The Man Who Walked Between the Towers…And Other Inspiring Tales

Posted on November 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2011
Date Released to DVD:	November 7, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000G1R3Z8

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers… and More Inspiring Tales is another delight from Scholastic, who take the best children’s books and turn them into superb short films for beginning readers and their families. The title film is based on the Caldecott book written and illustrated by Mordecai Gerstein about the 1974, feat by French aerialist Philippe Petit, who stretched a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. The DVD also includes three more true stories:

Snowflake Bentley, the story of the boy who loved snowflakes and grew up to teach the world about their properties and beauty through his photographs,

Miss Rumphius, about a woman who believes that our purpose in life is to make the world more beautiful and who finds her own way to contribute to that goal, and

The Pot that Juan built, about a man who transformed his local village’s economy with production of his useful and lovely ceramics.

I have one to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “wire” in the subject line and tell me your favorite inspiring character. Don’t forget your address! I will select one winner at random a week from today.

A New (Old) Book from Dr. Seuss

Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:00 am

On Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow reviews a new collection of stories from Dr. Seuss, published for the first time in book form: The Bippilo Seed and Other Lost Stories. Doctorow says, “The illustrations are classic Seuss and full of wit and irreverence, though the ratio of words to pictures is a lot wordier than the typical Seuss, owing, I suppose, to the constraints of the original magazine publication.” He especially recommends The Great Henry McBride, “about a young fellow who can’t make up his mind on a single career and demands that the world accommodate his wish for excitement and novelty through his whole life.” And there’s an audio book, with Neal Patrick Harris, Anjelica Huston, Joan Cusack, Jason Lee, Edward Hermann, Peter Dinklage, and William H Macy as an “indispensable companion.”

Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman…And 4 More Spine-Tingling Tales

Posted on October 28, 2011 at 8:00 am

Date Released to Theaters:	September 26, 2006
Date Released to DVD:	October 27, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000H0M47U

Teeny-Tiny and the Witch-Woman… and 4 More Spine-Tingling Tales is a perfect Halloween treat for the littlest trick-or-treaters, with stories that are more fun than scary.

Teeny-Tiny is the story of a boy who outsmarts the witch who wants to eat him and his brothers and sisters for dinner. The Witch in the Cherry Tree wants to eat a family’s freshly-backed cakes and David and his mother must find a way to outsmart her. The Boy With Two Shadows finds out what can go wrong when you promise to help a witch. In Space Case, a space traveler makes a friend on Earth. And in King of the Cats, an old man tells his wife about the strange procession of cats he saw in the Louisiana bayou.

Smile of the Week: ‘Sesame Street’ Does ‘Glee!’

Posted on October 1, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Contest: Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin and More

Posted on September 13, 2011 at 3:58 pm

I’m very excited to have a gorgeous DVD box set from the Scholastic Storybook series, my very favorite family DVDs to give away. And this one is really special, with three different collections that will inspire children to use their imaginations and explore the world of artistic expression through music, painting, sculpture, dance, and theater.

It includes: Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and more stories for young musicians.

ZIN! ZIN! ZIN! A VIOLIN (Written by Lloyd Moss, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, music by Marvin Hamlisch) A lonesome trombone is joined by various instruments, one by one, to form a chamber group of ten.

MUSICAL MAX (Written by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey, narrated by Mary Beth Hurt) Max stops playing music when his neighbors complain about the noise. What will he do instead?

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER (Illustrated by Peter Spier, sung by Aretha Franklin) Aretha Franklin lends her soulful voice to this moving rendition of our national anthem.

KEEPING HOUSE (Written by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Wendy Smith) Songwriter Lizzie Firkin would rather sing and dance than do chores. What if people think she s lazy or sloppy?

PATRICK (Written and illustrated by Quentin Blake) When Patrick plays his violin, the most unusual things start to happen; fish can fly, cows can dance, and trees grow cakes!

APT. 3 (Written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, narrated by Charles Turner) Intrigued by the sounds of a harmonica, two brothers set off on a search to find the musician in an old tenement building.

And The Dot and more stories for young artists, with:

THE DOT (Written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, narrated by Thora Birch) A mark can change everything. Vashti thinks she can’t draw, but when she explores her imagination she discovers her own creativity.

ART (Written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, narrated b Bobby McFerrin) Words are at the tip of a paintbrush. A picture can really be worth a thousand words.

ISH (Written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, narrated by Chester Gregory) Ramon is discouraged when his older brother makes fun of his drawings. How will he get his confidence back?

NORMAN THE DOORMAN (Written and illustrated by Don Freeman, narrated by Katherine Kellgren) Norman the Door Mouse secretly enters a sculpture competition at the art museum. Will he win?

WALLACE’S LISTS (Written by Barbara Bottner and Gerald Kruglik, illustrated by Olof Landstrom, narrated by Zach Braff) Wallace, a mouse who loves life by lists, meets a spontaneous, artistic new neighbor named Albert. He soon discovers how enchanting life can be without his lists.

And it has Shrinking Violet and more stories for young performers, which includes:

SHRINKING VIOLET (Written by Cari Best, illustrated by Giselle Potter, narrated by Calista Flockhart) This beautiful story about self-confidence shows us what happens when the shyest girl in school gets the lead part in the play.

THREE CHEERS FOR CATHERINE THE GREAT! (Written by Cari Best, illustrated by Giselle Potter, narrated by Ekaterina Gordeeva) This is the tale of Sara s feisty Russian grandmother and her birthday celebration with no presents from everyone. What will the no presents be?

GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE (Written by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees, narrated by Billy Dee Williams) Gerald the Giraffe just wants to dance! Everyone else at the Jungle Dance seems to be a better dancer. Maybe with a little encouragement he ll be the best of all!

AMAZING GRACE (Written by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Caroline Binch, narrated by Alfre Woodard) Her classmates discourage Grace from trying out for the part of Peter Pan because she’s black and a girl. She tries out anyway and wins the part! This is one of my very favorite books, read by one of my very favorite actresses.

Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Zin!” in the subject line and tell me your favorite form of artistic expression. Don’t forget to include your address. I’ll pick one winner at random on September 18. Good luck!