Movie Review

Movie Title: Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. One of the Herbie the Volkswagen Bug movies. A Disney film. Rated G. This is my favorite of all the Herbie movies. It's a fun film. There is action and comedy. A little about Herbie: He just isn't any car. He has a personality all of his own.
For this story line, Herbie and his racing driver (Dean Jones) are going to Monte Carlo to hopefully win a race. But Herbie meets a girl car that takes his fancy. His driver has to keep Herbie on track so they can win the race.

Book Review- Picture book for early readers

I think your child will find "Detective LaRue, Letters from the Investigation" an entertaining book. I really liked it and I'm an adult. The plot idea is cute. The book follows Ike, a dog, who unfortunately lands in the pokey for something he didn't do. Ike writes a series of letters to his owner, Mrs. LaRue, who is vacationing in Europe. He tells her about his escape from jail and HIS investigation of the crime he was unjustly apprehended for. The book is written and illustrated by Mark Teague.

Arts and Crafts Project

Arts and Craft. Decorate a picture frame. This is a great holiday gift for grandparents. Buy a wooden picture frame at a store or a garage sale. If you collect sea shells you can use these. Or buy some small ones at a craft store. Be sure to get tiny dried starfish and a variety of different shells. See if your local arts and craft store carries little, flat glass decorations in the shape of the sun. Maybe look for a tiny umbrella or sandals for the corner of the frame as well. Using wood glue, glue items on the wood frame. Put a picture of your child at the lake or the beach inside the frame. Or put in a picture of them with their grandparent at the pool. Alternative: Buy assorted interesting buttons and glue them on the frame. Put a picture of your child from school or camp inside the frame.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Tips: Leftover slices of Turkey meat make great meat for sandwiches. For leftover potatoes instead of reheating them in the microwave, warm them in the oven. They will get toasty and will taste better than microwaving them.

Movie Pick

Title: Miracle on 34th Street. Kick off the Holiday season with this enjoyable movie. There are two versions. Both are cute. The original version: On the day of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade Macy's Santa has had a wee bit too much liquor. The coordinator (Maureen O'Hara) fires him and hires a sweet gentleman who looks the part. After the parade the new Santa starts working as the Macy's Department Store Santa. There's only one problem, he thinks he's the real Santa. Along the way he helps the coordinator's cynical young daughter (Natalie Wood) believe in Santa.
Too bad all life's stories couldn't have such a happy ending.

Thanksgiving Arts and Craft Project: Pine Cone Turkey.

Thanksgiving Arts and Craft Project: Pine Cone Turkey.
What you need for this project: Pine cone. Colored feathers. (If you have a mid size bird and they shed feathers you can use these. This will save you money.) Glue. Construction paper- brown and red. Markers. Scissors.

Have your child find a mid size pine cone. Place the feathers, upright, in the back of the pine cone in its pockets. You can glue the feathers in place if you choose. With the construction paper cut out a face for the turkey. Draw on the face. Use the red paper to make a wobbly turkey neck. Glue both the face and neck to the front of the turkey. Alternative: Instead of using construction paper for the face, glue buttons on the pine cone for eyes and yarn for the mouth.

Movie Review

Ella Enchanted. Fantasy-Comedy. Rated PG. A new take on Cinderella. But hipper. It's based on a book by Gail Levine. The story has the usual wicked step-mother, the two mean step-sisters, the pretty protagonist, Ella of Frell, (Anne Hathaway) and a prince, Prince Charmont. But in this story the twist is: Ella has been given the gift of absolute obedience by a fairy when she's a baby. When her cruel step-sister finds this out she makes Ella do things she shouldn't. I mean who really wants to actually hold their tongue when someone just wants you to be quiet? Not Ella. With a talking book to help her Ella leaves her home in search of the fairy who gave her such an annoying gift. Along the way she has adventures. Cary Elwes does a great job as the evil plotting antagonist.

Parenting Tip

Is your daughter's favorite skirt coming undone at the bottom and you have no time to mend it? This is where having sewing tape is great. You can tape up the hem of the skirt until you can sew it. The tape can also be used on the bottom of pants to keep the edges from unraveling. Call your local sewing supply store and see if they stock it. If you have kids be prepared for situations like this.

Book Review

"The Thanksgiving Story" by Alice Dalgliesh. Illustrated by Helen Sewell. A book for third to fourth graders. Tis true there isn't a lot of Thanksgiving books in the library compared to other books, but even still I would pass on this book. You do learn information about the pilgrims but it was given in a boring manner. It was so boring in fact I took a look at the copyright date and wasn't surprised it was 1954. The book overall could have been more exciting. There are some new writers and illustrators today who take that to heart. If you want children to read about history then make it fun! I have to state it was noted in the author's notes in this book that the text and pictures were purposely made simple. I got her point. It was a simpler time when the Pilgrims lived in America. But unfortunately I still thought the pictures were blah. And the text just hum-drum. Which makes me wonder, since personally I don't think it's the best of childrens books and the book was written so long ago just why is it still in the library?

Science Day

Science Experiment: See how oxygen affects vegetables.
What you need: Zip lock baggy. Two lettuce leaves or two cut celery sticks.

Put one vegetable as is on plate on shelve in your refrigerator. Put one vegetable of the same kind in a plastic zip lock bag, making sure you smush out all the air (oxygen). But don't bruise vegetable! Put the bagged vegetable next to the one that isn't bagged. In a week see how the vegetable in the baggy looks compared to the one that's not in a baggy. Let vegetables stay in refrigerator another week. Now see how vegetables look. The vegetable in the baggy should look fresher.

Movie Review

Movie Title: City of Ember. Based on a book by Jeanne Duprau. Rated PG. A great family movie! Both kids and adults will like it. Movie's plot is well defined. The story line keeps you interested the whole time. Setting: Once there was a city underground where people lived. Lights fixtures from the ceiling above gave them their light. Everything was fine until the city's generator started failing. Story line begins with two teenagers, one girl and one boy, who are given their first assignments working for the city. While working at their new jobs they find out that not only is the city's food source running low but that the electricity for the city is failing more each day. The girl finds a metal box with a map. Together with her friend and her little sister they find an escape exist to the outside world. Billy Murray is quite entertaining as the selfish mayor.

Tomorrow is the first Science Experiment Day.

Book Review- 2d to 4th grade

"The Thanksgiving Mystery," by Joan Lowery Nixon. Depending on how well your child reads, this book is for the second to the fourth grade. It's a fast paced book with a mystery attached. A white sheet keeps going up and down an apartment stairway. Two children and their eccentric neighbor check it out. Could it be a ghost? The eccentric neighbor who tells jokes is a fun character.

Just a note: This week will be the first of my monthly science experiment day.

Parenting Tip- about RSVPing

Parents if you plan to have your child (6 to 9) RSVP to a party either watch them make the phone call to the PARENT of the birthday child or at least check up with them that they indeed talked to the PARENT. If you have your child relay the message through a child the parent of the birthday child might never get it. I have seen this happen. And remember even if you can't make it to a party (Birthday, Christmas, Graduation) you should RSVP if the invitation asked you to. This is not only polite but the person hosting the party needs to know how much food to get, party favors to buy, and/or how many tickets to get for movies/bowling/puppet show...

Parenting Tip- Eyelasses for Kids

I asked this question to a licensed an optometrist.
Question- What kind of lens is best for children under 16 yrs and why?

Answer- Polycarbonate is always recommended for all types of children's frames under the age of 16 because kids tend to be rough at play even when they are not taking part in an organized sport. It is a high impact material that provides safety and protection for the children.

Polycarbonate lenses are thinner and lighter than traditional plastic eyeglass lenses. They also offer 100 percent ultra-violet (UV) protection and are up to 10 times more impact-resistant than regular plastic lenses.

Book Review

Picture books with some words:
"Animalia" is a fabulous book by Grameme Base. Starting with the letter A and finishing with Z, the book gives funny statements using words that begin with the alphabet letter for that page. I found the pictures throughout the book to be both hilarious and imaginative.

Movie Review for Middle Age Kids

Movie Title: Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion. Comedy. Un-Rated. I really like the cubby sweet Costello and his comic routines with Abbott. This is for middle school age children and older! It is a prim example of slapstick. There is a lot of physical contact, throwing, pushing, etc. I wish there were less. If you do not approve of slapstick, skip this movie. If you have a child who might copy this behavior, skip this movie.

The story starts off with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as wrestling promoters. They borrowed $5,000 from the syndicate, AKA loan sharks, to have a wrestler come from Algeria to America. But the wrestle now wants to go back to his homeland. Bud and Lou follow the wrestler to Algeria hoping to bring him back. While there the buddies bump into some shady characters. Out of luck, money, and in a foreign land, they try losing the suspicious men by following some soldiers into a building. Bud and Lou sign their name to some papers thinking it is for accommodations in the building. In actuality they just joined up for a five year stint in the Foreign Legion. Some funny dialog follows. My favorite scene: At a slave auction Costello keeps waving to a Sheik who he thinks is waving at him. In reality by moving his hand Costello is raising the bid.

The Controversy with letting Kids watch old Slapstick Movies. A Discussion about Abbott and Costello.

I love old movies. Especially 1930's to 1950's slapstick. But some parents find it inappropriate for their children due to the physical humor like face slapping, shoving things in people's faces, tripping others, and eye poking. I do not like an excess of it myself. I talked to two teachers about old slapstick movies. We all agreed the Three Stooges go too far with their physical humor because they have more than the average inappropriate physical humor. One of the two teachers thought Abbott and Costello went too far as well, the other did not agree. This is my take: I like Abbott and Costello, but I think their face slapping and poking is wrong. Therefore before I let a child watch their movies I tell the child my view. As of yet I have not had a child I have known see their movies and start face slapping. But if I thought they would do such behavior I would not let them see these types of movies. You know your child. If you think your child would start copying inappropriate behavior do not let them watch movies like these. Watch a movie first. If you approve of it, then let your child see it.

As far as Abbott and Costello I know when watching one with a child I will not have to worry about nudity, adult themes, serious violence with blood dripping everywhere, cussing and so much more. I actually brought this up to the teacher who did not approve of Abbott and Costello. I stated why is it she would let her kids watch "ET", which in my mind has a couple of very inappropriate words (one of which one little boy started using to the horror of his nanny who was my friend), but she was concerned about Abbott and Costello movies which have no crude jokes or offensive words? She said she saw my point but was still sticking to her no Abbott and Costello movies rule due to face slapping and other physical contact. I saw her point, but I still think Abbott and Costello movies are less offensive than PG and PG13 movies now. So folks each to their own family rules. I suggest you watch an Abbott and Costello movie without your children first and make up your own mind. But do note some Abbott and Costello movies have more physical contact than others.