Just Enough and Not Too Much by Kaethe Zemach

This has been a repetitive book for our family! It illustrates a great message. Just because you can buy something doesn't mean you have to have it. Just because culture presses "MORE! MORE!" doesn't mean you have to succumb. Materialism is bungle some! Simple is sweet! It opens room for experience and freedom and if you have, giving is so much sweeter than hoarding! Contentment! Contentment! Contentment!

This was one we read often last summer just for fun and it has been one that has resurfaced through conversations about why make some of the choices we make! The American chant of "Big house, nice car, new everything when you have perfectly good ones that have been proven dependable (backpacks)" is ringing more loudly in their ears.  This is a confidence building story that brings back the value of less.

I Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

Philippians 4:11b-13"...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to bein need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I CAN DO ALL THIS THROUHG HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH."

Did I Tell You I Love You Today? - by Deloris Jordan

One draw for this book for kids especially boys is that Michael Jordan's mom wrote it. One draw for this book for moms is the prayerfulness that begins it and ends it.  There are so many ways that parents communicate that they love their children and so many ways that God communicates it too his children too. Some of these can be overlooked by kids and parents and this book points them our beautifully!

Katy Duck by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Shy duck who loves to dance! I love to dance! Korwyn loves to dance! We just have to be selective about our dancing situations!  Shyness can overwhelm the things we love to do!  Boldness can bring out our freedom!

"I will praise you,  O LORD,  with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.  I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.  When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted." - Psalm 138:1-3

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to mourn and a time to dance...a time to embrace and a time to refrain..."- Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4b,5b

Bear in Sunshine by Stella Blackstone

Bear is content no matter the circumstance.  Beautifully illustrated board book about seasons that shows this concept come to life.  Can be about actual seasons of the year or seasons of life.

Philipppians 4:12-13 NIV "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,  whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

This book was also a possible assignment for Dax in 5th.  This historically based fiction unveils the Nazi agenda and beliefs and how strongly it held over the people who followed Hitler as well as those in Czechoslavakia who were not Jewish but who suffered at the hand of Hitler.  A view from those who met the "Aryan ideal " to be raised to be Germany's future.

It made be want to look more into this part of history.  So many perspectives of that time give a whole picture of the turmoil that was present.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

This is one of my favorites! This was a possibility for a novel study in Dax's fifth grade class and so I read it along with a few others out of curiosity.  It is a wondrous collection of life lessons woven in nonsense tapestry to bring some great Truths to life.  The argument between Dictionopolis and Digitopolis has long been in my mind- for my adoration of words long outweighed my opinion of digits. However, they are both helpful to life. One of the most perplexing things to me as an only child are sibling rivalries similar to the one between the two kings.

Answers to questions like "what is the point of this monotonous stuff?" do come out in real life parallel to how they happen in the book.  I have longed for independence and control like Milo did with the symphony.   I have experienced doing something with pure motives as he did with the "BUT" and finding I had made a mess for others.  As my aging wisdom grows, I have become so fond of Rhyme and Reason. Reason's quote, " You must never feel badly about making mistakes...as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do my being right for the wrong reasons," in Chapter 18 stirs my heart.

My absolute favorite is Chapter 9 "IT's all in the Way You Look at Things"! I love perspective discussions.  I love seeing things from God's point of view when He makes it possible; I love seeing things from someone else's perspective.  I am no longer afraid of life changing my mind on some things.

2 Timothy 2:23-26 "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.  And the LORD's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.  Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. 

The Ultimate Guys' Body Book Not So Stupid Questions About Your Body by Dr. Walt Larimore

A great collection of answers to growing guys and their bodies with a good mix of humor to lighten the load a bit.

The boys haven't read all of them but as a mom who is clueless about guy stuff, it was great for me to read. Took away a bit of the anxiety and gave me a resource for when these questions arise.