Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring the children and youth of our congregation, Kiersten Moore and Rev. Shawn Gauthier on Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books, and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Owls in the Family, by Farley Mowat, 1989, JFIC MOW [From LibraryThing: “… what happens when your pet is an owl, and your owl is terrorizing the neighbourhood? … a young boy’s pet menagerie-which includes crows, magpies, gophers and a dog – grows out of control with the addition of two cantankerous pet owls. The story of how Wol and Weeps turn the whole town upside down s warm, funny, and bursting with adventure and suspense. …”].
2. Jingle, the Christmas Clown, by Tomie De Paola, 1993, J+ deP [From LibraryThing: “Staying behind when their circus moves on, a young clown and a troupe of baby animals put on a special Christmas Eve show for an Italian village too poor to celebrate the holiday.”].
3. Season and Solstice: A Unitarian Interpretation of the Midwinter Festival, by Phillip Hewett, 394 HEW.
4. Night Tree, by Eve Bunting, 1991, J+ BUN [From LibraryThing: “A family makes its annual pilgrimage to decorate an evergreen tree with food for the forest animals at Christmastime.”].
5. An Anishinaabe Christmas, by Wab Kinew, 2024, J KIN [Donated by Donna Brown. From LibraryThing: “Picture book about an Anishinaabe family heading to the reservation to visit the baby’s grandparents for Christmas. A story about combining Western and Indigenous celebrations, this book is shared in the hopes of bringing people together to understand and feel good about the Anishinaabe way, however you choose to live it.”].
6. The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice, by Carolyn McVickar Edwards, 2005, 398.33 EDW [From LibraryThing: “… Celebrations honoring the winter solstice as a moment of transition and renewal date back thousands of years and occur among many peoples on every continent. “The Return of the Light” makes an ideal companion for everyone who carries on this tradition, no matter what their faith. Storyteller Carolyn McVickar Edwards retells twelve traditional tales — from North America, China, Scandinavia, India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Polynesia — that honor this magical moment. These are stories that will renew our wonder of the miracle of rebirth and the power of transition from darkness into light.”].
7. Emerson’s Angle of Vision; Man and Nature in American Experience, by Sherman Paul, 1952, 921 EM [Gift of Christine Peirce Douglas in memory of her son Lionel Peirce Douglas].
8. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, by J. E. Lovelock, 1987, 113 LOV [From LibraryThing: “… puts forward his idea that life on earth functions as a single organism. Written for non-scientists, Gaia is a journey through time and space in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast to conventional belief that living matter is passive in the face of threats to its existence, the book explores the hypothesis that the earth’s living matter air, ocean, and land surfaces forms a complex system that has the capacity to keep the Earth a fit place for life. Since Gaia was first published, many of Jim Lovelock’s predictions have come true and his theory has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. …”].
9. The Way of the Earth: Encounters With Nature in Ancient and Contemporary Thought, by T. C. McLuhan, 1994, 113.09 McL [From LibraryThing, about what’s on the book jacket: “This book draws upon both ancient and contemporary sources to examine the significance of the earth from the perspective of six different cultures and how these spiritual traditions have valued, perceived, and understood the earth. At first glance the peoples of aboriginal Australia, Japan, Greece, Africa, South America, and Native North America couldn’t be more different. But by taking a closer look, the author shows that there are many more similarities than differences- all revere mountains as a source of inspiration and holiness, all feel a spiritual connection to the soil itself, all create art and literature to celebrate their connection to the land, and all see themselves as inextricable from the land they call home. This unique volume explores how human beings across the planet and across time have felt about the earth and nature, and how they have understood it, related to it, and celebrated it in their literature, mythology, religion, and art. It demonstrates that no matter where on the planet we exist, and no matter what time period we live, we all have a profound connection to the earth.”].
10. Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World, by Karen Armstrong, 2023, 202 ARM [From LibraryThing: “A profound exploration of the spiritual power of nature–and an urgent call to reclaim that power in everyday life. Since the beginning of time, humankind has looked upon nature and seen the divine. In the writings of the great thinkers across religions, the natural world inspires everything from fear, to awe, to tranquil contemplation; God, or however one defined the sublime, was present in everything. … In this short but deeply powerful book, the best-selling historian of religion Karen Armstrong re-sacralizes nature for modern times.”].