With the ultimate goal of getting young people to read and appreciate literature, many hundreds of books have been written over the centuries.  The key to a great children’s book is making it interesting for your target audience.  What would hold a four year-old in rapt attention would bore the teen reader. Likewise, as with most everything else in their lives, it is difficult to make an interesting book for teenagers.  Also, the author has to further break the audience down along sexual lines, for many subjects that appeal to boys would not be appreciated by girls, and vice versa.

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Through the years, only a select few have stood out above the rest as memorable and exceptionally well-written.  Some notable examples have included Black Beauty, Treasure Island, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan, Adventures in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and The Jungle Book.  For the younger set, there has been Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm with their fairy tales, AA Milne with his Winnie the Pooh series of books, Beatrix Potter, and The Wind in the Willows.

As with adult books, children’s novels can be light and airy or have a dark and sinister side.  Some of the more serious subjects that have been dealt with are the hardships of war (The Diary of Anne Frank), and being orphaned and alone (The Boxcar Children). Also book series are extremely popular with children.  If they like a certain character(s) they like to stick with that theme.  Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and others are examples of this.  One series that has become quite popular again in recent years have been the Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien.

In 1922, the literary world for children was given a boost by the addition of the Newberry Medal.  Named for English author John Newberry, the award was established in the United States to recognize achievement in children’s literature. Some of the timeless favorites to win the award included Laura Ingalls Wilder multiple times for her Little House on the Prairie series, later developed into a long-running television series.  Other perennial classis to win the award (or at least honor) are Davy Crockett, Old Yeller, Daniel Boone, and Charlotte’s Web.

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Some other prestigious awards throughout the world include the Coretta Scott King Award in the United States for excellence by an African American author, the Carnegie Medal in the United Kingdom, the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature and Illustration in Canada, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award (Denmark).  The latter is loosely known as ‘The Nobel Prize for Children’s Work’ and is personally presented by the Queen of Denmark. A rather recent addition (since 2006) to the awards is the Cybils Awards, chosen by children and young adult book bloggers, who are experienced in the genre, such as school teachers and librarians.

A glaring discrepancy with the major awards, like the Academy Awards (The Oscars) is that the award winner is not necessarily the most popular book for that year. Indeed, the organizations responsible for commissioning and presenting the awards have been criticized many times over the years for this. The organizations have merely scoffed at these suggestions, stating in effect that their awards are for those books they perceive to be well-written and not necessarily those which win a popularity contest. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has won the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award, a resounding four times and was on the New York Times bestseller list for an incredible 114 weeks, author Jeff Kinney has never won the Newberry medal in his native United States.

One notable example is the Harry Potter series by Scottish author JK Rowling.  Although the books have sold almost a half billion books worldwide, Ms Rowling has never won either the Newberry Medal nor the Carnegie Medal in her home country.  However, she has won two awards given by the Scottish Arts Council in her native land and was recognized in 1997 by the presenters of the Carnegie Medal.  A lot of the international literary community has cited the worldwide controversy over the subject of wizardry.  If it is any consolation to Ms Rowling, other than monetarily, another author no stranger to controversy himself, Stephen King, has praised the Potter books and Rowling herself for her style of writing and the humor which she instills in the books.

Both of the above cited references have been developed into blockbuster feature films, Wimpy Kid with one film plus a sequel and Harry Potter with a total of eight movies, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, opening July 15, 2011 being the last and probably the most profitable. Yet it can be successfully argued that these two book series, among others, have been instrumental in providing a book renaissance. Indeed the books inspired the movies and were both wildly successful long before their film counterparts were produced.

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In that, what was twenty years ago, a dying (or at least badly injured) culture, book reading for children and adults alike have enjoyed a revival.  Television and movies written specifically for the big screen had crippled the book industry.  With the advent of the personal computer and video games in the eighties and nineties, many thought that the book industry would suffer a crushing blow, which it would never recover.  Indeed, to quote Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters, ‘Print is dead’ was the prevailing theory.  It is true that the traditional publishing industry is not as powerful as it once was but not because of the Computer Age, at least not in the way people suspected.

A lot of would-be authors choose to use commercially available software such as Microsoft Publisher and the World Wide Web to publish themselves, thus making books even more prolific in that somebody who may have never been noticed otherwise might be the next Twain or Rowling.  Also, a new trend has come of age in the twenty-first century, the E-Book.  Published strictly online, the books are available for a nominal fee.  Even the computer industry itself has embraced literature, with the invention of such new tools as Kindle, an electronic book reader.

ISBN with Cover of The Dress 2011   A wonderful tale about a torn Orange Dress searching for alterations to fix her dress complications.  This story will teach children about knowing your own self worth, taking action and the search for help when all the odds are against you.  This story confirms the importance of pressing forward and never giving up even when you have been rejected more than once.

Children will learn how to count ordinal numbers from this book (first, second, third, fourth, etc.).  Children will also learn the valuable lesson that if you keep moving forward, no matter the obstacle in your way, everything can turn out okay even if everything does not work out exactly your way.

Buy the book on  http://theorangedress-1.webs.com/

Families most affected by war can be those of soldiers as well of those of innocent civilians.

Jerilyn Marler’s “Lily Hates Goodbyes” is illustrated by Nathan Stoltenberg.

The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain is all about the strange magician named Thaddeus Blinn who made the deepest wishes of three children in the Coven Tree come true. The introduction of the story was narrated by Stewart Meade or “Stew Meat”, the owner of the Coven Tree store. Stew Meat saw a tent with a sign saying that all wishes would be granted for only 50 cents during the Coven Tree carnival. When he entered the tent, he recognized three children (Polly, Rowena, and Adam) sitting on a chair. Thaddeus Blinn, the magician, claimed that he could make all their wishes come true. All four of them were skeptical about what the magician said, but they still paid him 50 cents. Blinn gave each of them a card with a red spot on it. They only had to press the red spot on the card and say their wish aloud to get what they wanted. They could only ask for one wish. And they wouldn’t be able to use Blinn again for he would be setting off to another town. That was the beginning of the misfortunes for the three children.

Polly Kemp, a sharp-tongued girl, who always had something rude to say to every person she encountered, wished that she might become popular. She wished that people would smile at her and that two of the most popular kids would invite her for tea. The wish came true, but not in a way that she expected. Whenever she had something bad to say, all that would come out from her mouth was the croaking of a frog (JUG-A-RUM). Only when she does not complain or make insults would her voice  go back to normal. Since she could now only say nice words to people, Polly started gaining friends. And she found out that the girls she so adored previously were losers who did boring things like chatting and drinking tea!

Rowena Jervis wished that Henry Piper, the traveling salesman whom  she fancied, would set root on their Coven tree and never leave again. True enough, Henry Piper wasn’t able to leave Coven Tree after Rowena made her wish because roots started to grow from him into the ground so that he was stuck, and he slowly turned into a sycamore tree. Rowena tried her best to make Henry comfortable, but Henry kept on complaining to her, saying that he never really fancied her. Rowena found out also that Henry lied to her about the places that he said he had been to. During the times when Rowena struggled to deal with Henry, only Sam, the boy who works for her family, stood by her.

Adam Fiske, whose family lived on a farm where there was no water available, wished that water would fill their farm so that he would not have to work so hard anymore on going to Spider Creek just to fetch water. After he made the wish, he used a dowsing rod to find out if there was water on the ground. The dowsing rod pointed directly to the ground. When he dug the soil to make a fence, water came shooting out like a geyser from the ground. At first, they were joyful at this phenomenon. However, the water would not stop shooting. Soon enough, their farm was flooded, and they were forced to leave it immediately.

The three children were reminded of the fourth person who still had a card; that is, Stew Meat. Stew Meat wished that all the wishes of the three would be canceled and that he didn’t want any consequence from the wish that he had made. The children might have been unfortunate yet all of them gained their lessons from the experience they had with the magician Blinn.

The moral here may be that most things that we want in life are not given to us the way that we want them to be. Sometimes, we have to deal with the irrevocable consequences that come along with those things. But even if we think ourselves unfortunate, changing them may be a bane rather than boon and the most important things are still the values and character transformation that we have obtained in our experience. The most blissful things happen after we experience the worst.

The book is a delightful read. It is filled with life lessons that can truly enlighten a child. It is a must-read for children since it has a plot that they can relate to.

Movies like Toy Story, The Incredibles, Up and Shrek are great, fun family movies that are suitable for kids. Movies such as these are becoming more fun to watch with advancements in film-making and the latest 3D technology making the characters come to life. And with the numerous movies such as these and other cartoons, it is easier for parents to just let their children watch than read with them.

There’s nothing wrong with occasional television and movie time, but too frequent exposure of kids to the television is said to stunt their development because of the lack of interaction with their parents or other kids. On the other hand, reading to your kids provides great interaction and bonding with your child, helping them develop faster. In addition, this strengthens the relationship between you and your child, providing opportunities to engage them in moral and intellectual debate. Also, your child’d learning will be enhanced as new words and concepts are introduced which improves their vocabulary and understanding of their surroundings. Reading also contributes to your kids creativity as this will challenge them to conjure up images of the  world and fantasies about what is stated in the books they are reading.

Pacific Oaks College is a school that is concerned in children’s development and gives importance to early childhood education. They recently published a recommended book list for young children that will give opportunity for parents and their kids to interact, and for the children to learn themes such as diversity, acceptance, resolving of conflicts and problem solving.

The recommended book list (http://www.pacificoaks.edu/books-for-young-children/) contains classics to contemporary, numbers to images, and stories that address feelings and issues as experienced by the children. Some of the titles included in the book list are Sam’s Cookie,  Will Get’s A Haircut, Margaret and Margarita, Everyone Poops, Feast for 10, A Boy A Dog and A Frog, The Mitten, Bruno Munari’s ABC, A Chair for my Mother, and To Be a Kid.

It is indeed difficult to persuade kids to lie low and read their books, unless they are natural book-worms.  Am I right Moms?  Your children are usually full of energy and running around. They would usually rather do anything than sit on a chair and open a book.  If you ever succeed in persuading them to stop playing for a while and read, expect that the child will leave their chair numerous times to attend to anything that catches his or her attention. And believe me, this can really test your patience!  But, giving up on reading should never be an option as reading holds the key to all future educational achievements.

With all these unavoidable battles between you and your child, you could try being more flexible with your child’s reading.  Since children are usually caught up with and excited by cartoons, Disney characters, and such like, maybe you could use these to your advantage.  Involve those that interest him or her to direct your child to read their books in school.  In this way, your child will learn whilst having fun. And we all learn better when we enjoy the process of learning.

www.montrealgazette.com/disney.

Childhood obesity is prevalent and the statistics suggest that the problem is on the increase.  Obesity is the result of a combination of metabolic imbalance affected by heredity, eating behavior, and environment factors.  It is a distressing medical condition and leads to serious complications in adulthood.  An obese child is more prone to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and bone and joint problems.  The child may also suffer from low self-confidence and depression.

Prevention of obesity starts in the home.  The whole family must be involved.  It is our responsibility as parents to teach our kids about obesity and be good role models.  We might get help with this in comical, entertaining ways, such as colorful books and funny videos.  Other things you can do are plan and cook healthy meals and snacks.  You can also pack your child’s school lunch with healthy food so that he or she will not buy junk foods at school.  Try limiting television and computer time.  Instead, enroll your child into sports and encourage them to exercise and play outside.  Always reward your child with love and positive reinforcement.

In Moderation

The Chinese Harry Potter books are now out.  Students of Chinese can now practice reading in Chinese in the exciting magical world of Hali Bote (Harry’s name in Chinese).  It is a timely read before the Harry Potter movie goes out in July.

These Chinese Harry Potter books are the authentic books by JK Rowling and purchased from a reputable  Taiwan dealer.   Available from Childbook.com