The Warren & the World Vol 5, Issue 3

• The other day my seven-year-old daughter, Pippa, and I rode the flow trail at our local mountain bike park. We’d heard it was smooth and gentle enough for kids and she was desperate to try it, so even though it was her first day on a fat bike, and the sign at the top read “Technical Trail: Advanced Riders Only,” I said yes. Before we started, I coached her on the basics of downhill mountain biking: keep your weight back, your pedals level, and feather the brakes. Then she pushed off, shrieking with glee as she rolled over the first loamy whoop-de-woo.
  I rode behind Pippa, watching her handle her bike with confidence, control, and joy. If there’s any sweeter sound than a little girl oohing and ahhing as she banks through turns and up and over dusty berms, I don’t know what it is. Still there were moments when I had to bite my tongue and resist the urge to scream Careful! or Slow Down!

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Around the Warren

My Mother’s Letters, Part I

Helena Sorensen has a post highlighting a mother’s words to her child.

• I grew up in an orange grove in central Florida, in the little nowhere town of Fort Lonesome. For fun, my brother and I searched the sandy rows between orange trees for used shotgun shells and shards of colored glass. We lived a good forty-five minutes from town. There were no neighbors, not really. There was no central heat or air, either. We spent our days making mud puddles with the hose and climbing the oak tree and eating tangerines while my mother cooked and cleaned in a lonely white wooden house stacked on concrete blocks.
  I’ve been wondering, recently, what it was like for her, those years of raising young children in the isolation of the grove. 

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The Growly Books: Begin Is an Innocent Escapade

Loren Eaton recommends The Growly Books.

• As an undergraduate, I studied literature, immersing myself in the tortuous metaphors of John Donne, the heartrending tragedies of Shakespeare, and the philosophical piety of Dostoevsky. I love how a talented author can make my heart sing with only twenty-six letters and a few jots and tittles. But I’d be lying if I said that such great scribes sparked my affection for reading. I owe that to the folks who wrote pulp. You know what I’m talking about, popular books that seize the imagination, consume countless summer afternoons, and provide strong competition against the allure of flashing screens. Pulp may not cause the literati to break out in paroxysms of praise, but it can hook young readers on reading. Philip and Erin Ulrich’s The Growly Books: Begin, the first installment in an ongoing series, is just that sort of book.

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Something to Do with Your Kids

Groundhog Day comes around next week, and as we wait to see whether Phil sees his shadow, perhaps it’s time to have some fun with your kids in honor of the day.

And Something to Watch

This video has been making the rounds on Facebook this week and it’s definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it yet.

Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.