Once there was a girl who wanted, more than anything, to sail around the world. It is a strange wish. A wish for an extraordinary thing. She stands at the window of her house, at the very edge of her village, staring out into the sea. She waits for her father. But she knows that…
I live in the Southern United States, where we see a few inches of snow each winter if we’re lucky. Having grown up in Massachusetts, I do miss the blanket of white so bright it hurts your eyes. Adults love to complain about the inconvenience caused by a big snowfall, but those first few snowflakes…
Here’s an extended preview of our own Jamin Still’s excellent debut book, Ellen & the Winter Wolves. Our family really enjoyed this story. The art is wonderful and engaged all my kids (aged from 3 to 12). My six year old son especially enjoyed finding all the secret images hidden in each illustration. I’m confident…
For those of you who have enjoyed our Friday Shorts segment, I have some baddish news. Please, both of you, have a seat. We’re going to be doing it a bit less. Maybe a lot less. I had high hopes for SW Shorts, and I had dreams of many wonderful things we could do with…
Editor’s Note: You can get Helena’s Shiloh Series, the entire trilogy in print, for only $30 (for a limited time). See here! The floor was polka-dotted with buttons. Blue and red and yellow and green. Round and square and scalloped. Someone had bumped the button jar and spilled it, but it wasn’t Verity. She…
As you know, we are BIG fans of the ladies from Rain for Roots. Great news! Their new album of Advent songs is out and ready to be enjoyed for the coming season and beyond. The record is Waiting Songs, and it’s excellent. Here’s a song for your Friday from the new album: Isaiah 11….
I love this story. So, though we ran it on SW Shorts several moons ago, I wanted to share it again (in case anyone missed it). This is wonderful. –Sam The Stag Who Lived Forever by Bryana Johnson, illustrated by Zach Franzen It was a matter of great importance, and the morning wind that carries…
Dandelion Wondered by Danielle Chalker, photographs by Chinwe Edeani Dandelion was lonely. So far as he knew, he had been the only puff of white seed-fluff to settle in this field and grow. As long as he could remember, he had been alone among the dry grass under the scorching summer sun. The white clouds…
In a writing class last fall, my teacher asked the class to recall a smell from our past. We then followed the memory wherever it took us. I was amazed at how vividly things came back to us. We were made with such a powerful sense of smell, inevitably tied to thought and memory. What…
Carolyn Clare Givens is the one who brings you The Warren & the World each week. But as you can see from today’s story, she is capable of far more than the excellent work she does for the SW Newsletter. This charming little story by Miss Givens is accompanied by an equally charming illustration by…
Art by Zach Franzen — The Dining Habits of Polonius Wheeler By S. D. Smith THERE was a large giant who lived in the woods, His name was Polonius Wheeler. He mostly was nice, just a singular vice, He…
Leaven Bread by Rain for Roots from Rain for Roots on Vimeo. I love the collaboration that happened on Leaven Bread. It was a rare moment of us being able to gather in the room together, to talk about the text. To wrestle with the implications and to try to honor the context in which…
