HOW WE HOPE...
According to Jane Yolen, the two most important ingredients of a good children's book are - JOY and HOPE.
This month's read aloud is Mole Music by David McPhail, one of my favorite HOPE filled stories ever. I share it with people of all ages to mark special milestones in life, or to spread a dollop of hope when needed.
Hope is not always a feeling - just like love, but rather, often it is simply something we do until we can feel it. Good children's stories can provide beautiful models of hope for our little ones, letting them believe in their own goodness and grace and light - letting them see HOW to HOPE.
MOLE is the perfect embodiment of a tenacious soul who refuses to give up and simply 'keeps at it."
When we teach our children to hope, we are helping them to "keep at it" - that is keep at this business of LIFE - of living and loving with all our might - and who knows, just like MOLE, they too may learn to "make music" that reaches into people's hearts and melts away the anger and the sadness!
Happy HOPING!
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