ISBN 0-525-46482-4
Thirty-four books in 36 years; four children, a growing number of grandchildren for this wife, pastor’s spouse, teacher, speaker and recipient of many prestigious awards, who is always humble before her own accomplishments and lavish with thanksgiving for all that has made her life what it has been and is today.
This book contains many speeches given on the occasions of recognition of her work. Some were given to small groups and others to huge audiences. Katherine has twice been the winner of the National Book Award and twice the recipient of the Newbery Medal. When children who have read her books come close to her, there is awe but also the trust they have in her because of how children of her books have been treated. Her stories of her own childhood, as lived with missionary parents and siblings, and her recounting of life with her own children make one feel as if they had been there. Her memories, like those of Annie Dillard, make me wonder if I have been conscious during my own lifetime, and they call me to remember and to wonder about the influence of people and happenings on me and who I am today.
Paterson is a woman of faith; faith that has been both tested and nurtured. The reader of her books knows that matters of providence and sacrifice and sustenance and grace are woven into the lives whose stories she tells, and the lives of those who read them. Readers know that this writer is not playing games or trapping them with her own agenda, but is accepting the real as real, and always with the assurance that there is, at every turn, more than meets the eye. This book allows us to hear some of how those convictions were formed and what makes life with God the best life for both children and adults around them.
Posted April 11, 2003
