Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
I found this on the internet while researching Dime Novels of the 19th century. Poor "Johnny" has been the subject of many debates the last couple of centuries. [note the date of the article}
WHAT DOES JOHNNY READ? (from The Little Corporal, January 1872, p. 34)
"Oh, every thing," says his father, proudly. "Johnny is a perfect book-worm, and we just have to drive him away from his book."
Sorry to hear it, master Johnny; a live boy has no business to be a book-worm. It is no more a sign of a smart boy to be a great reader than it is of a strong man to be a great eater. One may read too much as well as eat too much, and the brain as well as the stomach be loaded with undigested food that is only an injury to it. It is not what you eat, but what you digest, that makes you strong. It is not the food in your stomach, but the food taken up by the wonderful machinery of your body and made over into blood, and bone, and nerve, and sinew, that keeps up the daily growth of your body and builds you up into a man. And just so the food which you give your mind must be taken up and worked over, and become part of the mind itself, or it is good for nothing. If it has no nutrition in it, nothing to make new thoughts and new ideas, if it can not give something to the mind, or waken something in it, then it is chaff, rubbish, poison, any thing but food. Half a dozen lines of the right sort, read in the right way, are worth volumes of trash, or even of good sense carelessly read and then forgotten.
Do n't throw away your books, Johnny, but learn to go through them as the miner goes through his panful of sand and quartz, watching for the gleam of gold, and carefully picking out the precious bits.
And we should like to say to Johnny's father and mother, do not rest satisfied while your boy "reads every thing." It is a direful day for you if you have neglected to direct and cultivate his taste until he has come to be a mere devourer of the stories of wild, improbable adventure and exciting fiction, which is poured out like a flood for the destruction of our boys; but even yet you can do something to counteract the evil if you are willing to work for it--by taking your child with you into the fields of art, of history, and of science, which may be made as charming to the unfolding mind as the regions of romance.
This year's street fair was really nice! The Salt Shaker bookstore asked me to come on down and sign books, and boy, did they ever give me a "red carpet."
Check out the left sidebar, which has my Circle C Fan Page on Facebook displaying recent posts. I'm pretty sure you can click any of the pictures, etc. and see the fun we had for 2 days. You don't have to be on FACEBOOK to look at my Fan page. Pictures are SO much easier to upload on Facebook
Join Mary for more Show and Tells!
I know I've PRE-posted this a whole week early, but I'm off to a writers conference on Monday and will be in no condition to immediately post something when I come home next Thursday afternoon.
My new writing workbook, Reach for the Stars, is finally available. In addition to having the book published, the publisher started a Reach for the Stars Writing Club for anyone--even if you don't have the book. ANYBODY can sign up! We're putting out a monthly (well, l hope monthly) E-zine with story starters, a Parent's Corner, Grammar Gremlins, Photo Fun, and more (even contests eventually). We'll also share readers' stories in the E-zine.
To sign up for the FREE Writing Club and to download the June 2009 launch E-zine, go here:
Go over to The Christian Pulse and learn how to win a free, autographed copy of Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers (I'll even thow in a small China doll)!
I've kept up with my Bible reading, although I had to make up some time AGAIN! Things are just hopping around here. I'm trying to get ready for the WHO convention June 19-20. I have a swell booth location. I'll do a Show and Tell on it when I get back.
I'm reading Chronicles, and let me tell you, those first 10 chapters or so are really, really boring. Names, names, and names . . . a roll call of every Israelite who ever lived, seems to me!
Today I want to share a link with you of one of my first article-writing attempts. It's for the Christian Writing Examiner, and talks about the trends in the "tween" (aka middle-grade, ages 8-10) market. The good and the bad.
If you're interested, hop over here and leave a comment for the Christian Writing Examiner!
