Archive | July 2007

Visiting the Cassons

Jul31

Saffy’s Angel, Indigo’s Star, and Permanent Rose by British author Hilary McKay make up a series of books featuring one of the most dysfunctional functioning familes in children’s literature. The Casson family consists of Cadmium (Caddy), Saffron (Saffy), Indigo, Permanent Rose, mother Eve, and absentee father Bill. Caddy spends most of the three books being wishy-washy about her multiple boyfriends, while she remains somewhat committed to her driving instructor boyfriend, Michael. Saffy, who’s really the daughter of Eve’s twin sister, is an adopted Casson. She and her friend Sarah careen about town and home, Sarah in a wheelchair, seriously shopping, sunbathing in the nude, doing mountains of homework for fun, and creating culinary disasters. Indigo represents stability, sort of the strong, silent type, but totally accepting of his insane family’s eccentricities. Tom, Indigo’s American friend, is a callous dope, but Indigo and Rose “like dopes.” Permanent Rose (all the children are named after artist’s paint colors) is a feisty eight year old who sometimes shoplifts for the fun of it and who paints murals on the walls of the Cassons’ house. Eve, the mother of all these children, is an artist who produces what her husband Bill calls “not really art.” She spends her days and most of her nights in a backyard shed where she paints and dozes and daydreams. Eve also teaches art to juvenile deliquents and paints murals at the hospital to make a little addition to the family income. Bill, the father of this ridiculous family, is a “real artist” based in London in an immaculately orderly flat where he creates great art and lives with his girlfriend, Samantha. Bill and Eve are not divorced, and Bill sometimes visits his family and contributes to the housekeeping fund in a jar on the kitchen counter.

I forgot to mention that the Cassons keep pet guinea pigs in the garden, and Eve doesn’t know how to shop for groceries or cook. Sarah decides by the end of the third book that Eve is “a saint or just more or less totally bonkers. . . probably both.” If you can suspend disbelief for a while and take it on faith that a family like the Cassons could survive in modern-day England, then you might enjoy a visit with the Cassons. It’s a nice place to visit, but I think, like Bill, I’d have a hard time living there. At the very least, Ms. McKay keeps the reader guessing as to what totally bonkers thing will happen next. There’s a fourth book about the Casson family, Caddy Ever After, that I’m going to pick up soon, just for that very purpose, to see what will happen next. I feel a bit responsible after three books to see that they all come out all right.

Indie Blogs

Jul30

Ariel at BitterSweet Life thought up this whole Indie Blog thing. To be an indie blogger, you’re supposed to have minimal overall influence and negligible financial impact, and also be fiercely unique, illogically dedicated, unapologetically eclectic, and typically ignored. Or at least five out of the seven. Ariel thinks I qualify, and I’m honored to be an Indie Blog. Go here for the origins of the Idie Blog tag.

indie+blog+5-1

Now, these blogs that I’ve chosen are INDIE, not likely to become the most influential or talked-about blogs in the blogosphere. In fact they all feature material only a confirmed bibliophile (or bibliomaniac) could love, but I’m hooked:

The Book Inscriptions Project: “We collect personal messages written in ink (or pen or marker or crayon or grape jelly) inside books.
Pictures count. So do poems. So do notes on paper found in a book. The more heartfelt the better.
Send a copy of the cover and the inscription and any details about how, when and where you found it.”

Wonders for Oyarsa is blogging the Bible: “Blogs about reading a book I’ve read all my life don’t sound too exciting. And maybe it isn’t exciting, and I don’t really expect that many readers. However, it does seem like a really good idea for any Christian – to read the entire Bible, reflect on it, honestly write what comes to mind, and welcome conversation from others.”

Postman’s Horn is “a daily selection of correspondence by authors, writers, painters, poets and others: A letter can provide that sense of everyday life, a glimpse of the the trials and tribulations of another human soul; and they can underscore the humanity of writers who have become so very famous. I enjoy reading them, as does my wife, and we thought it would be a type of commonplace book where others could read them as well.”

Chesterton and Friends is “a site dedicated to G.K. Chesterton, his friends, and the writers he influenced: Belloc, Baring, Lewis, Tolkien, Dawson, Barfield, Knox, Muggeridge, and others.” It’s a case of independent bloggers celebrating some rather independent writers.

Self

Jul29

MFS at Mental Multivitamin makes me think, and that’s a very good thing. Especially lately, my mind is so caught up in daily concerns and necessities that it is renewing to stop and think for a moment.

Yes, the images of Amish teenagers attending what amounts to rave parties fueled by copious amounts of alcohol, drugs, and bad music are, as one reviewer describes it, ‘jarring,’ but it was the reminder that if a child returns to his church community following rumspringa (and ninety percent do), he is, in effect, denying his sense of self: Amish religious convictions are predicated on the erasure of self.

SHUDDER.”

I haven’t seen the documentary Devil’s Playground that MFS is writing about in this post, but I have read about it. And I would probably have some disagreement with what I perceive from a distance as a legalistic theology in Amish Christianity. Nevertheless, denying self is a very Christian concept. In fact, Jesus commanded us, “Deny yourself. Take up your cross, and follow me.” I was reminded of this quotation from Methodist missionary Stanley Jones’s The Christ of the Indian Road, published back in 1925.

Greece said, ‘Be moderate—know thyself.’
Rome said, ‘Be strong—order thyself.’
Confucianism says, ‘Be superior—correct thyself.’
Shintoism says, ‘Be loyal—suppress thyself.’
Buddhism says, ‘Be disillusioned—annihilate thyself.’
Hinduism says, ‘Be separated—merge thyself.’
Mohammedanism says, ‘Be submissive—assert thyself.’
Judaism says, ‘Be holy—conform thyself.’
Materialism says, ‘Be industrious—enjoy thyself.’
Modern Dilettantism says, ‘Be broad—cultivate thyself.’
Christianity says, ‘Be Christlike—give thyself.'”

The self-denial that Christians preach is not self-annihilation, but rather a giving of self as God created it to service in His name. Are we sure that the Amish are advocating “the erasure of self”? Or could it be that they believe in giving a higher priority to Christian community and to the glorification of God in that community? And could a lifetime of this sort of self-denial lead to a greater sense of self within a Christian community than most of us experience in our rush for self-fulfillment?

Again Jesus said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:25-26.

It’s the daily working out of this concept that gets sticky, and I agree that self-annihilation or self-erasure is not the way to go. Neither is a mad race for self-realization or self-assertion.

Keith Green, b.1953, d. July 28, 1982

Jul28

Also on this date in 1982 singer, songwriter, and man of God, Keith Green died in a plane crash which also killed his two of his chldren, pilot Don Burmeister, missionaries John and DeDe Smalley and their six children.

Now there are plans to re-release many of Keith Green’s songs in a sound-enhanced version and to release much music that has never before been available.

That was 25 years ago. Now Green’s work is about to be rediscovered.
EMI/Sparrow Records is painstakingly going through recordings saved by his wife, Melody. An iTunes release with music never before heard by the public is planned for August. More material will be released next year, said Bryan Ward, director of artist development with EMI Christian Music Group.
The July 28, 1982, accident doused one of the brightest lights in the Jesus Movement, a youthful Christian counterculture. The bushy-haired evangelist with a distinctive tenor voice was posthumously inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

I’ve written about Keith Green before here and here. I miss his prophetic and musical voice.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born July 28th

Jul28

Last night my mother and I watched the beautiful movie Miss Potter, and today, serendipitously, is Miss Beatrix Potter’s birthday (b.1866).

A few interesting facts:

When Beatrix was fifteen, she began to keep a journal written in a secret code of her own invention. Even Beatrix herself, when she read back over it in later life, found it difficult to understand.

Potter made numerous drawings of lichens and fungi. As the result of her observations, she was widely respected throughout England as an expert mycologist. She also studied spore germination and life cycles of fungi.

Miss Potter’s books:
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin(1903)
This is a Tale about a tail – a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.
The Tailor of Gloucester (1903)
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904) Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears, and the oranges.
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906) And while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat – sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water – a much worse thing happened; a really frightful thing it would have been, if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a macintosh!
The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit (1906)
The Story of Miss Moppet (1906) HE has wriggled out and run away; and he is dancing a jig on the top of the cupboard!
The Tale of Tom Kitten (1907)
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908)
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes (1911) He came up and kissed Goody through the hole; but he was so fat that he could not get out.
The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)
The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)
Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes (1917)
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918)
Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (1922)
WE have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)

I think I’ve read about ten of the books on the list, but Peter Rabbit is still my favorite.

Also born on this date are poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (b.1844) and semi-famous blogger, educator, and mom, S. Early (b.1957).

“I rather like being fifty. For one thing I revel in the probability that I will not in the future make very much more of a fool of myself than I already have done. At twenty I knew I would amass the great American fortune. At thirty I knew I would write the great American novel. At forty I knew I would become a Socrates for sagacity. At fifty I know better. I know I shall end my days semieducated and semisolvent, leaving behind me an untidy paper trail of forgettable prose. To have snatched even this much ragged wisdom from the fifty-headed Cerberus of my life is no small matter. Some have fared farther and learned less.” —Clifton Fadiman, On Being Fifty.

Poetry and Fine Art Friday: To This Great Stage of Fools on July 27th

Jul27

Today is the birthdate of poet, essayist, novelist, politician and humorist Joseph Hilaire Pierre Rene Belloc (b.1870, d.1953).

A Trinity

Of three in One and One in three
My narrow mind would doubting be
Till Beauty, Grace and Kindness met
And all at once were Juliet.

Belloc was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton. George Bernard Shaw wrote a famous essay in which he called Chesterton and Belloc together “the Chesterbelloc,” implying that Belloc did the thinking for the pair and led Chesterton astray.

The Pacifist

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

The Frog
Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As “Slimy skin,” or “Polly-wog,”
Or likewise “Ugly James,”
Or “Gap-a-grin,” or “Toad-gone-wrong,”
Or “Bill Bandy-knees”:
The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.

No animal will more repay
A treatment kind and fair;
At least so lonely people say
Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
They are extremely rare).

Edward Gorey illustrated Belloc’s book of (somewhat grisly) poems, Cautionary Tales for Children. I love this picture, especially the way the cattails extend up out of the frame.

Belloc quotes:
Of all fatiguing, futile, empty trades, the worst, I suppose, is writing about writing.

Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language.

When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
‘His sins were scarlet, But his books were read.’

H.G. Wells once said, “Debating Mr. Belloc is like arguing with a hailstorm.”

Monsignor Ronald Knox observed at Belloc’s funeral, “No man of his time fought so hard for the good things.” Not a bad epitaph.

Dr. Raymond Moore, b.1915, d.2007

Jul26

I just heard from Cindy at Dominion Family about the death on July 13th of Dr. Raymond Moore, grandfather of the modern-day homeschooling movement. I started thinking about homeschooling, twenty-two years ago because of two books that I found while browsing a bookstore called Bookstop in Austin, Texas. The two books were John Holt’s Teach Your Own and Dr. Raymond Moore’s Homegrown Kids. Subtitled A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home, Dr. Moore’s book didn’t so much advocate opting out of the school system altogether as it did delaying the start of formal schooling until the age of eight or nine or even twelve. Dr. Moore’s idea, which fit well with John Holt’s more philosophically liberal unschooling views, was that young children especially learn best in the home and shouldn’t learn to read and do what he called “close work” until their eyesight had developed physical maturity. He argued that such close work at early ages (five, six , seven) was damaging to the eyes and often caused nearsightedness in later life.

The Moores’ contribution to education is best known for their emphasis on the philosophy that children, especially boys, need individualized attention, chiefly between the ages of 5 and 10. Even those with high intelligence have many times not reached IML (Integrated Maturity Level) at the same rate as their age mates. The Moore Academy does not advocate that they should have no education while they are in this early maturing stage; however, a no-stress approach is urged, with much emphasis on social studies and science, arts and crafts, and music appreciation. We believe phonics can be taught, but without pressure to perform, and with an easy, fun approach that uses learning activities, followed by phonetic readers. Writing is another “pressure-point” that deserves care in instruction. Writing in cornmeal, or sand, sky writing, and lots of dictating to Mom helps to bridge the gap between ability and performance. Math is also taught with lots of hands-on manipulatives, and real-life applications.

Many of you who are not homeschoolers or who have only recently discovered homeschooling won’t know Dr. Moore and his wife and partner in writing, Dorothy. However, if you homeschool you owe a debt to these pioneers. They wrote and talked about homeschooling when homeschooling wasn’t cool; in fact in many states it was illegal. Dr. Moore’s appearance on Focus on the Family in the early eighties and his article in Reader’s Digest, October 1972, “When Should Your Child Go To School?”, excerpted from a longer article in Harper’s magazine, July 1972, influenced many, many people to begin to think about an educational life for children and families outside the parameters of institutional schools. And for that spark, I am profoundly grateful.

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Jul25

I’m not sure if I can write a coherent sentence after reading this book. The narrator of the story, Titus, speaks in slangy, disjointed English, reminiscent of the dumbest of high school wasters. In fact, he is a high school halfwit, enslaved to the feed that is implanted in his brain and controlled by the Big Corporations who feed advertising into his thoughts all day and even in his dreams.

Titus meets Violet on a spring break trip to the moon. The two of them hook up, even though Violet is bit different. She’s been homeschooled, her parents didn’t have a feed, and she didn’t get hers until late —when she was seven years old. I thought this book was quite insightful, and my ten year old Karate Kid can testify, to his dismay, that I am now scared to let him play on the game cube because I’m afraid it’s taking over his brain.

I gave the book to Computer Guru Son (age 19), thinking he would like it. However, he said the narrator was annoying, and the premise of a feed into people’s brains reminded him of another book he had just read a few weeks before. So much for mother/son bonding over books.

The language in the book is not only slangy, but also rather rough. If f-word and s-word used indiscriminately and frequently will bother you, don’t read. However, if you want a look at a dystopia in which the media has become the message, literally, Feed is the book for you. It’s scary, and the ending is not happy.

I think the book would make a great movie, sort of like one of my favorites, The Truman Show, and that’s scary, too.

Bloggy Giveaway

Jul23

I almost forgot.

Rock in My Dryer Shannon has another great idea. She’s suggesting that everyone who wants to participate give something away in a drawing at their blog. The announcements would take place on Monday, July 23rd, and the drawing, from the list of commenters, would be on Friday the 27th. Oh, go over and see Shannon’s guidelines for what she’s calling the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway.


So, I’m giving away a copy of my book Picture Book Preschool. If you want to win a copy, just leave a comment. I’ll draw one name on Friday and send the winner a copy of the book.

You can order the curriculum book through Cafe Press for $12.99. The curriculum book consists of a weekly list of seven picture books that deal with a specific theme. Go here for an example of one week’s listing.

The book mainly consists of these lists, one for each week of the year. You should be able to find most of the picture books listed in Picture Book Preschool at your local library. If you can only find five out of the seven or six out of the seven for a given week, that should be enough to keep you busy. I have collected many of the picture books listed in Picture Book Preschool for my own children by browsing used bookstores. So when I read these books to Z-baby, I read some that we own and some that I get from the library.

As far as comparisons go, I am familiar with the curriculum Five in a Row, and I like it very much. In Five in a Row you are encouraged to read one picture book, such as Lentil by Robert McCloskey, for five days in a row. (Children generally love to read favorite picture books over and over again.) For each day of the week this curriculum gives lesson plans related to the books of the week covering science, mathematics, history and geography, and language arts. Five in a Row is a fully developed curriculum with loads of activities to keep your homeschooled preschooler or kindergartner busy and happy.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) for my preschooler, I am homeschooling six older children. I don’t have time to do all the activities in Five in a Row, and I like the variety of picture books we read with Picture Book Preschool. Picture Book Preschool introduces your child to the best of children’s picture books, and it takes only a few minutes each day to read the book for that day, talk about it, and see where it leads you. Maybe you’ll pretend to run away from home with Frances or stack caps like the peddler in Caps for Sale or make up a poem of your own after reading The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. I suggest a few activities in Picture Book Preschool, but it’s left up to you and your child how far you want to go with each book and with the theme for each week.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the curriculum book, Picture Book Preschool click on the ad in the sidebar or on one of the links in this post. I think you’ll enjoy the extra guidance in picking out books for your preschooler or kindergartner and the low-pressure homeschool-friendly suggestions in the book. If you want to win a copy, just leave a comment and see if you’re the one. I’ll send the book anywhere in the world, but the picture books themselves may be more readily available in the U.S.

Not a requirement, but I just thought it would be fun if you left a comment telling us all what your favorite picture book is. What is your favorite? What is your child’s favorite (you know, the one you’ve read over and over until you have it memorized)?

Check out Shannon’s Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway for more contests and giveaways.

Book-spotting #28

Jul22

Nancy Pearl on NPR: Great Opening Lines to Hook Young Readers. She includes the classic C.S. Lewis opening from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”), but not my other favorite opening from a YA fiction book:
“Now, Bix Rivers has disappeared, and who do you think is going to tell his story but me? Maybe his stepfather? Man, that dude does not know Bix deep and now he never will, will he?” From The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks.

Thanks to Denny at The Book Den for pointing me to this great list of books recommended for summer reading by the writers at Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint.

And here’s another great list of History and Historical Fiction by PastorBob, who happens to be my pastor.

Reading Aloud ala St. Benedict’s Rule, thanks again to the Headmistress at The Common Room.

From this list of 160 Books All Boys Should Read, I’ve read . . . eight. I’m a voracious reader, but I’m obviously not a boy.

And here’s a spreadsheet for Dr. Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. You can download the (excel) spreadsheet for free, and it gives you a place to mark which of the books you’ve read and tells you haow many you need to read each year to complete the list before you die. That’s provided you live an average lifespan. Fun. Oh, I’ve read 107 of the 1001, about 10%, and I must read 29 of the books on the list each year if I want to finish before I die. Thank goodness, I’m not interested in all the books on the list. No Ragtime for me, and I don’t think Updike and I will ever hit it off. The first 100 books on the list were published in the last ten years or so, and I don’t think many of them will make my personal list either.