Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts

A Century of Literature for Girls

1 comments Posted by Kristine at 8/24/2011 11:10:00 AM


As I'm deep in planning for the upcoming school year, I thought I'd go ahead and share the literature list I've put together for my daughter, though it's not quite complete. She'll be working through much of this list over the next two years.

Books followed by an asterisk (*) indicate that they are the first in an extended series (more than three books), titles in italics denote authors from the UK, and highlighted titles are for my own reference.

Short Stories

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Middle Grade Science Fiction

6 comments Posted by Kristine at 2/12/2011 02:49:00 PM


One of my recent ideas for school next year was to put together a science fiction unit for J, something that he would absolutely love (he wants to be an astrobiologist). Below are the books that I initially purchased, though I expect that some will be culled and others added as I get further into my pre-reading and planning. In particular, I like the idea of studying the books by sub-genre (time travel, dystopian, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, etc.), so there's clearly some organizational work to be done. More than likely our "spine" will be the amazing Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college text which I'll use selectively.

A fascinating blog documenting non-fiction children's books about space flight, from 1945 to 1975, is Dreams of Space.


The Tom Corbett - Space Cadet series was inspired by Robert Heinlein's Space Cadet and published between 1952-1956. The series inspired comic books, a daily and Sunday newspaper strip, radio shows, and a television series.

Thanks to Boom Pop!, I discovered that 7 of the 8 titles are available as free eBooks at ManyBooks:
While these books might not have much literary value, I thought they might be fun to include anyway (or maybe not!).


Dystopian Fiction*
*I picked these books from the excellent lists found here and here.
Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

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The Gypsy Caravan and Other Ramblings

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 2/01/2010 01:47:00 PM



Photos (c) Anguskirk

"Whenever I hear the word 'Gypsy,' I feel the wanderlust spirit call to me. I see visions of mysterious campfires and exotic dancing. I hear echoes of lively music and gentle laughter. I feel the pull of more romantic and adventurous times gone by. While these visions do not accurately describe the life of the Gypsies, there is nothing that captures the essence of romance and adventure as fully as a magnificently carved and brightly painted Gypsy Wagon." ~ Delvin Jasper Tetz, 1914-1975

Today, Maddie read Chapter 2 of The Wind in the Willows, which begins with Toad showing the Rat and the Mole his new gypsy caravan. After we discussed the chapter, she was asked to draw a picture of a gypsy wagon or vardo. As it happens, I had just been reading about "gypsy caravans" the night before in How the Heather Looks, so naturally this led us to some impromptu research: Gypsy Waggons being very informative, and the photos here simply gorgeous. If I should ever become very wealthy, I *must* have one of these!

UPDATE: In resuming my reading of How the Heather Looks, I was pleased to find another caravan reference here:
"I have wanted to live in a caravan ever since I was ten years old and read a book called The Slow Coach, by E.V. Lucas. It is about a family of English children who receive a caravan delivered to their door mistake, and who set along the dusty roads on a series of delightfully pastoral adventures. The book has the same Robinson Crusoe quality that the Arthur Ransome books have, although itwas written a generation earlier and is long out of print. I had not been able to find a copy to read to Ian, but I think I managed to communicate some of its charm by telling him about it and finding substitutes. We read Doctor Dolittle's Caravan by Hugh Lofting and The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter..."
A quick Google search revealed that The Slow Coach is available from Google Books, which makes me seriously happy because that means I can have a copy printed!
After our school work, I was inspired to do some additional research on the history of the Romani in England. Here are just a few of the random, interesting things that I found:
So, *lots* of new reading to do, but I'm quite pleased with what I found (there's so little material available elsewhere!).
I've long had a deep, abiding fascination with Romani culture (much to my husband's distress), and music in particular ~ oh, the music! Several years ago, I discovered the films of Tony Gatlif, a director of Roma descent whose films are especially rich with Romani music and dance. Really, one must watch them for the music! In particular, I loved Gadjo Dilo; I was thrilled to see that he currently has a new film out, Liberté. Here are a couple of clips from his films Gadjo Dilo and Vengo:
    "Tutti Frutti" from Gadjo Dilo



    "Arrinconamela" from Vengo

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