December Holiday Books #5 & #6

I'm writing a picture book-based Sunday school curriculum tied to the The Lectionary for the youngest children in our church. One of my frustrations is the abundance of board books with concepts or text length too advanced for this age. Also, their small size limits the number of people in your audience. Today I feature 2 board books to demonstrate these concerns. The first is a fabulous secular story about gift-giving so I’m featuring it in the December holiday books series. It was first published as a hardback and recently published in board book form. Very young children won’t understand it. The second book featured is a perfect board book for young children about the birth of Jesus. Both books hold great value but for very different audiences. When using board books, choose wisely. Consider storytelling their stories to older audiences, but always give credit to the author.

Picture Book: The Little Gift of Nothing

Author & Illustrator: Patrick McDonnell

Summary: Mooch (a cat) wants to give Earl (a dog) a gift on a special day, but Earl has everything. After much consideration, he decides to give Earl "the gift of nothing." The reader is left to wonder what this means until the end. Meanwhile, Mooch plays with the irony of the commonly heard word "nothing" (nothing to do, nothing on TV, etc.) in a culture that is too full. He has decided that amidst the chaos and over-abundance of stuff in the world, what Earl most needs is an empty gift-wrapped box. When Earl opens the gift, he's puzzled and says, "There's nothing here." Mooch enthusiastically agrees and exclaims, "Yesh! Nothing but me and you!" And together they snuggle in front of a window and enjoy "nothing and everything."

Hanna’s Comments: This is a marvelous message for the Advent and Christmas seasons when too often gifts are purchased without much thought and people are too busy to spend quality time together. Despite my high praise for the story, I have two other issues with this book. The illustrations are sparse, such is the style carried over from McDonnell’s popular cartoon strip Mutts, featuring these characters. This story is abstract and plays with language. Therefore it's too advanced for young children. Older audiences will decide it's too juvenile if you use the board book format. If that version is all you have, consider telling the story. 

Original Publisher & Date: Little, Brown, & Company, 2005

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 5 and up, K and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet, Photographed above is a board book. An earlier edition is traditionally bound.

Scripture Connections: Any scripture about the gift of presence, not presents such as the story of Ruth. Also, pair this book with the story of the magi (Matthew 2:1-12).  

Idea(s) for Application: Read (or tell) this book to a group of children, teens, or adults who are busy purchasing gifts for the December holiday season.

Picture Book: Christmas (Little Words Matter)

Author: the staff of B & H Kids

Illustrator: Holli Conger

Summary: Each page of this book has only one, simple word, a key concept in the story of Jesus’ birth. Words include angel, journey, town, stable, shepherds, and kings. 

Hanna’s Comments: In contrast to the book featured above, this board book is exactly right for infants and toddlers. This publisher does a great job of providing basic religious concepts to very young children via a small number of words and age-appropriate illustrations. Check out some of the other books in the Little Words Matter series. I especially like the one about Jesus which hits the highlights of his life. There is also a Bible in this series which would be a perfect gift for a very young child because the number of words are so few.

Original Publisher & Date: B & H Kids, 2016

Age & Grade Appropriateness: infants and toddlers

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Scripture Connections: Scriptures about the birth of Jesus, (Matthew 1:18-2:1-12 & Luke 1:26-38, 2: 1-15)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a small group of very young children on Christmas Sunday. 

PBT Favorite Posts #6

Here’s a hypothetical: Let’s say your faith community is planning around a  sermon series on the concept of The Holy Trinity. You want your whole faith family to explore this concept together organically, but it’s a tough concept for children. It’s a tough concept for adults! Remember, learning about The Trinity is a life-long journey so offering activities that connect with the sermons will enhance their learning journey if you consider their ages and experiences.

Picture Book Theology (PBT) is a big proponent of organic church programming that has folks in various settings talking about the same ideas. PBT encourages you to explore even complex theological concepts via literature that children (and adults) can connect to and relate to meaningfully. Encouraging children to experience the idea of The Holy Trinity in various contexts and within a variety of activities will lead to better understanding and richer meaning. Isn’t that what we all want in religious education?

The book I’m offering today is such a book. At the surface, One Family is a fun book about counting and collective nouns – those words that stand for a group of persons, places, or things. The numbers 1-10 are explored in order, but 1 is emphasized. Here’s a taste of the text pattern:

One is one. One lamp. One clock. One book to share.

One is two. One pair of shoes. One team of horses. One family.

After the number 10 is explored...

One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.

The Holy Trinity is a collective noun so here a book about numbers and language can be transformed into a profound lesson about The Holy Trinity. 

In your lesson, read the book first, then connect it to the concept of The Holy Trinity. While reading, point out the collective nouns (you might want to call them “group words”) in the text. In later pages, let your children locate those words. After reading, continue with the pattern and play of the text to bring in the concept of The Holy Trinity by saying...

One is three.

Creator, Jesus, Holy Spirit (Use your terminology here.)

One is God.

One is the Holy Trinity. (Repeat.)

To teach these lines, present them visually and use movement in creative ways.  Eventually have them say the phrases with you. Explain that “Trinity” is a group word too. The children will more easily see the link if you make those connections with the text of the book in overt and subtle ways, such as in your voice tone, rhythm, and finger play. Refer back to the page in the book about the number 3. Offer other examples of threesomes that are seen as one (a Neapolitan ice cream cone, 3-leaf clovers, a fleur-de-lis, triangles of all sorts, etc.)

When talking about The Holy Trinity, be sure to get a sense of what the children know already. Build on that knowledge and reassure them. This concept is hard! If this picture book is too juvenile for your tweens and teens, go ahead and check it out because while reading it, you might be creatively inspired to design programs appropriate for those ages.

There are several aspects of this book that I especially love. It emphasizes the power of “one” which in turn emphasizes the power of unity. Such is The Body of Christ and The Trinity! Also, this is a great book for practicing counting with young children. Engage them in some choral counting while you read the book. 

I use phrases like “family of faith” or “religious family” a lot here at PBT. This is an important value for me and this book fits nicely with that idea. If you share this value and use similar phrases, mention this in your lesson. 

One last benefit I’ll mention here is the way this book presents diverse families, diverse in membership, color, and culture. It is crucial that children’s books represent children’s realities so that the connections to self can be more easily made.

Picture Book: One Family

Author: George Shannon

Illustrator: Blanca Gomez

Original Publisher & Date: Frances Foster Books, 2015

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

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Iowa Presentation: Book #5

Below is my initial post about the last of the 5 books I talked about at my presentations in Iowa. It may be a personal favorite because it is so weird and wonderful. I hope you find ways to use it in your ministry among the many suggestions I've given you below. Here's that post:

One of the benefits of PBT is bringing high-quality secular stories to audiences of faith. Encouraging connections between that story and scripture boosts faithful responses for several reasons. Check out my Picture Books in Ministry tab for more about this. There is so much "below the surface" of these secular picture books!

Children's literature is getting better and better! Some stories are so good, you want your audience to explore them thoroughly, like the PBT book I'm featuring today. This new picture book has 2 protagonists so I encourage you to do what I call The PBT Flip-Flop, which involves finding the connections in opposite aspects of the story. I explain more in my comments below. It's so simple to do!

Picture Book: Hattie & Hudson

Author & Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen

Summary: Hattie lives near a beautiful lake. She has an nature exploration ritual every morning.

On this particular morning, Hattie sings a sort of invitation song in her canoe. A huge creature, who usually stays hidden deep within the lake, is lured by Hattie’s lovely song. He decides to breach the surface, something he has not done for a very long time despite being very lonely. 

 

When the creature surfaces, Hattie is intrigued so she keeps singing. 

After looking in the creature’s eyes, Hattie knows there is no reason to fear. The creature even begins to harmonize with her!

However, the others on the lake soon see the creature and are terrified. The creature disappears into the waters. 

Both Hattie & the creature wonder if they'll see each other again. That evening Hattie decides to venture out and see. 

They do meet again. Hattie isn't afraid of the two eyes below the surface

or the creature's head when it emerges. She names her new friend Hudson. 

They play together all night and plan to meet again the next evening. 

The next day a meeting at The Town Hall is all about "getting rid of ...the Deadly Beast." Hattie tries to speak up, but there's no room for her voice. 

When Hattie and Hudson meet again, Hattie explains the adults' plan. Hudson surprises her with a bump of the canoe and a smile, then another bump and smile. Hattie soon understands. 

Next morning as her neighbors prepare, Hattie paddles to the center of the lake and waits for Hudson. 

 Hudson gently overturns Hattie's canoe. 

Then Hattie's acting begins. She makes sure her screams of terror are heard by the neighbors. As expected, they jump in their boats to rescue her. 

 

Just as they get close, Hudson to the rescue! 

The neighbors all watch in amazement as Hudson lifts Hattie above the water. 

Hudson gently swims Hattie to the pier and places her there. 

Next, Hattie holds a meeting of her own. She introduces Hudson, declares him to be safe, and assures everyone that once they get to know him, he will be their friend too. A boy approaches, and eventually others befriend Hudson. 

Once Hudson is fully integrated into the community, people from far away come to meet and play with him, the "famous friendly monster."  

But at night, it is just Hattie and Hudson growing and playing together.

Hanna’s Comments: If you are inclined create or piggyback a tune for Hattie’s song and sing it while reading. A musical friend of mine suggested trying the tune to "Do Your Ears Hang Low." Singing will enhance this story experience. The PBT Flip-Flop method is to read the story and then have 2 very different (even opposite) conversations. With this book, I encourage you to ask your audience the 2 questions below. Ask the second question only after the first has been discussed.

How is God (or Jesus) like Hattie?

How is God (or Jesus) like Hudson?

Another way you can use this book is to encourage connections to the gospel story in which Jesus heals the man born blind who then must defend Jesus to the Pharisees. Simply ask your audience to find any connections between that gospel story and the picture book. The stories don't have to be parallel. They just have to have some connections. Another Bible story to consider is Philip and the Eunuch. Notice the holy ideas that are here such as Hattie's contemplative ritual each morning. There's an aspect of worship in her ritual. Consider Hudson being lured by Hattie's song. That's like previenent grace. There's a lot of holy risk-taking and justice seeking for the stranger in this story. Talk about those! 

Original Publisher & Date: Candlewick Press, 2017

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

Formats other than Book: None at present

Scripture Connections: Do not be conformed to this world... (Romans 12:2); Scriptures about the nature of God such God being viewed as a shield for all who need refuge (Psalm 18:30) Or the nature of Jesus such as when he heals the man born blind (John 9:1-34) or Philip, Jesus' disciple, welcoming a eunuch into Christianity (Acts 8:26-40); verses about welcoming the stranger such as when Jesus heals the Bent-Over Woman (Luke 13:10-16) or Jesus visiting Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) Or scriptures about wisdom or discernment when faced with a problem

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of tweens or older and ask them to find connections via The PBT Flip-Flop method as described above in my comments. 

PBT Question #5 to Ask about Any Secular Book

Does this book have the potential to positively affect the behavior or future of those who experience it? 

Good teachers teach to improve the quality of audience members' lives. With this last question, PBT encourages you to consider the future of your listeners' understanding of God, their places in a family of faith, or their relationships with The Holy.

PBT is all about connecting the content in picture books to scripture and/or spiritual truths so that spiritual growth can be more personally meaningful. Longer lasting learning occurs when theological ideas are connected to realistic situations or meaningful concepts. What affects you connects you!

Asking yourself how a picture book will positively affect your listeners is a worthy consideration that gives focus to your planning and teaching.   

As a nationally certified school psychologist, I’m passionate about improving social and emotional skills; those include spiritual skills. Modern psychological research is finding that social and emotional learning (SEL) and its affects on behavior is crucial for success in all relationships as well as in academic learning. For more on this critical link, check out www.casel.org. CASEL has identified 5 Interrelated Sets of COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making.

 

With this last PBT question, I’m offering an example book, Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (see my PBT re-post where I offer it as a Grab & Go book [here]). It's a story of a careless boy and his discovery of an array of environmental concerns. 

Connecting this story to God’s desire that we have respectful and intelligent guardianship of Earth’s inhabitants and resources might inspire listeners to evaluate their relationship with the Earth. They could find connections between their behavior and the Earth’s health and see this as a God-ordained relationship. Additionally, this book addresses all 5 of CASELs competencies listed above. 

Here are a couple of amazing illustrations from Van Allsburg. First, I show a scene from Walter’s bad dream. 

 

Here is a “post-dream” scene in which Walter plants a tree for his birthday:

 

This book is one of many possible books about positive behaviors. Here are others from the PBT archives:

Judgement vs. Acceptance - You Are (NOT) Small

Health & Self-Understanding - many I Am books

Learning from Nature - Ruby's Birds

Compassion - What Happened to You?

Building Community - Circles All Around Us

Inclusive Behavior - The Big Umbrella

Loving Behavior - various Bucket books

Responsibility - The Little Hummingbird

Here's another strategy: Think of an important SEL skill, find it or a related word in the large list of search words at the bottom of this screen (on the web version), and see the vast potential PBT has for your ministry and/or your family. May your own SEL learning be enhanced as you teach!

PBT Question #4 to Ask about Any Secular Book

   

Does the book contain or encourage a spiritual practice? 

(Compassion, Generosity, Gratitude, Prayer, Praise, Hospitality, Peacemaking, Reconciliation…)

This PBT question is a little easier to grasp. Do keep an open mind about what defines a spiritual practice. These are not just spiritual disciplines, like praying or fasting, nor are they always specific behaviors such as peacemaking. A spiritual practice might be an orientation towards others as in the case of compassion. You may know someone who is very generous of spirit, but they have little money to give.

When approaching a picture book with this question, consider what in the picture book would please God. That question might help you focus on a spiritual practice. Then read the picture book to a group of children or adults and help them learn more about that practice in a context that is very real. Here’s an example: Contemplation is a fuzzy word. Contemplative prayer is hard to define and impossible to perfect. Contemplating God’s amazing world is a spiritual practice that we often engage in spontaneously and momentarily without identifying it as a spiritual practice. Think of when you arrive at the beach or when you see a full moon. Just because you don’t express your joy with words doesn’t mean you aren’t moved and thankful.

Contemplation is beautifully abundant in the title character of The Incredible Peepers of Penelope Budd. Check out that PBT post [here.] 

In these two illustrations, Penelope is being especially observant. First she delights in a butterfly.

Then she contemplates her own image in a puddle of water.

Tie her orientation to delighting in God's creation and you have a model of a spiritual practice that even the youngest child can relate to. Add gratitude to God to such experiences and you have an integrated practice that can be theologically sustaining and grounding throughout a lifetime. 

Here is a link to a PBT post that features another book about contemplative practices. This one has the children being more active and purposely going into nature to find the wonder of the world - the wonder of God.

Wonder Walkers

Helping children and adults identify what spiritual practices look like will affirm their good inclinations and behaviors while offering rich information for potential spiritual growth. 

Here are links to more books in the PBT archive that directly connect to spiritual practices:

Creation Care - Here: The Dot We Call Home

Praise - I Love Our Earth!

Lamentation - several books

Hospitality - Hello World

Fruits of the Spirit, Courage, & Confidence - 2 Hische books

Listening - The Man with the Violin

Generosity - Mama Panya's Pancakes

Love - Love the World

Prayer or Social Justice - Say Something!

Gratitude - The Happy Owls

In a week or so I’ll be wrapping up my explanation of the 5th question you can ask about a secular picture book. May your spiritual practices delight God!

PBT Question #3 to Ask about any Secular Book

Does the book remind you of scripture?                    

(a Story, a Character, or a Verse) 

Answering this question takes some thought. However, as you read a picture book a connection with a Bible story, character, or verse may jump out at you. That’s fun to discover! When there are no obvious links but I’m still hoping for a biblical connection for a picture book I love, I rely on a Bible concordance or a list on a website.

Check out http://www.openbible.info/topics/. This site allows you to search by a biblical name, a religious theme, or a phrase in a Bible verse. This site also offers a nice list of the most popular Bible stories for children, but don’t use this link only when you are doing children’s programming. Adults will respond to those same stories. http://www.openbible.info/labs/kids-bible-stories/.

Don’t just think of major characters/stories of the Bible. Your audience deserves new material! Consider some of the lesser known stories such as those in the Acts of the Apostles or those referenced in Paul’s letters. Don't forget the parables that Jesus told. 

Also, don't forget the stories of women and girls in the Bible! Rich faith development involves girls learning about female biblical role-models and boys hearing the important roles that women had in our Holy Scriptures. There are many women’s stories in the Bible that offer meaningful lessons and conversations. Sadly, females are often unnamed so finding their story is harder.

Here are 4 women in the Bible that you may not have considered for a lesson: 
Rahab - Joshua 2

The Widow of Zarephath - 1 Kings 17:7-24

The Bent-over Woman - Luke 13:11

Dorcas/Tabitha - Acts 9:36

Another problem occurs when a key figure is labeled negatively. We tend to shy away from those stories, especially when teaching children. But those labels don’t have to be used! For example, you don’t have to call Rahab a prostitute. Focus on how she was a crucial figure who helped the Israelites. The Eunuch in Acts 8 can be called simply “a man from Ethiopia”. His story is so powerful! The woman caught in adultery in John 8 can be described as a “woman who got into trouble.” 

In contrast, don’t shy away from age-appropriate negative attributes. These descriptions make characters more human. They are easier to relate to, more believable, and more relevant. Got an impulsive kid in your group? Find a book that connects to Peter. God’s great mercy is all the more powerful when complicated characters are changed for the better. 

Apart from stories, children and adults can learn a great deal from key phrases in Bible verses. I like to have children repeat a simple phrase throughout a lesson so that it lingers in their minds afterwards. Adults can benefit from this method too. For instance, in a lesson using a picture book about rocks. Talk about how God is like a rock, and have your audience say intermittently this phrase from Psalm 71:3: “Be to me a rock of refuge.” Don’t forget to define “refuge.” Then you’ll have a little vocabulary development. All the better! 

Sometimes you must allow a picture book to soak into you for a while and let The Spirit do the work. Set aside the book, say a little prayer for guidance, and give God some time to help you see the connections. A Bible connection might pop into your mind.

In a few days, I’ll post about PBT question #4. It may be the question that yields the most potential for a picture book. Meanwhile, may your Biblical knowledge grow.

Here are many more books from the PBT archives that directly connect to scriptures:

Psalm 139 - I am Enough!

The Lost Parables - Duck's Key Where Can it Be? and

Who Counts?

Good Samaritan - Who is My Neighbor?

The Mustard Seed - The Marvelous Mustard Seed

PBT Question #2 to Ask about Any Secular Picture Book

Is there a sacred theme to the book? (such as Fruits of the Spirit, Light, Bread, Ritual, Creation, Courage, Righteousness, Ancestors, the Least…)

This is the easiest of the PBT questions to consider when approaching a picture book. 

Often the major and minor themes of picture books are concepts of social-emotional learning that we want children to know so books on these concepts are common. Fortunately for those who want to use picture books in ministry, those same concepts are also considered aspects of an abundant spiritual or religious life. 

If you’re using the "web version" format (you may have to select this on your phone), you will see a large list of purple search labels below. On this website, I consider topics that directly connect with scriptures found in the Old Testament (Hebrew) Scriptures and New Testament Scriptures.

 You'll find fiction and non-fiction books.

I've included classics from your childhood. 

And I especially enjoy telling you about the best new books and award-winning books.

Just click on a purple word below and be taken to all the picture books I’ve connected to that concept.

To demonstrate the abundance of themes that can be found in the PBT search list, here are 10 biblical themes and links to 10 featured PBT books that connect (1 each for the first 10 letters of the alphabet):

Adoption -  MissMaple’s Seeds

Brokenness - Koko’s Kitten 

Change - Fortunately     

Discovery - TheListening Walk

Enemies - EnemyPie   

Friendship - Bear and Bird   

Generosity -  If You Plant a Seed

Healing -  How to Heal a Broken Wing

Image of God - The Colors of Us

Justice - The Day the Crayons Quit

Darkness/Fear - The Dark

Community - Little Elliot, Big City

Goodness - Most People

Resurrection - 2 books about turtles

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