Issue: September 2009

By Marilyn Carpenter, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA Evaluating fairy tales can be a challenge especially if the setting is another culture or country. Serving on the Children’s Literature Assembly for the National Council of Teachers of English Committee for Notables Books in English Language Arts demonstrated that challenge to me. Our committee read over [...]

By Marilyn Carpenter, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA “Just as the child is born with a literal hole in its head, where the bones slowly close underneath the fragile shield of skin, so the child is born with a figurative hole in its heart.  Slowly this, too, is filled up.  What slips in before it [...]

By Marilyn Carpenter, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA Fairy tales fueled my imaginary life as a child. In my play I became Snow White, Cinderella, and sometimes even the Prince when my friends insisted they must have a turn at the “main parts.” The romance of the tales captured my interest. Waiting for sleep at [...]