A couple of years ago, I was going about my Sunday chores and listening to NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. A writer of children's books myself and a lover of children's literature in general, my ears always perk up when Daniel Pinkwater comes on the show to discuss a new children's book. The one he selected…
Read More "“This Is Not My Hat” Wins the 2013 Caldecott Medal"
“Oh yes!...The sweet summons of God to man. That's when He calls you up to His arms. And it's the most beautiful thing, a rebirth, a new life. But, just the same I'm in no rush to find out.” ― Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos Oscar Hijuelos, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his novel…
Read More "Remembering Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Oscar Hijuelos, Dead at 62"
I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on my commute to go teach my classes this morning. Diane's guests were Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institue, Nina Marks of Collegiate Directions Inc, and Robert Lerman, professor of economics at American University. I wasn't surprised that the answer to the question, "Should everyone go to college?" seemed to be a…
Read More "Should Everyone Go to College? New Studies Suggest the Answer is… Probably Not"
One of my favorite things that has been going around the internet for some time is the EMO person who posted, "What if he's your Romeo, but you're not his Juliet?" The lightning-fast response was, "That means you're his Rosaline and you survive the friggin' play." Despite the reality of what happens to the "star…
Read More "Letters to Juliet: A Project of Love for the Lovelorn"
What do Woody Guthrie, Johnny Depp, and historian Douglas Brinkley all have in common? Guthrie's only known novel, House of Earth. Brinkley, in one of those moments of discovery that scholars live for, stumbled across a reference to the work while doing some research. He, along with Guthrie's daughter Nora, were the first to read…
Read More "Woody Guthrie’s Posthumous Novel, “House of Earth” Finally Published"
Are you old enough to remember when floppy disks were actually floppy? Or maybe when disks were 3" wide? (Yes, kids, that's what that little icon to "save" your work to your hard drives and flash drives represents, a hard little disk that held approximately two Word files or a half a dozen pictures (but not at…
There is good news for young adults (and parents) who are tired of lifeless, often commercially-oriented films. Two classic novels for young people, Lois Lowry's The Giver is in production and Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes was released in 2012. Winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal, Lowry's The Giver is often required reading in junior high and it is one novel…
Read More "Young Adult Classics “The Giver” and “Tiger Eyes” as Major Motion Pictures"
One of the things I miss most about graduate school is the time to luxuriate in conversation with intelligent, engaged people about literature. Inevitably, someone had a different take on some element of the book that made me re-evaluate my own position or, conversely, helped me feel more confident about an interpretation. In a recent…
