A Cultural Paradigm Shift and How It Effects Children's Literature

Don't let the fancy title stop you from reading this article, especially if you have children who like to read.

We have a large collection of children's books in our home, about 4,000. I try and collect books written before 1960. Why? Let me tell you...

People who were born prior to 1945 ( the WWII generation and before) were taught, by their parents and society, that the most important thing about a person was what he did. To do right in the face of danger showed that you were a brave and good person, the kind of person we looked up to and respected. These ideals were written about and demonstrated in children's literature. We were taught that hard work paid off and that a good man honored and cared for the women in his life. Horatio Alger books all talk about the unfortunate young man who, through hard work and diligence, is able to become successful. My favorite author growing up was Stephen W. Meader. All his books show young men doing right for their country and family, even when enemies tried to dissuade them. Consider Jules Verne and his book, 'Micheal Strogoff' as another example of the person that does right even when it is very hard. There are many others. In fact, most books held to these values.

The 1950's happened, and rock n' roll, peaceniks, drugs and the whole counter cultural movement suddenly hit the scene and took over. It totally changed how society thought and what it valued. There are some clear examples from the political front. Ronald Reagan had a biographer who was given total access to him. He had the run of the White House and could talk to him almost any time and observe. When his book was published and the author was being interviewed, he was asked how well he had gotten to know Ronald Reagan. To the surprise of all present, he told them he didn't feel like he got to know him very well. When quizzed as to why he believed that, he replied, "He never told me how he felt about things." George Bush published his 'Memoir and Letters' after he left the White House. The press came to him and asked him why he hadn't expressed his feelings on these different things before. They said they might have been more sympathetic if they had known. George Bush looked at them and told them that 'it didn't matter what I felt, it was what I did that was important.' He was our last president of that World War II generation. I miss those manly MEN. Our next president was the infamous Bill Clinton. We all remember his frequent statements expressing his feelings. He would say, "It's not important what I do, but how I feel about it that matters." That is the huge cultural paradigm shift that effects almost every area of our life, even children's books.

Today, the authors of children's books focus on the character's feelings rather than their doing the right thing. Bad behavior is excused if the person intends it for some good purpose. Most characters are egocentric and care too much for their physical appearance, rather than on the needs of those around them. These are the values that are communicated to children as they read these books. 'I am the most important thing in the universe and there are no absolutes.' This is possible, because we no longer have any knowledge of biblical values, history, and the hero tales. Today's authors have not read the classics and this is reflected in their writings. The books are shallow and poorly written. The vocabulary is simplistic and the plot is obvious. At best they are cotton candy for the mind; Slightly entertaining, but poisonous to the health in any large quantity. I hate to say this, but even most Christian authors today are just as contaminated in their mindset as their secular counterparts, others are just pure pap. Parents, read any 'Christian' book before you put it in the hand of your children! I am afraid that many of the ones I have read have ended up in the trash, before the children get their hands on them. (Yep, I am a book 'banner'; you should be too!)

[One christian author that writes well and tells a great story is Douglas Bond. (No relation to James :-) ). He has written the Mr. Pipes stories about the Hymns and the Crown and Covenant Series. We have really enjoyed reading them aloud as a family, as well as individually.]

On a related but totally different topic.... Beware, these ideas have infiltrated the church and you will hear them from christian people. I even had one guy tell me, that he was trying to help his girlfriend escape a bad family situation when he got her pregnant! Somehow, the fact that he was trying to help her, made it OK. It is ALWAYS right to do right and wrong to do wrong, no matter what you are trying to accomplish. They are the 10 commandments, not the 10 suggestions!

What we and our children read DOES impact our thoughts, so make sure and put in truth!

I will now crawl off one of my favorite hobby horses and close this post.
~Mom

Christmas Carol Writing Assignment

The children prefer creative writing assignments, and when I can I try to be creative and think of some. My latest brain storm was to have the children incorporate at least 5 Christmas carol titles in their writing assignments. I gave them a list and they could use others that they knew. Here are a couple that were done. I present them youngest to eldest authors.



T-Bob Wrote:

One Christmas day a farmer was caroling. When he came home his cows were singing 'Oi Low Joyfully'. His sleigh horses were singing 'Jingle Bells'.
When he went into the house, his children said, "'Joy to the World,' Daddy's home."
He went to feed the sheep the next morning and there was a huge commotion among the ewes. He asked them what it was all about. They said there was a new adorable ram 'in yonder stall'. He said, " I bought him for you."
"Whose flock is he from?" they asked.
He said, "'From Jesse's stock upbringing.'"
They said, "Thank-you!"
The farmer and his animals had a great Christmas.

The End



Michelle wrote:

Joy to the World

She listened to the birds singing. It was 'joy to the world'. She was thinking about the 'silent night' that they would enjoy that evening, when she suddenly heard 'jingle bells'.
"Visitors", she shouted.
She heard her dad tell them to bring their horses into the barn.
Then she heard them yell, "Who is he in yonder stall?"
"I forgot about the lamb." Dad said.
She went down to welcome her Aunt and Uncle. Her Aunt was talking about the great time they would have singing "Hark the Herald Angels sing" as they danced around the Christmas tree. She just loved Christmas, she thought as she went in to help her mom.
"What a great Christmas this will be," She said.



Mr. Boots wrote:

'It came upon a midnight clear' that John and his father Bill were travelling home from work. They stopped at a rest stop to use the facilities.
John asked, "Who is he in yonder stall?"
His father replied, "That's Warren Henderson."
They talked along time until they remembered why they were there.
On the way out, Bill called out,"John, 'thou didst leave thy throne'?"
John replied, "Here I am," and they went back to the truck.
It was Christmas eve and on the way home they sang "Joy to the World".
When they got home Bill called out, "Bring the torch, Jeanette Isabella". She brought the light and on the front walk there was an inebriated lady.
The lady kept saying, "I saw three ships, I saw three ships, I saw three ships." They finally got her quieted down and it became a 'silent night'.
Bill asked his daughter,"Janette, do you know who we saw tonight?
"No", she replied.
"We saw Warren Henderson."
~Mom

Getting in Art and Writing

One thing I am trying, in our push to write more, is to have the children write a description of a piece of art work. I ask them to describe the picture to someone who can't see it. At some point I would think it fun to have them write a description of a painting in a book and have the other children try and pick it out. Another thought would be to have the other children draw a picture based on the description. This painting is from N.C. Wyeth's book of book illustrations.

Chance: There is a building with a lot of people standing on it. There is a man wearing a hat with three yellow stripes. The building is mostly white. There is a man smoking. There is a woman wearing a pretty hat. A lot of the people are wearing hats. The building is two stories high. There are two smokestacks.

T-Bob: There is a man in the picture smoking. It looks like there is a ferry in the background named the Prairie Belle. There is a woman who has a hat with a flower on it. I see two smokestacks puffing out steam. Multiple men are wearing top hats. The captain is up in the bridge staring out. There is railings on the ship to help so people don't fall out that much. On the lower deck of the ship there are supplies. One of the men in the top hats has a cane.

Thomas: This painting's focal point is a roughneck pipe smoker. He is wearing a plaid shirt. He has a conductor's cap on top of his tousled brown hair. One of his hands is holding a pipe. The other hand is on his hip. He has a sour expression on his face.

There are two people standing a little to the left of him. They appear to be a lady and a gentleman. The man is wearing a top hat. He is holding a carpet bag with roses on it. He has a suit on. The lady is wearing a hat with flowers. Her clothes consist of a blouse, skirt and vest. She has black gloves on. They are both looking disdainfully at the first man.

There is a steamer in the background called the Prairie Belle. It is a white ship with two decks. It also has two smokestacks.

Brook: There are about 14 people in the picture. The sky is a brilliant blue. There are people on a boat. The boat is called "Prairie Belle" . The boat has three decks. There is a man smoking a pipe. He has a captain's hat, so he may be the captain. There is a lady with a fancy hat looking at him. She has black gloves. She is standing with a gentleman with a black top hat and fancy clothes. He has a long walking stick. He is carrying a bag with roses on it. There are two smokestacks. There is a man on the bridge. There is a gold bird on the roof. There is a thing on the other side, perhaps it is the horn. The man and lady are looking at the man out of the corner of their eyes. The man smoking has a blue and white checkered shirt. It looks dirty. He has big rough hands. He also has a mustache.

Michelle: In this picture is a guy smoking in front of Prairie Belle the steam boat. He is wearing a blue checker shirt. He has a captain's cap on. A guy in a top hat is glaring at him. There is also a woman in am expensive hat staring at him. There are two smokestacks on the Prairie Belle. The captain's looking down from the bridge. There are 13 people in this painting. This is a white steamship with two decks. On the first deck is a rich family. On the second deck is three slaves stacking barrels. There is a bale of cotton in the front of the picture. The sky is a very pretty blue. There is a railing on all the decks.

Mr. Boots: The main focus is on an unkempt man in a checkered coat. The man is smoking and the boat is smoking too. In the background is a virago who is gossiping to her husband. They are all on the wharf. The Prairie Belle, A rear wheel steam boat, is in dock. It is white and is made of wood. It has two stories and a pilot's house. It takes the whole back of the painting.

There are people on deck. In all there are 13 people in the painting. On the lower deck three slaves are loading the ship.

The main focus has a glove on one hand, but not the other. He also has bad posture. He looks to be at home in a bar. The man is definitely out of place here.

The painting is oil on canvas and measures 32 1/2" by 25 1/2". It was drawn by N.C. Wyeth.

I like how there personalities and interests come out in their writings. We will see how there writings improve throughout the year. You can read along with me.

~Mom

Random Writings

Once again I assigned the children a writing assignment that involved them giving 6 random words and then putting them all in a hat and drawing them out. Each child then ended up with six words to incorporate in to their story. I have each child write at least as many sentences as their age. Their required words will be marked. The children had less than 20 minutes to come up with these'masterpieces'. Incidentally, Mr. Boots ws reading the book 'Million Dollar Words' while I was collecting their random words.



Chance's Story:

Once upon a time there were two brothers. Their names were Yoda and Luke. Yoda had a cat. Luke had a dog. They each had a toy bomb. Yoda liked to play tea with his little sister. They always used teacups. When they had finished it usually was night time. But before his little sister had to go to bed, they would go outside to look at the moon. In the morning they had cheese and bread with their pancakes buttered.



Michelle's Story:

A fifteen year old boy named Luke walked into the living room and flumped into the nearest chair. He was bored. He was very tired of Star Wars Legos. His cousin Thomas was so very obsessed with Legos, ostensibly. How could some one like Star Wars Legos that much? He could not stand even thinking of Lego's. So instead he studied his mother's dingbat. Why would someone name the tassels on the furniture that? "Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong" There went the doorbell. He went to answer it. It was two girl scouts trying to sell cookies. "Would you like to buy some cookies?" they asked him. "I would love to buy some, ostensibly" he said and went into the house. He then forced himself to go raid his mother's cookie jar. ostensibly that is.



Mr. Boots:

Crunch, the underbrush was ostensibly pushed aside. A Lion and a horse ran out followed out by Yoda, the master. They were all being chased out by a virago, who happened to be Yoda's mom. The running was out of this world. They were on a planet called Doll. Doll is a very desolate planet, that is lit by a giant candle. As they were all running away from Yoda's mom, they came across a nearly deserted village, where all the viragos live in solitude. They were a very primitive village. They had one form of communication, tell-a-woman. Yoda, his horse and his lion swung right. They picked up Speed, a very amiable cheetah, and ran on. They ran and they ran and they ran. In the distance Yoda saw the candle. Yoda's mom saw it too. It signalled the end of the chase. they would all stop running and eat the sausage gravy that was being cooked by the candle. If you ever see a lunar eclipse, it is probably breakfast time on Doll, a moon.

If you don't believe this tale is true,

Ask the blind man he saw it too.



Thomas Tale:

One day as I was watching a movie about dinosaurs and the Bible, I happened to glance over at the turtle cage. I saw that my turtle eggs had started to hatch. There in the cage was a beautiful newborn turtlet. One down and nine more to go, I thought. I ran downstairs to grab the video camera and let the others know. When I got back three more had started to hatch. Two hours and eight turtle eggs later, one egg remained. I was so disappointed. I went to bed, tripping over my plastic light saber on the way. As I went to asleep that night, I tried to think of names for the turtlets. I woke up the next morning feeling very happy. I immediately raced to the turtle cage and saw a little crack on one side of the shell.

"Mom,Mom", I called. Then my aunt, a virago type woman walked into the room.

"Why are you yelling so loud this early in the morning?" She demanded.

"My last turtle egg is hatching."

"Your Mother isn't home."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Out shopping."

Five minutes later the turtlet had hatched. He was a brilliant tomato orange. I decided to name him Sparky. I developed a great bond with Sparky over the next few weeks. I played Dolly with him in the cradle, and adventurer in the sand box.

One day a terrible incident occurred. I was playing with Sparky on the mantel and suddenly my father's cutlass fell and pierced poor Sparky. I was so sad.

I have always hoped to find another Sparky, but have unsuccessful. If you ever find a blaze red turtle, let me know.
~Mom

Thomas's Tale

The children have once again been writing in class. Today I am going to feature the inimitable Thomas's tale. The children were given two phrases from a book we are reading together and then were told to put it in a story. I will italicize the phrases in the story below. Enjoy!

One day John heard the sound of a small engine across the brown water. He looked up to see what it was. It was then that he saw the granite boulder the size of an elephant and the shape of an egg coming straight towards him. He screamed in terror and started to run. It was uncanny how it seemed to follow him. When he turned right, it turned right, and when he turned left it turned left. It gained on him every step that he took until it was only a few feet behind him. He finally reached a baobab tree and hid behind it. He thought he heard a mechanical noise and he saw a camera emerging from the top. The camera pointed straight towards him and the ball started again. He heard the tree splinter behind him and he started to run again. He made it to the road just as it reached him.
Optional ending #1: Squish, splat he was flattened thinner than a pancake.
Optional ending #2: As he reached the road he saw a vacant car with the keys in the ignition. He jumped in and started the engine. He raced off in a cloud of dust outracing the robot, for it was a robot sent to kill him. It still chases him to this day. So, if you see a man with a granite ball behind him, you can be sure it's John.
The End

Mr. Boots Writes a Funny Story

Mr. Boots really enjoyed his own writing assignment today. This is his picture as I read it to the class at lunch. He was laughing so hard he was crying and snorting. The assignment was to use the words "Texas, toilet, games, knife, grenade, horses". Each member of the class contributed six words randomly, and then each student drew six of those words out of a hat and had to use them in a story. Obviously there are more boys than girls in our school based on the words.
Here is Mr. Boot's story:

Texas is a place where there are many strange characters. One character was a guy named Jim who sold toilets and card games. You might not see the connection, but they both had a 'Royal Flush'.

He had an equally strange brother. His brother was a rancher. He would ride his horse long and hard all day, rounding up cattle and any other critter that would yield more than half a pound of meat. He would then grind the meat and sell it to Walmart. One day he was riding through Maine on the way to the bunkhouse, when he saw some cattle coming down a hill. He threw a hand grenade and suddenly he had a wagon load of lean ground meat (it was lean Mr. Boots explained to me, because it was on a hill). The only problem was that it was on the ground.

John, as his name happened to be, got out his Shindiawa pocket blower and blew his lean ground beef into his saddle bags and started home. On the way home he cut the cheese which he had brought along with his S.O.G. knife and sold it as well as the lean ground beef to Trader Joe's. When John got home his wife served him meatloaf, cheese, and Reduced Guilt crackers for dinner. The next day Trader Joe's sent him a contract to have him provide all their lean ground beef. With the proceeds he stopped sending the inferior ground meat to Walmart and only sold Grade A lean ground beef. He never did tell them how he got the meat so tender, but passed it on as a family secret for generations and generations.

If you go to Trader Joe's and buy Grade A lean ground beef, remember John the meat packer and his brother who sold johns and card games.

This story was Mr. Boot's lunch ticket. The high quality student I get to work with is amazing. Pray for home school mom's everywhere. Especially the one's with teenage sons.

~Mom & Mr. Boots