PBT Stories #6 Arts Camp & Flight School

Today my urban church, First United Methodist Birmingham, AL, finishes a 10^th Arts Camp in which children from all over our city come together for positive art experiences while learning about being in loving relationship with God. This is the theme and logo:

They have drummed, sung, danced, created visual art, and entered a transformed room where a Bible story or concept came alive for them. My husband Bill writes & plans the Bible Story curricula and is their lead playmate during this time. Ask most kids what their favorite Arts Camp experiences are and they’ll say Bible Story because of the novelty and affirmation received thanks to my husband. This year's theme related to flight so science and history were highlighted as well. 

One day Bill read from a screen the PBT book below and dressed as the penguin in the story. A plush penguin was transformed as well. On that day, they talked about Peter's passionate plea to The Jerusalem Council to include gentiles (read penguins) who wanted to soar with the Christians. You can imagine the delight the children had in hearing and playing this story. Here's my re-post:

Picture Book: Flight School

Author & Illustrator: Lita Judge

Summary: When Little Penguin shows up at flight school, he claims he has the “soul of an eagle” and was “hatched to fly.” 

He is allowed to stay and practice with the other birds. When students attempt their first flight, Penguin’s flight is a disaster. 

He becomes discouraged. This troubles his flight teachers who suddenly have a creative idea. More feathers are attached to Penguin with string and soon he is in flight, soaring with joy, at least for a little while. 

But how did this happen? With help from a friend.

This time Penguin’s eventual fall did not bother him for he had “soared on the wind.” He went home and soon returned with another, even bigger challenge for the flight school teachers.

Hanna’s Comments:  This is a great book for parents and teachers to read for it is a tribute to those who encourage the young and find creative ways to help them be successful. 

How does this inspiring book fit with theology? How about reading this book to children and attaching it to Isaiah 40, a verse often heard by children but rarely explained. You could also focus on the benefits of community and friendship for encouragement and helping us soar into our dreams and vocations. 

Connect with the body of Christ imagery that Paul gives and you’ve got many potential scripture connections.

Original Publisher & Date: Atheneum, 2014

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Scripture Connections:  Those who wait on the Lord shall mount up with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31); Body of Christ imagery (in Paul’s letters); look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4); encourage one another and build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11); do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:16)
Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of private school or homeschool teachers who you want to encourage to be creative in helping their children succeed. Connect to a scripture choice from above to give it a godly vocational dimension.  

Update: This book now has a sequel that is delightful!

In the new book, Penguin, with the help of his friends, flies home to Antarctica to teach them the magic of flight. However, they're more interested in swimming. Penguin must accept that his penguin friends don't share his desire to fly. They do tell him they are quite proud of him and will be looking up at the sky and thinking of him, their much-loved Penguin with the soul of an eagle.

Healing

After re-posting on Monday a beautiful book about a flood, I thought I’d follow up with a profound book about healing. Aspects of healing are as varied and multifaceted as the people who must endure. Because the following book is child-like, you might assume it only appropriate for children. Instead, consider how this simple book can gently welcome conversations about healing in many contexts and for people of all ages. The story is mostly told through images so be sure to give ample time to show your audience the many illustrations. 

Picture Book: How to Heal a Broken Wing

Author & Illustrator: Bob Graham 

Summary: In a crowded city, 

no one sees a bird slam into a sky scraper and fall. 

It lands in the middle of a city square.

No one sees it lying near their rushing feet. 

But when Will and his mother enter from the subway 

and cross the square, Will sees the bird and immediately breaks away from the security of his mother’s hand 

to go to the hurt bird. 

He picks it up 

just as his mother comes for him.  

Seeing its broken wing, she wraps it in her scarf and places it in her purse, a makeshift nest. Meanwhile, Will retrieves a feather, just in case. 

They turn around and take the bird home, errand forgotten. 

Upon arrival, Will’s father is concerned. 

When Will gives him the feather, Will's father explains that “a loose feather can’t be put back…” 

“but a broken wing can sometimes heal.” 

The family finds a new bandage, a box, and a food dish. 

With tender, loving care they help the bird begin to heal. Both Will and bird rest well that night. 

The loving family gets a bird cage, and places it on the window sill so the bird doesn’t forget its possibilities and bird friends. 

Healing takes time so days are marked with a calendar and the moon’s phases. 

Time passes and eventually, the bandage is removed and flying practice begins. 

The first try doesn’t go well. 

But hope is not lost. 

After more healing (and likely flying practice) they decide to take the bird back to the place where Will found it, encouragement to fly high again. 

They travel back to the city square, but not before Will retrieves the lone feather, just in case. 

Will takes the bird, lifts and opens his hands,… 

and the bird is off! The family watches as it soars to heights 

and leaves them with a small reminder.

Hanna’s Comments: As I hear of the suffering in Texas, Louisiana, India, and Niger, I have thought often of my friend, Trudi Mullens, who lost her house and all its contents in Hurricane Katrina. So many veterans of storms are haunted by these present devastations. When you live through trauma, healing lasts a lifetime. Most of us are on a healing journey so a picture book about healing is for everyone. Trudi told me something profound about how tragedy always feels personal, even when it’s not, as in a natural disaster. I know this is true. Perhaps this tendency to take it personally explains why the healing journey is so long. Three weeks after the storm, when a group of strangers, a “mud out” crew, came to her home to drag away its contents and sheet rock, Trudi had a surprising rush of tears. She was no longer alone. This was a next healing step in Trudi’s long healing journey. She was to learn that healing is best done in community, community that realizes there are few quick fixes and long listening is crucial. Like in this picture book, time, tenderness, and attention are required. And like the family in this story who stands at the window with the bird, hope grounds healing for everyone involved. May it be so for all those who need healing today and all who love them.

Original Publisher & Date: Candlewick Press, 2008

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 3 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: None at present

Scripture Connections: And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. (Psalm 39:7); Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:11); I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand. (Isaiah 41:10) Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to any group of people in your faith family and explore aspects of healing and hope. 

Stuff and Friendship

Picture Book: More

Author: I. C. Springman

Illustrator: Brian Lies

Summary: The key character in this fable of few words, is a magpie who collects stuff, lots of stuff, nests and nests of stuff! His mice friends give him the first object, a beautiful marble, 

but then they begin to comment on is hoarding. 

What on the surface is a story teaching collective adjectives (less, more, enough…) becomes a lesson in the consequences of having at first, 

"Lots" and then "Plenty,"

“A bit much”  

and then “Way too much.”

Then there's a kind of community intervention. 

After the collapse of a limb under too much weight, 

the mice, and a squirrel friend, take away item after item from the nests 

and help the magpie be contented with a few treasured items. 

The number of words is few. The illustrations are many and detailed. And the messages are clear: Too much is a problem. Friends can help with that.

Hanna’s Comments: I love Springman’s bio in the back in which she describes herself as a “small-house person living in a McMansion-loving world.” She wrote this book for her grandsons hoping that “one day there will be enough for all.” That’s a PBT message for sure! Help your audience see the changes in expressions of the magpie and mice as the amount of stuff changes. Also, help them see the detailed illustrations, but don’t allow them to get too caught up in the treasures. The point of this book is that gluttony is a distraction and a problem. Explain that gluttony, one of the deadly sins according to Roman Catholic tradition, isn’t limited to the realm of food. It is overconsumption of anything. I personally struggle with gluttony and view it as a key issue in my spiritual development. My hunch is that many in your faith community, particularly if you’re American, have similar struggles, even your children. If you struggle with this, pray about sharing your struggles. Friendship is a key part of this story. Considering the amount of stuff (or assets) in our bedrooms/playrooms (for children), homes or places of worship (for adults) as spiritual questions would be valuable conversations to have in a faith context.

Original Publisher & Date: Houghton Mifflin, 2012 

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Scripture Connections:  The wilderness lesson of hoarding manna (Exodus 16); be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters (Proverbs 23:20); where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21/Luke 12:34); do not lay up for yourselves treasures on Earth (Matthew 6:19); I will not be enslaved by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of children or adults when discussing the spiritual issue of gluttony or the spiritual practice of simplicity.