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!
A Note For Our Carolina-area Friends
Our own S. D. Smith, author of The Green Ember Series, will be speaking and signing and high-fiving at the Great Homeschool Convention in Greenville, SC, March 16-18. In fact, if you come to one of his sessions, the first fifty folks will receive a free poster. His first talk is at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday night. (Andrew Peterson is also doing a concert later that night.) BONUS: Zach Franzen, illustrator for the series, will be at the booth as well. So, it’s a good chance to get author and illustrator signatures on posters, books, t-shirts, or your bald head.
Around the Web
A painful apology to a kid at church
Joshua Rogers reminds us the importance of apologies as parents.
- My attitude was totally shot by the time we arrived at the service. When we reached the sign-in table for the kids, I felt like throwing the diaper bag past the young lady at the table and yelling, “Just take them!” Instead, when she said hello, I looked at her and said, with mild exasperation, “We’re half an hour late. Why am I even here?”
As I signed in the kids, I could hear that our pastor was already well into his sermon, which made everything more irritating, but there was an opportunity for redemption.
How to Get Rid of the Problem of ‘Self’
- “Here is a superb bit of psychology, for what after all, is the main cause of this spirit of fear? The answer is ‘self’ – self-love, self-concern, self-protection. Had you realized that the essence of this trouble is that these fearful people are really too absorbed in self – how can I do this, what if I fail? ‘I’ – they are constantly turning in upon themselves, looking at themselves and concerned about themselves.”
Picture Books for Little Inventors and Engineers
- If there’s one thing parents envy about their kids, it’s their uninhibited imaginations. Picture books are the perfect way to celebrate children’s innate to ability imagine fantastic machines, invent new forms of travel and believe anything is possible.
Sometimes I feel like I am failing at motherhood
Rachel Marie Martin writes about the hard days at Finding Joy.
- Like today.
Like yesterday too.
My one son is struggling at school with reading. And I cannot seem to figure out how to help him. Well, I’m hiring a tutor, but that is causing me to feel inadequate as well because instead of me seeing that I’m helping him I just slap more guilt on me the mom with the kids who cannot read. Every email that the teacher sends to me seems like a big fat gigantic red mom F in some ways. And then the tears fall. Oh the tears, my friends, the tears.
Around the Warren
Singing Harmony
Glenn McCarty helps us see that perhaps we should be using our gifts to sing harmony.
- I love to sing. But let me get something straight here. I’ve got what might best be described as a voice made for a choir. I can hit the right pitch, read music, adjust my dynamics, and really belt it out. Put me with a few dozen other singers, and we can really make some lovely sounds. But pull me out of the choir, put a microphone in front of me, and ask me to carry the tune solo, and we’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Bil Lepp: Celebrated Liar and Children’s Book Author Answers A Few Questions
We’ve got Bil Lepp, author of The King of the Little Things, talking with us over at Story Warren.
- How did you become such a terrific liar?
I grew up in a family where it was always up to the listener to decide if a story was true. People were free to update, edit, and expand the stories they told. In the Lepp family truth is like water, it holds the shape of the vessel that contains it. Also, I read a lot of Mark Twain. And I love Suess’ “And to Think I saw it on Mulberry Street.” In real life I’m a horrible liar.
Something to Do with Your Kids
The folks over at The Artful Parent have a recipe for making your own fluffy slime. So, if you need something new to play with…
And Something to Watch
Who doesn’t love a good sloth video? Even better, baby sloths in conversation.
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 16 - May 10, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 15 - May 3, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 14 - April 26, 2025
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