My Son's Book Report

I actually have never read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but because of my 5th grader's book report, my curiosity is definitely piqued! His description of the book led to a great discussion between the two of us and even a sneak peak at an original Georges Melies 1902 film on U-Tube. There is great joy when our kids teach us something. Thank you Payton!

Here's the book report:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is about a boy named Hugo Cabret who lives in a train station in the early 1900’s in France. When Hugo’s father died, he went to work with his uncle in the train station fixing clocks. But when Hugo’s uncle mysteriously disappears after a long night at the pub, Hugo is left to tend to the clocks himself, all the while unraveling a great mystery.

This story is unique because about a third of the book is detailed pencil illustrations. The illustrations were one of my favorite parts of the book. The author, Brian Selznick, is as good an artist as he is an author. I hope one day to say the same about myself.

The book is also unique because it blends two genres; mystery and historical fiction. Selznick uses real and imagined characters.

I actually learned some stuff reading this book. I didn’t realize that the first movies were made in France and that Georges Melies was really a film maker known as the “cinemagician”. I also learned that in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s movies were considered magic.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a flair for the arts.

Sweden's Greatest Gift to Us

I am currently reading Pippi Longstocking to my kids. What an adorable, humorous, and clever story. How did I miss this book growing up?! Oh wait, I remember now. Because all I knew of Pippi was the freaky low tech dubbed T.V. show. When Pippi Longstocking would finish a sentence her lips would still be moving. Even as a kid, this interfered with my ability to enjoy the storyline.

The original book, written by Astrid Lindgren, was published in 1945 and many more followed. Born of the bed time stories that Astrid Lindgren told her daughter Karin in Sweden, Pippi Longstocking has made her way into the hands of children in over 100 different countries.

Lindgren who died at age 94 in 2002, was a prolific author, editor, proofreader, and animal rights activist. Of her 100 books published, many feature a child main character who is independent, eccentric and some say anarchistic.

Immediately children know that Pippi is different and are in awe of her resourcefulness and confidence. Lindgren's writing expertly conveys kid logic which is universally practiced by children.

Pippi lives alone because her mother died when she was quite young, and her father is lost at sea. On the first page the reader learns, Pippi "had no mother or father; which was quite nice, because it meant that no one could tell her to go to bed just when she was having the most fun. And no one could make her take cod liver oil when she would rather eat candy."

And we thought Sweden's greatest gift to us was meatballs.

Never judge a book by its movie - J.W. Eagan

I missed the Academy Awards. I am sure on some subconscious level I must have known they were happening. I am sure I robotically read the cover of magazines at the grocery store, or sound bites on the radio floated into my ears, but didn’t get filed in the Urgent file reserved for, well, urgent things -like the exact date time and channel that The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown will be on. I was not aware on the surface that it was indeed Oscar night until I turned on my computer and saw that some celebrity almost fainted after winning an award. Pathetic.

I am especially chipper that I missed the pre-coverage, as people were elegantly gliding down the Red Carpet; I think I was busy scrubbing the mysterious sticky substance off two of the shelves in my refrigerator – syrup perhaps. The Red Carpet, Red Schmarpit. I want to hear someone say “Oh this is the same dress I wore last year, how wasteful to buy a thousand dollar dress to only wear one night, instead I donated the money to (fill in whatever cause)” or, “Thank you, but I borrowed this from Jennifer Anniston, she has much better taste than me and I just love her hand me downs.”

But I digress; the real topic of this blog post is about movies that were books first. I was curious, is there an award for such a category?

I did some research, a fancy way of saying I did a Google search. “Academy Awards for movies that were books first.” What I found was a lot of books about the Academy Awards. (I am actually losing IQ points writing this)

I’ve compiled my own list of books that were made into movies. Stories that first sparked the imaginations of children reading in the laps of their parents on a big arm chair, cozily tucked into their beds late at night, or lying in the grass on a lazy sunshiny day. The first four books listed were made into movies that won at least one Oscar.

So without further ado… The List.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS THAT WERE MADE INTO MOVIES

The Yearling, Marjorie Kinna Rawlings - Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography in 1946. (Was also nominated for best actor, actress, directing and best picture)

Mary Poppins, PL Travers - 6 Academy Awards including best actress (Julie Andrews)

The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling – Best Song.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, - JRR Tolkien – 11 friggin Oscars!

A Series of Unfortunate Events –Lemony Snicket
The Ant Bully – John Nickle
Because of Winn-Dixie – Kate DiCamillo
Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory –Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
Cheaper by The Dozen – Frank Gilbreth
The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
Curious George - Margret and H.A. Rey
Doctor Dolittle – Hugh Lofting
Gentle Ben –Walt Morey
Holes – Louis Sachar
Hoot – Carl Hiaasen
Horton Hears a Who – Dr. Seuss
How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Dr. Seuss
How to Eat Fried Worms – Thomas Rockwell
Indian in the Cupboard - Lynn Reid Banks
James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
Jumanji – Chris VanAllsburg
Jurassic Park – Michael Chrichton
Nancy Drew – Carolyn Keene
Nanny McPhee – Christianna Brand
Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgrin
Polar Express – Chis Van Allsburg
The Spiderwick Chronicles – Holly Black
Stuart Little – E.B. White
The Tale of Desperaux – Kate Di Camillo
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Frank L Baum
Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Winnie the Pooh – A.E. Milne