There was water in the Verdigris River when I drove over it in eastern Kansas between Yates Center and Eureka. For some reason, this surprised me, perhaps because I was so used to the dry river beds of the Smoky Hill River and the Arkansas River in the western part of the state where I … Continue reading Little House in the Ozarks: A Literary Pilgrimage
July has flown by quicker than any month of quarantine, and even though I thought that I would be bored without classes, I found lots of things to occupy myself including sewing, embroidery, and of course reading. It's time for a little bit of a life update too, as the fall semester is due to … Continue reading July Reading Roundup
As part of my "History of Children's Literature Publishing" course I'm working on multiple projects over the course of the semester relating to Laura Ingalls Wilder's 1935 novel Little House on the Prairie which is the third book published in what would become the eight book Little House series. This is the first of multiple blog posts that will stem from those projects.
When PBS announced the Great American Read, I was excited to see PBS uncover literature in American and let the country decide what the nation’s favorite book is. Based upon a survey, they broke down America’s top 100 books and are narrowing it down to one. The show, as hosted by Meredith Vieira, started on May 22, with a two-hour kickoff episode introducing the books. This will be followed with five themed episodes and a finale in the fall to announce the results of the voting. I streamed the episode the day after it aired, and decide to live tweet the process.
Anyways, because of my live-tweeting and the general position I hold as I walk through life as a bookish person, I have thoughts on this list and what PBS is trying to accomplish. So, I’m going to hit it with some list analysis.
Bruce Handy, contributing editor for Vanity Fair, provides a “ramble through classic children’s literature” in Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult.
Bookishly Bright 