Monica Edinger's Blog, page 137
October 17, 2009
A Few Things
Will Self on Roald Dahl and the new Fantastic Mr. Fox film.
"Eoin Colfer has achieved the best post-mortem impersonation I have ever read," writes Mark Lawson in his review of And Another Thing.
Where the Wilds Things Are and Eleven Other Controversy Causing Kids' Movies.
The Reading Life: What Makes a Children's Classic.
In the Classroom: David Macaulay and Our Year of the Sketchbook
Those are my 4th graders sketching during an assembly with David Macaulay yesterday. Yeah, that David Macaulay. And, yeah, I'd be jealous too. That is, of a school that had him coming once a month for the whole year as a visiting artist. You see, we've this terrific program called Original Mind where, well, original thinkers come and work with us in all sorts of ways all year long. David is the third, following Sarah Sze and Natasha Trethewey.
He's doing all sorts of things, but for me...
Big and Friendly or Big and Scary?
Children, even young children are different. Some, even young children, like the scary and frightening, others do not. At a preliminary screening of Jurassic Park I saw some children, boys and girls, preschoolers to early secondary having a grand time. Others, both boys and girls and across the same age range were crouching in their seats, hiding their eyes.
David Elkind and other experts weigh in on scary movies for kids.
October 15, 2009
Hurray — More Bartimaeus Coming!
"The new and fourth Bartimaeus book will follow Bartimaeus's adventures during his 5,000 year career as a djinni."
Thanks to Charlotte's Library for pointing me to this wonderful announcement at the Fantasy Book Review site.
October 14, 2009
Raging Children in Today's Picture Books
The Defiant Ones
In today's picture books, the kids are in charge.
by Daniel Zalewski
Children's books, parents, and discipline : The New Yorker
October 13, 2009
Audio Tweets
Starting October 13 at Noon EST, Neil Gaiman (known as @Neilhimself) will launch a special round-robin interactive storytelling experience. He'll tweet the first line of the story and then the rest is up to you! Just login to your Twitter account (registration is free) to continue the story.
Twitter an Audio Story with Neil Gaiman.
October 10, 2009
Thoughts on Newbery: Retrospective Voice
Nina Lindsay reminded me of this series of posts, begun when I was on the 2008 Newbery Committee. Now I'm having a grand time following and occasionally participating in the discussion over at Nina's and Jonathan Hunt's Heavy Medal blog. Both are old and good friends; both are passionate, smart, and thoughtful about books for children; both are worth paying close attention to even if you don't agree with them. And they've been discussing two books, A Season of Gifts and The Evolution of...
Sequelitis
Sometimes it works:
"Fans can put away the axes right now, because he has done a fine job." From the Times review of And Another Thing…Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three by Eoin Colfer.
Sometimes it doesn't:
"If Winnie the Pooh had been given to a panel to pastiche, David Benedictus's effort would have been a good contribution. But his sequel adds nothing significant…." From the Times review of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood.
via achokablog
