When my son first discovered Johanna Spyri’s Heidi nonchalantly tucked into our stack of daily reading books, he revolted. The book jacket, with the story’s namesake cartwheeling across a meadow high in the Alps, violated his 9-year-old principles — specifically, his tightly held adage, “thou shalt not read books featuring protagonists in pigtails.” “No way,” […]
Lucy Pevensie, Thomas Watson, and the Precious Cordial of Rom. 8:28
Note: This article originally appeared at The Gospel Coalition in February 2021. When the cures ran out during my worst days of doctoring, I would pace a patient’s room, loathe the insufficiency of my own hands, and yearn for Lucy Pevensie’s cordial. A heart tracing on a monitor would fatally spasm, my own heart would […]
Color Their Imagination with Anholt’s Artists Storybooks
Recently our family took a field trip to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. COVID restrictions kept us away for over two years, and as we wandered through the hushed galleries I wondered if my kids would remember anything from our previous visits. Predictably, their memory of the 18th century American furniture proved spotty. […]
Taking Stories Outside
Queen Christie’s enchanted sword cast a halo through the underbrush as she crouched low, her keen eyes scanning the darkness for a familiar glimmer. A breeze tousled her hair, and she caught her breath as she glimpsed it: the glow of a magic stone discarded among the brambles. With a quick motion she snatched it […]
The Magic of Story-Rich Games
First, Maginos heard the clacking of jaws. Stooped on one knee, his whiskers drooping, the mouse wizard glanced up to see a monstrous spider looming above him, its eyes burning through the gloom like hot coals. Maginos stretched out a trembling forepaw, and the hint of a magic firebolt sparked between his fingers. Every muscle […]