Category: Latest

Brown Mouse has returned to writing after a long period in which her attention was focussed elsewhere. The present challenges and changes unfolding in the United States of America impact not only this country’s citizens but the entire world. They have woken Brown Mouse from her slumber and beckoned her to write again exploring ideas about truth and justice, forgiveness and compassion….and most importantly about faith, hope and peace.

Brown Mouse felt inspired to rewrite her first version of Donald the Drake, as by being now wide awake and aware she realised Donald needed to be heard and his story shared. Soon his story will be continued……..and Brown Mouse hopes you will want to share this one with others.

May peace prevail in the minds and hearts of us all during these times of rapid change.

Professor Nel Noddings has been an advocate for peace education since the 1980s. Examining our contradictory attitudes and moral codes in relation to war and peace, she discusses in her book- Peace Education: How We Come to Love and Hate War – how and why this conflicting morality persists in today’s world. This prevailing confusion, she suggested, still permeates political thinking and action and infiltrates our educational programmes. It reveals our muddled morality not only at a political level, but within community attitudes towards war and how we are to work to create peace in our everyday lives. She has written extensively about the importance of incorporating ‘an ethics of care’ into any teaching and learning programmes, as one means of tackling this inconsistency.

Nel Noddings’ tireless and highly pertinent research and writings are honoured in the story – Caring Nel – with the hope that it will introduce any story sharers to her ideas and be inspired to become peace-builders.

Read the article Nel Noddings- Peacebuilding with Care and Compassion

 

The story Donald the Drake now has a different ending, one that needed to be altered in order to support and honour the journeys of those many remarkable peace-builders who are responding to a changing and challenging political environment in the US. Americans know the power of nonviolent peaceful change processes.

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be exceedingly well.” Julian of Norwich

Read the article Connecting Children and Young People to Peace-building Stories

Keep the faith. Peace is possible. Peace-builders all know that peace is a process not just an outcome.

Recent events have troubled many people throughout the world. Perhaps by sharing an uplifting peace-building story with a friend or child then together you can both find peace, if only momentarily. But the positive experience may remind you and your loved ones that peace begins with us and we can have it whenever we want……just as John Lennon reminded us many years ago. It is simple and easy to share a peace-building story and focus upon the good things in life, the ones for which we are grateful.

Thank you dear Marsha for inspiring me to share a gift of peace-

the story Donald the Drake.

Read the article Connecting Children and Young People to Peace-building Stories

 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s peace movements began to appear across Europe and North America. The significant voices were those of the women such as Jane Addams and Berta Von Suttner. They were influential to the processes of peace-making and their peace-building activities were  aligned with anti-war strategies that aimed to establish peace-through-justice and peace-through-politics. Several organisations devoted to peace were formed in the United States as a result of the work of the American, Jane Addams, and internationally the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Feminist movements, focussing upon care, compassion and collaboration, have positively changed the way peace is defined and created. They challenged the prevailing political beliefs by seeking nonviolent resolution to conflict.

It seems that Mother Nature is wanting us to listen to her. Severe weather and unseasonal rains and storms seem to be happening across the world. I wonder what she is wanting us to do? Perhaps sharing the story Tree might be a timely activity to do with the children and young people in your life.

The new story now uploaded – Live Simply – is one that has been restructured from a story I wrote many years ago when I was stirred by Gandhi’s words – ‘Live simply so others can simply live‘. This story expands upon this idea and hopefully links it with the importance of also respecting Mother Nature.

We have been very fortunate to have the support of Jeanne Moracinni, the founder of The Curriculum of Hope for a Peaceful World. The Fall newsletter highlights stories from our website. Thank you Jeanne for your wonderful support and belief in our work. The story guide, which is available as a free PDF download, has been created to help interested people choose stories anyone could use with children or young people. Peace-building is multi-faceted and the stories reflect these variations. Being open-minded is an essential peace-building attribute. Angelo Listen to Your Heart, is a story that introduces this peace-building idea that is associated with the willingness to change one’s thinking. Please return regularly to the website as new stories will be available every two weeks. Just a reminder- The International Day of Peace is on September 21st. The BMP Facebook page is up and running. We want to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the stories and how you have used them.

 

It seems it is time to really be moving forward with my dream. But what does that mean? At the website a story guide is now available for downloading. The guide presents peace-building ideas for using the stories with children and young people. It is not a prescriptive guide. My intention is to stimulate some thinking and possible discussions about various issues related to peace-building. It is open ended and hopefully thought provoking. It can be used to help children and young people focus upon building peace in our homes and communities.

There are three very special and inspirational people to acknowledge.

Thank you, Jeanne Moracinni, the founder of The Curriculum of Hope for a Peaceful World, for your wonderful support and for providing a space for an article in the spring newsletter.

Thank you, Dr Jane Goodall and Mary Lewis for your continued support, encouragement and belief in my stories and their purpose.

Thank you for visiting our website. We hope you become a regular visitor.

Brown Mouse Publishing originally was envisioned in the late 1990s. The concept was then tucked safely away as life then presented other challenges that required my attention. But finally I have the time and space to bring it into reality with the help and support of my incredible daughter, my own personal Tinkerbelle.

We would appreciate you providing us with constructive feedback via our Brown Mouse Publishing Facebook page. Any characters with which you would like further story development then please let us know. Please also let us know how you used any stories.

We feel that the stories can, in a small way, honour the outstanding inspirational work of those extraordinary people who have courageously dedicated their lives to making our world a better place, especially for our children.

We’re excited to release our first six stories as Brown Mouse Publishing to the world! As time goes on, we’ll be adding more and more, so please check back regularly to see what we have to offer!