Kathleen went to Venice with a goal and a plan. The goal was to write about the lives of a cliched group of men, the gondoliers. The plan included a camera, a notebook, and the perseverance of a serious journalist. But sometimes plans must change.She soon found that a journalist's attitude didn't fly, and a single woman alone in Venice didn't go unnoticed. Changing her approach, she fell in with the flirtations, jokes, and carefree outlook of these men who occasionally offered small...

Learning to read can be tricky, but a good teacher can make all the difference!When your feathered friends start begging for books, you want to be ready with all the right tools. First, find a cozy place to rest their chicken cheeks and help them peck the right story. Make sure to avoid the scary ones (and any books with fowl language). Help your chickens practice letter sounds, point out common words, and encourage every chicken scratch. Don't forget to celebrate with a dance part...

Venice, a city with 1200 years of tenacity and grace under her belt, is not new to struggle. From her earliest beginnings, she has endeavored to wrestle an existence out of a Lagoon that both protects and punishes her. In recent years, the wakes of cruise ships have battered her fragile stones as tourism and economic realities have driven local Venetians out of the city.Then the aqua granda of 2019 flooded the calli and campi, nearly carrying Venetian fortitude away on its outgoing...

A stately woman in a brocade gown steps off a golden boat. A mirror merchant in simple white blouse takes action to preserve her republic. An elegant singer poses in a private salon. Standing at a university podium, a woman holds forth in Latin on women's education. A cloistered nun in a walled up convent uses the only power she has—her pen. Artists hold in their hands pastels or pens or glass or thread to document or protect or adorn or embellish those around them. A hostess orchestrates ...

"Here. Here is the house of Casanova, the Italian sex machine," a gondolier claims as he points to a crumbling building. But some gondoliers are lying—or telling a different kind of truth. "Casanova, he was with many women in Venice, so he has many houses."It turns out they're right after all.Seductive Venice: In Casanova's Footsteps will take readers on seven walking tours of Venice to find the real houses of Giacomo Casanova: his birthplace; the street where he beat up a ...

Denounced for heresy, pressured relentlessly to convert, accused of plagiarism, questioned for her learning, and literally robbed of hundreds of ducats in gold and goods, Sarra Copia Sullam faced travails that would have felled those fainter of heart. As a Jewish scholar in seventeenth century Venice, she had to remain steadfast in her faith while she brought together both Christian and Jewish scholars in her literary salon. The men she jousted with intellectually are the same men who late...

Learning to read may have felt like a breeze, but learning to write could ruffle a few feathers! It's time to hatch a plan to turn your chickens into a flock of word-smithing wonders.The award-winning team of Kari Ann Gonzalez and Rachel Suzanne pair up again in this witty sequel to HOW TO HATCH A READER! Now that your chickens are egg-cellent readers, they'll want to learn to write as well… and you want to be prepared. First, get crackin' by helping them form lett...

Clutching letters of introduction, intending to pave his way to the priesthood, adolescent Casanova arrived in Rome. The year was 1743. A future of religious devotion was soon abandoned as he was seduced by sparkling conversations, wild flirtations, French lessons, the lottery, libraries stuffed with books, and ices in candle-lit salons. Experience Rome through eighteenth century eyes, where riderless horses careen down the Corso during Carnevale and cardinals clandestinely meet in cafes.

Misfits are often confused with outcasts. Yet misfits rather find themselves in-between that which fits and that which does not. This volume is interested in this slipperiness of misfits and explores the blockages and the promises of such movements, as well as the processes and conditions that produce misfits, the means that enable them to undo their denomination as misfits, and the practices that turn those who fit into misfits, and vice versa. This collection of essays on misfit children...

In this volume González explores how the effects of a traumatic colonial experience are (re)presented to Latin American children today, almost two centuries after the dismantling of colonialism proper. Central to this study is the argument that the historical constraints of colonialism, neocolonialism, and postcolonialism have generated certain repeating themes and literary strategies in children’s literature throughout the Spanish-speaking Americas. From the outset of Spanish domination, ...

Venice is timeless. Venice is changing. Venice inspires and seduces and stimulates. We call ourselves Venetophiles, and we're addicted to this beautiful and ancient city in the middle of a lagoon. Editor Kathleen Gonzalez has collected memories, adventures, and dreams here in this new collection of stories from 32 contributors: novelists, bloggers, musicians, photographers, chefs, tour guides, historians, and more. You can read about childhood memories when Monica arrived in Venice on the ...

Five women, four forty years old, and one matron of sixty-one take a holiday to France anxious to escape their robotic lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.Wendy, the travel agent, Penny, owner of a needlework shop, Sarah, accomplished artist, Vernie, executive director of the Portland Symphony, and Rose, who is a recent widow all wind their way through Provence with adventures conflicts, and a generous portion of food and wine.Each evening they gather around the large plane tree...