There’s nothing like cleaning up a seldom-used room for turning up forgotten photographs. A small pile of candid shots were dislodged as I was re-shelving some books and drifted toward the rug. My husband picked up this one and handed it back to me with a smile saying, “Is there a reason I never see you read while you’re sitting in a chair? No, there probably isn’t except that after thirty years of marriage, he should know that reading isn’t a chair-limited activity to me. In fact, some of my best reading is in unlikely places. I am grateful no photos exist of me reading in the tub but that’s not from lack of opportunity. Tub-reading has always seemed like the height of luxury to me, since it combines words with relaxing in water. Of course it requires skill to keep the water-soluble print from the H2O (especially if shampoo is involved) but this is one I hone with regular practice. Outside of this, the only difficulty with tub-reading depends on the hot water supply. In a good scene, there is never enough. I have been known to read in the car although never as a driver while the vehicle was in motion. (That’s my story, Officer, and I’m…
Fall is unequivocally here, on the calendar and in the air. Daytime highs are comfortably lower, nights are longer and the primary religion here has changed to college football. The leaves are just beginning to turn and fall but there are some early spots of color. Everything is changing along with the books we’re choosing – there’s nothing quite like autumn reading. Perhaps it comes from the years we all spent in school, but autumn is the season when we reach for meaningful books, for stories that bring something with them besides primary characters and plot. History, both fictional and non-fiction, become more relevant in this season since autumn reminds us that time is passing. A new generation is starting school, while another has reached maturity and still another is passing on. After a summer of living in the moment, fall is a good time to reflect on life and to find your place in the scheme of things. That doesn’t mean autumn tales are lacking in story. The greatest holiday for stories, Halloween, is in the middle of fall and reams of words surround it. Everything about Halloween stirs the imagination from elaborate costumes (Come As You’re Not Parties)……
Full disclosure: The love of words brought my late mom and Liz Kennedy together. I’m glad Liz stayed in touch with me because she’s someone I admire. After taking her B. A. in English Lit. at Brown, she earned an M. S. at Emporia State University. She’s also been a teacher, a museum educator, a mom and for the last several years the resident expert in children’s literature at the website, about.com. Her column, (http://childrensbooks.about.com/) is a must-read if you want the skinny on current kid-lit. She was kind enough to (virtually) sit down with me and talk about one of our favorite things : books. Me: Liz, you’ve created an amazing career as an expert in children’s literature. What journey brought you to this point? LK: Serendipity and my love of reading and learning were factors. I love to read, libraries and bookstores are my favorite places, and I have a background in education. However, what particularly helped at the beginning is that I also knew html, which when I got started 15 years ago, was very important to writing for the Web. My husband taught me. Me: What were your favorite books as a child? Do you still re-read any…
God never meant me to cook good food. When it comes to spices, herbs, flavors and proteins, I’m a major disaster. I mean major. My home economics teacher recognized this when I put tablespoons of oregano in her braised radishes instead of the teaspoons she specified. (Who braises radishes anyway?) My husband figured it out the night I added sugar to the meatloaf instead of salt. He thanked me for inventing meat cake and took me out for a burger instead. The fact is, the kitchen never excited me as much as the printed page does. So instead of cooking the regular way, I cook with words. One thing I have learned is that Great Cooks aren’t Born, They Are Made. Julia Child had to go to school, August Escoffier learned through an apprenticeship, and Justin Wilson was taught by his mother. The same goes for cooking with words. All writers start out as great readers, picking up skills by studying the best. And like all students who’ve watched accomplished teachers, those would-be creators studied their texts, picked up their tools and concocted….horrendous messes. Good books and teachers can help you get started but nothing is a substitute for…
I learned to read because of envy. Some little girl in my pre-kindergarten class walked in one day, waving a Little Golden book like it was a fan. During show-and-tell she read aloud to the class. The teachers all went nuts. How smart she was, how sweet she was and wasn’t she wonderful to entertain the other children? Phooey. A show-off in a pinafore is what she was and I wasn’t interested in being her audience. I buckled down to understanding the Little Bear books Mom had been reading aloud and soon there were two readers in my Pre-Kindergarten. With a little help from Dr. Seuss, I left Blondie behind in the dust. Since then, I’ve read most things with ease. The thing is, even a talent for reading won’t make every book easy and some worthwhile works require effort. I found that out in high school when we were assigned Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” and all those Russian characters were confusing me. That is also where I learned the single greatest reading trick. When you sit down to read a challenging work, have something close you can write on. Let me go back to “The Cherry Orchard” This play may be instantly comprehensible…