Princess and the Goblin

I started reading The Princess and the Goblin and I couldn't help but think of Ella Enchanted. I guess the way that Irene is so assertive reminded me of Ella's strong personality. They both are sort of adventurous and rebellious. For example, when Irene pleads with her nurse to go farther up the mountain only to get in trouble for being out after dark reminded me of how Ella tried so hard to keep from doing what she was told until the curse forced her to obey.
Also, the introduction of Curdie and how fast Irene was taken by him takes me back to Char and Ella's relationship. And there is also the parallel of Irene's nurse to Ella's Mandy. They are both sort of set in a position to look after the little girls. Also, the relationship with the fathers. Ella's father dies when she is very young; however, she adored her father. Irene is much the same way with the King. She loves to cuddle up next to him and find comfort in his arms. I am enjoying this book a lot more than Alice, maybe because there is not so much nonsense, but an actual story line! I am interested in finding out what happends with the Goblins!!

Alice

I think we spend a lot of time trying to reason and make sense of our lives. I know I do. But as I am reading this book, I find that I am frustrated with Alice for trying to make sense of Wonderland. Because as the reader, I already know that Wonderland is made up of nonsense, the nature of it just does not matter. Yet as Alice inturupts and injects her reason into the conversation every five minutes, I find myself wanting to tell her to calm down! However, this is the story of my life half the time. I actually sit and reason with MYSELF about things that just don't matter in life. It sounds silly, but sometimes it takes something really rediculous to make us see how much we actually do the SAME things in everyday life as in Wonderland. We may not be screaming "Off with their heads!" but something pretty darn close. Though it seems everything else has gone crazy, I probably just need to relax and realize that some things are just as they are.

Alice in Wonderland

I actually had some trouble reading and getting into the first part of this book. It threw me off because there was so much detail and I think I was trying to read into the story too much. Going from all of the fairy tales to reading a very popular fantasy, I hadn't realized how different it could be. But once I got reading and started to enjoy the story line, my imagination sort of took over. But what kept my mind on what was actually happening, I had to revert back to the Disney movie style of Alice in Wonderland. As for right now, I think I like the movie better than the book...but like I said, just for now. I'm hoping I can enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed everything else in this class!

Fantasy

Fantasyy!! I love fantasy!! The reasons I love fantasy is actually embodied in the definitions of the genre itself. That is why I'm going to create a little study guide from Chapter 10 in the Russell Text.

Fantasy
1. any story of the impossible
2. has any feature that is contrary to the laws of nature as we know them.
3. Roots in traditional folktales
4. original, unusual
5. complex, detailed

Types of Fantasy
1. Animal= animals talk and exhibit human emotions. We learn things about ourselves through their behavior. Somtimes the magic only works if one character remains childlike and innocent; a main theme in fantasies.
(Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit; E.B White's Charlotte's Web)<-- most famous of all animal fantasies.

2. Toy= Stories where toys come to life, and they most likely wish to become human.
(Collodi's Pinocchio; A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh)

3. Magical Fantasy and Tall Tales

• Magical= The magic becomes the very subject of the story. Typically set in the modern world, and the characters have to be convinced the magic is real (contrare to fairy tales). The magic is always conditional and operates on a set of rules. (P.L. Traver's Mary Poppins; Lindgren's Pippy Longstocking)
• Tall Tales= exaggeration is taken absurdidly. Charachters are outlandish and quite unbelievable. (Pual Bunyan and his Blue Ox)

4. Enchanted Journeys and Alternative Worlds= protagonists take a journey often to a secondary or alternative world. The journeys usually begin in the real world but by some device they enter the enchanted realm where it is only there that fanciful events occur. Dystopia= a society where people are dehumanized. ( Baum's The Wizard of Oz; Carrol's Alice in Wonderland; Barrie's Peter Pan; Rowling's Harry Potter Series)

5. Heroic and Quest Fantasies= Hero or Heroine engage in a monumental struggle against an all-powerful evil, in which often the fate of the whole society depends on the outcome of the struggle. Other times it can be in a secondary world where dark forces reside. Mostly it has to do with hero's identity. Plot consists of adventures hero has to overcome and this frequently is not accomplished without a significant sacrifice. Humor is absent. (C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Tolkein's Lord of the Rings)

6. Supernatural and Time-Shift Fantasy= Includes ghost and witch stories, mysteries and unexplained occurrences, and time travel. All are set in the primary world. This is one of the most popular of fantasy types. (Casper the Friendly Ghost)

7. Science Fiction and Space Fantasy=

• Science Fiction= focus on life in the future on Earth or another planet. Dramatizes the wonders of technology and seldom contains much humor because its an illusion of reality. Technology is either used for humanity's benefit or destruction. (L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time)
• Space Fantasy= set in the future on distant planets, but are not concerned with scientific or technology acheivments.

Qualities of Fantasy!

1. Original, Fresh, Bold (Ronald Dahl)

2. Believable

• Massing of Detail - lush with description
• Restraining the fantasy - must have limits or they disolve with nonsense.
• Maintaine consistancy - only one way into secondary world or ghost can only be seen by certain people.
• Rooted in reality and human nature - must exhibit human traits, sense of reality.

Final thoughts: Fantasy enables us to see the thousands of possibilites of life through many perspectives. It keeps us hopeful and portrays symbolism that conveys human nature and ideas. It sometimes forces us to be imaginitive and explore new realms of thought.

Is there Fantasy in reality?

Today was one of those days, where I just wanted to run away from the world and hide my entire being for awhile. What a perfect day to slip away to a fantasy world. Whether it be to "never never land" or with the "mad-hatter" I wouldn't mind it once in awhile.

I always thought fantasies were just something we all wanted to come true. Sort of like dreams or wishes that became reality for a short while. But why can't it be? All this talk of fairy tales with magic and spells, happy endings...and now we're talking of worlds where characters get swept away to a place where anything can happen! Richie wrote a modern Cinderella to portray what she would look like realistically. Where is the reality in fantasies? Our dreams maybe?

Makes me think about being young again, because as a youngster we still believe those things can happen. If not, there's still some kind of internal fireworks that burst with exciting thoughts of what we would do if fantasies actually happened today. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy secretly believing...

~Let the Darkness FADE away

let the light return to day

'till all thats left of us is YOU~

(Jeff Berry Band)

THE RAINBOW FISH

To finish off the week, I picked my last picture book called The Rainbow Fish. I loved this book when I was little, mostly because of the pretty illustrations, but there really is a great message here.

Rainbow fish has very pretty and shiny scales but he doesn't want to share them with anyone because they were his prized possessions. When one of the other fish asks to have one, he gets very angry and tells him to go away. No one was admiring him anymore, so the wise octopus said to give away his scales to all his friends to be happy. At first he was hesitant, but when he gave them away, he felt the most joy and he was no longer sad.

This is a great message for children to learn early in life, not to be greedy! The more greed takes over, the more you will be sad and lonely. But if you share with everyone, the happier you will be. If may sound strange to kids because they think everything is thiers, but if we keep teaching them that thats ok, we are getting no where!

~Whats mine is yours~

Mad Gab

So I was playing Mab Gab with friends tonight and it occured to me that it was 11:00 and I needed to post before midnight. But the game gave me an idea.

Mad Gab is a game with phrases on each side of the card, but they are spelled phonetically different than the real words. For example "Use Mel Could" is for "You Smell Good." Its quite fun because the other team has to guess what the phrase is. The faster and more times you say it, you are more likely to get what its saying.

This concept kind of applies to this class. When I was younger and read the fantasy fairy tales once and moved on with my life, I didn't really catch much. But now, reading them more to really dig whats underneath the surface, It clicks. I get what these stories "are really saying" so to speak. For example, the Cinderella tales. I didn't realize this had a message of inferiority of step-mothers and daughters and of beauty and jelousy and anxiousness. But now all the sudden I'm learning the real messages beneath the childish fairy tale. But the good part is, I can still have fun with the tales as I used to, just like the game...its pure fun.

How Do I Love You?

Just thought I would take a moment to recognize Valentine's Day and all it's glory.

" How do I love you? Let me count the ways.

I love you on your very best...

and very worst of days.

I love to see you laughing and dancing in the rain.

And even when you lose your shoes, I love you just the same.

I love to hear you singing.

I love to see you smile.

I love the way you take each day in your own unhurried style.

I'm happy when you're happy,

and I'm sorry when you're sad.

And even though it may not show, I love you when you're bad.

I love the way you act so brave when you fall and hurt your knee.

I love to watch you sleeping, tucked away in dreams.

I love to hear you whisper all your giant plans and schemes.

I love the way you wear your pants with the front part in the back

and the way you walk around sometimes with your head in a sack.

I love to see you deep in a thought.

I love to watch you play.

And though I'm sure you'll never know, I love you more each day.

For if I had a million days and time enough for all the praise, I couldn't tell you all the ways...I love you!"

I had to quote this book because I thought it appropriate on a day like today. This children's book even impacts me today. This message somehow still makes me feel so loved by my mom and dad, and I hope it has the same affect on children. NO matter what, this is what matters; love that is. Because without it, this world would not exist.

Please enjoy Valentine's Day everyone. Give some love.

Ever After

I enjoyed watching this movie in class! I wouldn't have picked Drew Barrymore as Danielle, however. But here is my thought after we had the discussion today in class about all the Renaissance-ness!


Somehow I find it fascinating that Tennant used Leonardo De Vinci as the Fairy Godmother role in this movie! So I did a little bit of research to find out just what Leo was all about. Sure enough, along with being one of the most famous men who ever lived, Leonardo was the very essence of the Renaissance period. His art, genius, inventions, and intellect inspired even different countries!! And for all of this to be symbolic of magic creates a fairy tale in itself! The fact that his mind was so magnificent, that he wrote backwards in his notebook to confuse enemies, no wonder Tennant used him in this film!
So as Danielle is so humanistically passionate, De Vinci's character sort of comes along side her to inspire and flare this aspect in the movie. Her wings are an example of this. He transforms her into this creation that outwardly personifies who she really is, and who the Prince needs to be. As Danielle so urges him to look at everything with meaning, De Vinci really brings this to the light. You know, De Vinci just might be becoming one of my new found heroes. Without the Renaissance or De Vinci's brilliance, who knows what the world would look like today.

I went home this weekend to get away from College Station for a while, and my family and I watched the movie Sydney White! I had no idea what this movie was about but it comes from the fairy tale Snow White. I know we are not talking in class about Snow White anymore, but I wanted to talk about some of the parallels in this movie.
Sydney goes off to college and joins a sorority where the bond of sisterhood is broken and Sydney gets kicked out. She then finds a little cottage at the end of the road where seven dorks live! They each have a different personality; each to go along with the seven dwarfs! There is a sleepy, grumpy, and sneezy! Her ex-sorority president then becomes the "evil witch" and she beats her in the HOT or NOT online game. This becomes the mirror for the "fairest one of all." Sydney then goes on to beat her in a Student Council debate, but not before her Prince Charming (Tyler) rescues her from a deep sleep in the library.. And, of course they live happily ever after with her sorority president stripped of her Kappa priviledges!

I was stunned at how cute this movie was and how clever the producer came up with ideas to parallel the fairy tale! I would definitly suggest this movie to watch to anyone...even kids!! It gives just one more perspective of how this relates to us in real life.

Thoughts on Ella Enchanted

Not a whole lot goes through my brain when I think of Ella Enchanted except that I absolutely LOVED reading this book. I enjoyed it's magical elements, the young unselfish girl, and the romantic love story of Char and Ella of Frell.
The ending was my favorite because it was Ella's unselfishness and great love that lifted her curse. I started to think about myself and what would I do in that situation? And I realized how selfish I am, and how we all probably are. Giving up the love of your life more than once would be the hardest thing for me to do. Ella gives a wonderful example of what we all should be. Unselfish, loving human beings. That is such a simple task in writing, but in reality; this is a challenge. The book helps me put into perspective how unselfish we need to be, not always thinking about us, but other people more than ourselves. In a way, we are cursed as Ella because once we allow ourselves to love unconditionally, something is lifted off of us and we can be happier than we could've imagined before.

THE FOOT BOOK

Dr. Seuss has always been an inspiring and popular children's book writer and I thought I would comment about one of his books that I saw in a different light: The Foot Book. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the "wet foot, dry foot, high foot, low foot" ryhmes, but I thought about what meaning this would have in everyday life. All the different kinds of "feet you meet" is a very legitament point to send to children.

If you can be accepting of everyone's feet, certainly we should be accepting to everyone in general. The sick feet, quick feet, and red feet explains that everyone is different and we can have our flaws (being sickly). This may apply to something such as peoples race, skinny or bigger people, or even animals. If children have an understanding of difference, they will probably tend to be more open to the world around them.

IF YOU GIVE A MOOSE A MUFFIN

If I gave a moose a muffin
he would want to play all day long.
Demanding muffins and jam
sweaters, paper, and thread.

But oh the mess he would make
the glue, paints, needle and thread,
By the end of the day
I was wishing to be dead!

It is hard work playing with a moose
I was so tired by the end of the day.
It almost reminds me of little ones,
mothers should get extra pay!

It was strange
how the moose was so greedy,
it was hard to handle
but I managed as best I could.

In the end
the moose just wants a friend
Like all of us
needing to depend.

He did offer to clean my sheet
the best a moose could do
As much work that it was,
his manners were a bit neat.

And so if you give a moose a muffin
It's not so bad
Playing with no regrets,
as long as you clean up a tad.

If you didn't want to give a moose a muffin,
you could always give a mouse a cookie! =)

Flashback

To wrap up the week, I decided to talk about the conversation I had today with my parents! I have been reading about difficulties in reading for another class, so I asked my mom and dad if I ever had difficulty as a kid. I figured I had some sort of trouble as a child wanting to read, but my mom explained to me that I actually wanted to be a writer/illustrater! She said I never had trouble...so here's a few things I did.

I wanted my mom to read to me every single night.
I liked to sit on the toilet while reading a book and swinging my legs.
I had a stuffed animal named "Mutt." And my mom made it come to life when I said "Do Mutt." So she made up stories and told them to me through mutt while I laughed my head off right before bed.
I started writing a book about the Coca Cola Polar Bear and Illustrated it myself!

There is so much more, but I had no idea half the stuff I entertained myself with when I was young. But knowing this now, and how children can learn to read, this is the kind of stuff we need to promote as teachers. As far as my parents, they did the right thing presenting me with so many opportunities to learn to read. There is so much literature out there that we can utilize for good. All the versions we have learned about for the fairy tales have broadened my horizons in what exactly is out there! This class has turned out to be such a learning experience already, and I hope it continues to be this enlightening!