Fritz and Christine & Their Very Nervous Parents

A wonderful new addition to the Resource Center, Fritz and Christine & Their Very Nervous Parents is a parable about vocation, serving others, and living life more prayerfully. Subtitled "A Story for children and the adults who love them", the story is based on the following questions: "Would Fritz and Christine be a blessing to the world, or not? Would they think of others, or only of themselves? And Would they be givers, or takers?"

These questions are repeated as reflection questions for the readers within the story. The following prayer is also sung (with music and words on the back of the book) several times: "O God's dear children as you grow, Be kind to everyone you know, Help neighbor and all those in need, and Turn away from selfish greed."

This is an excellent book for all those wishing that contemporary children's books had a little more substance and direction to them. 

And Fritz and Christine is not just for children.  A recent adult Sunday School class in our presbytery used verses of Scripture along with the shared reading of this delightful book as their lesson.  Choir members in the class were able to lead all in singing the musical prayer. 

Born and raised in Hampton and later accepting a call to Simonsdale Presbyterian Church in Portsmouth, Matt Matthews loves to write.  His first novel, Mercy Creek, winner of the South Carolina Arts Commission First Novel Prize, will be published in the May 2011 by the award-winning Hub City Press.  Look for Mercy Creek later this year in the Resource Center.