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
When You Wake
Rachel Donahue has a poem for the start of a day with your little one.
- This is my favorite time-with-you of day,
These moments just after you wake
With the pink flush of sleep
Upon your cheeks
And the glisten of a tear
Caught in the round place
Beside your nose.
Books Boys Love (that aren’t just books for boys)
- Sometimes it can be tricky to find books for boys.
It’s not so much that they need different books than girls do, but… well…
…at some point, you may find it’s difficult to match your boys up with books they love.
You know what I mean, right?
When You Can’t Afford to Be a “Good” Mom
- About eight years ago, our family hit a tough spot financially. My husband is a pastor and while we never dreamed of riches, we did expect a life of general stability. If you followed a certain formula, we’d heard, things would work out. So we did what we were supposed to do. We graduated from college before we got married. We both worked while he finished grad school. We were frugal and didn’t have debt.
Then about ten years into marriage, we hit a snag and found ourselves unable to make ends meet. I was weeks from delivering our third child when my husband came to me with the numbers; there was simply no more stretching an already stretched budget. We ended up on food stamps and Medicaid.
What Your Bookshelf Organization Says about You
McSweeney’s has a great list for those of us who get a little passionate about how our books are ordered.
- Chronologically, by year the story takes place: You went through a period of believing you could communicate with birds. You write fan fiction under a pseudonym. You know all the names of different kinds of hats.
Around the Warren
My Sister, the Story-Thief
Gillian Adams tells the story of how her sister sparked her imagination, and through that, her love of books.
- At eleven, my older sister was a voracious reader. While I had camped out in Middle Earth, mining every gem from The Lord of the Rings and its appendices for several years after getting my own copy for my seventh birthday, my sister read anything and everything she could get her hands on.
Since she had two and a half years on me—that half year was equally important to both of us, since she insisted she was more than two years older, and I insisted that she was certainly not three years older—there was never any doubt as to who was the leader when it came time to play. She was as creative as the day was long and as forceful as a storm when she fixed upon an idea. You couldn’t help being swept up into it with her.
Introducing The Riot and the Dance Part I: Earth
James Witmer reviews N.D. Wilson’s new nature documentary, in theaters Monday, March 19 as a special event.
- The Riot and the Dance Part I: Earth is a film described by its creators as, “A boisterous new nature documentary featuring a biologist who was once told he would never succeed if he kept blabbing about all that silly Creator-creature nonsense.”
I got to watch an early screening with my family, and we found it both enjoyable and thought-provoking.
Something to Do with Your Kids
As we think about turning the corner into spring (a turn the weather on the US East Coast seems to be fighting), here’s a coloring page full of fanciful imagination to bring out the spring colors.
And Something to Watch
This gorgeous video uses the sounds of life in Kenya to show the beauty of the country and its people.
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 22 - June 21, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 21 - June 14, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 20 - June 7, 2025
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