Zuno learns his ABCs this week as he reads Bill Martin’s Chicka Chicka BoomBoom. Come along with the lowercase letters as a, b, and c agree to meet at the top of the coconut tree. The other twenty-three letters try to join them. Can the tree hold them? Things could get nutty. What’s your favorite letter? …

Do you ever dream of being a superhero or a mighty warrior like Peter and Edmund in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia? Take a look at Psalm 8:2 (NIV): “From the lips of children and infants you (God) have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” When you…

This week, we finish The Giver by Lois Lowry. Read chapters nineteen through twenty-three. Get ready because Ms. Lowry packs a punch in chapter nineteen. Parents, if you are reading the novel with your children, read chapter nineteen ahead of time and prepare yourself for questions. For our next book, I am dropping into a…

In chapter thirteen, Jonas talks to the Giver about choices. His community protects the people from wrong choices by making all of their choices for them. Life is predictable, but safe. Jonas relives memories of choices with bad results—pain, hunger, war. If given a choice between safety with no choices or freedom to choose with…

What do you  think of when you think of a shadow? Funny shapes? Long and skinny? Short and squatty? Eclipses? Creepy, scary shadows at night? In Texas, it gets very hot in the summer. Shade and shadow are good things because it’s cooler in the shade. It’s also darker. Look at Psalm 91:1 (NIV): He…

Saddle up for C. W. Anderson’s Billy and Blaze. Wonderful black and white illustrations fill this older book which was first published in the 1930’s. If you have a child who loves horses, this series is for you. Billy and Blaze, the first book in the series, introduces Billy and his bay pony, Blaze. The books…

What is your favorite gift of all time? Think about who gave you the gift and why it was so special. Now, look at James 1:17 (NIV): Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” God is the giver of…

Last week, Jonas began his training as the new Receiver. The Giver transfers memories from the distant past to Jonas. He experiences color, snow, and hills. Will the memories change how Jonas views his own community? Join us this week as we read chapters thirteen through eighteen of Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

Did you enjoy this week’s reading? Lois Lowry gives many clues about Jonas’s community. We learn about Sameness: climate control, the absence of color, the same skin tone, flat land. Is this a good thing? What was sacrificed to achieve sameness? Would you be willing to make these sacrifices? Why? Differences can be great—colors, seasons, mountains…

Psalm 23 begins: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want…” (NIV) “I shall not want” means I have everything I need because God, my shepherd, provides for me. To be “in want” means that you need something. For a long time, when I read: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want…”, …