Posted in Books, Books and More Books
The other story we read that I really liked is called The Lion in the Box by Marguerite De Angeli. I found it randomly at the library in December. We checked it out because I have a special place in my heart for the author. When I was teeny little, someone gave us a big oversized copy of her Mother Goose nursery rhymes. My mom used to read from it to my sister and me. We loved the riddles and poems and beautiful illustrations. Our favorite poem in the book was called "Babes in the Wood" and was this rather morbid poem about 2 children who wander into the woods and fall asleep under the trees and die! The robins cover them up with leaves. What is up with that? There was also a full page illustration of the two tykes, can't tell if it shows them dead or sleeping
. Anyway. I do remember that my mom used to get a little annoyed that we always wanted to hear that one. But I digress. This story has none of that and no one dies in the course of the tale! The Lion in the Box is a story set in New York in the early 1900's and tells of an immigrant family where the mother works to support the family as the father has died before the start of the book. It's a very interesting picture of life for this woman and her 5 children. The oldest was 11 and the youngest was about 2. It was set in the month of December and told about how they prepared for Christmas even though they had very little. The mother was gone much of the time; she worked 2 jobs, so the children took care of each other and the house. I was amazed at how capable and responsible the older children were and couldn't help but wonder if my own kids would be able to cope so well in similar circumstances! (Well, I don't wonder, I know they would not!). Toward the end of the story, a huge box arrives when the mother is not home. The children are warned not to open the box becuase there is a lion in the box! They totally freak out and are awake past midnight waiting for their mother to come home. In the end, of course, there is no lion in the box, but what they find is as amazing as if it Had been a lion!
This is definitley not a Christ centered tale, the children don't seem to have a real understanding of the true meaning of Christmas. But it's a great slice of life historically and gave us many opportunities to talk about how much we have, how well the children cared for each other and what a blessing that was to their mother.
As a side note, my very thoughtful brother Tim asked my mother about the Mother Goose book since he remembered how much I loved it. He searched high and low until he found a used copy and gave it to Trinity as a birthday present. My kids don't seem so drawn to Mother Goose, but we have read Babes in the Wood a few times.
