Round the Sphere Again

Bookish…

TCG Reviews
is an online publication of The Gospel Coalition that brings readers helpful appraisals of books and other resources. The purpose of TGC Reviews is to serve the church of Jesus Christ by becoming one of the most trusted review sites on the Web. Here is a list of all the reviews to date.

The Big Picture
John Bird reviews Mark Dever’s What Does God Want of Us Anyway?, which he says “is s a quick overview of the whole Bible,” and adds that it would be difficult “to find a more concise yet more helpful book on understanding the Word of God.” (While We Sojourn) 

Birthday Girl
Today was Beverly Cleary’s 94th birthday. In honor of the big day, here are 10 tidbits about Beverly Cleary and her books. (mental_floss Blog)

Did you know Mrs. Cleary was a librarian who started writing children’s books because “she didn’t believe any of the books in her library properly represented the way kids really acted?” 

I read more Beverly Cleary books aloud to youngest son than I can count. He loved Henry, Ribsy, and Beatrice. (Pesky little Ramona, however, frustrated him.) Oldest daughter read them for herself. How about your family? Anyone read these books?

Saddest Cookbook
Any guesses as to which cookbook is the saddest one in the whole wide world? (Make sure you don’t just look at the picture, but read the text for the story of what might be the worst gift ever.) (Serious Eats)

Comments

[Juanita]

We love Beverly Cleary too! It's been fun to introduce them to the younger readers as they come up. My son really liked the Henry books but the Ramona books were more of a hit with the girls (and parents - there are a few scenes that still make me laugh when I think of them!).

[Brandon]

I read them all once. I always liked Ribsy. Most of the books simply haven't stuck in the memory, but I've always vividly remembered a scene from one of the books in which Ramona, having misheard the National Anthem as saying, "O say, can you see by the daunzerly light", and, thinking it through, concluded that "daunzerly light" must mean a lamp, and is thoroughly embarrassed when she asks someone to turn on the daunzerly light to the amusement of everyone in the room.

[rebecca]

I'm not sure they're the kind of books that "stick". I couldn't tell you much of what's in them, either. What makes them remarkable is the ordinariness of the things that happen.

Although when you mentioned it, I remembered the "daunzerly light" episode.

[Lynda O]

I enjoyed the Beverly Cleary books as a kid, read them many times. I still remember a few great scenes, including the daunzer light story -- also one scene of Henry Huggins riding around town in a bathtub being driven somewhere, and then he realized he would be late to his paper route; and how Ramona kept bothering Henry on his paper route so he wrote a letter to some kids' show that Ramona watched, and the character on the show told her to leave Henry alone.

[John]

Thanks for the link!