I confess, I’ve never read any of Mr. Barron’s books. But after watching him in these videos, I’m going to rectify that. His passion is infectious.
I’m guessing, after hearing him, that he and I have different worldviews. I”m not a big one for looking for the hero inside. I know that’s a really common theme in children’s books and I’m the odd duck here. I know the power in our hearts is a widely held belief these days.
I remember when my son was three and he was in gymnastics. His teachers, a wonderful couple of the Baha’i faith, used to gather the little tykes up in a huddle at the end of their hour and they’d all put their hands in, one on top of another, and they’d shout, ‘I can do anything!”
And I, being the stickler that I am, would tell my son and daughter as we drove home, “‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ Jesus is the one that gives us strength to do things. It’s not really true that you can do anything. You can’t walk through fire and live, for instance. You can’t run as fast the car. You can’t stay up past eight o’clock.” 
Yes, I know. It’s a fine line and many people don’t see it. But I’ve always been determined to tell my kids the truth (no Santa for the poor things), and it really isn’t true that we can do anything, or that we can do anything we set our minds to. We can’t sprout wings and fly.
But we can think and dream and work and invent airplanes. Yes. So I understand that we need to encourage our children to dream big.
And so I can enjoy a man like Mr. Barron, who has a passion for his characters and his story and, most importantly for his audience. He wants to empower children, if I may use a rather tired word. He wants to encourage them to reach and stretch and to feel the wonder of who they are. And children should feel wonderful. Every child should understand that he is fearfully and wonderfully made, that he is unique, and that he has a voice and a purpose. Every child should know that he is wanted, if not by his parents, then by God, and every child should feel that he has the right to try and fail or, even, Lord willing, to try and succeed.
So I’m looking forward to meeting young Merlin and Basil and seeing what they have to say to me about what I can try, though I’m long past being a child. After all, I still need to be encouraged to reach.
