Better than It Ever Was: Fiction and the Redemption of the World
I’ve heard many people remark recently that they “just couldn’t get into the ‘Little House’ books.” By this, they mean that the […]
Madeleine L’Engle’s Legacy as Mother, Lover, and Writer
A meaty article in the New Yorker is a treat: often contrarian, in-depth, unexpected. I’m still a bit mystified by this one […]
Gilbreth and Cary’s “Cheaper By the Dozen” Which Has Nothing to Do with the Movie
What is it that makes large families so fascinating? A hundred years after the Gilbreth family welcomed their 12 children to the […]
Inspired by children: The Betsy-Tacy series and books about innocence
In Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series, readers encounter the embodiment of innocence. The girls—Elizabeth (“Betsy”), Anastacia (“Tacy”), and later Thelma (“Tib”)—are far […]
Truth in fiction
Faced with our limitations and fallibility, there’s a temptation to reduce the truth to a technicality. So much of our culture is […]