If you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll probably know one of the causes close to my heart is preventing modern day slavery and the trafficking of people. It’s a topic I write and speak about, and I’m always on the look out for useful resources to help young people learn about and respond to this global issue. The problem is, because of the nature of the topic, it’s a difficult one to talk to children about. We know the world has its ugly side, we know we want to equip children to respond with empathy, safety and compassion. But we also know stories about human trafficking can feel heartbreaking and hopeless.
Andrew Dittmer has addressed these issues with creative sensitivity in his newest children’s picture book, Eight at a Time.
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One of the hardest lessons I've been learning lately is 'learning to be okay with the baby steps'. I think part of it comes from being a high achiever. I like to complete things. I like to complete things well. I like to set my mind to a task and focus until the job gets done.
But... then comes life. And life isn't always accommodating to that kind of focus. Some tasks just aren't complete-able in one sitting (or two, or three). Take a PhD for example. Or a stubborn picture book text. I met Alycia W Morales over breakfast the morning before the 2023 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. While I figured out whether I liked North Carolina style grits and why the bacon didn’t bend, we chatted about books and writing and life. Over the course of our conversation, I learned Alycia had lost a son only a few years before. His name was Caleb, he was only 19 when he died.
How on earth does someone navigate grief like that? How do you pick yourself up and keep going, day after day, when the grief and loss is so raw and heartbreaking? I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like, and yet Alycia has faced her grief and written about it in her new book. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this Kid's Guidebook before its release, and I can thoroughly recommend it. Simon Camilleri is an Aussie children’s author based in Melbourne. He’s a poet, a reader of Scripture and has a heart for equipping kids and families with resources to make them think and grow in faith.
Wow God! Thank you. Sorry. Please is, as its title describes, a kid’s guidebook to prayer. The book opens with a short note to parents and then launches into a rhyming, lesson style story about prayer. A spindly branch of wattle blossoms from the bushland at the end of my street. And a spindly 'think' from my journal where I'm musing about faith and trust and the Refiner's work of love. *** You
meet me where the heart is aching. You hold me when the cracks begin to show. |
The Penny DropsIn high school I used to write what I'd call 'thinks' - little bits of writing about whatever topic or issue I was mulling over at the time. I still write these little pieces. Categories
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