Book Recommendations

An Advent Calendar of Books

November 23rd, 2024
Mollie T. Cox

What do I wish I had known and experienced when my sons lived at home? An Advent Calendar of Books.

This Advent Calendar contains a wrapped stash of books to be unwrapped one by one during Advent. New books don’t have to be purchased yearly. Opening Christmas favorites can be satisfying.

Ideas abounded on the internet, but my favorites were beginning with a book per week of Advent and using library Christmas books until you have decided on the books you want—and can afford—in your permanent collection.

After years of collecting, I might have enough for each day of Advent.

My recent additions to my overflowing shelf of Christmas books are

Silent Night by Lara Hawthorne

Voices of Christmas by Nikki Grimes

The Christmas Mitzvah by Jeff Gottesfeld

and Santa Who? by Gail Gibbons.

I’m not sure I could have managed the wrapping and unwrapping of twenty-four books when my sons were young, but my book-per-week selection would have been well-loved favorites

Tomie dePaola’s Christmas Carols by Tomie dePoala

The Lion in the Box by Marguerite de Angeli.

B Is for Bethlehem: A Christmas Alphabet by Isabel Wilner

and Christmas Eve by Edith Thacher Hurd

Happy Reading.

Book Recommendations, Lies I Believed, Parenting

Lies I Believed: Parents Can Fix Their Children

April 13th, 2024
Mollie T. Cox

Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Matthew 6:9

One son held a grudge against a teacher. “Had I prayed with my son?” asked another teacher.

“Yes.”

“Had I prayed for him?”

“Yes.”

“Why wasn’t his attitude ‘fixed?'” she wondered. Maybe I hadn’t prayed enough.

“Had I encouraged another son who was shy?” asked a friend.

“Yes.”

“Perhaps he needs an incentive.”

“One morning, I offered a dime for every time he said ‘Hello.’ He declined.”

My friend wondered if there was another way to “fix” him.

I learned quickly I could not “fix” my sons. However, I felt guilty when I couldn’t, which probably meant deep down I thought I should.

It was decades later that I read The Lord’s Prayer by Thomas Watson. He begins by examining what it means for God to be our father.

God is the best Father in terms of Wisdom. He knows the fittest means to bring about his own design. … God is the best Father because he can Reform his children. God knows how to make his elect children better—he can change their hearts.
Thomas Watson, The Lord’s Prayer

Have you been expected to fix someone?

Book Recommendations, Books

Better than A Valentine

February 10th, 2024
Mollie T. Cox

With regard to February 14th celebrations, I choose Read to Your Child Day over Valentine’s Day.

But what if you don’t have a child?

In college, a friend read me her favorite lines from Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. We were taking a Children’s Literature class. Last year, my friend Katie and I read The Lighthouse Family books aloud to each other. Love of family, friendship, and adventure ooze through the picture books by Cynthia Rylant.

Although my sons are in their thirties, I still search for the best children’s stories—and buy them. My time in bookstores and libraries is spent browsing the children’s section. Most books stacked by my reading chair weren’t written for adults.

A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.
C.S. Lewis

I love the permission I feel from Lewis’s quote. I remember when I didn’t admit I read children’s books. Now I belong to a book club where adults openly share the pleasure.

Do you have someone to read to?

Book Recommendations, Relationships

Sometimes, It’s the People Pt.2

August 15th, 2023
Mollie T. Cox

My husband and I attend the National Book Festival to discover new books and hear the stories of authors. And, hopefully, collect the current National Book Festival poster. And other freebies.

Another reason for attending (September 2008)

In 2016, I had the privilege to meet a favorite author, Katherine Paterson.

With Katherine Paterson (September 2016)

On Saturday, I unexpectedly met another favorite author, Gary Schmidt. (See here and here.) I purchased a duplicate book so he could sign it.

Although my husband and I did not seek to have meaningful conversations with strangers, it happened. Three times. I think I would have new, good friends if these women lived closer, or if, perhaps, I had asked their full names. Twice in a row, I have experienced events in which I will fondly remember engaging with strangers.

Who are you meeting?

Book Recommendations

The Labors of Hercules Beal By Gary Schmidt

July 8th, 2023
Mollie T. Cox

Children, why do your parents read out loud to you?

When we read a story, we experience things that we ourselves have never done. And especially when we’re young, it’s an opportunity for us to learn about places and people and things that otherwise we wouldn’t know about. And most importantly, it’s a chance for us to become wise … And so it’s out of your parents’ love for you that they want you to become wise. Wiser than your years.
Rev. Matthew Capone

I won’t claim that Gary Schmidt loves his readers like parents love their children, but he gives his readers opportunities to become wiser than their years. The Labors of Hercules Beal has the protagonist—and consequently readers—learn the following truths.

We don’t know what family and friends and neighbors are thinking and feeling—no matter how much we believe we do.

We can’t hide our thoughts and feelings—no matter how much we believe we can.

Perceived enemies are allies and help in unimaginable ways.

The beauty of Schmidt’s writing is that readers are encouraged as these truths unfold during unforgettable, dire circumstances in the life of protagonist Hercules Beal.

Thank you again, Gary Schmidt.