Tag Archives: Children’s literature

My wife deserves a medal or some sort of official recognition. Every Saturday I have my errands to run, and inevitably I wind up at the local library to check out the ongoing book sale there. Rarely do I come home empty-handed. I mean, I DO call myself the old book “junkie” for a reason. My wife seldom complains even though we have too few book cases to put them all in.

Yes, I love her.

Had a good hunt today. Found a nice copy of the Reader’s Digest book “American Folklore and Legend” (Reader’s Digest Association, 1978, 1983.) Snicker if you want, but Reader’s Digest publishes some wonderful things and this volume is no exception. It contains many tales and traditions from the earliest days of our country up until the mid-1970s. Fun stuff, yes, but also very important. One of our nation’s biggest problems today is the lack of a national sense of identity, and at least part of the reason for that is we have largely forgotten and ignored our shared stories. Part of this book’s stated goal is to help correct that.

I also grabbed a book by an author I’ve never read before, Michael Chabon. The book is titled “Summerland” (Hyperion, 2004). It’s supposedly a children’s book, but I’ve found that some of my favorite books are those for younger readers. According to the blurb on the back of the book from Time magazine, “Summerland adapts Norse mythology, Native American folklore, American fables, Homeric myth, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, to teach the enduring lessons about finding strength within yourself.”

Sold!