Clever Katya: A Fairy Tale from Old Russia by Mary Hoffman

 This story is about a girl who uses her head to help out her father who gets himself in trouble over a donkey. A man gave Katya's father a horse and that horse had a baby with the father's mare, so the guy who first gave the horse wanted the foal, so he took the case to the tsar. The king gives out a riddle to the two men and says whoever answers the riddle gets the foal. The riddle is 'What is the fastest thing in the world, what is the fattest thing in the world, what is the softest thing in the world and what is the most precious?' The other guys asks a neighbour who owes him some money and the father asks Katya. I won't tell you the answer, but I'll say that Katya won. The tsar was interested in these answers and asked the father who told them to him, to which he replied his daughter. So the king asked the father to bring Katya to him, but he said that 'She must come neither on horseback nor on foot, neither naked nor dressed and neither bringing a present nor empty handed.' So she goes to him in the way he asked, and at the end of the book he marries her because she was the most clever person in the kingdom.
 
This was a nice story based on an old Russian folktale. The pictures are beautiful and colourful with nice traditional, colourful borders surrounding them. I first heard this story in grade 3 or 4 and it was one of those that I remembered to this day. It's one of those odd books you'll find where the girl gets the guy because of her brain, not her beauty. a beautiful story. I recommend.

Science Book for Girls, The: and Other Intelligent Beings by Valerie Wyatt

 This book is directed towards girls aged... maybe 6-10 and is a good book to introduce an interest in and passion for science. The first part is arranged like a story as the reader follows a girl through a normal day and this fairy-like science woman named Nora tells us the science behind that part of the day. there are experiments the reader can try for each part of the day Nora describes that allows the reader to interact with the information and better understand it.
 
The second part introduces different kinds of sciences, with more fun experiments of course. One of my favourite experiments was the 'invisible glue' experiment, which was helping to describe physics and a person's centre of gravity, so you would get a friend to get into a certain position against the wall and watch as they try to move but can't, or you can hold down a friend with a finger, same concept.
 
And the third part is basically just more experiments.
 
So as I say, great introduction to science, a fun way to get into the subject. And this book is by no means just for girls. Both of my brothers enjoyed trying out the experiments just as much as I did. I found that this book got me more interested in science than school did because it made it fun and connected it to every day life. It is by no means in depth or lengthy, which I now have some issues with, but as intro books go, this one isn't that bad.

It’s Just a Plant: A Children’s Story of Marijuana by Marsha Rosenbaum

The plot behind this book is basically stated in the title, it's attempting to get rid of the boogeyman stories surrounding marijuana because it's just a plant. This little girl goes around and learns about marijuana, what it is, where it comes from (a plant, grown by a farmer like other plants), a history about it, a doctor's perspective and so on. It isn't promoting marijuana or encouraging children to use it, as I would suppose would be one of the first suppositions to pop into one's head when they hear about a book like this, in fact there's even a part in the book where some guys get arrested for using marijuana. It's purpose is to help educate children on just what marijuana is.
 
I think this book is beneficial because people fear what they are ignorant of and people abuse the forbidden. As an example, when I was younger, probably around 5 or 6, my grandfather would put a few drops of wine in my sprite at dinner time. Alcohol was never forbidden to me and if I wanted some all I had to do was ask (of course I wasn't given a whole lot, but it's the principle that's important). As a result of this alcohol was never a big deal to me as it was to some of my friends and while they were getting pissed drunk at 13, I would drink an appropriate amount so as to not even get dizzy or abstain all together. The point of the story is that the forbidden is very attractive, and while we all know this, this knowledge isn't put to good use very often. Of course there must be forbidden things, that comes with having even an inkling of some sort of morality, which even the most 'amoral' person is guilty of possessing, but to make forbidden something that need not be so is foolish in my eyes. Marijuana is less harmful than a lot of glorified substances in society that are much more harmful to a person's health. People fear marijuana for reasons that aren't true, or for no other reason than someone told them it was bad, without any basis.
 
Don't get me wrong, this isn't some tirade on how 'marijuana's so great' or 'kids should all be smoking marijuana' or similar such lines of thought. I believe that all children should have the power of education to help them assess the world and that that education is important is because all children will come into contact with marijuana at one point or another in their lives (some much earlier than others), and I would prefer that they not see it as a big deal. Marijuana is just a plant, a very misunderstood plant, and we should be able to see marijuana as just that, a plant, like corn and tomatoes, not through the jaded perception of society that would have us believe it's some scary boogeyman.
You can get more info on the book's website. 

Fairy Faith (2001)

This is a documentary about the fairy faith, or the belief in fairies. The narrator takes the viewer around various places in Canada and the UK, talking to people who believe and looking at locations of relevance. Though it isn't the most well done documentary I've seen it is pretty good and it's the only documentary I've seen done on fairies. The film doesn't try to convince the audience of anything nor disprove anything. It attempts to achieve an unbiased perspective, taking in the opinions of those who believe and those who don't (mostly the believers though, as we're looking at the belief, not a criticism of the belief). I think it successfully documents the fairy faith and does a good job of taking seriously subject matter which the majority of western society sees as nothing more than fantasy and idle past time. 

I would recommend this to everyone interested in fairies, and anyone with an open mind, because though it isn't asking for the viewer's belief it is asking for the viewer's acceptance of the belief. An iinteresting study.

Alphabet Of Thorn by Patricia Mckillip

 I think that this is one of the better written books I've had an opportunity to come in contact with, her writing style is just amazing. I mean, no offence, but the plot is not the most fascinating I've come across. It's focus is on a librarian who's trying to translate a book written in some foreign language. Kind of dry sounding. But the author does a phenomenal job at capturing a sense of passion and obsession that one can't help but get drawn in to.
 
My one complaint about this author in general is that her books are kind of detached from the reader, distant in a way. It's not so much that I don't care about what happens, but that I'm just not given enough information to be able to assess the situation in depth. On the other hand, this quality gives a lot of her books an air of mystery and unpredictability. Like the detachment you feel on a rainy day, where things are kind of surreal and you don't feel quite connected to the world, feeling like you're interacting with the world from another place, not your own body. So while this is a negative, in certain moods I do enjoy it because of that almost dream like approach. Unique to be sure.

Deerskin by Robin Mckinley

 This is a retelling of the story donkey skin. A short summery of the book would be; after the death of a girl's mother, her father abuses her out of grief and she runs away, and I think she takes her dog with her (it's been a while since I've read it). She kind of looses herself because of her grief at what her father did in the wilderness and after a while comes to this castle, wearing a deerskin dress, and they take her in and call her deerskin, and there's a prince etc. I won't spoil the ending.
 
There is an odd obsession with dogs in this book, and the girl (princess) has her own dog and also takes care of the prince's puppies. I don't have a dog or care about them much, so while fascinating, this part of the book didn't really draw me in and dragged on a bit at parts. There was a nice symbolism present and the heroine did regain a sense of herself and an acceptance of herself by the end of the book. Overall not my favourite read, but decent. Worth it if you put in the time, but nothing mind blowing.

Mollie Whuppie and the Giant by Robin Muller

 Mollie Whuppie is a strong and smart heroine that courageously goes about accomplishing tasks others fear. In this story she and her sisters are lost in a forest and make their way to a giant's house. This giant has caused a lot of trouble for travellers and people in the area because he's so vicious. The giant plans on killing them but mollie outwits the giant to get herself and her sisters to safety at a nearby castle. The king asks mollie to go back to the giant a couple of times to get some things the giant has stolen and each time she's successful one of her sisters marries someone in the king's court. At the end the giant dies and mollie gets engaged to the prince, but doesn't marry him as she goes off to have adventures.
 
This is a great story with a strong, proactive heroine. Mollie never hesitates, she's always confident and courageous and charges head forward to get things done. This book is great to read out loud as well as there are catchy rhymes that break up the prose, though that's pretty easy to read as well. The pictures were expressive too. A fun book.

First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac

 This is the legend of how the first strawberries came into being, and it's kind of nice because it's a love story. I'm going to summarize it so if you don't want to know skip over.
 
One day a husband comes home from hunting to find his wife picking flowers instead of cooking. He angrily reprimands her for this and she indignantly walks off. The husband immediately feels sorry for getting so angry and tries to catch up to his wife to apologize but she's too fast for him so he asks the sun to slow her down. The sun shines itself on various berries but the wife is too angry to see them so the sun makes strawberries right on the ground so the wife would see them, and voila the first strawberries. The wife sees them and thinks to herself that it would be nice to share these with her husband so stops to pick some. The husband catches up to her and they live happily ever after.
 
It was a nice story. I enjoyed it.

Book Of Dreams by O Melling

 I enjoyed the first three books in this series and this one was a great conclusion. The heroine is a bit sad at having moved to Canada and wants to return to Ireland so she's very morose and takes interest in nothing. To top it off she's starting grade 9 in a new school and has no friends. Then a mysterious boy transfers into her class and sticks up for her when the teacher yells at her (he yells at her because she was looking out the window aka trying to get into fairy land) this incident is important because though she tries to get into fairy land she can't because she's blocked by something, and this will determine her quest for the rest of the book; to find out why she can't get in. Also, there's something not quite normal about the new kid.
 
All in all I'd say a pretty decent book. I think that this one, more than the others, is about finding yourself. The battle the heroine goes through in this book is an inner struggle. At the beginning of the book she can't even use her magic because she's so depressed, but she gets stronger and overcomes things. Plus, once again she goes it alone. Unlike the previous heroines who were questing to save/ find someone, she was questing for herself, though granted, this time round she has a partner in crime. great conclusion to a great series.

Chronicles Of Faerie by O Melling

 I believe I first read this series is grade eight for a book report... and boy has it stuck with me since then. This ranges as one of the first 'adult' fairy books I've read and inspired me to further my fairy obsession. And when I say adult I don't mean 'adult', I refer to the fact that this story isn't about the fairies we use to entertain children. Stories like this one draw their content from the fairies of mythology, from Irish/ British myth and legends.
 
In this book there are three stories, there is a fourth and concluding story, but that's not in this edition of the book. Basically, the series focuses on different girls and their interactions with the fairy world. 

In the first two, The Hunter's Moon and The Summer King, there are two girls and one get taken away by the fairies because she has caught the eye of a fairy king and we the readers are left with the girl left behind, who goes in search of the missing girl. The girl the reader is with eventually comes into contact with the fairies (which takes a lot of work as we might imagine) and she discovers that there is a problem. 

In the first it was the Hunter's Moon, a monster that demanded sacrifice (which they fought) and in the second the problem's focus is on (you guessed it) the Summer King. I won't go into a lot of detail because it's been a while since I've read them and I don't want to spoil anything. The third story is a bit different than the first two it's called The Light- Bearer's Daughter and there's only one girl in the story... the light bearer's daughter (the title's are really helpful). The girl in this story is half fairy (that would be the light- bearer side) and she goes in search of her fairy mother. This story is continued in the final installation, or I should say expanded upon because there is something of an appropriate ending in this book.
 
All of the stories have strong, proactive heroines and are rich with fairy lore, making the possibility of fairies come alive for a new, younger generation. A good thing about the series is that the characters from the previous books will make an appearance later on in the series as a minor character, kind threading it all together.
 
I strongly recommend this series. I have very fond memories of it when I was younger and have actually purchased it not that long ago. It's a great intro to faeries for those who are unaware, and for those who are, well its a fun ride. It's aimed towards a late elementary school, early teen audience, but can be enjoyed by anyone with a like interest. It's pretty well written and doesn't take much time to get through. I recommend.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

This story ran pretty smoothly and wasn't at all a difficult read. It's about a shy girl who can see fairies but is told by her grandmother to ignore them or face the consequences. Then one day the fairies start singling her out as if she were someone for them to take note of and one even comes to her school to try to get closer to her. She decides to confront them and finds out that she's been selected as a candidate to break a curse.

She has a guy that she likes, Seth, and a romance develops between the two. Though I really liked the character of Seth (he seemed like a really easy going guy, with lots of piercings) I found his immediate acceptance of the situation to be somewhat unbelievable. If there had been more hesitation at what she was saying in the beginning and then the unquestioning faith I think it would've been more believable. But the relationship between the two was a good one. He was a steady guy and was always very supportive of her. A healthy, 'modern' relationship.

The story in itself had the feel of a faery tale... meaning a tale about faeries. It was almost reminiscent of O.R. Melling's Fairy Chronicles. The situations were believable and the story had life and emotion. overall a pretty good read.

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

I love this movie. It's a comedy with Lucille Ball, a definite win. 

The story is about a man and a woman who meet, fall in love, and get married. Pretty standard story, except for the fact that she has eight children and he has ten, making their new family one very large family. Their children don't seem too thrilled with the idea of gaining a new parent as well as more than a handful of new siblings either. Will they ever all get along!?

This is a really great nostalgic family flick. It's funny and it's really heart-warming. We see the personal struggles these people who are trying to bring two families together, both the problems of the parents, who just want to be together because they love each other, as well as their kids who have to face the great ordeal of growing up. It's one of my favourite movies, and I strongly recommend that you go out and see this film if you have not yet already.

This is also a great quote from the movie about what real love is

Robot Chicken, Vol. 1

 I enjoy this show. It's funny... I want to say it's like an r rated Simpsons, but it's more arbitrary and it mocks things more openly. I'm guaranteed at least one chuckle per episode and though sometimes I feel like one or two skits are trying too hard, for the most part it's a great way to pass the time. I like that a lot of the skits are short (like the flipping of the channels they show in the beginning) because any longer and they'd loose their appeal, so kudos to the writers on that one, and sadly I enjoy that it promotes the short attention span because I like thinking, a lot, but sometimes a break's nice. And finally I like what they mock and I think they do a good job of it.

Parenthood (1989)

This movie was great because it dealt with 'the family', with life, as something messy. It felt more real to me than other movies dealing with the same material because it was almost dark for a family movie. Don't get me wrong... it's not at all depressing or dystopian, but it isn't the typical Disney 'it's all flowers and sunshine' either. It dealt with (granted) stereotypical problems parents and children face. Because all of the families in the movie were related we got to see a bunch of different types of family dynamics, and it was also interesting to note that they interacted normally with each other, even though we the viewers know they all have their problems. There was the single mother who had the two teenage children, so we get to see hormonal problems there. One of those kids has a boyfriend whom she marries early, though they're still high school aged. There is the stereotypical TV family with the early middle aged couple who have three young kids. Steve Martin's the dad in this one so they're kind of the focus family (also because that's the stereotypical family) and they have trouble with their eldest son who has emotional problems. Then there is the child prodigy family, the guy puts everything into making his little kid a genius and ignores his wife, and finally the grandparents who have to deal with one of their kids coming home with a grandchild they've never seen before and a son in debt. 

Big schpeal aside... because the movie addresses actual lows that families go through instead of just supposing those issues and not actually addressing them, the highs they go through are that much more believable. and the roller coaster metaphor at the end of the movie was nice too. at the end they accepted the chaos and tried to make the best of it, which was nice.

I have to be in the mood for it, and when I am this is one of my favourite movies.

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber

 This story is OK, though it could been better if more effort was put into it. The author doesn't really go out of her way to create dynamic and compelling characters. She surrounds characters with certain feelings and stereotypes, but she doesn't actually do any of the work. This didn't really bother me though, as it does in some other books, because the story is more plot driven than anything else and it's just a light read... nothing intense. 

Basically the story has been done, but it's readable and enjoyable if you like this particular kind of story. so I recommend it, but don't expect anything new.

Chester by Melanie Watt

 The book is an amusing way to pass the time. Basically it's a story about a mouse, but there is a cat who keeps interrupting with the story because he wants it to be about him. So he writes over the author's words and scribbles over the pictures until at the end he takes over the book.

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen

This story was somewhat reminiscent of the Alanna series, what with the cross dressing to fulfill a dream. I'm not all that well versed in Arabian culture, but from what I know of it this story seemed to be a valid representation. Buran is one of seven daughters, and of course in a patriarchal society this is not the best of luck as your daughters can't work or (in this case) even go out into public. She was her father's favourite and as there were no sons, her father taught her to read and write and play chess, basically educated her, and spent time with her in place of the son he never had. When Buran's father gets sick he realizes that his family will be in trouble if anything happens to him, and as a result he allows Buran to go out into the world, as a man, to try to better their family's fortune. She's a clever and courageous heroine. She comes up against several obstacles and approaches them with her strength of will and sharp wit. The story was set up well and the characters were discussed in sufficient detail, or enough so that a reader of the target age wouldn't be left wondering anything. It was well written.

Pan’s Labyrinth

This movie is a masterpiece! Quite honestly I don't know how anyone could watch it and not get sucked in. This movie was told with the air of a classic fairy tale, the real ones, not the watered down versions we give our children today. There is an atmosphere of danger and suspense that constantly surrounds the girl, and in response to that there is a persistent arousal of hope, or fantasy. The girl's environment is not the best, to say the least. She is in some camp under the jurisdiction of some heartless man who has married her mother, and who only cares about producing an heir. Everything around her is militaristic and hard and cold, and yet she continuously bumps into this other world of wonder and mystery, of fairies and fauns and the like. It's like the metaphor of the flower that grows out of concrete. finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

It's debatable whether she is actually interacting with this other world and that it exists, or if she's creating this world to escape her less than ideal reality. I suppose your answer would come from what kind of person you are and how you perceive the world. I enjoy the experience of believing it is real with a constant skeptic in the back of my mind nay saying everything the believer says, so I guess my view would change depending on what day you chanced upon asking me. The bottom line is that story is very well put together and whether or not you believe the world the girl is interacting with to be real, you'll enjoy it either way. 

A common criticism I hear circling this movie is that it isn't for children. To these people, I don't really know what to say. I'm not sure how it was advertised to you, but from the advertisements I saw I was well aware that the movie was rated R and was a 'fairy tale for grown ups', so to speak. I did still take my younger sibling, but that's something else. If a parent or guardian is not willing to take the time to research a movie or heed the ratings, they shouldn't be allowed to complain about what their children see, as this unwanted event could have been prevented with a little effort on their part.

This movie is wonderful. I tear up at the end every time. For me it really stands out as a work of art against the back drop of the standard of movies we have come to expect will be playing in theaters every Friday night. I'd even go so far as to say that it's a classic in it's own time, or is at least something to be aware of. But it's definitely awesome.

Vampire Journals (1997)

Well, I'd say I'm kind of into the vampire scene. It's not my number one obsession, but I do appreciate a good vampire story. This movie was, well just OK. This movie wasn't really fresh, the 'vampire who cares about what he's eating' character seems to be explored a lot, so I kind of knew what was coming, but this wasn't what held it back from being great. What I didn't like was the fact that at the end of the movie I was still waiting for something to happen. The movie spends too much time introducing the characters and the setting and not enough actually dealing with what it has created. Basically I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters, enough so that the achieving or failure of achieving their goals were irrelevant to me. Right now if I was asked, 'Who is Zachery?' I would know who he is from the stereotypes surrounding that character type, but the movie didn't go into enough detail concerning his personality, his motives, his history... I could have told you who Zachery was without watching the movie. 

Basically the characters were kind of flat.

And the movie is all suspense, but the ending isn't a sufficient catharsis. Maybe because I wasn't that drawn into the characters the ending didn't quite satisfy me. There wasn't enough happening in the story, or more, what was happening wasn't fleshed out to its full potential, leaving me wanting more... but not in a good way.

Aside from my criticisms however, the movie is worth viewing and isn't that bad. The music was alright and the costumes weren't bad. The setting wasn't too bad either. The atmosphere was appropriate I think. All in all worth a watch.

The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

 This was a great story! And according to the back of the book, is the story 'The Anklet' from the Arabian Nights. I thought it was very well told, I didn't really like the pictures though. They kind of look like figures posing instead of characters in the story, and there are noticeable outlines around the people so as to make you think they're cut outs, or are not a part of the scenery they're presented in. The over posing and the not fitting into the background kind of reminds me of cheesy picture books I read from the 80's. Now these pictures aren't as bad as those, but the way they are presented are reminiscent of that... style. I still like the book and think it's worth reading as the storytelling was well done.