read
-
Why I’m Playing Fantasy Football
Stacks of picture books were loaded into the basket of the stroller, the crook of my arm, and even in the book tote which I took along with me. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, as we found one irresistible story after another. Loaded with treasures, we headed home for lunch, and in the late afternoon, we would pile onto the couch to do our very favorite thing — read those stories. I remember thinking how lucky I was to have boys sitting so still, and so engrossed in books. And, I was doing the right thing. Not only was I teaching them that books were a form of entertainment…
You May Also Like
UPDATE: Yes, Rosie is Fine
Loser’s Trophy
These Boys Say the Girls Missed the Nail
-
The Uses of Enchantment
The day I decided to become a mother, I was sitting in a college lecture hall, surrounded by more than a thousand students, listening to a professor articulate a truth that I had carried around since childhood: Fairytales are important — and are crucial to our development as human beings. The unrealistic nature of these tales (which narrowminded rationalists object to) is an important device because it makes obvious that the fairy tales’ concern is not useful information about the external world, but the inner process taking place in an individual.†― Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. I thought back, and…
-
It’s Halloween, and I’m busy reading…
scary books. This post is from 2009, and I still don’t quite feel like it’s Halloween until we pull out these books and at least take a glimpse. It’s hard, really, to sip a mug of pumpkin chai latte without thinking of Too Many Pumpkins. And wondering, what would it be like to not like pumpkins? Of when the boys fight, it’s hard not to think of the sibling-like qualities of cooperation in Pumpkin Soup.
-
On Moving Mountains
This afternoon, I escaped the mayhem here and went downtown, to the big library to fetch a book my son left at the lake. The library had two copies. I would just be a minute — just long enough to head to the second floor, past the great Christmas Train display in the lobby, past the second floor mole habitat on the landing… and of course, to peruse the stacks, just a bit, to see if there is anything missing on my bookshelf. What to do when life is not how we know it. Silently… I am relieved. I don’t have to bring them down here. I can just get…
-
Making Butter Spreadable… and Healtheir
It’s been awhile since I took the time to take those cold hard-as-brick sticks of butter and put them into a spreadable form. Finally, I grew weary of seeing those sticks re-wrapped, clumsily, covered in crumbs stuck back on the shelf in the fridge. It took so little time, too. Why did I wait to long? Here’s how I do it: I use real butter. Most of the ” healthy spreads” are full of hydrogenated oils, so I feel safer using butter. Plus, butter tastes good; I use it, a lot, and I hate it when the butter is hard, and it rips your bread when you try to spread…
-
Summer Read: The Hiding Place
I’m feeling a bit lost. I just finished the book, the true story, The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. Isn’t she adorable? She reminds me of my grandma — actually, everyone’s grandmother. Not just her face — but her heart. The heart of a grandma. Her book has been out for decades, but this was my first time reading the book. In Corrie’s words, she says that even she, “Couldn’t face what was happening to her.” Her story goes beyond paying back evil with good… her book is how to survive, merely because you choose to do good. I miss holding the book, as each page revealed the truth of one…
-
Have You Introduced Yourself to Arthur Geisert?
After attending my first real “story time” at the library with my son, I felt as if I had stumbled upon the great renaissance of my entire life. There were so many amazing stories! For starters, I had never heard of the book “Goodnight Moon,” until I heard it for the first time at story time, as an adult. That was a revelation right there and then. We would check out stacks and stacks of books, and I fell in love with the narratives, just as much as the illustrations. Pumpkin Moonshine, To Market, To Market, Blue Bowl Down, Owl Moon, My Lucky Day… and I found myself sitting on…
-
A Good Story Always Helps Me Sleep
The words pulled me back upstairs, for one more tale. I picked up this book, The Hungry Coat: A Tale from Turkey, and hoped I could get away with reading just a few pages, and stopping by saying, “Stay tuned for tomorrow for the ending…” But the gold leaf intricate illustrations and the flowing prose made it difficult for even this tired mommy to put down the book. The only problem I had with this book, and for that matter all books that are rich in culture, is when the names are impossible to pronounce. In this case, the name is Nasrettin Hoca. (Good luck with that one.) In this…
-
Searching For The Greatest
In every town he visited, a violent protest broke out in the streets where Gaylen, the boy in The Search for Delicious, polled the people on their most delicious food. Everyone knew what the most delicious food was, but no one could agree, yet everyone agreed to disagree. Husbands, asked to be truthful, were forced to give up ship, and confess, that no, he really didn’t love his wife’s meat loaf as much as she had wished, but rather, his Aunt Ninny’s country fried chicken stole his heart instead. People shouted in the streets, vehemently stating that the official declaration of the most delicious food could be nothing else than…
