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...

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 Eugénie 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

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#44 on amazon best seller list?

I'm amazed to find this! https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-20th-Century-Literary-Criticism/zgbs/books/11764674011

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

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.)

Milwaukee Chesterton Academy Gala

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

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.

Milwaukee: Come to the Grand Gala!

Milwaukee--you are in for a treat!

Yes, it's me. I'll be at my wittiest, my funniest, and my best for the second annual Chesterton Academy Gala! See the pdf here.

Jokes, laughter, tears, fun; it's going to be a night of music and joy as we celebrate the Chesterton Academy of Milwaukee, and their wonderful classical education high school based on the ideas of G.K. Chesterton. Only it's second year, this school is growing fast and strong. You can find out much more about the school here.

I'm super excited, and I hope if you live in the area, you'll make a reservation today!

A Friend goes to EWTN

Back in grade school, I had many friends. One of my friends was a girl named Margaret. I remember her well as a kid who was always smiling and laughing.

Margaret and I used to play on the playground, with all the other girls, horsing around as much as you could in a school uniform. We went to St. Philip Neri in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (sadly, now permanently closed), and we were both Schoenstatt girls. In fact, St Philip was a Schoenstatt parish, and we were fortunate to have a beautiful chapel on the property to which we could duck in from time to time. The chapel cool on a hot day, and silent.

One day during recess in fifth grade, Margaret and I were goofing around and we were running together except that Margaret was running forward and I was running backwards. I tripped over something and fell back hard on my head (this may explain a lot about me :-)). I ended up with a trip to the emergency room and a big fat scar on the back of my head, as a constant reminder of that day.

Many years have passed, and imagine my surprise when I found out that popular writer and award winning author Marge Fenelon is that same girl.  I was pleased to see she appeared on Women of Grace, and I think you will really enjoy her interview.

Is Harry Potter Still Relevant?

Sometimes, I do ask myself this question. Abe Books asked it, too, and answered it here.
You can find my book about Harry Potter in eBook format here. My recent discussion of all things Harry with Fountains of Carrots is here. Thanks!

Cuppa Catholic (Grande style!): Book Review: The Chestertons and the Golden Key

Great review--thanks, Susan! Cuppa Catholic (Grande style!): Book Review: The Chestertons and the Golden Key

Frances Chesterton: G.K. Chesterton's remarkable wife

Find out more about Frances Chesterton in my guest blog post for the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL.

New Book about Gilbert and Frances Chesterton and their young friends

The Chestertons go on vacation to the seaside, and run into a family of girls, whom they befriend. What happens next? Gilbert and his swordstick, a missing key, a dog that tends to bury everything, and a puppet play all happen over the course of the next few days. Read all about it in my newest book, The Chestertons and the Golden Key. If you'd like a review copy, please let me know in the comments.

A Visit to the Wade Center

A few days ago I visited the Wade Center at Wheaton College, a place I've grown to love. The staff are all wonderful, friendly, and helpful. I was there doing some work for the Chesterton Digital Library (CDL) and I wanted to see if my books were on the shelves--they both were. (How Far Is It To Bethlehem and The Woman Who Was Chesterton--they were actually not sitting next to each other, something the librarians thought they would fix.)

The librarian pictured is Laura Schmidt, who has been with me through all my writing. And I really enjoyed the fact that my book is sitting right next to Agatha Christie :-)

UK Catholic Herald article on Frances Chesterton

My Pop Art Photo

Fun new photo!

Target?

I just found my book listed at Target! That's a surprise!

Seen on Thanksgiving at relative's house

So fun to find, almost like a hidden Mickey :-)

Local Chesterton Society in Twin Cities reads Woman Who Was Chesterton

Such a great photo, I love the combination of print copies and Kindle editions!

Frances Chesterton book reviewed by Daily Graces

Daily Graces wrote a very nice review of The Woman Who Was Chesterton. Thanks, Kate!