Friday, August 22, 2025

Beginning ~ with a mention of Narnia

Beginning
My second-grade son, already an avid reader, has been living in Narnia for weeks now.  He has one book going on his own; we read chapters from another aloud at bedtime.  He is challenged and delighted by C. S. Lewis's language and imagery; for the first time, a flashlight shines from under the bedclothes.  But on one recent night Prince Caspian was set aside in favor of a storybook we used to read together when he was three.  Afterward, he gave a deep, nostalgic sigh.  "I remember when we first read that book, a long time ago," he said.  "Even though I'm old now, I still like it.  It reminds me of being young."
The Best American Short Stories ~ edited by Garrison Keillor, 1989, short stories, xvii + 315 pages

This 1998 volume is full of humor and surprises by new and familiar voices.  The Best American Short Stories every year offers the finest works chosen by a distinguished, best-selling author.  These stories were Garrison Keillor's choices, but the beginning above was from the foreword by Katrina Kenison, the editor of the series of annual short stories.

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