This is a re-post from July 2021 (seems like yesterday). I left it as originally written but I’ll add a bit. I was skimming through The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English (Victor Watson, ed., Cambridge University Press 2001) yesterday and read the entry on Randall Jarrell (1914-1965). Jarrell was a brilliant poet–he was
From a series of newspaper articles I wrote in 2014. Cross posted to The Old Books Blog. Books Bygone: What does history mean to you? “What does history mean to you? Is it alive, or is it dead and buried in the past? Is it a list of dry happenings with drier dates, or is
Cross-posted from the Kid Blog at Miss Missy’s School, the website for my children’s chapter book, Miss Missy’s School: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School. At the Kid Blog I talk with kids (and their grownups) about reading and writing. Please click on over–I’d welcome your comments. Original illustrations by Richard Doyle (published 1869) Princess Nobody
Click on over to Miss Missy’s School to download the short story, “Missy’s Epic Novel.” Discover why and how Missy came write write her best-selling Epic Novel. (You’ll have some sympathy for Rocky before it’s over.) Use coupon epic! at checkout to take 20% off–that’s only $1.99!
Well, sure. Why not? It has an index, too. I mean, how are you supposed to remember where that quote from Abigail Adams is without an index? Likewise, how do you appreciate the humor in Charles*–the Leader of the Prairie Voles–argument that the name of the school should be changed, if you don’t know a
Dear Readers and Bloggers, We’re having recurring difficulties over at Miss Missy’s School. Posts aren’t showing up in the WP Reader again. If you’ve enjoyed the occasional re-posts from the Kid Blog, where the author of this family-friendly book (that’s me) talks with kids about reading and writing, the Grownup Blog, where I discuss what
Dear Readers and their grownups, A lot of pretty exciting things happened back in the days before Missy and her pack rescued the nameless, homeless hound and her pup, and eventually realized they needed a school for all of the animals living on or near Farther Along Farm. The Times Before Miss Missy’s School is a collection
(not that one, the other one) From the Grownup Blog at Miss Missy’s School. Won’t you be so kind as to subscribe to Miss Missy’s School? You’ll get an email when there’s a new Kid Blog or Grownup Blog post. You can then forward the email to those in your life you’d like to share
Dear Readers and Their Grownups, We’re continuing on with short story gifts from Miss Missy’s School Book I: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School. We’ll be posting these family reading excerpts–from almost the whole book!–now until Christmas. We started by sharing our idea for these family reading night gifts, and the letter Missy wrote to readers
Dear Readers and Their Grownups, We’re continuing on with short story gifts from Miss Missy’s School Book I: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School. We’ll be posting these family reading excerpts–from almost the whole book!–from now until Christmas. Learn more about these gifts here. Last night in the story Missy and her Dear Friend Rocky discovered
Dear Readers, Writers, and Their Grownups, Yesterday we shared the news that Miss Missy’s School is going to be giving you free gifts from now until Christmas. And we showed you the letter Missy wrote for the back of the book blurb. From now on, our gifts to you will be sneak-peeks of chapters from Miss Missy’s
Tiger the Cat is a member of Missy’s pack from Miss Missy’s School: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School. On sale now at Amazon! This is a little post at the Kid Blog at Miss Missy’s School where you can preview the book for middle-grade and young adult kids and their gornwups. Too
What happens when Missy and her Dear Friend, Rocky find a poor scrawny little fox hound crouching over her pup? The hound asks, “Please, please. C-c-can me and my son crawl under your porch? Little Tommy is so wet and I’m afraid he’ll c-c-catch his death if I cain’t get him outta the wind,” she
From Here to There Why are there maps in storybooks? From the Kid Blog at Miss Missy’s School. You’ll never guess whose maps we talk about! Tolkien drew maps of Middle-Earth, and detailed maps of the numerous locales within Middle-Earth, before he started writing the books. He’s not alone in beginning a story this way.
Today at the Kid Blog at Miss Missy’s School we learn about similes and read some beautiful examples from The Animal Family, by Randall Jarrell (1965 by still in print; illustrated by Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are!). Miss Missy’s School: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School on sale
Miss Missy’s School Book I: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School ON SALE at Amazon for only $5! Would you like to read a bit of Miss Missy’s School? Click here to read a free sample. The preview includes: For middle-grade and young adult readers and their grownups. Perfect for homeschool families. “Readers become learners!”
This is from “Chapter VII: Peter Rabbit.” Gilbert stops by Aubrey and Little Tommy’s home in the shed while Aubrey was reading Peter Rabbit aloud. She stumbles and has to sound words out. Gilbert offers to read, and does so beautifully. When he’s finished Aubrey and Tommy clap and thank him, then Aubrey sends Tommy
Okay. I fixed the spelling. But still. Very nice, isn’t it? In the unlikely event that you don’t know what book this review is discussing– what rock have you been under for two years? Just kidding. It is possible that one or two of my hundreds of thousands of followers (again, j/k) has not yet
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