The Warren & the World Vol 6, Issue 1

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!

Around the Web

Harsh Light

Rachel Donahue writes at The Donahue Daily about light and confession.

I normally love the bright glow of the late afternoon sun as it falls pleasantly over the countryside and streams through my windows, but today I noticed a harsh reality: the same golden light that brightens the goodness outside also highlights how dirty my kitchen is.

Reading Goals for the New Year

Betsy at Redeemed Reader has suggestions for how you can set reading goals and keep them.

It’s that time of year, folks! Everyone is making resolutions and goals for the New Year. I used to make resolutions, but a few years ago, I switched to making goals. Goals are more concrete and force me to think through specifics a bit more than the vague resolutions I’d been dreaming up previously.

Living at Godspeed

Matt Canlis digs into the idea of life at Godspeed in the light of a new year.

The film Godspeed ends with a verse from the prophet Jeremiah, a verse with 5 commands:
Stand at the crossroads and look,
Ask for the ancient paths
Ask where the good way is,
and walk in it . . . Jeremiah 6:16
“Stand – Look – Ask – Ask – Walk.”

Best Nonfiction Children’s Books of 2017

Best book lists are so last week, but since we couldn’t share them all before the end of the year, here’s Melissa Taylor’s non-fiction recommendations from Imagination Soup.

I can’t tell you how much I love a good nonfiction book. And there were so many incredible titles in 2017. The books below are the best of the year; nonfiction books that engage, teach, and inspire.

R ead more.

Around the Warren

Whatever is Pure and Lovely

Théa Rosenburg turns our minds to the things we should think about.

At 9:30, my daughter comes downstairs—she can’t sleep. She’ll be seven next month and the world is expanding around her, I can see it. She’s more aware of other people now, more aware of adult conversation, more aware, in this instance, of volcanoes.
“Volcanoes?” I repeat, settling down next to her on the couch. “What do you mean?”

Glenn McCarty gives us Horace and Oscar

Carolyn Leiloglou reviews Glenn McCarty’s new book.

In any friendship, one person will challenge the other. Glenn McCarty’s new book, Horace and Oscar Visit the Lake, features just such a friendship.
Horace, the stuffed rabbit, longs to discover where colors come from and to see the world outside the nursery and past the yard. Oscar the toy giraffe, on the other hand, is content and comfortable in their nursery home. The mere thought of leaving gives him the shivers.

Something to Do with Your Kids

A winter storm has made its way up the eastern coast of the United States, so it just may be time for 31 Days of Winter Activities from the Artful Parent.

And Something to Watch

Psalm 139 reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. This video from Skunk Bear at NPR on how our cells regenerate over the course of our lives is another reminder of that very thing.