Grandmother Sibble III's Wisdom

I just love children's literature! Isaac and I just finished reading a book called "The Wheel on the School" by Meindert Dejong. It's about a group of Dutch children who want to have some storks make a nest on their school and have to figure out how to get them to come. The very first chapter I read made me smile and smile again and again. It's just that kind of perfectly thoughtful and sweet book... a book about people on the sidelines being important despite their apparently average role. And each time you realize this about a new character, it's like a breakthrough of "why didn't I see that in the first place?"

For example, an old grandmother had seen a little girl (Lina) thinking very hard and had started talking with her to find out why. During the time of talking, Lina was surprised to discover that Grandmother Sibble III "wasn't just an old person any more, miles of years away, she was a friend. A friend, like another girl, who also wondered about storks." What a sweet little revelation.

That actually wasn't what I was going to post. I kind of got side tracked. The part I was going to post was this little pearl of wisdom from Grandmother Sibble IIIto Lina, "You get us each a [candy] out of the tin. Then I'll sit on my stoop and you sit on yours, and we'll think about storks. But we'll think better each on his own stoop, because often thinking gets lost in talking."

I just love that. Isn't that the truth. No wonder DeJong won the Newbery Medal for this.