Mud Hen Mama was birthed out of sheer frustration. I would receive book flyers from a certain secular bookfair business in my children’s school folders, and I’d think to myself, why? Why is there a push for children’s books that are all fluff with no substance? Most of the books focused on entertaining my children rather than helping them build godly character. The great majority had no depth whatsoever, or had an agenda that clearly did not align with my convictions as a Believer. Too many of the books offered to our kids were brain garbage at best. And normalizing perversion and sin at worst.
Forever ago
Back in the day, around 40 years ago (YIKES!), I remember getting those book flyers, and absolutely LOVING them. So I get the draw. It was so fun to look through the flyer, and then check off the little boxes for a book or two I wanted. Then getting the books a couple weeks later was a huge thrill.
Obviously, a lot has changed since back then. For one, I became a Believer as an adult, so I became much more sensitive to the content in books I would read. Additionally, I had homeschooled our kids for a year and half several years ago, and discovered an entire world of fantastic books that I had no idea existed. All of the books were interesting, had substance, and included godly characters appropriate for children.
We actually tried launching a similar business shortly after that time of homeschooling, with those newly discovered books as the main titles. However, the timing was off and we ended up essentially giving up on the idea.
2020
But then came 2020. I was aware of a lot of the nonsense happening with respect to Critical Race Theory and Gender Ideology (to name just a few topics of concern), but not nearly to the extent that I did after that fateful year. It amazed me to learn the extent of the rot that had permeated throughout many institutions. And sad to say, even the church. Of course, hindsight is also 20/20, so many of the red flags I didn’t recognize building up to that time. But in any event, that year was still quite the wake-up call. With a nudge from a friend, I knew it was the right time to “re-start” this book business.
It was quite apparent to me that families were struggling with how best to respond to all that was happening back then (and to this day). Or worse yet, they were completely unaware of any of the problems that they (or their children) were or would need to face. I also knew that if I, as someone who was actively looking into many of the issues of our culture, didn’t realize the extent of problems we were facing, how could other busy families find the time to sort through all the information and books to figure it out? Especially considering how little, if at all, the church (in general) engaged with the topics of the day.
I also knew that doing the research of looking through children’s books could be a daunting task, especially when there are so many demands on families. Between getting kids to activities, jobs, church, and just life in general, it’s hard to find the time and motivation to research books for our children to read that didn’t have topics that undermined our convictions as Believers.
We love books
With 10 children, we’ve read a LOT of children’s books. We knew which ones were great, which ones were meh, and which ones were garbage. And I also personally really love reading books that help me understand the cultural moment we are in, as well as books that help strengthen my faith and walk with Christ. Considering all of the above, it seemed as if the LORD was leading me to start offering families resources that could empower them to lead their families through this cultural miasma from a Biblical Worldview.
So we started Mud Hen Mama with a small list of books that we were excited to share with other families with similar convictions. Initially, we were targeting younger children and focused solely on Christian books and Christian publishers. However, the booklist grew to include older kids and other great novels that weren’t blatantly Christian, but didn’t conflict with a Biblical Worldview. And then we included books for adults and parents.
Obviously, solid books for kids is very important. But so are books that could educate parents to know how to think through so much of what was happening in our culture. We were excited to eventually be in a position to include a more robust list of books for adults and parents, along with children!
Books that inspire faith, nurture purpose, and uphold truth
My prayer is that Mud Hen Mama is a place where families can go to pick up books that inspire faith, nurture purpose, and uphold truth. Every book is vetted to be sure each title is not only good, beautiful and true, but again, it does not conflict with a Biblical Worldview. That does mean we don’t exclusively have books that share the gospel. But each book is communicating Biblical Truths that are important for our children and ourselves to understand.
I hope you love what we have to offer and tell your friends what a fantastic place to buy books this is! Shop now for great summer reading!
