Category: Uncategorized
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A few more like her. . .
Though I have a lot of issues with most modern historical fiction, there are a few authors that I just trust. Richard Peck. Christopher Paul Curtis. Karen Hesse. I first became familiar with her through Out of the Dust, a book that ultimately won the Newbery. If I ever taught the 1930s, this book would…
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Will you wonder why and wonder why?
“We can’t think much when we don’t know much. But we can wonder! From now until tomorrow morning when you come to school again, will you do that? Will you wonder why and wonder why? Will you wonder why storks don’t come to Shora to build their nests on the roofs, the way they do…
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Ordinary things
Last week, I finished American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work by Susan Cheever. It’s an odd little book, full of lots of literary gossip and fluff and not much substance. But towards the end, there’s this passage: “Reading Little…
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School days
Today is the first day of school for most of my Texas neighbors. We also had a record high temperature of 107, but that’s beside the point. Depressing, but not the point. School is a really big part of so much of kidlit history. Because, you know, these are books about kids and they spend most…
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More from the archive
Last week, mom brought another box of stuff to my house for me to go through. It is truly remarkable what all she hung on to (and a lot of it is now in the recycle bin). But I did find a few things that prove that my reading tastes haven’t changed that much in…
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Movies vs. books, round 1
It’s probably more than a coincidence that I’m revisiting Klickitat Street just before the latest movie version of Ramona comes out. Back in the day, I really liked the tv version with Sarah Polley (also know for being in Avonlea, who’s source material is another favorite author). And the previews for the movie look pretty…
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From Contemporary to Historical
Last week, I decided to revisit Klickitat Street for the first time in years. Quite early in Henry and Ribsy’s adventures, I ran across this passage in which Henry calls his mom to ask if he can bring home a dog. The dog trotted after the boy to the telephone booth in the corner of…
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Roots
After a year of living in my own house, my mother has finally succeeded in getting me to take the majority of the Melissa archive and storing it in my own house. There are quite a few things, but I prefer to think of my family as archivists/historians and not as packrats. Last night, we…
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A Politically Incorrect Confession
I have never been a fan of Native American history. It’s not the guilt over how we stole their land and slaughtered them, whether by disease or guns. No, it’s really just that I am not an outdoorsy person. And living off the land has never been something that interested me. I admire that some tribes…
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Could the real Mark Twain please stand up?
If there was one unifying theme to my touristy destinations (besides museums and friends), it might just be “small towns capitalizing on famous former residents.” In Springfield, IL there are more statues of Abraham Lincoln than should be legal for any one community to have. Independence, MO is complete with signs of Truman walking confidently…
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