Earlier this month, I received a message on Facebook asking if I would like to read a free copy of a Pagan children’s digital book, and if I would like to share it in my Pagan Homeschooling group. Unfortunately, the message went to this dumb requests folder and I didn’t know until today. Too bad, because it would have been better to read and review closer to the Ostara North date.
The basics
Grandma and the Ostara Storm was written by Anita Louise McCormick and was released on March 28, 2017. The book is approximately 19 pages and is aimed at children aged 6-10. It is available on Amazon for the right low price or 99c (USD).
Anita Louise McCormick has been an author since the early 1990s. She has written numerous books, including A Visit From Oscar: A Short Story About A Neighborhood Possum, Rats Are Beautiful: A Journal For Rat Lovers, Shortwave Radio Listening for Beginners, The Native American Struggle in United States History and many other titles. She lives in Maine with her pet cats and rats. She loves feeding birds and loves nature.
Amazon’s blurb says,
“Ostara at Grandma’s was always something special. For now, the weather is looking great. But grandma knows the weather better than anyone. And when she felt a storm descend into her bones, we all wondered how long she would come and ruin everything.
My Basic Summary
It took me about 15 minutes to read this, but that’s mostly because I have a toddler who drags me around all the time. I think it would take 10 minutes normally, depending on how much your kids would interrupt you while reading aloud.
It was a pretty easy read though, probably not too difficult for an average 8-9 year old to read. It’s based in the US, with references to a few things that may not be entirely relevant to those elsewhere – like the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and mention of Thanksgiving, Election Day and July 4th.
Speaking of this, reference is made to other holidays and festivals and certain weather conditions that may accompany these days. But other than July 4, there is no mention of any of the months that I can see and even that mention only refers to rain. This means that while reading this book, you are not taken out of your own climate and seasons because of calendar references. Which means that as a seasonal story, this book is very suitable for the southern hemisphere and other places that don’t have the perfect four seasons.
This book does not discuss the meaning of Ostara or the history (real or mistaken), it makes no mention of religion, deities or anything like that, making it a great book for secular families while keeping it relevant for religious families. It’s a great way to be accessible to multiple audiences at once. There is also no mention of Easter, which is wonderful.
In essence, this book could perhaps be seen as a story that normalizes Ostara as much as Easter is normalized – it needs no explanation, because that is what it is. The story is simply based on the time of Ostara, but it’s actually about the season and the weather.
Everything in the details
The details of this book are what I really liked. Anita did a really good job of incorporating almost every sense into this story. It describes smells, sights, sounds and feelings. By doing this it really captures the whole feel of spring – so much so that I almost forgot it was autumn here and my heating was on!
I’ve read books that go into depth about sights, sounds, feelings, etc., and they often go overboard, where the descriptiveness detracts from the story. But in this story, it doesn’t take anything away, it just makes it better and pulls you deeper. It makes you feel it and hear it too, it makes it real. I think she did a great job of keeping the balance when it comes to being descriptive.
Despite the fact that this book doesn’t go into great detail about Ostara, the way Anita describes certain feelings and ideas about time and seasons really makes it perfect for pagan children. Even if Ostara wasn’t mentioned at all, you’d still feel like it’s great for pagan kids.
“For [grandma, the weather] is a living, breathing thing – with a personality of its own. They have always shared a special closeness. Almost like a best friend that you know even better than yourself. He shares his secrets with her. “
The story really captures the feeling of the earth, seasons and time as living beings. And of course, the fact that Grandma has this relationship with time, that she has these “feelings”, certainly conjures up ideas of paganism. And once again, Anita manages to make it all so normal, when the neighbors listen to Grandma’s predictions about Ostara’s coming storm and they believe her!
Good for homeschoolers?
I think this book would be a good one for homeschoolers. There are multiple references to things that can engage the young student and lead him to continue his studies and research. Descriptions of weather and seasonal things of course. But there is more than that.
At one point, the story deals with dyeing eggs, naturally, and even outlines the basics of the process – which might lead to a bit of homeschooling fun. Mention is made of weather forecasts and recording methods, such as rain gauges – not only how useful they are, but why they are not always entirely reliable. There’s also talk of storm safety, which might be a good thing for the kids to look into. There are several other things that might get you into fun discussions or studies, but I’ll leave them in the book.
One more thing, the illustrations. The illustrations in this book are very simple, not very fancy but they are very cute and fun. I think these might actually be inspirational for some young kids, perfect for trying to copy for art.
Problems?
No book is perfect of course. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons this book fails and why. The book makes a few references to school, and it certainly means normal school – so it might be a bit boring for some students at home. It’s not too obvious though, so it shouldn’t be a problem for most people, especially not families who aren’t homeschooling.
The few references to things American, as mentioned above, like Fahrenheit and certain holidays, detract from the story a bit for those of us who don’t live in America. But that’s not a big deal, and as mentioned, the lack of calendar references more than makes up for it.
The book does not go into great detail about what Ostara is. Yes, it’s a good thing and a less good thing. There are many pagan parents who are looking for books to help teach their children. in regards to Ostara, if you happen to be looking for such books, this might not be the book you are looking for. But if you’re also happy to have stories that normalize Ostara to the point where he doesn’t need to be described or explained, then this is the perfect book for you.
History often goes off on sorts of tangents, looking to the past for example. Generally speaking, these tangents are quite relevant and useful to the story, but at first it’s a bit strange to experience, especially considering the length of the book being so short. Reading it a second time, that doesn’t seem to be a problem at all – and the fact that I was quite distracted on the first read, being dragged around by a toddler, may not have helped either.
Conclusion
So, I guess you could say that personally I had no real problems with this book except for the weird feeling of the tangents on first reading. And after the first reading, it wasn’t a problem anymore, so it’s not a problem at all. The other things aren’t really issues either, just things to note so people know what to expect from the book.
I really like this story, the way it’s written, the level of detail, and I really like the standardization of Ostara. I’m not suggesting this as a first story for your kids to read about Ostara – if they don’t know what Ostara is, this book won’t be the best introduction. But after hearing about Ostara, it’s a great way to help kids see their pagan parties as super normal. And that is precisely what makes this book such a wonderful book.