Cat and Carp Yesterday--A Whole Mouse Family Today! The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins by Karin Kaufman

Yesterday we read about saving carp and today we're sharing about other small creatures... We're going to meet the Woolkins family and many other creatures who live in the woods... Most of us remember the song about the indoor mice who ran up the clock and got scared when the clock's loud Bong rang! But living in the woods is much more dangerous...the Woolkins family calls them Adventures!

Interestingly, this book has both adventures actually happening to the Woolkins family and they also read from the Book of Tales, which has been in their family for many years. Think of this book something like a book of fairy tales, but with actual action stories added as they happen. There are 143 pages in this book, so you can plan on reading a story at bed time when your children are younger. And then they can read the whole book as they grow older. 

It is Christian-oriented, but God is represented by The very, very big hands which is an easy way to begin to teach children, don't you think?

The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins

By Karin Kaufman

Pausing, savoring, enjoying—these are not trivial endeavors, and they are not for children alone.
Young Geraldine longs to have adventures as thrilling as those in the Book of Tales, the book her papa reads to her and her brother Button at night. More than that, she wants to be brave—a seemingly impossible task in a world where ravens throw black shadows over the earth and wolves prowl barren lands in search of their prey. But Geraldine is a mouse. The weakest of ground things. Why was she, who wants so much to be brave, created by God to be small and quivering?

Geraldine is the main character--her family of mother and father and a brother named Button. Both parents are constantly involved with teaching their children since this is their first year and have much to learn. Geraldine has already started to enjoy her father's reading stories from a very large book. Today's selection is "The Miracle of the Shrouded Pepper Plant." Already Geraldine is wanting to learn to read herself but is told that will come...in time...

Geraldine and Button are encouraged to go outside and play, but they also help with gathering food for the winter. Acorns, berries and many other supplies are gathered by every member of the family and maintained in an underground storage area.

Although they are ground animals, Geraldine, who is a new mouse, has bird friends and the family has even made friends with a fox named Quinton, a rabbit who has lost his way from his parents so is living nearby the Woolkins family and a lovely elder mouse who visits with them as often as she can. Readers get to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family!

Quin smiled, pursing his lips so as not to show his teeth. "I met your papa last autumn, when we both traveled to Where the Bears Live."
"You and Papa were there?" She had thought all her papa knew of that land was what he had read in the Book of Tales. "Was my mama there too?"
"No, but he told me about her." Quinton lowered his head until it rested on the group. His mouth seemed to vanish, and his eyes were now no higher than Geraldine's head. Imitating his father, Kitter bowed his head and then sank to the forest floor.
"Your father saved Lark, my wife. It he hadn't warned her, a bear bigger than many wolves would have taken her away from me. He risked his own life when he told her to hide."
Geraldine's hands flew to her mouth. Why had Papa never told her of this story? Bears! He had been as brave as any mouse in the Book of Tales.

~~~

Button was becoming very brave, wanting to do new things, while Geraldine was beginning to see that adventure always ended in some kind of peril...

But then she saw the beautiful snow for the first time and even was willing to learn how to go sledding with Button...but there was always danger as well...

Can you image having to run away from large Ravens who could see you dark against the white snow?! But you know what, little by little Geraldine realized that she could think through what to do, and she could ask Very, Very Big Hands, no matter where she was and learn to depend on Him.  After all, He had send her friends when she was in trouble and quickly learned to trust! But she still didn't understand what her father meant when he told her she had gotten herself into a pickle!

I really enjoyed viewing the world from a mouse's viewpoint! You know, having a chance to speak directly to the very, very big hands is a wonderful way to be!

GABixlerReviews

Karin Kaufman writes mysteries, thrillers, and children's books. Although her mysteries and thrillers are written from a Christian perspective, they don't downplay the evil we confront in this world -- or the isolation Christians sometimes feel in what is a largely secular culture. But she rejects the notion that such fiction must be dark or oppressive. Because there is also goodness in this world -- love, friendship, laughter, faithful dogs, piping hot cups of coffee -- and it's every bit as real as the evil.

The Witch Tree, the first in her Anna Denning mystery series, was a finalist for a 2011 Grace Award. Karin lives near the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains with Sophie and Cooper, her crazy but lovable shelter dogs. You can find Karin on her Facebook author page, at http://www.facebook.com/#!/authorkarinkaufman/, or on her website, at http://www.karinkaufman.com.