Friday, May 11, 2012

The Pleasures of Children's Literature by Perry Nodelman and Mavis Reimer (In which Phaedra has decided she's addressing her fans, apparently)

"That's me walking over a bridge.  I'm walking over a bridge!  Can't you see me?  Doesn't it look fun to you?  And even you can love Phaedra any way you like.  Love, Phaedra.  And even you can believe in me.  And I believe that allllll the streams float down, and make water come everywhere.  Thanks.  And i believe that dreams can come everywhere, and that water is good for everyone to drink too.  Will you type that?  Bye!"

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins (via Project Gutenberg and paper from one of my former employers)


"It's my tiger, I mean my lion.  It's trying to lay down, but it's too old, and you should never, ever try to touch a lion.  Love, Phaedra."

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

"Is Harry Potter Harmful to Children?" by Deborah J. Taub and Heather L. Servaty-Seib

"That's Bella wearing her bathing suit.  
Those brown marks are her footprints from walking around at the beach."

Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Sweetney Among the Nightingales" by T.S. Eliot

"And this is an alien.  He's kind of like E.T., except a different color.  He's E.T.'s friend.  Yeah, I'm still afraid of E.T."


"Reader Response and Interpretive Perspectives" from Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter, edited by Elizabeth E. Heilman

"This is a picture of me in my bathing suit!...That purple thing is me wearing that kind of thing that women had to wear when they weren't allowed to get their hair wet when they went swimming.  Don't you remember when you told me that?"

"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin

"That's a rainbow of colors so that the people of Earth know that they can choose their favorite color."

"Men in Cloaks and High-heeled Boots, Men Wielding Pink Umbrellas: Witchy Masculinities in the Harry Potter Novels" by Annette Wannamaker

"That's Daddy riding on a rainbow in a boat, and he looks really scared.  And really funny."

"The Hero: Gender" by Margery Hourihan

"This is my backyard, and I drew a picture of a red daisy that turns into a blue daisy.  And when it turns into blue, it turns into a beeeeauuuuutiful blue petal.  It turns into a drop of sunlight that turns into a big help.  Can I have another hamburger bun?"

"An Odor of Verbena" by William Faulkner

"That's what Chinese people used to wear a long time ago.  It's a keychain necklace when people liked each other and completely became friends.  They break apart and turn into necklaces.  I saw it in Mulan 2."

Saturday, April 28, 2012

"The Hero" by Margery Hourihan

"This is the Rainbow Life.  It's the most peaceful, beautiful rainbow in the whole wide world.  And you'll even find CRYSTALS!  And there's lots of violets and roses, and it's always a sunny day."

"Illuminations", by Walter Benjamin

"And that's Yoda.  He's from Star Wars.  He's the master of all the Star Wars people.  He also brings lots of karate and lots of oldness because he's a very old, old, ooooold Star War.  Type in 'Star Wars'!"

"Fire and Cloud", from Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright

"This is a picture of the RowdyRuff Boys.  They're the bad guys in The PowerPuff Girls."