Early Childhood Literacy & Purple Prose

Jennie

Mar 26

Shaggy Dog Story Alert

A Confession

I must confess that I have a fondness for purple prose--although not, of course, in contemporary writing. Perish the thought! Writing of the florid persuasion must stay strictly a nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century affair.

A Little Backstory

When my mother was writing a family history of her matrilineal line, several years ago now, she made a point of telling me how important education had been to her mother's parents.

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As soon as I read "Early Childhood Literacy", I was eager to read Liz's post, and I was blown away by what I learned. Velma (her grandmother) is my new hero. She had an excellent education, rare for women in the early 1900's. She studied under Clara Whitehill Hunt, the children's librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. Whitehill chaired the American Library Association committee that established the John Newbery Medal. That stopped Liz in her tracks. Me, too.

Liz explores much more, from Whitehill's purple prose book, to emergent curriculum (I champion that), to reading aloud, to Jack McCarthy's performance. Read on!

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