Chris Fabry's Blog, page 15

Children's Reading List by Dr. Rosalie DeRosset

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, etc.
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. The Story of a Bad Boy.
Andersen, Hans Christian. Andersen's Fairy Tales.
Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Coyle.
Babbit, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting.
Barrie, James. Peter Pan.
Burnett, Francis Hodgsen. The Secret Garden, A Little Princess.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland.
Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw.
Cooper, Susan. The Grey King.
Cummings, J. Golden Legends.
Cummings, e.e.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.
De Jong. Meindert. The Wheel on the Schoolhouse, The House of Sixty Fathers, etc.
De Saint Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield, etc.
Dickinson and Dickinson, eds. Children's Second Book of Patriotic Stories.
Dodge, M. Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
Doyle, Sir Arthur. Sherlock Holmes, etc.
Durrell, Gerald. My Family and Other Animals.
Enright, Elizabeth. Gone-Away Lake, Thinkable Summer, etc.
Estes, Eleanor. Ginger Pye, The Moffatts, etc.
Grahame, Kenneth. The Golden Age, The Wind in the Willows.
Grimm. Fairy Tales.
Haggard, Rider H. King Solomon's Mines.
Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust
Hinton, Susan. The Outsiders (teenagers)
Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils.
Johnston, Annie Fellows. The Little Colonel. (a series of books…may be out of print)
Juster, Norton. The Phantom Tollbooth.
Kingsley, Charles. Water Babies.
Kipling, Rudyard. Stories and Poems.
Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
L'Engle, Madeline. A Wrinkle in Time, etc.
Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia.
Lindren. Pippi Longstocking.
Lowery, Lois. The Giver, Number the Stars, etc.
MacDonald, George. Gifts of the Child Christ, The Princess and Curdie, The Golden Key, The Princess and the Goblin,. The Lost Princess (sometimes called The Wise Woman)—great fiction for parenting
Magorian, Michelle. Good Night, Mr. Tom
McCloskey, Robert. Make Way For Ducklings.
McKinky, Robin. Beauty, The Outlaws of Sherwood, The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown.
Merrill, Jean. The Pushcart War, The Toothpaste Millionaire.
Milne, A.A. Winnie the Pooh.
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables.
Moody, Ralph. Little Britches.
Mowat, Farley. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be.
Mulloch, Dinah Maria. The Adventures of a Brownie, The Little Lame Prince.
Neville, Emily. It's Like This C
O'Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.
O'Neill, Mary. Hailstones and Halibut Bones.(teaches the poetry of color)
Orczy, Baroness. The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Patersen, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved, The Great Gilly Hopkins.
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. ( a boy learns to survive in the wilderness)
Polacco, Patricia. Thank you, Mr. Falker,Pink and Say,Chicken Sunday, The Butterfly
Potter, Beatrix. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, etc.
Raskin, Ellen. The Westing Game.
Ruskin, John. The King of the Golden River.
Sachar, Louis. Holes
Seredy, Kate. The Good Master, The Singing Tree, The White Stag, etc.
Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty.
Sidney, Margaret. The Five Little Peppers (series)
Silverstein, Shell. The Giving Tree
Smith, Dodie. I Capture the Castle
Spyri, Johanna. The Heidi Series
St. John, Patricia. Treasures of the Snow, etc. (wonderful Christian writer)
Steinbeck, John. The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island, etc.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Trilogy, The Hobbit
Twain, Mark. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, etc.
Voigt, Cynthia. The Tillerman Cycle (7 books), Jackaroo, On Fortune's Wheel, The Wings of a Falcon, Solitary Blue.
White, E.B. Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan.
White, John. The Tower of Geburah.
White, T.H. The Once and Future King.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Wilde, Oscar. Fairy Tales and Poems in Prose, etc.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House on the Prairie
Williams, Marguerite. The Velveteen Rabbit
Zindel, Paul. The Pigman (teenagers).

POETRY
De La Mare, Walter. Songs of Childhood.
Knapp, John. A Pillar of Pepper and Other Bible Nursery Rhymes.
Koch, Kenneth. Rose, Rose, Where Did You Get Your Red?
Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of Verses
Utermeyer, Louis. Has many collections.

READING LIST: JR. HIGH AND HIGH SCHOOL ( some adult level)
(you'll have to pace your child—some may do better than others with these)
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre (demanding reading)
Chesterton, G.K. Adventures of Father Brown (mystery), The Man Who Was Thursday.
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage (history, adventure-- Civil War story)
Defoe, Daniel. Ronbinson Crusoe (adventure—wonderful study in the sovereignty of God) Somewhat demanding.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Dumas, Alexander. Count of Monte Cristo.
Flemming, Ian. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (addventure)
Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain (adventure, history).
Gilbreth, Frank and Ernestine Carey. Cheaper by the Dozen (wonderful true story about a family with 12 children)
Hilton, James. Good-by Mr. Chips.
Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables (spine-tingling drama)
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird (wonderful-teaches integrity and the evil of racism)
Lewis, C.S. Science Fiction trilogy,
Meader, Stephen. Shadow in the Pines (mystery).
Murphey, Robert. The Pond.
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen, The Promise (stories about friendship in the Hasidic Jewish community).
Rawlings, Marjorie. The Yearling (the movie is wonderful too).
Thurber, James. The Thirteen Clocks (humor).
Tolkiein, J.R.R. The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring ( 4 volumes--fantasy)
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer (funny, adventure, sad).
Zindel, Paul. The Pigman

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND BOOKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF READING
Guroian, Vigen. Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination. (superlative look the the issues.)
Hunt, Gladys. Honey For a Child's Heart.
Russell, William. Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children.
Tralease, Jim. The Read Aloud Handbook.
Wilson, Elizabeth. Books Children Love.
Wise, Jesse and Susan Wise Bauer. The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

YOUNGER CHILDREN'S LITERATURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ackerman, Karen. Song and Dance Man.
Blos, Joan W. Old Henry.
Blume, Judy. The Pain and the Great One.
Bourgeoois, Paullette. Franklin Fibs.
Douglass, Barabar. Good As New.
Dragonwagon, Crescent. Home Place.
Graham, Amanda. Who Wants Arthur?
Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man.
Hoban, Russell. Bedtime For Frances.
Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace.
Houston, Gloria. My Great-Aunt Arizona.
Howard, Jane R. When I'm Sleepy.
Jukes, Mavis. Like Jake and Me.
Keats, Ezra Jack. Goggles, Pet Show, Whistle for Willie.
MacLachlin, Patricia. Through Grandpa's Eyes.
Martin, Rafe. The Rough-Face Girl.
McCloskey, Robert. Blueberrries for Sal.
McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette on the High Wire.
McLerran, Alice. Roxaboxen.
Paterson, Katherine. The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks.
Rylant, Cynthia. The Relatives Came, When I Was Young in the Mountains.
Say, Allen. The Bicycle Man.
Sebestyen, Ouida. Words by Heart. (beautiful, painful story of a black family)
Waber, Bernard. Ira Sleeps Over.
Williams, Vera B. A Chair For My Mother.

GUIDE TO TEACHING CHILDREN IN THE CHURCH/TEACHING GUIDES
Dunlop, Cheryl. Follow Me As I Follow Christ.
Wise, Jesse and Susan Wise Bauer. The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

Ordinary Men Changed the World

Andy and I went out to a local coffee shop tonight after our men's meeting. We've never done this without our wives before. (Actually, we've only gone out for cofee with them once.) We talked about...well, it doesn't matter what we talked about, really. His bathroom rehab. My family's health. Nothing about the NBA or baseball. Andy is a soccer fan--he would say the real kind of football.

There were others in the place. Single people with laptops. Married people with friends. Young people with hope. Everyone with some shade of caffeine in their hands.

And there was Andy in the corner speaking with an English accent, and me speaking without my southern twang. In big chairs that felt comfortable. Just ordinary guys.

It strikes me every time our group gets together how frighteningly ordinary we are. We all have problems. Hangups. Disappointments. Longings.

So did 12 men a couple thousand years ago. But Jesus chose them to follow him and through them he changed the world.

Think of it. 12 ordinary guys. This was the plan? No Facebook account? No Twitter? Good grief, at least get a blog, right? There was no marketing plan. No advertising budget. Just 12 ordinary men being changed by the power of God, the moving of the Spirit on them and through them.

If God can change the world through them, can't he do the same through you and me? And through Andy?

Yes, he can. But before they changed the world, those 12 ordinary men had to be changed. And Jesus was patient with them. And he spent time with them. And he poured himself out for them.

I want to change the world, too. But I suppose the best thing I can do to help in the process is allow myself to be changed one day, one attitude at a time. Small steps. Depth rather than width. Don't worry about the numbers, don't worry about the results. Just allow God to use what is weak to prove he is strong.

God loves ordinary men. And women. He loves to change them and the world.

Saying Goodbye

This is exactly how I remember Jim Warren.
A phone to his ear, a newspaper in his hand, a big calendar behind him, and his Bible open. Jim knew that just covering news wasn't enough. Other outlets could do that well and had more staff. What they weren't airing was a Christian perspective of news events. So every day he took us to places and into people's lives who were on the front lines--and around the world.

Jim had a heart for people going through difficulty. He had a heart for people who were struggling. He loved music. He loved to laugh. In fact, he actually played ME singing a song I had written specifically for April 15th called, When My Taxes Are All Done. I sang as "Johnny OutaCash" and Jim howled.

Today Jim entered heaven. No more radio programs, no more pain. I'm sure he's already seen many friends he interviewed over the years. Francis Schaeffer. Jerry Falwell. He and Brandt Gustavson are probably telling some Moody stories. In fact, he's probably met D.L. already.

We mourn with Jean and the rest of the family. But we also rejoice in his homegoing. He's been promoted. While we still look through the glass darkly, Jim now sees his Savior face to face. That is our blessed hope.

Jim Warren

A radio friend, Wayne Shepherd, called yesterday and mentioned a name you may remember. Jim Warren. Jim was the host of Prime Time America on Moody Radio for many years. Jim and I worked together—he on Prime Time, me on a program called Open Line. He was the most hard-working host I've ever encountered in my radio years. He loved doing what he did.

Jim's health has not been that great the past few years. He's been in the hospital for much of the past year. I won't go into all of his problems, but Jim made a difficult decision in the past couple of days about his health, and with his family around him, it sounds like in a short while he will be free of the pain he's been through.

That's up to God, of course. But I wanted you to know about Jim and I would like you to pray for him, for his wife Jean who has been by his side faithfully for so many years. Pray for their children who are also walking through this valley. This is not the easy part. This is the tough part. But if Jim could speak on my program, I think he would say that God's grace has been evident even through these difficult days. And we can trust him. And lean on him. And cast every care upon him because he knows what we need.

So if you would pray for Jim and the family—I would appreciate it. And if you would like to send a card to him and his family, here's the address:

Jim and Jean Warren
4732 Doug Dr.
Whitehall, MI 49461

Also, we'll be conducting a tribute program for Jim on Friday, 5/20, Hour 2 of Chris Fabry Live! If you would like to say something to Jim, tell him what he has meant to you, call 1 866-953-2279 and leave a message. You can start the call with, "Hi Jim..."

Make A Difference 5/18

We had a caller to today's Chris Fabry Live broadcast that didn't get on the air, but we told her we would ask listeners to pray. This is a heavy duty request, but God is in the business of heavy duty living.

Anonymous – I have been praying for my husband who is now living a gay lifestyle. Nothing is changing or getting through. Please join me in praying for my husband.

Father, you know the hurt of this relationship, and you know exactly what Anonymous is going through. Walk with her through this struggle. And call her husband. Show her each step to take to love him, but at the same time protect herself from harm. Cause him to turn his heart back toward his wife and get the help only you can provide.
Amen.

Two Things Jim Burns Said Today

We were interviewing Jim, of HomeWord, for a future Building Relationships program. I wrote down these two things:

A four year old laughs 400 times a day.
The average adult laughs 14 times a day.

If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.

Vidalia Onions

I went to the Farmer's Market this morning with Shannon because Andrea wasn't feeling well. Cabbage, carrots, onions, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and 10 dozen eggs.

$240. This is what we eat. This is our life.

Before heading home, I was intrigued by a new vendor. Actually an old vendor with a Shriner's hat and a wrinkled face. He was selling Vidalia onions. Straight from Georgia.

"They brought them by 18-wheeler," he said with a cute accent.

Pat Conroy has a great story about Vidalia onions, how they taste, how people fawn over the first crop each year. I have had Vidalia's before, but this seemed a purer crop to me, closer to the ground than the grocery. I forked over the $10 for 10 pounds and the man smiled.

Saturday is cleaning day at our house. Andrea and the girls/boys work hard to vacuum and launder the whole house. I help out, but my major task today was my office.

At 2 PM I started getting hungry for lunch. What do have?

I found the biggest Vidalia onion and cut it up. I threw it in a skillet with some oil, then cut up some cabbage. What should I put in there to help it out?

Pondering that question, I picked a sliver of onion from the spatula as I turned the concoction. Someone had put sugar in the pan. I was sure of it. I tried another sliver. Sweet. Like honey.

Wait. There was no sugar in the pan, that was the onion.

I cracked two eggs and spread them over the skillet, simmered and turned it, then mixed in a little butter/salt/pepper.

Even though they were carried on the back of a truck all the way to Arizona, I feel like I'm in a field in Georgia, among the first at the harvest.

I've always thought of the forbidden fruit as an apple. Perhaps the Garden of Eden was somewhere in Toombs County.

Mark Mittelberg Prayer

God, I don't understand the mystery of it all. I can't comprehend why you would care enough for me to send Jesus Christ to pay the penalty of my sins. But with all my lack of understanding, I am willing to yield to you completely. I trust in Jesus' death for me, and I believe he rose to give us new life. I accept the promise you made in John 3:16, which tells us, "Everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

I do believe, Lord, and I accept all that you have for me: your forgiveness, your leadership, and your help through life's ups and downs. I want to become your child. I am yours—body, mind, and soul—and I know that you are mine. Thank you for forgiving my sins and, even now, starting to guide me into this new life. In Jesus'name, Amen.

Yay for Billy

So much of writing a story is having the confidence to keep going even though voices in your head tell you to stop. No one will read this. No one will care. Who are you to write anything? Move on to something else.

Those voices were strong when I began writing Almost Heaven. After all, the main character is not a celebrity. He's a loner. An almost invisible guy you wouldn't be able to pick out of his high school reunion picture. He lived his whole life in West Virginia. In a holler. Unknown by most of the world.

Except there was something compelling about Billy Allman. From the moment I heard his story and began to piece together the plot of his life, I was captivated. Every day I went to my closet (literally) to find out what was going on in his life. Billy was a real man who died two years ago. His story forms the backbone of the book.

The other compelling angle the story took was the perspective of the angel sent to aid Billy and watch his every move. I don't believe everyone has a guardian angel. At least, I'm not sure everyone has one. But I do know that God uses the angelic realm in our realm, and to be able to pull back the curtain a bit also brought me to the computer and encouraged me about my own life.

Yesterday I heard that the book won an award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. The other novels nominated were fantastic. There are no "losers" on that list. But when I heard Almost Heaven was chosen, my first thought was, "Yay Billy." And my second thought was, "Thank you, God." He delights in choosing simple, humble things. He has a plan and purpose for every story, yours and mine included.

Maybe you feel like Billy today. I'm not sure if he ever won any award in school or in life. Was he patrol of the year? Did he win at the spelling bee? I don't know. But I do know that because of his relationship to God through Jesus, he was guided and sometimes dragged for God's glory. And that makes a compelling story for any life.

Yay for Billy. Thanks to God.

To view the complete list of 2011 Christian Book Award winners and finalists, click here.

Mister Kitty

A listener emailed to tell me about the loss of her beloved pet after 16 1/2 years of companionship. Here's her tribute to Mister Kitty.