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One more quote from Jonathan Edwards

Sep8

We just read Jonathan Edwards for my American Literature discussion group. We all agreed that Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, wouldn’t go over too well nowadays. I’m not sure that’s an indictment of the sermon as much as it is of us and our culture. We also read Edwards’ Personal Narrative from which I extracted this quote:

On January 12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future in no respect my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect. And solemnly vowed to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience; engaging to fight with all my might against the world, the flesh, and the devil, to the end of my life. But I have reason to be infinitely humbled when I consider how much I have failed of answering my obligation.

How humbled should those of us be who have failed to even attempt such a commitment!

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Sep7

So preached Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758):

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in it calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Reader, you, too are given this opportunity to give yourself to Him now. How can you rest until you do?

Peter Pan Lives Forever

Sep6

Crime novelist Ridley Pearson and humor columnist Dave Barry have collaborated to write a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Entitled Peter and the Starcatchers, the book answers Pearson’s daughter’s question, “But, Dad how did Peter meet Captain Hook in the first place?” From an article in the Miami Herald:

The story takes place on board the ship, Never Land, bound for Rundoon with Peter, four fellow orphans from St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys, and a closely guarded trunk full of ”starstuff,” a magical substance with the power to make people fly or stop aging.
Naturally, the starstuff is stolen, first by a cretin named Slank, then by a nefarious pirate named Black Stache (named for his facial hair), then recovered by some vicious (but quite attractive) mermaids, and finally coveted by island natives who speak their own dialect, in addition to English and French. (Talking dolphins also play a crucial role in the plot. Hey, it’s a fantasy.)
It’s up to Peter to help the secret society called the Starcatchers — led by a comely teen named Molly — get the starstuff back.

Oh, and by the way, September 19 is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. (And thanks to Brandywine Books for the tip on the new book.)

Children are the Future

Sep2

Try this thesis on for size: Conservatives are the wave of the future because . . conservatives, especially religious conservatives, dare I even say Christians and Mormons, are the ones who are actually reproducing themselves. From a September 2, 2004 article in the Washington Post by Phillip Longman, author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It:

What’s the difference between the protesters outside the Republican convention and the delegates inside? There are many, of course, but one will ultimately skew American politics and the culture wars in the Republicans’ favor, regardless of who has God or reason on her side. It’s the divide between who is having children and who isn’t.

Over the past decade, fertility rates among all major American ethnic groups have either remained low or fallen dramatically. Between 1990 and 2002 fertility declined 14 percent among Mexican Americans and 24 percent among Puerto Ricans. African Americans, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, now have a lower average fertility rate than whites, and they are no longer producing enough children to replace their population. But one big difference in fertility rates remains: Conservative, religiously minded Americans are putting far more of their genes into the future than their liberal, secular counterparts.

So I’m doing my part; may God bless the fruit of the womb and bring revival and repentance to the U.S.A.

More Picture Book Authors

Aug30

These picture book authors and illustrators were born on this date:
Laurent de Brunhoff: He is the son of Jean de Brunhoff, creator of the books about Babar the elephant. Actually, though, it was Laurent’s mother who first created the story of the little elephant who leaves home to visit the city. Laurent’s father, Jean, died in 1937 when Laurent, the oldest of his three sons, was only twelve years old. Laurent grew up to become an artist and to continue the Babar saga in over thirty more books.
Virginia Lee Burton: (b.1909, d.1968) Virginia Burton is the author of Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel and The Little House, both classic picture books.

I literally draw my books first and write the texts after – sort of “cart before the horse.” I pin the sketched pages in sequence on the walls of my studio so I can see the book as a whole. Then I make a rough dummy and then the final drawings and, when I can put it off no longer, I type out the text and paste it in the dummy. Whenever I can, I substitute picture for word.

My first thought is: how could one have a decent plot doing a book this way? However, her books definitely tell a good story. Burton won the Caldecott Award in 1954 for her book The Little House.
Donald Crews: My favorite books by this author/illustrator are Harbor, Parade, and Truck. His illustrations are bright, simple and visually appealing. Not much subtlety here, not a whole lot of story, but the books are lots of fun for the two and three year old crowd.

Books written by these three authors can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Tasha Tudor

Aug28

Last but not least, author and illustrator Tasha Tudor celebrates her birthday today. She is 89 years old.  According to her family website, Tasha Tudor is still in excellent health: “She continues to lead an independent and active life which encompasses copious artwork, gardening and greenhouse care, pets, family and friends.” If you’re not familiar with Tasha Tudor’s illustrations, all her children wear what my children choose to call “homeschool clothes,” old-fashioned clothing from the 1800’s. (We don’t really know any homeschoolers who wear these kinds of dresses, but we do know some who would like to if they could find them readily available.) Anyway, Tasha Tudor is a wonderful writer and illustrator, and she’s created a life that sounds as if it came out of storybook. She lives on a farm in rural Vermont. To read more about Tasha Tudor’s life and work, read The Private World of Tasha Tudor by Richard Brown. My favorite book by Tasha herself is A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays.

Tasha’s books can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Allen Say

Aug28

Say is a Japanese-American author who was also born on this date. He was born in Yokohama, Japan and came to the U.S. just after WWII with his father. His father enrolled him in a military school in California, and Say hated the school and the United States. He was expelled from military school after a year enabling him to explore California on his own. He began to write and illustrate children’s books while doing advertising photography for a living. His book The Bicycle Man is set in Japan immediately after World War II. In the story, two American soldiers visit a Japanese schoolyard and show the children tricks on a bicycle. Maybe this book would be a good one to distribute among American servicemen in Iraq. Then again, maybe the situations are not that analogous. The Iraquis seem to be more dangerous. Could two American servicemen visit an Iraqui school without guns (the book specifically says, “They had no guns.”) and hope to be welcomed? Would they even be allowed to do so by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities? I don’t know.
Say also won a Caldecott Award for his book Grandfather’s Journey about his own grandfather’s coming to the United States.

Allen Say’s books can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Phyllis Krasilovsky

Aug28

Krasilovsky is the author of several children’s picture books, but I am only familiar with our all-time favorite, The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes. Read this one for a humorous answer to the kid question: “But why do we have to wash the dishes?” These titles by the same author sound interesting also.

The Man Who Cooked for Himself: “A man who lives at the edge of the woods discovers that he need not rely on the store for a supply of good things to eat.”
The Man Who Tried to Save Time: “A man drastically reorganizes his daily routines to save time, only to come to a startling realization.”
The Woman Who Saved Things: “A woman who prides herself on her extensive junk collection finds that there is no room in her home for her grandchildren to sleep.”
The Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fix Things: ‘A lazy man takes shortcuts when repairing his aging house. He pastes a broken plate back together with flour and water, wraps band-aids around a chair rung, pounds a nail with his shoe, and spreads chewing gum over a crack in the sidewalk.”
It sounds as if Krasilovsky likes to write about the pitfalls of housekeeping in a humorous vein. SInce I live the pitfalls of housekeeping in a humorous vein, I might have to get some of her other books.

He was so very, very tired after carrying everything back and putting it away that he decided that from then on he would always wash his dishes just as soon as he had finished his supper. —The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes

Ms. Krasilovsky’s books can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Roger Duvoisin

Aug28

I have a plethora of authors with birthdays today to present for your reading pleasure. First, we have Roger Antoine Duvoisin, born in 1904 in Geneva, Switzerland. He attended art and music schools in Switzerland and France and eventually emigrated to the United States. Duvoisin wrote and illustrated over forty books for children, and he illustrated more than 140. He won the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt. Roger Duvoisin created at least two delightful characters that I know of: Petunia the silly goose and Veronica the conspicuous hippopotamus. When she travels to the city, Veronica is “gloriously conspicuous.” However, after getting way too much attention from everyone including the police, “Veronica . . .was tired of being conspicuous. One can be too conspicuous.” Conspicuous is such a fun word to introduce to little children.

Mr. Duvoisin’s books can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Homeschooled: Uneven Results

Aug27

The Bennett sisters (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) were homeschooled, mostly by themselves. So if you want to raaise an Elizabeth Bennett, homeschool. On the other hand, if you don’t want a Lydia Bennett, you’d best pay more attention to the children’s education than Mr. and Mrs. Bennett did.