The Hobbit.

So far I have loved getting lost in the pages of The Hobbit. The language that is used to captivate the reader is wonderful and very descriptive. My imagination paints the pictures as the scene changes, and I can almost put myself right into the story. Bilbo Baggins is, of course, my favorite character. He is extremely likable, honorable and has a desire to please people. I love how laid back and relaxed the hobbit creatures seem to be. They have nothing but time. The qualities that Bilbo portrays, are what make up a classic children's literature protagonist. He is heroic, but does not let that change him, he is small in stature and kind at heart in all his actions. Like Gandalf exclaimed in the beginning of the novel, there is much more to Bilbo than what meets the eye!

Dress Shopping.

Today was a big day in a girl's life for me. Today i went wedding dress shopping. As a little girl growing up in Texas, with my Barbie dolls, dress up clothes, and Disney movies, I always have imagined what my dress would someday look like. Truly, the day was wonderful, and getting to try on these beautiful flowing white dresses was such a wonderful experience. Fairy tales play a huge role in how a girl looks at her wedding day. In class, as we read Cinderella and Ella Enchanted, you kind of get lost in the thought of this perfect romance, perfect guy, and of course the perfect dress.

Well I did find the perfect dress for me. It was nothing like the one I had dreamed of, I thought I would end up with a huge ball gown like the one Cinderella or Belle wore in Disney movies. But, it will be perfect for my wedding day, and add to my fairy tale!

test day.

today was a test day,
last night was a bad night to play.
i should have, would have, could have,
studied more with my friend Trav.

today was a test day,
and you know what they say,
dont waste away the week before,
or else your grade might be quite poor.

but what am i supposed to do now,
i must sit and wait for my result, somehow,
with high anticipation,
i remember the fun i had last night in college station!

even though today was a test day,
last night was a fun night anyway.

The Red Pony.

The Red Pony is divided into four different stories, all centering around one main character, Jody. I picked this book out specifically, because I remember it to be one of my favorites from when I was in grade school. The first book starts out with a happy beginning. Jody had just received a new pony from his dad, and with the help of his ranch hand Billy, Jody learns how to take care of it and to train it. When the horse falls ill, Billy goes to desperate measures to try and save the horse from death. Eventually the horse runs away and is found dead with vultures preying on it. The second story introduces a new character, Gitano, a Mexican man who claims to have grown up on Jody's ranch. Gitano sparks Jody's interest in exploring the Mountains. Book 3 is a tragic story of another horse death. Jody is once again promised a cult from the stomach of a horse that the family already owns. Complications during the pregnancy causes Billy to kill the colt in order to save the mother's life. Jody's grandfather comes to visit in the last book, and Jody is filled with more wonder about exploration. His grandfather has many stories about his own crossing of the Great Plains, and Jody listens with wide eyes. The novel ends with his grandfather explaining that it was not the exploration that was important, that is was being able to be a leader.

Although this book has many tragic stories, I think I really liked it for the character of Jody. He is an emotional child full of wonder as well as very inquisitive. As a child I think that I was a lot like him, and I could relate in that way.

Book 7: The Red Pony
Author: John Steinbeck
Picture Book?: No - Chapter book
Posting Date: March 27, 2008

Unconventional Education.

There is a movie coming out that is a true life documentary. The stars of this movie is a family of 9 kids with a mother and father. When the parents were first married they decided to go about educating their children in a unconventional way. After their first child was born, the parents bought a van and were on their way. Through the births of their nine children, the family developed a new way of education. The children learned through experience, they traveled from beach to beach surfing as a family and exploring their world. After seeing the trailer for this upcoming movie, I asked myself "Is this a better way for children to learn?" Truly I do not know the answer, whether kids learn from a teacher in a classroom as a strict curriculum through massive textbooks, is the right way is not for me to say. Because, honestly I do see the importance of growing in knowledge through experience, something that reading a book just cannot teach you. Either way, the nine kids in this movie all grew up to be successful and strong individuals in society, which does say a lot about this method of education!

Thoughts on Stevenson.

We have been reading a lot of poetry in class lately, and I have noticed a trend within most of these poems... they are not specifically meant for just children. Even though they are in a book titled "A Child's Anthology of Poetry", they can connect with adults just as much, if not more as they can with children. One of my favorite poets so far is Robert Louis Stevenson. He not only writes his poems specifically for children, in simple language, straight forward, and no metaphorical meanings hidden; he writes them as though from a child's viewpoint. He is not writing as an adult looking into a child's life, he writes with the imagination and energy of a child. This is intriguing to me, and I appreciate his thoughtful ideas in bringing the simplicity back to children's poetry!

Enchanted.

Tonight I had time to sit down and enjoy a movie I had rented called 'Enchanted". It has just been released in video, and the reviews for it were wonderful! I was pleasantly surprised by the modern twist on a classic love story. This Cinderella story combined the cartoon world with the human world, with wonderful music, humorous dialogue, and a surprise ending. A divorce lawyer from New York ends up saving a princess from the underground cartoon world with a 'true loves kiss'. It was a creative movie and I would recommend it to anyone!

The Easter Surprise.

For Easter, I wrote out a short story...

It was the day before Easter and all that little John could think about was the basket full of treats and the yeard full of colored plastic eggs that he was going to wake up to the next morning. But, something went wrong, something went really really wrong. John's little sister, Alice walked into his room, eyes full of tears and heart overflowed with saddness. Their favorite pal, their pet dog from when they were born, Buddy had past away. He died of old age, but his death upset Alice and John so much that the excitement of Easter was completely lost.

The next morning came very soon, John and Alice had fallen asleep with tears drying on their cheeks. Their mom and dad woke them up, trying to cheer them up with the treats the Easter bunny had brought. When the kids finally got ready to go outside with their baskets, they spotted a tiny animal in the corner of the yard. To their surprise it was a small bunny rabbit! 'Must be a relative of the Easte bunny' they thought; and they decided to rescue it and to make it apart of their family, as a new pet. This was the best surprise replacement pet ever! John and Alice never forgot their Easter, and their new pet Miracle was happy to become part of the family.

Easter.

Across the street from our house lives a little boy and girl, and today when I came home from campus I saw them playing in the front yard, so I went over to talk to them. Talking to them reminded me of how much I miss celebrating easter as a kid. I loved going shopping for a pastel easter dress, usually with bunnies and little chicks embroidered on on them, and then finding the matching hat for the dress. My family would go to church then go to my grandmother's house. We would wait patiently while our older cousins would hide the eggs. When the back doors to the house flung open we all ran out to the yard quickly picking up and gathering as many eggs as we could.

Sometimes in this class, Children's Literature, I am reminded of houw fun it was to be a kid, reading happy-go-lucky picture books, and being able to enjoy our Holidays with all the excitement and fun involved.

the books that shape us.

It is a known fact that we learn a lot of our habits from our parents. I had to do a study last year in one of my communications classes and we actually used children's books to back up our hypothesis. We predicted that these books would greatly portray gender roles; a boy being masculine, liking mud and sports while girls they portrayed as emotional and good in the kitchen and excellent mothers. We read two specific books one titled "World's Greatest Dad" and one titled "World's Greatest Mom". The mom of course was always busy, cleaning, cooking, and juggling carpool and kids. While the dad was a business man who came home to play games and sports with the kids and sometimes would grill meat. So it makes you wonder, are these books what shape our gender roles, our ideas and beliefs about femininity and masculinity. With the lines between the two being crossed so much lately you wonder if these books are designed specifically for the purpose of helping children identify with who they are, and teach them the code of being a boy or girl.

Book 6: World's Greatest Mom (series)
Author: Kath Smith
Picture Book?: Yes
Posting Date: March 19, 2008

The Magic Soup

Today was a rainy day, and a perfect day for reading. I decided to start a new book because I did not have many classes, so I searched the library in my roommate's room for a fun picture book to read. I came across one that she has bought for her nephew and the title was just perfect for the day today! The picture book is called The Magic Soup and it was written by Janaki Sooriyarachchi. This book is a funny story of a little boy named Johnny who wakes up to a hungry stomach with no one to make him food. The vegetables here him howling from hunger, and begin to form a plan to come together and make a magic soup! In the end, the soup is made, and Johnny's hunger is satisfied.

Book 5: The Magic Soup
Author: Janaki Sooriyarachchi
Picture Book?: Yes
Posting Date: March 18, 2008

spring break.

The week finally came,
and it was anything but lame.
Spring break is a time for friends and fun,
a time to forget to work out and run.

I went to Michigan with four of my girls,
we laughed, played and let down our curls.
The snow covered ground was cold and white,
the hills made a space for us to sled into the night.

We had cooking lessons which were so much fun,
we even got massages which relaxed us a ton.
The week was perfect and as odd as it seems,
without going to a beach, it was the break of my dreams!

The Princess and The Goblin.

I really have enjoyed "The Princess and The Goblin", surprisingly so. I had been told before beginning the book that I would not like it much at all, which made me nervous to begin. But, the grandmother's character is what really has stirred my interest in this story. She is such a spiritual figure, and since I am religious I really have connected with this. The themes that we have picked up on in class such as: getting lost, obedience, belief is essential to seeing; all have direct religious correlation. This also brings me back to my relationship with my grandma, who was the only Christian in my family while I was growing up. This connection has really helped me to enjoy this novel, and connect on different levels with the characters as well as the events going on in the story.

TAKS tesing.

Is the TAKS sucking the fun out of early education? I did a speech on the pressures the TAKS test has put on teachers and students to perform. Performing is not what learning is about. The TAKS includes a math portion, science and history portion and a reading/writing portion. Basically the penalty for not passing the test is failure to graduate to the next grade. And even more stunning, the test does not follow the curriculum of the grade. A teacher could be teaching U.S. history in her class and the test could focus on World history. This has proved to be an inadequate way of testing children of their knowledge, and provided a very stressful and competitive environment for them to grow in their knowledge. No longer is learning exciting and interesting, it has now become forceful and frustrating, with a ever looming fear of failure. Something must be done to change this nonsensical procedure, so that kids can return to loving their education and enjoying school.

Anne of Green Gables

I love, love this book. Anne is a spunky and charming orphan girl who is taken in by Mathew and Marilla Cuthbert to help around the house, because they are getting too old. Anne is fortunate to move from her orphanage because the Cuthbert's were actually looking for a young boy to come help out. Through many funny and unfortunate events, Anne makes herself known to the people of this town, and befriends Diana Barry. One day while Diana is playing at Anne's, she accidently offers her guest wine instead of juice and gets Diana drunk! This makes her mother very angry and Anne is only forgiven when an event occurs where she saves Diana's younger sister from dying. Anne also makes friends and kind of enemies with a boy named Gilbert, and they both attend Queen's Academy becoming closer and closer throughout. After school Anne is offered a four year scholorship but must deny it because Marilla is becoming blind and has to stay in Green Gables and teach. Anne is happy and content as a teacher and will continue her life optomistic for the future.

Book 4: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Picture Book?: No - Chapter
Posting Date: March 2, 2008

purple glasses.

Granpa dropped his glasses once
In a pot of dye,
And when he put them on again
He saw a purple sky.
Purple fires were rising up
From a purple hill,
Men were grinding purple cider
at a purple mill.
Purple Adeline was playing
With a purple doll;
Little purple dragon flies
Were crawling up the wall.
And at the supper-table
He got crazy as a loon
From eating purple apple dumplings
With a purple spoon.
leoroy jackson.