Thank goodness Mark Twain failed as a newspaper reporter…

If you are a fan of Mark Twain ( 11.20.1835- 4.21.1910)— 2010 being the centennial of Mark Twain’s death—you will find yourself in your heyday.  The centennial of his death brings more events than one can keep track of.


Living in San Francisco makes me proud to know that the city played a significant role in Mark Twain’s life as a writer.  It was here that he hit rock bottom as a newspaper reporter to finally find his true calling as a writer of literature. After his humiliating departure from the world of newspaper reporting, he headed off to Jackass Hill, near the Gold Rush hill of Angels Camp. After hearing a tall tale about a jumping frog, he returned to San Francisco and wrote  “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog”, later  retitled, “ The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” which became an instant success. The success of Jumping Frog convinced Twain of his true gift as a writer. Near the end of his stay in San Francisco, he wrote to his brother Oion: “I have had a ‘call” to literature, of a low order—i.e. humorous.’ It is nothing to be proud of, but it is my strongest suit…”


Most people have their favorite piece of Twain writing and hands down, mine is, The Diaries of Adam and Eve ,(circa 1905)  The Diaries has all the fundamentals we expect from Twain—humor, wisdom, and irreverence and also delivers a love story of a most unusual ilk—honest, poignant, and heartfelt.


Thank goodness Twain failed as a newspaperman. As an aside: failure, what I like to refer to as mistakes, is an interesting subject for parents to talk about with their children. For conversation starters on mistakes, refer to  ”Musings”, October 8, Boys & Reading. http://www.dianefrankenstein.com/musings/

A holiday menu that includes reading and talking makes for a memorable feast

Reading and talking with children about what matters is a habit parents want to nurture and putting those conversations on a holiday menu is an opportunity not to be missed. The conversation can take many forms, the usual being a list of what, in our lives, we are thankful.  The conversation can also take a less conventional route of noting those aspects of our lives that don’t go as smooth as we would hope, best captured in the poem: Be Thankful, Author Unknown, posted November 23,2009 in Musings. I continue to think about the ideas found in that poem—


Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire…
be thankful for the difficult times…Be thankful for your mistakes…It’s easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who 
are also thankful for the setbacks.

Take Time For 8 Matters of the Heart by Ed Young is my holiday thought for this year. It is less a list of what I am thankful for and more an ode to what constitutes a meaningful life.


Take time for reposeit is the germ of creation.
Take time to readit is the source of wisdom
Take time to thinkit is the source of strength
Take time to workit is the path or patience and success
Take time to playit is the secret of youth and constancy
Take time to be cheerfulit is the appreciation of life that brings happiness
Take time to shareit is in fellowship and sound relationships one finds meaning
Take time to rejoicefor joy is the music of the soul

Be part of the solution and not part of the problem: Make sure children enter school, ready to be successful learners

In my work in schools all over the country I hear teachers complain that kids are often showing up unfit to learn. Parents need to be part of the solution and not part of the problem by making sure children enter school ready to be successful learners. Reading aloud and talking to children helps them get ready to learn to read and sets the stage for their becoming emergent readers. Vocabulary is the lynchpin to literacy and language learned in conversation is where a child acquires the words needed to learn to read.  Children who come to school with well-developed “finding meaning in books” skills are clearly at an advantage. Someone in the home read to the children, answered their questions, and encouraged them to read.  Problems with reading are always more difficult to fix—lets work at preventing the problem and make sure children enter school ready to learn to read.

Read the original article on CNN - click here

Words that haunt: “For those left behind, a world of could-haves and should-haves.”

The Washington Post carried a story “A birthday party in VA. for a teen whose torment has ended.” 


The line that haunts me most in the recent story “A birthday party in VA. for a teen whose torment has ended” is “For those left behind, a world of could-haves and should-haves.” I am always looking for books with bullies, because bullies are part of growing up. As the author Mary Stolz once wrote: “The essential thing with a bully is they’re unhappy.” Parents reading to children and talking with them about the issues through a book is an integral part of the solution to a most disturbing and growing phenomenon. We need to have those conversations before a child becomes a bully, a bystander that allows bullying, or the victim of bullying. I suggest you have those conversations before you “need them.”


Some conversation starters:
• Are you born a bully?
• Do boys and girls bully in the same way?
• Why does a person become a bully?
• Where do you learn to be a bully?
• Did you ever meet a happy bully?
• Do bullies have genuine friends?


Click here for the Washington Post story

Radical School Reform Law You’ve Never Heard Of

In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal David Feith shines a light on a California law,  “parent trigger” which sanctions parents to either invite a charter school to operate a school that is failing or take steps to force the school to close, if 51% of parents sign a petition. I am all in favor of empowering parents, but only if they help make their child’s school successful. A parent has responsibility for their children to enter school ready to be successful learners. Reading aloud and talking to children help children get ready to learn to read and sets the stage for them becoming emergent readers. Vocabulary is the lynchpin to literacy and language learned in conversation is where a child acquires the words needed to learn to read.  Children who come to school with well-developed “finding meaning in books” skills are clearly at an advantage. Someone in the home read to the children, answered their questions, and encouraged them to read.

Read David Feith's complete article - click here