A young woman's first year struggles as a teacher in the late 1970's will resonate with educators today who face budget cuts and testing mandates. This is a heartwarming and entertaining story.
The Children Are Tender entertains readers through the first year teaching experiences of Lydia Birn, a young woman who loves her students and her life in the small Kansas town of Karola. Offering the sense of community we treasure in Jan Karon’s Mitford series and the rollicking camaraderie of a James Herriot novel, The Children Are Tender is humorous and touching by turn. This is a “feel good” read that will leave its audience hoping for another Karola book.
Excerpt
December entered with an unrelenting series of gray and windy days. Rain drizzled intermittently from low-hanging clouds that ought to have brought us the first snow, but the temperature hovered above freezing. My drive to town lost a bit of its charm because the only relief from the dull brown of pastures and bare-branched trees came from a sixty-acre field of winter wheat that stretched from the straightaway to the interstate highway. The wheat’s spring-like green provided a jolt of hopeful color that was inconsistent with the rest of the landscape.
Temporarily dizzied by the fact that I was earning a paycheck of my own, I had splurged on a pair of fashionably rustic, fur- lined boots in anticipation of snow that did not fall. I wore them anyway.
The road from our house toward town twisted and turned to accommodate Frog Creek’s meandering path. In the space of half a mile, there were two low-water bridges, and so the creek ran adjacent to the road, first on the north, then on the south, and then crossed toward the north once again.
One drizzly morning, encouraged by the untapped potential of my boots, I impulsively pulled the Nova to the side of the road near the first bridge, gingerly squeezed through a gap in the barbed wire fence, and scrambled down the creek bank. A little voice in the back of my head was questioning why these sightseeing impulses always struck when I was en route to work rather than on the way home
when I wouldn’t be pressured for time, but I ignored it. I decided to take a brief hike down the dry creek bed. “Five minutes out and five minutes back,” I promised myself. As I picked my way over shelves of sandstone and shale in the creek bed, I felt I was really proving the worth of my new boots.
Cottonwood and willow trees hovered close along the bank, and their branches created an overhead tunnel that blocked much of the light. I startled a red squirrel, and it raced to the top of a tree, chattering angrily. Feeling oppressed by the gray darkness, I levered myself back up the bank, using the slender trunks of cottonwood saplings as handholds. I could hear the chattering calls of the thou- sands of geese that had spent the night on the lake above our house, and gaining the top of the dam above the creek, I strode boldly toward the lake, waving my arms and whooping. This caused the geese to take to the air with a great flapping and honking. I stood and watched them: brilliant white snow geese with black tipped wings, majestic Canadians, and a smaller, black-fronted variety all flocking together. In hastily formed V’s, they quickly gained altitude, veering toward the south as they called to one another.
As I watched the geese take flight, my spirit felt liberated, but that sensation was almost immediately overtaken by a crushing sen- sation of having been left behind, earthbound. I squinted up at the rapidly diminishing forms the geese traced against the cloudy, dismal sky and allowed myself to acknowledge a fact I’d been denying; the symbolism of taking flight had touched my heart because I too felt a longing to break free. I loved working with my students but hadn’t counted on the long hours of planning, the tight budget that required me to spend my own money on supplies, or mandatory committee work that had little to do with instruction. What had seemed to be a simple and noble desire to help children had led to a career choice that made nearly constant demands on my time and emotions, and I was beginning to fear that I would lack the stamina to continue over years of time.
I heard a raucous, honking complaint and saw that, just a few dozen feet from me, one reluctant snow goose had not yet taken off with the others. Fearing he would be left behind, I ran a few steps toward him. He was quite fat, and I fancied he was a little bit lazy. As I made shooing noises and clapped my hands loudly, he ran a few awkward steps and then stretched those beautiful black-tipped wings and flew, somewhat ponderously, but headed in the same direction as his peers. I laughed aloud.
“That’s my job,” I thought. “I encourage the reluctant ones to
take flight.”
A broad grin spread across my face as I thought of Tommy, Edgar, Emily, and even Benjamin. It was certainly true that in just a few months’ time, I had already encountered several little ones who were reluctant learners and would never “take off” into the world of academics apart from my efforts. I hadn’t understood the sacrifice entailed in identifying so fully with the needs of the children I taught, but I wouldn’t turn back. I was beginning to understand that a teacher’s joy comes from watching others take flight.
I turned and jogged back to my car with a prayer that the God who had created me to be an encourager of reluctant fliers would grant me the strength I needed to fulfill that calling.
Professional Reviews
Can't put it down
I so enjoyed this book. I used a quote from it in a letter written to administrators in a Kansas school to protect the children there, helping them to understand just how tender the children are in their care. I loved the way the book flowed through the school year and Mrs. Birn's descriptions of nature are beautiful. I am recommending it to friends!
Heartwarming and Entertaining
Although the storyline follows a young woman through her first year of teaching, the audience of readers who can relate to this novel extends far beyond teachers. The author has articulately told a captivating story not only of "a day in the life" of the students, faculty, and staff in an elementary school, but also of the realities and life-changing decisions that accompany us through life as adults, spouses, and parents. The Children Are Tender is a wonderfully written and entertaining read that captures the essence of small-town living at its finest.
Momentary respite, comic relief, the perfect gift.
A friend encouraged me to read this book stating that it was an enjoyable read and beautifully written. I don't consider myself a "book person". Oh I've read the big ones: Harry Potter, Twilight, the Bible. Maybe with a few self-help and someday you WILL travel books thrown in. Overall, I feel very "modern day" and I tend not to check out or read books that aren't "straight to the point, "purpose-driven" books. I'm busy ya know!
Oh how glad I am that I took the time to read this book. First, I'll say that it provided me with a wonderful little respite each day. Each chapter in and of itself is entertaining and approachable. I'm not a teacher and I wondered "Will this book interest me?" It did! It connected to my feelings as a mother, my feelings as a former kid, and more importantly my feelings as human being just trying to get by.
Did I mention that this book provides comic relief? When I first began reading it I decided I would read it in the living room while my husband and children were watching a show that I was not particularly interested in. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sit quietly and read because I couldn't stop laughing! My husband and children kept looking at me and letting out disapproving sighs of annoyance that I wouldn't be quiet.
After finishing this book I was pleased to see that teacher appreciation week had arrived at my son's school. My first thought was to give his teacher a copy of this book. He happens to be in first grade, the grade Lydia teachers in the book. Regardless of the grade they teach, any teacher, new or old will appreciate this book. And any parent will be better off for buying it, reading it, and recommending it to others.
Fifth Book of the Southern Swallow Series. Nan Ya and his crew take a final adventure into a mythical Chinese universe and become entangled in court intrigue.
