Ellis Credle

Ellis Credle (Townsend) 1902-1998, authored and illustrated DOWN DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, a 1934 picture book published by Thomas Nelson And Sons.

It is a story plucked from her own growing-up years in North Carolina, telling a deeply spiritual tale about two children from the hills.

Their riches are measured in a bounty of familial love, shucky beans, cornmeal mush, bright red peppers and hand-stuffed sausages but they are missing one heart's desire.
Beautiful, Shining, Creaky, Squeaky Shoes!

Watch them spend a busy growing season chopping weeds, hauling water and chasing away worms, bugs and grasshoppers from their cash crop of fine, big turnips.
Then watch them give those same prized turnips away to every needy stranger they meet, going down, down the mountain to a nearby farmer's market.

Instead of purchasing shoes with the monetary profit from their hard labor, Providence steps in and repays their generous souls with a much happier and unexpected turn of events.

Enjoy this morality play intended for all of us learning to walk the Giving Way.

Antonio Vitali: Creator of Toys

THE TOY SHOP IN WIMPOLE STREET

For a great read, please borrow or buy a copy of ANTONIO VITALI: CREATOR OF TOYS by Weingaten Publishers. This is a wise story about children told through the heart and hands of the magical Antonio Vitali (1909-2008).

"A toy made by lovingly observant parents, be it naive or unsophisticated, is preferable to mass-produced merchandise. It was created for the specific needs of that child, known by the parents." A.V.

We are taken on a tour of Wimpole Street where back in 1936, London's West End hosted Paul and Marjorie Abbatt, owners of a shop where "toys were seen primarily as a child's tools for development." Their Erno Goldfinger interior space was an exhibition of quality design. "Here was an uncrowded gallery of toys on the floor or on shelves and counters which were built at child height." Vitali's genius for natural, simple and stylized constructions were everywhere and invited the curious touch.

Vitali's social network includes Roger Limbrick, Marion Hine, G. Schaaf Company, Kathe Kruse, 1960's Creative Playthings and so many more. Google them all!

Pre-AP Class Confusion

[Susan Ohanion.Org Notes: This is an elegant letter that says it all.]

Published in Houston Chronicle
02/21/2004

To The Editor:

Regarding The February 18 Page One Article
"School Will Be Harder In HISD: Sixth-Graders Face Pre-AP English Class Next Year"

The words "Harder" and "Difficult" are no substitutes for stimulating and
thought-provoking experiences with literature, grammar, writing and publishing.

Successful and struggling students, alike, know the difference and respond to intriguing intellectual challenges by wanting to know more and do more.
This is how effective advanced-placement programs are built and sustained.

Pre-AP classes are a silly idea and are not offered in other good schools across the country because those districts are busy concentrating on curriculum that builds an appetite for rigor and complexity in all children of every background. This is not an easy task, but it can be done when adults step out from behind hyped-up headlines and standardized test scoreboards to imagine and design instructional programs for hungry minds.

Houston Independent School District, please use what is available right now to electrify and enliven.

Kathy Irwin