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Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week: Week 36 American Folk Tales
Peter Spier and Tasha Tudor must be about my favorite author illustrators. Today it’s a Peter Spier book that I’m featuring: The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night. This book was one of his earlier efforts, published in 1961 well before he won the Caldecott Medal in 1978 for Noah’s Ark. Fox was a Caldecott Honor book, however, early recognition for this talented artist.
We love to sing this book together in our family. The fox is such a villain, and the farmer is such a klutz, and the fox family is so cute, and we just like it. If you don’t know the tune, there is music in the back of the book, or I suppose you could make up your own. The words are all printed on one page in the back of the book, too, so that you could make copies and pass them out for everyone to sing along. However you read it or sing it or look at the pictures together, I think you’ll enjoy the book. The illustrations evoke autumn and farm life and New England. The song itself is folksy and catchy, fun to repeat over and over. The pictures will bear scrutinizing over and over, too, with lots of details to catch as you go through the book a second or third time.
By the way, one of my discerning preschoolers once asked me why the fox “prayed to the moon to give him light.”
“We don’t pray to the moon, Mommy. We pray to God.”
“Right,” I answered. “But foxes don’t know much. Maybe they think the moon gives us light all by itself.”
So, I commend to you foxes who pray to the moon or for the moon to give them light, and I recommend this book and any others written or illlustrated by Peter Spier.
Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.
Easter Music
We listen to these songs on Resurrection Morning:
Handel’s Messiah
He’s Alive by Don Francisco
Easter Song by Keith Green
Hear the bells ringing
They’re singing that you can be born again
Hear the bells ringing
They’re singing Christ is risen from the deadThe angel up on the tombstone
Said He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell his disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer deadJoy to the word, He has risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah.
Do you have any other suggestions?
The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
Words and Music by George Bernard
Islam has its crescent and sword, Marxism its hammer and sickle. Buddhists have statues of the Buddha himself, laughing or serious, according to one’s taste. Other religions and philosophies have their symbols of power and victory.
Christians have the cross. We may pretty it up and hang it on a gold chain, but at its heart Christianity is about an old rugged cross, an instrument of torture and death. A cross is not much of a victory. A cross is not about becoming powerful or defeating all one’s enemies. A cross in Roman times meant only thing: a slow and painful death.
And yet . . .
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Old World Cross I
Zeitz, Mary Beth
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown.Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Words by Isaac Watts
Music by Lowell Mason
This hymn may be my favorite of all the hymns about the cross of Christ.
What if it were True? What if the God of the Universe really did become man, live among us, endure the pain of living and even the pain of death, an ignominious tortured death on a cross? What if He did it for the sake of love, love for His very torturers? Would it not demand your soul, your life, your all?
To This Great Stage of Fools: Born March 21st
Johann Sebastian Bach, b. 1685. Dancer Daughter listened herself to sleep with the cassette tape version of this musical story almost every night for over a year. The rest of us got a little tired of it, but now I sort of miss hearing the strains of Bach’s concertos coming from her bedroom.
Awesome God
Awesome God is a praise and worship CD for kids produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries. I read about an offer before Christmas of a free CD for bloggers who would review the CD on their blogs. So I emailed Sovereign Grace, and my urchins are enjoying the fruits of my having done so.
Seriously, the urchins have been listening to Awesome God ever since I unveiled it at the beginning of the year. My younger children like to worship/dance, even if we are Baptist, and these songs are perfect for dancing and singing along. The songs are basic praise and worship type stuff, musically speaking, some with a beat and others slower and more contemplative. The accompaniment uses drums, guitar and keyboard, the instruments you would expect on this kind of CD. Vocals employ both children’s and adult voices.
The lyrics are the strength of this CD. Scripture-based songs alternate with others that present foundational theology in song. Scripture songs include You Are Always With Me (Psalm 139) and Who Is Like You? (Job). Jesus Came to Earth seems to be a restatement of the Apostle’s Creed. And others of the songs teach about God’s sovereignty and about the doctrine of the Trinity. The CD includes twelve songs in all. The words are meaningful and understandable, and a booklet with printed lyrics comes inside the CD case.
I can testify that my children, at least, are really enjoying and learning from Awesome God. If you’re interested in ordering a copy for your kids or for yourself, just click on the picture to go to the Sovereign Grace Ministries store. They also have T-shirts and sheet music available. I can see this CD being helpful to children’s worship leaders or for use in Vacation Bible School this next summer. Or just listen and dance before the Lord.
Nostalgia Fans
Go here for a collection of mp3 files of TV show theme songs. Talk about dredging up old memories! Actually, I think it’s a British site because it’s a bit heavy on the BBC stuff, but there’s definitely some stuff there that I remember fondly.
Humming . . . .
HT: Southern Appeal
Bah! Humbug!
I don’t want to be a Scrooge or ruin anyone’s Christmas spirit, but are there any Christmas songs that simply annoy you? Maybe it’s just me, but for the encouragement of those, who like me, enjoy Christmas and Christmas music but just can’t stand a few of the holiday stand-bys, here are my Six Least Favorite Christmas Songs:
6.. Santa Baby (sung by anyone, but especially bad by Madonna)
5. Here Comes Santa Claus “He doesn’t care if you’re good or bad/Cause he loves you just the same/Santa knows we’re all God’s children/That makes everything right????” Bad. Bad. Bad.
4. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Once is sort of funny; more than once is torture.
3. Little Drummer Boy. Any version. Any time.
2. The Twelve Days of Christmas. It keeps going and going and going and going. Just buy me an energizer battery and turn off the song.
1. My Grown-Up Christmas List. I heard a version of this one on the radio this afternoon by Amy Grant. I used to like her, but if she’s the one who started that song’s popularity, I’m definitely disenchanted.
I was going to make a list of my ten least favorite Christmas songs, but I realized there are really only six I can’t stand. I guess I like most Christmas music. Just don’t send me any drummer boys, relativistic Santa babies, or roadkill. And don’t sing about any of it for twelve solid days. This is MY grown-up Christmas list.
P.S. If you need something uplifting after that crabby post, Cindy writes about her favorite Christmas music. She even likes a version of Little Drummer Boy!
We Gather Together
Thanks to World Magazine’s blog for the link to this Wall Street Journal article on the history of the Thanksgiving hymn.
We’ve been singing this hymn all month and plan to present it to Engineer Husband and to the Lord as a family choir on Thanksgiving Day.