Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Education in a Miseducated World: Mark your Calendars - Saturday June 22nd

How I so wish I was free to go this weekend!

Education in a Miseducated World: Mark your Calendars - Saturday June 22nd: The first ever St Louis Chesterton Education Conference is happening soon! When: Saturday, June 22nd, 2019, 8:45 - 4 PM Where: St Ansel...

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Book List

I recently traveled to Sydney, Australia, and gave a few talks there on Frances Chesterton, my Father Brown books, and books to read aloud or that children might like. I drew this list from books our children and I liked as they grew up, plus some of the teens from the audience gave me some new suggestions. I had this as a handout, and thought others might be interested. This list is not in any kind of order, but maybe you'll find a new interesting book for your family to enjoy.

Nancy Brown’s Recommended Books and Book Lists

Jim Trelease The Read Aloud Handbook
Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
A Landscape With Dragons: The Battle for Your Child’s Mind by Michael O’Brien 
Classics to Read Aloud to your Childrenby William Russell
The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie

JRRTolkein The Hobbit and LOTR series
C.S. Lewis Narnia series
Tomie de Paola
Aesops Fables
E. Nesbit Railway Children
Louisa May Alcott Little Women
L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables
& Emily of New Moon
Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol
Michael Ende The Neverending Story
Corduroyby Don Freeman
Swiss Family Robinsonby Johann David Wyss
Lewis Carol Alice in Wonderland
Jack London Call of the Wildand White Fang
Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island
Rudyard Kipling Jungle Book
Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden
E.B. White Charlotte’s Web
Lynne Reid Banks The Indian in the Cupboard
P.L. Travers Mary Poppins
Anna Sewell Black Beauty
Beverly Cleary The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Mary Norton The Borrowers
Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit
A.A. Milne Winnie the Pooh
Herge TinTin
Jan Brett The Mittenetc.
Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth
The Penderwicks series
Beverly Cleary Ramona Quimby
Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairieseries
E.B. White Stuart Little
Esther Hoskins Forbes Johnny Tremain
E.L. Konigsburg From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Ludwig Bemelmans Madelineetc.
Crockett Johnson Harold and the Purple Crayon
Classic Starts: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Classic Starts: The Three Musketeers etc.
The Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton
Betty MacDonald Mrs. Piggle Wiggleetc.
Andrew Clements Frindleetc.
Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew
Franklin W. Dixon Hardy Boys
Donald Sobol Encyclopedia Brown
Gary Paulsen Hatchet
Patricia Mac Lachlan Sarah, Plain and Tall
Marguerite Henry Misty of Chincoteagueetc.
Kate DiCamillo Because of Winn Dixie
Charles and Mary Lamb Tales From Shakespeare
Mary Fabyan Windeatt Saint books (Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres, etc.)
Henriette EugĂ©nie Delamare The Little Apostle on Crutches
Johanna Spyri Heidi
P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories.
John Dickson Carr
William McCleery Wolf Story
Margaret Stanger That Quail, Robert
Nate the Greatby Marjorie Sharmat
Meg Mackintoshby Lucinda Landon
Cam Jansenby David A. Adler
A to Z mysteries by Ron Roy
The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
Emily Rodda
M.L. Forman Adventurers Wanted Series
Elyne Mitchell Silver Brumby series
Gone Away Lakeby Elizabeth Enright
Megan Turner, Queen’s Thief series
Robin McKinley The Blue Sword
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
The Red Wallby Brian Jacques


And the book that made me a writer:
Louise FitzHugh Harriet the Spy

Poetry to Read
The Night Before Christmas
Evangeline
Lepanto
Jack Prelutsky Read Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young
James Berry Classic Poems to Read Aloud
Dr. Seuss
Favorite Poems of Childhood Dover Children’s Thrift Classics

Keep in touch!  Chesterton.org       
Instagram: @americanchestertonsociety

Please donate: https://www.chesterton.org/donate/

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Read Aloud Revival Podcast!



I had a totally fun and awesomely inspiring time with Sarah Mackenzie of Read Aloud Revival doing a podcast about Chesterton and kids and reading aloud--all my favorite subjects!

You can hear the podcast by clicking here. Let me know what you think!




Read-Aloud Revival with Sarah Mackenzie

Monday, April 3, 2017

Frances Chesterton photograph


During a search of British Newspapers, Dale Ahlquist came across this and sent it to me. I discovered while working on the biography of Frances Chesterton that she had been asked to help found a club called The Lyceum for women who were writers or authors and who had attended college. Here is the picture that goes with that story! Frances has the fur collar (a frequent item in her dress) and is standing behind, second from the left, dark hat. The year is 1904. It was founded by Constance Smedley, sitting in front of Frances. (Click on the photo to enlarge and see it better.)

Monday, January 23, 2017

Milwaukee Chesterton Academy Gala

I was honored and privileged to be able to speak at the gala for the Milwaukee Chesterton Society last weekend.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Frances Chesterton Talk

In this talk, I concentrate on Frances Chesterton's literary ancestry, and how it helped propel G.K. Chesterton into stardom. We also discuss Frances' sister-in-law Ada Jones, as well as a number of famous literary figures of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.