Rarest Kind of Best

The Incredible Journey

23 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 7+, books 9+, Canadian books Tags: adventure, animals, Canada, cats, dogs, pets, wilderness survival

The Incredible Journey

by Sheila Burnford

Hodder and Stoughton, 1961

127 pp. – 11 chapters

Age: read to – 7+ independent reading – 9+?

Interests: pets, cats, dogs, wilderness, adventure

Next: 1963 Disney movie The Incredible Journey

Role Models for Boys

22 Jan 2013 1 Comment

by Kim in Commentary, Gender Differences, Issues, Parenting, Violence

It sometimes feels like there are a lot – almost too many – male role models out there in the media, but we should be thinking about exactly what they are teaching children.

Here’s a fantastic TED talk by Colin Stokes, “How Movies Teach Manhood”.

There has been an awful lot of effort over the last few years to present young girls with empowering role models that we haven’t spent enough time really analyzing what baggage is being toted by all those male role models we’ve been trying to balance against. Colin is right, they are usually renegades, fighting (always fighting) all alone against the odds, etc. His comparison of The Wizard of Oz with Star Wars is spot on in its implications of the changing face of movies. (It’s also another argument for watching old movies instead of newer ones, in my opinion!)

After my post a few days ago Positive Role Models for Girls I wanted to follow up with some info about boys, and that TED talk really put everything into a nutshell for me.

Here are a couple of great posts from Commonsense Media on the same topic –

Boy Games With Positive Role Models

And in case we forget that boys are just as inundated with media messages about body image as girls are –

Boys and Body Image Tips

Positive Role Models for Girls

18 Jan 2013 1 Comment

by Kim in Books, Gender Differences, Issues, Television Tags: strong girls

I don’t watch much tv these days (who has the time?), but here’s a list of current TV shows with Positive Girl Role Models from Commonsense Media.

My six-year-old is in turns fascinated and mystified by the world of teenagers. She loves to mimic their catchphrases, and even tries on their ‘world weary attitude’ for size. Her classmates are starting to pay attention to teen pop stars and other young celebrities. One problem with this is that so much tween and teen media is rife with girl vs. girl antagonism, gossip, rivalry and catfights. It takes some effort to find shows in which girls are thoughtful, nice, loyal and true friends to each other. And that show girls who have interests other than boys and the mall.

We may have come some distance in media depictions of women. At least we can see women in a variety of non-traditional careers now, but there still remain insidious stereotypes about how girls treat each other and these still need to be turned upside down. And don’t even get me started on the depiction of women in comic books and computer games…

We’ve still got a long way to go, baby.

See also: Commonsense’s list of Strong Female Characters in Books.

And on this blog, type “strong girls” into the search box above to see my list of great female characters in books and movies.

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

17 Jan 2013 3 Comments

by Kim in Books, books 4+, books 7+, Classics Tags: adventure, boats, circus, horses, ocean, pirates, royalty, toys, travel

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

by Ursula Moray Williams

originally published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1938

253 pp. – 19 chapters

Age: (read to) 4+ ; (independent reading) 7+

Interests: horses, toys come to life, travel, adventures, pirates, circus

by the same author: Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat, The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse

8 Life Lessons to be learned from Jane Austen

13 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Authors, Classics

Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by her sister Cassandra, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a great post on Huffington: 8 Life Lessons from Jane Austen. A lot has changed in the last 200 years or so, but love and relationships remain constant, it would seem. Not to mention flirtation, attraction and deception. And the allure of dashing young ne’er-do-wells.

I did not read Austen as a young person, sadly, but this post reminded me how relevant these books can be for romantically addled teenagers. If they can get a grip on the language and persevere through the slow parts, they will come away with a sense of the social rules of Austen’s time (“Oh, man! It would suck to live back then!”) as well as some pertinent love advice for their own era.

CBC radio: Peter and the Wolf

12 Jan 2013 2 Comments

by Kim in Classical Music, Introduction to...

Peter, Ivan and Sasha realize that they have c...

The Disney version – from Make Mine Music (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We were listening to CBC radio a while back and caught a great children’s concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bramwell Tovey. It ended with this terrific version of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. There are many versions of this piece available on CD, with a great variety of narrators (from John Gielgud to Dame Edna) and it’s a nice way to introduce your child to classical music.

Perhaps a good choice for a snow-bound winter afternoon sitting cozy by the fire?

(Everything you ever wanted to know about Peter and the Wolf c/o Wikipedia.)

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

11 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 6+ Tags: crime, fairy tale updated, wolves

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

text by Jon Scieszka

illustrations by Lane Smith

New York: Viking Penguin, 1989

28 pp.

Age: 6+

Interests: twisted fairy tales, crime and punishment, wolves

Next: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (another weird take on the story); The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey (a modern rewrite of a nursery rhyme with lots of crime and violence)

Also by this author and illustrator: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales; Squids Will Be Squids; Math Curse; Science Verse

My Old Year – My New Year

11 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Uncategorized

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some people go to the gym when a new year begins. Me, I unleash a flurry of daily blog posts!

The last eight months have been quite the crazy time… May for household disruption, June for packing madness, July for driving across Canada, August for unwinding and house hunting, September for paperwork and having a book published (visit kimthompsonauthor.com for details), October for moving into our new house, November for unpacking, and December for… well, December is just always crazy, isn’t it?

(I have another blog that deals with these events – something I call Toronto to Saltspring.)

Stress levels are finally subsiding, and we are truly enjoying our new rural island life. As I get back into gear I have many projects on the go, but I’m still committed to this blog and swear to you that I will be posting more often!

If you take a look at my Lists (above) you will see the basic bones of my reading list – I’ve been working my way through the Caldecott Medal winners (finished), and Greenaway Medal winners (nearly done), and now I’m turning my attention from picture books to older chapter books, with the Carnegie Medal and Newbery Medal winners.

For my movie reviews, I will continue to look at vintage Disney, as well as any other deserving films. In both books and movies I am most interested in the oldies, the classics, which can be so easily lost and forgotten in the constant deluge of the new, loud and novel. I will continue to unearth the old classics and hold them up to the light of day, for the good of parents and children everywhere.

That is my plan, anyway.

That is all.

(Happy New Year everyone! Best wishes for 2013!)