Simple truths wrapped in syllables, hidden in literature for children. My boys and I devour books on a consistent basis. I never tire of snuggling up with them on my lap as we pour over the words contained in a good book.Last night, we finished "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A.A. Milne (the classic chapter book, printed in 1926) Sweet and simple Pooh taught this mommy.
"... and he began to think how awful it would be if everybody had forgotten about it and nobody quite knew what the party was for; and the more he thought like this, the more the party got muddled in his mind, like a dream when nothing goes right. And the dream began to sing itself over in his head until it became a sort of song. It was an ANXIOUS POOH SONG." - A.A. Milne
Goodness, even Pooh has times when his mind runs away. Hmm, or bother I should say. How many times does my mind get the best of me. I start thinking, creating in my mind, instead of believing the Truth. Just like Pooh, everything gets muddled and I forget. My thoughts sing over myself and drown and it becomes an anxious mommy song. Oh Pooh, thanks for sharing with me last night. Thanks for reminding me to guard my mind and to stop my thoughts before they get muddled. Now to find a smackerel of honey.
Delving into a new book, I'm looking for any suggestions for read alouds. What books do you remember from childhood? What lessons did you mine from the golden nuggets of children' s literature? What books collected dust on the shelf but never stopped teaching you?
And don't forget to enter the give-away for a book just for you!
30 comments:
I love Pooh Bear. And it always intrigues me how the different characters in the story represent so accurately different types of people in real life. I think I have a split personality - some days I'm Tigger, some days Rabbit, and some days Eeyore.
Hi, Sara! I have a great resource called "Honey For A Child's Heart" by Gladys Hunt. :) It lists books for children of all ages.
http://www.christianbook.com/honey-for-childs-heart-fourth-edition/gladys-hunt/9780310242468/pd/42463
Happy Reading! And we love Pooh and Tigger, too!
What a great lesson. I love it when they come from children's books because they are so unexpected. Thanks for splashing around my blog today. I really appreciate your comments. They made my day!! Some of my favorite books growing up was Black Beauty, The Chronicles of Narnia series, and Alice in Wonderland.
Hi, thanks so much for visiting my blog!
Lynn
I just love the wisdom of Pooh, and he always makes me feel good!
Cute post!
I see that someone already shared the little treasure "Honey for a Child's Heart." My daughter read her way through all the wonderful books Gladys Hunt recommended. And I found some I had never known before.
I recently found "Honey For A Woman's Heart." Oh joy!!
Some favorites, that we as a family read multiple times, were The Chronicles of Narnia and The Little House books. The whipping boy was a popular read-aloud for my students one year.
If your boys like the Chronicles of Narnia (and, if they already like to listen to chapter books, they might be old enough to listen- I think my sister and I were 4 and 6 the first time my parents read them to us, and we loved them), they might also like The Prydain Chronicles, another fantasy series. They are not Christian allegories like the Narnia chronicles, and we didn't read them for years because of that, but one day my Mom took a look at them and liked them, and it amazed us how many things they brought up that we could discuss and that tied in with what we were learning about in our Bible study. But, I would recommend those for older kids.
And, I know your boys are definitely not old enough yet, but my parents read us David Copperfield and Great Expectations and quite a few Mark Twain books. I think Dickens was my favorite author before I ever read him for myself. We're never to old for read-alouds (my professor in college who don't how to teach reading to elementary students started each class by reading aloud from The Five People you Meet in Heaven. It was so fun having that shared reading experience as a class)
Ok, sorry I just wrote you a book as a comment. I love to read. And I love to share about some favorites. It's been awhile since I've been as little as your boys though, so I guess I don't have too many good suggestions for now.
Yay for Pooh Bear - I love the classic Pooh books, they are so wonderful and delightful and YES so much to learn from them too! :) I just did a post on recommendations for read-alouds - one not listed there that also is great is The Boxcar Children. Happy reading!
Sarah,
I too, have been a fan favorite of Winnie the Pooh's for quite some time. I think the classics are there for a reason is that they stand the tests of time and have valuable life lessons within their wonderful pages.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
Oh how we love Winnie the Pooh!
Wonderful lessons about how to deal with all types of situations and people!
I'll have to think of books to share!
Blessings and love,
Jill
Have you read the complete works of Curious George? If not, get it and enjoy!!
I, too love the book you just finished. I have it from when my kids were little and now share it with our granddaughter, Savannah.
Blessings, andrea
Pooh bear was my baby girl's nursery theme. My dad's grandpa name is "Pooh pa." Love the golden little bear and all his cute little friends.
As for others...I loved the DR. Seuss books as a kid.
great post! i needed to read this. seriously.
thanks for allowing God to highlight this section.
good word.
I love how He speaks to us through Art. Our boys love books too. We are up to book #5 in The Chronicles of Narnia. xo
Some favorites of mine: winnie the pooh, chronicles of narnia, little house books.
What an awesome post! Very well said. I have memories of my Mom reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my sister and I when we were growing up.
I love your blog and what it represents!! Wonderful seeing SO many Christian women out here!
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.
Sarah,
We have two boys, too (5 & 7) and we first got introduced to "The Shining Sword" last year. One black & white picture per chapter, but they were completely entranced. It is an allegory on the armor of God. It was written years ago, and it is written by Charles G. Coleman. Excellent! The day we finished the youngest asked if we could read it again--that's when we knew we'd need to buy a copy (our first was from the library). Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
love,
Audrey
What a precious Pooh bear post!
Hello Sara~ Thank you for visiting my blog!! That truly made my day!! I'm enjoying your blog as well. Feel free to come back and become a follower so we can splash some more. I love your fun sense :)
Blessings! ~Amy
I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing. Thanks for splashing by my blog, I'll do the same here.
Blessings,
Michelle
Thanks for splashing around on my blog, Saved By Grace; you are welcome any time!! Winnie the Pooh is my youngest daughters all time favorite of favorites, we have savored AA Milnes's books!
How true it is...my memory verse two weeks ago, was as a man thinketh, so is he. We are trying very hard to teach our children that what we think in our mind is very important because our heart and actions will follow!
Your blog is beautiful! Thanks for stopping by mine!
My parents live in Pheonix and my brother lives in Clarkdale. I really hope to get to visit again in the near future...Arizona is absolutely beatiful! Last time we went, we got to go to Sedona, Jerome, Flagstaff, Verde Valley, and Scottsdale. It was all soooo wonderful!
Sarah,
Hi! I too would recommend Honey For a Child's heart as it is a great resource. We love Pooh, too, and Madeline, The Giving Tree be Shel Silverstein, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (very cute story), and a series of books called the Lamplighter series. We only have a couple but we love the ones we have. Also, The Hardy Boys are great and GA Henty books all for boys.
Hope that helps! :)
Oh! I have so many favorites! Chronicles of Narnia books, Calico Bush, Bridge to Teribithea, The Boxcar Children, Grandma's Attic series, etc, etc,!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Hope you come back soon!
Sarah- You have a great blog. I love it. Thanks so much for coming by. I love the Max Lucado books for kids. It is great because they will let me read them to my kids classrooms in secular schools.
I love winnie the pooh. For a bear with very little brain....he's pretty darn smart.
Hi Sarah~ Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I am always encouraged to "see a new face" and I love the adventure of exploring a new blog myself! I love Pooh Bear too. We read so many Thomas the Tank Engine stories. The originals by Rev. W.V. Awdrey. My oldest son LOVED those stories and learned so much through them. My middle son loved the book "I Love You Stinky Face" by Lisa McCourt. It speaks of unconditional love. He is 9 and still loves me to read it to him when he's not feeling so great...but don't tell him I told you!
I'll second (or third!) The Narnia Chronicles. We've read them aloud, my kids have all read them (except Grace--she can't read yet!), and now we're listening to the Radio Theatre version of them. They're wonderful!
I'll also second the Boxcar Children. It's hard to find books where the children are actually sweet to one another, but the Boxcar books fit the bill. My kids were so into them one year that my sweet hubby built them a boxcar to use as a playhouse (out of recycled siding from a house).
My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE The Usborne Book of World History. There are a few pictures that I could live without (war scenes, etc.), but honestly, they must have the book memorized. They love history.
The boys also love atlases of all sorts (and have loved them for a long time).
We like to look at art books of all kinds, as well. There are some nice ones for children too.
Of course, the YWAM missionary stories are wonderful, but perhaps you would need to wait a year or two for these.
Blessings,
Sarah
Hi Sarah! You won the giveaway over at my blog:) Would you please e-mail me your address so that I can get your giftcard off to you? They use Fedex and so cannot ship to PO Boxes. Just for your reference! I'm very happy you won and hope that you are getting use to American food again! Have a blessed day!!
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