Quotes From A Sense of Wonder

A few weeks ago in a post about Katherine Paterson I mentioned that I was reading a non-fiction book by her about writing and reading. Today I’ve collected a few of my favorite quotes from the book to share and discuss with you.

A Sense of Wonder is a collection of essays on reading and writing books for children. Katherine Paterson is a superb writer with an incredible mind and the gift of explaining her thoughts on paper. Every time I read something of hers I am amazed by what she has to say, and I finish with new insight or knowledge that I didn’t have before. If you EVER find one of her books of essays, you must read it the first chance you get. Trust me. You won’t regret it.

A Hope Greater than Hurt

I want them to know that despite all the evidence that the worlds seeks to crush them with, there is room for hope. That a good life, far from ending in childhood, barely begins there. That maturity is more to be desired than immaturity, knowledge than ignorance, understanding than confusion, perspective than self-absorption. That true innocence is not the absence of experience, but the redemption of it. 
-p. 62

Every time I read this quote I appreciate it even more. This is a wonderful way to phrase the reasons to put true hope in children’s books. A child is going to face their own realization of hurt and trial in life, no matter what fairy tales and stories they have been told. Happy endings are wonderful (and Katherine Paterson points out why in another part of the chapter), but sooner or later a child will hear of things that are not happy, but full of sadness and heartbreak. How can a child face sorrow when they have never been told about it? That sorrow will seem big enough to crush them when they weren’t ready for it.

Stories can prepare children for life. They can reveal to their eyes in small glimpses the troubles all around them, teaching them ahead of time how they can handle it so they aren’t thrown in the deep end before they’ve learned how to swim. But even more importantly than teaching them of trouble, a story can teach them of hope. They can be taught that even in the midst of the greatest heartbreak the world has not ended, because there is a God who holds the world, and there is a hope that still stands.

A Signpost of Truth

And fiction, though it may be true, is not the Truth, any more than a signpost is a place. But it can be a signpost. Fiction is not the Gospel. But it can be a voice crying in the wilderness -and for the writer and the reader who know grace it will not be a cry of despair, but a cry of hope -a voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.
-p. 74

This quote is full of such clarity and truth that I am blown away every time I read it. What a wonderful point made in it: fiction is a signpost pointing us back to the Lord! As a writer myself, sometimes it is confusing to pinpoint why I feel called to write. After all, we already have the Bible, which is the good and perfect Word. Nothing should ever, will ever, or can ever replace it, so why do I write stories? What good do they do for the Kingdom of God?

Just as is said in this quote, fiction, though not the Truth, can point to it. Writers can use their words to direct to the Lord. Over and over again in history the Lord has used people and stories to point back to himself. There are prophets, captives, and of course, John the Baptist, the preacher of Christ’s coming. Though none of these were in themselves Jesus, they laid a road of focus back to Him.

The Hope of Yearning

I'm not sure, as I'm never sure about these things, but I think the fact that this theme keeps coming up in my books reveals a longing -not so much for my own parents- but a yearning for the One whose name is unpronounceable but whom Jesus taught us to call Father.
So the hope of my books is the hope of yearning. It is always incomplete, as all true hope must be. It is always in tension, rooted in this fallen earth, but growing, yearning, stretching toward the new creation. 
-p. 324-325

This last quote seemed like the best way to wrap up this post because it captures so much of what Katherine Paterson is (getting across in her books). It’s a wonderful sample of the message of A Sense of Wonder as a whole.

Like the first quote of this post touched on, hope does not have to be in the form of happily ever after. In fact, this quote goes so far as to claim that when you are illustrating the true hope (hope found in the Bible) it cannot be perfect and complete. This is because we have not yet reached that level of hope fulfilled, and no one ever will on earth. Our hope is rooted in the future.

No story will actually be complete until the day Jesus returns, though we will see rises and falls of happiness and fortune. By keeping the hope of a fictional story a thing to expect, even if the book is over, you are not dismissing the truth of that hope; you are pointing to it. That’s not to say, of course, that there isn’t a place for stories of happy endings (we need to have something to look forward to), but sometimes a story of expectence instead of the arrival of the expected is just as important.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a reader, writer, or simply a believer in the true hope, I’m so glad you read this post today! Thank you for taking the time to do so. I hope it gave you some wonderfully deep themes to dwell on, and, just possibly, a new writer to go investigate for yourself. Katherine Paterson will not disappoint, and there is so much more depth to her writing than I could possibly sum up in one post. The very best way to soak it all in is to read her words for yourself and think on all they have to offer.

Which quote was your favorite? Do you agree with what Katherine Paterson was saying in these quotes? Share your thoughts in the comments!