Talking about children's books and films. Useful information for parents.
19 Jul 2021 Leave a comment
in Books, books 5+ Tags: activism, environment, First Nations, grandparents, indigenous peoples, nature, pollution, river, strong girls, water
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 2021
text by Carole Lindstrom, illustrations by Michaela Goade
Age: 5+ (for full engagement)
Interests: environmentalism, nature, water, activism, pollution, indigenous people, first nations, strong girls
More
28 Aug 2012 2 Comments
in Movies, movies 5+ Tags: animals, death, deer, environment, forest, nature, seasons, weather, winter
Released: 1942
Rated: G
Length: 70 min.
Age: 5+ (commonsense media says 5+ too)
Scary Factor/Violence: one antler-slamming battle between Bambi and another stag; terror-stricken animals flee a large forest fire; a scary fight with vicious hunting dogs; gunshots are heard but deaths occur offscreen
Intense Scenes: death of Bambi’s mother (see full review for description)
Interests: animals, forest, nature, seasons, deer
Next: book Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
18 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 5+, Canadian books Tags: animals, birds, environment, First Nations, nature
BLUE SPRUCE nominee 2012
by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2010
20 pp.
Age: 5 +
Interests: nature, animals and birds, environmentalism, First Nations art, Canadian books
11 Sep 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 6+ Tags: antarctica, environment, ocean, penguins, seals, song and dance
Rated: PG for some mild peril and rude humor
Length: 108 min.
Age: 6 + (with reservations – read full review) Commonsense Media sez: 5 +
Scary Factor: leopard seal lunging right at the camera and ensuing chase; long sliding sequence with avalanche; another hair-raising chase with orcas; close call with boat propeller
Intense scenes: Mumble is cruelly ostracized and finally banished from the colony; when he’s in the zoo Mumble becomes clinically depressed, to the point of madness
Language: idiot, stupid, blubber butt, lardface, fool, etc.
Sexual content: suggestive lyrics in pop songs; much preoccupation with mating season; lots of sexually suggestive body language and innuendo (especially Lovelace)
Interests: penguins, antarctica, ocean, sea creatures, environmentalism
Next: March of the Penguins (documentary)
More
19 Jun 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 2+ Tags: Earth Day, environment, nature, trees
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1957
Janice May Udry, author
Marc Simont, illustrator
New York: HarperCollins, 1956
30 pp.
Age: 2+
Interests: trees, nature, ecology
13 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 4+ Tags: action, chase, environment, robots, romance, sci fi, space, spaceships
Rated: G
Length: 98 min
Age: 4 + … watchable at 4, better understood by 5 or 6 Commonsense Media sez: 5 +
Scary factor: our main characters are chased about, but nothing very threatening; Eve has a gun in her arm that she shoots at inanimate objects; in one scene she accidentally sets some huge oil tankers ablaze – no danger to characters, but it’s big and fiery, so may be alarming; a bad robot falls a great distance and breaks apart
Intense: some sad moments near the end when Wall-E seems broken-down/dead, but Eve is looking after him and it’s easy to allay concerns (“He’ll get better!”) because he does!
Language: one ‘heck’
Interests: space, robots, spaceships, environment
More
19 Mar 2011 Leave a comment
in Books, books 2+ Tags: cars, cities, construction, country life, environment, history, machinery, nature, seasons
CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1943
Virginia Lee Burton
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1942
40 pp
ages 2 +
Interests: machinery, cars, construction, country living, the seasons, and what life was like long ago…
Rarest Kind of Best 