I can reliably count on the Clarksons to write a good parenting book. Sarah Clarkson didn’t disappoint with Caught Up in a Story: Fostering a Storyformed Life of Great Books and Imagination with your Children. Beginning with an exposition of her own childhood, described as storyformed, or shaped by the stories she and her family consumed together, feeding their individual and family imaginations and forming their values and beliefs.

“Childhood development is a tale that unfolds with the same rise of action, the same drama, the same slow development of plot that comes in the greatest works of literature. Childhood is a story whose right ending is an adult ready to live as the hero in his or her own tale.”

Sarah Clarkson, Caught Up in a Story

Clarkson describes the growth of children in five parts, equivalent to literary style: Exposition, Rising Action, Crisis, Falling Action, and Denouement. My children are only 2 and 4, so the Exposition section was most explicitly useful, but I really enjoyed reading through the rest of the book to analyze how it applied to my life both while growing up and now, as a mother in my mid-twenties. Clarkson continues in her signature, deeply personal writing style, telling her own story while connecting stages of development and how our lives echo the classic form of stories through the ages.

My favorite part of the book was, of course, the book lists at the end of section. Beginning with classics for very young children, such as Winnie the Pooh and Brambly Hedge and ending with more mature stories, such as Lord of the Rings, the book lists were full of reminders of stories to revisit with my children as well as books I have never read, expanding my never-ending to-read list.

“Few joys in life, few gifts, can ever match the wonder of the present we are handed from birth: imagination. Is there a greater marvel than this faculty that takes the stuff of the everyday and reveals its beauty; that peoples our mind with new ideas, new forms, new words or songs; that allows us to glimpse the mysteries just beyond our senses, waiting somewhere past the sky in the heart of God? No, it is the well-nourished imagination that develops a creative, dependent, and spiritually conscious human being. It is the flexed muscle called imagination that positions a child to hope, to dream, to live with soul alive and mind awake.”

Sarah Clarkson, Caught Up in a Story

Caught Up in a Story also tells the gospel story. Clarkson explains how in order to live the gospel, each child must learn what is good and what is evil, and develop the courage necessary to hold onto faith even when life gets dark and difficult. She also explains how stories can echo the gospel and make it more real to children, because stories can be more real to children than just telling them that things are a certain way. Stories help us learn more about who we are as visitors on this earth, and help us look forward to a more beautiful life hereafter.

Although I don’t see myself revisiting Caught Up in a Story very soon, reading it helped shape the way I see both myself as a parent and my role in curating my child’s library of stories to nurture their hearts. It helps me to see my children as heroes and heroines in the making, and strive to provide the best material possible to feed their growing imaginations.