Rootabaga
Stories (1922) is a children's book of interrelated short
stories by Carl Sandburg. The whimsical, sometimes melancholy stories,
which often use nonsense language, were originally created for his own
daughters. Sandburg had three daughters,
Margaret, Janet and Helga, whom he nicknamed "Spink",
"Skabootch" and "Swipes".
Those nicknames occur in some of his Rootabaga stories. The
"Rootabaga" stories were born of Sandburg's desire for "American
fairy tales" to match American childhood. He felt that the European stories involving
royalty and knights were inappropriate, and so set his stories in a
fictionalized American Midwest called
"the Rootabaga country" with fairy-tale concepts such as corn fairies
mixed with farms, trains, sidewalks, and skyscrapers. A large number of
the stories are told by the Potato Face Blind Man, an old minstrel of the
Village of Liver-and-Onions who hangs out in front of the local post office. His impossibly acquired firsthand knowledge of
the stories adds to the book's narrative feel and fantastical nature. In the Preface of the little-known Potato
Face, Sandburg wrote, "it is in Rootabaga Country, and in the
biggest village of that country, the Potato Face Blind Man sits with his
accordion on the corner nearest the post office. There he sits with his eyes never looking out
and always searching in. And sometimes
he finds in himself the whole human procession." Rootabaga
Stories was followed by a
sequel, Rootabaga Pigeons,
published in 1923. A little known volume
of Rootabaga stories called Potato Face was
published in 1930 by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. It was not illustrated. A collection of previously unpublished stories
was published as More Rootabagas in
1993 with illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootabaga_Stories
"Poet of the People" Carl
Sandburg provided a popular voice for the American people of the twentieth
century and still speaks to us through his words, activism, music and the
beauty and serenity of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. 81 Carl Sandburg
Lane Flat Rock, NC 28731 Phone: (828) 693-4178 https://www.nps.gov/carl/index.htm
The name of the
Sandburg's farm in Flat Rock, NC is Connemara (is Irish meaning "of the sea.") Connemara is
a region in the country of Ireland located on the north west coast in the
county of Galway that borders the Atlantic Ocean. The Sandburg family did not name the farm Connemara. They simply kept the name that the former
owners had given it. The Smyth family
from Charleston, SC owned the farm prior to the Sandburg's. Captain Ellison Smyth named the farm
Connemara after his ancestors who had come from the Connemara region of
Ireland. The Sandburg's moved to
Connemara with over 16,000 volumes. Over
11,000 are still at the park today. You
can search his book collection at https://museum.nps.gov/ParkIndex.aspx. This database also includes Mrs. Sandburg's
dairy goat prize ribbons, Carl Sandburg's guitars, plant specimens from the
park, the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies (1894) and much more. A .pdf
record of his book collection can be downloaded here (9mb). https://www.nps.gov/carl/faqs.htm
Ramadan begins the first weekend of May 2019. From
Stuffed Bread to Festival Meatball and Chickpea Stew, from the unusual Mung
Bean and Onion Salad to the delicious Burned Milk Pudding, this menu collection
will easily and deliciously take you through the month of observance. Ramadan is
observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting. However, it is also a month of feasting after
the fast with foods that are vibrant, bold, and aromatic. Turkish chef and food anthropologist Musa
Dağdeviren shared with us this collection of recipes from his new book The Turkish
Cookbook, a book that includes
hundreds of hearty, healthy recipes. Build
these dishes into a single feast or make them individually for meals throughout
the month of observation. Link to eight recipes at https://www.splendidtable.org/story/a-turkish-menu-for-ramadan
'Jeopardy!' Star James Holzhauer on His Children’s
Book Strategy by Karen Springen April 30, 2019 Jeopardy! star James Holzhauer,
whom the Washington Post called “undeniably the most dynamic, unstoppable
force in the show’s modern 35-year history,” used
a secret weapon—children’s books—to become a game-show millionaire. (The 34-year-old sports bettor also chooses
the highest-priced clues.) We checked in
with the quiz-show phenom about his prepping strategy and his favorite titles. You told the New York Times that
reading kids’ books is part of your Jeopardy! strategy,
and said the library’s children’s section is the place to go for books
“tailored to make things interesting for uninterested readers.” Which books and
series did you find the most helpful? I
particularly enjoyed Zachary Hamby’s books on mythology, and the Classics
Illustrated series of literary adaptations.
Which library or libraries deserve a shout-out? I’ve lived in four
different cities since I started my Jeopardy!journey [in 2012]: Seattle; San Diego; Naperville, Ill.; and Las
Vegas. All had excellent library
resources. What kids’ books and
authors were your favorites as a child? Did
your parents read you lots of nonfiction, or did you prefer more traditional
Dr. Seuss-like stories then? My
parents read me some typical children’s books: Green Eggs and Ham, The
Little Engine That Could, Peter Rabbit. But I quickly developed a preference for
nonfiction books about baseball and math, by the likes of Bill James and Martin
Gardner. What formats or content
did you find hard to find in the kids’ section that publishers might consider adding? There were certainly Jeopardy! categories
that were difficult or impossible to prepare for with children’s books (current
events, classic films, Latin etymology, etc.), but I can understand why these
books don’t exist. Which are
your favorite Jeopardy! facts you
learned from children’s books that you would not have answered correctly
otherwise? One of my episodes
had clues on the minutemen and Paul Revere—I had just read a book on the
American Revolution—as well as one about Maurice Sendak. Read more at
Word of the Day Betteridge's law (journalism) An adage stating that any headline ending in a question mark can be correctly answered by the word "no". quotations ▼
Synonym Davis's
law Alternative form Betteridge's
law of headlines https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law#English
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2091
May 3, 2019
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