The Common Core State Standards deemphasize literature. In fact, we need more literature taught.
Tolkien criticized the looseness of C. S. Lewis that prompted him to put Santa Claus and a variety of myth traditions in Narnia.
Fantasy is nothing in and of itself but takes its character in opposition to an unsatisfactory reality.
Also posted in Keats (John), Shakespeare (William), Tennyson (Alfred Lord), Tolkien (J.R.R.) | Tagged "Lady of Shalott", "Lotos Eaters", "Passing of Arthur", Alfred Lord Tennyson, C. S. Lewis, Eve of St. Agnes, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lord of the Rings, Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare |
Given how for years we’ve been witnessing certain evangelical Christians criticizing, banning and occasionally burning the Harry Potter books, what are we to make of their inability to appreciate Harry’s Christ-like sacrifice as the end of “The Deathly Hallows”?
Ten members of the Scott Bates clan have gathered in my parents’ Tennessee house, and two more, along with two beagles (Kipling and Beckett), are on their way. While the Christmas festivities have for the most part been joyous, we have had one moment of friction. Luckily, literature came to our aid. I keep the [...]
I have a special place in my heart for The Magician’s Nephew, chronologically the first of the Narnia series. When I was a child, I was especially fascinated by “the wood between the worlds.” This is a quiet forest in which can be found innumerable pools, each of which is the entrance to a world. [...]
Jason Blake, my Ljubljana colleague, set off an interesting discussion two weeks ago when he wrote a post on on reading nonsense poetry to his daughter. Many readers wrote in about children’s literature, and at one point in the discussion Jason posted a poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson that made a number of us, with [...]
William Kristof, the much traveled Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the New York Times, wrote recently about the disturbing way that children’s IQ scores often drop over summer vacation. The cause is lack of intellectual stimulation. The problem is more severe with poor than it is with middle class kids. As an antidote, Kristof offered [...]
Also posted in Berna (Paul), Burnett (Francis Hodgson), Carroll (Lewis), Day-Lewis (Cecil), Doyle (Arthur Conan), Dumas (Alexander), Homer, Kipling (Rudyard), MacDonald (George), Milne (A. A.), Nesbitt (E.), Orczy (The Baroness Emmuska), Tolkien (J.R.R.), Verne (Jules), White (T.H.) | Tagged A. A. Milne, Alexander Dumas, Alice in Wonderland, Around the World in 80 Days, Arthur Conan Doyle, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, C.S. Lewis, Cecil Day-Lewis, children's books, E. Nesbitt, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Freddy the Pig, George MacDonald, Hardy Boys, Homer, Iliad, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Jungle Books, Just So Stories, Knights of King Midas, Lewis Carroll, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Lost World, Mistress Masham's Repose, Narnia Chronicles, Otterbury Incident, Paul Berna, Rudyard Kipling, Scarlet Pimpernel, summer reading, T.H. White, The Lord of the Rings, The Princess and Curdie, The Secret Garden, Three Musketeers, Treasure Seekers, William Kristof, Winnie the Pooh, Would Be Goods |
