Burgess Books- What about all of the talk of mother nature?

We’ve read many of these books as well and have had no confusion about WHO our creator is.  All of the animals have real names, i.e., Old Reddy Fox, Buster Bear, Chatterer Red Squirrel, Danny Meadow Mouse,  etc. and they all “talk” which we know isn’t “real”.

But the bottom line is, just because my family/children are okay with it (have never expressed confusion) doesn’t mean it’s okay with you or your family.  You have to make that decision for yourself (not that you don’t already know that;) A while back there were discussions about this very topic on the forum; it might be worth reading and then come to your own conclusion.

Here is the link to the other thread related to these books:http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/thornton-burgess-books-1

I had made a similar comment as you.  Although I have stopped playing the mp3 stories, I did purchase the Seashore book which was not on the mp3.  I may read this aloud and substitute God for Mother Nature.  Thank you for sharing your concerns.  I am glad to see that I am not the only one.  dh thought it was fine since they are just stories.  But it bothers me.  ds is upset to find out that many dinosaur books have lies in them, so I am sure it would be upsetting to him to continue to listen and find out that another worldly source that he likes is spitting out more lies.  Give credit where credit is due.  In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1  This does make for great discussions on worldviews if dc are ready for that.

We decided to use The Living Forest Series for now, we have many of the Burgess books though. When they are old enough to read the Burgess books themselves then I think they will be old enough to understand the difference.  My oldest would be fine, but not sure about the younger bunch. I do like the books though and would happily sub the wording if I did not have the other books.

I have had the same concerns: not liking “Mother Nature”. My DD simply told me one day that we don’t need those books in the house because they don’t talk about God. She is getting older now where she might be okay with the stories and be able to work through the issues of the words (she is an extreme realist with black-and-white thinking, on the autism spectrum). So, I found the document online (somewhere on the AO site) and copied it into a Word document. I then changed the wording a bit, to suit us. That is the beauty of digital! I plan to use it this year, so we’ll see. She loves animals and will love the stories, we just needed to get the wording correct for her to be able to get past that part. Hope that helps!!!!

p.s. I can’t just say the words differently as we read, cuz DD sits right beside me and reads the words along with me. She corrects my words if I say the wrong one. 🙂

I like to think of Mother Nature in terms of “all the natural laws that God put in place.” Just as a mother cares for her children, so God lovingly put these laws into place to care for the animals and all of nature. 

And like we sometimes personalize an inanimate idea or item, like Old Man River or referring to a ship as “she,” some authors like to refer to God’s natural laws as Mother Nature.

I also think maybe they are a little young, but as the others have said, pretty soon they will be able to know the difference between things and then those are delightful books. Sometimes we underestimate our children’s understanding, and if they have been taught about God and His Creation, they will know that God made the animals and the birds and insects. I am familiar with some of the books that Rachel mentioned and I would recommend them as well. Personification in literature is very common and they will meet it often in their future studies, but they will understand, I would not worry. Linda

I agree with Sonya.  We had a great time with these books, and my children understand what “Mother Nature” is referring to.  Also, my children were 7 or older when being read to or reading these books.