January 5, 2006

• Laddie

  

  Anna is one of the most thoughtful and articulate teenagers I know. She recently reminded me of one of my favorite “lifetime” books.  It had been at least five years since I had read Laddie, so I revisited it through the holidays.  What a treasure chest heaped full of sparkling jewels!  It is the story written from the perspective of Little Sister, the youngest of 12 children on an Indiana farm.  Laddie is her older brother, whom she adores. 

  Here is a quote about her response to being taken out of school to be educated at home:

  Think of being allowed to learn your lessons on the top of the granary, where you could look out of a window about the treetops, lie in the cool wind, and watch swallows and martins.  Think of studying in the pulpit [a fence corner] when the creek ran high, and the wild birds sang so sweetly you seemed to hear them for the first time in all your life, and hens, guineas, and turkeys made prime music in the orchard.  You could see the buds swell, and the little blue flags push through the grass, where Mrs. Mayer had her flower bed, and the cowslips greening under the water of the swale at the foot of the hill, while there might be a Fairy under any leaf.  I was so full, so swelled up and excited, that when I got ready to pick up a book, I could learn a lesson in a few minutes, tell all about it, spell every word, and read it back, front, and sideways. I never learned lessons so quick and so easy in all my life; father, Laddie, and every one of them had to say so. One night, father said to Laddie: “This child is furnishing evidence that our school system is wrong, and our methods of teaching far from right.”

  In the days ahead I will share some more quotes from this wonderful book. Do you have a favorite book that you’ve read multiple times?

   

  • 9:38 am
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