Zen Shorts, and Other Wisdoms

Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Zen-Shorts-and-Other-Wise-Books.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/15/2005 Zen Shorts, and Other Wisdoms Transcript This year, for presents, I’m giving wisdom. Not my own, mind you. I’m not at all sure how much of that I have. But rather in the form of some picture books, like Hugh Upton’s retellings of […]

An Atlas for the Holidays

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 […]

Fantastic Books for the Holidays

Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Fantastic-Books-for-the-Holidays.mp3 Author John Cech (read by Fiona Barnes) Air Date 12/16/2002 Fantastic Books for the Holidays Transcript Ug. That’s the title of a wonderful new children’s book. I’m not kidding. It really is. Ug is the name of a cave boy who just happens to be a Stone Age genius — […]

The Perfect Gift

It’s Christmas Day, and Shelley Fraser Mickle reminds us that some of the most precious gifts we can give are the ones that don’t cost anything.

Videos for the Stocking

Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Videos-for-the-Stocking.mp3 Author John Cech (read by Fiona Barnes) Air Date 12/20/2001 Videos for the Stocking Transcript One of the hottest new programs on cable television this year is the English children’s program, “Bob the Builder,” which is currently airing on Nickelodeon. Each of the shows features Bob, who runs a […]

Books, Books, Books

Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Books-Books-Books.mp3 Author John Cech Air Date 12/17/2001 Books, Books, Books Transcript This holiday season, I’m giving books of poetry as presents for everyone. After the events of September 11th, we have turned to poetry (or perhaps I should say we have returned to poetry) because it is the literary form […]

Unlikely Origins of Popular Toys

With the holidays approaching, Kevin Shortsleeve has been looking at toys and some of the unlikely origins of our favorite playthings.

The Best Present

Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Best-Present.mp3 Author Shelley Fraser Mickle Air Date 12/25/2000 christmas gifts on white background The Best Present Transcript In 1958, I was an awkward fourteen-year old whose cat had just been run over. I’d found that cat when I was eight years old, and it had been the cat of my […]