The Tower

The Tower

Richard Paul Evans

This fable set in China was chosen by our second grade teacher, Mr. Sprau who has an eye for literature that builds character. It was read with Amber on the Mountain (see blog post March 13) for a series of morning openings on the theme of helpfulness. A man seeks to be the greatest in the kingdom so he builds a high tower. He has taken the advice literally that people who "look up to him" will think he is great. However, one day a bird tells him an old woman is greater than he is. Of course, this is a challenge to him so he seeks her out. She tells him that she not only thinks he is not great, but that she pities him.

“I pity him because I think he must be miserable. He spends his life where it is cold and friendless. It is my experience that those who build such towers do not enjoy the climb or the height, but only to be higher than another. Such people must always be lonely.” He argues, but she continues, “To be great...is not to be seen by, but to truly see, others.” And finally she adds, “To be great is not to be higher than another but to lift another higher.”

Through an incident on the way back home, the man reconsiders his ways. In fact, he sees how the wood from his own high tower can help many people in his village. Along with the virtue of helpfulness, this book is noted as a book on humility in the author’s “virtues collection.”

Richard and Keri Evans created The Christmas Box House International, an organization dedicated to helping abused and neglected children. The Christmas Box House is a one-stop shelter and assessment facility to aid such children in these difficult transitions. The mission and spirit of the organization was inspired by the author's book by the same name. His website has more information. thechristmasboxhouse.org

Amber on the Mountain

Amber on the Mountain
Tony Johnston

In our second grade homeroom Mr. Sprau locates picture books with great potential as literature for building character in his students. Recently he incorporated two such books in his morning openings on the theme of “helpfulness”.  In the first book, Amber lives on a mountain isolated from other children and schools. She longs to learn to read...

Amber lived on a mountain so high, it poked through the clouds like a needle stuck in down. Trees bristled on it like porcupine quills. And the air made you giddy - it was that clear. Still, for all that soaring beauty, Amber was lonesome. For mountain people lived scattered far from one another.

A man comes on horseback to teach people to read, He soon leaves because mountain life is too hard for him. So he skedaddled before Amber could learn. But another man comes with his wife and daughter, Anna, to build a road. Amber’s Granny Cotton tells the man straight out, “You can’t build a road here. Folks will roll clean off it, like walking up a wall.”

But the man said, “You can do almost anything you fix your mind on.”

Amber was too shy to meet Anna at first, but as she watched...Anna lay flopped on her stomach in a meadow, reading a book. The sky was streaked with morning. The air was warm. The grass hummed with bees. Suddenly, up jumped Anna shouting, “Once upon a time…” and hopping around, crazy as a doodlebug.

Amber decided it was the right time to say “hey.”

From then on Anna is determined to teach Amber to read. She says, My daddy says you can do almost anything you fix your mind on. I just fixed mine on teaching you to read!

The story relays how Anna helps Amber overcome her struggles as she learns to read and also how the two girls help Granny with her quilting. Later on, Amber is also determined to learn to write. 

You can see from the directly quoted portions above how entrancing the story-telling is. The paintings of the mountain region by Robert Duncan make this a nice option for a gift. 

In the next blog post I’ll share the other book from Mr. Sprau’s opening time called The Tower.