Wrapped in Foil

August 26, 2010May 24, 2012

Answers to Children’s Author Trivia Volume 9

20. How do you change a simple picture book into a full length movie? The filmmakers must have had a few nightmares trying to get this one right. Or maybe just a wild time…

Yes, the movie was based on Maurice Sendak‘s picture book, Where the Wild Things Are.

Maurice Sendak is a fabulous illustrator, but the books he authored are the ones that have grabbed the most attention. One of our family favorites is the rollicking romp through the months, Chicken Soup With Rice.

21. Do made-for television movies count? If you suffer from arachnophobia you might not enjoy this movie as much as most children do.

Guess I should have given better clues for this one. David Kirk‘s Miss Spider books are unlikely to instill fear in anyone. Starting with the release of Miss Spider’s Tea Party, this vegetarian spider has been helping countless children learn how to get along with others.

David Kirk lives in upstate New York. He started out making toys, but says the little book The Gnome’s Almanack, illustrated by Ida Bohatta Morpurgo (1942) inspired him to try children’s books. The result has been a rousing success. (Note: To show how much of a book nerd I am, I actually found a copy of The Gnome’s Almanck to buy after reading about David Kirk’s affection for it.)

Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids was released for TV in 2003, with Brooke Shields as the voice of Miss Spider and Rick Moranis as Holley.

Now you can buy an iPad App for Miss Spider’s Tea Party. Bet Ida Bohatta Morpurgo didn’t see that coming!

22. This author also had more than one book made into movies. His books are best known for their animal main characters. Arachnophobia might be a problem for people watching one of these movies as well.

E.B. White wrote Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Charlotte’s Web, which were all made into movies. In fact, Stuart Little led to a series of three movies, the last being Stuart Little: Call of the Wild, and Charlotte’s Web can be found in both animated and live action versions. The Trumpet of the Swan was released as an animated film in 2001, but did not receive much popular acclaim.

Stuart Little is about the adventures of a mouse who is born to human parents. It was E.B. White’s first children’s book.

The Trumpet of the Swan features a swan who learns how to play the trumpet. The swan has a human friend, a boy named Sam.

Charlotte’s Web is the story of Wilbur the pig and his great friendship with Charlotte the spider. I thought my reference to arachnophobia my trigger someone to think of Charlotte, although I don’t think anyone could fear spiders after reading this classic book.

August 23, 2010August 6, 2015

Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction

Do you know a child who is interested in science but finds the traditional nonfiction books a bit too tame and lame? Looking for something a little edgy with a bite of humor (“You have to keep your ‘Ion’ this bunch…”)? Then you might want to take a look at the Basher series science books. chemistry-basher

Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction! by Dan Green and Simon Basher is not written like a textbook. It is organized more like a reference book, such as a dictionary or an encyclopedia. The different terms/concepts are developed as characters. The sections are written in the first person from that character’s point of view, and each section stands on its own. For example, Acid says, “I’m mad, I’m bad, and thoroughly dangerous to know. Given a chance I’ll eat away Metal and burn through your skin.” (In case you wondered, all characters’ names are capitalized.)

As with Punctuation: The Write Stuff, each character has an accompanying illustration to show what it would look like. The illustrations appear to have roots in Japanese chibi; they are cute and brightly colored, such as the bright orange character in the center of the cover, which represents “Combustion.” These images really help visual learners remember details about what the terms mean. The symbolism of the illustrations works more clearly for some concepts than others, probably because of the complex nature of the topic.

I like that Green chose to include organic materials like esters, found in ingredient lists on labels of common products. The section on “Smart Materials” is fascinating. It inspired me to look up more and write a blog article about them.

The overall organization of material, however, is not as strong as it could be. Why did Green add a discussion of the elements carbon and nitrogen at the very end of the book, after a discussion of complex molecules like proteins that are made up of those elements? He also talked about enzymes, which are basically proteins, well before defining and discussing proteins.

Organizational flaws aside, this book would be useful for the child that needs to brush up on chemistry terminology or who has struggled with chemistry presented in a more traditional way. The concepts are really shaken up and given a lively new twist, which makes them fresh and interesting.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Kingfisher (July 6, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0753464136
ISBN-13: 978-0753464137

Basher Science: Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction

(Affiliate link)

In this video, you can see some of the other books offered in this series.

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Anastasia Suen’s Nonfiction Monday blog. This week’s post is at Playing By The Book.

This book was provided for review.

August 19, 2010May 24, 2012

Children’s Author Trivia Volume 9

Let’s do more children’s authors whose books were turned into movies. Who wrote these books that came alive on film?

20. How do you change a simple picture book into a full length movie? The filmmakers must have had a few nightmares trying to get this one right. Or maybe just a wild time…

21. Do made-for television movies count? If you suffer from arachnophobia you might not enjoy this movie as much as most children do.

Please let us know your guesses, answers and/or comments.

Edit: The answers are now posted. Congratulations to Zann and Karen for figuring out the first one.

August 19, 2010May 24, 2012

Answers to Children’s Author Trivia Volume 8

Whose books for children were made into movies? Let’s find out.

Question 17. Like her main character, the author of this book (part of a series) spent a lot of her childhood living on a small island with no electricity and no phone. The reluctant hero of her books lives in a desolate environment and has to overcome some fierce challenges. The story line has been changed substantially in the recent movie, but the title remains intact. Any ideas who the author might be?

Cressida Cowell wrote How to Train Your Dragon based on her experiences staying as a child on a small island off the west coast of Scotland.

Here is a video of her reactions to the changes that were made between the book and the movie.

If you haven’t picked up the How to Train Your Dragon books, they are fun and full of adventure, but don’t expect them to be exactly the same as the movie.

Question 18. Known for his black and white illustrations, both the movies made from this author’s books are not only full of color, but full of special effects, too. Who is he?

Chris Van Allsburg actually had three books made into movies, sorry I misled you. Have you heard of Jumanji and Zathura? I had forgotten that he also wrote The Polar Express, which was made into a movie as well. Blame it on the heat.

In his website biography, Chris admits that he fell into art at a whim. Amazing, when you consider he had never had an art class before college that he won the Caldecott Honor Medal for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi in 1980, and Caldecott Medals for Jumanji and The Polar Express.

In this video, he explains how he took up drawing when his sculpture studio was too cold.

My family’s favorite Chris Van Allsburg book is Two Bad Ants.

Question 19. In this case the main character gave his name to both the book and the movies, but the green guy’s story in the book was changed for the scripts. What author developed the unique character who then launched a series of successful animated films?

William Steig is the author of Shrek of movie fame, as well as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (Caldecott Medal), The Amazing Bone (Caldecott Honor book), Abel’s Island (Newbery Honor book) and Doctor De Soto (Newbery Honor book).

Unlike Van Allsburg, Steig was destined to an artist given that all his family members were active in the arts. He worked for The New Yorker, as well.

Have you read any of William Steig’s books? Which is your favorite?