Story Warren

Kindling Imagination for Kingdom Anticipation

The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 5

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I drove through Western North Carolina last weekend for the first time since Helene. The route I took was a detour from the main highway, so I got to see a bit more of the mountains than I have before, and get my head around how much damage and destruction there was after the storm last fall. In one very small town, our route took a left turn. A man in an orange construction vest directed us to turn, helpful in the maze of little roads. I did have to chuckle, though, to wonder what he’d put on his résumé for this season of his job: “Supported the rebuilding of infrastructure by directing navigation of complex systems”—that sounds about right!

Around the Web

Love is Patient

Kim Barnes reminds us that love changes us.

  • Today I had an early breakfast meeting and left while my husband, Robert, was still in bed. When I got home, our bed was made. Later he noticed that the floor was dirty, so he mopped it. This afternoon, when I burned something in the oven, he came to my rescue, not only soaking the very messy pan but scrubbing it clean an hour later.
    My husband is not the man I married nearly 35 years ago.
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Revisiting Worlds

Rachel Toadvine reminds us of the delight of rediscovering favorite childhood books as an adult.

  • Revisiting favorite childhood stories can be a risky game. There seem to be a few potential results that come from this practice: you reread the book you loved at age eight and fall back in love with the characters and story; you don’t quite love it again, but you value the nostalgia; or you absolutely cringe to think that you, at one time in your life, adored that story and tried to convince everyone in your life to read it (because everyone should love your favorite book too, right?).
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Dear Duck, Please Come! by Sarah Mackenzie

Megan at Redeemed Reader reviews Sarah Mackenzie’s new picture book.

  • Duck’s friend, Rabbit, has lost a tooth and the quest to find it brings together a party of loyal friends.
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Read, Discuss, Bake: Books about bread!

Who wants to be inspired to do some baking?

  • One of my favorite memories from my childhood was my dad’s baking. He’d often bake a simple white bread, which we would use for sandwiches or snacking. He’d sometimes turn some of it into cinnamon rolls, which came in second only to my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. On special occasions he’d whip up a batch of Orange Cinnamon Swirl, a loaf of mildly orange flavored bread with a swirl of cinnamon and sugar in the center, glazed with an orangey icing. In my mind, there was no better treat. And it wasn’t just the eating of the bread that was enjoyable, but the anticipation. And the smells. Is there any better smell than bread baking in the oven?
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Around the Warren

The Work of a Boy

Jessica Burke reflects on raising boys and shares a book she loves to share with them.

  • With my two boys at 18 years old and 18 months, I’m in the curious position of raising boys 17 years apart. My house holds both the beginning and the end of childhood, and it’s a glorious thing. As one boyhood is just beginning to blossom, and we wonder who he will become, the other one is leaving behind his childhood and accepting the life of a man.
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Twenty-One Books for Black History Month

A.C.S. Bird recommends books to read during Black History Month—or anytime!

  • Researching the collection that follows has renewed my awareness of the inescapable, tragic history of slavery in America. Conceiving of our country as it might have been apart from the scourge of slavery is enticing; possibly even redemptive, if the exercise edges us toward that vision. But deepening our knowledge of the actual past holds even more potential for understanding the present and thus moving toward a better future.
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On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

Adam Huntly reviews the first book in Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga.

  • Lo, beyond the River Blapp
    The Carriage comes, the Carriage black
    By shadowed steed with shadowed tack
    And shadowed driver driving

    Thus begins the second paragraph of the first chapter of Andrew Peterson’s On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, the first book of his four-book series, The Wingfeather Saga.
    This poem, a nursery rhyme in the story, has five four-line verses, the first three lines rhyming or slant-rhyming, bumping along in iambic with the fourth line artfully breaking the rhyme with a punching point.
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Andy Johnson and the March for Justice, by Esau McCaulley

James D. Witmer recommends Esau McCaulley’s picture book.

  • Lightsabers. Ninja stars. A sword named “the Destroyer.” —And brothers with so much energy that even front teeth end up on the floor!
    This is where McCaulley’s picture book starts, and it never loses a childlike exuberance for life, even when the Johnson family is challenged to participate in a march for justice, hosted by their church.
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Something to Do with Your Kids

A craft in which you get to spill coffee on purpose? Yes, please!

Something to Watch

CGP Grey has a new video out—he’s explaining how postal codes work!

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren Team

Carolyn Clare Givens
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