Stranger Things: Ketchup and Mustard

By Carol Starkey We’ve all heard the saying, “Love makes the world go ‘round.” I looked that quote up and found a slightly different one that tried to improve on it: “Love doesn’t make the world go ‘round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” I don’t know that I’d say love makes the world go...

For His Friends: Sacrificial Love in The Raven Cycle

by Jessica Prescott “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Sometimes we forget that “friends” bit, don’t we? In storytelling, at least, we seem to forget it. So often, romantic lovers make the sacrifice play “because I love you,” because you’re my one and only, because...

The Importance of Brotherhood in The Outsiders

By Eva-Joy Schonhaar “We’re all we’ve got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.” -The Outsiders, chapter 12 When S.E. Hinton published her debut novel, The Outsiders, in 1967, it shocked readers everywhere. Until that point there had been few realistic YA...

What a Difference a Day Makes: When Jack Aubrey Met Stephen Maturin

by Rachel Kovaciny The book Master and Commander opens not with a sea battle, a furious storm, some act of derring-do, or swashbuckling heroics. No, the first book in Patrick O’Brian’s magnificent series about the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars opens with a musical concert. An elegant private concert attended by, among others, two complete...