NEWS AND UPDATES

• 11/16/08: Since Thanksgiving is only about ten days away, I wanted to link to some of Sparrow Tree Square's past issues that have Thanksgiving-related content.

  From November 2007, there's Early America, which features poems and stories about the Native Americans and the first European settlers. There's also a recipe for cornbread that, after reading the recipe in this issue, my grandmother made for her own Thanksgiving dinner. Try it at your dinner this year -- it's really delicious.

  The November 2006 issue was Home and Family, but it did include the classic poem "A New England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day," otherwise known as "Over the River and Through the Woods."

  I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

• 11/01/08: I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! You might think that all the spooky fun is over until next year, but you're mistaken, because tomorrow is All Souls' Day. If you want to read more about this fun and frightful holiday, you can read the historical connection from last October's issue, which discusses All Saints' Day (today, November 1), All Souls' Day (November 2), and All Hallow's Eve (October 31).

  As today is the first of November, you can also read our brand new issue, "Rule Britannia". I love British literature, and since the British holiday of Guy Fawkes' Night is November 5, I thought a British-themed issue would be perfect for this month. You can read it now by clicking "Current Issue" in the left-hand menu bar.

  Finally, I wanted to post a quick note thanking all the people who have linked to Sparrow Tree Square from their blog, website, or webpage. The month of September brought record traffic to this site, thanks to all your support. Keep reading, and please keep linking!

• 09/30/08: The October 2008 issue is online, and a day ahead of schedule, too! This month's theme is "Fears and Frights", to celebrate October's best holiday, Halloween. I just love Halloween, even though I've outgrown the dressing up and trick or treating. Instead, I like to cozy up with some spooky stories, poems, and books like those featured in this month's issue.

  If you want even more Halloween-themed literature to read, you can always check out Sparrow Tree Square's past two October issues. Ghosts and Hauntings, from October 2006, contains one of my favorite Halloween tales, Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost". It's also got two poems by Walter de la Mare, and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". Part I of Legends and Superstitions has another Edgar Allan Poe poem, "Eldorado", plus traditional songs and more eerie poetry. Part II has the complete text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the regular features. Finally, you can check out the special Sparrow Tree Square / Halfway Down the Stairs Halloween mini-issue, from October 2006. It's got a couple of literary selections, a puzzle, two articles, and movie recommendations for Halloween.

  Hope you enjoy this month's issue!

• 08/30/08: As I mentioned on the homepage, the September 2008 issue is up a bit early for those who want to incorporate some of our Labor Day material into their holiday plans this year. Since the whole issue is about Jobs & Professions, you might want to have fun celebrating Labor Day by reading the literary selections or Historical Connection aloud, or by playing the jobs charades game that's provided as the Activity to Explore the Theme.

  In other news, my sister's website and format for Halfway Down the Stairs has changed -- go see the new site now! Besides having a pretty new look, HDS has also changed in that it will no longer be in magazine format but a collection of printable, illustrated literary works for children. All of the public domain content featured in the magazines will be formatted to fit this new direction, but if you want to see the magazines in their entirety Maureen still has an archive of the original issues.

  Finally, I've got one final snippet of bookish news to share. I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but one of my absolute most favorite authors is Barbara Mertz, who writes under the pen names of Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters. (I did review one of her Barbara Michaels books before in Legends and Superstitions, October 2007.) As Elizabeth Peters Ms. Mertz has written one of my favorite series, featuring the characters of art historian Dr. Victoria Bliss, her boss Dr. Anton Z. Schmidt, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend John Tregarth, a.k.a. Sir John Smythe the notorious art thief. For a long time, the most recent book in this series was published in 1994, but just four days ago a new Vicky Bliss book was released! The Laughter of Dead Kings is just as great as all the rest in the series, and I strongly encourage anyone who's not already a Vicky fan to pick up one of the books in the series today. They're funny, fast-paced, and have great plots -- what more could you ask for in a light read?

• 08/01/08: The August issue's online -- I hope you enjoy reading it. The theme is "Adventures," and it happens to have an excerpt from one of my favorite poems, Keats' "A Song About Myself." Anyone who's familiar with Keats' better-known works will probably be surprised that this light, silly poem is his, as I was when I first read it. If you want to read the whole thing, the Electronic Text Center from the University of Virginia Library has the text online.

• 06/28/08: As I mentioned on the main page, I decided to post this month's issue early because of it's patriotic theme, which makes it perfect for incorporating into your celebration of Independence Day this year. I hope you enjoy the new issue -- and if you haven't quite finished with June's issue yet, you can find it in the "Past Issues" section of this site.

  And if you're looking for more Fourth of July fun and activities, you can check out some of the patriotic-themed issues Sparrow Tree Square has done in the past. Just recently, in May 2008, there was an issue about the Civil War which has some great partiotic songs in it. The very first issue of Sparrow Tree Square, back in July of 2006, was devoted to the American Revolution and is full of ideas for celebrating Independence Day. Give them both a look!

• 05/31/08: Time seems to be flying by lately -- it's already time for the June issue of Sparrow Tree Square. Our latest issue is titled "Sweet Treats," and features a variety of yummy desserts explored by some great authors. You'll also notice that there's a lot of great clip-art in this issue. All of it, with the exception of Johnny Gruelle's original illustrations which accompany a story from Raggedy Andy, is from Dover Publications. Dover is a really wonderful company which sells a variety of products, including vintage clip-art, vintage postcards, and the best-priced paperback editions of many, many classic works of literature. You can click here to browse their online store, or you can send a free e-card from their Dover Cards site.

• 05/01/08: The May issue, "The Civil War," is now online, and I'm particularly pleased to share it with you. One of my favorite forms of literature is that of folk songs and ballads, and I was able to include four in this month's issue. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

  As usual, don't forget to check out Halfway Down the Stairs to read their latest issue. Today is Mother Goose Day, in case you didn't know, and HDS has a whole issue devoted to Mother Goose this month. I especially loved all the illustrations for this issue, which were done by some of my favorite illustrators: Kate Greenaway, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Blanche Fisher Wright.

• 04/01/08: It's the first of the month, and time for a new issue! "April Showers," an issue about that often-annoying weather condition of spring, rain, can be found in the "Current Issue" section of this site. I enjoyed putting this issue together because it features one of my favorite authors, A. A. Milne, in both the story and the book review. This was also the case for February's issue, so you can tell how much I love Milne's work. The story in "April Showers" comes from Milne's short story collection The Holiday Round, which I encourage all of you to read! You can click here to read the book for free online from Project Gutenberg -- I promise you won't be disappointed!

• 02/24/08: I'm thrilled to share the news that Halfway Down the Stairs, the sister site to Sparrow Tree Square, recently announced plans to resume regular publication of Halfway Down the Stairs magazine after a short break following the December 2007 issue. A new issue will be posted on the HDS Magazine website in late March or early April. You can read editor Maureen's announcement of this great news on Halfway Down the Stairs.

  Maureen will also be a joint contributor to the Under the Apple Tree book reviews website. We hope to launch the new site sometime this spring, so keep checking back for more information.

• 02/14/08: Happy Valentine's Day! If you're looking for something to do in celebration of the holiday, don't forget to look at last February's issue, "Love and Romance," in the Past Issues section of the site.

  Coincidentally, I have a sweet announcement to make regarding Under the Apple Tree, the joint Halfway Down the Stairs/Sparrow Tree Square book reviews project. We've resolved our previous technological issues, and the site is back on track and almost ready to be launched. Check back here for more updates!

• 02/01/08: I'm excited to post the February 2008 issue of Sparrow Tree Square, "Writing and Poetry." Writers and poets have written about every subject imaginable, but the actual art of writing seems to have been particularly popular as a subject. This issue features some of my own personal favorite pieces, such as "John Penquarto" by A. A. Milne and "At the Mermaid Cafeteria" by Christopher Morley. I hope you enjoy them, too.

  In other news, Valentine's Day is only two weeks away. Our February 2007 issue, "Love and Romance," has some great pieces for Valentine's Day reading and suggestions for making creative homemade Valentines. You can find it in the "Past Issues" section.

• 01/01/08: A new year, a new start! You'll notice that all the old news posts have been cleared out to make way for new updates. Hopefully there will be plenty to write about in the coming year!

  Our first issue of 2008, "Wintry Weather," is now online. If you're looking for something to read on a cold and snowy winter day, this issue is perfect. Click on "Current Issue" in the sidebar to get reading now!