Sholom Aleichem (3/2/1859) was the Mark Twain of the Jewish People.
March 2, 2011
The similarity between Sholom Aleichem and Mark Twain was noted during their lifetimes. When the two met, Sholom Aleichem said: “They call me the Jewish Mark Twain.” to which Twain responded: “They call me the Americans Sholom Aleichem.” Now that is an exchange I wish I had been privy to!
March 2 is a date with impressive pedigree—it is also the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Sholom Aleichem was 45 years old when Mark Twain was born. I wonder if they ever exchanged greetings?
Parents reading books to children that explore difficult subjects.
February 26, 2011
At a recent workshop in Chicago I was talking about the picture book Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino, which is about Alfred, a pug who is made to feel inferior by a cat, a parrot, and the other neighborhood dogs. When a new dog moves in next door, he helps Alfred realize he is fine just […]
To scribble in margins of books or not?
February 21, 2011
Truth be told, I do scribble in the margins of the books I read. I also date where and when I first read a book. And when I revisit the book, I take pleasure in the memories those annotations bring forth. Having said that, I also have a philosophical problem with writing in books, so […]
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster should never go out of print!
February 14, 2011
Valentine’s Day is a very good excuse to become intimate with The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1963) by Norton Juster (The Phantom Tollbooth) Using only black and red, Juster tells the poignant yet humorous tale of a straight line in love with a red dot, and the line’s attempts to […]
Charles Dickens believed in fancy and romance.
February 6, 2011
I don’t believe anyone ever outgrows fairytales. Charles Dickens, the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era believed in fancy and romance. Dickens, who would be 199 years old today understood the power and need for fairytales. In “Frauds on the Fairies” he wrote “In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a […]
