Love your website – packed full of fascinating STUFF! I invite you to check out my websites on toy theatre @ http://pennyplain.blogspot.com and http://pollocks.trishymouse.net

Growing up in Eastern Europe, I’d read Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Brothers Grimm, Carlo Collodi, Edmondo de Amicis, Jules Verne, Hector Malot, Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, Robert Louis Stevenson, Petre Ispirescu, and Shahrazad.

They left an enduring mark on me to this day: I see the world beautiful, innocent, promising.

This is also what I try to express in my latest fantasy novel for children, MARIA DRACULA  www.mariadracula.com). That is a coming-of-age fairy tale about a ten-year-old apprentice witch and orphan from Salem, Massachusetts, who discovers that she is the great-granddaughter of Dracula — Maria Dracula.

I guess, as writers possessing a hybrid diasporic sensibility, we instinctively bridge novelty and old style, the newly-found home and the lost one, the stories we learn as adults and the ones we’ve heard as kids.

I found your comment when looking up Janette Sebring Lowrey. I an 52 years old and grew up on “The Pokey Little Puppy.” I am a seventh generation resident of Orange, Texas, on the border of Louisiana. I am a former editor of the daily newspaper, an amateur historian and a freelance writer. I was astounded to learn about 15 years ago that Janette Sebring Lowrey once lived in Orange and one of her children’s books, “Rings on Their Fingers and Bells on Their Toes,” was based on Orange. Unfortunately, the people who would remember her have long passed and I have had a hard time finding any biographical information on her. Isn’t that strange, especially considering she wrote the bestselling children’s book of all times. Do you know anything about her and if so, could you pass it along. I will let you know if I find anything. If we get enough information, our history museum would like to display something about her. However, our history museum, along with the public library, are still closed and being repaired after sustaining heavy damage as the eye of Hurricane Rita passed over us on Sept. 24.

Great idea!

Thanks, Cooking Dude! I checked out your blog and really enjoyed it. It just so happens that while my blog is about books, I like cooking too–especially baking :-)

Hello Playful Antiquarian,

My name is Bill Kauffmann and I am the bookseller relations coordinator at Search Institute, a youth development organization based in Minneapolis, MN.

Because of your affinity for exploring children’s literature I thought you may be interested in learning about one of our newest books, Playful Reading: Positive, Fun Ways to Build the Bond between Preschoolers, Books, and You.

Anita Silvey, respected children’s literature expert and author of 100 Best Books for Children writes, “Playful Reading is a wonderful book—full of sound advice and great book choices.”

It is a must for parents and preschool teachers as it highlights 40 children’s books and provides activities for each story based on the research of Search Institute and the 40 things all kids need to succeed. We hope you will get a chance to reveiw it in your library or on amazon.com or bn.com.

Thanks for reading my pitch. If you like children’s literature I really think you will like this book.

All the Best,
Bill

The only URL in this post links to the RLG catalog record for The Wind in the Willows through RedLightGreen. I tested it today, and it seems to work.

i can’t open this url The Wind in the Willows
what was there?