A concise new life of the creator of Peter Rabbit and Pigling Bland illuminates a life devoted to the world her art and stories represent. Essay by Michael Dirda.
What makes someone a great reader? Ask a pro. The answer lies in his new memoir of the literary life, one he depicts as a dazzling treasure hunt and exercise of our sympathies.
Summer means different things to different people, depending on their age, their life situation, their life goals—and their reading habits. Some folks read their one book a year over the summer, lazing on a beach. Others sail into June with a reading list arranged alphabetically and by length. Some just like to wander into bookstores […]
There’s always a moment in a story involving a magic charm or genie in a bottle when the protagonist realizes what they have. They made a wish, and it came true, and for one thrilling moment the world is endless possibility. For book nerds who loved To Kill a Mockingbird, recent events feel like that: […]
Not only do Australian teens not get shoved into lockers or have slushies thrown in their faces during high school, we also don’t all read The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and As I Lay Dying in pursuit of great SAT scores (we do, however, read a lot of curricular Steinbeck, so you have us there). What, then, […]