Are some childrens books really meant for children??

In many of my discussions with friends and reading different articles, I have come across some astonishing things. I have found that many of our so-called "Children's" books have undertones of horrible behavior in them. By reading the lyrics to some popular Disney movies and watching closely in the animation, you can see some very inappropriate messages being portrayed. Also, the behavior of some of the characters can also hint to certain issues children should not be exposed to. Yes, I understand that children don't even know to look for these things, but it was strange for me to realize that there were all of these hidden messages behind the stories I have grown up hearing. I got this idea for my post after discussing the possible drug use undertones in Alice in Wonderland. I believe that it is a relevant argument to some extent. The fact that the caterpillar was sitting on the mushroom with a huka, or the "drunken" happiness everyone seems to have. Now children do not see this when reading, but upon growing up they will begin to see the same things as well. I am not saying that all children's books have horrible hidden messages, but I was shocked to find out how many really did. It is the adults job in society to protect our children. How can this be done when the books and movies we are giving them hide messages of inappropriate behavior for the children to come across? As the generations become smarter at younger ages, more and more are going to be able to read between the lines and understand just what I am talking about.

Fudge-a-mania!!!

My next outside reading book is called Fudge-a-mania by: Judy Blume. This is the third in the series that follows Peter Hatcher and his arch-rival Sheila Tubman through fourth grade and on too middle school. Peter's younger brother, Fudge, is a "wild child," to say the least. In this book, the Hatcher and Tubman families decide to go spend their summer in Maine, separate but the houses were connected. The adults are very close and enjoy spending time together, but the children cause a lot of problems this summer. In the previous book, Fudge decided he wanted to be a bird and jumped off of a jungle gym to see if he could fly. In this novel, he simple decides he wants to be a bird breeder, as the families have a bird living with them over the summer. Fudge accidently lets the bird out of the cage and must find it before they leave to go home. Meanwhile, Peter and Fudge meet a former Boston Red Sox baseball player (only Peter's favorite baseball team ever). He tells them that he is hosting a baseball game for the kids in the area and they should come out and play. At the game, Fudge is picked as one of the captions on the team, upsetting his brother Peter. Their relationship is one of constant rivalry, as Peter feels Fudge pretty much gets whatever he wants. Also, Fudge decides that he is going to marry Sheila, who absolutely hates Peter but thinks Fudge is pretty adorable. There are slight hints at a "romance" between Peter and Sheila, but they agree it is best to hate each other.

This book is hilarious and highly entertaining for young readers. I was obsessed with it at a young age and my brother and sister both loved it as well. You can never get enough of a young boy and comes up with crazy schemes, and mis-pronounces almost every word.

Identity

I have been noticing how identity is a major theme in the literature we have been reading this semester. I then started to rack my brain and realized many of the books that we read these days deal with the issue of identity, as many people struggle to find their own. I've noticed that a lot of books we are assigned to read in school especially deal with this dilemma, for example To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. My real challenge for myself was to discover a book that does not have some shred of the "identity crisis" in it. All teen books I used to read discuss the issues teenage girls have with school and social lives, one being "Who am I?" This is something even I struggle with, as coming to college meant a fresh start. I could re-invent myself to anyone I wanted. I actually believe it's best that books discuss a person "finding" themselves because it helps to motivate and encourage young readers.

Where DoThese Kids Learn This Stuff?

Television is the most popular form of teaching children these days. Instead of reading the books, the kids want to sit on the couch and watch their favorite cartoon character dance around the screen. Popular book series, such as Arthur and Franklin, have been turned into popular television shows. Children need more stimulation now than they did before. In order to catch a child's attention, one has to use bright colors and fun songs. Barney and Sesame Street are two of the most popular kids shows to teach sharing, friendship, and honesty to small children. I remember my sister watching the show and doing just as "Big Bird" told her too. These programs are highly valuable and we need to keep kids interested. New programs are also sprouting up, such as, Dora the Explorer, to teach kids Spanish. With the help of these shows, children are still learning the proper values one should have in every day life. I know I'm still singing... "I love you, you love me...."

Come Home

There are quite a few country songs out there that deal with the issue of a child wanting their daddy to come home and spend more time with them. I notice this a lot with the kids that I work with at camp over the summer. Something most kids long to do is spend time
my daddy on our family vacation
with dad. They get to see their moms almost all day, but many dads work longer hours and don't have as much time for the kids. I felt so bad for these kids, because they would latch on to the guy counselor's to replace the lack of attention from their fathers. I'm not saying all kids' families are like this, but I have encountered many. Personally, my dad has always been a big role in my life. He has rarely missed a soccer game, swim meet, tennis match, or dance recital. He makes sure to leave work in time just to take me or my siblings to practice. I've always loved this about my dad. On the weekends, even if there is not sporting event, we just hang around at the house. He's never rushing off to the office. This past year, he had to go on a business trip that overlapped my sisters birthday. He almost didn't go because he refused to miss her birthday dinner and video taping her opening her presents. We convinced him it would be alright to miss one, but it was so special for him to want to be there. I found a song about a little boy wishing his dad would come home and take him camping or fishing.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DvvNvEilM9I

A Little Princess - yep, that's me :)

Yesterday, I watched one of my favorite movies with some friends. It's called, The Little Princess, about a younger girl who is sent to a New York boarding school that her mother, whom died earlier in the girls life, while her father goes to fight in world war I. The father gives his daughter a doll to remember him by. At the beginning of the movie, the girl is treated very well, but about half way through, the girls father supposedly "dies." The head-mistress of the school than makes the girl a servant and forces her to live in the attic, wearing rags in the cold. Meanwhile, her father comes to live with an old man next door to the boarding school, as he has no memory of the war, is in a wheel chair, and has no vision. The old man believes the man living with him is his son, but we find out later that is not the case. The girl seeks refuge in the old mans attic one night when the head-mistress has called the police to arrest her. When she meets the man in the wheelchair, she sees him and know its her dad. She cries for him but it takes until the police are about to lock her up for him to notice. Once he does, they rush into eachother's arms and live happily ever after. The father buys the boarding school and refurbishes it (with the great wealth that he has), and he adopts the young servant girl his daughter befriended while working together.

After watching this movie, I realized the undertones that relate to Cinderella in this story. The daughter is forced to do horrible labor for "rude" girls at the school and she must live in rags in a dark, leaky room. The head-mistress locks her in the room with no food when she calls the police, and the girl must runaway from her sitaution to get a better life. From the movie, it just reinforces that every little girl is a princess, no matter the situation in which she lives. One person may exploit you, but someone else may treasure you. We are all princesses.

Meet Kirsten: An American Girl

The American Girl series of books has always been a favorite of mine. I had the Samantha doll and almost all of the girls book series'. I loved each book because they teach valuable lessons. Each girls' series has six books: a meet book, a lessons learned book, a birthday book, a Christmas book, a changes book (usually in winter), and a saves the day book (set in summer). The Kirsten books were my favorite. They kind of reminded my of the Little House on the Prarie series. Kirsten, a ten year old girl, and her family are Swedish immigrants that live in the Minnesota Territory in the 1850's. She goes through the struggles of pioneer life. Her hardships include her good friend dying on route to the United States. My favorite book of the six book Kirsten series is, Kirsten Saves the Day. In this story, Kirsten goes off to explore in the woods nearby her uncles house, where her and her family live. While she exploring, she comes across a few bees nest filled with honey. She gets really excited because she knows if her dad can get the honey and can use it to trade for something the family truly needs. Her only problem is when a bear family is after the same honey as she is. Kirsten knows bears are bad and she should stay away, but her character is one that does not back down from a challenge. She decides to fight off the bear family, with the help of her brother Peter, and is able to bring the honey back for her father.

Kids Characters Crossword

Kids these days are obsessed with the shows they can watch every day on tv. No more reading of the picture books I grew up reading over and over again. No kids run home from school to turn on the tv and plop down for hours at a time to watch their favorite characters do silly things to save the day. Here is a crossword puzzle of all of these silly characters that kids are so in love with these days, the characters we see every year at Halloween in some way or another. Some words are backwards, up, down, and diagonal. GOOD LUCK!!


Y L M C L B B O P N Y X K V F O Y T Z S
H K Z U A P H U B X N B K W X H Q N E C
T M H R K D P I G C U U P B U D W L N O
T M N V N T U P M S G L J C D Y G Y O O
R E D L I U B E H T B O B O C G O R B B
Y C J W N M N E M N V U R J I N D E H Y
V U V N Z F C L G H I A N W F R A T S D
B L U E C L U E S R T L E N I P R T I O
D R O F F I L C L H O H K B Y S T O W O
C A I L L O U R E Z T E G N P S H P G K
V G T X N R D E Y X H I G O A C U Y Y S
U B S P A E X G L Y B B N S B R R R D Y
B G D J T P M S F Q P G F H U A F R Z R
H H V P L R K H T D E E E U H O I A E L
N F Y O D R U F Y B V Z L C X I I H Z X
H Y R A M X E G O G D G Q V Y I I R J U
S E M A P C F B R H R U S L N P L V U S
R D W A D Z C I M A M E N V Q F A T E C
D W I Y K P W P C S T G O I R A M M H U
H T P V P T Z R G Y U S H N R I Z B S H

ARTHUR
BARNEY
BIGBIRD
BLUECLUES
BOBTHEBUILDER
BUGSBUNNY
CAILLOU
CLIFFORD
CURIOUSGEORGE
DORATHEEXPLORER
FRANKLIN
HARRYPOTTER
MARIO
RUGRATS
SCOOBYDOO
SPONGEBOB
THEWIGGLES
WISHBONE

Here is the solution:
A lot of the letters don't line up, sorry. You get the jist though.

Y L M C L B B O P N Y X K V F O Y T Z S
H K Z U A P H U B X N B K W X H Q N E C
T M H R K D P I G C U U P B U D W L N O
T M N V N T U P M S G L J C D Y G Y O O
R E D L I U B E H T B O B O C G O R B B
Y C J W N M N E M N V U R J I N D E H Y
V U V N Z F C L G H I A N W F R A T S D
B L U E C L U E S R T L E N I P R T I O
D R O F F I L C L H O H K B Y S T O W O
C A I L L O U R E Z T E G N P S H P G K
V G T X R D E Y X H I G O A C U Y Y S
U B S P A E X G Y B B N S B R R R D Y
B G D J T P M S F Q P G H U A F R Z R
H H V P L R K H T D E E E U H O I A E L
N F Y O D R U F Y B V Z L C X I I H Z X
H Y R A M X E G O G D G Q V Y I I R J U
S E M A P C F B R H R U S L N P L V U S
R D W A D Z C I M A M E N V Q F A T E C
D W I Y K P W P C S T G O I R A M M H U
H T P V P T Z R G Y U S H N R I Z B S H

Amelia Bedelia

When I was growing up, I loved to read books that made me laugh. Well Amelia Bedelia was one of those books. This series of books were some of my absolute favorites to read. I used to read them to my little sister, until she got old enough to read them herself. These books are about a housekeeper that comes to work for this family, and she does the best she can to do exactly as they ask her to (well atleast she tries). The crazy scenerios presented in each of the books is hilarious: Amelia Bedelia throwing a surpirse baby shower in which she actually sprays the soon to be mother with a hose to give her a "shower," Amelia Bedelia pinning prunes on the bushes when told to prune the bushes, and many others. My absolute favorite is in the first book entitled Amelia Bedelia where Amelia Bedelia is asked to "dress" a chicken for dinner. Her first thought is whether the couple wants a boy chicken or a girl chicken. She then takes clothes and literally dresses the chicken. Her other task was to trim the steak, so she actually "trims" the steak with ribbons and bows. Still to this day I find myself laughing as I read the silly things Amelia Bedelia does as she tries to do exactly as her employers tell her to do. It's simply hilarious to see her employers reactions to the job she does and the fact that they choose to allow her to stay and work.

Valentines- oh how I miss the good old days..

I remember being in elementary school and making those "valentine boxes," for all of your classmates to put a card and candy in. It was always fun to decorate our box and then set it out on our desk. We'd walk around the classroom and kids would drop stuff in and when you got back to your desk you felt on top of the world because you had so many valentines. I miss those days. Now its about love, and finding that perfect person to spend it with. Valentines day was so much easier when we were younger. No one cared about love. No one cared about finding that perfect guy. We were so young for crying out loud. Well, I want to go back to those days. In the words of Peter Pan, I don't want to grow up. I guess its too late though. It would just be nice to be able to turn back the clock, go back to when life was so much simpler. A child's life is just so much simpler. Or atleast it seemed like it was when I was a child. I guess our perspectives change when we grow up and what we thought is easy now was a real struggle many years ago. Well, today I just decided that it would be a lot nicer to go back to being a little girl again instead of an "adult." If only I had a time machine...

Nervous Fish

So this week is the week all of my friends found out if they made impact counselor or not. I still have to wait until the 25th to find out if I am Fish Camp counselor. It is the most nervewrecking time for me as I had my interview on Jan. 30th and have had to wait for what seems like forever, and my wait is only half way done. I want to become a counselor so badly. It has been a long dream of mine to be a Fish Camp counselor (my mom was a director here many years ago and I would like to follow in her footsteps). I've always looked through my mom's old binders to see the crazy pictures and lists she had from her Fish Camp days. She told me after the interview that no matter what, everything would be okay. That its not the end of the world if I don't get it. But to me it is. I want to follow in my mom's footsteps. Though she may not know or understand it, I want to be like her. I want to live up to her legacy of greatness. She is an amazing person, atleast in my eyes. I didn't get in to Fish Aides or Student Senate, as my mom was also involved in. Fish Camp is my one tie to her, my one thing that really would bring us much closer together. I am in a sorority, something she always wanted to do but never was able to. But Fish Camp would be common ground. Like every little girl, I look up to my mom as a role model. I really would like to do the things that she did, and this is my last shot at A&M, so to me it would be the "end of the world" if I didn't get counselor. This week I have just been thinking a lot about how I really exemplify my mom in so many different ways, and I want to continue with this. Well, I am crossing my fingers until the 25th, wish me luck.

Masquerade

I wrote this poem a few years ago, but I though it really fit in with the issues we have been discussing in class. The puppetry; how none of our "princesses" have minds of their own. I know many of my earlier discussions have been about this issue, but its something I am so passionate about. I believe to many people are fake or allow others to control who they are.


A masquerade ball unlike any other
Millions of participants
The world the stage
Its citizens, the puppets
A grand show of secrecy

My character is strong, fun, loving
A Dori-blue fish in a sea of piranhas
Happy, free-spirited
The aqua star gleaming on center stage
The one breath of joy
A sapphire in a cave of emptiness
Naive enough to allow the script to become my life
Are they really fooled?

Gasp!
The mask gone
A dull world revealed
The grey walls of a square person
Different yet the same
The wise elephant in a jungle of chaos
Learning from the fifty mistakes already made
And yet more to come
A new life path carved by the fire of anxiety

The spotlight on the one who chose to be different
To shed the mask
Cut the strings
Forget the lines
No more lies to hide behind
The curtain closes on our plastic world

Life as a doll

I was reflecting on notes we took in class on wednesday about Ella Enchanted and the comment about her being a puppet struck me. I began to think about what it would be like to be a doll, a child's play thing. What would it be like to have every move controlled? Now I know dolls are inamenent objects, but it gave me a new perspective on things (haha in a way). It also reminded me of a show called Sabrina the Teenage Witch in which the main character is turned into her cousins doll. How weird would it be to fall backwards and have your eyes automatically close, or not be able to bend your arms, legs, and fingers. I know I would feel trapped in a "cave" of some sort, a body that allows you to do nothing, experience nothing. Everything would seem so large, so extravagant. The tiniest things becoming huge and more important. I don't know, it was just something I was thinking about today in between studying for tests. I know I would hate to be trapped. I like my independence. I like my freedom. I was listending to the Ella Enchanted soundtrack and found a song that I felt was really inspirational, telling you to just believe in yourself and don't let anyone control your life. I think that's most important. We rule our own lives, no one else.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgWrcRTGQkc

Childhood addiction :)

When I was in elementary school, I was obsessed with reading (not that I don't like to read anymore, I just don't read quite as much with the enormous amount of homework I have now). My favorite book series was definitely The Babysitters Club. I am pretty sure I owned almost all of the books in the series, which totals well above 100 books (if you include the Little Sister series which I had all of). I always told my mom that when I got older, I was going to be the best baby-sitter ever, just like the girls from the books. I can say that they were a kind of role model for me. The girls were responsible, caring, honest, and a whole list of honorable qualities. I think that is why my mom let me read them so much. She wanted me to read, and she wanted me to read things that would teach me valuable lessons. These books were perfect for that. When I went home last weekend, I dug some of my favorites out of the boxes of books in the back of the hall closet (we ran out of room on the bookshelves). I found my favorite of the series, the third book The Truth About Stacy. I really have enjoyed this one, no matter how old I have gotten. On re-reading, I realized just how perfect it was in helping me grow up to be the person I am today. In this particular story, Stacy - one of the girls in the club, tries to hide her health disorder, diabetes. She thinks that the girls won't accept her if they realize she is different than they are. She ends up in the hospital one afternoon after not taking her insulin, and hours later every one of her friends is standing by her side. She says how embarassed she is, but that's not what they care about. They care about her being okay, and realizing that she doesn't have to hide anything from them. They embrace Stacy's illness and do everything they can to make her feel perfectly normal. They begin preparing her healthy snacks she can eat at their meetings in replace of the other junk food, and they help remind her to take her insulin. This book really shows you that your true friends accept you no matter who you are, a lesson every young girl should learn.

Ella Enchanted book vs. movie

I am always so annoyed when a book is made into a feature film, and they stray from the story line. It is so typical of Hollywood to add more "drama" to movies to make them more "interesting" or to draw in more money. I am a big fan of the book "Ella Enchanted" and I was pretty disappointed with the movie. Not that is was a bad movie, just that it didn't follow the book as it should have. There are many alterations done to the plot:

1. In the movie, the re-marriage of her father occurs much earlier than in the book.

2. In hte movie, Ella is not sent away to school, she meets Hattie and Olive when their parents marry and Hattie takes the necklace while Ella shows her her room for storage of all of her clothing.

3. One of the biggest alterations the movie made is that Prince Char's father and mother both died, so his cruel uncle is king!! That is not the story at all. And his uncle is horrible to the kingdom, which is fabricated (there is no uncle in the book).

4. With this uncle in the story, he finds out that Ella has an obedience curse and so he tells Ella to kill Char near the end of the story so that he can stay king (he also reveals that he killed Char's father). None of this occurs in the book.

5. In both versions, Ella does end up breaking the curse out of love for Char, but it different scenereos in each story.

Though I like both versions, it still bothers me that Hollywood would take such a good story and make it more "dramatic." What is wrong with a simple fairytale anymore? Why can't things be happy and not have all of these crazy plot twists. I've noticed this occures a lot when books are made into movies, and it always proves that the books are so much better (writers are just incredible).

Ace of Cakes

So today I was watching this show on the food network (my younger sisters favorite tv station) and it was called "Ace of Cakes." In this show, a Baltimore cake shop designs over the top cakes for different events. In one of the episodes I watched, they made a cake reflecting the tea party scene from "Alice in Wonderland." It was probably the coolest cake I had ever seen. These people are so playful and creative. They recreated the characters so well, I was incredibly impressed. It took me back to my childhood and all of the birthday cakes I had, none of which even remotely compared to this masterpiece. I secretly wish that my parents had tried to order a cake after one of my favorite books. And I'm not talking about how they put a few plastic "Winnie the Pooh" characters, or Disney Princesses, on top of the cake. I'm talking a full fledged scene from the moive (though I have no idea how much these cakes cost, I assume it is a lot). Anyways, I thought the show was so cool and I wish one day (hopefully my wedding day), I can have a cake that ornate. The picture to the left is not the exact cake I saw them make, but it is still pretty cool.