Talking about children's books and films. Useful information for parents.
16 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 5+, Gender Differences Tags: adventure, Fairy Tale, folktales, pirates, Princess, strong girls
retold by Katrin Tchana
illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000
109 pp. – each individual story averages about 6 pages
Age: 5 + (some stories suitable for 4)
Interests: folk tales, princesses, pirates, fairy tales, magic, other cultures
Other books by this illustrator: St. George and the Dragon, Rapunzel
13 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: bad behavior, manners
by John Burmingham
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006
30 pp.
Age: 3 +
Interests: ‘bad behavior’, manners
Also by this author: Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, Borka, Come Away from the Water Shirley , Avocado Baby
13 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 4+ Tags: adventure, dogs, theatre
by Maurice Sendak
New York: Harper Collins, 1967
69 pp.
Age: 4 +
Interests: dogs, adventure, theatre
13 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: flowers, gardening, strong girls, travel
by Barbara Cooney
New York: Viking Press, 1982
28 pp
Ages: 3 +
Interests: flowers, single life, strong girls, travel
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12 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 6+ Tags: action, Arabia, castle, desert, genie, Magic, monkeys, Princess, romance, treasure, wizard
Rated: G
Length: 90 min.
Age: 6 and up Commonsense Media sez: 6 +
Scary Factor: villain Jafar is creepy and evil; the huge lion creature guarding the treasure is truly frightening; it devours a thief at the beginning, though this is not seen; in one scene Aladdin nearly drowns; villain’s magic in the climax at the end is pretty scary and huge – turning into an enormous snake and then an even bigger genie
Action: Aladdin is continually fleeing guards with swords – played for laughs but may be stressful; the scene when Aladdin’s in the cave is pretty heavy action-and-danger-wise (Indiana Jones-esque)
Bad Behavior: when the sultan is imprisoned Jafar’s parrot tortures him by force-feeding him crackers – this might be disturbing, or maybe just disturbing for adults!; Genie smokes a cigarette at one point
Sex: all females are scantily clad; a few kisses
Racism: many stereotypes of Middle-Eastern peoples and lifestyle; heroes sound American, while bad guys have Arabian accents
Language: very slangy; also name-calling: “stupid” “dumb” “idiot”
Interests: Arabian legends, magic, desert, folk tales, other cultures
Next: picture books of 1001 Arabian Nights, old movies like The Thief of Bagdad
10 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 5+ Tags: bad behavior, kindergarten, strong girls
by Beverly Cleary
original illustrator: Louis Darling
Age: 5 and up (good too for older, beginning readers)
Interests: kindergarten, school, siblings
10 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: birds, boats, insects, island, nature, ocean, seasons, weather
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1947
Margaret Wise Brown, author
Leonard Weisgard, illustrator
New York: Doubleday, 1946
40 pp.
Age: 3 +
Interests: nature, animals, birds, boats, islands
By the same author: Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny
10 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: animals, birds, nature, seasons, snow, weather, winter
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNTER – 1949
Berta and Elmer Hader
New York: Macmillan, 1948
43 pp.
Ages: 3 +
Interests: animals, birds, seasons, nature, snow, winter
10 May 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: seasons, snow, weather, winter
CALDECOTT WINNER – 1948
Alvin Tresselt, author
Roger Duvoisin, illustrator
New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1947
27 pp.
Ages: 3 +
Interests: winter, snow, seasons
Rarest Kind of Best 
Picking Movies for Young Children
13 May 2011 Leave a comment
by Kim in Commentary, Movies
I don’t want this blog to just be reviews, so I am going to try to write a weekly commentary of sorts, posting every Friday. Well, we’ll see how it goes… Here’s the first.
Here’s a blogger’s humble confession. Rating movies for a particular age group is really hard.
I used to be so annoyed with reviews of kids’ movies that weren’t specific, that didn’t give me what I needed to know in a nutshell. “Not suitable for young viewers” just didn’t help me. (What is ‘young’?!)
So when I began this blog I was determined to stamp an age recommendation on every review. And I soon found out why those other reviewers choose to be so vague. As much as a frazzled parent may want concise advice with a minimum of fuss, the First Commandment of parenthood always holds:
EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT!
I will do my best to give my recommendations, but the precise age rating must always be regarded as a sliding scale – after reading my reviews you will know if your child tends to be above, below or right smack on my estimates and can proceed accordingly. And please double-check with any other books, websites or blogs that you trust. (I include the Commonsense Media age ratings, which are often a year higher than mine.)
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