"Mountain Born" and Raising Men

I think good books are always worth re-reading!

So I borrowed this little one from my nephew for a second time and was not disappointed. Instead I was struck deeper with the straightforward, yet kind way in which the boy, Peter, was being raised to be a man of character, strength, and courage.

Are you raising any boys to be men? Don't miss out of this little gem of a book! (Even girls learning to be women shouldn't miss it.)

 

"Wolves were not heard of again in that countryside. No tracks were seen in the snow during the winter; no hungry howling came on the frosty wind at night; and none of the farms knew loss.

"'There are some things,' Benj commented on it to Peter, 'that can't seem to live right with the rest of the world. They cause trouble to the good things and so they have to leave. I don't like what has to be done at times like that, but--' he sighed heavily, 'a man's got to be able to do it.'

"'David was able, wasn't he, Benj?'

"Benj thought a long time. 'He was so, and he wasn't afraid to stand up to a big one named Goliath who was causing trouble in his countryside. Easygoing is the way we all like best to be, but we can't let easiness take the fight out of us.'

• "Mountain Born" by Elizabeth Yates

A Lamp to my Feet

To illustrate the Swedish Proverb shared in my previous post, I recently re-read a good book which has been a favorite since I first found it in our home library in my youth. When young I mainly enjoyed the exciting story. But through all the [dozen or more] times of re-reading it since then, The Princess and the Goblin amazes me more each time with the truth which George MacDonald fit "between the lines." For example:

"She jumped up: she had but to keep that light in view, and she must find the house.

"Her heart grew strong. Dark as it was, there was little danger now of choosing the wrong road. And – which was most strange – the light that filled her eyes from the lamp, instead of blinding them for a moment to the object upon which they next fell, enabled her for an instant to see it, despite the darkness. By looking at the lamp and then dropping her eyes, she could see the road for a yard or two in front of her, and this saved her from several falls, for the road was very rough."

Maybe you need to read the story to see the connection clearly, but this little description is to me a beautiful picture of how God's word is our light through all the dark and rough paths of life. If only we will keep looking to it/Him as our guide and focus.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path. 

• Psalm 119:105

The Princess and the Goblin:
Free audiobook on LibriVox: Listen or Download Here
Free e-book on Gutenberg: Read or Download Here

What to Read: Part III, Books for Her

Don't we all wish at times that we could be writing our own life-story to “fix” all the things that seem to have gone wrong?

I love how this cosy book addresses that:

"’Wouldn't you like to be writing that book with us all in it, Mother, and make Daddy come home soon?’

“Peter's Mother put her arm round him suddenly, and hugged him in silence for a minute. Then she said:— ‘Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing? If I were writing the book, I might make mistakes. But God knows how to make the story end just right— in the way that's best for us.’

"’Do you really believe that, Mother?’ Peter asked quietly.

"’Yes,’ she said, ‘I do believe it— almost always— except when I'm so sad that I can't believe anything. But even when I can't believe it, I know it's true— and I try to believe. You don't know how I try, Peter.’”

• The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit 

Hans Christian Andersen put it this way: “Every person’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.”

Stories have a way of illuminating truths that would just go over our heads in a sermon. That is why I found it such a joy to voice the oldest girl, Roberta, in the LibriVox full-cast recording of The Railway Children.

I mention this to bring up the fact that there are many ways to enjoy books these days. While still a big fan of holding a hard copy in my hands and turning paper pages, I am grateful for all the digital versions currently available for free.

[“Currently” – meaning there has been legislation considered which would threatened free access to public domain audiobooks such as those recorded by volunteers on LibriVox.org. But for now we can still download as many as we choose – as well as a wealth of free e-books from sites such as Gutenberg.org and Archive.org.]

Just as in the Books for Him book list, I hope these Books for Her will provide more than mere entertainment, enjoyment, or even increased knowledge. In addition, you will find beautiful role models, true faith, and sanctified imagination.

Before wrapping up, I want to acknowledge that there is much overlap between my book lists for Him and Her. After all, I have read both lists during my life as a girl and woman! 

Not having grown up with any brothers, I had to prepare the masculine list based off what I have seen my boy-students, cousins, and friends reading, as well as what my sister used with her tutoring students. But I also included books I knew from my own reading to have at least half or more of the focus on boy-characters. Not every guy will be into some of those books, just as not every girl will be into all the books on today’s list. And that’s fine!

But for the readers who just can’t get enough books, I am including a master-list of both book-lists combined, called WHAT TO READ. There are even a few bonuses in this list – including several daily devotionals at the end!

Click below for your free, downloadable book lists. And please share this post with others who may be blessed by it!

Books for Her  PDF link

What to Read  PDF link

Happy reading!

~ Hannah

What to Read: Part II, Books for Him

As stated in the Elizabeth Yates quote I shared in my previous post, “A man must have a care to what he puts in his mind, for when he’s alone on a hillside and draws it out, he’ll want treasures to be his company, not regrets.”

Do you have trouble finding books worth “putting into” your mind or those of your children? I hope today's book-list will help!

When gathering books for boys (and men), I looked for more than just adventure, mystery, or daring deeds. Those are included! But I also wanted to provide good role models, true faith, and sanctified imagination.

For example, Amos Fortune: free man by Elizabeth Yates is one of those books that is meaningful and inspiring no matter what age you read it. I first met Amos Fortune this winter of 2022. Even though he died in 1801, I say "met," because he was a man whom everyone would want for a friend.

Despite all the pain he came through - including being captured by another African tribe and sold into slavery in his teens, spending decades earning money to buy the freedom of more than just himself, losing loved ones, and being mistreated - Amos had a soft and grateful heart. It wasn't easy, but he lived out his faith in a very practical way and learned the value of following Jesus' direction to “turn the other cheek.”

"Amos watched the fire climb slowly at first, starting from a dozen different places; then like a wall of destruction it moved up the steep sides until the flames met and linked in a vast pyramid of fire at the summit, consuming everything that could be consumed and leaving the mountain bare and smoldering.

"Hate could do that to a man, Amos thought, consume him and leave him smoldering. But he was a free man, and free at a great cost, and he would not put himself in bondage again."

On my Books for Him list, you will also find older titles you most likely have not heard of, including several featuring boys by Johanna Spyri – Swiss author of the famous Heidi.

As C.W. Stork wrote in the forward to Vinzi, "Madame Spyri's panacea for the ills of life is an old one, but it is doubtful whether anything better can be found than her combination, which is: Faith in God, active helpfulness toward all around, love of beauty, fresh mountain air, and good food."

From the lively animal-characters of Beatrix Potter or Thornton Burgess, to the riveting lives of Brother Andrew and George Muller, readers of any age should find some “treasures” to store away and pull out in the years to come.

Click below for your free, downloadable book list. And please share this post with others who may be blessed by it!

Books for Him  PDF link

~ Hannah

What to Read: Part I

I need to explain today's post a bit. A few new readers ["Welcome" to you!] may have already read it published as a guest-post on another blog, and long-time readers of this blog will recognize some of the content. But besides being pulled together in a new way, there will be something new coming up in this short series that you will not want to miss: free downloadable book-lists!

But first, let me back up and introduce myself...

Hello. My name is Hannah, and I love to read! Maybe the same is true of you. Or you may have children whose voracious appetite for books is hard to keep supplied with wholesome fare. Possibly you have the opposite challenge of finding any books that could interest your child in reading!

I have been gleaning the benefit of other people's book-lists through the years – including suggestions from some of you blog-friends! Plus when my nephew finishes a first time through his new chapter-books, he passes them on to us. Yes, this 2-year-old has "read" each and every book he gets as gifts. Children are never too young to enjoy read-alouds… and parents [or aunts, uncles and grandparents] are never too old to enjoy children’s books!

Some of my earliest memories include our parents reading aloud to my two sisters and me. Beatrix Potter and Laura Ingalls Wilder were favorites with Mom, while Dad brought Poor Ralph, The Droodles and The Chronicles of Narnia to life. We also loved poring over the Kurt Mitchell illustrated editions of the Biblical books of Jonah and Esther, both during read-alouds and on our own.

Even though my childhood and youth were filled with books, I have probably read more in the past eight years than the previous three decades combined. For that I have chronic illness to thank. But due to a combination of physical and adrenal weakness and the resulting PTSD, I haven’t been able to handle many of the books I used to enjoy. So, while I used to read a higher percentage of heavier and non-fiction books both for school and leisure, these years have leaned toward more fiction and biographies - especially those written for children and youth. It is a joy to see how God turns that limitation into a blessing as I now have more books to suggest to parents.

Another blessing that has come out of years of weakness is learning to appreciate audiobooks. Since our local library didn't have enough good options, I began searching online. That led me to LibriVox.org: a growing library of free, downloadable audiobooks recorded from works old enough to be past copyright and in the public domain. Though most of the volunteer readers are not professional, my family has enjoyed book after book as if friends are reading aloud to us.

At some point during those first months of listening, an old dream began to revive. Years ago when my Grandpa, an avid reader, lost his eyesight to macular degeneration, I wanted to record books for him to enjoy. But that was not possible due to copyrights. Since joining the team of LibriVox volunteers in 2015, I now help to record public domain books that can be enjoyed by anyone around the world. I am still amazed that God gave back this dream when so much of life as I knew it had crumbled.

Besides learning to be an audiobook narrator, I now have the joy of sharing book reviews and recommendations on several platforms. This eclectic blog often features the books I am enjoying, and my LibriVox reader-name of HannahMary has inspired the following accounts.

Instagram: @storytime.with.hannahmary
YouTube: Storytime with HannahMary
Telegram channel: Storytime with HannahMary

At the request of another blogger I have now put together some book lists that I hope will be a blessing to you and your families. I’d also love to hear of your favorite books! Simply leave a comment below.

I'm nearly through with this lengthy introduction, but hopefully it helps explain where I'm coming from as you watch for the book lists in upcoming posts.

For now, please note that my inclusion of an author does not condone all of their books. I have read many more by some of these authors as well as by authors not listed. If I know a reader or parent personally, I can maybe suggest more. But in these lists I tried to include only the cleanest and best for the imaginations and characters of any reader.

Also, while my lists are ordered roughly from younger to older readers, please do not feel stuck to reading in any order. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time-table.” Every reader is unique!

I also once heard C. S. Lewis attributed with saying, “Good fiction is a ship carrying a cargo of truth.”

And since I personally learn best from stories – both real-life (biographies) and fictional, my lists include many of them. You will see that fiction and non-fiction are all mixed together. I believe that can be a healthy way to read. Just as a balanced diet includes a wide variety of foods, our hungry minds need a mixture of healthy facts and nourishing stories to help us learn and grow strong in character and faith.

As a favorite children’s book (which I first read as an adult) puts it:

A man must have a care to what he puts in his mind, for when he’s alone on a hillside and draws it out, he’ll want treasures to be his company, not regrets.

• Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates

My hope is that you will find many new treasures for your reading in the days ahead!

~ Hannah

How To Make Readers

 

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. - Emilie Buchwald

Project update: I continue refining and formatting my book lists. Getting close!!

Hopefully one result will be encouraging parents to read to their children even before they can read for themselves. If children don't see their parents put any value on reading, they are less likely to value it themselves. 

We Expected Some Other Good

Not all books I want to read (or re-read) are in the public domain. So I am thankful for the audiobook/ebook apps available through my local libraries.

This fall I came back to the following C.S. Lewis - years after my first reading. It was just as good the second time, despite a few Lewis quirks!

"I am beginning to feel that we need a preliminary act of submission not only towards possible future afflictions but also towards possible future blessings. I know it sounds fantastic; but think it over. It seems to me that we often, almost sulkily, reject the good that God offers us because, at that moment, we expected some other good. Do you know what I mean?... God shows us a new facet of the glory, and we refuse to look at it because we're still looking for the old one."

Letters to Malcolm - Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis
[Excerpt from letter about the phrase "Thy will be done" in the Lord's Prayer]

The Truth is a Strange Thing Here

Can you relate to this quote these days?

"It is hard not to be believed just because one speaks the truth," said the girl, "but that seems reason enough with some people. My mother taught me to speak the truth, and took such pains with me that I should find it hard to tell a lie, though I could invent many a story these servants would believe at once; for the truth is a strange thing here, and they don't know it when they see it. Show it them, and they all stare as if it were a wicked lie, and that with the lie yet warm that has just left their own mouths!"

Want to know who "the girl" is and in what book you can read more about her? Check back for the answer in my next post!

Stepping Stones

"[The Pilgrims] had a great hope and inward zeal of laying a good foundation, for the propagation and advancing of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world; yea though they should be but even as stepping stones unto others."

- William Bradford

Of Plymouth Plantation

Do you ever wonder why you celebrate Thanksgiving Day? 

Is it for family time? Good food? Entertainment and a football game? Or to "be thankful"... without any specific object of your gratitude?

Finishing the following book last week was perfect timing to remember why we really have this celebration.

Even if only to put our own hardships into perspective, reading this first-hand account of the Pilgrims through several decades following their arrival in America on the Mayflower is eye-opening. But it also shows clearly how much these men and women of God were willing to sacrifice for the freedom to worship Him.

If you ever had the idea (like I used to) that all went well for the Pilgrims after the first good harvest and Thanksgiving festivities, this history would amaze you with year upon year of perseverance through famine, lack, danger, sickness, and injustice. And yet William Bradford, having lost his wife soon after arrival to this wilderness and under great pressure trying to govern this new colony could write as follows. 

What, then, could now sustain them but the spirit of God, and His grace? Ought not the children of their fathers rightly to say: Our fathers were Englishmen who came over the great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. ... Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them that have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered forth into the desert-wilderness, out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men!

• Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement,
Rendered into Modern English by Harold Paget

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let the Lord have the Praise

The following sentences brought mixed feelings, as they were the last words in a book that took me a year to read/listen [click here for the LibriVox.org free audiobook.]

Of these 100 or so of persons who came over first, more than half died in the first general sickness. Of those that remained, some were too old to have children. Nevertheless in those thirty years there have sprung up from that stock over 160 persons now living in this year 1650; and of the old stock itself nearly thirty persons still survive. Let the Lord have the praise, Who is the High Preserver of men.

William Bradford
Bradford's History of Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650

I was glad to reach an end to the narration of so many hard years of trials and testing in the lives of the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts. And yet, these firsthand accounts and documents testify to so much more than hardship. Oh, that every American knew this part of our history!

Something Very Precious

If you live with chronic illness, you can relate to this conversation in the middle of World War I:

"'And now, two years later, it is no nearer the end than it was then,' said Miss Oliver gloomily.

Susan clicked her knitting-needles briskly. 'Now, Miss Oliver, dear, you know that is not a reasonable remark. You know we are just two years nearer the end, whenever the end is appointed to be.' ...

'Would you exchange them - now - for two years filled with fun?'

'No,' said Rilla slowly, 'I wouldn't. It's strange - isn't it? They have been two terrible years - and yet I have a queer feeling of thankfulness for them - as if they had brought me something very precious, with all their pain. ... And still' - Rilla gave a little apologetic laugh, 'I don't want to suffer any more - not even for the sake of more soul growth.' ... 

'We never do,' said Miss Oliver. 'That is why we are not left to choose our own means and measure of development, I suppose.'"

And the following quote will show why this book came to mind today:

"And you will tell your children of the Idea we fought and died for - teach them it must be lived for as well as died for - else the price paid for it will have been given for nought. This will be part of your work, Rilla. And if you - and all of you girls back in the homeland - do it, then we who don't come back will know that you have not 'broken faith' with us."

"Rilla of Ingleside" by Lucy Maud Montgomery was the first book I remember bringing to life for me the heros and the sorrows of war - both in battle and at home.

While this final book in the "Anne of Green Gables" series does contain a rather cheesy and shallow romance, it thankfully doesn't take up too much of the story. In short, it follows Anne's youngest daughter, Rilla, through what she expected to be the most exciting years of her life. Little did she know that her teen years would be defined by World War I.

Whether you are an "Anne" fan or want to learn more about wartime life for soldiers and their families this Veterans Day [in the USA], "Rilla" may just stick with you (as with me) as being one of those books that brought history to life.

Happy Veterans Day!

Find the free audiobook on Librivox.org and free e-book on Gutenberg.org

What Would You Have Us Do?

Doesn't this quote from George MacDonald's book [set in the Highlands of Scotland when the crumbling clans were being driven out] sound awfully familiar today? I can think of several current applications,  though I will not address them on here. Just see what comes to your mind along these lines:

"I learn from the new men on the hills," resumed Donal, "that the new lairds have conspired to exterminate us. They have discovered, apparently, that the earth was not made for man, but for rich men and beasts!" Here the little man paused, and his insignificant face grew in expression grand. "But the day of the Lord will come," he went on, "as a thief in the night. Vengeance is his, and he will know where to give many stripes, and where few.—What would you have us do, laird?"

• "What's Mine's Mine" by George MacDonald 

Did you notice that last question: "What would you have us do, laird?"

That is a good question for us to be asking The LORD!

But the answer lived out by the fictional Scottish Laird and his clan is also insightful and surprising. 

To learn the answer, find the free audiobook on Librivox.org or free e-book on Gutenberg.org

By the way: I do NOT agree with all of George MacDonald's theology, so remember to read with discernment... as for any book. Just because an author is a Christian does not mean we can accept everything they say. Remember to filter it through God's word - the Bible.

Fruits of the Earth

"The air was clear and clean, and full of life. ... A consciousness of work approaching completion filled earth and air—a mood of calm expectation, as of a man who sees his end drawing nigh, and awaits the saving judgment of the father of spirits. There was no song of birds—only a crow from the yard, or the cry of a blackcock from the hill; ...The day was of the evening of the year; in the full sunshine was present the twilight and the coming night, but there was a sense of readiness on all sides. The fruits of the earth must be housed; that alone remained to be done."

What's Mine's Mine by George MacDonald

Before winding up our harvest for 2021, we had a family picnic in the garden! The old wood stove that heated our house from the basement through my high school years has been waiting in the garden for just such a night.

Not Even a Cup of Tea?

"The son said, My heart is disquieted within me. My soul cleaveth to the dust. Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O God.

"His Father said, In My hand are the deep places of the earth. Is there no blue sky? Have roses forgotten how to blow? Have birds ceased to sing among the branches? Hast thou not the sweetness of the love of a single little child? Hast thou no pleasant food – not even a cup of tea? Have tears been thy meat day and night?

"Gather up thy comforts, the greatest, the smallest, and thou wilt be surprised that thou hast so many to gather."

His thoughts said… His Father said…
by Amy Carmichael