Home and Shopping

Joan L. Cannon writes: John Galsworthy's descriptions of nature are ravishing, his limning of his characters clear enough for a crime sketch artist to draw them. This descriptive artistry and the revelatory dialogue show the reader within a hundred pages the contrasts and individuality of everyone who has anything to do with the advancing story of Soames and Irene, and also with the subplots enacted by other members of the Forsyte family. All are influenced by the motive principles of the Forsyte clan in general, Victorian society, and their admired Soames in particular.   more »

Neighbors had left a pumpkin outside to feed the rabbits that happened by. The seeds that weren’t eaten planted themselves and now were happily growing. The plot the pumpkins were growing in wasn’t ideal for the length of the vines but they were thriving nonetheless, a symbol of life’s determination to express itself. After Halloween, if you have a pumpkin you might want to use in a different way, one that nourishes and delights without the scary element to it, read on for more suggestions.   more »

Amanda Ripley gives us a detailed, separate report on the experiences of each American child she followed who had studied abroad, including each one’s "take" on what made school in those countries so successful. The youngster’s comparisons are forthright and fascinating. So are Ms. Ripley’s conclusions and descriptions in The Smartest Kids in the World. Annie Choi’s wit is pointed but not savage. She uses humor in Shut Up You’re Welcome to underscore the essential, sustained importance of family, the collective umbilical cord that binds. more »

We've reproduced the entire Scout Report for this week. It includes, among others, the links and description of Clemson Cooperative Extension; Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap); Getty Research Journal; Engineering in the Modern World,Research and Education; Vicos: A Virtual Tour (Peru); Modeling And Simulation Tools For Education Reform; Willard E. Worden's San Francisco & Berkeley; PBS Learning Media; Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War: A Collection of Digitized Books; Before and After the Fire: Chicago in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s. more »