Like the playful antiquarian, I’m not much one for new year’s resolutions. I really like hers: "In the 1934 edition of The Children’s Almanac of Books and Holidays, Helen Dean Fish gives this New Year’s advice: ‘Resolve to read at least a dozen good children’s books next year, and make a list of them now.’" [...]
It is with great sadness that I report the death of one of my Mom’s favorite children’s book authors. Stan and Jan Berenstain have published hundreds of children’s books featuring their bears. I can’t tell you how many of their books my Mom shared with me over the years. Whenever we’re looking for books for [...]
In the midst of lots of busyness, I shirked responsibility and got lost in two books. I finally read Forever … by Judy Blume, one of the books I borrowed for Banned Books Week. I can’t remember the last time I read a book cover to cover in one sitting. It took me about two [...]
Like we need more to read … Time Magazine’s critics select 100 top novels, which the magazine highlights on its Web site, including reviews. link from reddit
(Sing that title to whichever tune you’d like.) Today, October 6, 2005, marks the 50th anniversary of the first reading of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, a poem important to American culture, so I have to post about it today. I first heard it at a summer camp for artists when I was in high school. I [...]
I stayed up late last night to finish Fallen Angels, one of the books I borrowed for Banned Books Week. “Wow!” was about the only thing I could think. The ending almost got me. Earlier in the book, when the guys went into combat, I would think, “Well, Perry can’t die ’cause he’s the narrator [...]
I happened to catch the piece about the fortieth anniversary of Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood on Weekend America Saturday, the last day of Banned Books Week. It made me smile because when I read the book for a class assignment in high school, someone complained to the teacher about it not being appropriate [...]
Vernica and I have been planning to visit the Beatrix Potter exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. Our trip happened to coincide with the end of Banned Books Week. A coworker remarked to me that visiting exhibits celebrating children’s book art is a quite appropriate ending to the week because it’s difficult [...]
Saturday marks the end of Banned Books Week. I didn’t do a very aggressive job this year posting something daily related to the theme. I imagine my aggregator is overflowing with Banned Books Week items. I just haven’t made the effort to plow through the pile of stuff lately. I’m about halfway through Fallen Angels, [...]
Last night, I finished The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier–one of the books I’m reading for Banned Books Week. It took me a while to figure out why people might not like this book. I’ve decided part of the anxiety may stem from the possibility that high school is very different these days than what [...]