Reading picture books as an adult is fun for lots of reasons, but one reason I’ve found is that I appreciate the different styles of illustration much more than I did as a younger reader. These days I’m especially finding myself drawn to paper collage illustrations, and one artist who always catches my eye is…
For millennia the written word has held special significance among those whose faith is centered on scripture. Some ancient Jewish and Islamic traditions imposed safeguards to prevent the desecration of any piece of writing—sacred or secular—that might bear God’s name. Christian history is marked by missionaries and others who made literacy and education a priority,…
I lead a book club, a small group of church friends who enjoy letting me challenge them with a variety of diverse and beautiful books. We have made it through a wide variety of stories, from Jason Reynald’s Long Way Down to Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. It was over discussion of Virgil Wander (by the brilliant…
When I cozied into a chair and propped a cup of tea onto my knee to read Isabel Chenot’s West of Moonlight, East of Dawn, I already knew the story would stir me to wonder and sorrow. I’ve relished sharing multiple renditions of the old folktale with my kids, from “East of the Sun, West…
Our family recently finished reading aloud The Green Ember series by S.D. Smith (or “Bunnies Go to War,” as we affectionately refer to the saga). As we journeyed through the stories, we often had lively discussions as we shared opinions, asked questions, and made predictions. But the night we turned the last few pages of…
If there is one message I want my daughters to take with them when they’re grown, it’s not “Pay your rent on time” or “If some guy tries something fresh, remember ‘Gift of Destruction’ from your karate class and take him out’” (though I hope they remember those, too). But really, the number one thing…
If you were to look at my Amazon order history, you would see two books that have been bought over and over again. I hate buying them. I’ve tucked them into care baskets for mothers who have lost children. I’ve brought them into homes along with casseroles for the bereaved. I’ve shipped several copies across…
As a dabbler in literary translation, I was delighted by the recent discovery that September is World Kid Lit month. The designation provides—so I gather—librarians and other book enthusiasts with an excuse to promote children’s books translated into English. I was further intrigued to learn that the day selected for the UN’s international Translation Day…
A few weeks ago my eldest daughter turned fourteen, and we celebrated by taking a ferry to the peninsula (if you picture Washington state as a mitten, I explained to my younger girls, we traveled from the index finger to the thumb), where we spent the day exploring a fabulous, still-very-Victorian-looking town on the water….
Margie Haack, the author of The Exact Place: A Memoir, and her husband Denis, following in the footsteps of Francis Schaeffer and the work of L’Abri, spent decades ministering to people through Ransom Fellowship in Minnesota. Through hospitality, speaking engagements, and their Critique Journal and website, they encouraged people to be discerning thinkers who seek…
Sometimes, you need a short read-aloud, one you can pick up and read here and there—at the park, say, or on a trip. You can’t commit months of your family’s life to reading it, and you need to be able to put it down for a few days or even a few weeks. Or you…
My youngest daughter is in kindergarten which means that, when I teach art in her class, I get to hang out with kindergartners, who are some of the best people I know. By the time I get there, they’ve been in school for five hours, so they’re in a pleasant state of disarray—their hair wild,…
