Clik here to view.
The Reading Mother
I had a mother who read me lays Of ancient and gallant and golden days; Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe, Which every boy has a right to know. I had a Mother who read me tales Of Gelert the hound of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Reading Maketh a Full Man”
Updated from a post originally published by the author in 2012. The heart of each Language Lesson from Cottage Press is a literary selection. Reading worthy literature – both ways – is foundational in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Chests of Jewels and Coffers of Gold”
Updated from a post originally published by the author in 2012. “It doesn’t matter what my child reads, as long as he reads,” says the well-meaning but ill-advised friend. Yes, of course, I answer,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fiction Readers Make Better Friends
My friend Olga shared with me this fascinating article: Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Still Read Fiction – Mic. And it’ not just any fiction that makes you a better friend: We...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fairy Tales – Defeating the Bogey
John Goerke at the John Jay Institute on why our culture desperately needs the soul-building power of true fairy tales like Andersen’s: Anderson’s fairy tales sharply contrast with modern fairy tales...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Christmas Carol Commonplace
A couple of nights ago everyone was home together with no agenda for the evening. We had to make up about five days we’d missed on our Advent banner (for a very good reason), and we sang some hymns....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Tales That Really Matter
An extended commonplace entry from The Two Towers revealing Tolkien’s thoughts on the importance of stories—the tales that really matter. “Yes, that’s so,’ said Sam. And we shouldn’t be here at all, if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dragons and Safe Spaces
Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon’s lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Value of Myth
A favorite quote—so much so that I included it as a selection for study in Poetics & Progym II! The value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Martin Cothran on Boys and Books: “Fleeing These Modern Aunt Pollys”
And, following up on my last post about stories as bootcamp for life, here are some good thoughts from Martin Cothran via Intellectual Takeout about what kind of stories boys—or girls, for that...
View Article
