Feed Me Books Friday: Imagination

I’m linking up once again to the fantastic blog The Adventure of Motherhood for another week of Feed Me Books Friday. This week’s theme is books that encourage imagination.

My first book is perhaps an unusual choice for a Christian – it’s a wonderful bedtime book to remove worries before sleep and encourage fantastical imaginative dreams. It sells itself as a meditation book for children.

Starbright: Meditations for Children by Maureen Garth

I can’t find my copy so I can’t talk that much on the language and illustrations but I can remember the stories therein were wonderful as springboards for active imaginations.

The process begins with the child relaxing each part of their body and imagining a great starlight that they walk into and are surrounded by and warmed by. They visit the worry tree to rid themselves of all their worries (I always spoke that we were leaving our worries on the tree for God to help us with them); after which they pass the guardian of their garden who opens the gate for them and protects them as they sleep (one of God’s angels). They enter their own private garden – the only things that happen here are nice and are all from your imagination.

Then one of the stories set up a scenario for the children to become involved in, in their minds, such as a party with the animals after the child has shrunk in size. You leave the child to dream their way through the scenario for example you end with “I’m now going to leave you to enjoy all the food at the party with the animals – Which foods are you going to eat? What are you going to drink? After the food, you can maybe play some games. What games might you play?” These questions are all to be rhetorical and you let the child fall asleep in their scenario.

I would heartily recommend it (it has other sister books - Moonbeam, Earthlight - but I haven’t read them) as I have used the techniques for imaginative story-telling with people from the age of five to twenty-five – very successfully and with beautiful dreams reported the next morning. I’ve also acted as the story-teller since I was eleven so it’s a great system for an older sibling to activate if parents are seeing to other children. As children become more familiar with the system they can take it in turns being the story-teller (especially as it is as relaxing for the story-teller as the listener because you have to speak throughout in a dreamy low-toned slow voice).

The best part is once you have worked your way through the book and fully understand the sequence of it you can recreate it anywhere no book required, only an imagination. Those you’re telling the story too can also set the scenario for themselves with you merely acting as facilitator.
Here’s the Amazon Links: UK & USA

The Sea of Tranquility by Mark Haddon & Christian Birmingham

It is the story of a man looking back to his childhood and his dream of becoming an astronaut and visiting the moon. It shows the moon landing and then finishes rather realistically with the grown man sitting still occasionally dreaming of the moon and the footsteps on it. It can encourage great thoughts about space and creation and astronauts and big dreams about what your junior reader might like to grow up to become and how although we may not become all that we dream, dreams are important and should be big.

The language is simple and factual without being burdened with statistics. It invites you to follow the story and dream with the little boy.

Birmingham is an excellent illustrator who draws very lifelike people with a sort of hazy look to his work. (I also have a lovely retelling of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe illustrated by him).

Just a lovely read, especially for a boy or any budding astronauts.

Here’s the Amazon links: UK & USA

Be sure to call in with Janna and see what books everyone else favours!

Sidenote to Janna - Think I'll have to try your suggested title!