RAR #240: Max Lucado: Nourishing a Child’s Heart with Books

Sarah Mackenzie (00:05): Hello, hello, you've got read Aloud Revival, episode 240. I'm your host, Sarah Mackenzie. I'm laughing because that is the third take. I snorted the first two times I recorded that intro for you and I am just going to keep on plowing on this time. I did it without a snort. Today, I've got a question for you. When I say Max Lucado, what comes to mind for you? You might be familiar with his books for children, The Crippled Lamb, that's a Christmas favorite around here. I think his most famous children's books are You Are Special and You Are Mine, which we talk about during today's show a little bit. There are many others. There is even a Max Lucado Children's Treasury that contains several favorites. Max Lucado is best known as a pastor and speaker and for his adult inspirational books. He's arguably one of the best-selling inspirational authors. (01:03): His books have sold more than 145 million copies in over 50 languages worldwide. Incredible. In a lot of Christian homes, Max Lucado is a household name. His books are written for those who are hurting and guilty, lonely and discouraged, and he's constantly pointing his readers back to the truth that God loves you and you should let him love you. Christianity Today called him America's pastor. Reader's Digest called him the best preacher in America, but I invited Max Lucado to the read Aloud Revival to talk about his children's books. Brand new is a new picture book he wrote called Just In Case You Ever Feel Alone. It's illustrated by Eve Tharlet. I love her illustration style. It's very sweet, very quiet and cozy. This book might just be one that one of your kids needs to hear, needs to be able to snuggle up and read. (02:06): Listen in to this conversation with Max to hear how stories are uniquely positioned to help a reader feel seen and understood differently than nonfiction can do. You'll hear the kinds of books he loved reading as a kid and you'll also hear what he hopes his books do in the lives of his readers, young and old. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Max Lucado. (02:36): Max Lucado, it is an absolute joy to be here with you today. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Max Lucado (02:43): I'm the one who's grateful. Thank you. I'm excited to visit with you. Sarah Mackenzie (02:49): Probably the majority of people listening to this podcast have read some of your books. You're a much beloved person to so many people listening and you've written both non-fiction, inspirational work and also stories. I'd love to hear your take on what stories do that other writing doesn't, maybe how stories are uniquely positioned to reach the human heart in a way that our other writing, although important as well, doesn't quite, the unique way that it reaches us. Max Lucado (03:22): I love stories. I always have. I've always been fascinated by stories. When I got into teaching, I would notice how people would perk up when I would say, "Hey, I've got a story for you," or "Let me tell you a story." Whoever's dozing off, man, their head pops up because we do. We love stories. We love stories, and there's two or three things that stories do that straightforward teaching does not do. Stories can take on a life of their own and stick with you far longer than just a point-by-point, didactic teaching does. (04:08): Then stories can be interpreted personally to fit your life what you're going through. I have people read my children's books and they say something like, "That really helped me get through a period of blank," which I never intended. I had no strategy or no intent. How did you know I would need that, or why were you addressing that? I have to confess, I don't think I did. It's just that there's the power of a story that will help land in your heart whatever you're needing it to do at that point. I think those two things, stories, they're sticky. A good story is really sticky and a good story has multiple applications, depending on what the reader's going through. Sarah Mackenzie (05:05): I love that because it feels like then a story is almost hospitable to the reader because whether, your newest story, which we're going to talk about Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone, if I'm reading this to a four-year-old or to a ten-year-old, my ten-year-old is going to find something that they need in here or see themselves in the story in a different way than I am, but we're both getting something from it. It just feels very generous to a reader. The thing that I always think of when I think of stories, too, is the difference between hearing a parent talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of course, that's important to do. It is important to tell our kids this is what happened and this is true, but then also inviting a child into reading something like the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where they see Aslan lying on the stone table, and you can see it in the child. You can see them leaning forward and holding their breath, and it just meets us somewhere differently. Max Lucado (06:03): That's a good way of putting it. It just meets us somewhere differently. Stories are good because even though we tend to write them for children, we grownups benefit from stories that are targeting children. I think my best-selling children's book is called You Are Special. Sarah Mackenzie (06:25): Yes, I was going to ask you about that one. Max Lucado (06:29): I wrote it 25 years ago. I always meet grownups who say, "I was reading that for my kids, but that little story of the wooden people with the stars and the dots, that's what I needed to hear. That's what I needed to hear." There's just that story. It's ageless, ageless and people can interpret it however they wish. Sarah Mackenzie (06:51): That's how I feel every Christmas when I read The Crippled Lamb, which is another one of your books, of course. Max Lucado (06:56): Oh, really? Sarah Mackenzie (06:56): Yeah. This is another one that I never get tired of reading and it always meets me where I am, and that's different now than it was 10 years ago. Max Lucado (07:06): Can I tell you a story about that? When my daughters were small, I was in charge of them from the moment I got home until I got them to bed. We'd have playtime, we'd have bath time, then we'd have story time. One of the ways that we conducted the story time was we would, like a fill in the blank. I have three daughters and we'd all be in my study or my office at home and I would say, "Once upon a time there was a great big," and I would point to whoever was first and they would say pumpkin. I'd say, "This pumpkin was named," and then the second daughter got to name the pumpkin. "One of the greatest things about that pumpkin was that it could," and then the third daughter would say, "Run really fast." That was their favorite thing to do. Sarah Mackenzie (07:57): That's such a fun game. I've never thought of doing that. Max Lucado (08:01): Oh, it's a blast. Basically, if you keep doing it night after night after night, really, you're writing a story, and that's where the Crippled Lamb came from. Sarah Mackenzie (08:12): Oh, you're kidding. Max Lucado (08:13): That's why on the cover it's written by Max, Jenna, Andrea, Sarah Lucado. They all, everybody contributed. Sarah Mackenzie (08:25): Oh, my goodness. Now I love it even more, just envisioning that. Okay, your newest picture book is Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone. I was thinking about this as I was looking at it and looking at the beautiful illustrations by Eve Tharlet. My first question was, and you probably already know what this question is because you've already alluded to this question that comes up a lot, which is why loneliness? You write about so many different books about timeless, universal topics that really meet your readers, encourage your readers where they are, so why loneliness? Max Lucado (08:59): I'm just reading these statistics. I'm sure you're seeing them, too. Some of them are so bizarre, I wonder, could it be true? Four out of five adolescents self-described as lonely? Four out of five? Really? Did they do that survey right? Are there that many lonely middle schoolers and young people? Some of them are not that dramatic, but they're still significant, but I wonder, why are we so lonely? Where does that come from? To me, a working definition of loneliness is the feeling, not that I'm physically alone, but that people don't want to help me. People don't care about me. I could be in a schoolroom or I could be in a gymnasium or I could be in a stadium, I could be in a shopping mall full of people, but nobody here really gets me and nobody really cares about me. I think that's what's coming through. Do you have any thoughts as to where this loneliness epidemic is coming from? Sarah Mackenzie (10:07): The first thing that comes to mind for me at least to exacerbate it, I don't know if it's where it's coming from, but definitely exacerbating it and maybe it is where it's coming from, my first thought is social media and the way that, even as a parent, I find a different kind of temptation to be looking at my screen instead of looking in my child's eyes than I did. I told you, Max, the beginning of this show before we started that I have six kids. My oldest is 22 and our youngest are 10. The difference I feel in the demands on my time and attention or noise that's calling for my time and attention just from the 22-year-old to the 10-year-old, those 12 years, I feel like parenting has gotten harder in a lot of ways because of those screens, which, people are listening to us right now on those devices. (10:53): Obviously this isn't an anti-technology idea, but I do think that our kids are carrying devices around in their pocket that promise to help them connect to people, but it's not real connection. It's a very superficial connection which makes us feel more isolated than ever. I know that's how I feel. The difference between if I'm feeling lonely and I call up a friend or go out to dinner with a friend or something and the difference between that and scrolling on social media for a little bit, the way I feel at the end of that is just chasms apart. Max Lucado (11:28): I'm almost 70. It's such a different world. I don't think I can appreciate the challenge that it creates. Sarah Mackenzie (11:38): We have now a generation of kids who've never had parents or been in a world where this constant hounding for our attention. My oldest daughter said to me one time that she was trying to be where her feet were. I was like, "That is such a good description." Max Lucado (11:55): Trying to be where her feet were. That's great. That's great. A couple of weeks ago, I went into a fast food restaurant. I was in between doctor's appointments. Probably the reason I had to go to the doctor is because I go to fast food restaurants, but anyway, I went in and ordered something. I was by myself and four young people came in, college age, I'm guessing. They were all wearing university shirts. They were in the booth next to mine and I noticed that they put their food on the table. They each pulled out their phones and I don't think maybe three or four sentences were exchanged the whole time. I know I sound like an old fogey here, but I worry, what's going undeveloped? What communication, listening skills, inquiry skills, the back and forth that comes from swapping ideas, exchanging? What's going undeveloped in addition to what's going seen, but what's not being developed that people are going to miss, and could that contribute to the loneliness that people feel? I think so. Sarah Mackenzie (13:11): It reminds me when you're saying that of something I read in Cal Newport's book, Deep Work, which is just about really deep, intentional focus and rewiring our brains from the constant. You were talking about that constant need to check something. He was talking about a lack of ability to keep attention focused on something for a long period of time. He said that he likened the ability to stand in line at the bank or something and not pull out your phone, it's really strong. It takes a lot of, you have to overcome. Max Lucado (13:43): It takes a lot. Sarah Mackenzie (13:44): Yes, so he says he likens it to doing a mental push-up. Mentally think, I'm going to do a mental push-up right now. As I'm in the checkout line at the grocery store and there's three people ahead of me, I'm just going to look around and be okay with being bored for a second. I like that because I thought, it gives me a little something to hold onto when I'm like, "No, I'm not going to check my phone right now. I'm doing a mental push-up." That's better than doing a physical push-up, as far as I can see. Max Lucado (14:13): Although it may be harder. Sarah Mackenzie (14:14): It may be harder. It's true. It's true. Max Lucado (14:16): I know a lot of your audience are involved in homeschooling. Sarah Mackenzie (14:21): Yes. Max Lucado (14:22): One of the things that has always struck me as a pastor is the difference, how I could immediately recognize children who come from a homeschooled environment. I'm talking mainly about after church. I'm greeting people. The children who have had their parents' education, had their exposure to their parents' thoughts, who've had their parents' attention all week long, they're just like spring flowers. They're just quirky. They're beautiful. They're colorful. It's not a bash against public school or private school, but there's something about having that communication with an adult all week long. The children were conversant with me. I was not, as the pastor, I didn't intimidate them. They were happy to meet another grown-up. They were not blown away. I was just always stunned by that. (15:27): Hats off to you and hats off to all of your participants and audience that is investing in helping your children learn to have these skills that are so essential. They're so essential. I think that's why I love reading. I loved reading to my children. I love reading to my grandchildren and I love writing kids books because I think it gives parents tools. Sarah Mackenzie (15:57): Yes. Max Lucado (15:57): Language with which they can talk. How else do you talk to a six-year-old about loneliness, unless you have a story, a story that unpacks or in this case, a pledge from Mom and Dad to the child, "Just in case you ever feel alone, I'm right here, and if I'm not paying attention, you tell me and I'll turn and give you." You're giving parents some language that is helpful. We're all in this thing together and we can come along and help one another. I think that's a good thing. Sarah Mackenzie (16:30): That really strikes me about your books in general for children, actually. I'm thinking of You Are Special and You Are Mine, the other one that's in that same series. It's like an intersection. It feels like, to me, an intersection between that universal truth of, we all feel lonely sometimes or we all feel like we're not special sometimes, but also seeing the reader as this unique image of God, which I think is the experience that we get as parents when we read aloud with a child, especially a picture book like one of these, because we are talking about these, we're encountering these universal things that we all feel lonely. We all feel like, why am I here? What's my purpose at different points? Also, you feel seen when you read a book. I think that might tie back to what you were saying at the beginning that a story lets people meet them where they're at in their own life. (17:22): I was even just thinking, as I was looking at Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone, this really struck me, and we'll put a link in the show notes, listeners, to this new book, because it's definitely worth adding to your collection. The whole first beginning of the book, you have, there's an adult. There's a grownup bear who's promising to the child, "If you ever feel alone, I'll always be right here." Then not until almost the end, you mention that just like the parent is promising you'll never be alone, God has also promised to be with us. Then what I found so beautiful is that the next few pages after that, we have God being there for our child. (18:04): It's almost like at the beginning of the book, the parent was the proxy, which is, it feels to me, exactly how it feels. I remember as a child feeling like, oh man, I remember the experience of my mom. I must've been four or five. It's one of my earliest memories or earlier memories, I should say. She was zipping up my coat and I remember I told her, "I love you more than God." She looked surprised and laughed a little bit and then said, "Oh, you shouldn't love me more than God. You should love God most of all." I whispered at her, "I won't tell him." Max Lucado (18:37): That's beautiful. Sarah Mackenzie (18:38): I remember thinking that. Our children can't see God, and then many times, we can't feel him, but we can see and feel him in our parents. We have this unique opportunity to be Christ-like to our children so that they see the lovingness of their Father. Anyway, I don't know if there's a question in there. I'm just letting you know that I really see that in this book. Max Lucado (19:01): As you're describing that, I think about everything that happens when you're reading a child a book, especially if it's right before bedtime. You're letting their last memory of the day be one in which they sat either next to you or on your lap and the world is calming down and you're calming down. Sarah Mackenzie (19:26): Yes. Max Lucado (19:28): For a few tender moments, the world is quiet, and they're going to bed with the memory of Mom or even the smell of Mom and the feel of Dad or the feeling of family, if there's multiple kids there. That's a real pressure. I don't think I'd ever really stopped to think about all the things that might be happening in that bedtime moment. Sarah Mackenzie (19:59): Especially because when we think about the night being a lonely time of day anyway, so being able to guide them, usher them into that part of their day feeling the not aloneness of being next to Mom or Dad or Grandma or whoever is reading to them. Max Lucado (20:17): I can remember, these are all wonderful memories you're stirring up for me. Makes me want to become a daddy again. Now I'm loving being a granddad, but when my daughters were small, as I've already mentioned, I was in charge of bedtime, so we had a variety of things they did to milk that moment. It's just like they don't want to go quickly to bed, but I'm talking about when they're six, four and two, small enough, they were sharing a room. We had three twin beds, had them all together, because they all wanted to be in the same room. The last thing I would do before bedtime is they would say, "Be goofy, Daddy," and I would trip and fall on the ground. They would say, "Be funny, Daddy," and I'd make a face or something and they'd laugh. They'd all be sitting on the edges of their beds. (21:07): They had their pajamas on. They were bathed. The next big thing is going to sleep, but then this would happen. They would say, "Be strong, Daddy," so I would flex my muscles. Now, remember, I was in my 30s. I actually had something pop up back in my 30s. Not much pops up anymore. They would jump out of bed and they'd all run over and they'd put their hand on my bicep. They'd feel my muscle. I like to think that the last thing before they went to sleep at night was feeling how strong their father was. Sarah Mackenzie (21:40): Oh, gosh. That's beautiful. Max Lucado (21:41): That made them feel comfortable. That's what bedtime, that's what nighttime, that's what story time, it reminds the child how strong their Heavenly Father is. You know what? None of us get so old and mature that we don't need to be reminded. We need to feel our Heavenly Father's muscle on a regular basis. We call that worship. Sarah Mackenzie (22:06): That's right. Max Lucado (22:06): We think about how strong He is, and we need that. That brings comfort to us. What we're doing is, we're creating the worldview for our kids. That's what we're doing is we're creating a worldview, and everybody has a worldview. The worldview of some people is, "There is no God, no one cares. The world's going over the edge." That's their worldview and they live out of that worldview and it usually leads to anger or depression or something even worse. What if we help our children have the worldview that says, "There is a God and He's a good God and He loves you and the purpose of this life is to choose where you spend the next life." We frame that worldview for them. What we're doing is, we're setting them up for success. We're doing our very best to give them equipment with which they can make the hard decisions in life and part of that comes through story time. Sarah Mackenzie (23:02): That's right. I was thinking, too, as you were talking about that strong safety, even just the rhythm of, we read before bedtime or I tend not to read before bedtime because I'll start to fall asleep, so we'll do, it's tricky at that time of day, but the sense of reading. When we sit down to read together, you don't have to do this every day and your kids will remember, "My dad read to me or my mom read to me all the time." It feels like that steady, strong, which is, again, that proxy that we're giving for the way that God is there for us constantly and steady and strong, even on days when it doesn't feel like we can feel it, we know it. Okay. I have some questions from audience members. I told listeners that you are coming on the show and they sent some questions. Are you up to answering some of these? Max Lucado (23:47): Of course I am. I want to compliment you. You do such an amazing job with this. Sarah Mackenzie (23:52): Oh. Max Lucado (23:54): I looked up. We've already been talking for nearly 30 minutes. Sarah Mackenzie (23:57): We have. Max Lucado (23:58): How do you? You do a terrific job. You have a really hospitable nature about you. I'm glad you're doing this. Sarah Mackenzie (24:07): Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much. That means a lot, especially coming from you. I really appreciate it. Okay, one of the questions that came in is, which of your books is your favorite, which is a hard thing. How many books have you written it? Do you know? Max Lucado (24:22): A bunch. Yeah. A bunch. Sarah Mackenzie (24:28): Was there one that was a favorite to write? Max Lucado (24:31): Yeah. The second book I wrote in my life is called No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, and I wrote it while we were living in Brazil, my wife and I. It was a book that was truly mirroring some personal growth I was enjoying in loving Jesus. I think that one would be. The very first book I wrote was a collection of articles that I had written for a publication, so I've never quite thought that was a legit book. It was just a collection, but it was my first book, but then my second book, I said, "Okay, I really would love to write a book that helps people feel like they're standing right at the foot of the Cross and write a book for people who don't typically read books and keep the chapters short and it's not real technical. Could I do something like that?" (25:31): I would say No Wonder They Call Him the Savior was my attempt at that. Consequently, that would be the favorite book that I've written. Of children's books, it could be You Are Special, the one that we were referring to earlier. It could be that or it could be this one. I'm really happy with how this one turned out, Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone. I'm very pleased with it and hope it helps a lot of people. Sarah Mackenzie (26:01): I think it will and probably in ways that you'll never know, really, which is, I mean I said this in the intro when I was introducing you before you and I hopped on, but I referred you as a bestselling author and then laughed at myself and said, "Actually, not just a bestselling author." You're arguably the bestselling author of inspirational work, probably the most widely read by Christians. You probably don't even have any idea, even as much as I'm sure wherever you go and you speak and you meet people, they tell you how much your work has impacted them, but surely you won't know until you're in Heaven, really, truly, the impact you've had on so many lives. It's truly remarkable. Max Lucado (26:42): No one's more grateful or more surprised than I am. Sarah Mackenzie (26:46): I was going to ask you that. Did you know were going to be a writer? Is that something you always wanted to do or is that? Max Lucado (26:52): No, no, no, no. I really came to faith when I was about 20 years old. I grew up in West Texas and my dad sent me to a college. He said, "If you'll go to this Christian college, I'll help pay the tuition." Sarah Mackenzie (27:07): I know this story. I might be giving some of this story to my own children at the moment. Max Lucado (27:13): I was a mess. I've often told my daughters, "I hope you never go out with a teenage version of your dad." I was not a good guy. I was really into beer, really into loud fights. I grew up around cowboys. I was just not a good guy, but Dad sent me to this college where it was required that I take Bible courses. It was just required that every student take Monday, Wednesday, Friday Bible courses, and that's when I came to see Jesus in a way I'd never seen him before. No, I never set out to be a writer. I don't know what I set out to be. I had no clue. Sarah Mackenzie (27:55): What do you find to be, I don't know if easier is the right word, but what do you find to be your natural bent? Preaching or writing, or is it the same? Max Lucado (28:06): That's a very good question. Sarah Mackenzie (28:08): Yeah, it's not the same, but you know what I mean. Max Lucado (28:13): No, I hear you and I don't know if I'm a writer who preaches or a preacher who writes. I really don't. Sarah Mackenzie (28:16): Yeah, okay. Max Lucado (28:18): I really have loved serving at our church. I came here in 1988, long time ago. Right now, you could almost call me a pastor emeritus. I'm not in charge of the staff any longer, but I do preach about 20 times a year and I'm available when they need me, but I don't miss leading the staff. Sarah Mackenzie (28:40): I was going to say, my dad is a pastor and I can understand this. Max Lucado (28:45): Oh, really? Sarah Mackenzie (28:45): Yes. He's a Lutheran pastor. Max Lucado (28:47): Okay. I know when I talk to people who have either family members or are pastors themselves and I tell them, "All I do is preach 20 times a year and show up if they need me," they get so jealous. They get so jealous. I said, "I did my time." Sarah Mackenzie (29:03): That's right. I got here. I had to work to get here. Oh, my goodness. Here's a good question from someone. What books did you love as a kid? Max Lucado (29:13): I read insatiably. Even though I was a brawler, I did love libraries. I always did, always have. I got hooked on some bios, biographies that were kid-friendly biographies, so everybody from Teddy Roosevelt to Abraham Lincoln. I really do believe that our children are born with a certain bent to them. When children excel or have a facility in a certain area, good for you, Mom and Dad, when you pick up on that. (29:47): When you see that your 6-year-old really loves to do math, pay attention to that. There's something there, or when your 10-year-old really succeeds in music and wants to actually practice a little longer, I think there's the oak inside the acorn. I wrote a book called that once. There is an Oak Inside the Acorn. There's something inside of us just waiting to burst forth, waiting to come out. For me, it was books. It really was reading and stories and books. Even though I was a louse when I was in high school and then early college, but there was that love for the words that the Lord requisitioned when I became a Christian. It made sense then that since I loved reading books, looking back, it makes sense that I would write books. Sarah Mackenzie (30:44): Yeah. I almost forgot to tell you this. I wanted to tell you because Rachel Garland wrote in. When I mentioned I was going to be chatting with you and I asked, "Does anybody have anything you want me to ask?" She said, "I don't have a particular question, but I want him to know my daughter Gemma hears him on the radio and for years, thought his name was Mashed Potatoes instead of Max Lucado, and she was a little bummed, I think, to learn that your name wasn't Mashed Potatoes." Max Lucado (31:10): Yeah, it sounds a lot like it, doesn't it? Yeah. She's not the first. I've had others think that it's such an unusual name. People don't quite know what to do with it. Sarah Mackenzie (31:23): One last question for you before we wrap up. You're so prolific and beloved by your readers. I wonder, is there anything from your canon of work, from your collection of work that you think gets glossed over or frequently missed that you wish didn't? Is there anything that you would think, "Oh, that's the piece that I really wish?" Max Lucado (31:45): What an interesting question. There have been books that I thought would really take off that did fine, but not as well as other books. Then there have been a few books that just did really well that I thought, "I didn't think it was that great of a book." It's just a little unpredictable. You never know what's about to happen in the world. I wrote a book called Traveling Light and it released on 9/11. Sarah Mackenzie (32:16): Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Max Lucado (32:19): The book just went crazy. Everybody needed a voice to calm them down, because it's based on the 23rd Psalm. That was just providential. It was providential. I wrote a book called Anxious For Nothing about a year before COVID, and that book just really ministered to many, many people, so you don't know. I think as a writer, you just do the best you can and you know that books are going to have a life long after your life is over and you pray that they'll continue to touch people and to encourage them. Sarah Mackenzie (32:56): It's so good and it just reminds me that, as anyone who's listening to this, I know there's a lot of writers who do listen to this podcast, just hearing you say that was providential. It really was. That really was. God knew that 9/11 was going to happen and God knew that COVID was right around the corner and He knew what everyone would need. It's that humbling ourselves to, Lord, what do you want from me right now? What do you want me to be writing right now? Max Lucado (33:19): Right. There are those occasions where you have something stirring inside of you so much that even if you don't want to write it, you get to the point where you feel like you'd be disobedient if you didn't write it. You're not quite sure why it matters right now, but you know you've got to do it, so you just do. Far be it from me to say that the Lord directed that for that reason, but I do think it's important for us just to be obedient as much as we can to those nudges. Sarah Mackenzie (33:58): That's right. Max Lucado, thank you so very much for making time to come on our little show over here and we are just so excited to- Max Lucado (34:08): Hey, I'm in high cotton on your show. That's a great honor. I'm the mule in the Kentucky Derby. Sarah Mackenzie (34:15): You're welcome any time. I would love to have you back. We'll put a link in the show notes for your new book, Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone, along with some of my other favorite picture books by Max, so that you guys can all grab them for your children and your read-alouds, especially right before bed when you tuck your children in and usher them into their dreams. Max, God bless you. Thank you so much for coming. Max Lucado (34:37): God bless you. Thank you again. Sarah Mackenzie (34:44): All right, links to the books we talked about on today's show are in the show notes, readaloudrevival.com/240 because this is episode 240. Now let's go hear from the kids about the books that they've been reading lately. Ellie (35:05): Hi, my name is Ellie and I live in Idaho. I'm eight years old and my favorite book is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I love the part where they crash the flying car into the Whomping Willow. Mia (35:19): My name is Mia. Speaker 7 (35:21): How old are you? Mia (35:22): Five. Speaker 7 (35:24): Where do you live? Mia (35:25): Idaho. My favorite book is The Gruffalo because I like the part when the owl [inaudible 00:35:36] the Gruffalo and she flies up into her treetop house. Riley Burgess (35:44): Hi, my name is Riley Burgess and I am from Katy, Texas and I am eight years old. The book I would recommend is The Penderwicks because I love how Batty and Hound have this special connection. Reagan (35:58): Hi, I'm Reagan and I'm from Katy, Texas and I'm 10. I recommend The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier because it's spooky but not crazy and it keeps you wanting to read and it's really fun. Gabriella (36:16): My name is Gabriella. I live in Michigan and I'm 14 years old, and I really enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables series, especially Anne of the Island, because they really inspired me to love and enjoy nature just like Anne did and they're super packed with adventure. Kate (36:35): Hi, my name is Kate and I am from Barneveld, Wisconsin. I recommend the Castle Glower series because it has family adventure and it's exciting. Bye. Paige (36:48): My name is Paige. I'm seven years old. I live in North America, Reno, Nevada, and my favorite book is Time Jumpers. My favorite series is Time Jumpers, and I like it because it's historical fiction and because it's magic, too. Thank you. Sarah Mackenzie (37:14): Next time on the Read Aloud Revival, we're having a celebration. This podcast, if you can believe it, is 10 years old. I started read Aloud Revival in April of 2014, and it is now April 2024. We're still kicking. I think we're better than ever. Next time, I'm going to share some of our greatest hits, some of our most popular episodes, and we're going to have a little fun while we're at it. I am so grateful for you and I hope you have a little time to read aloud to someone you love today. Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.