My children’s literature class discussed One Hundred Dresses, a chapter book by Eleanor Estes and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, who I learned was an elevator operator before making his name as an artist, and sometimes let the door get stuck between floors to get in some reading time ( Read more... )

In my last post I noted that Wheaton College in Illinois has the wardrobe that belonged to C.S. Lewis. And they do. Here's a picture:


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I think there’s better food in Narnia than Turkish Delight. Just go the cave of the faun, Mr. Tumnus, for toast with honey and boiled brown eggs. Or to Mrs. Beaver’s snug home for orange marmalade rolls fresh from her little oven. C. S. Lewis isn’t stingy with his food description, and when asked if he put this in children’s books because he couldn ( Read more... )

A few days ago I told my nineteen-year-old daughter that I was going with friends to see Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. There was a pause before Em said, “Isn’t that a little young for you ( Read more... )

Nasty rumors of snow in Vermont -- mnn, thanks, Jo! jbknowles) Fall colors are fleeting, and I’m trying to store them in as much as possible. Walking while I can walk without slipping on ice or trudging through snow. Our little town doesn’t have much in the way of attractions, but it does have a lot of trees. A few days ago a car passed going along at about ( Read more... )

I vaguely remember being a child reading some already faded books by Thornton W. Burgess. His stories were filled with characters like Mother West Wind, Mrs. Grouse, Mr. Snake, Jack Squirrel, Hooty the Owl, and Grandfather Frog. Recently a friend brought up this author, and said she thought his work had gone out of fashion because of their use of ( Read more... )

In a recent class called Dean’s Book, we talked about a novel that not everyone loved totally, but everyone loved enough, and felt it made them think and sometimes laugh and sometimes cry. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an acclaimed novel for adults by Joanathan Safran Foer, which alternates the points of view of a nine-year-old whose ( Read more... )

Among the many bloggers who seem to read books faster than I can get them to my tables, is Sarah Miller http://www.SarahMillerbooks.com author of Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, a wonderful novel about the accomplished teacher, Annie Sullivan ( Read more... )

In the first lines of novels that people can quote by heart, right up there with “the best of times, the worst of times” is “’Christmas won’t be Christmas without presents,’ Jo grumbled.” And we know pretty soon that the absence in Little Women is not only about gifts, but the four sisters’ father, perhaps gone for the duration of the Civil War. ( Read more... )

A student wrote a paper on E.B. White who I adore, and now I love his father, too. Apparently E.B. White had a wonderful childhood in the country, a doted-upon youngest child, but he struggled with depression through his life. After graduating from college, he took off with a college buddy to go cross country in a Ford Model-T. (which also happens ( Read more... )