A global-wide celebration begins today for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral after the devastating fire that closed it for three years. The opening of this faith center marks a substantial contribution to the history of this grand monument, but also shines a light on the crafting of every cathedral. These great cathedrals not only provided multi-generational employment for urban centers, but also spiritual and cultural centers for residents and visitors. It always confounds me that these cathedrals were dreamed and planned by dreamers and workers who would never see their completion. Do we begin ventures like this today? Perhaps we do when we plant trees, but in many cases our dreamers and planners do not think past their own lifespans. We need more of that. In any case, read more about cathedrals.
I just spent a wonderful weekend with educators at NCTE and had conversations about pairing fiction and nonfiction books in the classroom. While most of these discussions involved books about the environment an article this morning in Publishers Weekly Daily (PW Daily)reminded me of some other connections. I just had to share this with you all. A Murder in Massachusetts is the story of the murder that inspired America's first crime novel -- The Scarlet Letter . It reminded me of two other books that have a similar connection -- A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, which weaves the true crime story of Grace Brown, who also inpsired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy . I can already hear the classroom discussions!
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