The world is not always a kind place, said Brother Edik. We may lose those we love along the way, but unexpected friends, like a goat, can bring delight and comfort. Yes, a goat. In Kate DiCamillo’s The Beatryce Prophecy, the monks of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowings are harassed by an ornery […]
Review: Hollow Chest
London, 1945. World War II is coming to an end. The Blitz, air raid sirens, and bomb shelters are things of the past, but the reality of living with loss in a war-torn city remains. Rationing and deprivation continue. Recovering from the trauma of war and wartime is difficult for everyone, but especially if you’re […]
Imagination Matters
What if our imagination was stunted, having never really grown? I admit I haven’t considered this idea before. Call me naïve, but I supposed everyone had an active imagination whether sluggish or bustling. When I recently read David Beckmann’s account of C.S. Lewis and the London evacuees in Life with the Professor: The True Story […]
Subcreating with Tolkien: Artist Emily Austin
The idylls of fantasy fiction have long inspired artists of every genre, perhaps none as much as J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien’s prose invites us to imagine, inhabit, and revel in his created worlds. Even more fascinating is that Tolkien’s own sketches and watercolors would sate an archive. He kept childhood drawings, illustrations for his […]
Classic American Picture Books: Award Winners
Picture books are a creative phenomena to me. More than imagery and words, they speak in so many languages. Every child and parent knows the truth of this because our imaginations, our senses, and our minds are stirred in bountiful ways each time a book is read. And that’s a richness we all share. That […]