Journeys 3

"It's not where you go, it's who you travel with."

There is a lovely old Irish tale of a King who decides which of his two sons is worthy of inheriting his crown, by setting them a task.  

And the task?  

Make a long road short!

How can one do such a thing?

By....

 telling a story, of course. 

 And so, the son who is able to spin a tale as they walk along the road together wins the crown.

I even wrote my own version of this old tale some years ago, which was published in Cricket magazine - Maggie, the Farmer's Daughter."

How I love the notion, that on this journey of life, it is the companions who "walk" with us, who can lighten our load, make the journey seem shorter, and help us discover hidden joys along the way - much like Isaac and Abulabaz in this month's read aloud.

Journeys 2

"Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost."

In our "purpose driven" culture, it is sometimes hard to remember, as Tolkein's words tell us, that wandering can often be the best part of any journey.  Interesting too, if we think of our life as a journey, that the word wander and wonder are only a letter of a difference!   What better way to boost our little ones sense of wonder than to immerse them in the beauty of a great story, or.....to let them wander a little when we go for a walk without worrying about where we are going or when we will get there.

Of course, speaking as someone who is extremely geographically challenged, and who has ended up living in a land where I am surrounded by people who have been born with a compass in their mouths, it is really no surprise that the notion of WANDERING resonates so deeply with me!

Journeys - 1

This month's read aloud is called, THE TWO TRAVELERS by Christopher Manson.  It is the delightful tale of two unlikely travel companions from two very different countries and backgrounds, who have to make a long journey together.  In the course of their journey, they make discoveries about themselves and about the world - which is of course, what all good journeys help us do.

I like to tell children that stories too are like journeys, and just as most journeys will involve us circling back to where we began - HOME, so too good stories will often circle back to where they began, except that now our main character will have undergone some inner change or growth.  

 The Celtic people revered the circle - they told their stories in a circle, they worshiped the sun and the moon, and when St. Patrick brought Christianity to them, he honored their sacred circle by putting it around the cross - and so today we have the lovely CELTIC CROSS.

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." 

T. S. Eliot

Friends 2

FRIENDS  2

So many of the books I read to children depict the most unlikely of friends, such as Amos, the mouse and Boris, the whale in William Steig's classic, "Amos and Boris." 


 Understanding and delighting in our differences is surely one of the gifts of a good friendship....and of a good story!

Friends 1

FRIENDS

This month's read aloud celebrates the gift of friendship.  The Sugar Mouse Cake is a beloved classic about the friendship between a poor pastry chef and his pet mouse, Tina.  What a lovely opportunity to discuss with our children how truly precious a good friend is, and to share with them some stories about our own childhood friends!  And of course, all we book lovers know that a good book has much in common with a good friend: the ability to make us laugh or cry, to wonder or hope, to dream or dare, and most importantly the ability to LIGHT up our world!

Scottish Quiet

AN ODE TO QUIET PLACES

I took a little trip back to my native Scotland last month and was able to indulge my love of QUIET walks in the beautiful Scottish countryside - breathtaking scenery of lush forests, misty mountains, and sparkling Lochs, complemented by birdsong, babbling brooks, and the distant bleat of sheep and maybe....a fluttering of fairies?  Have a wee look and see for yourselves.

PERFECT QUIET PLACES

QUIET

HUSH

My read-aloud for this month is the lovely book, THE QUIET PLACE, by Sarah Stewart and David Small, and so I thought I would repeat a few of my earlier posts on one of my favorite topics!

I've always had a penchant for all things QUIET: quiet people, quiet places, quiet music, quiet walks, and quiet books, to name but a few.  And I was fortunate enough to grow up in a culture that valued all things - QUIET.

When I was a wee girl, my dad would always press his fingers to his lips and warn me to tread lightly as we passed by a lone bush in the fields of Ireland, lest we frighten off the fairy folk who would be hiding there. 

On winter mornings, when my dad came to wake us from our sleep, he would always whisper, so as not to disturb the hallowed hush of a new day dawning.

And as a young teacher in Scotland, I learned early on from an older, wiser colleague, that the best way to tame a rowdy class, was simply to start talking in a very low, soft voice.  Pretty soon a hush would descend, as the children strained to hear what I was saying.  Curiosity trumped the need to chatter!

In public places Scottish people speak much more softly than their American counterparts.  Some years ago, when we took our daughter back to visit Scotland, we ate lunch at a pub in the countryside.  Halfway through the meal, she leaned over and whispered to my husband and me, “This is like eating in a library!” (She had been raised in the era where libraries were actually places of QUIET!)

Thinking by talking aloud (a common practice in American culture) is frowned upon in Scotland. “Don’t talk the arms out of a waistcoat!” was a frequent admonition to the more loquacious members on a board or committee! 

The Scots subscribed to that old adage, “children should be seen and not heard,” and while that notion is somewhat outdated now (and rightly so), it did hold some merit.  As the youngest child, I spent many hours sitting on the edge of adult conversation, just listening. 

All of these cultural factors really served as my storyteller’s apprenticeship.  

So, how can we encourage our little ones to seek out more QUIET time, to value silence and listening and spend more time BEING versus DOING?

By basking in stories of course…..good stories that leave room for pondering and reflection, wonder, and mystery.