Children's Books

  • Children's Books,  Literary Study

    The Narnia Code

    Recently, I enrolled in the Hillsdale College course on C.S. Lewis. Having breathed Lewis’s interplanetary trilogy (especially That Hideous Strength) almost continuously for the last year, the chance to hear some expert discussion…

  • Biography,  Chapter Books

    Defending Laura

    The renaming of the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Award” as the “Children’s Literature Legacy Award” seems shockingly misguided. It coincides with my reading of Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser, a biography of Wilder that…

  • Chapter Books

    The Secret Garden

    I wanted to note a few thoughts about Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, first published serially in 1910. As I noted in this post, Madeleine L’Engle speaks of it in Walking on…

  • Children's Books,  Novels

    The Blue Hills

    I enjoyed Elizabeth Goudge’s The Blue Hills over a period of about two days. It’s actually a children’s book, though it was not located in the children’s section of the library when I…

  • Chapter Books

    Harriet the Spy

    Harriet the Spy has been in print for just over 50 years. I read it long ago, and when I saw it on the library shelf I wanted to revisit it. Harriet M.…

  • Children's Books

    Merry Christmas

    I’m on the couch this week, recovering from foot surgery. Today is my post-operative check-up, where I’ll get my first glimpse of my poor, shriveled, stitched-up left foot, hefted around since last Thursday…

  • Chapter Books

    Narnia Cover Art

    Along with the many reflections on JFK today are a number of tributes to C.S. Lewis to commemorate the anniversary of his death. I liked this photo essay presenting the different book covers…

  • Chapter Books

    The Wonderful O

    The fifth of James Thurber’s fairytales for children (of all ages) is shorter on plot than wordplay, but we won’t hold it against him. The plot — which involves some pirates who, while…