Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Red Bow


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Originally uploaded by jhhymas
Just a few more presents, but the cards aren't done yet. Every year I wonder why we are doing this.
Tonight we watched a documentary about Tony Kushner. While I wasn't thinking about him, Maurice Sendak has become almost as old as I am. When I first worked in a library, my boss, Joyce J, was so proud because she had voted FOR Where the Wild Things Are and ordered copies for the Arlington Branch Library (AB, are you still there? in your corner location?) when the head of children's services thought it was stupid and too scary. Then it won the Caldicott that year. Maurice was just a young fellow then, in the early 60's.
After that, there was a riot near the library and I saw mounted police pushing a small crowd back. The horses were those beautiful big chestnuts that police use. Huge. And the people moved back obediently. See how memory works?? And what use are these reminiscences? Good night.

3 comments:

  1. June, I always read WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to the kindergarten classes prior to Halloween. The kids loved it and no one complained that it was too scary. I did have a problem with another book that I think was also by Sendak that had the frontal view of a naked little boy. Joann
    blog:joannandjack

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  2. Oh, that was such a teeny weeny wienie. It made me laugh. But it wasn't the tour-de-force CLASSIC that Where the Wild Things are was. Did you ever use The Tomten by Astrid Libdgren around the holidays? I used to be able to make a whole class of kids almost stop breathing as my voice got softer and softer, "The tomtem is awake; he goes between the buildings making tiny footprints in the snow." I'm planning to introduce it to my 3 1/2 granddaughter this holiday seaon.

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  3. I used to have THE TOMTEN, by Astrid Lindgren in my school library but I didn't use it for a read a loud. What a shame. I just checked Fairfax County Public School's library site. There are 137 elementary schools in the county but only 19 copies of this book for all those schools. Many old classics are quickly disappearing and I'm afraid that they are not being replaced. And I think some of the new stuff published today is not as good. The same thing is happening with classic adult literature. If they don't get read, they get weeded from the collection. Another case of dumbing down of society.
    Last thought--the teeny weeny wienie was in Sendak's IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN.

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