The world is not always a kind place, said Brother Edik. We may lose those we love along the way, but unexpected friends, like a goat, can bring delight and comfort. Yes, a goat. In Kate DiCamillo’s The Beatryce Prophecy, the monks of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowings are harassed by an ornery…
Last month we had to put a beloved cat to sleep. Her name was Captain Jack Sparrow, and she was one of two littermates my husband and I adopted early in our marriage when we decided, on a whim, to stop by the pet store just to “look at the kittens.” Sparrow was a gray…
How would you describe a picture book in its most basic form? If you’ve read enough of them, you’ve probably picked up on the standard 32-page format; usually full-page illustrations, sometimes a double page spread with the picture spread out across the middle fold. You start at the beginning, turn the pages from right to…
When my eldest daughter was a toddler, she discovered James Herriot’s Moses the Kitten. She dropped that book in my lap again and again, and we read it until the book spine felt limber and the pages soft. It is a long book—not ideal for a hasty pre-nap read—but I loved the descriptive passages, we both…
It’s a truism that caring for children takes a lot of work. I once heard someone say that we can best describe that work as hospitality. We feed them, we provide clean towels, fresh soap, laundry service, complimentary transportation, and many other gestures of hospitality, in hopes that they will feel welcome and wanted. We…
When our first child was a baby, I did not have to look hard to find parenting advice. Strangers offered it unsolicited; moms at church were eager to share their hard-won wisdom. And the books were everywhere: whether I was learning how to introduce my daughter to solids or troubleshooting potty training, I never struggled…
It’s the first day of school, and Patricia stands on the front steps of an unfamiliar brick building with a class card in her hand. Two girls, standing tall and confident in their bright poodle skirts and saddle oxfords, give her card a quick perusal. “You’re in Mrs. Peterson’s class,” they say, smirking. “Upstairs. Room…
While in the middle of the vigil required of all incoming knights, Tiuri hears a voice outside the church. He is forbidden to speak or to leave the church during the vigil, but the voice cries for help. What should a knight-to-be do: obey his king and remain seated, meditating upon his impending knighthood, or…
The Sunlit Lands Series by Matt Mikalatos is my top pick for kids who have grown up reading The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga, and The Green Ember Series and are now ready to dive into young adult. These books contain the same kind of deeply true and meaningful stories as the above mentioned…
Today at lunch, my seven-year-old summed it up neatly. “Is the virus going to last forever?” she asked. I took a few meditative bites of leftover tandoori before I answered. “No,” I said. “It won’t. I don’t know how long it will last, but it won’t last forever.” Meaning: eventually Jesus will come back. The…
One of the bits of writing advice I absorbed during college was “Show, don’t tell.” Show me the character gnashing her teeth; don’t tell me she was angry. Show me the geriatric cat holding his ground against a pit-bull; don’t tell me he still had spunk. It’s good advice for writers, but I find that…
I’ve got a memory tucked into my pocket from nearly a decade ago: it’s a fall afternoon, and I’m pulling the family car into the local apple farm for an afternoon of picking, two young boys in their car seats in the backseat, and a song about “bears, bears” who’ve “got no cares” jangling out…
