Saturday happy: Just found out that folksinger/songwriter Caroline Herring just put a CD out called The Little House. It’s a retelling of Virginia Lee Burton’s classic by the same name. In case you haven’t read it in a while, The Little House is about, you guessed it, a little house. The house spends its early years in the country, but is soon surrounded by the encroaching city nearby. The house is eventually abandoned within the city, but finally one of the great-grandchildren rescues the house and wheels it back out to a spot in the country among the apple trees and stars.
The book’s antipathy for cities is a little outdated in my opinion. Cities aren’t bad per se, nor is rural America an Edenic place that is more “natural” or real. God made people to live in community both with one another and the world he made, and cities are a valid expression of that part of His plan. On the other hand, cities have often been created in ways that mock the beauty of nature and God’s design for our relationships, and they have often been places where people become disconnected and lonely.
Ultimately, taken at face value (which is the way most kids will take it), it’s a sweet story about a lonely house coming home. And if you like folk music and you’re looking for a different kind of CD for your kids, I am guessing this would be a good bet. And certainly the book itself is American classic you don’t want to miss!
Have you heard the entire CD? Or maybe you know of other good book-related CDs? Let us know in the Comments below!
Further Redeemed Reading: For more on classic kids’ book extras, see Free Classic ebooks, Cooking Up Fun: Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes, and GR8 Xpectations.
Nifty! Thanks for the tip, Melinda! So many beautiful things in this world, so little time….
I also read that Caroline Herring has been commissioned to write a song for Roxaboxen by Alice McIerran