Mike Mulligan’s Mary Anne!

 We took Dominic and James to see our local Mary Anne in downtown Lansing! A favorite story husband enjoyed as a child. And we found a video long ago and watched it—we all remember the songs.

We found "Maryanne" from the Mike Mulligan kids' book!

Oh, how we enjoyed this kids' book here at home! There is a cute video as well that the kids loved to watch. The other day Husband and I were running errands on Michigan Ave in Lansing, when we saw ourselves right next to Maryanne herself! Cannot wait to read the books to the grandchildren and take them there!

 

A review about a kids book on "mindfulness": "Sitting with a Saint by Bottaro"

In this day and age of general spiritual confusion, my friend Mary Daly came across this new children's book and wrote  thoughtful review. I thought I would share it here.

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M. Daly
1.0 out of 5 stars

Does Bottaro invite us to achieve peace by, for example, imitating the saints' pets?

April 13, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
We are all looking for a book to help us teach our children to pray and meditate in a manner coherent with the Catholic faith. I was excited to see this charming title and hoped it might fill the bill.
Alas! It is not an impressive book; in some respects, it feels more Buddhist than Christian. Starting out with a quote from St. Faustina does not entirely fix the problem. Mystics of every tradition always have passages that be interpreted in a quietist manner, lending themselves to Buddhist, Hindu, or secular New Age reading. I don’t have the impression that the authors are trying to put anything over anyone, but at the same time, quietism is not Catholic contemplation.
Catholics teach that someone living intimately with the Spirit of God, may receive “infused” gifts which are not merely the culminating touch on a natural virtue, but an out-and-out gift, an ‘infusion” from God. These gifts are certainly compatible with natural virtues, but they are not like Aristotelian virtue in the sense of a median between the extremes of two vices, or a cleverly achieved balance between two opposing tendencies in our nature. Infused virtue is a share in God’s perfection, plain and simple.
The Bottaros’ ideas about calming down are natural approaches to human peacefulness. Their reference to God and the saints is pious and credibly sincere, and it could bear fruit in friendship with the holy ones, but the saint stories are more of a setting for their message than evidence that the saints were living their message. Consider the following:
Their version of St. Teresa of Avila in the mud is actually shifted away from her humorous but wry complaint: “If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few,” to an implication that she laughed off her troubles, and you can lie in the dirt (or flowery grass, see drawing) and laugh off yours too. That may be, but it was not Teresa’s story. It was raining; she was in the mud; the road was bad; she had to get up and get help righting the cart and continuing her thankless journey. She did not lie there and giggle.
St. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio is a marvelous story, and I’m always careful to tell my children that when the Gubbio Church was renovated several hundreds of years later, the head of a very large wolf was found under the front step or somewhere. In other words, there really was a wolf, and quite a large one, and not one with the delicate face of Lassie (see image). But… it’s worse. Bottaro does not invite us to imitate the simplicity of Francis, who knew by faith that the wolf had to obey him, since he was obedient to God, -- “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” – No; Bottaro has us imitating the gentleness -- of the wolf!
The Solanus Casey story similarly invites us to imitate the bees he kept. Cute, and Solanus may have enjoyed their buzzing, but they were not the source of his peace; friendship with the saints does not mean imitating their animals but themselves.
Bottaro quotes Joan of Arc, “I am not afraid; I was born to do this.” (I presume it’s a quote.) Then he explains how to arrange our breathing and our imagination to be fearless. This was not her technique; we know this. Because of her fully recorded trials, we know more about Joan than about any other person in the 15th century. Indeed, it is important to get a grip on your imagination when you are fearful by habit, and breathing differently can help; furthermore, you will find that when you calm down, your breathing changes, so there is a relationship… which way does it go? Both ways, maybe… But that has nothing to do with Joan; she simply had a vocation and she knew it. You might wish for such a clear vocation, but remember, she was born to be burned at stake too, so it wasn’t easy; it was just clear and she was specifically aware of her celestial friendships. That helps, and you can work on it.
It goes on. I hope that gives you the flavor. I don’t think that the Bottaros have the relationship between psychology and faith figured out. Few do. St Paul writes that only the Spirit of God can distinguish between the soul and the spirit. Precisely that distinction is what is confused here. Emotions are not part of our spiritual life; they touch it and are touched by it, but the movement of the Holy Spirit is distinct. We cannot access it by any technique, still less by presuming to imitate the saints’ pets. Their pets?
It was a disappointment and an irritation to read this book.

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Kimberly
1.0 out of 5 starsCaution: Seems very New Age to me! Not authentically Catholic!April 17, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I’m a Catholic Children’s author with young children. I decided to purchase this book because of the insanely high rankings it was receiving on Amazon. Not only was I surprised by the small, difficult-to-read text, but a red flag quickly came up at me as I started to realize the New Age feel of the book. Children pretended that they are mean wolves and then to do breathing extercises to be calmed? I wonder what Michael O’Brien would think! The illustrations are beautiful, but also have a New Age feel to them. Immediately I knew I could not even expose my children to the book. Now I don’t even know what to do with my copy! How sad that it is getting such high rankings and many good Catholic families are receiving it this Easter. We must demand for more authentically Catholic children’s books and get the word out that this book is not authentically Catholic!

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AnaBH
1.0 out of 5 starsMindfulness is not contemplative prayerApril 13, 2019
Format: Hardcover
I agree with M. Daly’s review. It’s very important to make the correct distinction between “mindfulness” and authentic Catholic contemplative prayer.
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A new kids' book

The whole text rhymes, and is a delight to read! 

Science at the Pub

I enjoy attending the occasional "Science at the Pub" evening at a local place, "Jim's Tap", where speakers are invited and the hat is passed to help science children's programs at the public library. I especially liked that in this one, Husband's colleague and friend Dr. Wimberly brought up a favorite literary series. He presented his research on West Nile Virus and our state is the most affected in the nation.

Laura Ingalls' 150th birthday

I love Laura Ingalls' dates... I will always consider her a dear friend.

From https://www.facebook.com/Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-Historic-Home-and-Museum-166413716755023/

"February 7, 2017!--the 150th birth date of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House Books.In an era when we need the influence of heroes and heroines, Laura is ever an inspiration. She was a stalwart pioneer, a hardworking wife and mother, a dedicated community worker, and a lifelong learner. She was a gifted writer, spinning words into memorable prose, loved globally by millions. Never has one of her books gone out of print. They are American-made treasures.Recording the rich story of her pioneer beginnings, Laura is truly one of America's historians. She shared the story of the American frontier in a timeless style of storytelling.
Locally, here in Mansfield, Missouri where she lived from 1894-1957, the memory of Laura Ingalls Wilder is still vivid. She is recalled as a pleasant, demure, kindly lady. As one of her friends said, "Mrs. Wilder was a "gentlewoman" in the same way we speak of a true "gentleman." The Wilder home on Rocky Ridge Farm, the Rock House where she started writing her books, and the museum containing her family's treasures---all of these are memorials to a great American writer.
But above all are her Little House books, which continue as ageless classics.
Happy birthday Laura!"Recording the rich story of her pioneer beginnings, Laura is truly one of America's historians. She shared the story of the American frontier in a timeless style of storytelling. 

Locally, here in Mansfield, Missouri where she lived from 1894-1957, the memory of Laura Ingalls Wilder is still vivid. She is recalled as a pleasant, demure, kindly lady. As one of her friends said, "Mrs. Wilder was a "gentlewoman" in the same way we speak of a true "gentleman." The Wilder home on Rocky Ridge Farm, the Rock House where she started writing her books, and the museum containing her family's treasures---all of these are memorials to a great American writer. 
But above all are her Little House books, which continue as ageless classics. 
Happy birthday Laura!"

My Talk to the Brazilian Homeschool group

I was invited to speak to a Brazilian Homeschooling group of families yesterday near BH. The location of the suburban development was about half hour away, and the road was very picturesque, as you can see! BH is the third largest city in Brazil, and it's the Denver of Brazil-- almost a mile high. It it surrounded by hills and mountains and roads like this.

They served a delicious lunch and teat time cakes and fruits as well. I spent the whole day with them and my talks was after lunch. I brought photo that they showed on the TV.

It was really wonderful to tell them about my life, because that is what they wanted to hear. I showed the photos below (I collected them from the tag "Homeschool Life" in this blog, and spoke about the many facets of homeschool life for us through the years. Then I opened for questions and they asked wonderful questions that developed into fruitful discussion! How exciting to be part of a movement that seems to exploding in my native country right now. It was truly a magical, amazing day--and during conversations we found many people and places in common! Two of  the families drove or flew from far for the meeting. We all plan to keep in touch!

A wonderful gift from my niece!

Monica is a dear cartoon character in Brasil, and my niece Carolina sent me this darling book where Monica and friends visit the huge Marian shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida! She also sent me one where they go to Rome and see the Pope!  I went on the Brazilian Amazon site and wrote a review, and it was first review there.

Link for the book here.

My review:

Minha sobrinha me mandou esse livrinho de presente--que maravilha! Fiquei muito agradecida. Me lembro da turma da Monica sendo criada no Brasil, e meu personagem mais querido foi sempre o Chico Bento, dono de uma fé simple mas capaz de mover montanhas. Fiquei contente de ve-lo como parte da turma nesse livrinho! Morei perto de Aparecida nos tempos de faculdade e achei as ilustrações muito boas! Uma mistura dos desenhos de quadrinhos da Monica e desenhos mais realistas--as ilustrações funcionam muito bem!
Mas o melhor aspecto desse simpático livrinho e' que ele traz para as crianças de hoje a história tão querida no coração do povo brasileiro. Nesse mundo de tablets e eletrônicos, as crianças correm o risco de crescerem sem as histórias que vem reinando no coração do Brasil por séculos--esse livrinho vem ao encontro desse triste fato, e acendendo uma vela no escuro!


Translation:

My niece sent me this little book - how wonderful! I was very grateful. I remember Monica the cartoon character (and her friends) having been raised in Brasil. My dearest character was always the Chico Bento, the country boy, owner of a simple faith, but one that can move mountains. I was glad to see him as part of the gang in this little book! I lived near Aparecida in college and found the illustrations to be very faithful. A mixture of comic drawings of Monica and more realistic drawings, the illustrations work very well! But the best aspect of this little friendly book is that it brings to the children of today the story so dear in the heart of the Brazilian people. In this world of tablets and electronics, children are at risk of growing up without the stories that have reigned in the heart of Brazil people for centuries - this little book come to encounter this sad fact, and lights a candle in the dark!

Great resource for CCD

Link here! 

The wisdom of Laura Ingalls

New Book of Laura Ingalls Letters!

Now that was a delightful book to red, and a wonderful review to write!