In honor of April’s status as National Humor Month and the Covid-19 pandemic, today’s topic is clean, funny, kid jokes. National Humor Month was founded in 1976 by author Larry Wilde, who chose April because of its frequently bleak weather, …[Continue]
Fairy Tales and Fables
As both readers and writers, we return to fairy tale themes again and again, gleaning new meaning from each encounter. These are stories that survived and evolved for hundreds of years. Read them again (or for the first time) and …[Continue]
Jane Austen
Romantic novelist Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) achieved success in her lifetime with the publication of “Sense and Sensibility” in 1811, followed by four additional novels. Her continued popularity after two-hundred years is nothing short of phenomenal, with adaptations of …[Continue]
Halloween Writing Prompts
Raise your hand if you love writing prompts! Halloween is a perennial favorite, and can be a great source of writing inspiration. These hand-picked sites offer dozens of ghoulishly fun writing prompts….[Continue]
Winnie-the-Pooh
A children’s book character that has endured more ninety years must be something special: and Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Pooh Bear) certainly is special. A.A. Milne actually only published two books based on Winnie and his beloved friends, but they …[Continue]
Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is celebrated each autumn, promoting our freedom to read, and the importance of the availability of books on all topics and about all viewpoints for those that choose to read them….[Continue]
Summer Reading
Beaches and books just seem to go together, but even if your summer plans do not include any beaches, hopefully it will still include some warm, lazy days curled up with a good book. To get you in the mood, …[Continue]
Aesop’s Fables
Aesop (620 – 560 BCE) was a Greek slave and storyteller. His fables, also known as the Aesopica, have been translated and retold for twenty-five centuries. Each one ends with a moral or a lesson to be learned, and from …[Continue]
Limericks
Limericks are five-line poems that pack a funny punch line or a humorous twist. Because they are short and follow a familiar thirteen-beat rhythm, they can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. The following sites include classic limericks by …[Continue]
Mother Goose
Mother Goose nursery rhymes have been part of our Western oral tradition for hundreds of years, and is not known to be a real historical figure. In fact (according to Wikipedia) she has been associated with nursery rhymes as early …[Continue]
