Beneath the Wraps

Winslow Press started the creation of a series called “Dear Mr. President” – I think a wonderful introduction.   I love the five books that were made.   I wish there was more.   I don’t know why it was discontinued – or so it seems.   Winslow Press doesn’t seem to offer publication later than 2002 (that I could see) and it doesn’t appear the site has been updated since May 2009.     Perhaps Winslow Press is one of many businesses that has had to file bankruptcy in the last decade and a half.   The three books I will focus on most are: Theodore Roosevelt: letters from a young coal miner by Jennifer Armstrong, Abraham Lincoln: letters from a slave girl by Andrea Davis Pinkney , and Franklin D. Roosevelt: letters from a mill town girl by Winthrop, Elizabeth. Though the Letters are fictionalized, information provided in the correspondence is based upon meticulous research.   I like how Winslow press refers ...

Before Jenna started kindergarten we would read books like “The Little Red Hen” and “Frog and Toad”.   I would point to words as I read them and as words started to repeat, I would have her say them.   So before school started she was able to read words such as: hen, frog, toad, red, Not I, said and he .   She could not read the names of states on License plates – nor was she educated enough to decipher between state and country. The rules of the license plate game (according to Tony) are rather simple.   All participants need to look for license plates from out of the state.   Whoever sees and says the most is the winner. Tony would often play the game himself but would say the names out loud. Jenna decided that she would play too. “Arizona,” she’d say. “I already called Arizona.” “Idaho.” “You didn’t see Idaho.” I don’t think she did.   But she insisted on it.   Tony ended up giving it to her out of pity. “Wyoming!” Tony called. “G...

          I attended a PTO meeting yesterday.  When it was over, the only father who was present was commenting on his son’s vocabulary.  The son had asked him to answer the question about the velocity of something.           “He actually used the word ‘velocity’ and he’s only in first grade.  What first grader goes around using the word ‘velocity’?”           I laughed.  My Jenna’s always had quite the large vocabulary.  Even at three there didn’t seem to be any word too sophisticated for her vocabulary.  She thrived on learning not just words and meanings but usually welcomed whatever else came her way.           Not only did she know how to pronounce the words, but took on meanings as well.  I am reminded of a particular time when she told me that she was ...

          I am familiar with the word “Hullabaloo” – I have used it before.   Not often.   It’s barely in my vocabulary.   I don’t recall ever saying that word around Jenna.   But she picked it up from somewhere.           She and I classmate were sitting behind me in the car and were talking about “eating the flag”.   What?   She explained that the class had made American flags out of graham crackers, blue and white frosting, red licorice, and chocolate chips.             “Oh, sorry,” she says. “WHITE chocolate chips.”           She then turns to her classmate and says, “Some people in this car don’t believe that white chocolate is really chocolate.   She thinks white chocolate is really just a bunch of hullabaloo”       ...