Someone once said that a good writer, whether for children or adults, has one story, which s/he keeps telling in various disguised ways; the fantastic writer has two stories; and the genius has three. Shakespeare, for example, could write tragedies, comedies, and histories with equal brilliance. In the world of children’s books, you can count the geniuses on one hand. In the pieces in this section, we write about them all – the good writers, the terrific writers, and, yes, those geniuses.
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Love-to-Langston.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 2/1/2005 Love to Langston Transcript It’s the beginning of Black History Month, and it’s also the birthday of one of America’s best-known African American poets, Langston Hughes, who was born in 1902. He’s the subject of a recent biography for young people, Love to […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Lewis-Carrolls-Puzzles.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 1/27/2005 Lewis Carroll’s Poetic Puzzles Transcript Perhaps no four lines are more famous in the realm of children’s poetry than the opening stanza to “Jabberwocky”, – Lewis Carroll’s penultimate moment as a children’s poet – As read by William Rushton from the first chapter […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/A-Dream-of-Freedom.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 1/17/2005 A Dream of Freedom Transcript It’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and his life and death are central to a new book for young people by Diane McWhorter called A Dream of Freedom, The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. This […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/My-Caldecott-Year.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 1/14/2005 My Caldecott Year Transcript It took a while for the books to begin arriving at my doorstep, but once they did, there was hardly a day that I didn’t come home from work to find a couple of padded mail envelopes, cardboard boxes […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Choosing-the-Caldecott-Award-Winners.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 1/12/2005 The Caldecott Committee Transcript Every January when the Caldecott Award for picture books is announced, it is the culmination of a lot of work, reading, and discussion by a group of 15 people who compose the committee. Of the 15 members, eight, including […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Louis-Braille.mp3 Author Lauren Brosnihan Air Date 1/6/2005 Louis Braille Transcript This week we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille. Born January 4 1809, we remember his life, his contributions and his international legacy, which is best summarized by the words on a plaque in his hometown of […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Rudyard-Kipling.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/29/2004 Rudyard Kipling Transcript Its the birthday this week of the author, Rudyard Kipling. He was born in Bombay, India, in 1865, to British parents who had been posted to the subcontinent, then part of England’s colonial empire. Kipling would make India the setting […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/An-Atlas-for-the-Holidays.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/17/2004 An Atlas for the Holidays Transcript The shelves and display tables at book and discount stores are overloaded with children’s books during the holidays. One hardly knows where to begin: there are new series of books for younger children that are meant to […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Stephen-King-Pops-Up.mp3 Author Cathlena Martin Air Date 12/13/2004 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Stephen King Pops Up Transcript When one discusses the author Stephen King’s stories, horror resounds. Whether it is the horror of a bloodthirsty car in Christine, a maniac clown in It, or a hysterical teenager covered in pig’s blood […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Sharks-Pop-Up.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 6/1/2006 Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters Robert Sabuda’s Sharks Transcript I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely giddy over pop-up books — or any books that have moveable parts or some other tactile inventions. They can be simple, even rudimentary, like […]