family | Rarest Kind of Best

The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

25 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Uncategorized Tags: adventure, family, illness, little people, romance, strong girls

Released: 2010
Rated: G
Length: 94 min.
Age: 6 and up. commonsense media sez: 7 +
Interests: little people, romance, family, illness, adventure, strong girls

The Family from One End Street

17 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books Tags: England, family, independence, siblings

CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER – 1937

The Family from One End Street

written and illustrated by Eve Garnett

Age: 5+ (read to)

Interests: family, siblings, Great Britain

FArTHER

15 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 5+ Tags: family, father, flight, inventions

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 2009

FArTHER

by Grahame Baker-Smith

Age: 5+

Interests: flight, inventors, fathers, flying machines

A Monster Calls

11 Apr 2013 1 Comment

by Kim in Books, books 12+ Tags: bad behavior, bullying, death, family, grieving, illness, monsters, single parent

GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 2012

CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER – 2012

A Monster Calls

text by Patrick Ness, from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd

illustrated by Jim Kay

Age: 12+

Interests: illness, death, grieving, monsters, nightmares

Holes (2003)

05 Mar 2013 2 Comments

by Kim in Movies, movies 9+ Tags: cowboys, crime, curse, desert, family, family history, friendship, jail, mystery, racial tension, treasure, violence

Holes

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

The Giver

12 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 10+ Tags: dystopia, family, morality, philosophy, sci fi

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER – 1994

The Giver

by Lois Lowry

Random House: 1993

179 pp.

Age: 10+

Interests: science fiction, dystopia, morality, questioning authority, freedom

Next: the rest of ‘The Giver Quartet’: Messenger, Gathering Blue, Son

More science fiction: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l’Engle, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, The Martian Chronicles or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Also by this author: Number the Stars, Autumn Street, The Silent Boy

Caddie Woodlawn

06 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 6+, books 8+ Tags: adventure, American history, country life, family, farming, First Nations, history, pioneer life, racial tension, siblings, strong girls

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER – 1936

Caddie Woodlawn

by Carol Ryrie Brink

MacMillan: 1935

275 pages, 24 chapters

Age: 6+ (read to); 8+ (independent reading)

Interests: history, American history, farm life, pioneers, siblings, growing up

Also by this author: sequel Magical Melons (aka Caddie Woodlawn’s Family)

Next: picture books – They Were Strong and Good, Abraham Lincoln, Ox-Cart Man; chapter books – Sarah Plain and Tall, Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables