The Warren & the World Vol 5, Issue 22

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!

Announcing The King’s Messenger

We’ll just get the awkwardness out of the way to begin: I’m promoting my own book! That’s what happens when you’re the person who writes the newsletter each week and you publish a book. I’m excited to share with you The King’s Messenger, my new book:

Smuggins stands every day ready and waiting in the King’s courtroom in the King’s castle. It’s the center of all the kingdom, perched high in its city, rising from the plains around it. The King’s people love him, but there are rumors of unrest at the edges of kingdom–North, East, West, and South. Some do not trust the King’s goodness.

You can buy the paperback or Kindle on Amazon!

Around the Web

How I Started Reading the Bible Every Day: Encouragement for Parents & Children

Don Whitney encourages families with the story of how he began reading the Bible daily.

I literally don’t remember not reading the Bible every day. Here’s how it happened.
I’m told I started reading fairly early, reading Dick and Jane books sometime before my fifth birthday. But while I remember reading the books, I have no recollection of starting to read them.

Children’s Books About The Holocaust

This week marked the 73rd anniversary of the Normandy invasion which began the end of the Second World War in Europe. As we look back at that period, here is a list of children’s books about the Holocaust.

The only way kids can understand World War II (WWII) and the Holocaust is to read stories, both fiction and nonfiction stories, that immerse them in the experiences of people who lived through it. It’s been said before but in order not to repeat the past, we must understand it. It’s true. We must know. We must remember.

What we’re called really sticks: how our words can change a life

Shaun Groves guests at Ann Voskamp’s blog on the impact of our words.

The women kick up red clay dust, dancing with babies tied to their backs.
One mother takes my hands in hers, cranes her neck up at me and shouts “dance!”
So we dance.
Up the drive from the van toward the little pink church.
All the mothers are bending side to side, bending low, breaking into song about a God who sees even them.

The Memory Palace: Collaborative Storytelling Game

Melissa Taylor at Imagination Soup recommends a new game.

The Memory Palace is a collaborative storytelling game from Peaceable Kingdom for ages 5+ that builds memory and imagination. It encourages communication, creativity, storytelling, and memory.

Around the Warren

Confessions, Chaos and the Path that Leads to Peace

Jessica Deagle reminds us how to find the path that leads to peace.

My house felt like an absolute mess. Toys were scattered around the floors, doors to the outside stood open with flies coming in to forage, grass and dirt littered the floor, and random cups, plates and shoes were all strewn about. AAARRRGGGHHHHH!! It felt like chaos!
For several hours we had enjoyed the fellowship of company being over, of entertaining and eating, but now the day was drawing to a close and I felt restless. It was time to get things back into their place, to bring some order to the madness. It was time to see my kids bathed and in jammies, tucked away in cozy beds. It was time to load the dishes into the dishwasher and hear its gentle hum reassuring me that they would all be clean and new by morning. It was time to pick up the clutter and restore each item to its rightful place. A couple of hours later, company all gone and mopping all completed, I surveyed the new order of things and felt a great sense of relief – sigh….
Everything was back in its rightful place and I was at rest.

Member of the Family

Zach Franzen recommends Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes.

Some months ago, my wife and I were reading Eleanor Estes’ charming book Rufus M. We were amazed at one story where Rufus (the youngest of the Moffats and the title character) found some money frozen in the ice. While the rest of his family were busy trying to manage a frozen pipe under the house, Rufus managed to chisel two quarters, three dimes, and a couple nickels out of the ice.

Something to Do with Your Kids

If you’ve got a prospective reader on your hands, here’s an activity for learning the first letter of the alphabet and beginning the process of connecting letters to words to sentences to books!