Children's Lit does well with Academy Awards ... or were kids and films misunderstood?

Martin's Scorsese's film interpretation of Brian Selznick's award-winning graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Martin Scorsese shows Brian Selznick's book to young cast members while filming Hugo.Cabret received five Academy Awards last night.  Pretty impressive.  Not the big picture of the year award -- that went to The Artist. But both films received the same number of awards.  Actually, Hugo was nominated for 11 awards, the most of any film this year. Curiously, too, both The Artist and Hugo are somewhat wistful film meditations on early cinema.

We were glad to read on School Library Journal that Brian Selznick was in the audience at the (former) Kodak Theater.

"Being on the red carpet, being in the room live as the telecast was underway, hearing the name Hugo called five times..., all of it was an experience I will never forget," Selznick told SLJ. "[I]t was really fun to introduce myself to famous people by saying I wrote the book that inspired Hugo and having them throw their arms around me, thank me for the story, and tell me they've seen the movie more than once... and some of them had even read the book and loved it too!"

In addition, the award for best animated short film  went to William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg's The A still from The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris LessmoreFantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Here's a link to the 15 minute YouTube video. It's also cool that the film was created by a Moonbot, a Shreveport, Louisiana, studio.  Good to see animation developed in the U.S. and from a studio in the south. It is also available as an Apple app.

The animated film is "a poignant, potent ode to books," according to the Kirkus Review, which seems ironic to incapsulize in an iPhone app.

William Joyce is another imaginative children's picture book author as well as an Emmy-winning television creator of Rolie-Polie Olie and George Shrinks. Disney's 2007 animated film Meet the Robinsons is based on Joyce's book A Day with Wilbur Robinson.

On the other hand...

As YPulse points out today, last night's Academy Award program was not particularly welcoming to tweens or teens.  It began with Billy Crystal putting on Justin Bieber for the "18 - 24 crowd" when, in reality, his core fan base is more 12 - 16 year olds, and primarily girls, too.

Oddly, only two songs were nominated for best song in an era when songs within films, and television shows, are important landmarks to creating a film's environment and atmosphere.  But neither song was performed live.  Why not?  "Man or a Muppet" is such a catchy tune, in an odd way, that even Terri Gross, interviewer of NPR program "Fresh Air," admits she likes it. 

Perhaps Justin Beiber could have performed "Man or a Muppet."  That might have excited Martin Scorsese's daughter, who was sitting next to him during the awards ceremony and looking a bit bored for most of the night.  Or, Why not have Oscar the Grouch present an Oscar?

The final Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 was nominated for three Academy Awards, but did not receive a statue in any of them.  Huffington Post's high school blogger Marissa Piazolla understands Harry Potter fan's sadness when the final film failed to recieve an Oscar this time.  In the categories that Harry Potter was running against Hugo, I actually thought Harry Potter had the better achievement.

On a final note, did you watch closely the preview for The Hunger Games?  Didn't it look like the older sister Catnis is giving the Mockingjay pin to her younger sister Prim before the reaping?  But in the book, Catnis receives the pin from the mayor's daughter when Catnis is about to go off to the reaping.  Catnis isn't familiar with the importance of the Mockingjay pin at that point.  Clearly there are changes afoot.

But we're still going to see the film when it opens.

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

Fewer children's picture books being published

In "Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children," an article in today's New York Times, a few bookpublishers, writers, and parents observe that there's a trend to leave behind picture books for the "challenge" of chapter books.  Is this a good trend?  I'm not so sure.

Picture books often are more engaging and interesting than some of the chapter books that may appear more "grown up" to adults and the kids whom they are encouraging to read.  I think this observation is correct:

“To some degree, picture books force an analog way of thinking,” said Karen Lotz, the publisher of Candlewick Press in Somerville, Mass. “From picture to picture, as the reader interacts with the book, their imagination is filling in the missing themes.”

Picture books involve children's and adults' imagination, enable everyone to develop storytelling skills, and enhance visual literacy.  I think that developing visual literacy and understanding children's visual culture is so important that I'm teaching a graduate course on that this semester.

I do think that publishers are making a mistake of publishing many picture books in hard cover with a high price tag.  The marketing format of Golden Books -- good books at low price points that are sold at the checkout counter or other easy to find places -- should be followed again today.  Too often big stores, such as Target and Wal-Mart, sell primarily TV and movie tie-ins or extremely popular books.  Children's book publishers should be more aggressive in promoting inexpensive, high-quality picture books in paperback to these types of stores.  Scholastic does this in schools, but many pre-schools don't have the Scholastic connections.  Grandparents and aunts and uncles also usually don't get the Scholastic fliers.  Scholastic, of course, has its own consumeristic tendencies, but at least it always sells a few books that are priced at $5 or less.

The tendency for parents to think that chapter books are better than picture books suggests, perhaps, that parents aren't reading all of the popular chapter books, either.  Instead of reading another Magic Tree House book, parents, teachers, and librarians should make the effort to get elementary school kids to read engaging non-fiction picture books -- such as The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley and drawings by Brian Selznick, The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Greg Couch, or books by the incredibly imaginative Peter Sis, such as The Three Golden Keys and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. Or here's a good link from a recent School Library Journal article on "Inventions: Waiting for Eureka" that mentions several similar type books including The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton illustrated by Tony Persiani, which was a fun read, and Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully.

It's curious that at the same time that there's an interest by male readers 18-34 in graphic novels and comics, the adults that are guiding the youngest readers are insisting that books that comprise mainly of text are the way to go.  But readers of graphic novels and comics are clearly sensitive to price points, as yesterday's report at New York's Comic-Con on these readers has noted. It's curious that just a 20 cent change in price point causes a significant decrese in purchases: "The complaint of high prices was discussed as well, along with the statistics that the average cover price of a comic book in the second quarter of 2010 is now $3.53, up from $3.38 in 2009."  Maybe the picture book publishers should take heed and publish more paper backs at more reasonable prices.

Because, like it or not, we live in a culture that's as much visual driven as word driven. Kids instinctively know that. To take away their ability to learn through picture books that combine visuals and words for chapter books seems counter-intuitive by adults.