Children's books: December 2007 Archives

I received as a Christmas gift, from my oldest friend in the world and her family, Frank McCourt's first children's book, Angela and the Baby Jesus (Simon & Schuster, 32 pages, $17.99, ages 5-10), which came out last month.

You might recall Angela from McCourt's best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes. Angela was McCourt's mother, and he digs way into her past for this lovely new story...

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Alice Walker, who won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Color Purple, has chosen the library at Emory University in Atlanta to place her archive.

One of the reasons Walker, a native Georgian, chose Emory is that she visits the university every couple of years for readings and meetings with faculty members. She also said that Emory's relationship with the Dalai Lama, who joined the Emory faculty this year as a presidential distinguished professor, played a part in her decision.

"I can imagine in years to come that my papers and memorabilia, my journals and letters, will find themselves always in the company of people who care about many of the things I do: culture, community, spirituality, scholarship and the blessings of ancestors who want each of us to find joy and happiness in this life, by doing the very best we can to be worthy of it," Walker said in a statement...