When my youngest son brought the 911 picture book to me for our bedtime read aloud I hesitated. It was weighty material for bedtime, but as is typical of my personality, I dove in anyway. Sharing not only the beautiful and inspiring but also the painful past with our children is important because history is important and passing along the history of our country and the world helps to prevent the repeating of mistakes, making of poor decisions, and their inevitable results. Additionally it binds us together with a shared heritage.
While reading the book aloud to my two youngest children I felt myself becoming emotional but I pressed on. It wasn’t until I got to the portion describing the firefighters rushing into the building that I couldn’t hold myself together any more. In particular was the story of two first responder brothers; one was a police officer and one a fireman. They passed each other in the lobby of the 1st tower. It was the last time they saw each other alive. My children didn’t understand at first why I was crying, but they soon began to feel the emotions and knew this was one of the saddest days in United States History.
I hadn’t intended to teach the younger children about 911, but my two oldest children were entering an essay competition in which they wrote about a 911 hero of their choice. I scoured the local library for books to assist them in their research, and came across some moving picture and chapter books that I thought they could use. Any time there are new stacks of books in our home (which is quite often!) the kids want to go through them and choose a few to read. This stack was no different.
Although I read an emotionally charged book at bedtime, I am glad that now all of my children know something about the horrific attacks of 911. With this being the 20th anniversary, as well as the turmoil and unrest that the implementation of the removal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan is stirring, this year is especially a difficult remembrance. The wounds are a bit fresher. Hindsight a bit harder to stomach in light of current events.
I am almost certain that our promise to “never forget” has been forgotten by many of our government leaders and possibly among our population. Therefore, I am extremally grateful for the essay competition because it helped my family to remember the events of 911: the attacks, the everyday heroes and the courageous first responders, the death and devastation, and also the coming together of the American people to unite for a common cause. We need more brotherly love at this point in our nation’s history, and the remembrance of the events of 911 is one way in which to pursue unity. Viewing each other as we did directly following those attacks, as well as viewing our nation and its remarkable qualities, and the collective body looking to a Higher Power, Jesus Christ, if we did that in a similar light it would be a balm to our fractured nation.
With that in mind, I would like to offer a few books for you to share with your family as you deem age appropriate. I will list them in the order of maturity with the first being the most gentile introduction.
Don’t you love a wonderful Christmas story? The kind that offers peace, hope, and good will towards men? Me too! I reread A Christmas Carol every year and typically I Saw Three Ships and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Following is a list of my 16 most cherished Christmas chapter books to read aloud or individually. Please share your favorites in the comments and feel free to ask me any questions that you have.
at least one of my children and plan to introduce to each of them this year:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Joan of Arc, Saint Patrick, Martin Luther, and more.
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is the first of a four book series by Andrew Peterson. Read more about the series 
Missionary Biographies set during or just after WWII:
Paul Galdone, originally born in Budapest, Hungary and later moving at the age of 14 to New Jersey lived from 1907-1986. Perhaps best known for his retelling and illustrating of classic fairy tales, he also illustrated nearly all of Eve Titus’ book series on Basil the Detective for which he won a Caldecott Award. Read more about Mr. Galdone in his short autobiography 
Jerry Pinkney and Paul Galdone are two children’s book illustrators that are staples in our home and two that you should know as well. Do you have favorites of these gentleman’s books? Happy and beautiful reading!
