 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| |||||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
Thursday, 11 November 2010
The Woman Thing
A collection of films featuring women who defied stereotypes and limitations, whether those limitations regarded politics, education, occupation, social order, etc. I always love finding these films because so often stereotypes are supported, not fought or deconstructed. It is more common for women to be weak-willed, whiny and always needing to be saved, more often seen as a love interest rather than a protagonist. It's nice to see main stream culture embrace alternative and stronger pictures of femininity every so often.
Early Reading
I worked in a book store for a while and the questions I got most often dealt with children's literature. Many people are either at a loss as to what books to recommend their children because their children don't read at all, or because they've already read everything. So here's a list of books most younger elementary aged children are reading or could be reading. (I've very much against giving books ages or levels. The only thing that should dictate whether or not one should read something is interest and ability. Not a random sorting system. But as this is how a majority of people work, these would typically be about 6-8). Most of these are a part of a series of some sort.
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
| |||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||||
 |
| ||
Princess Playlist
A collection of films wherein the heroine is a princess. Every so often I just feel like watching a girly, princessy film, or know of someone looking for something to give their daughter/ niece/ friend's daughter/ etc. and these usually pop up in my rotation. There are a few princess movies out there, but for this list I only chose films where the story is about the princess and doesn't just have a princess in the film. I also focused more on children's films than adult films. There are princess films for adults, but this list is for the young and young at heart.
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
 |
| ||
  |
| ||
Sunday, 7 November 2010
The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Miri, named for a small flower that grows in the mountains, is a 14-year-old girl who lives in a mountain village. All of the people in the village work in the mountains to quarry the precious rock, which they in turn barter for food with traders from the lowlands. Everyone work in the quarry. Men, women and children all have a role to play, whether it's mining, cutting, or even delivering water to people busily hammering away, everyone except Miri that is. Her father has forbidden her to work with the rest of the village in the quarry and Miri believes this is because she is so much smaller and weaker than everyone else, so she has always felt somewhat left out. All is normal in the small village until one trading day when along with the lowland traders comes an emissary from the royal palace saying that all of the girls in the village would have to attend a princess academy because the prince would be choosing one of them to be the new princess. As is tradition in the kingdom, the royal oracles have a vision that tells them which village the next princess will come from. There is then a princess academy opened up in that area to prepare the eligible young girls to meet the prince and have him choose one of them. Up until this moment however, Miri's village had never heard of this tradition. The only real contact they have with the rest of the kingdom is through the traders. Miri and several of the other girls go to a makeshift school some distance away from the village and are taught to read as well as think and act like polished young ladies found in a royal court. Miri, as well as several of the other girls enjoy learning these new things and realize just how far removed their little village was from the rest of the kingdom and just how much they did not know. As the girls learn more and the day the prince will come gets closer, the competition between the girls get fierce and Miri feels more alone than she ever has in her life. Despite this, Miri remains strong and even finds some unexpected friendships. Trouble falls upon the girls and Miri takes it upon herself to save both herself and the girls from the danger.
Miri is a spunky heroine. Because she is so small she acts larger than life. She can be kind of mouthy at times and you can picture her as one of those tiny people who never stop talking. There are moments when her personality is almost too big to be believable and kind of obnoxious, but the author does a good job of stopping at that point. There is a thin line between spunky and obnoxious and though Miri has moments of coming close to being obnoxious, she is mostly just high- spirited. She is a proactive heroine which is great. She always tries to make the situations she is in work for her. She doesn't just stand for injustice or bullying, she acts in a way that will best accomplish what she is ultimately after, which is surprisingly not the prince. Miri is interested in the prince, but she's not boy-crazy. She actually gets more out of learning at the academy than she does preparing for the prince and actually uses her knowledge to help her village. In many of these prince princess stories the heroine is insanely in love with the prince and want to become a princess, but Miri notes practically that she's never even met the prince. As the story progresses Miri thinks more and more that she wouldn't mind being picked by the prince, but this is because she wants to see more of the world and not so much because she's in love with the title. In that sense the heroine reminded me of the heroines of the Alanna series by Pierce and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Wrede.
The story also really promoted education. As Miri learns more and more her desire to learn becomes voracious and she tries to learn as much as she can. She then applies what she learned to various situations, and this can really help children see the wonder in learning and the reason we learn things. A common complaint I've heard in school is that the kids don't know why they're learning what they're learning. This book could be an inspiration of sorts to these kinds of kids, more to girls than boys due to the subject matter.
Overall I think this was a good read. It isn't ground breaking topic-wise, but the heroine has a back-bone. The story isn't an adventure, but there is action, danger, suspense, and a little bit of romance. The story a mix between a fantasy and a Victorian novel for kids. Pretty good read.
Miri is a spunky heroine. Because she is so small she acts larger than life. She can be kind of mouthy at times and you can picture her as one of those tiny people who never stop talking. There are moments when her personality is almost too big to be believable and kind of obnoxious, but the author does a good job of stopping at that point. There is a thin line between spunky and obnoxious and though Miri has moments of coming close to being obnoxious, she is mostly just high- spirited. She is a proactive heroine which is great. She always tries to make the situations she is in work for her. She doesn't just stand for injustice or bullying, she acts in a way that will best accomplish what she is ultimately after, which is surprisingly not the prince. Miri is interested in the prince, but she's not boy-crazy. She actually gets more out of learning at the academy than she does preparing for the prince and actually uses her knowledge to help her village. In many of these prince princess stories the heroine is insanely in love with the prince and want to become a princess, but Miri notes practically that she's never even met the prince. As the story progresses Miri thinks more and more that she wouldn't mind being picked by the prince, but this is because she wants to see more of the world and not so much because she's in love with the title. In that sense the heroine reminded me of the heroines of the Alanna series by Pierce and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Wrede.
The story also really promoted education. As Miri learns more and more her desire to learn becomes voracious and she tries to learn as much as she can. She then applies what she learned to various situations, and this can really help children see the wonder in learning and the reason we learn things. A common complaint I've heard in school is that the kids don't know why they're learning what they're learning. This book could be an inspiration of sorts to these kinds of kids, more to girls than boys due to the subject matter.
Overall I think this was a good read. It isn't ground breaking topic-wise, but the heroine has a back-bone. The story isn't an adventure, but there is action, danger, suspense, and a little bit of romance. The story a mix between a fantasy and a Victorian novel for kids. Pretty good read.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Boy in the Oak by Jessica Albarn
Boy in the Oak is a picture book that almost can't be called a picture book. The story is told in full pages of text which are punctuated by black and which drawings and divided by translucent pieces of coloured, patterned paper. The pages of text are pretty full, I would almost be tempted to say that the book was meant for early readers, but the font is too small. Not your average picture book.
The story is about a young boy who was very rough and mean when he played outside. He would scare the animals in his backyard and do not so nice things like cut trees and pull out plants. The fairies in the area took notice and got so angry at the boy that one day they put a curse on him that trapped him inside an ancient oak tree. His parents went sick with worry and finally moved away when they couldn't find their little boy anymore. A new couple moved into the house. There were rumours that when it was very windy you could hear a boy crying near the house, but the couple ignored the rumours and moved in with their little daughter. The parents took care of the house and planted new flowers, and though the fairies were cautious of people they liked this. They really liked the daughter though. She was kind to all of the plants and animals and the fairies took note of this and appreciated her, especially in comparison with the mean boy. She fell asleep under the oak one day and because the fairies liked her so much, decided that they would put a spell over her so that she would never wake up and leave them. The boy in the oak over heard this and was outraged. He'd spent so much time in the tree that he had more than learned his lesson and had learned about the fairy's magic in the process, and he pushed both the girl and himself from the fairies.
The story is well told and unique, but the thing that will set this book a part is the presentation. I wouldn't personally associate that kind of art with a children's book. It is somewhat abstract and its displayed in the traditional way picture books associate pictures to text. The two translucent sheets that separate each page of text have nothing to do with the story and are there for a purely ornamental purpose and from my experience that is a little too intellectual for the average 3-5 aged child. I still recommend the book however. As I said the story is pretty good and it might be a fun way to introduce new art forms or storybook formats.
The story is about a young boy who was very rough and mean when he played outside. He would scare the animals in his backyard and do not so nice things like cut trees and pull out plants. The fairies in the area took notice and got so angry at the boy that one day they put a curse on him that trapped him inside an ancient oak tree. His parents went sick with worry and finally moved away when they couldn't find their little boy anymore. A new couple moved into the house. There were rumours that when it was very windy you could hear a boy crying near the house, but the couple ignored the rumours and moved in with their little daughter. The parents took care of the house and planted new flowers, and though the fairies were cautious of people they liked this. They really liked the daughter though. She was kind to all of the plants and animals and the fairies took note of this and appreciated her, especially in comparison with the mean boy. She fell asleep under the oak one day and because the fairies liked her so much, decided that they would put a spell over her so that she would never wake up and leave them. The boy in the oak over heard this and was outraged. He'd spent so much time in the tree that he had more than learned his lesson and had learned about the fairy's magic in the process, and he pushed both the girl and himself from the fairies.
The story is well told and unique, but the thing that will set this book a part is the presentation. I wouldn't personally associate that kind of art with a children's book. It is somewhat abstract and its displayed in the traditional way picture books associate pictures to text. The two translucent sheets that separate each page of text have nothing to do with the story and are there for a purely ornamental purpose and from my experience that is a little too intellectual for the average 3-5 aged child. I still recommend the book however. As I said the story is pretty good and it might be a fun way to introduce new art forms or storybook formats.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)