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"We
don't need to dumb down books just because they are for children. Books are to
teach and inspire us, not simply entertain us for the moment."
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The Little Chapel That Stood
To write a children’s book about the horrific, if historic, events of 9-1l is a very tricky thing. We want to shield children from undue violence and fear but, at the same time, we don’t want to shield them from the ideals of courage, freedom, and heroism. We want to protect them, but we also want them to grow up brave and strong.
This story about St. Paul’s Chapel provides an excellent balance. It shows how this little chapel survived and persevered after "the giants around it had come to a fall" that fateful day.
The message is that no one is too small to be brave, too small to make a difference. Freedom is everybody’s job and though it may be periodically threatened, it abides forever in the brave hearts of each and every one of us.
St. Paul’s Chapel stands across the street from where the Twin Towers once stood. After the collapse of the first Tower those in the Chapel escaped as soon as they could. After the second collapse, no one expected that the Chapel could have survived.
But when the blackness cleared the old wooden steeple was still standing and not a pane of glass had been broken. Some say the 150-year-old sycamore trees took the brunt of the blast and saved St. Paul’s. Others say it was a miracle.
After the first plane struck, the Chapel was immediately taken over as a service depot. Firemen hung their shoes on the iron fence as they pulled on their long boots and rushed to the scene. When the Towers fell, many of those brave men did not return to get their shoes.
Built in 1766, St. Paul’s survived two world wars during which time the old crystal chandeliers were packed away for safekeeping. It earlier survived the Revolutionary War and when George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as the first president, he walked to St. Paul’s to offer his prayers for the new nation. Alexander Hamilton lies in the graveyard of this historic chapel.
America’s peace has been threatened many times. We rise to the challenge of those times and the threat passes. St. Paul’s remains an abiding symbol of American strength: courage, resolve, responsibility, and resilience.
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Goods and services provided by Old Castle Publishing (CA, United States).
Sold by 2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA).
In The Company of Bears
Most of my children's books are written on several levels. Parents have told me that their two-year-olds have memorized IN THE COMPANY OF BEARS and at the same time many adults have told me how much the book means to them as well.
IN
THE COMPANY OF BEARS $18.95 - Ages 2-8 OldCastle ISBN 0-932529-72-0
Winner of a Benjamin Franklin Award and a perennial teacher's favorite, IN THE COMPANY OF BEARS has already won a place for itself in children's literature. Some have called it a child's first book of philosophy.
In this whimsical tale, wise and wonderful polar bears have discovered the secret of time, seeing all things exactly and precisely as they are:
"To
a BEAR, a kettle's a kettle.
To a BEAR, a pot is a pot.
Bears never call anything something
That anything is not."
The bears remind us of the beauty of simplicity and unhurriedness and warn us that to reach any place worthwhile:
'You can't go by clock or by mile,
You have to go by heart.
And the path of the heart is the hardest to take
For the heart will not fool and the heart will not fake."
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Hallelujah, A Cat Comes Back
HALLELUJAH,
A CAT COMES BACK $18.95 Ages 7-10
OldCastle Publishing ISBN 0-932529-52-6
This book is not just for children but for the young in spirit and cat lovers everywhere.
Meet Hallelujah, a cat with character thanks to the wisdom of his Old Granny. In this Granny Cat's book of virtues, the advice is to stick to the straight and narrow path of good character.
"Save
today for a rainy tomorrow
A cat should not beg, steal or borrow.
Your life must be more than CATch as CATch can.
A wish is not a fish.
A plunge is not a plan."
No matter what happens to you, Granny tells Hallelujah, as he leaves home to seek his fortune in the wide world, some cat has lived through it and so can you.
"When
life turns dark and things look black,"
Here she buttoned my coat and she tightened my pack.
"Just remember, dear, that a CAT comes back."
Through all CATegories of CATaclysm
There's nothing over which some CAT's not risen.
Don't sit around and "CATerwaul.
CATapult back up from where you fall."
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Legend of the Giant Panda
LEGEND
OF THE GIANT PANDA $18.95 Ages 6 to 10
OldCastle. ISBN 0-932529-59-3
How did the Giant Pandas get their black markings? Here is a story that tells you just how it happened. "Oh, it was a long and a dark day" when all the pandas, who were once completely white, fought a great fire dragon that tried to destroy their beloved bamboo forest.
This is also the story of a wise old gatekeeper who loved and protected the wilderness for his good friends the pandas. When the old wise man loses his life fighting the fire dragon, the pandas realize that there is no one left who will protect the forest for them. They learn at last who is the real keeper of their forest.
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Time of the Wild
TIME
OF THE WILD $18.95 Age 10 and up
OldCastle. ISBN 0-932529-55-0
Praised by The Boston Globe as a "virtual hymn to wildness." There are lessons we can learn from the Wilderness, "for there is wisdom in the wildness of things, in creatures that do not live in houses made of windows and doors. There is a strength in flying upon one's own wings. There is a harmony in wearing one's own colors. There is a truth in trusting one's own rootedness..."
"In the wild there is no safety and nothing is for sure. This is the understanding of the Wilderness: the wonderful terribleness of life. Since nothing can be counted on, no complaint is possible, and thus only gratitude remains. This is the comfort that wild creatures carry for us that we are too young and clever to carry for ourselves."
The creatures of the wilderness have long been trying to tell us some immense secret that we have not quite yet heard. But we can hear it if we want to. If we slow down a little, listen, watch, wait.
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A Trian You Never Saw
A
TRAIN YOU NEVER SAW $18.95 Ages 2 to 6.
OldCastle. ISBN 0-932529-74-7
Trains. They whistle across the great distances and hold us spellbound by the mystery of where they have been and where they are going. Where is the child that does not love a train?
In this most endearing book are the most wonderful trains of all. From the first Plain Train that "goes in circles on the floor" to the Mean Green Train, the Dinosaur Train and the Rainbow train, get ready for a delightful journey.
"A Rainbow Train goes fishing in the land of ice and snow. Oh, wouldn't you like to travel where the Rainbow Trains can go? Or ride a big Sand Castle Train? Hoo-ray, Hoo-roo, Hoo-rah! Oh what a splendid sight to see a train you never saw."
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