Children's Books

Warriors needs a completely faithful film adaptation. Of course, it'll be ratet R, but who cares? It'll pull animal movies out of the gutter.

Yeah, extreme violence, gore, implicit sexual content, mature themes...for kids! (I believe there's something to that effect on our page for the series).

Really, though, can you imagine? All those parents go and see this new movie based on their kid's favorite books...and realize just what those kids have been reading...

Seriously, though, did anyone ever actually read through the books before just tossing them in the Ages 8-12 section?

It'll be worse than when they took them to see Watchmen.

I like A Wrinkle in Time and Harry Potter. Don't really read much of children's literature though.

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

I remember when Disney wanted to make Abarat into a movie... Ha ha! (Oh, I made the page on THAT one, too!)

Well, they're making a Guardians Of Gahoole movie, and I've seen that called the "boy Warriors" before. (Even if most of the people I know who've read it are female. Whatever.) So who knows?

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

They already did a violent animated cats movie. It's called Felidae.

Anway, I still dig kids/young adult books even as slowly but surely leave the age bracket. I do agree that children's fantasy can be some of the best stuff in the genre. Whenever I read some heavier, larger, and/or more "adult" book, I always have one young adult/children's book I read with it for relaxation or some such thing.

I like some of the more obvious stuff like Harry Potter and A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Alice In Wonderland has always been a favorite of mine. Oh yeah, and The Phantom Tollbooth. It's one long punny edutainment anvil, that freaking works on so many levels. I actually reread this recenty and I still love the crap out of it. The Wind In The Willows was one book I remember my mom reading to my brother and me as kids. Oh yeah, totally have to plug in an (in my opinion) underrated classic My Father's Dragon  ^*

. Absolutely one of my favorites as a kid, it made me love dragons. The third and last of those books always made me cry. I also still love Gail Carson Levine's stuff. Ella Enchanted is a classic, but she also has other good books like The Wish.

Oh, I'm done for now. D=

edited 18th May '10 9:48:42 PM by Jumpingzombie

Abarat as a movie? I haven't gotten around to reading it—it's sitting on my bookshelf—but it's by Clive Barker, and I don't think I've read anything by him that didn't creep me out...

Seriously, a book that demands that you burn it? And then talks about how it's going to kill you?

Abarat has entirely too much for a film adaptation. If it was live-action or animated any way you could mention (or done by Tim Burton... my imagination just snapped), there's just so much to fit in. So many different narratives. It might make a television mini-series, but after Dinotopia's attempt at the same I'm very wary.

On the other hand, has anyone here read Barker's The Thief of Always? It's a great children's book - I actually like it much better than I did Abarat. Now, that would make a great film, except for the fact that it has the exact same plot as Coraline (another great film and book), only gender-swapped.  ^*

Also, did anyone other than me read the YA Dinotopia books? I loved those so hard when I was a kid, and now I find myself hoping desperately that I didn't give them away.

I don't know how I could forget The Key to the Desert. I used to love that book. Read it probably three times when I was a kid, and once in high school. It's still on my shelf, too.

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

...There's a kid's book section in my college campus library. It takes ALL my willpower not to just grab all the Dr. Seuss books and have a readathon.

I have loved reading since I was three, and there are no exceptions to the rule. Not even kids' book. Hell, if I get the job I want at the library, I'll probably just hijack My Father's Dragon and read it all day.

I'm in your fanfiction, correcting your spelling.

I'm still looking for The Katurran Odyssey

Better to serve Hades than Yahweh

I still read Redwall and am not ashamed of it...Then again I also read The Mistmantle Chronicles. I guess I just like Talking Animal series. I also sometimes read little kid's books out of curiosity. Or nostalgia, one of the two.

edited 27th Jul '10 9:00:10 PM by theLibrarian

FURRY

edited 21st May '10 3:45:02 PM by CDRW

My college's library have The Very Hungry Caterpillar. And other children's books.

I love Children's Lit class.

Hm, it's been a while since I read Finder Keeper. The riddles there are fairly good and double-meaning.

Lux-Pain Lulzblog

Was that furry comment above a joke or not? I have no idea if I should be offended, or be amused...

I never read the Dinotopia YA books, but I have a couple of the full-blown novels. Dinosaurs FTW!

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

I still love my Ramona books. They were rather well written, and very entertaining. And they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love how Ramona thinks like a kid, rather than an adult trying to be a kid.

And Narnia. They were the first chapter books that got read to me. I'm currently re-reading the Silver Chair. Good stuff.

I still love my Ramona books. They were rather well written, and very entertaining. And they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love how Ramona thinks like a kid, rather than an adult trying to be a kid.

How very true. Most Writers Are Adults, and this manages to compensate for that wonderfully. The narration captured the thoughts of a kid excellently. How sadly rare in "kid's" books.

I didn't discover Ramona until adulthood. As in, a few months ago. I'm very glad I did. Those books are awesome.

You know what makes me mad? Selena Gomez is going to be Beezus in the new Ramona movie. *shudders*

And that is something would make someone mad...how?

My Phineas and Ferb Liveblog

Selena? Seriously? She's not a particuarly good actor, and she's too cute for the part! Beezus is supposed to be sort of frumpy, not a cutesy Disney star!

Actually, all the casting looks wrong to me. Everyone's waaaay to pretty to be a normal family.

That and it looks like it's all slapstick stupid kid comedy. Which the books were not.

edited 23rd May '10 4:56:26 PM by InspectorKaramazov

Agreed on many points. I saw the trailer for the new Ramona movie, and so many things are wrong.

That and it looks like it's all slapstick stupid kid comedy. Which the books were not.

Yup. I mean, yeah, Ramona does eccentric or odd things sometimes, but nowhere near to this extent, and slapstick was rare in the books. The humor was situational instead!

Actually, all the casting looks wrong to me. Everyone's waaaay to pretty to be a normal family.

And the actors are way too old for their parts. Ramona is in kindergarten in the movie, so therefore she's 5 and Beezus is 10, going by the books. But Ramona is played by a much older kid and Beezus is played by, well, musician Selena Gomez. Dawson Casting taken to a ludicrous extreme! They expect this to be believable to kids? Or fans of the books? Or anyone?

I seriously question how faithful the movie will be to the books.

edited 23rd May '10 9:21:26 PM by BonsaiForest

^^ Being too pretty for reality is part and parcel of Hollywood. Just ask James Bond and his hundreds of girlfriends.

I remember the Ramona books, but I never got that intensely into them. They were good, however.

I rediscovered my Dinotopia books! I am happy :D

I'm nearing the end of my reread of Dragonwyck, by Anya Seton (most famous now, I fear, for the film adaptation with Vincent Price.) Such a good book - classic American Gothic.

Has anyone here read A Long Way From Chicago or A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck? Those were darned good books. (Incidentally, did anyone here ever do Academic Decathlon in elementary school, because that's how I got introduced to these books.)

So. 100Cupboards (screaming "Bluelink me! Bluelink meeeee!") is a pretty cool little series. The prose is quite nice, and the author knows how to write him some Nightmare Fuel.

I'm a bit disappointed that so few of the 100 have been explored so far, though. Especially when the official map of the cupboards suggests such tantalizing locales as "Never," "Dead," and "Lost."

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

I currently read several books for pre-kindergarten, but then, I have a two year niece, so that may not count.