Story Warren Weekend, Vol. 14, Issue 28

Good morning all,

Welcome to August 2026. We’re beginning to track down school supplies here at my house.

On one occasion a few years ago, I tried to take advantage of the “tax-free weekend” and went in the middle of the night so I could check out when the clock struck midnight and the deals began. Unfortunately, my local store had programmed the prices to change at 1 AM instead. So I went and bought myself a consolatory popsicle and waited out the hour. So much for saving time.

Around the Web

Writing at the Bandersnatch Books Substack, Carolyn Claire Givens recalls book surprises she has received over the years. “There’s a photo she took of my face when I realized what I held—it’s commingled surprise and delight, my mouth wide open and my eyes looking straight at her. My sister had coordinated with our friend to find and present the books, knowing they were one of my favorite series and I didn’t own them yet.”

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Love God with All Your Imagination: A Call for Christian Storytelling. Author Kathryn Butler pens a reminder to Christians: “This is good news for grown-ups caught daydreaming. Although we may dismiss them as juvenile amusements, our daydreams can be the earliest seeds of God-honoring stories. In fact, the loveliest stories often originate from the godly stewardship of images that burst into the imagination.”

Around the Warren

Contributor Scott Bradford mulled over some thoughts about old-souled stories now that his children are growing up. “ Even now, these books bring to her a courage that was modeled with kindness and grace, a language of loyalty and sacrifice that landed in a vocabulary that she understood; they did not shy away from the reality of the darkness we face.”

Théa Rosenburg puzzles through the reality that your current “mom friends” weren’t always your friends. “We bring all these years with us into the conversation, yet we sometimes forget that not everyone was alongside us for them. As I write this, it sounds uncomfortably like the view of a young child who is surprised to learn that not everyone knows her name, but there it is: I was surprised by the reminder that many of the women I know today didn’t know me back then. And I didn’t know them either. So let the record state: I wasn’t always like this. I was still a lot like this, but I didn’t move at quite the velocity I do now. I was home a lot, holding babies a lot, napping a lot.”

Something to do with your kids

Something to watch

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

She invites you to subscribe to her newsletter, On the Common, or to follow her on Instagram.

Latest posts by Kelly Keller (see all)

• Review: Jude and the Extraordinary, Spectacular, Miraculous Day - August 5, 2026
• The Lie of Optimization - August 3, 2026
• Story Warren Weekend, Vol. 14, Issue 28 - August 1, 2026