Symbolia – A Book Review

Sylvia Anderson has been telling this story for years, first to her own children and their friends, and now to her grandchildren. When my daughter was a young girl, she spent many long evenings listening to Sylvia’s stories, and now she tells those stories to her little girl. Symbolia is a collection of these stories, combined as one, and made into a lovingly crafted book, published by Authorhouse, 2008.

My overly critical editor’s eye turned slightly jaundiced over the simplicity of Sylvia Anderson’s book. For a few moments, I mourned the fact that it has already been published, and I could not change it.

However, I soon realized that this is a wise-woman’s story. A grandmother’s tale, meant to be told when sitting around a fire on a cold winter’s evening. It is story telling culled directly from the finest oral traditions, and much like Grandma Moses’ primitive paintings, it may take one a few moments to realize the artistry that went into composing this book. It is written in the lilting style reminiscent of Elizabeth Winthrop, who wrote The Castle in the Attic, and Battle for the Castle.

In Sylvia Anderson’s story, a brother and sister set off on a hike into the hill country near their grandmother’s home. It is the first time they have been permitted to explore the mountain meadows on their own. They have their picnic lunch with them, and they decide to follow a stream that runs nearby up to its source. The stream leads them to a waterfall, and behind the waterfall is a cave, which of course they have to crawl into to find out what it’s about. In the back of the cave is a tunnel, and beyond the tunnel lies an enchanted land—a land that mirrors the real world in the ways that some of the best children’s stories do.

When the children first step foot in this land, they are told that the only way they will be able to find their way home again is to follow the sacred path that winds all the way through this land. The children begin their journey, down from Mt. Vision, through the Jungle of the Woom, the Mother Lung Rainforest, and Dogmapolis. They cross the River of Lyf into the Deep Depression, and from there through the Shadows Underground Maze, helping each other along and discovering their strengths as they go. This is a tale that children of all ages will enjoy.

The story is among those deceptively simple allegories that slowly display layers of meaning, much like a many petaled lily, the further into the story you go. This editor will definitely add Symbolia to her grand children’s Christmas stockings this year.
Sylvia Anderson is a student of consciousness. After a powerful spiritual experience in the mid 1960s, she spent the next four decades following her ideals through various spiritual and social experiments as the single mother of two beautiful children. Wherever she lived, she found time to spend with all the children who were there, feeding them, teaching them, playing with them and reading to them.

Book Review: Why Bad Grades Happen To Good Kids

Sylvia Anderson has been telling this story for years, first to her own children and their friends, and now to her grandchildren. When my daughter was a young girl, she spent many long evenings listening to Sylvia’s stories, and now she tells those stories to her little girl. Symbolia is a collection of these stories, combined as one, and made into a lovingly crafted book, published by Authorhouse, 2008.

My overly critical editor’s eye turned slightly jaundiced over the simplicity of Sylvia Anderson’s book. For a few moments, I mourned the fact that it has already been published, and I could not change it.

However, I soon realized that this is a wise-woman’s story. A grandmother’s tale, meant to be told when sitting around a fire on a cold winter’s evening. It is story telling culled directly from the finest oral traditions, and much like Grandma Moses’ primitive paintings, it may take one a few moments to realize the artistry that went into composing this book. It is written in the lilting style reminiscent of Elizabeth Winthrop, who wrote The Castle in the Attic, and Battle for the Castle.

In Sylvia Anderson’s story, a brother and sister set off on a hike into the hill country near their grandmother’s home. It is the first time they have been permitted to explore the mountain meadows on their own. They have their picnic lunch with them, and they decide to follow a stream that runs nearby up to its source. The stream leads them to a waterfall, and behind the waterfall is a cave, which of course they have to crawl into to find out what it’s about. In the back of the cave is a tunnel, and beyond the tunnel lies an enchanted land—a land that mirrors the real world in the ways that some of the best children’s stories do.

When the children first step foot in this land, they are told that the only way they will be able to find their way home again is to follow the sacred path that winds all the way through this land. The children begin their journey, down from Mt. Vision, through the Jungle of the Woom, the Mother Lung Rainforest, and Dogmapolis. They cross the River of Lyf into the Deep Depression, and from there through the Shadows Underground Maze, helping each other along and discovering their strengths as they go. This is a tale that children of all ages will enjoy.

The story is among those deceptively simple allegories that slowly display layers of meaning, much like a many petaled lily, the further into the story you go. This editor will definitely add Symbolia to her grand children’s Christmas stockings this year.
Sylvia Anderson is a student of consciousness. After a powerful spiritual experience in the mid 1960s, she spent the next four decades following her ideals through various spiritual and social experiments as the single mother of two beautiful children. Wherever she lived, she found time to spend with all the children who were there, feeding them, teaching them, playing with them and reading to them.

While short on length, it is long on information. The subtitle is ‘What Parents Need To Know, What Parents Need To Do,’ many parents go through the anguish of watching their children struggle in our school environment. Kids today are not ’stupid’ by any stretch of the imagination, but many of them do struggle with school. One of the reasons is the information rich world that we live in. If you compare the curriculum of 30 years ago with its modern counterpart, you can see that the amount of material has increased substantially.

The Silbert’s assert that there is no magic bullet to the problem, and virtually every child is different, however there are some common denominators that a parent can use to analyze and resolve their child’s learning difficulties. They base their book around 6 principles contained in the acronym STRONG, Self-esteem, Trust, Responsibility, Options, Needs, and Goals.

Taking each of these concepts in turn Why Bad Grades Happens to Good Kids explores not just the resolution, but the root causes, and they can be many and varied. By using short actual case studies the reader gets to see the issues through the child’s eyes, and the solutions.

Often times the resolution to a specific problem is not through punishment, it is by removing the cause of the problem.

My own children are grown and long since flown the coop, but even I learned a lot of valuable information from reading this book, and it is information that I will keep stored for when I get asked a question.

Drs. Al and Linda Silbert present their ideas in a clear and easy to comprehend fashion. There is none of the usual Medical, Mental, or Morality mumbo jumbo that forms the heart of many of these kinds of book. Even if your child is doing just fine in school and and life, Why Bad Grades Happen To Good Kids is worth a read. I can guarantee that you will learn something to make both your child and your own life even better.

Retrospect is like hindsight, and we all know that hindsight is 20/20. Much of the information in Why Bad Grades is common sense, but common sense often loses the battle with emotion, particularly when interacting with your children. Negative comments abound, either in sarcasm, or threats. It is simpler to say “well, are you are stupid or something,” or “You are grounded,” rather than try and offer positive reinforcement.

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, my wife’s 15 year old son found himself homeless in New Orleans, and he came to live with us for several months. It had been many years since I had had a 15 year old in the house. My wife, and to a certain extent I, were concerned that this would disintegrate into warfare within days! I treated Joey with respect and dignity, as a result I received the same in return. The Silbert’s make much of respect and dignity, and I know it works!

You can get pick up your copy of Why Bad Grades Happen To Good Kids is available through Amazon, there is also a web site about these interesting authors called Strong Learning, and their goals and aspirations.