Halloween seems to get bigger every year. While I’m saddened to see the free-range trick-or-treating of my childhood wane, I still love the imagination with which so many young people (and their parents!) embrace the season. And, of course, in my household full of black cats, I need to put up a few appropriate decorations. … Continue reading
The biggest pumpkin ever grown in Michigan weighed in at over 2000 pounds. It must have been a pumpkin like that that inspired Wendell Minor’s How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? This is a story to delight and inspire any pumpkin lover’s imagination. Minor starts with an image of a typical festival-winning giant pumpkin, then … Continue reading
When I was a little girl I was entranced by the story of King Tut. Before I could read independently, I begged my father to read my All About Archeology book over and over (and over!). I loved picturing the gold glinting in the just-opened tomb, but almost as fascinating were the questions raised by … Continue reading
By now some who have followed this blog for a while have figured out that in our house, a perfect date night may well include dinner and browsing in a book store. Recently I did just that, armed with a discount coupon for a book of choice. I had a hard time deciding, so after … Continue reading
Last week I wrote about my hope that helping students see the variety of historical perspectives—and the conflicts that ensued—might allow them to more readily navigate today’s often-gridlocked perspectives on multiple issues. One source for doing so was the Stanford History Education Group’s website, Reading Like a Historian. In the February 2017 issue of Educational … Continue reading
Do you know a young person who likes to build things? To help young builders move to the next level of thinking without the demand for high-tech gizmos or expensive materials, you might explore Engineer This! 10 Amazing Projects for Young Mechanical Engineers. In Engineer This!, Carole McBride and Francisco Gonzales have compiled projects including … Continue reading
I’m always on the lookout for good, non-gory Halloween fun. This year I found it in Aaron Reynold’s Creepy Pair of Underwear! Why is young Jasper Rabbit afraid of his underwear? Just because they glow ghoulish green, and keep reappearing unexpectedly, that’s no reason to worry, right? Jasper isn’t sure. There is so much to … Continue reading
Sometimes the creativity in the world just makes me chuckle. It happened this week as I reviewed the materials for the 2017 Dance Your Dissertation Contest. Yes, dance. For most of us who managed the dissertation process, any dancing that occurred was at a post-defense party at which we celebrated our academic survival. But the … Continue reading
Today I completed my grades for my university’s summer term, so I’m ready to breathe a big sign of relief and maybe celebrate a bit before I think about the next semester. Maybe that’s why I was so intrigued by a recent article about the amazing variety of official (and semi-official) days we can celebrate, … Continue reading
Have you ever wondered what your ideal world might look like? At a recent trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts I had a chance to glimpse into a few medieval artists’ fantasies, as they portrayed the Land of Cockaigne. According to Merriam-Webster, “The term “Cockaigne” comes from the Middle French phrase pais de cocaigne, … Continue reading
