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Walking in Courage – Stories of Virtue’s Forest Reviewed By Conny Crisalli of Bookpleasures.com
- By Conny Withay
- Published October 8, 2012
- Childrens & Young Adults
Conny Withay
Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Author: Tanya Shock and Roger
Thomson
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 978-1-4497-3443-5
The famous Bible verse in I Corinthians 13:13 states “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Tanya Shock and Roger Thomson have written a short children’s book, Walking in Courage – Stories of Virtue’s Forest that hones in on being courageous through charity and loving others.
This twenty-one page, paperback book has a drawing of a mother mouse tucking her son into bed as he dreams of playing baseball on the front cover. The back cover has two paragraphs about the book and the authors’ biographies. Inside there is a dedication page and two pages for acknowledgments. The drawings cover the full page and sometimes two pages with a brown section at the bottom of each page that includes white wording, making it easy to read and follow along. Pages are numbered inside a baseball drawing. The story is geared toward pre-school age but acceptable for early elementary school readers. The only questionable but explainable scene may be when Charlie talks to Jimbo in the forest, opposite of what most parents tell children: do not talk to a stranger.
This charming tome is about tiny mouse Charlie who has to walk through the forest every day to get to school and is always bullied by Daniel and his guinea pig and badger friends who take his lunch and push him into the mud. Old Jimbo the skunk comes to Charlie’s rescue, helping him out of the mud by having him hold on to his tail. Charlie cleans himself off in a nearby pond and goes to school, only to sit on the bench while watching the other animals play baseball. Charlie notices Daniel and his friends picking on skunk Angie and prays for courage to intervene. Even though Daniel and his friends laugh at Charlie’s reproach and admonishment, they stop bothering Angie, who becomes a fast, loyal friend with the meek but courageous mouse.
At the end of the story, it is Daniel who is pushed into the mud by his so-called friends and is rescued by Charlie and Angie. All three become good friends and Charlie prays and thanks God for his friends and goes to sleep dreaming of baseball. With this simple but well thought out book, a reader is easily taught that by being kind and helpful to those in need, even if they do not like you, one can make long-lasting and sometimes surprising friendships.