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doris
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I've got some vouchers to spend at Oxford University Press, and some titles by Brian Wildsmith caught my eye. He's got books on Christmas, Easter, Mary and (OT) Joseph. Does anyone know these titles and are they sound?
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Mary G
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I love his St. Francis book .... don't know if I've seen any of his others! I'll check into them in case no one else gets back with you....
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MaryG
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SuzanneG
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We really enjoy the Wildsmith books!! Our library has a great collection!
A Christmas Story
and
Easter Story
are favorite holiday books around here. Especially Easter Story...so much to look at in the illustrations and so much to talk about. Kids are fascinated by the details of his work.
The cover of "The Christmas Story" (paperback-Amazon) looks different from the one we have.
It's been awhile since we checked out Exodus and Joseph....they are more wordy, so more for the older kids.
I just put "The Road to Bethlehem" on hold....haven't seen it before.
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SuzanneG
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And, I second Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey. It's longer, but even the littles love it b/c of the animal pics.
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Suzanne in ID
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Kathryn UK
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Yes, definitely a good way of spending your vouchers. The Christmas and Easter stories are more for little ones, the others a bit older with more complicated text ... but all of them have beautiful illustrations that younger children would enjoy. I don't think you could go wrong with any of his books.
He wrote a lovely book telling the story of the Cross (The True Cross) which has long been out of print. I saw it once in a secondhand bookshop, decided it was too expensive, and have wished ever since that I had bought it. 
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JennGM
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Catholic Mosaic includes his St. Francis book. I love his Easter and Christmas ones, and keep meaning to look into his Mary one.
Kathryn, thanks for the tip about True Cross. I found a few inexpensive used copies here in the States on bookfinder. I can't wait to read it.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Kathryn UK
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JennGM wrote:
| Kathryn, thanks for the tip about True Cross. I found a few inexpensive used copies here in the States on bookfinder. I can't wait to read it. |
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Let me know what you think of it. I saw it a few years ago and skimmed through quickly, but I know it included the finding of the Cross by St.Helena, who is my daughter's patron - which is part of the reason I kicked myself later for not buying it. It is an unusual subject for a children's book.
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doris
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Thanks so much! I chose a couple of Christmassy titles, plus Jesus and Mary, and lots of other titles by other authors. Can't wait for the massive box of books to arrive 
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
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JennGM
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Kathryn UK wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| Kathryn, thanks for the tip about True Cross. I found a few inexpensive used copies here in the States on bookfinder. I can't wait to read it. |
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Let me know what you think of it. I saw it a few years ago and skimmed through quickly, but I know it included the finding of the Cross by St.Helena, who is my daughter's patron - which is part of the reason I kicked myself later for not buying it. It is an unusual subject for a children's book. |
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I just got my copy in the mail. I like the story, but I have some reservations. The illustrations are more 70ish than his more recent books. Adam is a little more exposed than I would like...it's just a faint line, but I know how observant my child is.
I love the incorporation of all the legends of Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden, working in Adam, Queen of Sheba, St. Helen and Constantine. My main reservation is giving the tree "powers" and worshipping the tree/wood. Instead of attributing to God, there is a superstitious element. For example:
Quote:
| Centuries passed, and men forgot about the tree's powers. |
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Quote:
| ...when the fabled Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon, she came to the bridge and realising that it was built from the Tree of Life, knelt down and worshipped the wood. |
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Then when they find the True Cross, which was made from the Tree of Life, the final sentences really bother me:
Quote:
| When the True Cross touched him he came alive again. It still retained the power from the Tree of Life. |
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So the Tree of Life overshadows and is more powerful than Jesus Christ, Son of God and his crucifixion. Not the conclusion or point I want to make about the True Cross.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Kathryn UK
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JennGM wrote:
So the Tree of Life overshadows and is more powerful than Jesus Christ, Son of God and his crucifixion. Not the conclusion or point I want to make about the True Cross. |
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Oh, botheration . I didn't pick up on that when I saw the book - what stuck with me was the way it pulled all the stories about the True Cross together. What a shame it has those flaws, as I haven't found anything like that in his other books.
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Mari
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We love Brian Wildsmith. (As an aside, we used his reading books /primers which I find are very witty and my girls loved the illustrations so they wanted to be able to read the text that went with it. Ther eis even one without a text - The Trunk - a wondreful way for a child not year reading to be able to read a whole book by themselves and understand it as much as someone else).
I have fond that in so many Christian books that I am initially enthralled with, there is always some detail that nags at me. I used to decide that becuase of this, a 90% great book was not to be used. However, I have finally changed and I don't think that is right.
If I really find them generally beautiful or meaningful, I will now willingly share these with my children but stating my feelings. I have found that we can then talk about things that would otherwise not have come up and why I feel this way and about their opinions. I feel it is a good way to help the children to be discerning readers and to take responsibility of "ignoring" some parts but enjoying the rest.
Otherwise we weould end up censoring our books like in some Islamic states do with news, films, etc. I prefer that the children will grow up being taught how to be able to do this for themselves.
What is important for me is that with this sort of literature that they read only subjects to their capacity in order not to create confusion. I am happy to let them appreciate the beautiful things and skip over details that they don't necessary agree as someonelses opinion or idea.
Does anyone else feel this way? Or do you feel that this is wrong? I would love my dd to be able to be open minded people and able to mix in all situations and people and listen to what they have to say, but at the same time be able to hold onto their faith and the truth.
Thank you.
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JennGM
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Mari, I am like-minded. I don't toss out a book if there is just one sentence or two. Right now my son is at an age where I can adjust the text, and as he gets older we can discuss it.
But while I love Brian Wildsmith, this book is not one I'm going to read to my son. I think it really should be called "The Tree of Life" because the True Cross is really a very miniscule role in the story, and that's what I'm looking for, a book on the True Cross. The text is very short in this book, so the excerpts I gave above are pretty extensive comparatively.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Topic: Brian Wildsmith books?
