Chapter Books
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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Over Sea, Under Stone
I started reading Susan Cooper’s Over Sea, Under Stone aloud to my daughters. But as often happens, our pace was so slow that I grew impatient, carried the book off like a lion…
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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…
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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…
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Pinocchio
It seems like we’ve been reading Pinocchio aloud forever, but this week we finished it. The story is hailed as a classic, and it’s a very different animal than the Disney movie —…
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Abel’s Island
We’ve started our schoolyear with William Steig’s Abel’s Island as our first “for fun” read-aloud. Both daughters (7th and 4th grade) liked it and were very responsive. I think Older Daughter appreciated it…
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Imitation Lion
“Well,” said the black dwarf (whose name was Griffle), “I don’t know how all you chaps feel, but I’ve heard about as much about Aslan as I want to for the rest of…
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The High King
It’s happened: we’ve finished them. All five Prydain chronicles. I could cry. Oh, wait — I did. Several times. And it’s not just because my daughters and I reached the end of this…
