This post, "Have algebra books changed?", by Maria at the always worthwhile Homeschool Math Blog, caught my eye. Good to read read even if your kids aren't quite ready for algebra.
Kelly at Big A little a is ready with the 10th Carnival of Children's Literature. Lots of good stuff, or "toasty posts" as Kelly calls them, to read on a cold winter's day (or night)!
A classical homeschooling friend sent me a copy of this article from The Christian Science Monitor about more Charles Dickens for children. Columnist and parent Janine Woods gives some tips at the end for adding more great books, and Great Books, to your child's life. I'd just add that for many, Dickens is a wonderful family tradition at Christmas, whether it's reading A Christmas Carol aloud on Christmas Eve, or watching one of the many movie versions (we're partial to Alistair Sim). And you can't go wrong starting even young kids with simplified versions or abridged editions, such as Marcia Williams's comic-strip style Charles Dickens and Friends, which includes, as the subtitle says, "Five Lively Retellings": Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and A Christmas Carol.
Marcia Williams's classic retellings -- of Shakespeare, King Arthur, Don Quixote, the Old Testament, and more -- are so popular at our house and with friends that I was delighted to discover, while poking around Amazon for links, her just-published version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which I also just discovered The Globe & Mail's Susan Perren calls "a delightful introduction to Chaucer." Another good review earlier this week in The Columbus Dispatch. And thumbs up too from The Washington Post; as Elizabeth Ward wrote last week about what she calls "exceptional picture books [that] tell of life and love": "At first blink, Chaucer seems unlikely to appeal to children."
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