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August 5th Thoughts

Aug5

Today is my son-in-law’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Brandon!

Other birthdays today:
Ruth Sawyer (Durand), b. 1880, d. 1970. Ruth Sawyer was first and foremost a storyteller. She wrote several children’s books, including the Newbery award-winning Roller Skates, but her forte was collecting and telling stories derived from folklore from around the world. I have her book The Way of the Storyteller, a sort of manual/inspiration for storytellers, and I need to review it to refresh my own storytelling skills.

Maud Petersham, b. 1890. Maud was the female half of the storytelling, book writing duo of Maud and Miska Petersham. She was born Maud Fuller, the daughter of a Baptist minister, graduated from Vassar College, and met Miska Petersham, a Hungarian immigrant, when they were both working at a advertising agency in New York. The couple went on to collaborate on more than fifty books, and they contributed illustrations for numerous anthologies and collections of stories and poems for children. Their collection of American poems and songs, The Rooster Crows, won the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1946.

Robert Bright, b. 1902. Bright wrote Georgie, a picture book about “a friendly and shy little ghost who lives in Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker’s attic.” But my favorite book by Bright is My Red Umbrella, in which a little girl shares her red umbrella even as it grows bigger and bigger to shelter all of the animals that come to get out of the rain, including a great big bear.

I’m also thinking and praying today about weddings (about to celebrate one this weekend), gun violence and the people who were injured and traumatized by violent men in Dayton and in El Paso, Abraham Lincoln and the violence he caused, endured, and ended (still reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin), Hiroshima and the violence there (tomorrow is the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima). Since Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, we humans are a violent race. It’s not a cure-all by any means, but I can’t see why legislation to ban the use by civilians of certain military-style weapons or to limit the size of magazines would be an infringement on the Constitution or on anyone’s freedom or rights under that Constitution.

Born August 3rd

Aug3

Two of my favorite novelists have birthdays today: Baroness Phyllis Dorothy James (b. 1920, d.2014) and Leon Marcus Uris (b. 1924, d. 2003).

Although I like her detective novels very much, my favorite P. D. James novel as of now is Children of Men, a dystopian novel about a world where no children are born. I suggest that those who are prone to look askance at large families and pro-life ideals read James’ rather chilling picture of a future with no children at all. Read my review here. The movie version of Children of Men skews the themes and the plot of the book to make it more about refugees and anti-refugee sentiments than about fertility and the tragedy of a world without human reproduction.

Leon Uris is sometimes described as a “Zionist” and one obituary in the British newspaper The Guardian referred to him as a racist for his portrayal of Arabs in his admittedly pro-Jewish novels. I think this is an unfair accusation, but if you are Palestinian, or sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, you might not enjoy Uris’ novels as much as I do. Exodus, Mila 18, and QB VIII are all great stories with lots of historical information about Israel and the experience of modern Jews in Europe during and after World War II.
My thoughts about Uris and James and their books on this date in 2004.

Uris’ most famous book,Exodus, was made into a move with Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint in the lead roles. Reviews of the movie are mixed (I’ve never seen it), however, composer Ernest Gold won the Academy Award for Best Original Score of the movie Exodus at the 1960 Oscars. I recommend both the movie music and the book.

Pat Boone wrote the following lyrics for the Exodus main theme:

“The Exodus Song”

This land is mine, God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land to me
And when the morning sun reveals her hills and plain
Then I see a land where children can run free

So take my hand and walk this land with me
And walk this lovely land with me
Though I am just a man, when you are by my side
With the help of God, I know I can be strong

Though I am just a man, when you are by my side
With the help of God, I know I can be strong

To make this land our home
If I must fight, I’ll fight to make this land our own
Until I die, this land is mine

Also born on this date:
Mary Calhoun, picture book author of Hot-Air Henry and other books about Henry the Adventurous Cat. I like the story of Henry getting trapped in a hot air balloon and going for a wild ride.
Ms. Calhoun also wrote Cross Country Cat, High-Wire Henry, Henry the Sailor Cat, and Henry the Christmas Cat—all about Henry, a cat of many adventures. And she is the author of the Katie John series of books about a girl growing up in a midwestern family in the 1960’s. The books in order are Katie John, Depend on Katie John, Honestly Katie John!, and Katie John and Heathcliff. Be aware that Katie John grows over the course of the four books from tomboy and president of the “Boy-Hater’s Club” to a fan of Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) and a boy admirer. The books were published over fifty years ago, however, and the boy-hating and the romantic elements in the final book are quite innocent and unobjectionable. And Katie John is a lovable and irrepressible character throughout the series.
I have High-Wire Henry and the first three Katie John books in my library, available for check out.

Holling C. Holling, b. 1900

Aug2

August 2nd is the birthdate of author Holling Clancy Holling, who wrote several books that are wildly popular among homeschooling moms and their children:

Paddle-to-the-Sea. A native American boy carves a small canoe and sends it off on a journey from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. It takes four years, an many mishaps and adventures, for the canoe with its tiny carved paddler to reach the ocean. And there’s something fascinating about tracing the journey through the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean at last. Paddle was a Caldecott Honor book in 1942.

Tree in the Trail. A cottonwood tree grows near the Santa Fe Trail somewhere in Kansas, and as it grows events and travelers make history from the time of the native Americans and the buffalo hunts to the time of the American settlement of Kansas in the early 1850’s.

Seabird. Similar to Paddle in some ways, in this story an ivory scrimshaw gull carved by a young sailor travels the world on a whaling vessel, clipper ship, steam ship and finally on an airplane.

Minn of the Mississippi. A three-legged snapping turtle swims south from the source of the Mississippi to the Mississippi delta, and readers find out all about the geography of the river and the life cycle of the snapping turtle.

These four books I have in my library, available for check out. These others by Holling, I don’t have, but I would like to own them. If you happen to have an extra copy of any of these, please send it my way.

Pagoo. Explore the ecosystem of the tide pool with Pagoo, the hermit crab.

Book of Cowboys. Lots of information about cowboys and cattle drives, folded into a simple story.

Book of Indians. A review from my blog-friend, Amy at Hope Is the Word.

Rocky Billy: The Story of the Bounding Career of a Rocky Mountain Goat. Doesn’t this one sound interesting–just from the title?

Mr. Holling wasn’t always known as Holling Clancy Holling. He was born Holling Allison Clancy, and his he only changed his name to the “pen name” that he is know by today as a result of a signature misapprehension. He wrote his first name, Holling, in fancy letters underneath his printed name “Holling Clancy” on his paintings, and people assumed his name was Holling Clancy Holling. So he had it legally changed. Oh, and his wife, Lucille, also an artist, helped with the books and their illustrations.

Poetry Friday: John Betjeman

Aug28

John Betjeman, Poet Laureate of England from 1972 to his death in 1984, was born on this date in 1906. He was a poet born out of his time, in a way; his poetry sounds more like that of Thomas Hardy or even one of his favorite poets, William Cowper, than it does the poets of the twentieth century, T.S. Eliot and his ilk. (“A precocious writer of verse, at the age of 10 Betjeman presented the manuscript of ‘The Best Poems of John Betjeman’ to his favourite teacher at Highgate, ‘the American master’, Mr T S Eliot.”) Betjeman studied at Oxford with C.S. Lewis, and according to this article, JB (as he was called) rather blamed Lewis for Betjeman’s failure to receive a degree from that institution.

JB, in addition to writing poetry, was a journalist, an editor, a broadcaster, and a film critic. He also campaigned tirelessly for the preservation of the architectural heritage of Britain, making appearances on radio and television to promote this cause. His poetry has a great sense of place and setting, probably due to his love for architecture and for history.

Here are the first two stanzas of his poem, Verses Turned . . .:

Across the wet November night
The church is bright with candlelight
And waiting Evensong.
A single bell with plaintive strokes
Pleads louder than the stirring oaks
The leafless lanes along.

It calls the choirboys from their tea
And villagers, the two or three,
Damp down the kitchen fire,
Let out the cat, and up the lane
Go paddling through the gentle rain
Of misty Oxfordshire.

Go here to read the rest of this quiet ecclesiastical poem about the church’s endurance.

Links to more Betjeman poems:
Myfanwy
Trebetherick
Back From Australia
Inexpensive Progress
Middlesex
Felixstowe, or The Last of Her Order.
A Subaltern’s Love Song
Youth and Age on Beaulieu River
Diary of a Church Mouse

Delightful poet. Very British and somewhat “churchy.” But not too serious or full of himself. I like his poetry very much. It’s unfortunate that he and Lewis couldn’t get along; they may be laughing about their erstwhile feud in heaven now.

In her Poetry Friday round-up post, Book Aunt remembers poet Karla Kuskin, who died last week leaving a legacy of playful poetry.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Tasha Tudor

Aug28

I’ve written about author Tasha Tudor here at Semicolon before. I even invited her and Madeleine L’Engle to tea, before the deaths of both authors made that impossible. Her books, and particularly her illustrations, are old friends here in our home. So, I was trying to explain to myself what it is exactly that is so endearing and captivating about Tasha Tudor’s stories and illustrations.

First, there’s the obvious fact that, whether or not it’s possible or even truly desirable, all of us long sometimes for an agrarian past, a more wholesome, less complicated, time period and culture when families enjoyed simple pleasures like baking bread or playing dolls or rolling hoops in the garden. And Tasha Tudor’s books evoke such a lost time and place.

Second, if you read about Tasha Tudor’s life, you see that she tried to live the life that her books idealized. Yes, she was divorced (twice), a single parent, and she was born and grew up in Boston, about as far from a simple New England farmhouse as you can get. But it didn’t matter because she chose as an adult to live on a farm and garden and raise animals and wear nineteenth century farm family clothing and cook in the fireplace. She actually lived out, however imperfectly, the life that many people dream of and never even try to achieve.

Third, her books and illustrations are deceptively simple. You look at them, like you look at a Norman Rockwell painting, and you think, “That’s a cute picture of some kids swimming in the creek or a family of dolls or a garden in the summer.” But the illustrations draw you back again and again to look at the details, to note the vine curled around the edge, or the little dog in the corner, or the ruffle on the girl’s dress, and you realize that’s there’s more and still more to explore and study and enjoy. Tasha Tudor’s illustrations for classics such as The Wind in the Willows or The Secret Garden are especially intriguing as they look so right and appropriate for the classic time period of the book in question and yet give new insight into old familiar stories.

Three reason to love the work of Tasha Tudor, author, illustrator, and gardener. I’m sure there are many more. If you’ve written about Ms. Tudor in a past post or today on her birthday, please share a link with us as we celebrate her life and work here on her birthday. Just leave your name or the name of your blog and a link to the post celebrating Tasha Tudor in the Mr. Linky below.

She would have been 93 years old today.

1. Janet
2. Tasha Tudor Day at Story Book Woods
3. Rose Cottage Tasha Tudor Tea
4. Poopsie Celebrating Tasha Tudor
5. Heidi\’s Birthday Celebration
6. Junie Moon
7. Marilyn on Tasha Tudor\’s Iced Tea
8. MarmeeCraft
9. At the Pink Gate
10. Cay\’s Author Fiesta
11. Creekside Cottage
12. Deb\’s Tasha Tudor Day
13. Miss Mari-Nanci: Thank You Tasha
14. ~Vicki: Tea and Blackberry Tarts
15. Christina in MA		 16. Judy: Simply Thrift
17. Lynn: A Mother\’s Journal
18. Lady Laurie
19. Laurie\’s Celebratory Tea
20. Karen: Thankful for Tasha
21. Jamie: In the Garden
22. Brenda: Tasha Tudor Day
23. Island Sparrow
24. Karla\’s Cottage
25. Terri: How to Celebrate
26. Margaret\’s Earthly Paradiseo
27. Gillian\’s Memories of Tasha Tudor
28. Spinneretta Remembering Tasha
29. Noel
30. Jenny		 31. Cathy Santarsiero
32. Thistle Dew
33. Jill: A Tribute to Tasha35. Betzie
36. Carrie – Oak Rise Cottage
37. Happy Birthday Tasha! by Barb
38. Mary at St. Athanasius Academy
39. Gumbo Lily Remembering Tasha Tudor
40. Gumbo Lily Part II
41. Sue at Country Pleasures
42. Plumwater Cottage
43. Emily: Christmas with Tasha Tudor
44. Faith Girl

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Betsy Byars

Aug7

Betsy Byars was born August 7, 1938 in Charlotte, North Carolina. That would make her seventy years old today. According to her website and according to Wikipedia, she now lives in Seneca, South Carolina with her husband Ed Byars. Both Ms. Byars and her husband are licensed pilots, and they live on an airstrip and over an airplane hangar. I assume they also own an airplane.

Ms. Byars has written over sixty books, the first one published in 1962. In 1971, she won the Newbery Medal for her book, The Summer of the Swans, about a fourteen year girl, Sara, and her handicapped younger brother, Charlie, and a very long summer day. She’s also won a National Book Award, and an Edgar Award, and the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born August 28th

Aug28

I wrote about these picture book authors a couple of years ago, all of whom deserve your attention and that of your children:

Roger Antoine Duvoisin, b. 1904.
Phyllis Krasilovsky, b. 1926.
Allen Say, b. 1937.
Tasha Tudor, b. 1915

Also on this date, Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828.

Tasha Tudor and Family website.

My favorite Tasha Tudor books:

Actually, I rather like them all. Ms. Tudor is 92 years old this year, still living in her own home in rural Vermont.

Whenever I get one of those questionnaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It’s an admirable profession, why apologize for it? You aren’t stupid because you’re a housewife. When you’re stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare.” from The Private World of Tasha Tudor.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born August 27th

Aug27

Ann Rinaldi, b. 1934. Ms. Rinaldi may be my two teenage daughters’ favorite historical novelist. You can find many titles by Ann Rinaldi, mostly based on American historical figures, in these two lists:

Historical Fiction for Young Ladies, Part 1.

Historical Fiction for Young Ladies, Part 2.

Also born on this date:

Lyndon Baines Johnson, b. 1908.

Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhui), b. 1910.

I can hardly think of two more unlike people to share a birthday, can you?

To this Great Stage of Fools: Born August 26th

Aug26

Lee DeForest, b. 1873. American pioneer in the invention of broadcast radio, talking pictures, and television. We watched this excellent PBS documentary a long time ago and need to watch it again:

In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

John Buchan, b. 1875. Read George Grant’s brief but informative biographical entry on Buchan posted last year at King’s Meadow.

Albert Bruce Sabin, b. 1906. He invented the oral polio vaccine which replaced Salk’s injected vaccine.

Patricia Beatty, b. 1922. Author of mostly historical fiction for children and young adults. My favorites of her books are Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant about a turn-of-the-century preacher’s daughter who’s always in trouble and Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee about a young man whose little sister is captured by the Indians when he is supposed to be looking after her.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born August 24th

Aug24

Max Beerbohm, b. 1872, was an English satirist, critic and caricaturist. Quotation of the day: “Anything that is worth doing has been done frequently. Things hitherto undone should be given, I suspect, a wide berth.”

Mike Huckabee, b. 1955 in Hope, Arkansas. Are all presidential candidates from Arkansas born in Hope? Wikipedia: “Hope is also the birthplace of the former governor of Arkansas and current presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee; former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty; attorney Vince Foster; former Louisville, KY mayor David L. Armstrong; former Arkansas Secretary of State Kelly Bryant (1908-1975), and actress Melinda Dillon.”