April | 2011 | Rarest Kind of Best

The Princess and the Goblin

20 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, Classics Tags: castle, Fairy Tale, goblins, Magic, Princess

by George MacDonald

1872 – originally published in London by Strahan & Co.

216 pp – 32 chapters

Age: 6+ (?)

Next: C. S. Lewis Narnia books, The Hobbit

Also by this author:

Dealings with the Fairies (1867) aka The Light Princess and Other Stories – includes the story “The Golden Key”, commonly regarded as a masterpiece
At the Back of the North Wind (1871) – along with P&G, his most famous work
The Princess and Curdie (1883) – sequel to The Princess and the Goblin, but a lot darker, more violent and destructive

Very Interesting Data on the Vocabulary of Toy Advertisements

19 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Advertising and Consumerism, Gender Differences, Issues

From “The Achilles Effect”, a terrific set of visualized data:

Word Cloud: How Toy Ad Vocabulary Reinforces Gender Stereotypes

There are two fascinating word clouds, one for boys and one for girls.

BOYS TOYS

GIRLS TOYS

(Click MORE if you don’t mind hearing me rant a little…)

Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers

18 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 2+ Tags: birds, boats, geese, nature, travel

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1963

John Burningham, author and illustrator

London: Jonathan Cape, 1963

30 pp

Ages: 2 +

Interests: birds, geese, stories about not fitting in

Also by this author: Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, Avocado Baby, Come Away From the Water Shirley, Edwardo: The Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World, Courtney

ABC (Brian Wildsmith’s ABC)

18 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books - infant+ Tags: alphabet, animals

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1962

Brian Wildsmith, illustrator

London: Oxford University Press, 1962

Ages: infant +

Interests: animals, alphabet

Old Winkle and the Seagulls

18 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 4+ Tags: birds, boats, ocean

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1960

Gerald Rose, author (with Elizabeth Rose) and illustrator

London: Faber and Faber, 1960

31 pp

Interests: boats, ocean, birds

Tim All Alone

17 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 3+ Tags: adventure, boats, ocean, storms, travel, weather

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1956

Edward Ardizzone, author and illustrator

London: Oxford University Press, 1956

46 pp

3 +

Interests: adventure, ships, ocean, storms, travel

They Were Strong and Good

17 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 5+ Tags: American history, family, family history, history, pioneer life, war

CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1941

They Were Strong and Good

Robert Lawson, author and illustrator

New York: Viking Press, 1940

62 pp

age: 5+

Interests: American history, family, family history, pioneer life, war

A study of Violence in G-rated Animated Feature Films!

17 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Issues, Violence

Maybe I’m a total geek but I found this very exciting, even though it’s over 10 years old. First I found a reference to the study in this book:

The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids, by Dimitri A. Christakis and Frederick J. Zimmerman (New York: Rodale, 2006),

and then I found the actual study online:

Yokota, F. & Thompson, K. M. “Violence in G-rated Animated Films” in the Journal of the American Medical Association 283 (May 24-31, 2000): 2716-2720. (see the full study here)

It covers animated films of feature length (at least 60 min.) that were rated G, released theatrically in the U.S. and which were “available for review on videocassette” by September of 1999, including 74 titles.