April 27, 2013
One More Hymn to the Sun by Lisel Mueller You know that like an ideal mother she will never leave you, though after a week of rain you begin to worry but you accept her brief absences, her occasional closed doors as the prerogative of an eccentric lover… You like the fact that her moods […]
April 26, 2013
Like a Manta Ray by James Tate I can swim the length of the public pool underwater. I like to swim right along the bottom with my eyes open, and sometimes I find things — a barrette, some change, a ring, a gold chain, some plastic spacemen, a comb, nothing too extraordinary. But this one […]
April 25, 2013
Heard on WBEZ this morning a great story about a teacher who decided to open her porch full of books to neighborhood children. The kids are learning about responsibility, community, and reading. Rachel Perveiler’s choice to share books is clearly making a positive impact on those around her. Shira S.
April 25, 2013
A Box of Pastels by Ted Kooser I once held on my knees a simple wooden box in which a rainbow lay dusty and broken. It was a set of pastels that had years before belonged to the painter Mary Cassatt, and all of the colors she’d used in her work lay open before me. […]
April 24, 2013
Television by Roald Dahl The most important thing we’ve learned, So far as children are concerned, Is never, NEVER, NEVER let Them near your television set — Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all. In almost every house we’ve been, We’ve watched them gaping at the screen. They loll and slop […]
April 23, 2013
On April 21 Russians marked the second ever Biblionight, an event where libraries stay open all night and welcome patrons across the country. This article from last year reveals some highlights: actor readings, games, use of sleeping bags, literary walks, etc. Over 700 libraries participated this year. Galleries and bookstores joined in the festivities, too. […]
April 23, 2013
The American Library Association announced its finalists for the second annual Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction yesterday. The three nominees in fiction are Canada, by Richard Ford, The Round House, by Louise Erdrich, and This is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz; the three nominees in nonfiction are The Mansion of […]
April 23, 2013
Beloved children’s author E.L. Konigsberg has died at the age of 83 in Virginia, according to her son. She won the Newbery Award in 1968 for “The Mixed-up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler” and again in 1997 for “The View From Saturday.” She constructed her stories by imagining people she knew in different situations. See EPL holdings. […]
April 23, 2013
Sonnet CXXXVIII by William Shakespeare When my love swears that she is made of truth I do believe her, though I know she lies, That she might think me some untutored youth, Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties. Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, Although she knows my days are past the best, […]
April 22, 2013
Spring by Tess Dinerstein Spring wakes up From her long slumber Just in time to wish Winter Goodnight She stretches And the sun comes Out to greet her Warming the earth.
