Strollerderby : kids books

Chat with Judy Blume!

JeanneSager — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:02:00 GMT

If you were once a teenage girl (and I'd dare say at least half of Babble readers once were), chances are Judy Blume got you through a tough spot.

Heck, if you were an elementary school boy, you might have spent an afternoon or two with her books that have nothing to do with PMS and plenty to do with the playground.

And if you ever sat, like Margaret, wondering, is someone there, we have good news. Judy Blume herself is answering questions from readers.

The author of who made great a Fourth Grade Nothing, taught us all to mix up lemon juice concoctions to fight the freckles and managed to make Fudge better than chocolate, appeared on Random Buzzers.com last week, and she's expected to spend the next few days checking back in to answer questions from readers. She's even blogging about it over at her own site (just in case you thought this was a hoax).

So maybe now's the perfect time to pull out your old Judy Blumes and pore over them for questions, er, get your kids reading your favorites.

Go on over to Random Buzzers to join the comment string and post your question, but let us know - what was your favorite Judy Blume book, and have you shared it with your kids yet?

Image: Amazon

Controversial Sex-Ed Book's 15th Anniversary Edition Coming Up

Miriam Axel-Lute — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:30:00 GMT

This will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about me, but let me clarify that I describe Robie Harris's It's Perfectly Normal as "controversial" because, technically, it is true: It has caused a lot of controversy, frequently hitting the top ten list of most-challenged books, inspiring hysterical accusations of its being child porn, and generating publicity stunts like that of the woman in Lewiston, Maine, who checked it out and refused to return it because it was "amoral" (generating such attention that the library had to order several more copies. I love—kinda—book banners).

But I do not think that the content is (or at least ought to be) particularly controversial.

It is a comprehensive, well-researched, much-vetted book on puberty, sex, reproduction, and sexual/emotional health and safety. In short, exactly what far too many of our kids don't have access to. Which doesn't mean I don't see where the ideological buttons are getting pushed: It presents various sexual orientations as normal, discusses abortion without condemning it, and gives all the cautionary information necessary for sexual decisionmaking without preaching about timing per se. And yes, it contains tasteful, educational, yet light-hearted line drawings of naked kids and teens, and also of couples in bed (under covers!). It is, after all, a book about (1) how bodies change at puberty and (2) explaining the very basics of some of what people do in bed. Some of us don't learn so well by text alone.

Perhaps less on the usual radar about It's Perfectly Normal are two characters—a bird and a bee—who appear through out the book representing the voices of a curious teen who's eager to grow up and one for whom all this information is a bit much and feels a little uncomfortable. I found it all this joking a bit hokey on first read, but I'm not the target audience. And after a bit of relflection, I could see that the point of their banter was to subtly say to kids reading it, "It's OK if you're not ready to think about this much yet (and it's OK if you're really curious)." That's a level of nuanced thoughtfulness and consideration that the sexphobic abstinence people rarely muster.

Of course by the time some of our kids are old enough for It's Perfectly Normal, that bird and bee will be old friends from It's Not the Stork (ages 4 and up) and It's So Amazing (7 and up), which are quite similar, but with less detail and covering fewer topics in developmentally appropriate ways. I am particularly grateful for the pages devoting to debunking gender stereotypes at the beginning of It's Not the Stork, before the book dives into the anatomy lesson covering what the actual differences are.

I have critiques too (also no shocker to many of you, I'm sure). Particularly, I think that the gender stereotyping in the cartoon version of the sperm and egg meeting (in each book) are overdone, to the point of actually being somewhat untrue to the biology. I think the care to not offend anyone leaves kids with no explanation that breastfeeding is normal or why formula is sometimes used. Then again, they don't need to know very much about that. These are, in the end, small things.

I'm thrilled that these books continue to be updated (the 15th anniv. edition of It's Perfectly Normal is due out this fall), and I hope we're moving toward a time when they can gain the popularity they deserve.

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Everyone Poops: The Movie?

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:29:00 GMT

I know I'm not the only parent out there who salivated over the pictures and trailers for Where the Wild Things Are. But is Spike Jonze already at work on a new children's book to movie adaptation?

A potty training classic no less: Taro Gomi's Everyone Poops. Is America ready for elephants making big poops and mice making tiny poops on-screen?

Blessedly, no. Not even our "the grosser the better" culture will be doling out $10 a ticket for a two-hour look at Everyone Poops. But the picture book that has convinced a generation of toddlers that they need to get the poop out gets a hilarious send-up in a new spoof of the Where the Wild Things trailer.

Not since Trainspotting have I taken a look at a toilet in such detail.

Don't tell me that whining mom at the beginning doesn't ring some bells. Aren't you glad this is a fake?

Image: Amazon

Meet Your Kids' New Superhero: Ladybug Girl

JeanneSager — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:26:00 GMT

She's back!

Ladybug Girl, the pint-sized superhero who leaps sidewalk cracks in a single bound and isn't afraid to splash her speckled red boots in the possibly shark-infested waters of the local pond has returned to bookshelves to introduce a new member of the playground power pack: Bumblebee Boy.

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy is the second in the new series from husband and wife team Jacky Davis (a former producer of the Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss) and David Soman. Inspired by their own kids and a focus on getting them outside to enjoy the natural world, the couple introduced the world to a girl hero that parents could get behind last spring.

Ladybug Girl Lulu wears sparkly red tutus and spotted wings, but she's not afraid of getting either one a little dirty - or hunkering down in said tutu in the middle of a stone fort in the woods. Spirited and smart, she makes her own fun out of anything - even if the only spectator to her feats is the family dog.

In the book that hits shelves today, she's got the whole playground watching, and joining in. Yet another example of why girls rule, this Penguin offering doesn't neglect the boys. Clad in yellow and black, Lulu's friend Sam finds his own superpower in the flight of the bumblebee, flapping his wings to fly as high as Ladybug Girl on the swings, and joining forces to tackle the playground monster (aka the tire swing). Drawn in intricate detail and bold colors by Soman, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy offers a gentle reminder that kids let loose outside can create their own fun - no pile of expensive toys required.

Add in the element of children negotiating their own terms of friendship, and it's a story that empowers kids and reinforces parents' faith that kids who enjoy just being kids are going to be OK.

Image: Amazon

Smackdown: A Book's a Book, No Matter How Small (or Annoying)

KeriF — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:45:00 GMT

When my 4-year-old son Declan was just a few months old, we had brunch with some family friends. Their son was whining for his stuffed rabbit, which he had left in the car. "[Whatever stuffed rabbit's name was] doesn't want to come out of the car," my friend explained to her son. "He's tired and just wants to rest." The kid didn't buy it, and who can blame him? He was a child, not an idiot.

That's why I try not to lie to my kids. And that's why I can't throw out any of the annoying books my kids love. Even if, like "Sheep in a Shop," the far inferior sequel to "Sheep in a Jeep," the meter is poor, the plot iffy, and the moral downright questionable (the sheep trade their wool for some birthday presents). I can't throw it away. I can't simply "misplace" it. Because I can't say, "'Snuggle Puppy'? Haven't seen it," if I know it's buried under leftover mac-n-cheese in the kitchen garbage can. I know I can't do this because I've tried, and I suck at it.

My feeble attempts at lying to my kids, no matter how trivial the matter, have failed miserably. When we went to the Renaissance Faire last summer, I told my sons before we left the house that (plastic toy) swords weren't allowed (as if!). Then when we got there and saw a sword on every leather-clad hip in the shire, I felt like an idiot and spent the better part of the day trying to talk my way out of it. But why? They're 4 and 3. I'm, er, significantly older than that. "Because I'm the parent, that's why," is trite because it's true. We're the grown-ups! We shouldn't have to lie to get our way. That's toddler territory.

So when 3-year-old Ronan wants to read "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" for the 11th time in a week and I simply cannot stomach all 187 pages of it (or at least that's what it feels like), I don't tell him that it's "gone missing." I simply tell him we've had enough George for one week and suggest we read my favorite book, "The Gruffalo." And if he starts to pitch a fit I simply offer the alternative: no book at all. "The Gruffalo" always wins.

The truth is, I find a lot of children's books annoying. Some of them just don't make a lot of sense to me. But that doesn't mean they don't make a lot of sense to my kids. The first time I read "Goodnight Moon," I thought to myself, "That's it? That's 'Goodnight Moon'? It doesn't even rhyme!" But my kids loved it. So I read it to them, and reread it to them, again and again and again, and they learned to recognize the book and smile when they heard the first words.

Now my kids love to read, and the inanity of "Snuggle Puppy" is balanced by the brilliance of John Lithgow's "The Remarkable Farkle McBride." And that's okay with me. Because I don't always want to read "Crime and Punishment." Sometimes I just want a little "Flowers in the Attic."

The Other Side:

Smackdown: I Won't Read That Thing Again

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Nine-Year-Old Lothario Gets Movie Deal

Brett Singer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Alec Greven is either a genius or the luckiest little kid ever. At least if you only consider his success in the entertainment business.

Alec is the author of "How To Talk To Girls", a book about fishing. Psych! It's really about how to talk to girls. (A little nine-year-old humor for you. Thank you. Tip your waitress.) That book has now been optioned for a film.

Yes, a film. How they plan to dramatize a 46-page book that features such gems as "Comb your hair and don't wear sweats," I have no idea. But that didn't stop Fox (which is owned by News Corp., same as the book's publisher Harper Collins) from handing over a decent chunk of cash – "low-to-mid six figures", according to the Hollywood Reporter. That'll buy a lot of candy and comic books.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go speak to my children. I thought I would have to wait until they were older for them to start earning their keep. But screw that. The older one can pen "How To Talk About Pokémon," the younger kid can do "How To Talk Constantly". I see TV series, coffee mugs… the possibilities are endless.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Image: New York Post

World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

Dating Advice from a Nine-Year-Old

Christian Words Removed From Oxford Junior Dictionary

Puppies Save Lost Toddler

Explaining Plaxico Burress To A Seven Year Old

Nebraska Butt Bandit Caught

Dating Advice from a Nine-Year-Old

JeanneSager — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Would you take dating tips from a nine-year-old? The people who’ve put Alec Greven’s How to Talk to Girls at number seventy-three on the Amazon bestseller list would.

But I wouldn’t exactly rush out to buy a book that tells a guy “don’t wear sweats” and “control your hyperness.”

Call me the Ebenezer Scrooge of the book-buying world, but I’m not convinced that a nine-year-old Don Juan’s got the secrets to set hearts on fire. Kids are sweet, yes, but they’re still kids.

Which is why their books rarely have staying power. Appearances on Ellen and CNN have no doubt earned publisher Collins back its advance, even in a grim economy. But is anyone going to read this stocking stuffer? Alec Greven is a typical - albeit adorable - fourth-grader. He’s well-spoken, and he certainly scrubs up well. His advice is common sense . . . put out in cutesy language that could tug at your heart - given the right mood. A mood that tends to pass. Yet they've already guaranteed there will be two more in the series - How to Talk to Moms and How to Talk to Dads are both slated for shelves in '09.

Do publishers lay out for these kids’ books expecting to roll out printing after printing to match demand over the years? Or are they just hoping to profit off a fad while it’s here?

Maybe the better question to ask is, would you buy this book?

Image/Source: New York Post

(Check out their photo gallery - even Ebenezer Sager can admit it's priceless)

A Genetic Test That Predicts Kids' Athletic Futures

Say Hi To Grandma Through the Screen

Moose With Loose Poops: Most Disgusting Book Title Ever?

Librarians Banning Books? Another Take on Banned Books Week

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:40:00 GMT

Let me start off by saying that I adore librarians (being the daughter of two, including a children's librarian), and have immense respect for the fights they've been fighting to in defense of free speech and access to controversial content, as well as all they put up with from people who think they know how to do a librarian's job better than the librarian.

But I couldn't quite write off this post by small-press author Joe Ekaitis charging that library policies that limit purchases to books reviewed in high-profile journals are limiting the range of what kids have access to just as much or more than moralistic wackos who rarely succeed in getting a book banned in more than one or two individual places. In fact, he argues that celebrity-penned books with bad reviews get bought, while books that got published on merit alone are being overlooked.

And ayway, he asked, "how does a book build up a readership without some exposure, beginning close to home? Isn't the library the place to discover books you can't easily find elsewhere? Everyone knows where to find best-sellers. They're at Wal-Mart."

There's clearly some sour grapes tone to the argument, but also a worrying charge. It shouldn't take more time to read and judge a picture book donated by a local author than to read a review of it. (Or maybe the donation is the problem, since a librarian doesn't want to feel obligated to shelve something she doesn't like because it was free.) And yes, I don't want my library to just replicate the shelves at big box bookstores. (For the record, I don't feel like mine does.)

What you do think? How are the shelves in your library? Are you worried about defacto censorship by publishing monopoly?

Strollerderby's recent banned books week coverage:

James and the Giant Peach; Kama Sutra for Kids; Smother the Fire and Read a Banned Book

In the Night Kitchen; Little Women; R.L. Stine's Goosebumps; Sarah Palin; And Tango Makes Three

Shel Silverstein; Where's Waldo?; Judy Blume and 'Forever'; Is Racism Packaged as Children's Literature Defensible?

Roald Dahl's The Witches

More by this author:

10 Names to Give Your Under-5 Daughter for Her . . . You Know

Banned Books Week: R.L. Stine's Goosebumps

JeanneSager — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:32:00 GMT

Before a boy wizard bounced him from his post, R.L. Stine was once the best-selling children's book author of all time. And while his scary stories reigned supreme in kids' hearts, they sat at number 16 on the American Library Association's most challenged books of the 1990s.

The kids loved him. The parents loved to hate him. To be honest, I've never been a fan. He's been writing teen and child books since the the mid-1980s, so ostensibly I could have picked one up at the library over the years. I don't remember any. I do remember picking up a Goosebumps paperback a few years ago - my Harry Potter obsession serving as a gateway back into childhood literature in my adult years. What struck me wasn't how clever the book was or how I couldn't put it down - I could have left it just as quickly as I'd taken it - but that I finally understood why my little brother always had a tough time getting these back to the library on time. It was right up any preteen boy's alley. Which is exactly what makes people's attempts over the years to have them removed from library shelves such a travesty.

Getting kids to read as they enter the tween years - especially boys - can at times be like pulling teeth. A study funded by Scholastic in 2006 showed 40 percent of kids between the ages of 5 and 8 are "high frequency readers" who read for fun every day. That number drops to 29 percent of kids in the 9 to 11 range and even lower as they get older. Separating the genders, the study found boys are three times more likely than girls to say reading for fun is "not at all important."

Ironically, one mom speaking out in an 1997 CNN story about a parental movement to get Goosebumps pulled from the shelves at her local school admitted her son only read for school reports before he started picking up Stine's novels. "And I had to force him to do that," she said. Excuse the Homer Simpson moment, but . . . DOH!

If you want to encourage kids to read, you let them do it. You give them books or magazines that interest them. They can be reading absolute drivel and still learn vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar. Yes, they're a little scary - which is why they've been challenged over the years. But a generation of boys growing up without books on their shelves is enough to give me nightmares.

Image: Amazon

Banned Books Week: Shel Silverstein

Banned Books Week: Kama Sutra for Kids

Banned Books Week: Little Women

Banned Books Week: In the Night Kitchen

Banned Books Week: Sarah Palin

Banned Books Week: "And Tango Makes Three"

Book of the Week: A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother

editors — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Cornelia Funke - or perhaps you know her as the German J.K. Rowling - packs a girl power punch into the storybook collection, A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother.

Funke is known for her young adult novels, (two of which have been made into movies) which explains why the three tales inside A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother are so engaging you almost miss the illustrations.

These three adventure tales are smart and sublime; from the princess who was raised to joust to the pirate girl who kicks some bad guy butt alongside her pirate mother, Barbarous Bertha. It is refreshing that this book isn’t screaming the message that “anything boys can do, girls can do better”. Funke simple creates the relatable characters of Violetta, Molly and Anna and plops them into extraordinary circumstances.

All three tales within, “The Princess Knight”, “Pirate Girl” and “The Wildest Brother” will have you cheering when your tot asks for a third reading, rather than the usual, “Um, I think that book had to go night, night.” – April Peveteaux

A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother (Scholastic, 2008) is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Weekly Check-Up: Tommy the Tomato Brings, Er, Fruit To Life?

Kelly Mills — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:31:00 GMT

You know the old PSA trick of animating inanimate objects to make them friendly and appealing for kids? Like, the toothbrush comes to life and tells you how to brush, or perhaps even a forlorn little bill sits on Capitol Hill waiting to be made into law. Sometimes I find these animated things scarier than clowns, and sometimes if there's a catchy song involved, they become part of my fond Saturday morning memories. So I guess it's up to you to decide where Tommy the Tomato will fall in this. My kid likes his website. He's a tomato created by a nutritionist to educate kids about healthy eating, because of course "childhood obesity" is right up there with "ebola" and "nuclear". There's no singing, and his friend Barry the Banana looks...well...full of nutrients.

Let's hope Tommy comes out quickly as a fruit (not vegetable) and that he can teach kids valuable lessons about antioxidants and whole foods and stuff like that. But there's a danger in anthropomorphizing things: While Tommy is advocating healthy eating, isn't he also promoting the consumption of his own kind? Isn't he in fact endorsing cannibalism?

Strollerderby : kids books

Chat with Judy Blume!

Book for Gay Parents' Kids Creates an Uproar

Hooray for Book Banners - No Really

Controversial Sex-Ed Book's 15th Anniversary Edition Coming Up

Everyone Poops: The Movie?

Where the Wild Things Are Movie TRAILER and more Pics!

Playdate: How to Exploit Your Own Kids

Meet Your Kids' New Superhero: Ladybug Girl

They Say: Girls Made of Sugar and Grit

Smackdown: A Book's a Book, No Matter How Small (or Annoying)

Nine-Year-Old Lothario Gets Movie Deal

Teacher Has Affair With Student, Parents Say Keep The Door Open

World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

Christian Words Removed From Oxford Junior Dictionary

Puppies Save Lost Toddler

Explaining Plaxico Burress To A Seven Year Old

Nebraska Butt Bandit Caught

Dating Advice from a Nine-Year-Old

They Say: Boys Read if Dad Does

A Genetic Test That Predicts Kids' Athletic Futures

Say Hi To Grandma Through the Screen

Moose With Loose Poops: Most Disgusting Book Title Ever?

Librarians Banning Books? Another Take on Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week: R.L. Stine's Goosebumps

Book of the Week: A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother

Weekly Check-Up: Tommy the Tomato Brings, Er, Fruit To Life?