Tonight one of the minions approached me with a geography question. I knew the answer of course, but in that time honored tradition started by my mother, my answer to him was "Go look it up".
"How" was his reply.
"In the Atlas" I answered.
"Whats an Atlas?" He asked.
So with a loud "Harrumph!" I got up and went over to the bookshelves, only to find out that we didn't have an Atlas.
So I started looking around at what other reference material we were missing.
Long story short, my next trip to the Goodwill I came back with a 3 volume set of student handbooks, an Atlas, a 2008 Almanac, a Thesaurus, a couple of books on world history, a book on how things work, and a copy of The Power of Myth (I couldn't resist).
"She who must be obeyed" asked why not just let them use the internet?
I told her there would be time enough for that in all the other facets of their education. The minions need to have the basic research skill of cracking open a book.
She agreed.
So for now, I have to relocate a few volumes from my DelRey Robert E. Howard collection and maybe box up the extra Pellucidar hardbacks, so that the boys can have a decent reference shelf. But I doubt Burroughs and Howard would mind.
I work in a library. My young ones know/will know how to use a book long before they are allowed to Google something.
ReplyDeleteExcellent move!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, indeed
ReplyDeleteSomeone took a perfectly good copy of The Power of Myth and donated it to Goodwill? For shame! Joseph Campbell would be spinning in his grave.
ReplyDeleteThe Books of Knowledge!
ReplyDeleteI have two sets of these, one from 1917 and one from 1919, both in superior condition. While not very accurate or sensitive to anyone's ethnicity, the children's fiction and illustrations are awesome.