Dear Hollywood,

Sincerely,
The Toy Box Mommy

Seriously, people. I’m experiencing some hefty deja vu, here. Some books are meant to be enjoyed as books. Period. That’s part of their allure.

I guess Hollywood didn’t get my memo, though. Hugo Cabret is slated to become a feature film:

“Ice Age” helmer Chris Wedge has signed on to direct Brian Selznick’s magic-themed children’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” for Graham King’s GK Films, Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Warner Bros.

“The Aviator” scribe John Logan has been tapped to pen the adaptation.

King and Infinitum Nihil’s Christi Dembrowski will produce the live-action film, which centers on an orphaned boy who secretly lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station and looks after the clocks. He gets caught up in a mystery adventure when he attempts to repair a mechanical man.

The studio is eyeing a fall start date.

I’m crushed. It’s not that I think it won’t make a good movie—it probably will—but it will be something entirely different from the experience you get in reading it, and I fear that it can’t help but somehow degrade the tale, that way. Great books should just be great books, sometimes.

I know most people disagree with me. That’s fine. Why, back in my day, we read books, and movies consisted of hand shadows made on rocks with a flashlight. Harumph.

Now, where did I put my Geritol…?

I’d never seen a graphic novel before I became a mom; never much of a comics fan as a kid (except for the obligatory comics smuggled into the cabin at camp, to be read by flashlight after lights-out), I’ve never heard of one that really piqued my interest. Even after learning more about graphic novels I sort of assumed they were just for grown-up comics geeks and didn’t explore the matter further.

And then Scholastic started their line of graphic novels and I began to see the allure, at least for kids. (Do not get all up in arms if you, an adult, enjoy graphic novels as well. That’s great. My experience thus far has only been with volumes targeted to younger readers.) As my kids devoured these graphic-laden tales I began to see how it really is a niche all its own, one that cannot be filled with just chapter books or just comic books.

And so I was, of course, delighted, to read the news that DC Comics will be bringing us graphic novels for the kiddie set:

DC Comics is teaming up with children’s book and graphic novel publisher Stone Arch Books to produce a series of illustrated chapter books based on DC’s famous characters Batman and Superman. The new line of books, called DC Super Heroes, will launch later this spring with 12 titles and publish a total of 48 titles over the next four seasons. The following season the line will add chapter books based on DC’s Wonder Woman character.

The books will feature original prose stories with illustrations by DC Comics artists. […]

Stone Arch Books President Joan Berge said basing chapter books on DC super heroes, “is just one more way to hook a reluctant or struggling reader. DC characters are well-known and of high interest to the striving young reader and we hope they will spark a growing interest in reading.”

I can’t wait to see ‘em. I don’t care how much your son dislikes reading… he won’t be able to resist the lure of these caped crusaders, is my guess.

Personally, I’ve thought it quite nice that “modern” kids’ television and films have had enough adult-worthy content to keep us doting parents from falling asleep while the kids enjoy them. This is hardly a new concept; even back in the early days of Sesame Street there were little jokes and asides and gags inserted specifically for the amusement of the double-digit set.

But last week The Guardian’s Michael Hann officially took issue with children’s films, insisting that they’re missing the mark entirely:

Now, however, too many kids’ film-makers spend too much time worrying about their adult audience, and make movies that pass the kids by. We remember the successes - the likes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Shrek and The Incredibles - and forget the many failures, such as 2004’s Shark Tale, which required a working knowledge of mafia movies to negotiate the sub-plots, something surely beyond pre-teen punters.

He goes on to point out movies which “require” (his word) knowledge of purely adult matters to comprehend in their entirety, then takes issue with the most basic of metrics—the run-time:

Even last year’s big animated crit-hit, Ratatouille, failed at the most basic level (not that those handing out the plaudits noticed): it was nearly two hours long, a good 20 minutes more than most of its target audience can comfortably sit through. (For comparison, Finding Nemo clocked in at 100 minutes; Toy Story at a merciful 81 minutes, offering viewers no chance to get bored.)

I’m not sure I agree, here. I mean, what age of kids are we talking about? My kids can sit through a 2-hour movie, no problem. And they’ve been able to from a very young age, I think. As for me, I do recall a couple of lousy kids’ films which shall remain nameless (ahem) during which I wished I’d lied to the kids and told them the theater was closed or the movie was sold out. Now, if I get bored, I just sit there and feel bored; if a child gets bored, maybe he acts up or cries. I guess that’s more problematic from the theater-goers point of view.

But honestly? I don’t know a kid—of any age—or a parent who didn’t love Ratatouille. Isn’t that the point, for the whole family to love it…? I’ve yet to meet the kid who says, “Oh, yeah, I liked it but it was too long!” I guess I’m saying I find Hann’s criticism a little broad.

Fans of J.K. Rowling’s creations have a whole new reason to get excited—Amazon is sponsoring an amazing contest to give fans a shot at seeing one of the seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Through April 22nd, 2008, you can take a shot at winning a very magical trip:

Amazon.com wants to send you and a friend to London, England to spend a weekend with the rare and delightful book of fairy tales (security guards included, of course), handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself. Open to muggles ages 13 and older in 24 countries, the Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest challenges you to creatively answer one of the following three questions in 100 words or less:

• What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?
• What sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?
• What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

English-language submissions will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. PDT April 22, 2008. An Amazon.com committee will select 10 semi-finalist submissions (based on creativity and writing style) from each of two age categories: 13-17 and 18-and-over. Amazon.com customers will determine the two finalists and Grand Prize winner by voting for their favorites. The Grand Prize includes round-trip airfare, two nights lodging at a London hotel, as well as an expense allowance. Plus, each of the finalists from the two age groups will receive an Amazon Gift Certificate in the amount of $1,000.

I can’t really think of a prize more fanciful than if they could offer you a weekend at Hogwarts. And really, if they could do that, then you’d have to worry about being turned into a teacup or having your soul sucked out by Dementors or something. The trip they’re offering sounds a lot safer, and still pretty exciting.

You’ve gotta love that it’s open to kids, too. The Harry Potter enterprise knows its fans, that’s for sure. May the best muggle win!

Earth Day falls on April 22nd this year, and that means you have just enough time to really prepare. And if you have kids, this should be your very favorite holiday. I mean, it has everything to recommend it:

• You are not required to purchase gifts,
• It’s all about helping the environment,
• It affords parents a great opportunity to explain why you need to turn out the lights in the room behind you when you’re done, please, for the love of all that’s holy, Mommy does not want to give her entire paycheck to the power company because you can’t be bothered.

(Okay, maybe that last one is just me….)

Of course, should you wish to gain favor amongst the kiddos in honor of this auspicious occasion, be sure to check out the Earth Day t-shirts and other specials at Ty’s Toy Box; shirt designs include options such as the one shown above, where Bob the Builder asks “Can we go green? Yes we can!”

Also check out the abundance of sites online for ideas, fun and games for you and the kids to share this Earth Day. Start with the EarthDay.gov’s kids’ page, which is a portal to lots of other great sites—our favorites are Energy Hog the EPA’s Environmental Kids Club. Take a look over at Kaboose’s Earth Day site for links to more great activities and ways to get into the Earth Day spirit, too.

However you choose to celebrate, remember that even when it’s not easy, the way has already been blazed for us.

(Yes, we should all learn from Kermit.) (Maybe not, but do you ever tire of that video? I don’t.)

I’ve long been a fan of Audible for keeping my iPod stocked with a great book at all times, and a couple of days ago they revealed some great news: The launch of AudibleKids.

AudibleKids is launching with nearly 4,000 titles from over 75 publishers, including 500+ new-to-digital titles such as exclusive stories from R. L. Stine of “Goosebumps” fame, all playable on iPods and hundreds of audio players and mobile devices. AudibleKids provides unmatched choice and convenience for parents, children and educators.

“We’re igniting a young person’s love of reading through digital audiobooks. We believe that AudibleKids will help children to develop critical literacy skills such as improved reading ability and comprehension,” said Donald Katz, founder and CEO of Audible. “The unique power of audiobooks to engage, entertain and bring a story to life can help children develop a love of books. We fully expect AudibleKids will reposition digital music players as story-tellers and learning machines, and thus build a new generation of enthusiastic readers.”

For anyone whose child has received an MP3 player and the power-struggles over what is acceptable material to load on it, this is great news. Not that that’s every happened to me. Nope. Pay no attention to those confiscated MP3 players behind me.

And as if that wasn’t enough:

AudibleKids is working with Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit children’s and family literacy organization, to help support RIF’s mission of motivating all children to become lifelong readers. As part of the arrangement with RIF, AudibleKids will provide a featured section on the website where children, parents and educators can always download a select number of audiobooks for free. “Children enjoy listening to stories being read aloud,” said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental. “RIF’s new relationship with AudibleKids is especially exciting because it’s a generation-relevant way to motivate children to read and improve their literacy skills.”

I’ve been browsing for an hour, already. Go check out AudibleKids for yourself; there’s free content and cheap content and, well, something for everyone. Pinky swear.

Yes, this past Saturday was the Kids’ Choice Awards on Nickelodeon, and they were notable because Hannah Montana’s Miley Cyrus walked away with both favorite actress in a TV show and favorite female singer.

Or maybe it was because Harrison Ford got slimed. Personally, I think that was more interesting news, but then again, I’ve had a crush on Indiana Jones longer than Miley Cyrus has been alive….

(I cannot believe I just admitted that. Hi, I’m the Toy Box Mommy, and I am extremely old!)

Some were surprised that Cyrus didn’t take three awards, but Drake & Josh managed to edge out Hannah Montana for favorite show. Hey, she got two awards and she has two hands, so unless she was planning on juggling them, I think it worked out okay. (Also, judging by all of the products in the Hannah Montana Store here, I don’t really think she’s hurting for popularity. Just sayin’.)

My other favorite winner, of course, was the dubbing of Avatar: The Last Airbender as Favorite Cartoon. You know I love Avatar; where else can you get such an involved story embedded in fabulous animation along with humor and entertainment that works for almost all ages? Aside from the little orange Nickelodeon blimp statue thingie they get, I’m pleased that Avatar was recognized for the awesome show that it is. (But I am not going to say that too loudly, because there is a long history of cartoons I love being canceled. Let’s pretend I’m whispering.)

Congratulations to all of the winners, of course, and I would like to respectfully suggest that we work the sliming of guests into the next Academy Awards show, as well. It certainly livened things up a bit.

There’s no real reason for me to bring up this story, except that it made me laugh, and also I suppose there’s a lesson in here about genres and writers’ abilities (or lack thereof) to switch gears.

So here’s the deal: Danielle Steel is writing about a hippo:

HarperCollins Publishers announced today that it has acquired world rights to The Happiest Hippo in the World, a children’s picture book by international bestselling author Danielle Steel. The new book, by the author of 88 adult novels, including Honor Thyself, Sisters, and the “Max and Martha” series for children, tells the story of a baby hippo who happens to be born green instead of gray and learns with the help of a little boy to love himself despite being different. Both delightful and heartwarming, the book was written by Ms. Steel for her son Nicholas Traina when he was little and is expected to be published in Fall 2009. Illustrations will be by celebrated artist Margaret Spengler.

It all sounds very charming, and in fact Ms. Steel has already penned books for children (did you know that? I didn’t), so why does this news make me giggle madly?

All I can think is that maybe the happy hippo discovers that the gruff handyman has a heart of gold after all.

Or that maybe the happy hippo had sworn off love, only to be swept off his feet by a handsome stranger.

Or perhaps the happy hippo, in finding himself, discovers that everything he needed had been right under his nose all along!

(Why yes, I did read a fair amount of Danielle Steel when I was younger… why do you ask?)

I hope it’s a wonderful book. But I have to say, the very idea of handing a Danielle Steel book to kids just makes me twitch, ever so slightly. It feels wrong, you know? I can’t help it. (Oh! Do you think the cover will show the hippo with long, flowing hair, clutching at his bosom? I sure hope so.) (See? I can’t stop.)

[Hat tip to yesterday’s Cynopsis for the scoop.]

Pssssst! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway contest we’re running this week!

My husband and I are both very fond of the “cranky old geezer” approach to ranting about “kids today.” You know what I’m talking about—if the kids complain about how everyone has a toy or a game that they’ll simply die if they can’t have as well, one or the other of us will launch into a story that begins, “You know, back in my day, we just played with a couple of twigs and some mud, and we liked it!”

This is largely done for comedic value, of course, and by “comedic value” I mean “the entertainment we derive from watching the children roll their eyes at us.”

Nevertheless, although I pride our family on certain basic and perhaps old-fashioned ideals—we eat dinner at the table together every night, we don’t let the kids participate in a million activities, I’m not above declaring a “pajama day” on the weekend if everyone needs a break—I had an interesting moment of clarity, yesterday. You see, yesterday I went on a field trip with my daughter’s class.

We went to a local nature center and learned about watersheds and stream ecosystems, and then the kids splashed around in the stream, fishing out various life forms for the specimen bucket so that we could examine the variety. Most of the children were about as focused as puppies on crack, if you must know, and we chaperones worked with the teachers and guides to ride herd on the excited students.

“It’s like they’ve never been outside before,” I whispered to one of the teachers in amazement, at one point.

“Some of them pretty much haven’t,” she replied—implying that some of the students never just go outside to play, but spend their lives in a classroom or on a couch.

And here they were, splashing through a stream, thrilled to be digging for snails.

You know, when I was a kid, we didn’t have big TVs and hand-held video games and fancy sites on that there computer. We had rocks and twigs and leaves and we liked it.

Funny, but it turns out that—given the chance—most kids today like it, too.

Pssssst! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway contest we’re running this week!

Anyone who’s been a regular reader over the last couple of years knows that I have no problem letting my children use the internet. They both have far too many Webkinz and know all the best places online to go play free games and like to consult Wikipedia when they feel the need to look something up.

I’m not anti-kid-computer-use, at all. I think it’s great that this generation of kids is growing up with a mouse in one hand. But I also think it’s very easy, as a parent, to forget that our kids need to be closely monitored while online, too. Please be smart about where your kids surf; check sites like Safe Internet Safe Kids and use parental controls on your computer. (Hey, most of this stuff is common sense. I’m just reiterating what you already know.)

That said, I’ll also say this: I think there’s lots of great sites out there for kids to enjoy which are absolutely free, so I’m generally skeptical about sites which require payment. But here are some pay-for-play sites that crossed my radar recently, so I’m going to give you the Toy Box Mommy Two Cents on ‘em. (My opinion is worth exactly what you pay for it, by the way.) (more…)