Over the centuries, many writers have turned their attentions to writing for children. Most found this was not as easy as it might seem at first to be. Many of their works have sunk into obscurity, but the ones who succeeded created masterpieces that stay with us throughout our lives.
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Charles-Perrault.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 1/10/2002 Charles Perrault Transcript Charles Perrault, born in Paris in 1628, had an active life. He first became a lawyer, but growing bored with that, he became chief clerk in one of the city offices and then Receiver-General of Taxes for the city of […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Zora-Neale-Hurston.mp3 Author Debra King Air Date 1/7/2002 Zora Neale Hurston Transcript Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, though she would also claim that she was born in Eatonville, Florida, in 1901. That was just like Zora, the novelist, to rearrange the facts a little […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Jean-de-Brunhof.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/11/2001 Jean de Brunhof and Babar Transcript Jean de Brunhof, who was born this week in 1899 and who became famous for his picture books about Babar the elephant, didn’t actually create the character himself. It was de Brunhof’s wife, Cecile, who first invented […]
Today is the birthday of C. S. Lewis, and Kevin Shortsleeve has some thoughts about this famous British author.
In her on-going series of programs that rediscover interesting children’s book authors of the past, Rita Smith remembers Jacob Abbot.
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Kate-Douglas-Wiggin.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 9/27/2001 Kate Douglas Wiggin Transcript Toward the end of her life, Kate Douglas Wiggin was named by the San Francisco Examiner as one of the six most distinguished women in the world. She had distinguished herself in two ways: first as a woman who […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Beatrix-Potter-1.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 7/26/2001 Beatrix Potter Transcript There are some writers of children’s books whom you could classify as “one hit wonders” – authors whose current reputation as a children’s writer rests on one book. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, for example, for The Story of a Bad Boy, […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Charles-Kingsley-and-his-Water-Babies.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 6/21/2001 Charles Kingsley Transcript Charles Kingsley’s reputation in the world of children’s literature rests almost solely on his novel Water Babies, which, along with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is generally regarded as heralding the Golden Age of children’s literature. The Water Babies is […]
Author Rita Smith Air Date 6/13/2001 Harriet Beecher Stowe Transcript Harriet Beecher Stowe did write books and stories specifically for children but they have sunk into obscurity, when compared to her masterpiece, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in book form in 1852. Adaptations for children of Uncle Tom’s Cabin began to appear almost immediately. A note […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Remembering-Rachel-Carson.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 5/28/2001 Rachel Carson Transcript It is always interesting to discover what childhood activities influenced adult lives. Rachel Carson, born May 27, 1907, grew up to be a concerned natural scientist and a persuasive writer who changed forever the way Americans thought about their environment. […]