蜜芽传媒

It鈥檚 been wonderful to follow the Easter family book club on this programme this week. Stories and how we tell them are more than entertainment; they are proving grounds for understanding the real world around us.

Today is Easter Monday 鈥� Jesus鈥� disciples were full of wonder at the news he was alive, the tomb was empty - but that did not mean they understood what had happened or went off into some magical happily ever after. Stories spread like wildfire: 鈥淚s it really him? Can we trust what we have heard?鈥� The danger around them was real, and they were still confused about what to do. Some saw him on the road, some in a garden 鈥� not all in moments of faith, but it was never their faith that made the resurrection true.

I still like the feel of a book, especially a children鈥檚 book whose edges have been softened by many small hands. When I was small, stories read and re-read again by tolerant grownups shaped me 鈥� the words and pictures helped me build a sense of who I am, how to behave, and what I might expect from the world.

Some have observed that all fiction, children鈥檚 or adult, falls into one of seven plotlines: Rags to riches, overcoming a monster, quest, rebirth, comedy, tragedy, or voyage and return. Fiction aside, these seven plotlines do between them describe much if not all of what is real, and important, and shared in human experience.

When I read with children I hope I help them to rehearse for love, and courage, also for healthy sadness or confusion - for real life, in other words.
It seems to me that reading is a way to prepare for the things in life that are the most joyous, and most costly. Story is not just an escape from life, but a pathway through it.

A children鈥檚 book I still read is Charlotte鈥檚 Web, by EB White, in which one friend (a spider, Charlotte) sacrifices herself for another (a pig, Wilbur). The characters are loveable and flawed, and the peril is real 鈥� new life does come, but it鈥檚 certainly not a simple 鈥榟appy ending.鈥�
Charlotte鈥檚 Web is just a story, but it prepared me as an adult for the real faith in resurrection that still shapes my life 鈥� something more than story, if told and re-told in each generation. Easter is still not a straightforward 鈥榟appily ever after鈥� 鈥� it never was. But stories taught me to look out for resurrection and notice it in the neglected corners of my neighbourhood, among forgotten people, and in every unexpected moment of love and joy.

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