Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1939) is a difficult book in the Little House series for me, and certainly not my favorite, because it seems to be such a jump between Laura’s childhood and her maturing roll as young woma in her family. This jump is obvious from the
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1937) is kind of the last “little kid” book about Laura in the author’s fictionalized memoirs. Laura is about seven and, along with her older sister Mary, On the Banks of Plum Creek tells her childhood adventures in a sod house and in a
The children’s book Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1935) became a beloved classic thanks to the popular 1970s television show, but reading the book through today’s lens is painful. How can such a beloved classic be so racist? I loved the stories in this book. Mr. Edwards meets Santa Claus
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1932) was the first book published by this acclaimed children’s author, and it kicks off the “Little House” series of stories that were loosely based on the author’s own childhood as a pioneer in Wisconsin. I find it to be more like a collection
One book I love for rocking-chair reading is The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper, re-illustrated by Loren Long. My kids also love this one for rocking-chair reading. In fact, when we took the rocking chair out of my oldest son’s room to put into his baby sister’s room, he said, with serious concern,
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink is a 1930s Newbery Award Winner, based on the experiences of the author’s own grandmother. Caddie is a creative and active 11-year-old, resistant to the demands her nineteenth-century culture demands of her because she is a girl. In this fictionalized volume of adventures, Caddie’s fun occasionally brings her into
Is there a movie from your childhood that you recall watching over and over and over again? One that you think of, still, with fondness? For me, that movie was Mary Poppins. In 2007, I read A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and loved it along with the movie; they both have their merits. So this year, I
Equality 7-2521 lives in a dark futurist dystopia in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem. He has no words for love or self, and being alone is a crime. Yet, as do characters in countless other dystopian novels, he still finds moments to write his story of discovery. By itself, Anthem is slim – just 100 pages
Hemingway’s stories are poetry: that is my first and lasting impression of Ernest Hemingway’s short stories. In his short stories, Hemingway treats words as sparsely as do poets. I don’t usually understand or enjoy poetry because it feels like so much must be inferred or interpreted. (After I finish reading the HTR&W short stories, I’m
Page [tcb_pagination_current_page] of [tcb_pagination_total_pages]
