Order Now!

IS IT A GOOD STORY?

Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals reintroduces readers to the beauty and knowledge of the liberal arts to cultivate their sharp minds and warm hearts.

“Now more than ever, we need both reflective and pragmatic liberal education if we are to shape accelerating change rather than be shaped by it."  —Washington Post review of Michael Roth's Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, 24 May 2014

IS IT A HELPFUL BOOK?

M5 endeavors to develop what the great poet Geoffrey Chaucer called our “good mother wit.”

Full of mysteries and delight, puzzles and beauty, the layers of messages run deep. As essentially an abecedarian (that means an alphabet book!), it is designed to help teach the liberal arts, namely how to read, not just words, but the book of life. And there will be new words—as Prince Hamlet put it: “Words, words, words!”

"The future of a country like the U.S. rests on our ability to master how technology interacts with how humans live, work and play," Zakaria said to The WorldPost. "And that depends on skills fostered by the liberal arts, such as creativity, aesthetic sensibility and social, political and psychological insight." —World Post, 20 April 2015

IS IT MORE THAN A BOOK?

Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mammals is more than a book of poetry...it's also a songbook. Poetry is song, and its music and rhythm help us remember words and images. The letter V poem actually has an accompanied, fully scored song, “The Lullaby of La Vaquita.” The Vaquita's Lullaby will also be a reminder to care for endangered species like these littlest of all the whales who now number less than 90 in the wild.

“Prior to the change, education in Greece had centered on the development of arête, roughly meaning excellence or virtue. [T]he course of study largely involved the memorization and recitation of Homeric epic poetry." —Fareed Zakaria’s In Defense of a Liberal Education (W. W. Norton & Co. 2015)