Strollerderby : reading to kids

Ten of the Best Lines from Kiddie Lit

JeanneSager — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:27:00 GMT

Be it a movie or a book, there's always one line that stands out in the good ones. Hence that dorky guy at the office who answers everything question with a movie quote.

So what's the kiddie lit version of "I'll be back?" The Associated Press got a series of celebrity parents to dish on their favorites,but we were suprised which of our favorites were skipped. So we're bringing them up here.

So who was talking? Maria Canals-Barrera of Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place" hit on that old Dr. Seuss classic: "a person's a person no matter how small" from Horton Hears a Who and Poppy Montgomery of Without a Trace hit upon Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go. Soprano Renee Fleming and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley paid tribute to those mommy and baby lovefest features Guess How Much I Love You and Love You Forever. You can check out the rest of the list via the AP . . . or read a collection of Strollerderby's favorites:

Another Dr. Seuss fave: "Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back."
And one more from the Seuss: " "on those wild screaming beaches..." (from The Sneetches)
What's the use of having a trained balloon if it won't do what you want?"- The Red Balloon by A. LaMorisse
"I am a nuisance in the lobby. Mr Salamone said so." - Eloise by Kay Thompson
"Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe." - The Polar Express by Chris VanAllsburg
"I don't want to be sensible," said Ramona. "I HATE being sensible." - Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
"In my experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil." - Lemony Snicket (not sure which one)
"It's my ponytail and I like it!" - Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch
"...and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are." - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
"And the music was sad and joyous and it filled the quiet street and went out over the darkling trees and the whole world." - from Dudley Pippin and the Principal in Free to Be You and Me

We could probably fill Strollerderby up with this list, but we'd like to hear yours. What are the lines your family repeats ad infinitum?

Image: Amazon

Hooray for Book Banners - No Really

JeanneSager — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:33:00 GMT

There's been plenty of talk about the books that short-sighted Americans have been running around trying to keep out of the hands of their precious innocent little angels this month.

And, as usual, I got that clenchy feeling atop my chest when I saw the list of top ten books Americans wanted banned last year - that "hooray, I showed them, I actually READ some of those books!" kind of feeling.

I've got plenty of words for the book banners out there (who are increasing in numbers by the way, challenges were up last year by close to one hundred), but I have to thank them.

Shocked? Don't be - I've found some fantastic books on the banned book lists over the years. As they say, even bad publicity is publicity. And everytime homophobes try to keep And Tango Makes Three from filling their babies' minds with the hogwash that two boys might make good penguin parents, I'd be you they sell a few copies for Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

A lot of the books that make these lists aren't landing in school libraries to make a point to censor-happy parents. They're being purchased by librarians because they're plain old good books, fun books, books that get people - and kids especially - reading. A newcomer to the list, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner was dubbed "sexually explicit" because of a brief mention of sodomy - in the context of abuse, not gay sex. There are difficult parts to get through even for a parent in the tale of two Afghani boys, but it's packed with good lessons for teens, especially in light of the ongoing conflict with Afghanistan.

With Hosseini's name now plastered all over lists of "banned" books, want to bet it's going to pique some more interest and bring some more readers?

How about Uncle Bobby's Wedding or the The Perks of Being a Wallflower? My daughter and I apparently have some reading to do.

Image: Amazon

Get Ready, Get Set, Read With Celebrities!

JeanneSager — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:29:00 GMT

It might be April and frigid in upstate New York (come on sun), but the summer reading campaigns are already going full bore.

This year the big names in books are booking celebrities to convince our kids that all the cool kids are doing it . . . reading I mean.

Scholastic is giving kids a sneak peek at its Summer Challenge, which will kick off on April 30 in classrooms nationwide. Kids can get started by downloading summer reading lists (there are sections for the three to five set on up to young adult) and posting their own question to be answered on a reading game show live webcast on the 30th. Sign your kids up now, and they can be part of the Read for the World Record challenge, which kicks off May 1. Videos with celebrity readers, games and prizes will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) has revealed a portion of its line-up, including "honorary book team" members Jerry Seinfeld, Al Roker and Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony and two of our faves: Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton.

RIF has teamed up with U.S. Airways for its summer reading promotion, Fly With US, Read With Kids, which will give readers chances to win Disney vacations, U.S. Airways gift packages and more as they book their way to five million minutes of reading time for parents and kids in the nation by June 30. Get your kids signed up, create your team and add to the minutes on their site.

For the off-times, when you don't have time to sit down with them and a book, check out Speakaboos for celebs reading nursery rhymes, fables and folk tales to your kids. You can get a look-see at Lisa DiSimone, Chazz Palminteri, Christopher Meloni (you know, the guy who does all those "you have to read to your kids" ads on Noggin? oh yeah, and the yummy dad from SVU?) and more on their site, and buy them to download onto your iPod for on the go.

Image: People (we promise, he does a much better job on Speakaboos)

Ben Affleck Suffers Same Fate As Dads of Daughters Everywhere

Also on Babble:

Five Minute Time Out: Sandra Boynton

Five Mintue Time Out: Eric Carle

Amy Winehouse Writing a Children's Book

JeanneSager — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:30:00 GMT

The best word to describe my daughter's library? Eclectic. We have the bunnies saying goodnight to their room on through to stories about funky jazz cats.

But here's where I may have to draw the line: Amy Winehouse says she'll be writing a children's book about her life.

Done sputtering?

There's no doubt the English singer is a talented writer - at least somewhere beyond the booze, the drugs and the face scratching. Her jazzy fifties influence to pop has been refreshing, her awards well-deserved. But how will her life translate into a children's book?

A glance: Newspapers have published pictures of her smoking crack, she's been hospitalized for ODing on a mixture of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol (all in one night), she's admitted to self-cutting, and she's landed in jail for assault. How many times has this chick been to the rehab she sings about? And should we mention her song titles? Hello, F--k Me Pumps.

If she's writing a cautionary tale of how to end up looking like you're forty when you're four, she's got plenty of fodder.

I've always said the danger of trying to make celebrities into role models for kids is the fact that they are human too - just because they're famous doesn't make them any more fit for the job than the rest of us. And if you want your kid to grow up to be Amy Winehouse, you might want to check yourself into rehab.

With all the creativity of Babble readers, I figure we can help Amy come up with titles for her foray into the world of kiddie lit. Here's a few from me and my colleagues here on the 'derby:

Baby Goes to Rehab
Baby Got Crack (Pipe)
How To Hide Pot In The Potty
Arsenic, Baby Powder and Cocaine: Substance Abuse ABCs
F--k Me Stride Rite
Beehives for Babies
Back to Crack
Smoke Away Your Baby Fat
Nursery F--kery
They're trying to make me go to preschool, but I said no, no, no

Come on readers, help us out!

Image: Wikipedia

Where Have All the Trees Gone?

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:36:00 GMT

Arbor Day is coming up fast, and nothing gets kids in the mood for fun better than a big mystery. Babble took a look at Oliver Jeffers' new nature-inspired novel for little bears.

There's something funny in the forest, and it's up to the critters in Jeffers' The Great Paper Caper to put an end to the great tree disappearing act. But first they need to stop finger (paw?) pointing and figure out who's to blame for lopped-off branches and stand-alone stumps.

Peopled with goofy looking animals with sticks for legs, Jeffers' books are always a hit with the three to five set, and The Great Paper Caper gives them a look at their favorites from the forest. The tale of missing trees - being stolen by a bear with a good heart but very little brain (sound like someone else we know?) - doubles as a warning that deforestation can happen quickly. And it's up to little critters - and little kids - to protect our woods. They can start, Jeffers' animals learn, by reducing their paper waste.

After reading, parents can head over to the Arbor Foundation Website to find out when their state will celebrate Arbor Day (the national day is the last Friday in April, the 24th this year, but some states vary based on the best time for planting) and download a nature explorers kit for their own adventure in the woods.

Image: Amazon

Ready for Easter? Peter Rabbit's Gone Green

JeanneSager — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:24:00 GMT

Part of getting ready for Easter in my house means stocking up on books for the basket to take up as much room as possible (leaving space for a few jellybeans, but just a few).

This year, you can go green for Easter with a new edition of the beloved bunny books from Beatrix Potter, reissued in a "naturally better" format.

Using Potter's original drawings and text, the new line of Peter Rabbit . . . Naturally Better books are as much an ode to Potter herself as they are the earth. A staunch environmentalist and conservationist, Beatrix Potter's love of the outdoors inspired her bunny books as well as her work with the National Trust in her native England during her life. She bred sheep and kept rabbits so child visitors would not be disappointed.

When Potter died, she left some four thousand acres and several fams to the Trust to keep the land pristine and undeveloped. To this day, the area remains one of the most rural in all of England.

Now her books are going to help her cause, along with new environmentally-friendly food, toiletries and toys.The licensor of theThe World of Beatrix Potter has drawn up a comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility calling for all products to be made by suppliers who adhere to ethical working practices and who support healthy formulation of products. "Everyday food products will contain organic ingredients, be GM free, and will contain no added salt or sugar. Toiletries are free from harmful and unnecessary chemicals such as artificial musks, parabens and phthalates, are not tested on animals and will be hypoallergenic."

Publishers of the twenty-three original Peter Rabbit books plus a few new titles (including the Peter Rabbit Peekaboo with interactive flaps) have earned certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, an international non-profit which focuses on the sustainability of forests. According to FSC, "products bearing the FSC logo, which guarantees that the wood from a certified well-managed forest, are available across the world from a variety of mills, manufacturers, and distributors."

Want to turn your kids' Easter baskets green? Fill up on bunny books from Beatrix Potter that are "naturally better" at Amazon.

Image: PeterRabbit.com

Harry Potter Book Sells for $19K - Too Much?

JeanneSager — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:34:00 GMT

I love me some Hogwarts. But I don't know that I could ever love a children's book this much.

A rare copy of the first book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone here in the states, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in author J.K. Rowling's native England, has sold for $19,120.

Autographed by Rowling, the first edition soft cover book was expected to fetch $12,000 at the auction in Texas, and the sale obviously exceeded the auction house's expectations. It's not actually the biggest blowout for Potter paraphernalia - an eight-hundred word prequel hand-written by Rowling sold for almost $50,000 last June to help an English writer's group and a charity for dyslexics.

But I confess I just don't get it - and not just in light of the current state of the economy. It's a children's book, and what crazy loon is going to let their kid flip through the pages of a $19,000 book? I'm one of those adults who went hogwild for Harry, but I still think books are to be read . . . not stared at on a shelf somewhere. When it comes to children's books in particular, I'm all the more inclined to say get them out there, get those kids reading!

What do you think? If you had the money, would you blow it on something like this?

Image: Amazon

Kids Get in on the Man on Wire Story

JeanneSager — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:28:00 GMT

Since the adult version won an Academy Award last month, the buzz about Man on Wire has hit a fever pitch. Want to share it with your kids?

Scholastic has adapted the Caldecott Award-winning children's book about Philippe Petit's tight rope walk between the towers into a movie just for them.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers . . . and More Inspiring Tales is based on a 2003 title for kids four to eight. Using Mordicai Gerstein's dramatic and richly detailed illustrations from the book, Scholastic added animation that lets the kids hop from a Petit-eye-view to the pedestrians on the street and up into the sky. Jake Gyllenhaal lends his voice, telling the tale of the long night of preparation and the day that shocked the world. Petit is almost childlike himself, lying down on his long balancing stick, dancing among the clouds and grinning all the while, giving kids a look at a dream.

It's accompanied by three more tales, including Snowflake Bentley, another Caldecott Medal-winning book adaptation that tells the story of a real life hero, the man who discovered that no two snowflakes are alike and The Pot that Juan Built, about one of Mexico's most famous potters. Each is voiced by stars with stellar voices, including Claire Danes, Sean Astin and Alfred Molina, taking kids on real-life adventures.

Borrow the books from the library, read them, then watch them in animated form - some with live action thrown in - to give your kids another look at the world of literature. Like the read-along tapes we had as kids, the focus on putting books on DVD can be a great companion piece to your regular storytime or a jumpstart to get kids interested in reading.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers . . . and More Inspiring Tales has stories for kids at any age - even big kids who would give anything for one day as Petit, who knew as long as he stayed on the wire "he was free."

Image: Amazon

Mr. Popper's Taking His Penguins to the Movies!

It's a Circus Out There for The Wonder Pets

Mr. Popper's Taking His Penguins to the Movies!

JeanneSager — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:02:00 GMT

Third graders everywhere are about to get a chance to cheat on their book reports. Come on - you know that's what happens when they push a classic children's book onto the big screen.

In this case, they made a good choice - because before there was the March of the Penguins and the Madagascar penguins, there was Mr. Popper and his brood of waddling birds.

Mr. Popper's Penguins, a 1938 Newberry Honor Award winner, took a broke house painter on an adventure of Antarctic proportions when explorer Admiral Drake ships him a penguin via air mail. The family names him Captain Cook and sets up a home for him in the icebox (the name for a freezer back in 1938), but when he gets lonely another penguin gets shipped in - a female, who starts laying egg after massive penguin egg.

There's not much known about the film version yet - Twentieth Century Fox apparently paid seven figures for rights to produce it, and writer/director Sean Anders and co-writer John Morris (the men who wrote Sex Drive) have gotten the nod to write up the screenplay.

Get your kids ready for the film with this site, full of facts on explorers like Admiral Drake, Antarctica facts and even a house-painting practice game.

Image: ScreeningLog

Smackdown: I Won't Read That Thing Again

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:31:00 GMT

"Sheep live on farms. Sheep like to eat grass. Sheep apparently have shiny, reflective, slightly pink fleece in order to captivate small children when the text of a book is too damn inane to do so."

Do you have any books whose actual rendition when read out loud starts to sound kind of like that? I sure do. Or did. They take themselves too seriously and yet are dull, completely unoriginal, have no feel for language. Their messages, if they have them, are pointless or annoying. Some of them get basic things about the world wrong.

When faced with a demand to read one of these specimens (plenty of which have entered our house as gifts or hand-me-downs) more than once a day, I find I have two options: Sarcasm or refusal. The former is probably an unwise long-term parenting technique, but the latter meets with more protest, so obnoxious commentary usually rules the day.

After bedtime though, I have another option: That book just might quietly disappear.

I realize that what I'm looking for in a book and what an under-three-year-old is looking for are pretty gosh darn different. I realize that repetition is part of their cognitive development and I'm just going to get sick of reading even the best of books. I realize that the point of reading to my child is not to entertain me or meet my exacting literary standards.

But here's the thing: If it's totally possible to have the best of both worlds, why shouldn't I? Why should I settle for the dregs that have washed up on my bookshelves? I doubt anyone would argue that parents can't dispose of books that don't match the values they want to pass along. One my values is literary merit. And it's available in plenty.

There are thousands and thousands of really awesome kids' books out there, right down to the most simple reading level. They may not be works I would curl up with on the couch on my own (though I might with Seuss or A. A. Milne), but they have some combination of rhyming and rhythm, playful cleverness, kindness, imagination, style, and beautiful illustrations that not only don't turn my stomach, but even make me smile and enjoy myself (at least for the first three readings per day or so). Oh, and my daughter also loves them. Perhaps not always more than some of the ones I can't stand, but also no less.

Besides, kids notice subtle things, and I'm quite sure mine must notice when she asks me to read something to her and I give a shudder of horror. That doesn't keep me up at night, but it worries me more than facing down a potential fit because Spot's Thanksgiving has gone missing. "Things get lost sometimes" is a lesson that's worth learning. Kids get over it. (Though it helps if you identify the bad apples early, before any deep attachments are formed.)

Will my daughter be mad at us when she finds a couple of titles we couldn't even bring ourselves to pass along to those with different tastes hammered into the bed frame to level the lopsided mattress? She might. But I figure by that time she'll be able to read to herself and have moved on. And hopefully she will have developed better taste too.

Photo by Indie Wench.

The Other Side:

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

More by this author:

They Say: Boys Read if Dad Does

JeanneSager — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Does your son like to read? Congratulations, Dad, you're doing your job.

A new study out of Australia says boys in two-parents households are more likely to read if their father does. If Mom reads, girls do too. In single-parent households (where Mom is usually the present parent - at least in this study), kids of both genders were equally influenced by Mom's reading habits. So what's the catch?

Parents need to put in at least fifty minutes of daily reading time for their efforts to have any affect on their kids, the study concluded, and too few parents do. The figures showed only seventeen percent of boys are reading and only twenty-six percent of girls - and that included their homework.

It all sounds like a no-brainer to me. I often harp on the time I stood in the mall bookstore listening to a mother whine to the clerk that she was starting a book club with her friends, but she doesn't really like to read. "Do you have anything fun to read?" she asked. "Most books are boring." She said this with her son (who looked to be about seven) standing right beside her. It's no wonder when she turned to him and asked, "Do you want me to buy you anything?" that he shook his head. "No, can we go to Target now?" he asked.

You just said books are boring, lady, and you really expect your kid to say, "yeah, I want this one, and this one, and this one?"

What struck me most about the study, however, was the reminder that parents reading isn't enough. You have to do it IN FRONT OF your kids. Again, a no brainer. But that's the hard part. I get most of my reading in at bedtime, after my three-year-old is snuggled into her bed. Either my husband or I make sure we do the nightly book before bed with her, but our own reading habits are largely closeted. Not because we're hiding them from her, but because there's simply little time during the day to read while she's awake.

There's work, making dinner, giving her a bath, playing with her . . . even the times I try to curl up on the couch with the latest piece of fluff I've checked out of the library to escape into is interrupted by the dog who has to go out, the phone ringing, the pre-schooler who wants a cup of juice. Still, I try. We visit the library - a lot. I keep my books and magazines scattered around the house. I read to her, and each holiday is celebrated with a new book.

How do you keep them reading?

Image: YourDictionary.com