children's literature.

My favorite class that I took in college was, without a doubt, Classics of Children's Literature.

As Baylor classes start today, I am sad not to be present.  It is really weird when I consider the fact that Baylor goes on without me.  The beautiful campus became my home for the past four years, and it is strange not to be there and be in class.

Because I am not in class, I have to find other ways of learning and challenging myself.  One of those ways is through books.  If you know me, you know that I LOVE to read.  LOVE to read.  The busyness of this summer did not allow for zooming through 30 or so books (as I have done in past summers), so the reading has been slow.

But, I just finished my third book of this summer, C.S. Lewis' Letters to Children.  It is a collection of letters that Lewis wrote to children who wrote to him with questions, ideas, pictures, and random thoughts.  Over and over the book reminded me of things we learned in my favorite class.  Here are some quotes that made me smile (and next to which, of course, I pencilled in a smiley face):

"A good toenail is not an unsuccessful attempt at a hair; and if it were conscious it w[oul]d. delight in being simply a good toenail."

"If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so. I'm thankful that you realized [the] 'hidden story' in the Narnian books.  It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever."

Lewis replies to a child's picture of Narnian characters:  "But what I like best of all is the 'spirit of a tree'.  It is so beautifully wavy and graceful and is moving so.  Bravo!"

"You see, I don't think age matters so much as people think.  Parts of me are still 12 and I think other parts were already 50 when I was 12: so I don't feel it v.[ery] odd that they grow up in Narnia while they are children in England."

"The first beginning of the winter always excites me; it makes me want adventures.

"If you become a writer you'll be trying to describe the thing all your life: and lucky if, out of dozens of books, one or two sentences, just for a moment, come near to getting it across." 

 "I enjoyed that imaginary world so much myself that I'm glad to find anyone who has been there and liked it as much as I did--just like meeting someone who has been to a place one knows and likes in the real world." 

Reading is delightful.  Dive into children's literature sometime, and rediscover the treasure trove there.