Seven stories to show children what Resilience looks like, and something else that we must teach them!
These seven stories were Read-Alouds for my children but I didn't realize I was teaching them something else...
I have so many warm memories of my mom reading stories in the morning on school days. The best part of the day was when she would read!
Most of the stories were about missionaries, particularly during World War 2 but there was also Papa’s Wife and stories of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot. She always impressed on us that we should expect difficulties in life as Christians but that God was always in control.
The stories had such an impact on me. They taught me about perseverance, empathy, humility, self-sacrifice.
With that thought and the memories of my mother’s investment into my moral makeup and imagination, I set out to pick books to read to my children this year that had a particular angle of Resilience.
After I did a series of posts that were a mini review of each, I noticed that there were a few underlying themes that I hadn’t even realized.
Adam in Adam of the Road must embark on a journey alone after he loses his dad and his dog. His father did not plan this but it’s happened and now Adam must remember everything his dad has taught him from remember where they were originally going, to how to identify friend from foe since he spends all his time with strangers. Adam even uses the skills his father has taught him to entertain, tell stories and earn his room and board.
In The Door in the Wall, Robin also faces a journey alone. He doesn’t even know if his father and mother have survived the plague or what they will think of him now that he is a cripple. A kind friar takes him in and helps him to build his resilience against the disappointments of a life that will not be what he expected. He will never be a knight. The grand moment is when Robin must sneak through the door in the wall. The friar has used an analogy of “finding the door in the wall” to represent finding a way through difficulties but now he must sneak out of the castle by way of an actual door in the wall in order to save the castle inhabitants from the marauding Welsh. Everyone that Robin deals with are strangers and he must follow his mission and not be caught.
The Winged Watchman is the affectionate nickname for the windmill that Joris and his family live in. Life is difficult with the Nazi occupancy. Joris watches Jews taken away, food rationed, and a neighboring son betrays his own father in an attempt to gain the favor of the Nazi flex. When Joris sees a plane go down but a man in a parachute land in the field, he knows this stranger is in trouble. He takes a risk to keep the RAF pilot safe and when the secret is too big, he must decide who is safe to share it with.
Sam decides to leave the city life and live on what he calls My Side of the Mountain. He must build his own home, learn to forage and trap, and learn to keep himself healthy. The most dangerous element turns out to be who to trust! He has his parents blessing to live there but not the government’s to skip school. Strangers keep showing up on the property that has been in his family for generations. Some he must hide from, some he can befriends. But he won’t allow anyone to take him back to the city.
In The Treasures of the Snow, Lucien has practically destroyed every chance he ever had to be accepted in his life. Even his mother has distanced her heart from him because of what he did. The only person left who will speak to him is an old man in the mountains who seems to be hiding from something in his past too. The old man pities him and almost as though he can see into Lucien’s future and the possibility of life-long rejection, he teaches Lucien a trade: carving. Lucien tries to use this skill to regain the people’s favor and makes amends for what he did but his work is destroyed. He lives in complete despair until he finds a chance to possibly mend what was broken. But he must travel far, down the snowy mountain, find a certain stranger and convince him to come back with him.
Jay Berry Lee is just like every other 14 year old boy, with 14 year old dreams: a 22 Rifle and a pony to ride on. And those dreams look like they will finally become a reality if he can catch a pile of monkeys that have escaped from the circus train. This becomes the Summer of the Monkeys as Jay with the help of his grampa, tries to catch those monkeys by hook or by crook. Jay must learn how to interact and deal with these crazy monkeys in order to get the reward.
Peter Rabbit is baby stuff… at least that’s what most people assume if they haven’t read much of Beatrix Potter’s writing. This book of Peter Rabbit Tales includes the classic story of naughty Peter losing his jacket, which teaches a lot about resilience when you’re dealing with the consequences of bad choices! But it includes another story, called The Tale of Mr. Tod, a fox who begrudgingly allows the badger Tommy Brock to “borrow” his various homes when he isn’t there. Tommy Brock is intent on cooking up Cousin Benjamin’s baby bunnies in a pie! Cousin Benjamin is in despair about the chances of rescuing the bunnies but Peter is stout and resilient! Tommy Brock the Badger and Mr. Tod the fox get into a great fight and Peter and Benjamin must decide on the perfect moment for action.
Stories (especially biographies) have a powerful ability to let you live in someone else’s life, and to see the entire scope of a moment or even their whole life in a very short time. We get to walk through impossible events, great moments of triumph or tragedy, to see the consequences of choices, good and bad.
When I began reviewing these books that I’d picked out to read to my kids last year, I realized there was another theme other than Resilience. In each of these stories, these kids (well, Peter Rabbit is more adult-like) have to deal with strangers, some quite hostile.
Many of them have to function with adults, at an adult level, away from their parents.
Some have to leave and go on a journey in the case of Adam, in Adam of the Road, Robin in The Door in the Wall, Sam in My Side of the Mountain and Lucien in The Treasures of the Snow.
Some have to create a rescue plan like Joris in The Winged Watchman when he discovers the hiding place of the English pilot and Peter Rabbit when he has to come up with a plan to rescue the lost bunnies from the hands of 2 predators.
Can stories truly inject character in to our children or efficiently prepare them for a hard situation?
Perhaps, no. Perhaps, yes!
I hope that as my kids encounter various situations in their life, they will choose resilience because of the characters they met in these stories. I hope that when they encounter strangers, they will have prudence with who they choose to trust.
But more importantly, these stories can give them a perspective on life that speaks truth: good triumphs over evil, unseen integrity matters, God is responsible for the outcome, He is faithful and can always be trusted.
I hope you enjoyed this unique review of some books that I enjoyed reading to my kids! If you want to read my initial reviews (that tell the basics of the stories) I’ll post that next!
Which book sounds the most interesting to you? Hint: I first read The Winged Watchman by myself!!
*** Join my Summer Book Club!! I’m reading Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination by Vigen Guroian. If you want to join me, go to the top of the page and click on the tab Virtue Through Stories and Fairytales Book Club! ***
I loved reading to you!!!
Great article! Looks good, too! Thank you for your research on this!