The Great Elephant: A Review

The Great Elephant is an allegory for children by Nik Ranieri. It's has all the makings of a great story: the plot moves along nicely (without being too dragged out); the illustrations are excellent; and the message is clear without taking away from the story.

We have it in the church library, and I grabbed it on Wednesday to read to the little ones in the home school room (it's still book month, and so after they do some "silent" reading, I love reading to them). I had it in my hand when I switched to the big kids' room, and a couple of them asked me to read it to them. After silent reading time, I obliged, and soon the whole group had gathered in our corner for story time.

The story is pretty straight forward: Quinn, a small mouse, is ready to make his own way in the world, but when he sets out, things go very wrong. He decides to look for the Great Elephant (his dad had told Quinn stories about the Great Elephant when he was a child). Along the way, Quinn runs into a host of characters who are determined to steer him astray (while pretending to help). In the end, the Great Elephant comes along and saves Quinn from the jaws of death and gives him a new home.

Quinn seems like everyone who has ever set out into the world with a determination to do things his way and to be independent. His attitude and problems are realistic, as is his response when the meets the various characters and then the Great Elephant. The other characters are well developed and it's easy to see them in the real world as they try to lead people astray from the truth. They ring true to anyone who has dealt with legalism, worldly wisdom, or any other false gospels.

The home school room children loved the story, even the ones who had heard it before. They could sense Quinn's fear and despair, and they rejoiced when he was rescued. They laughed at the bits of humour and tensed at the scary bits. It's just a really, really enjoyable story, and is great for reading aloud.

One of my favourite things about the book is that although it was written for children, the author never dumbs down the language. So many books for children seem to keep to very simple words, but Ranieri uses longer words where they are needed, and the kids had no trouble keeping up. I love when books use good words and building a child's vocabulary rather than limiting it.

The illustrations are amazing, which is no surprise since it seems that Nik Ranieri is (or was?) a Disney animator. The kids loved them (their favourite was when the Great Elephant comes and the false teachers are trying to run away in terror).

In all, it's a great story, and I highly recommend it.

Outside

I've been told that I should go for a walk every day. The goal is not so much exercise (although that's good), but just to get me out of the house and to help clear my mind. I find walking helpful for thinking things through and dealing with any troubling thoughts that are trying to take over. It's generally peaceful, there are few distractions, and it's a good time to think and pray about things.

Of course, it's winter and night comes early, so that's been modified for now. If I can go in the morning (often on the way to work), that's good, and then I'm supposed to go on Fridays and Sundays (when I'm not working). The other caveat is that it has to be above -20 (including the wind chill or the "feels like" factor) and no fresh snow on icy sidewalks (because a nasty fall would not be good for my health).

It's been cold for too long now. I've been taking the long way to work to avoid the walking part because even when it's not too cold, the wind is sharp and cutting. My walking has been to and from the bus stop and that's it.

Today, there was the perfect convergence of nice weather and a day off. It was only -2 and there was no wind. I was delighted. It's been a tough week or so and I really, really needed the fresh air and time to unwind and refresh. It was lovely and quiet (with only the occasional other walker). The pond is frozen, of course, with a coat of snow only sometimes broken by tracks (that seem to be more animal than human). I was out for around 40 minutes and came home only a little cold. I plan to go out again soon to enjoy the nice weather again. It's not expected to last; by tomorrow, the forecast is -15 (feels like -23), and it doesn't look like it will be much better until late next week (if then).

I hadn't been walking much even when the weather was nicer. I did walk part way to work most days (it's about a 20-30 minute walk), so that was something. In the evenings, it's dark before I get home (I get off between 7 and 8, so it's dark before I leave work). I didn't realize how much I was missing even the walks to work until today. It's my new advice to people dealing with anything: take a walk, unwind, and get a fresh perspective on life.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling properly warmed up (thank you hot chocolate) and just about ready to head back out for a short while.

Book Month

On Wednesday mornings, we have the Ladies' Study at the church. Because we have a large number of homeschool families, part of our child care is the homeschool room. This is my responsibility, and I love it.

I actually have 2 rooms: grades 1-3 (formerly grades 1-4, but it became necessary to move the grade 4 student up to the big kids' room, much to their delight) and grades 4 and up. For the first hour, I teach the little kids while the big kids do school work, and then in the second hour we switch.

Every month I have a theme of sorts for what I'm teaching them. September/October we combined into church history months, culminating with Martin Luther on Reformation Day. November was geography month, and they did country projects. December we were off. January was astronomy month, and we had fun learning about stars and planets and the size of our solar system and galaxy.

This month is book month. I told them to bring books to read (or look at for my smallest students). For the smaller students, I had them read quietly for the first 30 minutes, and then my helper read them a story, and I finished with another story. The big kids had to read for the first 30 minutes, and then had a choice to keep reading or to start writing/drawing a book. I wouldn't let them just sit and colour; the choice was "read a book or make a book".

I have never heard my homeschool rooms so quiet, even the little guys (although it was a bit noisier as they can't all read in their heads just yet so there was a lot of whisper reading). It was beautiful, and I got to relax and read as well. I'm pretty sure this was my best idea yet. I wonder if we can keep book month going for the rest of the year?

Bits of Church Stuff

Today we started on the book of James in Sunday School. I was doing an introduction, and it wasn't long enough for the whole class, so we had time for some "Bible trivia". Basically, I ask them questions such as, "What is the 7th book in the Bible?" and "What is the fourth word in the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah?" and "What does Jesus talk about in Matthew 11?" It's all sorts of questions based on where I flip in the Bible, and the kids love it. Today we talked a bit about the valley of dry bones and how they came together and became people, and then about women eating their babies during a famine. The students were horrified and I realized that they don't all know these stories. I told them that next year maybe I should teach "gross stuff in the Bible".

Pastor James finished 1 Corinthians 14 today, talking about order in the church. It was a good sermon. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks because I love chapter 15.

I don't chew gum very often (almost never), but the past 2 weeks, the family I sit with has passed a piece of gum down to me during the sermon, so I've been chewing it. It's good gum; the mint is very strong and the flavour lasts a good while. The thing that I have trouble with is: what do you do with the gum when talking or singing? I sort of shove it to the side of my mouth, or stick it to one of my back teeth to get it out of the way, but I'm always aware of it. Do other people have that problem?

Two of the small boys were playing after the service, and one of the small girls was trying to keep up with them. She kept coming up to me to keep me updated on what was going on. I'm not sure what the game was, but it seems that one of them had been shot in the arm and leg (he seemed to be unbothered by it and didn't slow down one bit), and then she told me, "I can't find my boys and I've been shot in the leg!" before she ran off in pursuit of her boys. I'm still not sure what was going on!

So that was church today. It was good. Here's a song for you:

Teaching about Zwingli

It's another Reformation lesson in Sunday School this week. I'm teaching them about Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli is interesting: he was only involved in the Reformation for around 12 years, and he was only 47 when he died. He had a huge influence as a leader of the Swiss Reformation in a short period of time.

The interesting things that will come up in my teaching:

1. The disagreement between Luther and Zwingli about Lord's Supper, in which we will side with Zwingli and learn that no one (not even Martin Luther) is perfect. We may also discuss the issue of when to divide over an issue (since they agreed on the other 14 points).

2. The Swiss war between the Protestants and the Catholics, in which Zwingli was a soldier (although likely a chaplain). In this one, we may end up in a discussion about whether Christians can go to war, which is always interesting (although in reviewing my current class, I don't know that anyone is going to be as opposed to the idea as some students were when I taught it some years ago).

I like the Reformation weeks.