What: Wake County Public Libraries’ annual storytelling festival, now in its 26th year, featuring two days of storytelling.
When and where: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at Historic Oak View County Park, 4028 Carya Drive, Raleigh; 1 and 2 p.m. Sunday at Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E. Hargett St., downtown Raleigh
Who goes: All ages.
What to know before you go: The festival’s main event is the afternoonlong program at Historic Oak View County Park. It features continuous storytelling on the park’s spacious lawn for five hours.
Willa Brigham, host of the TV show “Smart Start Kids,” which airs on WRAL-TV on Saturday mornings, is the featured teller. But others also will be there to entertain kids of all ages.
For the hearing-impaired, there will be American Sign Language-interpreted stories from noon to 2 p.m. And tellers will offer some special stories for the youngest listeners. So if you’ve got young children in tow, be sure to check the program when you get there to find out where they are.
A hay ride shuttle with more storytelling will take you the short distance from the parking lot to the festival. Food will be sold on site, but feel free to bring a picnic, blankets and chairs to spread out and enjoy the stories. The event is free and open to the public. It will take place rain or shine.
If you can’t make it Saturday, or don’t get enough storytelling then, you can find Brigham performing at Marbles at 1 and 2 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about the storytelling festival, call Wake County Public Libraries at 250-1200 or go to www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/storytelling.
Read More:News & Observer
“Lord, Save Us from Your Followers” takes a look into the contentious world of the Christian faith.
(NewsUSA) - Although nine out of ten Americans claim a belief in God, public expression of faith is more conflicting than ever.
Even as discussion of religion floods the media like never before, the rhetoric is divisive and hyper as the 2008 elections loom on the horizon. Fed up with the angry, strident language filling the airwaves that has come to represent the Christian faith; author, director, and follower Dan Merchant set out to explore the collision of faith and culture in America.
“To me, the division of America, this separateness, isn’t getting any of us anywhere,” writes Merchant. “And both sides are making the same mistake - they think the so-called ‘culture war’ is a winnable war. Some think, eventually, one side will win out over the other. I don’t see it that way. I’m concerned that calling it a Culture War presumes a few things, like if it’s a war, there is an enemy. This kind of adversarial posture serves to further entrench us in our own positions. The sad fact is our country is polarized because we like it. It’s much simpler to pretend the world is black and white. An ‘us vs. them’ attitude is simpler than critical self-reflection and allows us to blame the other.”
Merchant’s journey, which actually begins in famine-ravaged Ethiopia, opens a panoramic view of how God’s people are viewed by everyday Americans and the world-at-large. From the man-on-the-street blitz of “Bumpersticker Man” to the controversial and moving “Confession Booth” at Gay Pride Day, Lord, Save Us from Your Followers delves into all the hot-button issues with candor, humor and balance. With exclusive interviews with comedian/senatorial candidate Al Franken, former Sen. Rick Santorum, noted evangelical Tony Campolo, conservative radio host Michael Reagan and others, no stone is left unturned in this engaging, unpredictable and challenging look at the conflict over religion in America.
Dan Merchant is an award-winning television writer/producer, novelist and frequent church attendee. Merchant has been happily married for 20 years and is the father of two teenage boys.
For more information, visit www.lordsaveusthemovie.com.
New church movements are causing the flight of many established clergy and long-standing members.
(NewsUSA) - Over the years, the atmosphere of the church has migrated from a quiet place of worship to that of music and praise.
However, millions of people in their fifties, sixties, and seventies feel their churches have been hijacked by these church-growth movements characterized by loud praise bands, constant PowerPoint presentations and cavernous mega-churches devoid of any personal touches. They are bewildered by the changes and are dropping out after thirty, forty or fifty years in a congregation. Some consider it a crisis.
According to the Barna Group, a company who seeks to use their strengths in partnership with Christian ministries and individuals to be a catalyst in moral and spiritual transformation in the United States, the church as we know it will be gone in 20 years.
A new book called Who Stole My Church? gives pastors and church members hope that they can overcome the obstacles and accept change in the growing church.
In this fictional story, pastor and author Gordon MacDonald uses topical examples and all-too-familiar characters to reassure readers that it is possible to embrace change and to demonstrate how change can actually be a positive influence in their church.
“There are many books on church change. Usually written from the standpoint and the instruction of the change agent, the leader who has the responsibility to bring about something new,” writes MacDonald. “In this book, however, I decided to deal with the subject from the perspective of some of the people who are powerfully affected by change -; the dear people in the pew who have to live with and even support the new ways.”
While he understands the frustrations that come with change, MacDonald believes that finding a way to move gracefully into the twenty-first century is necessary for the church to survive. “Any church that has not turned its face toward the younger generation will simply cease to exist,” he says. “We’re not talking decades - we’re talking just a few years.”
Gordon MacDonald has been a pastor and author for more than forty years. He serves as editor-at-large for Leadership Journal and as a former chairman of World Relief. His most recent books include: The Life God Blesses, Renewing Your Spiritual Passion, Rebuilding Your Broken World, the best-seller Ordering Your Private World and When Men Think Private Thoughts.
For more information, visit www.thomasnelson.com.
The Wake County Library System will hold its annual book sale Nov. 14 through 18 in the former Super Kmart building at 4121 New Bern Ave., between New Hope Road and Corporation Parkway, in East Raleigh.More than 500,000 books will be available for sale. Cash and checks will be accepted. The library is encouraging people to bring hand trucks or book carts.
Books remaining after the sale will be shredded for recycling.
Proceeds will go to Wake County as library revenue.
For information on book prices or to volunteer, go to www .wakegov.com/libraries and click on “Library Booksale.” Or you can volunteer by picking up a form at any library branch.
SOURCE: NEWS & OBSERVER
first novels. There are ways to find a book that will succeed with your child. Search out books that will challenge with story, rather than length. Be careful of the book’s sophistication; a novella under 200 pages may be well above your child’s maturity level. Big print and a scattering of pictures help, too.Story elements that succeed are more subtle. Characters should be likable role models who face conflicts common to 6- to 9-year-olds. The settings (like home, school or neighborhood) should feel familiar. The tone should be upbeat and positive. You’ll find all these traits in recently published titles.
Judy Blume’s newest book is “Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One” (Delacorte, $12.99, ages 6-9) and has pictures by well-loved illustrator James Stevenson. In this short novel, Blume returns to characters she created in a 1985 picture book, “The Pain and the Great One.” Enthusiastic first-grader Jacob annoys Abigail, his third-grade sister, who calls him “The Pain.” Jacob calls Abigail “The Great One” because “she thinks she’s so great!” Indeed, Abigail is self-assured to the point of bossiness. Blume’s squabbling sibling protagonists express themselves in alternating chapters. Their situations, typical of young childhood problems, portray extremes as The Great One hides the fact she can’t ride a bicycle while The Pain is deathly afraid of haircuts. Underneath the drama, tenderness shines through rivalry and their constant bickering keeps the book from being too sweet.
Teacher Karen English, after searching unsuccessfully for African-American characters in first novels, wrote “Nikki and Deja” (Clarion, $15.00, ages 7-10). These neighbors have been friends most of their lives, but differences emerge and so do difficulties when they start an exclusive drill team club to drive a snotty new neighbor mad with jealousy. English manages to capture a strong sense of both girls, their enduring relationship and the uncomfortable struggles that friends weather when changes erupt. Laura Freeman’s illustrations give us a strong sense of situations and emotions.
Award-winning author Kimberly Holt tries her hand at early novels with “Piper Reed: Navy Brat” (Holt, $14.95, ages 7-9). Family takes center stage as the quirky Piper moves across the country with her military father, accommodating mother and two sisters. Piper is smack-dab in the middle between a genius younger sister and a whiny pre-adolescent older sister. Piper’s optimism is pure sunlight. “Get off the bus!” she shouts enthusiastically at every occurrence that excites her. This was the call of her Gypsy Club in San Diego and she’s determined to spread the catchphrase in Pensacola and then the rest of the world. But relocation isn’t all that easy. The girls share one bathroom; Piper flounders making new friends; her dad has to leave on assignment; and while her parents finally agree to buy a dog, it’s far from the German shepherd she had dreamed of. Still, Piper maintains her cheer and when it flags briefly, she realizes she’s got “sister magic” to keep her going. Periodic pictures by Christine Davenier show the up-and-down transitions of the freckle-faced Piper.
Sheila Moses’ beginning novel has a historical North Carolina setting; her heroine lives in the author’s hometown of Rich Square in “Sallie Gal and the Wall-a-kee Man” (Scholastic, $15.99, ages 7-9). Sallie Gal’s mother works hard doing laundry and Sallie pitches in cutting cotton while her father is away in Vietnam. But 8-year-old Sallie’s quandary will be recognizable to her peers: Sallie wants hair ribbons so she can look as pretty as her cousin Wild Cat. This desire drives her so hard that she winds up in all kinds of trouble, breaking her mama’s best pitcher and, worst of all, taking free ribbons from the Wall-a-Kee salesman who brings goods to her mama. Taking charity is strictly forbidden, and Sallie hides the ribbons and her guilt. Sallie so misses being in sync with family love that she tells the truth and is forgiven. The mix of this spunky heroine, history and warm black-and-white illustrations by Niki Daly work well together.
Read More:News & Observer
