WRB—Children’s Literature Supplement, Aug. 2024

“read without crying”

Despite the smell of fall not being in the air yet, school days are either upon us or impending in many places. There really is something to be said for the feeling that new pencils, fresh erasers, and white pieces of paper give you. There are quite a few children’s book characters who feel deeply excited about school, or who give us some of the best school scenes in literature. Read on for these academic delights, as well as a shocking podcast, a heart-wrenching read, and some tales from Arabia. 

School tales

The following books contain some of the most memorable—in Sarah’s opinion—school scenes.

• Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1916)

• These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1943)

• Any of the First Farm in the Valley series

• Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (1968)

• Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876)

• Any of the Magic School Bus books

• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (1908)

• The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck (2004)

• The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola (1989)

• If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff (2002)

Pure silliness

Find The Lady with the Ship on Her Head (1990) by Deborah Nourse Lattimore and be prepared to chuckle at the funny story and be charmed by the detailed artwork.

Flying high

The South Dakota State Historical Society just published a picture book showcasing the life of Georgia Jipp. This brave female pilot helped her community by flying over 150 rescue missions during the terrible winter of 1949.

A reading tragedy

Sarah was recently introduced to APM’s Sold a Story podcast, which details how a theory of teaching reading has had devastating consequences for generations of children. [Sold a Story is one of the most infuriating things I’ve ever encountered. —Steve]

Rabbits (again)

Last month, Sarah wrote in praise of S. D. Smith’s Green Ember series. During a recent trip, she worked her way through one of the sub-series of the saga, Green Ember: Archer. The third book in particular (The Archer’s Cup) was fantastic, and she found the story well-written and compelling. 

Compelling mythology

The Labors of Hercules Beal (2023) by Gary D. Schmidt is one of Sarah’s top favorite books. Full stop. She read it on the recommendation of the same people who told her about The Wednesday Wars (2007), and it did not disappoint. Schmidt has quite the gift, and it shines through in an incredible way in this book. Sarah rarely cries at books, but this one had her sobbing.

1,001 nights

This past weekend at National Review, Sarah spotlighted the Andrew Lang-edited version of Arabian Nights (2018):

I have a terrible habit of reading multiple books simultaneously, switching between them as the spirit moves me. I just finished listening to The Archer’s Cup (part of S. D. Smith’s Green Ember series), am reading He Leadeth Me by Father Walter Ciszek (1973), am dabbling in Alexandra Stoddard’s Living a Beautiful Life (1986), am dipping my toe into Little Dorrit, and am entranced by Arabian Nights, selected and edited by Andrew Lang. A slightly ridiculous range, I know, but hear me out.

Arabian Nights is a classic, and many people, even if they haven’t read the full set of tales, know one or two stories from it (Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor). I’ve read various versions of the tales over the years, and it’s made me partial to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s stunning orchestral work Scheherazade. The namesake of this piece is the brave, clever woman at the center of Arabian Nights, and it’s through her ingenuity that evil deeds are brought to a halt in her homeland.

What the kids are reading