Nancy L. Cocks is a Canadian Presbyterian minister who has been using storytelling in her ministry for over 10 years. She is the author of the best-selling Fergie the Frog adventures for young readers. Cocks is convinced that stories are good medicine for children and provide them with opportunities to explore their faith and their fears. She notes: "We can help children grow up trusting God to be at the centre of their lives by telling children stories that speak of their genuine concerns, by listening to stories that children long to tell, and by exploring together the questions that children raise — about God, about life and about how to live faithfully in God's world."
This paperback is designed for use by parents, grandparents, teachers, ministers, and priests. In chapters on listening by heart, landscapes of wonder, patchwork prayers, and developing an appetite for God, Cocks spells out her philosophy of the moral value and creative clout of stories in the lives of children ages 4 to 12. The second part of the book contains stories about Fergie the Frog, Sherman the Hound Dog, and Jackie Rabbit. The indexes target each of these tales to faith themes, life situations, feelings explored in the story, and Biblical references. Growing Up with God makes a good case for storytelling in church communities.
