RAR #238: How Books Make Us Better, Happier Moms

Sarah Mackenzie (00:06): Hey, hey Sarah Mackenzie here. You've got episode 200 thirty-eight of the Read Aloud Revival podcast. This is the show that helps your kids fall in love with books and helps you fall in love with your homeschool. (00:21): I've got a treat for you today. Do you know Jennifer Pepito? She is the creator of the Peaceful Press, which is a curriculum company that makes fabulous curriculum for homeschoolers, especially for younger kids. She's also authored a few books. She's a speaker. I met her years ago at a conference and I'm a fan of Jennifer. I really enjoy her. I'm very inspired by her and she's doing great work. Today I wanted to talk about her book called Mothering by the Book, the Power of Reading Aloud to Overcome Fear and Recapture Joy. It's truly a book about becoming a better, happier mom and doing it by reading aloud with your kids. So I mean, I'm excited about this book. I was excited about it when it first came out. I love it so much. We are reading it for RAR Premium's Mama Book Club this spring. (01:11): So I'd love to invite you to join us to do that. We'll be reading the book, reading a couple chapters each week, discussing it in the forum, inviting Jennifer on for a evening Mama Book Club, an evening with the author. Well, I talk about this a little bit later, but our Mama Book Clubs are really focused on helping you read for what you need depending on this time of your life. At Read Aloud Revival this year we're just razor focused on reading for joy. Letting you use your book and reading life and nurture your reading life in a way that it actually nurtures you. (01:45): So instead of it being another thing on your to-do list, another thing you should be good at, another thing that could be a way that you are a better parent, you're reading life can be a source of joy for you. The same way that a hot bath is a source of joy. Like a really beautiful, joyful delight that you can look forward to every day because sometimes mothering, especially at this time of year, it's just not joyful every day, right? It doesn't always feel like you don't always wake up going like, "Man, I'm so glad I get to do this." But we are so glad we get to do this. And there are really beautiful little pockets and moments that we can celebrate. (02:21): And I think one of the things that really wise mothers do is they... Just like if you're on a hike and you need to make sure you plan for water, you need to bring some water with you, you need to plan for water stops. When my husband does one of his really long backpack hiking, he actually brings the water filter and he plans to hit water sources along the way, so that he can stop and he can filter some water. (02:43): That's what we're going to do. We're creating a reading life that is not just something that will help us be better moms, better homeschoolers, better parents, better women. We are making our reading lives a source of joy. Our reading life is going to be so nurturing to us that it's like running into a clear creek when you're hot and dusty on a long hike and it can refresh you. So how do we make a reading life that does that? That isn't just like another thing to keep up with, but something that actually nurtures you? (03:13): This book is a really good invitation into that. So I would encourage you to sit back and listen or just maybe you're not sitting back. If you're like, Sarah, do you know how big my laundry pile is? Do you know how long I'm going to be in the car this afternoon shuttling kids from hither and yon? Yes, I do. So whether you're sitting back unlikely or bustling around doing a million things, very likely. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Read Aloud Revival. (03:43): Well, Jennifer, thanks for coming to the read Aloud Revival. I'm always so delighted when I get to spend time with you. Jennifer Pepito (03:49): Oh, I love chatting with you, Sarah. Your smiling face is always such a sight for sore eyes. Sarah Mackenzie (03:56): Well, I love this book Mothering by the Book, the Power of Reading aloud to overcome Fear and Recapture Joy. I mean, what kind of a subtitle is that? That had me at the very first moment? We're reading this book for our RAR Premium Mama book club this spring. What I love so much, I think one of the underlying things I love so much about this book is that you sort of make this argument that literature make for better parenting books than parenting books, and I love this so much. Tell me where did the idea come from? Jennifer Pepito (04:31): As I was reading the books, it's funny, I read so many parenting books and I feel like I almost overeducated myself in parenting, and it gave me a lot to worry about. And unfortunately, a lot of the parenting book authors had an oldest child who was 12 or something, and so they really hadn't tested these ideas out, and in some ways led us a little bit astray. But when I was reading the biographies or the books like Little House on the Prairie, where you see a mother who's going through really hard times and still trying to keep her chin up and make up a game even though their dad's been lost in the snow for two days, reading those kinds of books, even actually books like The Endurance, where there's no parenting involved, there's no mom, no dad really depicted necessarily, but you see the way this ship's captain parents his crew. Those kinds of stories gave me so much more insight into what it looks like to be a good leader and to be a good mother than so many of the parenting books I read. Sarah Mackenzie (05:33): I love this. This is something you wrote. "I threw myself into books about parenting, full of confidence that I could train my children to be wise and happy and good. I was eager for this new adventure, but then I had actual children." I think we can all relate to this. Do you remember a moment when you first realized that fiction might have more to offer you in parenting than parenting books? Jennifer Pepito (05:56): One of the really distinct moments was when we were missionaries in Mexico and we lived in this off-grid house down a road that got really muddy in the winter, and so you couldn't even drive on it. It was driving on ice. And at the time I was reading The Long Winter, and it just, it's so formed my perspective and my hope in that season because compared to what other people were experiencing, my life was so hard. But compared to what the Ingalls family survived, my life was really easy. And so reading that at the same time was all of a sudden this light bulb moment where I was like, oh man, they learned to sing during the hardship. They learned to count all joy. And that really shaped my own perspective, my own hope in a difficult situation. Sarah Mackenzie (06:44): I just read the Railway Children to my younger kids who are 10, 10, because they're twins, and 11. And I was just thinking about how, to me as a mother reading this book, I am reading this book, this mother is so strong, she's quietly trying to solve her family's problems without putting any burden on her. Kids don't even know what's wrong. And as I was reading it, I was thinking, man, reading this, this is a really good example of how when you read a book when you are 12, it's a completely different experience when you read that same book when you're 20 and then when you're 43, it's totally different experience. (07:17): Because pretty sure as a 12-year-old, I wouldn't have been thinking so much about the mother in the book. I would've been thinking from the main character or the kids' perspective as a mother, when I read a book like Little Women or Little House on the Prairie or the Railway Children or Little Britches, I'm always looking at... I know Greta Eskridge said this when she came on the show years ago, that they inspire us to be better parents in a way that it's really a unique way for us to be inspired, I think. Jennifer Pepito (07:47): Right. And it gives us a vision. I feel like a parenting book can kind of tell us how to respond in situations, whereas a story gives us a vision for what kind of person we want to be. And then that gives us almost some power or some authority over our emotions in the moment. Because especially in the culture that we live in where being emotional is almost celebrated and having self-control or choosing to be cheerful is to some degree denigrated. Sarah Mackenzie (08:17): Yeah, it's muted, inauthentic or something. Jennifer Pepito (08:18): But when we're super emotional in front of our kids, it actually creates a lot of pain for them, because they think, oh, I'm the reason my mom's depressed. I'm the reason my mom is sad. I'm the reason my mom is angry. And so seeing how somebody like Railway Children's a great example, they were in all kinds of crises, but the mom just stayed the same. She had a lot of stability. And I think partly for me, that kind of stability comes from being rooted in with the Lord, but also having a vision. (08:45): Because it's hard sometimes as women to look at say the Bible and get a vision for how we should act because so many of the characters are guys and they're not necessarily parenting children. But when we can read a book and see how, Ruth Bell Graham, is another example for me, where she was at home by herself while her husband was off doing his meetings, trying to be a good mom, and she was so steady. And so watching some of these really steady people, some of the saints of old, like Mother Teresa, some of these people who were just so steady have really helped me stay steady as a mom, even if that's not what I'm feeling. Sarah Mackenzie (09:25): There's a place in here where you're talking about how you were so worried about giving your kids a happy childhood, when really what a happy childhood needs is like a present happy mother. Talk to me about that? Jennifer Pepito (09:42): It was such a crazy realization because I adore my children. My youngest is 15 now, so a lot of the really beautiful intense times of mothering is in the past for me. And we had so many special times. I sat on a rock in the middle of a creek and read out loud to my children while they splashed in the water in their underwear. I mean, these are real things that I really did. And so I can look back at those memories. But sadly, Sarah, I also spent a lot of time rushing around the house doing homeschooling and organizing this stuff and trying to make my house look pretty all up in my head, worried about my kids. A lot of fears and worries were in my head about my kids. I just adored them. I wanted them to have the happiest childhood ever. (10:30): But sadly, being all up in my head worried about them actually caused disconnection. It caused them to feel like, oh, what have I done to make my mom so unhappy? And it's just, it's heartbreaking. And I mean, one of my kids, I feel like it especially robbed connection and there have been some adult... We've had to work to repair some of that even into adulthood because it's very costly to our children when we won't look them in the eyes or be present with them. There's a lot of studies that just show how costly disconnection is in a family, and it's so tragic when the disconnection comes because we're so concerned for them. Sarah Mackenzie (11:12): Because we're so worried about connecting with them. It's exactly, I feel like I've spent so much time worrying about being present with my children when I'm physically present with my children. The only part of me that is my brain that's worried about not being present from each children. Jennifer Pepito (11:26): And I think it's a special trap for homeschool moms because everything's still on us. We have to make sure they get educated well, and especially when you see the regular schools are pushing things so hard in the early years, they looks like kids are ahead. And so homeschool moms are like, I want to bake cookies and read aloud and be fun with my kids, but these other kids are reading already. But so many studies show that those gains, like kids who read early, it all levels out by seventh grade. And so I think take the pressure off whatever schooling you're doing, that's not so much the issue as your own attitude. Take some of the pressure off and just read out loud and bake cookies and if you have to do homework with them, whatever, but don't be so unhappy and so stressed in the moment because that's what robs a connection. Sarah Mackenzie (12:15): Yeah, I feel like we say all the time around here is that a peaceful content homeschooling mama is the key to a successful homeschool. And you can't be peaceful and content if you're always stressed about if you're doing homeschooling well enough or not. Your resources that at the Peaceful press, by the way, are fabulous for this. So if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, I want to learn more from Jennifer about how to homeschool, go to the show notes at readalouderevival.com/238, because we'll have links to Jennifer's Peaceful press curriculum, which is fabulous. And I've used with my own kids. I love how relationship based it is. Because I think that is the truth. (12:50): The truth is that homeschooling can be a lot simpler than we often make it out to be, but it's as far as what to teach and when. But the stuff that matters is the relationship stuff. And you can't put that in a lesson plan and you can't quantify that on a transcript. And so it takes a lot of faith as homeschooling moms for us to go, what all these moms who are more experienced, who have homeschooled some kids who are going to look back and go, okay, I regret this and I don't regret that thing. We need be paying attention to that. And I think I've never met a homeschooling mom who is down the road and said, man, I wish I had connected less and done more academics. Jennifer Pepito (13:27): And I love what you're doing here because reading aloud is such a powerful way to convey a worldview, to convey a beautiful vocabulary. You think about how every language arts subject is geared towards helping our children be good communicators. And the really important skill in the realm of many of the college subjects, aside from particular math and science subjects, most of the college experience requires being able to read or listen to information and then regurgitate it in your own words. (14:03): And so, if we spent those early years with a lot more time reading out loud and narrating back, and you have so many good lists for that, if we spent much more time in the early years doing that and worried a little bit less about learning to read early. For sure, worry a lot less about grammar worksheets because really good grammar is taught so well through really good writing. And I think if we can just get comfortable with that idea that so much is being taught as we read aloud or listen to audiobooks and then talk about what we're reading, listening to, and you get the bonus of worldview being shaped, whereas you can never shape a hopeful worldview through a workbook. Sarah Mackenzie (14:43): Yes. Oh gosh, so much. Yes. Okay, so in this book, in Mothering by the Book, you have organized it basically by fears that are really common to us as mothers. Whether that's fear of the baby years. Man, that one really resonated for me. I think for a lot of moms, some stages of... No, I'm going to say for all moms. There are certain stages of parenting are easier for us than others. Whether it's the circumstances or whether it's the way God made us. For me baby years were just real difficult. And so I will catch myself saying, it's so much easier to homeschool teens or I mean to parent teens, and that's not always true. So I'm sure that can be hurtful if it's hurt by somebody who has the opposite experience. (15:24): So I think it's just knowing that there is a fear of the baby years and that is really resonant. So anyway, that chapter really resonated with me. Fear of my children leaving the faith. That's a huge one. Fear of failing our children, of not having enough. Fear of not being able to manage. Wow, that was a good chapter, but there's so many in here. Tell me, was there a one chapter that just flew out of you that was super easy to write or that really you remember? Right. I know it's been a few years since you wrote it. Jennifer Pepito (15:52): Because a couple chapters where I highlight thankfulness, and that was so key for me in becoming a happier mom. Because it was sort of modeled for me to some degree in my life, to almost be a little bit unhappy to get attention. And so learning to just turn my focus and look at the baby years, for instance, it goes by so fast. And so I think just learning that each moment is going so fast was so key for me. And I talk about that in a few different chapters, just working on recording what you experience and being thankful and being sort of diligent to take note of how beautiful your life really is. Sarah Mackenzie (16:34): I also like how you really didn't shy away from hard stuff. Because in chapter 11 you talk about really difficult things that come with our kids getting older. In here, you're talking about an eating disorder, but there are all kinds of... I think sometimes, especially in our social media saturated world right now, we just point the light on the pretty parts of parenting and then we all suffer alone feeling very alone. So I really appreciate how authentic and honest you were about these are also the struggles and the beauty here and how literature can help you through even these kind of moments. Jennifer Pepito (17:09): And I think one of the biggest things that have helped me as a mom is getting more emotionally whole myself. And I didn't have any idea about what that even meant. As a younger mom, I thought I could just do things different than my own mom and be a perfect mom and we'd have a perfect family. And I didn't realize how much some of the things that I believed about myself and my worth and my life, and even that reactionary parenting, how that was affecting me. And so in some ways, I feel like Mothering by the Book is almost like a manual for more emotional wholeness as a mother. If we're parenting out of insecurity, we will almost use our children to try to make ourselves feel better. And I don't think God likes that very much. And so, one way or the other, he loves us too much to leave us in that state of getting our own identity and affirmation and self-worth out of our children's behavior. Sarah Mackenzie (18:06): Yeah. Which we know when we say that, when we say our success is based on our children's performance, we know that's not right. So then we feel gross about it. We're like, oh, but really our actions oftentimes, it's exactly what we're looking for. We're like we want them to behave a certain way or make certain choices in order for it to be reflectable on us, and so we can feel better about the choices we made. Jennifer Pepito (18:27): Yeah, it's a tough one. Sarah Mackenzie (18:30): It's tough. Yeah. Jennifer Pepito (18:30): Because, I want moms to know that there's hope for something better when you apply yourself diligently to mothering, because it is this beautiful and sacred and holy calling. But I also want mothers to know that the outcome is not up to us. We are just clay doing our best to remain on the potter's wheel, and he's going to shape our children outside of our efforts. And so there's this really fine balance between recognizing how important our work is and applying ourselves to it, but also giving everyone and everything to God as a gift. Sarah Mackenzie (19:05): In this book, you paired a really great read aloud, a really great piece of literature with every chapter, and I loved these so much and I loved watching how you tied in that particular book with that element of motherhood or that struggle of motherhood. What are a couple of your all-time favorite family read alouds? Jennifer Pepito (19:28): Oh, I love that question. And honestly, the endurance is way up there for one of our favorites just because- Sarah Mackenzie (19:35): I have never read it, so I'm going to totally read it. Jennifer Pepito (19:37): Sarah, you're going to love it. It's just so powerful. It's a gripping story. And I know you have some boys at you're homeschooling right now too. It's a very gripping story. It's an adventure story. But honestly, I watched how Shackleton... Those guys would've died if he hadn't known how to be an authority. And it spoke a lot to me about being an authority as a mother and as a leader, that we have to be willing to embrace that role for the sake of the people that we love. (20:08): Obviously, some of the other ones like Little House on the Prairie has been very formative for our family. The little Britches series is way up there right alongside The Endurance, the very last one, I think it's Horse of a Different Color, where he starts his own business basically. It was so beautiful the way that he worked in community with people, the way he was so faithful to accomplish what he'd set out to. He could have been a victim and kind of given up, but he was so diligent and faithful. And there's just so many character lessons in these beautiful literature stories that are just... You can't find a character curriculum that will teach this. Sarah Mackenzie (20:50): Yes. Okay. I'm glad you brought up character curriculum. Because to my mind, if I sat my kids down and was going to like, okay, this is what courage is, and let me explain what courage is, to come up with examples of what courage looks like and how could you be courageous in your life? That's so different than reading the Little House on the Prairie books and talking and watching, or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and asking about who was courageous here. Because there's a lot of different answers. And just experiencing courage through story that feels so different than being taught didactically. Jennifer Pepito (21:25): I know. I think so. I mean, I'm not opposed to highlighting a character quality or something, but I do think things get so much more connected with our kids' hearts when we tell it through a story. And that's why with the Peaceful Press, I very specifically choose the stories that have a really hopeful worldview. And there's a lot of diverse stories, like A Single Shard is one of the stories that we feature, Freedom Train. But I think that having those characters in different settings around the world, different experiences, different lifestyles, but where they show what it looks like to have courage or have empathy or be compassionate or help others, I think it teaches our children so much more because there's a picture that they can remember as opposed to just a definition. And I think this is one of the things that Charlotte Mason and her writings really highlighted. Is just that we don't try to moralize, we just tell the stories and the stories are their own moral teaching. Sarah Mackenzie (22:26): That's so interesting. I was just reading a book, I haven't gotten very far into it, but it was talking about ways to remember things. How do you remember things, build up your own capacity for being able to remember whether it's some long poem or a piece of scripture or something you want to remember, or just like, why don't you remember where you parked or what was on your grocery list? How do we make our brains remember? And at the very beginning of the book, he talks about how our brains actually work in visuals. They actually work in images. (22:50): So the first thing you always have to remember to do, and he gives an example from chess, I think, if I remember correctly. About how these professional chess players will remember things, but he says, tie it to an image. So what you're saying basically is when we can tie courage to an image of Almanzo going out into the snow with... Who was he with? His brother? I think he was with his brother. To bring back food for the town that had been snowed in for so long. I'm trying to remember. It's been a little while since we've read. Jennifer Pepito (23:19): Oh, absolutely. Yes. Him and Cap Garland, I think. Sarah Mackenzie (23:23): Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah, when we show them, that's like embodied courage right there. Jennifer Pepito (23:30): Absolutely. Yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (23:33): So if you could have a cup of tea with any fictional mother, who would it be? Jennifer Pepito (23:39): Ooh, a fictional mother. Maybe Marmee. Sometimes I feel like I get my movie depictions of her mixed up with my literature depiction of her. And that can be a little bit messy because I don't always love the movie depictions. But for sure she was so dedicated. I mean, who comes to mind more quickly, honestly is someone like Amy Carmichael who mothered a house full of essentially girls coming out of sex trafficking or some of these biographical mothers. But for sure, Marmee is one of them who's just so faithful. (24:16): Little Britch's mom. She's depicted in a couple of the stories, and she was just so diligent to keep her family together, working really hard at a little home business so that she could keep her family together. No complaining, just did what she had to do. No more spoilers on that one, but there are so many beautiful motherhood depictions. And I know I talked about this even in the book, Betsie ten Boom wasn't a mother, but during some of my hard times in my life, I would actually think to myself, what would Betsie do? Kind of having these literature models or biographical models in our heads can help us when we're in our situations to just think about how would this beautiful, patient, peaceful, joyful mother, how would she respond to this? And in that case, been able to be more steady or more cheerful in a situation? Sarah Mackenzie (25:17): Well, and one of the things that literature does for us is it gives us and our kids the opportunity to bear witness to a character overcoming obstacles again and again and again. So they get this experience over and over and over of people facing seemingly insurmountable odds, having to overcome their weaknesses to become who they need to be. They have that in their bones. So then when we call that out, that's really what that picture is of how would Betsie handle this situation? Or how would the aunts that took in understood Betsie, the aunts in the country, how would they respond to this child whining about X, Y, Z? Because my default is to give in really easily, but they were so kind and loving in their helping Betsy live up to her own potential. And so I want to be like that. Jennifer Pepito (26:06): Yes. And what is interesting too, Sarah, and I love... You had this on an episode. You had an author talking about hopeful books. Because so many of the books, sadly, nowadays, nowadays, and I know not all of them, thank God there's some wonderful new authors, but so many of them give us a hopeless worldview. And I'm going to just contrast to one. There's a book called Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza, I think, and it's a true story about a woman who survived the Rwandan genocide. And it is incredible the horrifying experience she went through. And yet she, in the worst of it, she felt like Jesus was right there in the room with her, and she came through that experience with hope and with the hopeful story to tell. On the flip side, you have the book Demon Copperfilled by Barbara Kingsolver, which was so depressing. (26:59): I don't think there was this... It was so depressing. It was so depressing. It broke my heart because there was... It is fictional, and so does this really happen to people? Kids do go through horrible things and they could tell their horrible stories, but it was so helpless. There was nothing. Everything bad happened to this kid and almost nothing hardly any good. And you might have somebody, a listener write in and say, "I love that book." And wait a second, the coach was actually a good guy. I'm sure they'll find somebody who was good and have a different perspective than me. But I was so brokenhearted because there are so many stories like that that are marketed to our young people, and they are so... They do not cultivate the idea that people are mostly good and that there's hope in our life. And I think it's a lot more important than we might think about to highlight, especially when we still have control. (27:58): At some point, our children are going to choose the books they're going to choose, but while we do have a chance to choose or to have a say, I think choosing those stories for ourselves and our children that cultivate hope is going to be so much more powerful in our homes. And I think as moms, we even have to choose this for ourselves because easy to get sloppy and just be like, I want to be entertained. I'm going to read whatever there is. And honestly, I strongly identify with books I read. If I read a bunch of books about really traumatic childhood, it can get me in a dark hole. It can make me feel really sad or dirty or whatever. Whereas if I read hopeful stories, I feel more hopeful about the world. (28:39): And I think as moms, we also have to kind of be careful where we put our own attention, because we are expected every day to get up and reflect something to our children. And what I want my children to believe is that there's hope in the world and that God still cares about us as humans and that there will be a better day tomorrow. And so I think as moms, we have to sometimes curate what we read and listen to, to help support those goals. Sarah Mackenzie (29:09): Yes, I feel so strongly about this and that we are... I think Kate DiCamillo uses the word duty bound. We're duty bound to leave our readers with hope. And I really feel like it's because we're duty bound to tell children the truth. And the truth is that we are people of hope, and that hope wins. We already know the end of the story. So one of the authors I think, who does this so beautifully is Gary Schmidt, who writes a lot for young adults. And so his teen books, those best characters in those books really go through it. He does not shy away from really dark, heavy stuff. But there is not a Gary Schmidt book I have ever read that didn't leave me with more hope and more love for the people and the world around me than I had going into it. And I think that's really the marker of a magnificent book. Jennifer Pepito (29:54): Yeah. And I'm so thankful that you put together those young adult book lists. I have a daughter who's a voracious reader, and I want to be able to help her choose well. And not every book that her friends loan her is what I would choose for her. So I'm like, not that one. Not that one. Sarah Mackenzie (30:10): Yeah. We can put some of those in the show notes of this episode. We can put some of our favorite book lists that we've made for young adults and teens. Jennifer Pepito (30:17): I love that. Sarah Mackenzie (30:19): So all year long we've been talking about... We're going to continue actually all year long. It's January as we're recording this, but last year and into this year, I really want to talk about, as mothers, how we can be nurtured by our own reading lives, not just because reading is good for us, not just because it helps us be better mothers, which it does, I think do all of those things, but because it can be a source of joy for us, and it's guaranteed joy a way for you to build in a wellspring of life into your own day-to-day, doing all the doing that you have to do. So what's a book that you've read and recently loved just for the joy of it on your own? Jennifer Pepito (30:56): What a fun question. I actually just read Beth Moore's biography. I've never even done one of her studies or anything. Sarah Mackenzie (31:04): Yeah, me neither. But I've heard that that biography is so good. Jennifer Pepito (31:07): Yeah, I really enjoyed it. It was actually very hopeful. And there are things that I don't necessarily see eye to eye with her on. There's ways that we would differ in our worldview, but it was a very honest telling, and I think so often leaders can be a little bit dishonest to spin things for people. And so I appreciated that she was willing to give so generously of herself. Also, I loved the book, an Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. It's an older book. And I don't want to tell the story there either. (31:45): The only sad thing about that is there was a little bit of a angst towards church people. I think probably the author had experienced some religious people who had caused her pain. And I see that a lot, even in the Ella Montgomery. There's a lot of poorly represented church people. And reading Ella Montgomery's biography makes you understand why. But it was actually such a sweet book that, An Enchanted April, I just love to read. So I've always got a few books on my nights. Now I'm just getting ready to start a Scott Harrison key right now. And also I'm reading- Sarah Mackenzie (32:19): His newest one. Jennifer Pepito (32:20): No, I read the newest one, How to Stay Married. I'm working my way backwards from there. Sarah Mackenzie (32:24): Okay, okay, okay. He teaches the college one of my kids is at. And so I started reading not too long ago. Jennifer Pepito (32:29): Oh, that's fun. Sarah Mackenzie (32:30): Yeah, I haven't read [inaudible 00:32:31] yet though. Okay. So speaking of books. If anybody's listening to this, wants to read this book with us in RAR Premium, we're going to be reading Mothering by the Book through the spring. Each week we'll have a discussion in our forum and talk about a different chapter, a couple chapters a week, I think. It's very easy pace. We brought our book Club Mama Book Club guides to help you read for what you need. So depending on whether you've got all little ones or all older ones or spread or whatever's going on in your life, we help you read for whatever you need in your life right now. And then Jennifer will come back to join us for a Special Mama book club evening, which will be delightful. But you have another book coming out soon. Tell me about that one, Jennifer? Jennifer Pepito (33:10): I do. I'm so thrilled about it. It's called Habits for a Sacred Home, Nine Practices from History to Anchor and Restore Modern Families. And it's based on the rule of St. Benedict, which I believe is so formative for us as families, just to have a little bit more spiritual discipline really. And in the book, I highlight the lives of some of my real life biographical heroes. In Mothering by the Book, I kind of highlighted more of my literary heroes. And in this one I highlight Edith Schaeffer, Sabina Wormbrand Esther Rabetson or Rabetson Esther Jungreis, a Jewish woman, Mary McLeod Bethune. So some really amazing Women of faith are highlighted in that book. And each month we develop a new spiritual discipline with the goal of creating a family rule that's customized for each family reading. Sarah Mackenzie (34:06): Awesome. And when does this book release? Jennifer Pepito (34:08): That one? Releases May 7th. So right around the time I get to come to the book club. Sarah Mackenzie (34:12): Excellent. Okay. I'll remind you all then to go pick up your copy. So Jennifer, thank you so very much for coming onto the Read Aloud Revival. This has been a joy. Jennifer Pepito (34:22): I love chatting with you, Sarah. Thank you so much for having me. Sarah Mackenzie (34:27): All right. It's time for Let the Kids Speak, where we find out what Read Aloud Revival kids are reading lately. Speaker 3 (34:36): Hi, my name is Emma Wilsey. I'm 12 years old and from New Market Tennessee. My favorite book is The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, because it is super exciting and full of a lot of mystery and suspense. Speaker 4 (34:47): Hello, my name is Tanith Wilsey. I am 11 years old and from New Market Tennessee. My favorite book is Jack Zulu. I like it because it's exciting, full of magic, and it's so much fun. Speaker 5 (34:58): Hi, my name is Cora Wilsey and I am nine years old, and my favorite book is Green Ember. Speaker 6 (35:07): Hi, my name is Ariane Ruth Wilsey, and I'm six years one. My favorite book is Dragon Slippers. And why it's my favorite book is because it's exciting and cool. Speaker 7 (35:22): Do you have one? Speaker 6 (35:24): I don't know. I don't know this one. Speaker 4 (35:27): Marylis, what's your name? And she's four and she loves the Green Ember series. You are two and you say, mom, I like all books. I just love books. Speaker 8 (35:39): What you name. Speaker 9 (35:39): Gwen. Speaker 8 (35:39): Where are you from? Speaker 9 (35:39): At Suji? Speaker 8 (35:39): Missouri? Speaker 9 (35:46): Yeah. Speaker 8 (35:47): And what's your favorite book? Speaker 9 (35:51): Airplane? Speaker 8 (35:52): Angela's Airplane? Speaker 9 (35:53): Yeah. Speaker 8 (35:54): What do you like about it? You like pushing pumpkins? Speaker 9 (36:00): Yeah. Speaker 10 (36:02): Hi, I'm Maisie and I'm 10 years old from Delaware. And I really like the Penderwicks because the characters are really lifelike. Speaker 11 (36:13): Hi, my name is Sophia. I'm five years old and I'm from Delaware. And my favorite book is Pumpkin Soup because it's a fun little book. Speaker 12 (36:27): Hi, my name is Remy, and I'm from my America, and I'm six years old. My favorite book is I'm Enchanted. And why I like it? It's because it's funny and it's a little mouse that's confused. Sarah Mackenzie (36:42): Thank you. Thank you for your messages, kids. I always love to hear what you're enjoying reading most. And if your kids would like to be featured on the show, head to Readaloudrevival.com/message. That's where your kids can leave a voicemail and we just feature them in the order that they are received. So if your kids want to be aired on the show, go ahead, leave a message. We want to hear the books that they're loving lately. (37:07): The show notes for today's episode are at readaloudrevival.com/238. That's where you'll find all the books and things that we mentioned while Jennifer and I were talking. And if you'd like to join us for the Mothering by the Book, Mama Book Club, we'd love to have you there too. So you can find out more about RAR Premium by going to RARpremium.com. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with another episode. In the meantime, you know what to do, right? Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.