The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
It’s Black Star week at Story Warren. We’re excited to announce the release of The Black Star of Kingston, S.D. Smith’s prequel to The Green Ember! If you haven’t yet had a chance to get your hands on a copy, order yours today. Share your experiences with King Whitson, Fleck, and Galt on social media using #BlackStarOK.
Around the Web
Tracking. Do it quick before the footprints disappear.
- I think it’s so easy to want to brush these signs-of-life and fun and developing minds away in our haste to clean up, straighten out, and feel that calm that, for many of us, comes when things feel in order. But….I think we can find an order in the ‘footprints’ our kids leave behind, in the whisperings that fill our house that a curious and amazing little six year old lives here.
Put That Super-Suit Back in the Drawer: A Wide Array of Comic Book Heroes Win Eisner Awards
- f you’re a fan of comic books and graphic novels, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards is where to look for the gold stamp of approval on what’s fresh and exciting in the comics world.Every year, the comics and graphics novel selection gets more varied even as the quality gets sharper. This year’s Eisner winners lacked be-caped protagonists from the traditional powerhouses such as Marvel and DC, although there were a fair number of superheroes represented in the list of nominees. A glance at the winners below quickly shows that the less-expected hero—from a deaf heroine with bunny ears to hip-hop stars—is what snagged everyone’s attention this year.
How I Started Praying the Bible
Don Whitney writes at the Center for Biblical Spirituality about learning to pray the Bible. This devotional practice is a great option for us and for our families.
- I suddenly realized, “The entire Bible is a prayer book. We can pray not only the prayers of Paul in Ephesians, we can pray everything in the Book of Ephesians.”
So I started praying each day through one of the passages in my daily Bible reading. Soon I was reading in the Psalms and found it easy to make the words of the psalmist my own prayers.
For example, I read, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God!” (Ps. 36:7), and spoke King David’s exact words as my own prayer, immediately adding other thoughts prompted by David’s exclamation.
Email Your Kids
Tracking seemed to be a theme of my week. Another friend, Jesse Gardner, shares on Spoken a brief piece about emailing his kids.
- Children: they mark the passing of time. I don’t think I’ve ever been as aware of the passing of time as I am now as a parent….While I can’t, nor would I, stop [my son’s] crawl to maturity, a friends suggested to me a way to mark the passage of time in a meaningful way: email your kids.
Around the Warren
On Work and Play and Human Flourishing
Our friend David Kern from The CiRCE Institute shares his thoughts on work and play.
- I used to hate mowing the lawn. Truly, I hated it. My allergies would spring up and slam into my face and laugh at me like some middle school bully whose greatest joy came in inflicting misery on unsuspecting and helpless victims. Plus there’s that whole sun/heat/sweat/hard work factor.But recently, in the last few years, I’ve come to sort of enjoy it. It’s not that I’ve suddenly encountered an enlightenment that’s guided me toward a new fondness for tiredness or soreness. Nor that I’ve learned to love the heat and humidity of the North Carolina summer (which, as I type, is setting all kinds of records).
No, those are still fairly low on my personal list of preferred human experiences.
But I have discovered that I might actually not mind working hard. And it’s all thanks to a three year old who helped me see that work and play aren’t all that different.
“A truly great book…”
Art from Paul Boekell. Words from Robertson Davies.
Summer with the Penderwicks
Laura Peterson introduces us to The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, which Laura says is “refreshingly old-fashioned and uncomplicated without being simplistic.”
- Think back to your favorite summer vacation—did it have times of relaxation? Scenes of adventure? Perhaps new friendships forged? Maybe a bit of all three. All these great elements of a good summer adventure story can be found in Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks. I picked this up a few months ago and was certain I had read it years ago as a child; it has such an air of timelessness about it. I was wrong—it was published in 2005—but the timelessness extends even to the text, which is refreshingly old-fashioned and uncomplicated without being simplistic.
We Are God’s Masterpiece: A Brand New Slugs & Bugs (Sing The Bible) Song!
Randall Goodgame shares with us the story behind a brand new Slugs & Bugs Song.
Something to Do with Your Kids
The folks at The Artful Parent suggest that open-ended art activity pages can sometimes inspire more creativity than a simple print-off coloring page. See what they suggest!
And Something to Watch
Ever wonder what breakfast looks like around the world?
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
- The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 38 - November 2, 2024
- The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 37 - October 26, 2024
- The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 36 - October 19, 2024
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