Charlotte’s Blog
The complete list of multicultural Easter picture books
For over two thousand years now, people have celebrated Easter with great joy and a dazzling variety of traditions. And it seems natural that the joy and the traditions would find their way into picture books. It would be natural, but it’s not common. When I created...
Celebrating Holy Week and Pascha at home
Most of us will be celebrating Holy Week and Pascha at home instead of at church this year. And if we focus on what we usually do, what we want to do, what we can't do, it may feel like we’re not having Holy Week and Pascha at all. We can’t re-create our beautiful...
Pascha gifts during a pandemic
The social distancing that is being asked of all of us is providing a quiet and somber Lent. But you still need Pascha gifts for the little ones you love. You don't want to go to the mall. And, as you may have heard, Amazon may not be stocking non-essential items....
ADHD in The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane
The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane is the story of Theophane, a young monk in a monastery in the mountains of Mourne, in Ireland, in the Middle Ages. Author C.M. Millen doesn’t say that Theophane has ADHD. It would be an absurd thing for her to say, an outrageous...
Lent for families with special needs
I can tell Lent is coming. I’ve heard the stories of Zacchaeus, and the Publican and the Pharisee, and the Prodigal Son. I’ve been warned about the sheep and the goats. I’ve done some serious menu planning, to make sure we use up the foods that we aren’t going to eat...
When Pope Leo met Attila the Hun
The meeting between St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, and Attila the Hun was brief. The story of what led up to that meeting takes somewhat longer to tell. It started in the year 450. Honoria, the older sister of Valentinian III, emperor of the western Roman Empire,...
A dangerous story: The prodigal son
I once heard a homily for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, in which the priest explained that the parable is dangerous. We might be tempted to see in the father the example of a loving parent. But any parent that, in real life, acted as the father of the prodigal son...
Joy: A story of disability and depression
Joy is a new picture book by Corrinne Averiss, with illustrations by Isabelle Follath. I found it on a list of books that feature characters with disabilities. I was so excited to get a copy. I thought I’d review it right away. But it’s taken me a while to write the...
Cranberry thumbprint cookies
This recipe started as a way to use up leftover cranberry sauce after Christmas. Now, I make a batch of cranberry sauce just so I can make these wonderful cranberry thumbprint cookies! If you need to avoid gluten, dairy, or sugar, you'll need to make some adjustments...
A mercy of meds, a sacrifice of sleep
Guest post by Nic Hartmann "Whenever I see a brother who has fallen asleep during the services, I put his head in my lap and let him rest there.” Pambo, 4th century monk Every day, for most of the last two years, I have had the same ritual in the middle of the night....
“A Friend for Henry” is entirely wonderful
I have fallen in love with A Friend for Henry, an entirely wonderful picture book by Jenn Bailey about Henry, a little boy with autism. The three most wonderful things about A Friend for Henry The first most wonderful thing about A Friend for Henry is that it is from...
When names matter more than money
Bill is a huge fan of Steven King and Dean Koontz and Sue Grafton. He was reading Grafton’s J is for Justice, and at some point in the story, one of the characters makes vanilla and chocolate brownies. So, he told me, he decided to check and see if Grafton was on...
THE MAGIC OF BOOKS
Share the wonder of St. Nicholas through the magic of a book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow.
