an obvious choice. Even if he was turning ten. A well-written, beautifully illustrated picture book has a magical quality of appealing to all ages. John…
In any friendship, one person will challenge the other. Glenn McCarty’s new book, Horace and Oscar Visit the Lake, features just such a friendship. Horace, the stuffed rabbit, longs to discover where colors come from and to see the world outside the nursery and past the yard. Oscar the toy giraffe, on the other hand,…
As a writer as well as a reader, I often encounter debates as to whether old books or new books are better. One camp says old books are the best. After all, they’ve stood the test of time. The other side says writing styles have changed and improved, and new books are superior. This is…
If you are like me, you tend to think that screen time is the enemy of reading. After all, digital media can be pretty addicting, for adults as well as kids. It can be hard for books to compete with lights and sounds and moving pictures. However, I think there can be room in most…
All of my favorite childhood movies were based on books. And I never even realized it. I’m not exaggerating. Every beloved movie that I watched and begged to rent again from Blockbuster the following weekend was based on a book. “The Hobbit” (yes, the old animated one!), “Watership Down”, “The Mouse and His Child” (which…
