Shannon Costello

He’s best known for writing The Little Prince.  The beginning part, when the narrator is stuck in the desert because of a plane crash, is based on a real incident in Saint-Exupéry’s life.  He almost died in a desert before being rescued.
He had a good friend, Leon Werth, a writer.  When dedicating The Little Prince [...]

I’ve just re-read the entire series- and enjoyed it thoroughly. 
There is just one glaring theological error I need to point out.  Dumbledore tells Harry on more than one occasion that he a good person.  Actually he puts it more strongly than that, using words like “pure” and “innocent.” 
But Harry hates the Dursleys, spies, [...]

Naturally this post is a week or two late.  That’s what happens when school starts up, I guess. 
I saw a very annoying video of a woman talking about how evil it was to try to prevent a child from reading a book, any book.  The woman was Judy Blume. 
I keep going back to [...]

I selected this book with the goal of a more in-depth look at French history.  The outside of the book doesn’t excite- it looks like a densely-worded college history text (and, looking at Amazon, it has college history text prices, too!).  Also, it was written by a history professor- Frederic J. Baumgartner.
The book actually [...]

"At Land’s End I had my first view of the Pacific Ocean…The water is such a deep wonderful blue and the sound of the waves breaking on the beach and their whisper as they flow back is something to dream about."
Who says Laura can’t write?
Laura was visiting Rose in San Francisco when she wrote the [...]

It would take about 12 hours to drive from De Smet, South Dakota, to Mansfield, Missouri. Laura, Almanzo and Rose started out at 8:40 on July 17, 1894 in their wagon with its thermometer (until it got lost) and their hen coop hanging off the back.  They arrived in Mansfield on August 30.
For someone who [...]

Mr. Mason.  Mr. Varner.  Eric.  Jessica.  Angela.  Mr. Banner.  Mike.  Coach Clapp.  Tyler.  Lauren. Ben Cheney.
How long did it take you to catch on that all of these are characters from Twilight?  Now compare what you know about those characters to what you know of Prue from The Hunger Games, Pol from The Thief, or [...]

My own romanticism is such that I will naturally prefer a book set in an imaginary world full of kings, queens, thieves, and spies to a book that imagines a future for North America that is truly horrifying and, in certain senses, all too close to reality.  Diplomatic intrigue and uncertain loyalties are more fun [...]