"Story," Mentoring Us Through Our Own Character Arcs.

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​It's winter. It's frigid in Maine. And everything outside (and sometimes in) feels dead. So, what does one do to push through the long months before the thaw? READ to each other out of the best books, of course! One of my favorite gurus of the story-editing world, Shawn Coyne, once said:

"Change, no matter how small, requires loss. And the prospect of loss is far more powerful than potential gain. It's difficult to imagine what a change will do to us. This is why we need stories so desperately."

Stories show us how a flawed character, just as weak as we are ourselves, makes it through the darkest moments of life and comes out the other end of the abyss, stronger after the storm. And able to divulge the secrets of how to conquer the forces of evil, how to overcome the bad guys, and what courage it took to glean the meaningful life lesson of not giving up when the stakes were the highest.



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​Cue scenes in your mind of Laura Ingalls and Pa, twisting straw fibers into tight kindling sticks until their hands were cut and chafed, from sun-up to sun-down--just to keep the stove barely burning continuously so their family wouldn't freeze to death.


Laura would step away from twisting, with stiff hands to grind (using the last of the wheat berries they had left), just long enough to make flour so Ma could bake one rationed loaf of dark bread a day. This never-ending grunt work kept the real-life Ingalls family from starving to death for days on-end throughout the interminable 1880 blizzard of the southeastern Dakota territory in Laura's autobiographical account of The Long Winter.

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​The resolution my daughter Beatrix and I felt, after reading that book, when the storm ended, was like eating a freshly-baked apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream after a long fast. Knowing the Ingalls family made it through--watching them in our minds' eyes--stepping outside into the sunshine after the blizzard finally subsided, tucked away into our brains that seed of assuring endurance for our own situations later.


Indeed, story tells us repeatedly that at the end of every storm, the sun really will beam again. Reading through that book just months before covid struck impacted me in ways I never imagined a children's book could.
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In an odd way, Laura Ingalls Wilder prepares all of her readers with a mindset of resilience and self-sufficiency. In my own situation, I felt her stories prompting me, as a mother, to bolster my family's own food storage and supplies before we even realized the pandemic was creeping up on the world. Granted, my church leaders had already encouraged us to do this for decades. So we had been.

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But I hadn't realized I'd never stocked up enough toiletries to last for months. Food? Yes. Paper supplies? Not so much. T.P.? Really, not nearly enough. Reading The Long Winter was the final hint from the Spirit that I needed. So that winter while my little girls and I read about the Ingallses struggling, I felt an urge to stock up on extra T.P. And guess what? Weeks later when the supply chains collapsed, and factories closed because of the pandemia, we did have sufficient toilet paper to quell the uprising that likely would have ensued in my household if we'd been unprepared, and instructed the kids to gather pine boughs or dead leaves from the woods enough for eight people to make it through for several months. That could have been a most prickly situation.

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Thanks, Laura Ingalls wilder. Thanks, Pa! And thanks, Ma--for raising a writer who could help another family make it along their own journey one hundred and forty years later! That, my friends, is the power of story-telling.

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When we can see the whole character arc of of another flawed protagonist go from grappling with hardship--to facing it, to slowly building muscle, to winning the battle...those strengthened champions hand over their tools to us! Our own toolboxes are suddenly replete with (T.P., or rather...) the secrets of life. And, we are now equipped to deal with the nasty blizzards in our own "real-world" paths.
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So put on your wool socks, push that overstuffed armchair in front of the hearth, stoke up a blazing fire, heat up a mug of hot chocolate, and revel in the following five titles with your own favorite little  bookworms...so you can let story guide you through your own real life character arc of a journey...

​1) Joplin, Wishing
Written by Diane Stanley

The protagonist in this book was all too-relatable for me--rather a Jane Eyre of children's lit: small, mousy-haired, quiet, and bookish. Maybe like many of us. She's just likable for the reader. And the details throughout this adventure (like the new best friend being named "Barrett Browning," after "Elizabeth Barrett Browning" the poet), and a kind fairy-godmother-of-a-librarian, were a delight.

The fascinating mystery that unravels, affecting three generations in one family after a selfish alchemist traps a young girl from the Dutch seventeenth century into a Dutch platter (reminiscent of a genie's wishing lamp), is an unusual story that's as interesting as the happily-illustrated cover. 

In my opinion, the author deftly ties up all threads of this tale one-by-one, until the conclusion is so satisfying, you won't want to lay it down on your nightstand after reaching the last page at two in the morning. No one would do that though, right? Ahem...

​Goodreads says: 

A heartfelt and magical middle grade novel in the tradition of Tuck Everlasting and Bridge to Terabithia, about family, wishes, and the power of true friends to work magic.
While cleaning out her reclusive grandfather’s house, Joplin discovers pieces of a broken platter in a cookie tin. After having the platter repaired, Joplin wishes that she could both find a friend at school, and befriend the girl pictured in the platter.
The next day, Joplin befriends a boy named Barrett, and also notices a girl outside her apartment. A girl who looks remarkably like the girl in the platter…
The girl introduces herself as Sofie, and she has a terrible secret. Cursed to grant wishes for the owner of the platter for all of time, she has been trapped for centuries. Joplin and Barrett vow to help her, but freeing Sofie is more complicated than they could have imagined, and the three friends end up against a sinister foe who could put them all in terrible danger.

2) A Place to Hang the Moon 
Written by Kate Albus
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​Okay. Again, maybe it's my former illustrator's heart, but just the cover alone sold me on this book. Talk about bibliophilic eye candy! And the jacket depicts a library from 1940's Britain. What could be more delectable than that?!​  


Just to warn you, I think the author was enchanted with the Narnia books, and gave a nod to the middle of the Pevensie children from the series, by naming the middle child in this book Edmund. If you don't mind fan fiction, it's perfect, as you can just go on imagining a grumpy but tender-hearted Edmund in this story too. 


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Not envisioning the actor (Skandar Keynes) who portrayed Edmund in the Chronicles of Narnia movies is nigh to impossible. But that's okay for me, as I thought he was darling. I rather liked continuing on with his character, even if he's in a different family. The eldest brother here, William, could almost be another Peter, but Anna, the youngest of the three siblings of the book, doesn't feel like she was meant to be a carbon copy of Lucy. (Anna cries a smidge oftener than perhaps a relatable heroine ought to, in my opinion). But, all in all, the story made me look forward to folding laundry every night with my littlest girls, as one of them read this story aloud. Hey, we all have to do laundry...why not enjoy it?


Anyway, the premise is three orphaned siblings during WWII stick up for each other after evacuating to the countryside from London bombings--amidst bullying and hardship. While searching for a family of their own, they discover what to look for in a parent who loves them enough to think these children "hang the moon." 

The climax of this book is so deliciously cozy, so delectably satisfying a conclusion, that it's a perfect read to make one want to make home a beautiful place for others. My eight and ten year-olds loved the ending.

3) Sweet Home Alaska
Written by Carole Estby Dagg
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​The author based this book on the real-life FDR-founded colony of Palmer, Alaska during the Great Depression. The historical research is excellent, and the characters feel like they've stepped right out of a Shirley Temple movie.

When book-loving Terpischore's (pronounced: Turp-sick-oh-ree) dream of pioneering in the wilderness just like Laura Ingalls Wilder, really comes true, she must find a way to convince her mother that sticking it out with the mosquitoes, cold temps, and log-cabin dwelling without a piano is worth it. Besides, anyone who ever dreamed as a child of stamping a library book would get thrills galore with this story as Terpsichore starts her colony's first lending library. So fun! And you should have seen how giddy my two little girls became when the widowed grandma got a love interest. Made me laugh aloud! (At such young ages, I didn't know they had romantic bones in them...)
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4) Astrid the Unstoppable
Written by Maria Parr

​Okay. If you loved the Pippi Longstocking books as a second-grader, BUT think they make absolutely zero sense now, have too much swearing, and are simply cuckoo from an adult's perspective, this book is for YOU! 

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And, this story makes winter feel like a crystalline gift. Astrid's jaunts (do you like the clever bow the author Maria Parr gave to her real-life writing hero, Astrid Lindgren, there?) through the pine-covered mountains of her Norwegian village, to zip brazenly down the slopes on the home-built sleds her best buddy builds, are absolutely invigorating. 

​​If as a parent, you want to read a book to your children that has meaning, makes sense, and wraps up nicely with some closure of someone's else's life-long (deep) problem being solved, you'll find all of that in this book's beautifully-intertwined sub-plot. Enjoy! Read it while the snow is still on the ground, as you won't begrudge winter anymore when you read the gorgeous reverence this writer gives its beauty.

​5) Adventures with Waffles
Also Written by Maria Parr

​These book covers are so delicious, are they not? If you liked Astrid the Unstoppable, you'll probably enjoy Adventures with Waffles. I liked Astrid best, but both give that comfortable sense of hygge. Read this definition again after reveling in the books, and tell me the two aren't absolutely compatible!

The Reynolds kids' definition of hygge: A warm Teddy dog to snuggle.

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"The Danish concept of hygge, or hyggelig (adj.), refers to finding comfort, pleasure, and warmth in simple, soothing things such as a cozy atmosphere or the feeling of friendship. The Scandinavian term encompasses a feeling of coziness, contentment, and well-being found through cherishing the little things." (Straight from the mouth of afar.com)

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That about describes these books, via the lens of friendship and family.​

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Plus, they eat waffles.
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Because I've about blabbed myself out, here's the Goodreads synopsis of the plot
(www.goodreads.com/book/show/22926580-adventures-with-waffles):
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Lena is Trille's best friend, even if she is a girl. And there is never an ordinary day when you've got a best friend like Lena. Hardly a day passes without Trille and Lena inventing some kind of adventure that often ends in trouble. Whether it's coaxing a cow onto a boat or sledding down the steepest and iciest hill with a chicken, there is always a thrill--and sometimes an injury--to be had. Trille loves to share everything with Lena, even Auntie Granny's waffles. But when Lena has to move away and Auntie Granny leaves the world, it sometimes seems like nothing will ever be right again. The warmth of friendship and the support of family suffuse this lightly illustrated novel, proving that when times are tough, a little taste of sweetness can make all the difference.

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​Well, there you go--five fun chapter books to make it through til spring. Now, don't leave without giving me YOUR top favorite from this year to get us (the Mainers who don't have spring until May!!!) through until we see the crocuses peeping up. 

Happy reading, bookworm buddies!

​Love,
​Emily