Robert McCloskey Sketches for “Make Way for Ducklings”
Born in 1914 in Hamilton, Ohio, Robert McCloskey came to Boston to attend the now-defunct Vesper George Art School. He left to live in New York for a time and established a career as an author and illustrator in the late 1930s. Over the years, he became the force behind beloved tales like Homer Price, Blueberries for Sal, and Time of Wonder. His most famous work is Make Way for Ducklings, which tells the story of a pair of mallards in Boston who take their eight ducklings from the Charles River to Boston’s Public Garden. The Boston Public Library has digitized over 100 of McCloskey’s studies for this wonderful work for consideration by the general public. Visitors can zoom in and look around and some of these great works. Visitors can also create their own curated collections for use at a later date.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/
Slideshow: The Emily Dickinson Archive
The New York Times offers a good sampling of the materials now available online through The Emily Dickinson Archive. There’s also a link to the archive itself.
What 20 years of best sellers say about what we read
How has your reading changed in the past 20 years? From readers shopping in brick-and-mortar bookstores, to the dominance of game-changing online sellers, to a digital era of e-reading and instant delivery, the book industry has gone through monumental change. And USA TODAY has been there all along. Look through 20 years of best-selling books.
This feature by USA TODAY offers an informative look at how reading and books have changed over the last 20 years. Includes lists of the best-selling books for each year.
How Changing Technologies Influence Storytelling
The Internet has changed (and keeps changing) how we live today — how we find love, make money, communicate with and mislead one another. Writers in a variety of genres tell us what these new technologies mean for storytelling.
The New York Times rounds up comments on technology from the following authors:
- Margaret Atwood
- Charles Yu
- Marisha Pessl
- Tom McCarthy
- Rainbow Rowell
- Dana Spiotta
- Frederick Forsyth
- Douglas Coupland
- Tracy K. Smith
- Emily Giffin
- Ander Monson
- Elliott Holt
- Victor LaValle
- Lee Child
- Meg Cabot
- Tao Lin
- A.M. Homes
The 10 Best Mystery Books
Thomas H. Cook, one of the best at what he does, has done it again with 2013’s Sandrine’s Case, which is just as intricate and surprising as you’d expect from the Edgar winner. A veteran thriller and mystery writer of over 20 books, Cook shared his favorite mystery novels.
I love mysteries, but I’ve only read two of the books on Cook’s list for Publishers Weekly. But the two that I have read, A Crime in the Neighborhood and A Simple Plan, are very good.
