“Spare Oom!”

Who hasn’t climbed in behind the clothes in the closet of a “spare oom”, held her breath and waited for a friend or a sibling as they counted, “twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty. Ready or not here I come!”

So many childhood memories as well as childhood fantasies are wrapped up and delivered in my favorite book series by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Entertaining?  Yes.  Imaginative?  Yes.  But beyond that the books are chock full of God’s promised and incredibly deep introspective concepts.  C.S. Lewis was in short brilliant and an amazing man of God.  His faith was a deep challenging faith that even in these childrens books an adult can find peace and restoration, struggle and triumph.

Entertaining. Yes, but the Narnia series is ageless.

If you have seen the movies but not read the books, you are really missing out!

I’ve just discovered the Children’s Classics carnival over at 5 Minutes for Books, and it has been a great way to get to know other moms. I’ve also discovered a bunch of new books I need in my bookcase! 😉

Window on the World

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Window on the World: When We Pray God Works

The boys and I absolutely love this missions minded textbook.  It was recommended by a blogger friend and is a must have! Thanks Karen!

Each two page spread gives you a thorough look into a different people group of the world, mostly through the eyes of a child in that nation.  It details struggles and successes in reaching that group for Christ and has a section on how you can pray.  My boys practically fight over the prayer requests each day.  They love to hear the stories about boys and girls in other countries and even my two year old is learning.

When Matt came home from work the other day, a good 5hrs after we read about how God healed Niki in Albania and learned to say hello in Albanian, Bubba hollered “Tungjatjeta (toon-jat-yeta) Dad!”

R.I.P. Frederick

I’m sorry Leo but I’m not buying it!  Today I did the unpardonable.  I threw a book away.  The illustrations are cute, the theme is a good idea but I couldn’t stand this book!

It’s a cute little book about a family of mice who store up food for the winter.  The family works hard, all except Frederick.  Instead he sits around and soaks up sounds, sights, colors, words.

As expected the mice run low on food before the winter is over so they call on Frederick to bring out his supplies.  He tells great stories and paints wonderful pictures in their minds that make them feel like they are back in the middle of summer.

Great right? Cute story about the value of art right?  Well my problem is this: Those poor mice WONT MAKE IT through the winter on a memory of the sun or a poem about the four seasons no matter how beautiful or convincing!

My boys said this book is about a family of mice who saves food for the winter and the one mouse who didn’t. 

R.I.P. Frederick

Word of the day-onomatopoeia-and my book pick of the day.

We recommend this book.  It is a fun read aloud that captures the feel of a lazy country night shattered by a passing train.  It is well written and the kids and I enjoy the way the author, Jim Aylesworth allows you to experience the sounds through his sing song use of onomatopoeia. 

Thing 2 went up to bed this evening singing CLANG CLANG CLANG, RED ON, red off….

I’ve found that I am quite picky about the quality of illustrating and this book did not disappoint, Ted Rand brings the pictures to life beautifully! 

Country Crossing was a great find for us at the local Goodwill but hardcover copies are available for around $2.50 at Amazon