Such a sweet little read. This is the first book in a long time that I'm looking forward to purchasing for myself and a few gifts.

nothing profound in this book.

Solid. Just plain solid words of learning, caring, growing, loving, and living. Wisdom. Fred Rogers simply ROCKED! (I have those little flags all over this one.)

My favorite television show as a child was Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Sure, I liked Sesame Street a lot, but there was something special about Fred Rogers’ gentle show and the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.” Mister Rogers didn’t do anything fancy or high tech on his television show, but through his calm and gentle demeanor, generations of children found a special friend who would show them how a Crayon was made, and also talk them through important topics like how to deal with anger and disappointment.

The book The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember was published shortly after Rogers’ death in 2003. It collects sayings and advice from Rogers about a number of different topics. I don’t know much about the private life of Fred Rogers, but based on Tom Junod’s excellent 1998 profile of Rogers for Esquire magazine, it seems clear that Rogers was the same kind, calm, loving and patient man off screen that he was on screen. “Mister Rogers” was not just a persona that he put on for the camera; it’s who Fred Rogers really was.

If you’re a fan of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, you’ll definitely enjoy reading The World According to Mister Rogers. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Who you are inside is what helps you make and do everything in life.” (p.19)

“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” (p.53)

“The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.” (p.81)

“There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems than can be the impetus for our growth.” (p.112)

“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has-or ever will have-something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” (p.137)

“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” (p.160)

Fred Rogers was important to many people who never met him personally, and the good work that he did still has an impact on people’s lives today. I’ll always be proud to have been a “neighbor” of Mister Rogers’.

Maybe don't listen to this on a plane or other public space as you'll be tearing up the whole time.

It's good to know that even as an adult Mr. Rogers can make me feel better about myself and about the world.

Duh. Mr. Rogers is the greatest man to ever live.

This book just made picking my senior Quito harder. . but in a good way :)

Mr. Rogers has always been someone I have looked up to. I even dressed up as him for Halloween this year. And I was just feeling like I needed some of that kindness and positivity in my life so I found this on Libby and gave it a listen.

This book is mostly a collection of inspirational writings. I think it might perhaps be best used as a book you keep on hand and read one of each day. Or maybe like one of those daily affirmational videos I have seen floating around. I, however, listened to an audiobook version. The cast does a wonderful job and the added speeches and introduction by Joanne Rogers was charming while also providing some context. I also particularly enjoyed some audio recordings of speeches Mr. Rodger had given. All in all, this was the exact experience I was hoping it would be. Here are some passages that I particularly enjoyed:

“The child is in me still and sometimes not so still.”

“Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

“One summer, midway through Seminary, I was on a weekend vacation in a little town in New England. I decided on Sunday to go hear a visiting preacher in the little town’s chapel. I heard the worst sermon I could have ever imagined. I sat in the pew thinking, “He’s going against every rule they’re teaching us about preaching. What a waste of time!” That’s what I thought until the very end of the sermon when I happened to see the person beside me with tears in her eyes whispering, “He said exactly what I needed to hear.” It was then that I knew something very important had happened in that service. The woman beside me had come in need. Somehow the words of that poorly crafted sermon had been translated into a message that spoke to her heart. On the other hand, I had come in judgment, and I heard nothing but the faults.

It was a long time before I realized it, but that sermon’s effect on the person beside me turned out to be one of the great lessons of my life. Thanks to that preacher and listener-in-need, I now know that the space between a person doing his or her best to deliver a message of good news and the needy listener is holy ground. Recognizing that seems to have allowed me to forgive myself for being the accuser that day. In fact, that New England Sunday experience has fueled my desire to be a better advocate, a better “neighbor,” wherever I am.”

And lastly, something I hope to work on and would love to see happen more in my life:

“It's very dramatic when two people come together to work something out. It's easy to take a gun and annihilate your opposition, but what is really exciting to me is to see people with differing views come together and finally respect each other.”