Great upcoming local literature & film events

It's really spring!  The birds are chirping, tulips are blooming, and cool local children's literature and film events are coming up for central Illinois.

Whenever Candace Fleming comes to town it's a treat and she'll be here this Saturday, April 16, from 2 to 3 pm at the Normal Public Library.  Perhaps my favorite book of hers is The Lincolns: A scrapbook look at Abraham and Mary. Others in our house have enjoyed her chapter book The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School and there's a new book about Fifth Graders. One of her most recent is the picture book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!. We are reading her new book Amelia Lost about Amelia Earhart. After her talk, there will be refreshments and books available for purchase and autographing.

We'll be running over to the TheatresCool in downtown Bloomington shortly after that on Saturday to see the Broadway Workshop Performance: Comedy Tonight! directed by Cristen Susong.

Celebrate El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) on Saturday, April 30, at the Bloomington Public Library.  The fourth annual event, from 11 am to 1 pm, will feature a local soccer star, Dora the Explorer, an authentic Mexican band, Mexican crafts, and Mexican food.  Reading is important in all languages.

Finally, one of the highlights of the year is always going to EbertFest, the film festival at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, that celebrates Roger Ebert, films he enjoys, and the people who create them.  Even though Ebert's health is not as good as when the festival started, he continues to be an enthusiastic champion for great filmmaking.  This year the festival is April 27 - May 1.  It'sAt EbertFest a few years ago. held, once again, at the beautiful Virginia Theater, 203 W. Park Ave., in downtown Champaign. 

The experience of watching a film in the Virginia Theater with about 700 film enthusiasts on a beautiful spring afternoon when we all could be outside is always such a treat.  The people who go to EbertFest just love films.  They applaud, they clap, they laugh, they weep -- their participation as an audience makes the interesting films Ebert chooses even more wonderful to watch.  Then afterward, a key person from the film (usually the director or an actor) talks about the film.  Yep, right in central Illinois it's Hollywood for a few days.

Also, although festival passes sell out months in advance, we have always had success getting a ticket for specific films.  You just wait in line for about 20 to 30 minutes beforehand and you'll get a seat.  Maybe not the best seat on the main floor.  But we've always had a good seat.  Don't miss the opportunity.

World Read Aloud Day March 9

An interest and the ability to read starts with hearing others read.  According to the organizers of World Read Aloud Day, "Nearly 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name."  Last year, the organizers of World Read Aloud Day had people reading aloud in 35 countries.  Events are scheduled throughout the world.

Many books created for children are great for reading aloud so if you need a particular day to encourage yourself to reading to a child, to a teen or an adult, consider World Read Aloud Day a good reason.  This might be a time to find again a favorite poem, a passage from a chapter book or a picture book.  Or, it might be an impetus to volunteer in classrooms and after school programs that could benefit from an adult reading to children.

March certainly has many days emphasizing reading as well as Women's History Month, Youth Art Month, Mardi Gras, Lent, St. Patrick's Day, ComicCon in Chicago, the Ides of March, and, of course, the hopefulness of the beginning of spring.

Review Cech's great book on Weston Woods' history now on Project Muse

John Cech's new book Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods is a particularly interesting history of this ground-breaking film company known for its amazing adapatations of children's literature.  My review of his book is now available in the Children's Literature Association Quarterly section on Project Muse.  If you want a print copy, it's in Volume 36, Number 1, Spring 2011, pp. 115-117.  I think this book is well worth reading for children's literature scholars, librarians, film scholars, and all of us who remember watching these films in school and on television.

Mary Blair's "It's a Small World"

Mary Blair's artwork and creative ideas for Disney are legendery.  She had a modernistic, more abstract vision that Walt Disney appreciated but was very different from the drawings in his animated films that are rounder, softer in town and cuter, in a different way.  Blair is so revered at Disney that she is lauded in a special section of Disneyland's museum area as a Creative Innovator.  She's in a hall of luminaries that includes astronauts, inventors, politicians, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and others.

A chapter in my book, The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature, has a section critically analyzing a book recently published by Disney that uses Mary Blair's conceptual art for Disney's Alice in Wonderland film along with a text loosely adapted from Lewis Carroll's by children's author Jon Scieszka.  Here's a link to a presentation, with images, based on that chapter.

For this blog on our Disneyland trip, I am posting photos of the "It's a Small World" ride to show what it looked like during the Christmas 2010-2011 season.  The music had been changed to an amalgam of the original "Small World" tune along with Christmas carols.  The dolls and scenery within the ride had been decorated for Christmas to reflect the different culture's Christmas, or end of the year, celebrations. 

A panorama of "It's a Small World" at night

Floating along the front of the ride, while going into the ride buildingThe clock area where the dolls come out and walk around.

Floating into the ride during the day

The ride during the day. It's much whiter and doesn't have the same presence within the park as it does at night.

Inside the ride the colors are bright, the dolls look rather cute, slightly dated but still charming and over the top.

The music is constantly playing, a little like treacle. Note the poinsettias and other holiday decorations

Just happy to be in front of "It's a Small World"

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Ghosts & less scary monsters in children's literature

Since this website is about the Ghost of the Talking Cricket, I thought Halloween might be a good time to explain here the title and review a few other ghosts in children's literature.

Two classic ghosts in Children's Literature

In Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio (1883) the Talking Cricket is the voice of reason.  The Cricket is patient and philosophical.  Instead of getting angry, he speaks in a calm, considered way.  In chapter 4, Pinocchio becomes angry with the cricket who has honestly described the wooden boy's problems. He throws the insect against a wall and kills it.  In chapter 5, Pinocchio remorsefully realizes that the Talking Cricket had been right and that he did need to stop telling lies and improve his life. Pinocchio, however, continues his path of misadventures.  In chapter 13, the Ghost of the Talking Cricket reappears to give Pinocchio advice again.  The Ghost tells him not to believe the Fox and the Cat as they will cause him to foolishly loose his gold.  Pinocchio does not believe him.  The ghost says "Remember that boys who are bent on having their own way and on pleasing themselves are sorry for it, sooner or later." (from the Penguin Classics edition with original translations by M.A. Murray, page 49)

Ghost of Marley in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Marley's ghost appears to his former partner Ebenezeer Scrooge at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.  Dickens' clever combination of ghost story and positive Christmas message continues to inspire generations.

Less scary books for younger readers that explore fears, spooks and monsters

The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain  When Jacob was about 5, he found this story scary but enjoyable.  The young bears imagine taking a romp through a scary tree and find a good monster at the end.

There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer.  Another classic that Jacob also found both scary and intriguing when he was young.  We read this numerous times as a way to figure out how to think about monsters. Billy Crystal reads it aloud on YouTube.

The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable Furry, Old Grover by Jon Jon Stone and Michael Smollin.  Preschoolers will enjoy trying to figure out with Sesame Street's Grover who the monster at the end of the book is.  Then on re-readings they will enjoy being in on the joke.

Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak. Loved by adults from their childhood, this continues to be a wonderful book to share with children.  Watch the 2009 film for an intriguing adapation of book until film.

Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by James and Deborah Howe. Most rabbits eat celery, Bunnicula seems to like eating something else.  This story is both funny and scary and will keep early chapter readers on the edge of their chairs as they try to figure out why vegetables loose their juice, the bunny's eyes turn red and other weird things happen.  This book is the first in a series.

The Ink Drinker by Eric Sanvoisen, illustrated by Martin Matje, translated by Georges Moroz.  A Stepping Stone chapter book about a vampire, named Draculink, who's allergic to blood and instead drinks ink from books.  Funny, slightly scary with interesting plot twists to keep young children what will happen next.Illustration by Barry Moser from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: a Retelling written by Gary D. Schmidt

The Boy of A Thousand Faces by Brian Selznick.  Selznick's book celebrates early monster films in his richly illusrated book about a boy who loves films and monsters.

Play with Your Pumpkins by Joost Elffers, Saxton Freyman, and Johannes Van Damm.  Finally, if you need ideas for carving pumpkins -- scary or funny -- check out Play with Your Pumpkins.  We frequently look at the book for inspiration whether we're carving pumpkins or other vegetables. 

Here's a link to an exhibit of monsters in children's literature at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in 2002.  It featured some of my favorite children's book artists including Peter Sis and Barry Moser.

The Ink Drinker by Eric Sanvoisen, ill by Martin Matje, trans. by Georges Moroz