Tag Archives: Children

Read to Grapple with Climate Change

By Robin Bates | Published: July 27, 2020

Sian Cain uses literature to grapple with her decision, in light of climate change, not to have children.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Afterland, Amina Cain, Amitav Ghosh, Avni Doshi, Barbara Pym, burnt Sugar, childbearing, Children of Men, cli-fi, climate change, climate fiction, Cormac McCarthy, Cygnet, D. H. Lawrence, David Wallace-Wells, Doris Lessing, Drowned World, Elena Ferrante, Fleishmann Is in Trouble, Future Home of the Living God, Indelicacy, J.G. Ballard, Jenny Offill, Lauren Beukes, Louise Erdrich, Lydia Millet, Margaret Atwood, Mark OConnell, Melissa Broder, Notes from an Apocalypse, Ottessa Moshfegh, Overstory, P.D. James, Pisces, Rachel Cusk, Richard Powers, Road Not Taken, Season Butler, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Uninhabitable Earth, weather, When It Happens, Year of Rest and Relaxation | Comments closed

Come to the Cruel Like a Flame of Light

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2019

Tuesday Since yesterday’s post was about my three granddaughters, today I share a Rabindranath Tagore poem in honor of their 8-month-old little brother, whom I spent time yesterday holding and watching. Young Ocean has been crawling for two weeks and is exhilarated by the world that has opened to him. As I’m traveling, I’m only […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Child Angel", immigrant border crisis, immigrant child separations, Rabindranath Tagore | Comments closed

Books Gave Me a Refuge

By Robin Bates | Published: January 15, 2019

Tuesday I’ve been dipping into A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, given to me by my good friend Sue Schmidt and recommended by reader Glenda Funk. A range of writers, artists, scientists, philosophers and others were asked to write a letter to young people about the value of reading. Original illustrations accompany […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Emily Dickinson, Rebecca Solnit | Comments closed

He Comes to Shatter Expectation

By Robin Bates | Published: December 23, 2018

Spiritual Sunday Anyone with children knows the chaos they bring into one’s life. Even when they arrive longed for and expected, the parents have no idea what they are in for. This surprise factor is at the basis of a lovely Advent poem–published in the Southern Poetry Review–by my friend Jennifer Michael, currently chair of Sewanee’s English […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Advent, Jennifer Davis Michael | Comments closed

When the World Is Mud-Luscious

By Robin Bates | Published: March 21, 2018

e. e. cummings ushers in spring with a joyous celebration.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "in Just-", "Spring", e. e. cummings, rain, Seasons | Comments closed

What Draws Kids to Eating Dramas

By Robin Bates | Published: June 13, 2016

Eating stories enthrall my grandchildren because they reenact the childhood drama of separating from the parents and developing autonomous selves.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Children's Hour", child development, Eric Carle, Helen Bannerman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Little Black Sambo, Very Hungry Caterpillar | Comments closed

Child Heroines Who Die for Our Sins

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2015

The child heroine who dies, a common trope in the 19th century, continues to fascinate us, appearing in “Bridge to Tarabithia” and “The Fault Is in Our Stars.” One of my students has this as a senior project topic.