She's not sick, she's a dancer

Picasso said all children are born artists. But we don't grow out of creativity, according to Sir Ken Robinson. We are educated out of it.

Here's Sir Ken Robinson at TED being very funny and very right about creativity... and the education system that has us believing maths is more important than dance...

peanuts christmas special

Charles Schulz' Peanuts Christmas Special had to fight to get the Peanuts Christmas Special to be what it is. Everyone told him he was crazy.

Here's what he had to convince network executives at CBS to do:
-- to not use a laugh track 
-- to use actual children for the voices of the characters 
-- and (most crucial of all) to keep the true meaning of Christmas in there and have Linus quote from Luke 2:8-14

The big important personages of CBS all hated the idea and said it would fail. Particularly that Bible stuff.

Thankfully Schultz didn't believe them. And what would it be without that "Bible stuff"?

Sometimes your job isn't just to create something. It's to fight for it.

More here

 

more favorite favorite favorites

a favorite poet and a favorite poem recited by someone who has to got be one of my favorite persons reciting a poem:

what is a poem?

An interviewer asked the poet, Annie Finch, how she would explain to a seven-year-old what a poem was, and she said:

"A poem is words that fit together in a special way so it's easy to remember and it sounds like magic."

such the perfect description of a poem.
plus, it kind of is one, too.

Annie Finch, born 1956 in New Rochelle, New York. Her newest book of poetry is Calendars (2003).

writing for children

"You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better"

- Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)

piggyness and woolliness

just trying out this crunchy new feature where you can add these fabulous boxes on your blog... In case you need a lovely new book for a special person of small stature in your life...

(one is cuddly and cozy and in a real live actual box--and one is guaranteed to get any child laughing--as well as learning manners at the same time) (when does that ever happen? since when was hearing "ELBOWS" yelled at you from across your cornflakes exactly fun?)

OK that's enough of this plug... but they're cool right? (the books and the boxes)

War Horse

This Christmas I was lucky enough to see the award-winning smash hit War Horse at the New London Theater. Based on the children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, it's a play about a plough horse commandeered by the cavalry and sent to the front in the First World War. It's a story of loyalty, bravery, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse.

What is most incredible about this production though is the astonishing way they conjure a horse on stage: so life-like, so convincing, so minutely observed, that you totally forget it's a puppet and believe instead that what you're seeing on stage in front of you is an actual living breathing horse.

And it's not because you can't see the puppeteers. That's the odd thing. You can see them clearly at all times. And there is no effort to hide them. Each seven foot tall horse puppet is manipulated by a team of three actors: one for the back legs and tail; another for the front and neck; and another to guide the model. (In the photo above, for instance, the three on the left are the puppeteers for the young foal Joey.) But because of the realism of the movements (even down to the movement of the horses' ears) and the mastery of the puppeteers your brain simply blanks them out leaving only the horse.

It's astonishing. And magical. And powerfully moving. And of course impossible to describe--you need to see it for yourself. So take a look at this to get an idea and go if you possibly can. (If you can't make it to London, the production apparently will be in NYC sometime in 2011.)

Britain lost close to a million horses in the First World War. This play is a tribute to them. And through that lens, it also gets you to see the tragic human loss of the Great War. And feel it afresh.

(Adapted by Nick Stafford from a novel by Michael Morpurgo. The puppets were designed by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa. Directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, War Horse opened at the National Theater in 2007 and transferred to the West End’s New London Theatre in the spring.)

happy Christmas

happy birthday sesame street: 40 today!

interview with David Suchet

David (Hercule Poirot) Suchet speaks to radio host Charles Morris about why he chose to read The Jesus Storybook Bible for audio, how he selects his roles, what his faith means to him, and more... in this fabulous conversation which you can listen to here.

little monkey

a friend's little boy...

Week 2 storytime video: The Beginning

The Beginning: A Perfect Home from Jonathan Michael on Vimeo.
(no need for a code, just click ENTER)

visit the The Jesus Storybook Bible site to learn more
buy the book: here
download audio on or amazon

The "new and improved" Winnie The Pooh

Today RETURN TO THE HUNDRED ACRE WOOD is being published in the US and UK: the first authorized "sequel" to A A Milne's 1920s masterpiece. It appears to be the "new and improved" world of Winnie the Pooh--they've made Eeyore less Eeyore (he isn't such a victim, they say, but "more proactive"), they've added a Fancy Nancy-esque Otter (who loves to wear pearls)... which is all very well--but what I want to know is... why? Why is this a good idea, again?



The characters of The Hundred Acre Wood all sprung from actual real life toys that belonged to Milne's little boy... so nothing against otters or Lottie or pearls but he did he actually have an otter with pearls?

None of this bodes well. I should reserve judgment until I read the thing... (perhaps this book will drive children to the real Winnie The Pooh and away from the Disney-fied version which would be a very good thing and I'd be all for it) but apart from assuming we know better now than Milne and Shephard then (call me old fashioned, but new isn't always improved and improved isn't always better), the first question that popped into my head when I heard about Lottie and needing to add a girl character and improving Eeyore was--can you begin to imagine anyone adding a girl character into a Rembrandt painting? Or Shakespeare's Ophelia being "modified" to be less of a victim?

Not so much.

water for schools

One photo shows a boy in Ethiopia. The other a boy in the USA. The bottles show the quality of water they have to drink. No prize for guessing whose bottle is whose. Half of all schools around the world, have no access to clean water. This autumn Charity: water is launching Water for Schools--a student-led campaign to bring clean safe drinking water to at least 100 schools in developing nations in the first year. It'll take $2M to get there so they'll need everyone's help to do it... find out how you can help here. Note: 100% of your donation goes to those in need.

the father of nonsense

Edward Lear (1812-1888), the British poet and painter known for his absurd wit, has been called "the father of nonsense" and wrote, what else but, The Complete Nonsense (a bind up of all his various nonsense: nonsense alphabets, nonsense botany, nonsense songs, nonsense stories, nonsense pitures, nonsense rhymes), which is the first book I remember reading all the way through. I was about 7 and adored it. I didn't know it was allowed. To speak and write such a load of nonsense like that. And get away with it. Get it in a book, even. And have it published. And he did the drawings too! (Lear of course gave us Quangle-Wangles, Pobbles, and Jumblies. And marvelous things like a runcible spoon.) Things have not been the same since. Of course I immediately set about writing and illustrating nonsense limericks like him. In Lear's limericks the first and last lines usually end with the same word rather than rhyming. And mostly they are well and truly utter nonsense and have no punch line or point whatsoever. Wonderful in other words. One limerick that isn't a Lear Limerick but is one of my all-time favorites: There was an old faith healer of Deale Who said "Though Pain isn't real When I sit on a pin and it's punctures my skin I don't like what I fancy I feel." In that one, the last line isn't a repeat of the first line and stronger as a result, I think. (When it's the same word, it has always felt to me like a bit of let down.) Here's one of my favorite Edward Lear Limericks: Do you have a favorite?

"Best kids' books ever"

Nicholas Kristof of the NYT has made his list of the top 10. His kids have too. Needless to say they aren't the same. Not even close. I don't think I'm even going to try and make my own top 10 list ... although I will say (because it's one of my all time favorites and I can't help it) ... what about Winnie The Pooh FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE? Which really only goes to prove one thing: making such a list is a fool-hardy and impossible task. Thank heavens. There are far too many wonderful children's books out there to squish into a list of 10. (Why do you have to choose anyway? Can't all of them be your favorites?) Plus, even if you could choose, no one will ever agree. Which is just the way it should be. If books are like friends, then it makes sense you're going to have some that are your particular favorites. Ones that may be entirely over-looked by someone else. It's individual and intimate, the conversation that goes on between the reader and the book. And have you noticed how passionately you will defend your favorite book, just like you would a friend? But, just out of interest... What book would you have included in the list that wasn't?

the importance of reading to your babies

My little friend found a favorite certain children's Storybook and started reading it first to herself and then to all her babies. See how her babies are so well behaved and looking at the pictures and listening so carefully. Even as such a young age. I think they must have their listening ears on. (Plus she must be quite a compelling reader that they can even overcome even the disadvantage of being plastic).

new forest donkey

I think he's interested in taking it to go. There aren't just New Forest Donkeys. There are also the famous New Forest Ponies who run free across the open heather-covered heath, wander through the ancient forests, across roads, stroll into shops. It's true. They really do. I went to boarding school in the New Forest (which of course is extremely ancient) and they are part of the scenery. They had free reign of the place. Actually so did we. It was a different time and a quite magical place to be a child.

books that ask questions

"I believe that good questions are more important than answers, and the best children's books ask questions, and make the readers ask questions. And every new question is going to disturb someone's universe." - Madeleine L'Engle

purple monsters and reading to children

Came across this article, giving tips on how to read to children. It suggests that as important as what you read is how you read it. This has to be true doesn't it? I mean if you read it in a droning monotone, how fun will that be? Who wants to sit through that? You can make even the funniest book sound like a dirge if you set your mind to it. It's all in the delivery. It's a performance really and you must engage your audience and entertain them. Make them laugh not fall asleep. (Unless, of course, it's a magical sleepy book like this.) (WARNING about dramatic readings to children--if they are too little you could make them cry. Like I did once at a book festival. I was reading Handbag Friends--an adventure story disguised as a pink handbag--and warning the audience of the naughty purple monster coming up in the next bit and how maybe I shouldn't read it. A tiny girl screamed and ran to her mother wailing unconsolably and had to be carried out. I was mortified. I was sposed to be in the business of making children laugh--not scream in terror and run away. I now say "there's a scary bit but NOT REALLY" and scan the room for any too-scared too-tiny ones to smile at and reassure.) (Later the mum told me her daughter always does this at readings which made me feel less evil. A bit.) (If you want to meet the purple monster and you promise you're not too tiny and you won't scream and run away, you can see her in action here.)