Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/A-Townful-of-Cries.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 1/20/2004 A Townful of Cries Transcript Cries are phrases which, beginning in the 15th century, were called out in the streets by itinerant sellers of food and other commodities and by people offering their trades. They were especially prevalent in large towns and advertised […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/The-Birds-Christmas-Carol.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 12/24/2003 The Bird’s Christmas Carol Transcript In an article in the New York Times, critic Perri Klass, suggests that Victorian fiction in both England and America “drew some of its punch from the juxta- position of poverty and privilege, from the sufferings endured by children […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/A-Christmas-Mistake.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 12/5/2003 Santa and the Airship Transcript For hundreds of years, the fastest most efficient way to get around in the winter was the sleigh and for hundreds of years Santa has depended on a sleigh to get toys to all the good boys and […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Lucy-Maud-Montgomery.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 11/28/2003 Lucy Maud Montgomery Transcript If Lucy Maud Montgomery had stopped writing after her first novel was published, she would still be known and loved the world over as the creator of Anne of Green Gables, that good, honest, loyal, orphan blessed with an impulsive […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/American-Schoolgirl-Samplers.mp3
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/George-Washingtons-Civil-Lessons.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 10/7/2003 George Washington’s Lessons Transcript In 1745 George Washington was a 13 year old school-boy in Virginia when he wrote down a list of social rules in his workbook entitles “The Rules of Civility.” The list was the descendant of a courtesy book published […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Good-Manners-Month-2.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 9/26/2003 Good Manners Month Transcript Most parents have rules, rules, and more rules for just how they want their children to behave and they often have cruel little stories, known as cautionary tales, that go along with the rules showing exactly what will happen […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Millions-of-Cats-Still-Purring.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 9/10/2003 Millions of Cats Transcript This month marks the 85th anniversary of the publication of Wanda Gag’s wonderful classic children’s book, Millions of Cats. It almost didn’t happen. Gag, who earned a living as an advertising illustrator in New York, had submitted several stories […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/An-Early-Sometimes-Edible-School-Book.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 9/4/2003 An Early (Sometimes Edible!) School Book Transcript A hornbook was what children used in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries to learn their ABC’s and to learn to read. Actually, it wasn’t a book at all, but rather a quarter-inch slab of oak […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Childrens-Reading-Rooms-in-Public-Libraries.mp3 Author Rita Smith Air Date 8/14/2003 Children in the Library Transcript It’s difficult today to imagine a public library without a lively section specifically for children, but in the 1880’s, libraries were only for adult or young adult readers, and in general, no one younger than 12 or 14 […]