As a storyteller I am always looking for the perfect story to introduce the seeds of an idea or an attitude I want to be able to discuss with my children.

Especially considering last week’s post regarding teaching children about evil, I remembered I already had a good book on their level:

Doctor DeSoto, about the mouse dentist who treated a fox, has been around for many years.

It tells the story of a mouse-couple who agree out of compassion to help a fox with “a rotten bicuspid and unusually bad breath.”

They must formulate a plan to protect themselves for when he returns without pain on the second day.

This story nicely illustrates once response to the snake situation.

Also on the topic of potentially- touchy issues, I was happy to find Daisy Comes Home. I don’t know if this is what the author had in mind, but I find it is a useful story to introduce the topic of standing up to bullying.

Written and illustrated by Jan Brett, it is the first story I have seen that deals with the topic.

Daisy, the smallest of the hens is always jostled off the perch at night, and finally sleeps outside to get away from the abuse. This precipitates an adventure when the rising river carries her sleeping-basket downstream.

Daisy learns that flapping and pecking makes the series of frightening (to a chicken) animals she meets back off and leave her alone.

This education prepares her to keep her spot in the hen house when she comes home, and the other hens learn to respect her.

I recognize not every parent wants to teach this method to their children (why I feel the need to state the obvious, I don’t know), but I appreciated finding this book because I’ve been wanting to discuss the topic.

And the pictures are great.

More Children’s-book Monday here at A Path Made Straight.