Talking about children's books and films. Useful information for parents.
16 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books
Here’s the link for this year’s list of finalists.
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre is a national, not-for-profit organization and registered charity founded in 1976 to promote, support and encourage the reading, writing and illustrating of Canadian books for children and teens.
16 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+, Classics Tags: Fairy Tale, Magic, Princess, romance
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1955
Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper
translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown
New York: Macmillan, 1954
30 pp.
Age: 3 +
Interests: fairy tales, princesses, magic
16 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 2+ Tags: animals, country life, dogs, farm
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1952
by Will (William Lipkind)
illustrated by Nicolas (Nicolas Mordvinoff)
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1951
30 pp.
Age: 2 +
Interests: dogs, farms
15 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Ballet, Books, books 3+, Introduction to..., Quick Lists Tags: ballet, dance
A great way to introduce a child to ballet is to start with the stories. There are many storybooks based on famous ballets, I’ll include a few specific editions that we’ve read. (All are probably suitable for about age 3 and up.)
1. The Nutcracker – This most perfect first ballet for children is a Christmas story with many familiar tunes, adventure and drama, a battle with the mouse king, fairies, magic, and toys come to life. There are many picture book versions out there, one I liked is by Maurice Sendak, who also designed a production of the ballet which I found on video at our library.
Nutcracker, by E.T.A. Hoffman, ill. Maurice Sendak
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – It’s a Shakespearian play! It’s an opera! It’s a ballet! It’s a terrific old movie! Another story with lots of magic and comedy, crazy mixups, fairies and a guy with a donkey head. The ballet was based on the incidental music that Felix Mendelssohn wrote for the Shakespeare play.
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, retold by Bruce Coville, ill. Dennis Nolan
3. Sleeping Beauty – Of course, of course, everyone knows this story. The ballet music was written by Tchaikovsky and is wonderful – many of his musical themes can be heard in the Disney film Sleeping Beauty.
Sleeping Beauty: The Ballet Story, by Marian Horosko, ill. Todd Doney
4. The Firebird -A Russian folktale turned into a ballet by Igor Stravinsky. A prince saves captive maidens from a demon with the help of a magic bird.
The Firebird, by Jane Yolen, ill. Vladimir Vagin
5. Swan Lake – Dreamy beautiful ballet by Tchaikovsky – you know the main tune. Absolutely gorgeous illustrations in the edition below, which I also like because Zwerger tells the story with the happy ending Tchaikovsky originally had to his ballet, rather than the later, better known version with the lovers drowning in the lake.
Swan Lake, retold and ill. by Lisbeth Zwerger
Ballet companies are always eager to win over the next generation of audience members, so they do a lot of outreach work. I found ballet stories and a ‘Ballet ABC’ at the NYC Ballet website, and I’m sure there are many other similar offerings to be found online.
The next step after picture books may be finding ballet clips online, watching ballet DVDs or videos (like the Sendak Nutcracker I found at our public library), and finally going to a Christmas-time Nutcracker performance. One other possibility for the very young is to go to a ballet school year-end concert: less formal, less expensive, but still very exciting for a first-time experience!
14 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in Books, books 4+ Tags: birds, ducks, Magic
by Roald Dahl
illustrator Quentin Blake
London: Puffin, 1964
63 pp.
Age: 4 +
Interests: animal welfare, birds, magic
Also by this author: James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and many, many more
14 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 5+ Tags: frogs, jazz, Magic, New Orleans, Princess, swamp
Rated: G
Length: 97 min.
Age: 5 + Commonsense Media sez: 6 +
Scary Factor: villain Dr. Facilier calls upon evil spirits for help several times; three frog-hunters in the swamp shoot guns and whack each other around quite violently; shadow demons chase Prince Naveen; several close calls with alligators and other creatures in the swamp; death of a ‘good guy’ main character near the end is rather shocking and very sad; death of Facilier as demons drag him down into hell (presumably)
Intense: death of a main character is very upsetting, his funeral is shown with grieving friends, although in the end it is rather uplifting
Bad Behavior: some drinking in restaurants and parties, plus one brief gag re. a drunk at the masquerade ball
Language: “hell”, “crap”, insults (“stupid”)
Interests: frogs, swamps, New Orleans, jazz, magic, princesses
13 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 2+ Tags: animals, boats, country life, siblings
GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1970
by John Burningham
London: Jonathan Cape, 1970
30 pp.
Age: 2+
Interests: animals, boats, river life, siblings
Also by this author: Avocado Baby, Borka, Come Away from the Water Shirley, Edwardo: The Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World
13 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 4+ Tags: Fairy Tale, fashion, Magic, romance
GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 2003
by Shirley Hughes
London: Bodley Head, 2003
44 pp.
Age: 4+
Interests: fairy tales, fashion, love stories, magic
Also by this author: Dogger
08 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 2+, movies 3+, movies 4+, movies 5+, Old Movies, Quick Lists Tags: song and dance
I’m not including here the animated Disney ‘musicals’, first because they are pretty obvious choices, and secondly because, with some exceptions, the music is often forgettable. I’ve chosen to focus instead on glorious, old-school, Broadway-style live action movie musicals. (Mary Poppins being a borderline case, but it’s mostly live-action.)
The grand old MGM musicals should boggle your child’s mind with the brash, over-the-top craziness of it all. I showed That’s Entertainment to two four-year-old girls last summer, and during the Esther Williams swimming sequences, well, their jaws were on the floor. Remember, that which you and I find cheesy, they may regard as nothing short of miraculous.
1. Mary Poppins (1964) – 2+ (This title on amazon.)
2. Meet Me in St. Louis (1945) – 4+ (This title on amazon.)
3. The Wizard of Oz (1939) – 4+ (This title on amazon.)
4. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – 5+ (This title on amazon.)
5. Annie (1982) – 5+ (This title on amazon.)
Singin’ in the Rain is the only one of the five with a plotline that isn’t immediately child-relateable – that is to say, it doesn’t have a child or teen protagonist with problems children can easily identify with and understand. However it should still grab young viewers with its humour, energy and verve.
If you’re not sure about the plotlines, and whether your child will find them interesting or even comprehensible, here’s my bonus suggestion:
6. That’s Entertainment, Vol. 1 (1974) , Vol. 2 (1976) – age ? (both rated G) : These DVDs are simply compilations of song and dance numbers plucked from many old musicals. An excellent introduction to the world of old movies and musicals, though you may have to fast forward through the ‘modern-day’ introductions from aging stars.
I’ve got a long list of runners-up, so keep tuned for “the next top 5 musicals”…
Rarest Kind of Best 
Fairy Tale Controversy, Part 2: Coming to America
11 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
by Kim in Books, Classics, Commentary Tags: Fairy Tale
In my last commentary I talked about the opposition that rose up in Britain against fairy tales as suitable literature for children. Another stronghold of anti-fairy tale sentiment lay across the ocean in America. The New World objections to Old World tales tell us much about the psychology of the new frontier nation.
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