Last week, I finished Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech as a read-aloud with the kids. It won the Newberry Medal in 1995. At the end of the story, all of us were wiping our eyes and blowing our noses. It’s a precious precious book that teaches the reader a whole bunch about life, loss, and the strange nature of grief.
There’s this saying in the story over and over – that you shouldn’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins. The kids and I had great conversations about what that proverb means and about how we never know what’s going on underneath someone’s life, that we should withhold judgement because it’s not our place to judge and also because we don’t know the whole story.
By reading someone else’s story, fictional or not, we grow in our capacity for empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. We become more human. This is one of the mysterious and beautiful gifts of story.
As a kid, my mom and dad always had a book they were reading, would share the joys and the triumphs of their stories, the twists and turns of their novels, the surprises, the plot depth or lack thereof. It was never something I thought much about as a child. Reading was good for you, yes, but no one ever had to convince me that reading was good for me. I loved to read.
I remember the day the librarian handed me A Wrinkle in Time. I was in fourth grade. She gave me the book and said I’d like it. I opened the first pages, started reading, and finished it that afternoon on my kitchen floor, tucked up somewhere trying to avoid people so I could read my book. That novel transported me to a different place, to a difference world and I was mesmerized and I felt for Meg, and for Calvin feelings and emotions that I still remember. Meg made me feel more okay with myself, more free to be me.
Why do we care if our children read books? Why can’t they just play video games all day long? After all, it’s a known fact that video games are good for the small motor skills.
Because we want our children to care about humanity. We want our children to feel other people’s feelings and to understand their place in this world. Because we want our children’s hearts to grow and become big and to get swept away in tales that are larger than their tiny little worlds, because somehow books have a way of bringing hope and life and healing to us in a way that television and video games never will. And because books make us think and imagine and create.
Something magical happened to Emma and Lucas as we read the final pages of Salmanca’s journey in Walk Two Moons. As Salamanca Tree Hiddle shared her story of sorrow, of hurt, of loss it unlocked a space in my children’s hearts and somehow that book gave them permission to name their own loss and sorrow. Both of them sat on Emma’s bed, with their little tissues, and talked to me about how hard this year has been, how they miss their old home, how they were nervous to go to school, and how they were just plain scared for a long time. I listened and I cried and I felt their pain. And I talked about how we all feel those feelings. We’re all afraid of the dark. We’ve all had moments when we’re scared our mothers are going to die, or forget us, or leave us, and we’ll be left alone. That is part of what it means to be alive. And when we read someone else’s story of hope – we learn to cultivate hope for ourselves and we learn that somehow, even in all the bad, maybe it’s going to be okay, and more importantly – we’re not alone.
Kate Dicamillo, who writes some of the best children’s books ever written, says that she started writing children’s literature because she loved how children’s books told the truth and somehow made the truth bearable.
I now live in a culture where books are expensive and parents don’t realize how beautiful bedtime stories could be. How important they are. Some people read here, most people don’t. Books cost a fortune, and libraries are few and far between. Reading books is academic, a requirement, and kids are expected to read one novel a month and get tested on it, which steals all the joy and life out of their reading time. My hope is that over time this will change. My hope is that books will become more accessible here. Because we all need more hope, we all need to more empathy, we could all use more compassion, and we all need to learn not to judge someone until we’ve walked two moons in their moccasins.
Tell me about your favorite books? What are you reading to your kids? What do you love to read?
I love hearing from you.
Much love,
Tina
Tina,
I have not read that book, but it reminds me of the theme(s) in To Kill A Mockingbird. That book influenced me tremendously. I wasn’t read to as a child at all. I only started to read my own books in middle school. As a mum, I have read hundreds of books to my boys. I feel just as excited as they do when reading a new kids’ book because they are new to me. You are rights; books are so important and I am incredibly happy that we have children that love books and have the access to them.
I hear quite a bit from people that my kids are very sweet and empathetic. I am almost certain books have influenced them.
As a child social worker, I am super impressed how your children used the book’s story to transfer their feelings. Bravo! You have some amazing children.
Carol,
I love To Kill a Mockingbird. Wish Harper Lee had written more. Such a mystery.
The moment when my kids recognized their own feelings and their own sadness through the main character’s story was like gold to me. Thanks for the affirmation.
What are some of your boys’ favorite books? Would love to swap recommendations. Although there is a slight age gap 🙂
You are so right! Books take me on adventures that I will never be able to experience any other way—Agatha Christie, Henning Mankel, Donna Leon, Isabel Allende, Pablo Neruda, Francoise Gilot,…..
When someone writes a book, they are inviting you into their most private of spaces…their mind, heart and soul. That makes a book an intimate gift from the writer to reader.
A book is a most valuable gift that allows the reader to get a taste of life and to dream big! I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without books.
Me either… My life would not be what it is without all the books. They’ve made their mark.
Tina, thank you for these words. This I what I would like all of the children in my class to understand. May I have your permission to share these statements with the parents in my class?
I love Walk Two Moons for all the reasons you have given. Another amazing book I have used at school is Wonder by RJ Polaccio. It is a story of a boy with significant disabilities and how he faces the world around him.
Love to read your thoughts on our blog…blessings to you and your family
I’d be thrilled if you shared these thoughts… Please do.
I’ll definitely look up that other book you mentioned.
Blessings to you as well. Hopefully, I’ll see you in November.
Truly all the books and the getting to read to my children is one of my absolute favorite parts of homeschooling. We’d be so hard pressed to read as much as we do if they were gone all day and we had homework every night too. We are just finishing up Hatchet by Gary Paulson and just started Mossflower by Brian Jacques. Snuggled up in my bed reading to my kids is one of my favorite places in the whole world to be. I haven’t heard of the Two Moons book, will surely add it to our list of things to read.
I wholeheartedly agree that books put us in touch with so much that grows us, shapes us, gives words to feelings and thoughts that we can’t always make sense of ourselves. There is such richness in the written word that simply can’t be found in a video game. It is more than a little sad to me when my 9 year old doesn’t connect easily with boys his age because for most of them their favorite activity, sometimes their main hobby/interest entirely, is gaming.
Happy reading to you and your (as already stated above!) amazing children!!!
I just looked up Mossflower… It looks so good. That is one of the things I adore about this season at home… Books books and more books.
Started reading YWAM missionary stories to the kids at breakfast last year to keep the kids at the table but quickly realized the unique journey we ourselves were experiencing as we travelled the ragged mountains of China. We’re going to India next switch Amy Carmichael and couldn’t be more excited!!
We are definitely going to be buying some of those stories whilst in the States. So so good.
C.S. Lewis is always a favorite in our home; however Caity’s been taking the kids to the library once a week and letting them pick out books. Sophie’s been choosing some challenging chapter books and finishing them within a couple of days (she’s going into 2nd grade). It’s amazing to see my own children choosing their own material.
Thank you for sharing your sweet review. I’m gonna check it out!
Oh, I’m so glad she’s reading so well! I really hope both my kids will love to read on their own as much as they love me to read to them. I’m crossing my fingers that it will one day just take off.
Loved your blog about the book club. Can’t wait to swap stories with you again – soon. I have an adult novel I could send you and I’m working on something else I hope to focus on after Waters comes out. And I look forward to seeing you in November. Must get together and talk about the writing journey.
Tina
Oh My Gosh! Wow, this is strange! I remember falling in love with that book after reading it in the fourth grade. Such a great and real story about life and all its wonder. I am continuing to write creatively and my bookshelf can handle no more weight–I just keep buying books from thrift shops that look interesting or sound familiar. I have a reading list of about 30 right now and I’m struggling to keep up haha! But that’s a beautiful thing that I do not take for granted. Keep-a-goin, hope you had a wonderful birthday!