Bright Wings: Children’s Books to Make the Heart Soar

Celebrating eighteen years of marriage! Enjoy this poem by Madeleine Delbrêl, French poet and social worker, about responding with love to the love of Christ the Bridegroom. We love this poem because it depicts the "spirit" of marriage, the gift and task that is marriage, that is the response to being "first loved" by Christ (cf. 1Jn 4:19).You can read other beautiful things from Madeleine Delbrêl in The Dazzling Light of God OR We, the Ordinary People of the Streets.Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Ready for more? Don't lose your nerve--keep reading the Aeneid with Charity! Take a closer look at Book 3 and Book 4. Let's wonder together: Why does Virgil have Aeneas sail around so much before meeting Dido? Before landing in Italy? Why is Aeneas lingering so long in Carthage? Is Aeneas a hero or an unfaithful lover? More than a year ago, Charity hoped to bring you along with her as she read and taught some of the great texts of the Western Tradition. Finally, you can. Read in community with Charity and discover what are some of the unique plot points, themes, characters, and quotations from Book 3 and Book 4 of Homer's Aeneid. Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

More than a year ago, Charity hoped to bring you along with her as she read and taught some of the great texts of the Western Tradition. Finally, you can get excited about reading the Aeneid, together with Charity! Can it really be that hard to read and understand? (Trust us: If teenagers can do it, you can too!) Read in community with Charity and discover what are some of the unique plot points, themes, characters, and quotations from Book 1 and Book 2 of Homer's Aeneid. Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Who doesn't love a conspiracy theory...or two?! Join Charity as she interviews Devin Rose, discussing Chasing the Seeds, the Fiefdom Chronicles, Book 1. Explore how Bitcoiners, anarcho-capitalists, preppers, libertarians, the Virgin Mary and the FBI can all be crucial plot elements in a single adventure! Discover in Chasing the Seeds a YA book that has all the roaring story you want and nothing toxic you don't need.Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

What if some of the best titles being published are not new, but OLD? Join Charity's conversation with Jill Morgan from Purple House Press. Charity shares her joy at discovering how a beloved childhood picture book is back in print! Jill shares stories from 20 years of rescuing books--stories about author relationships, the practicalities of bringing back favorites, and the community feeling built around the books we want appreciated for generations. Browse Purple House Press! *Please, try to buy direct from them!Books mentioned in this episode:The King With Six Friends by Jay Williams. aka Charity's favorite picture bookMr. Pine's Purple House by Leonard KesslerTwig by Elizabeth Orton JonesThe Arts Library (What I would do if I were still homeschooling!)Sabre Jet Ace by Charles CoombThe Living History Library, includes Jenny, John Bull, Alaska Bush PilotThe Nature Study Library, includes Buzztail and LeaperThe Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher, aka the book selling for $1,000...MISTMANTLE by M.I. McAllisterFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Vivian Dudro, senior editor at Ignatius Press, joins Charity to talk about Catholic book publishing. Vivian discusses publishing works that allow children and teens to connect their lives to the deepest truths of Christ's presence. How can "wholesome" literature depict the Real? Is it necessary for Christian books to be well-written, or is it enough for them to be church-y? Join Charity and Vivian as they explore these questions. Enjoy Vivian's recommendations on the books currently exciting interest at Ignatius Press, works that are "coming soon," and her treasure trove of unique classic book recommendations.Vivian's Recommended Books:In The Shadow of Rome, series by Sophie de Mullenheim (includes The Phantom of the Colosseum)Sarah and Simon SEEK and FIND, series by Geert de Sutter. The Life of Jesus, Seek and FindFaelan and the Miracle Machines, series by Abigail PalmerThe Adventures of Loupio by Jean-Francois Kieffer.How to Handle My Emotions, (Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger), series by Gaelle Tertrais, Violaine Moulière, Ségolène De NoüelThe Story of Rolf: A Viking Adventure by Allen FrenchHeidi by Joanna SpyriThe Children of Noisy Village by Astrid LindgrenThe Little House on the Prairie, series by Laura Ingalls WilderBooks by Hilda Van StockumFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

If you love historical fiction, Charity has found a rare gem for you! What was it like to live in a walled Medieval town? What was it like to live in the age of Gothic cathedral-building? How is family, work, worship, and community structured? What makes life meaningful and exciting? Meet Jean d'Orbais and his family whose life and work has been tied to the great cathedral of Reims for centuries!To purchase The Boy Knight of Reims by Eloise Lownsbery, see the niche publisher Angelus Press.Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Do your kids read fantasy? What do you think of magic? Is magic good? Bad? Join Charity as she considers why fantasy is such an important category of fiction to read! Perhaps, like Aslan, fantasy is "not safe, but good."Discover great fantasy books for your child: The Great Fantasy Book List (pdf)Purchase The Great Fantasy Book List through Bright Wings' BookshopFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Charity and her 11th grade students read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl along with Robert Spaemann's address "Education as an Introduction to Reality" as part of Texas Holocaust remembrance week. Charity shares a speech she gave to the high school, generated from reading these texts together.Read Robert Spaemann's article "Education as an Introduction to Reality" You can print it as a pdf if you like. Underline and annotate it. ;)Purchase a copy of Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

We love the words truth, goodness, and beauty...but if someone asked us to explain what these are, maybe we'd be flummoxed? In this episode, Charity puts flesh into these concepts: Charity helps us see truth, identify beauty, and recognize goodness in children's books and gives us concrete examples of these concepts from books we know. After she walks us through her own book discernment process, Charity dispels two common myths that prevent us from being responsible literary guardians.You can print this amazing LITERATURE DISCERNMENT WORKSHEETFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Charity updates us on how she spent her summer: Where she traveled with her family, what work she's done for Well-Read Mom, and the two talks Charity presented at the national conference for the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. Then, Charity shares some Big News that may impact Bright Wings: Children's Books.Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

What do you do when your life comes crashing down around you? Join Charity and author Katherin Nolte, author of Back to Bright Before, as they dig into this and other beautiful questions posed by Katherin's first novel. In this chiaroscuro book, sweetness and tradgedy contend in the life of one young family. Katherin also shares about how to write a book as a homeschooling mother. What is it like to craft a realistic-mystical story that shows that hope is stronger than despair? Discover a new favorite book for your 8-12 year old in Back to the Bright Before! Happy summer reading!Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, has sold more than 2.5 million copies. What's not to love in this landmark survival story? Charity shares our pleasure for all the good parts of Hatchet and asks us to take a closer look at some of the larger claims the book makes--especially to our boys--about identity, competency, hope, and survival. Check out:The Young Man and the Sea by Rodman PhilbrickFor Further Reading:Torn Asunder: Children, the Myth of the Good Divorce, and the Recovery of Origins edited by Margaret Harper McCarthyFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Everyone is happy to promote "girl power," and we did our own version of that theme in Episode 18: Stories for Strong Girls. But what about our boys? Is there something distinctive about being a boy? What is good about being a boy? Dr. William Hamant joins Charity to discuss what is positive and distinctive about masculinity. He reflects upon what masculinity reveals about what it means to be human. Dr. Hamant supports his insights with literature and poetry and wise experience.PRINTABLE LIST of Best Books for Boys Poetry quoted by Dr. William Hamant:"When Nature Wants a Man" by Angela Morgan"Man in the Arena" by Theodore Roosevelt OR a print-and-frame version!"Invictus" by William Ernest HenleyTo learn more about what is happening to boys and men:Honestly podcast, "Why We Must Save Our Boys" Youtube video, "Avoiding School Shootings and The Boy Crisis"Honestly podcast, "Why Men Seek Danger"Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Wildwood, the first in a trilogy by Colin Meloy, is praised by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is also 541 pages! Could this book be the start of the next greatest series for your child?! It is long and has sequels...could this be just the thing for my voracious readers? Listen and discover along with Charity what this book is like--do it's characters have any character? Do they discover where they're from? Where they are going? Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Can an author as prolific as Gordon Korman really generate books of value? After reading a dozen Gordon Korman books (sample size is 10% ladies and gentleman!) Charity delivers the answers and makes her recommendations.Check out the recommended book list!Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Have you ever returned to a beloved children' book as an adult and found the content unnerving? Charity introduces the topic of cynicism as a perspective that shapes what we are able to see, a stance that conditions our vision, a judgement that conditions our choices. Charity introduces an excellent essay by Anna Kaladish Reynolds regarding cynicism, a critical reading of Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully. Reynold's essay proposes that the innocence available in picture books like Mirette On the High Wire may help us to learn a wisdom that is greater than any that cynicism can offer to us.Read Innocence: A Perspective of Intelligent Reading on the Bright Wings' blog.Follow Bright Wings: Children's Books on Instagram :)Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Ready for a couple of the most satisfying stories you've heard in a while? Charity reviews Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley and Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin. If you enjoy fairy tales--or if you simply enjoy a story with both action and reflection--join Charity as she explores the value of these two novel-length retellings.This post contains affiliate links. If you buy a book through them, you support Bright Wings at no additional cost to you. ;)Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Do you know what discernment is? Can we examine what motivates our literary choices for our children? In this podcast Charity wonders what motivates our literary decision-making: Does a desire to protect motivate? Does fear of harm predominate in our decision-making? Is our end goal to equip our children? Are we convinced that the good is stronger and more pleasing than evil?Find quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!

Were you ever obsessed with WWII fiction and stories as a child? Do you have a child who is really into stories from this era? Why the fascination?! Is there something weird about this interest? Charity unpacks what is vital to understanding the value of books about World War II. Children appreciate this time because good and evil are clear and there are high stakes and choices to make. Children like this era because hard moral choices and suffering are contexualized by singular and personal characters. Best of all, literature set in this era often affirms that "a light has shown in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it." Charity affirms the unusually high quality of WWII literature as a genre and prizes it for its ability to allow children opportunities for self-reflection.Enjoy this printable booklist! World War II: Best Picture Books and NovelsCheck out this book review of Hilda Van Stockum's The Borrowed House by Sara Masarik.Follow Bright Wings on instagramFind quick book recommendations by following Charity on Instagram.Enjoy essays on the Bright Wings' blog OR find great book lists personally crafted with you in mind!