Last week a reporter writing about the space shuttle asked me about moons and myths. We discussed solar mythology and the nineteenth-century belief that fairy tales enact cosmological dramas, and I pointed to the fluid boundaries between humans and heavenly bodies in Native America lore.  There are also an extraordinary number of children’s picture books either about the moon (starting with Goodnight Moon) or with the moon in the background (Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen). I like the idea of the moon as a “celestial body” (both spiritual and material) that provides comfort, brightness, and beauty in the dark.

And of course there is Moonstruck, which has the moon waxing and waning during the midlife crisis of the character played by Cher.  The connection between the moon and romance seems fairly obvious!

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/01/buchanan-sotomayor-english/

BUCHANAN: Well I, again in that Saturday piece, she went to Princeton. She graduated first in her class it said. But she herself said she read, basically classic children’s books to read and learn the language and she read basic English grammars and she got help from tutors. I think that, I mean if you’re, frankly if you’re in college and you’re working on Pinocchio or on the troll under the bridge, I don’t think that’s college work.

It’s always a great boost for scholars of children’s literature when someone like Pat Buchanan mocks their work. If reading Pinocchio is not college work, then we might as well stop teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I would argue that Peter Pan tells us more about the Edwardian era than a host of works that belong to “high culture.” And since when is it a mistake to think hard about the foundational stories of Western culture and their effects? And how can you fault someone for reading classic children’s books, working on basic English grammar, and getting help from tutors? If you compare his appearance below with her poised eloquence at the hearings, it becomes obvious that all that reading paid off.

It’s summer, and there is nothing like a good book to accompany breezes from the lake and the happy sounds of the screen door slamming. After years of resisting re-reading Stevenson’s Treasure Island, I picked it up the other day  at the Center Harbor Bookshop in New Hampshire and stayed up until 1am to finish it. It all came back. “I take up my pen in the year of grace 17–,” writes Jim Hawkins, and before long we are plunged into the “charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures.” I remember how I was almost breathless when I read, as a 10-year-old, about Jim on the brink of departure: “I approached that island in my fancy, from every possible direction; I explored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that tall hill they call the Spy-glass.” Even that name “Spy-glass” brought back a rush.

Politically incorrect? at times, though not nearly as offensive to our adult ears as some books from that era. What astonished me was the power of the words to pull me (both the 10-year-old girl and the grown woman) into Jim’s world. Psychologists write about cross-identification with the heroes of narratives. I don’t think I ever identified with Jim, but I wanted to be a witness to his adventures, and I cared deeply about his fate.  Is there not something oppressive about the idea of identification with characters in books?  Aren’t stories really about the lives of others?

The next day I read John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I was reminded of how important it was for me that Jim Hawkins became the boy who lived.  And, p.s., in that book too we seem to witness and empathize rather than identify with characters.

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/#/home

There’s a reason why J.M. Barrie made Peter Pan the boy who would not grow up. J.K. Rowling has managed to give us a hero who ages with his fan base. But with the time lag between novel and film, has Harry grown up too slowly for the first generation of HP addicts and too fast for the next generation?

Here’s an outstanding article about Harry Potter vs. Twilight from WSJ’s Lauren Schuker.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204261704574276261288253316.html

Nicholas Kristoff weighs in on his 13 favorite children’s books, and 908 readers (so far) responded with additional proposals for summer reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/opinion/05kristof.html

Kristoff’s top pick: Charlotte’s Web. I was happy to see readers add titles by Roald Dahl, Lois Lowry, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and others. Time to develop a list of the top 100. I am savoring the reader’s comments.

Here’s a start to the top 100 (to be developed in the coming weeks based on posts and conversations). My top 19 for starters.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl, Matilda

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tales

C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Lois Lowry, The Giver

Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter books

Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web