Its summer time and the last thing most kids want to do is sit around and read.  Did you know, though, that summer reading programs were originally started in the 1890s to encourage children to develop a habit of reading on a regular basis?  According to the American Library Association, numerous studies have shown […]

I’ve been thinking a lot about bookshelves lately.  I just recently moved into a new apartment.  I don’t know about you, but when I move, the first thing I must do to get that wonderful “this is home” feeling is pull the books out of boxes.  In a strange way, this is more important even […]

I remember going to the library every Saturday morning for the children’s reading group, and I remember picking out books that had a cool gold seal on the cover (Newbery Book Award winners). I always thought how special children must be because we got the section at the front of the library by the entrance. […]

I’ve been pondering book jackets for the last few months. I’ve seen more jackets in the last few months than a model for Burlington Coat Factory does in the length of a ten season contract. My reflections have more or less been about why its assumed consumers need elaborate, more complex visual aids to […]

Some of my best memories as a kid is of my mom telling us bedtime stories. I have two siblings that I grew up with (I have two additional siblings from subsequent marriages but not until after we were older). Our rooms were at one end of the house, with the bedroom doors […]

Remember the movie “You’ve got Mail” with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks about the small bookstore owner’s livelihood being threatened by the huge chain moving in across the street? I haven’t thought about that movie in years. This morning, though, I was reminded of not the love story, but the trauma caused to […]

The other day, I was watching AMC and a commercial for A Christmas Carol was shown. This was one of the first “classic” stories I remember receiving as a gift. I remember liking the story - but not loving it as much as the movie or the play.
Over the years, I’ve tried repeatedly […]

A couple of weeks ago, I let you know what I thought about Maya Angelou’s “I know why the Caged Bird Sings.” I thought one of the reasons why I wasn’t too impressed was because that book is only one section of the complete autobiography. I decided I’d read “the Collected Autobiographies of […]