This is Not My Hat
by Jon Klassen
Age: 3 +
Interests: fish, mystery, crime and punishment, ocean
This is Not My Hat
22 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: bad behavior, crime, fish, mystery, ocean
Holes (2003)
05 Mar 2013 2 Comments
in Movies, movies 9+ Tags: cowboys, crime, curse, desert, family, family history, friendship, jail, mystery, racial tension, treasure, violence
released: 2003
rated: PG for violence, mild language and some thematic elements
length: 117 min.
age: 10+
scary factor: suspenseful scenes with rattlesnake, deadly lizards – nothing a 10 yr old couldn’t handle
violence: two boys fight; one boy whacks a provoking guard in the head with his shovel, knocking him out; in flashback a man is shot (in extreme wide shot – no closeups); Kate then shoots the sheriff in revenge; guards in work camp have guns, but only a lizard is actually shot
language: authentic but rather mild, for teenage boys: damn, hell, crap, Oh, my God… that kind of thing. (According to imdb.com there is one “jackass” but I didn’t even notice it.)
other: flashbacks depict scenes of racial hatred (burning down the school) and vague threat of sexual violence (drunken sheriff tries to force Kate to kiss him)
interests: mystery, desert, prison work camps, bad luck, family history, curses, cowboys, crime and punishment, buried treasure
next: read the book if you haven’t! Holes by Louis Sachar
I Want My Hat Back
30 Jan 2013 3 Comments
in Books, books 3+ Tags: animals, bad behavior, bears, crime, mystery, rabbits
by Jon Klassen
Candlewick Press, 2011
33 pp.
Age: 3+
Interests: animals, mystery, crime and punishment, bears and rabbits
Also by this author: This is Not My Hat
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
11 Jan 2013 Leave a comment
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
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
21 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Books, books 6+ Tags: cats, cities, crime, detective, dogs, family, fashion, mystery, strong girls, travel
by Chris Riddell
Macmillan, 2007
171 pp.
Age: 6+
Reading Level: 8+
Interests: mysteries, adventure, travel, strong heroines, fashion, clever plans and maps
Next: Ottoline At Sea, Ottoline Goes to School
Snow White in New York
07 Apr 2012 Leave a comment
in Books, books 7+ Tags: art, crime, fairy tale updated, fashion, jazz, New York
GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1986
Fiona French
Oxford University Press, 1986
32 pp.
Age: 7+
Interests: updated fairy tales, New York, 1920s flapper era, art styles, fashion
Next: Ella’s Big Chance (a Cinderella update also set in the 1920s)
The Highwayman
13 Mar 2012 7 Comments
in Books, books 10+ Tags: British history, crime, ghosts, horror, poetry, romance, violence
GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1981
Alfred Noyes, text
Charles Keeping, illustrations
Oxford, 1981
32 pp.
Age: 10 +
(Reading Level: 9 +)
Interests: poetry, romance, history, horror, ghost story
Also by this illustrator: Charley, Charlotte and the Golden Canary, The God Beneath the Sea, Beowulf, The Lady of Shalott, Through the Window, Charles Keeping’s Classic Tales of the Macabre
Smoky Night
05 Feb 2012 Leave a comment
in Books, books 6+ Tags: cats, city life, community, crime, racial tension, racism, single parent, violence
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1995
Eve Bunting, text
David Diaz, illustrations
Harcourt, 1994
32 pp.
Age: 6+
Interests: city life, crime, racial tension, violence, community, single parent family, cats
Also by this author: Fly Away Home, Coffin on a Case!, The Memory String, How Many Days to America?, Night Tree, S.O.S Titanic
The Music Man (1962)
25 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 6+, Old Movies Tags: American history, con man, crime, marching band, music, romance, song and dance
Released: 1962
Rated: G
Length: 151 min.
Age: 6+ (for comprehension) Commonsense media sez: 6 +
Scary: nothing violent, only the talk of angry townsfolk about tarring and feathering Hill
Sexual Innuendo: in some dialogue and songs, but all G-rated and too oblique to be picked up by small children
Interests: musicals, song and dance, marching bands, history, small town life, con men
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
18 Oct 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 6+ Tags: action, adventure, cars, crime, family, Magic
by Ian Fleming
150 pages, 12 chapters
London, Penguin, 1964
Age: 6 +
Interests: cars, magic, adventure, action, family, cops and robbers, science/inventions
Next: see the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (story is much different)
Rarest Kind of Best 