fantasy

Today in class, we talked about whether or not each of us enjoyed the genre of fantasy. I really enjoy fantasy. I really like how fantasy allows its characters to do the impossible. I love the alternate world and all of the entertaining descriptive words the author creates. I really like reading books like Harry Potter, because I feel like I am in the story too. I become so wrapped up in the alternate world; it makes me want to be like the characters. Once I begin reading Harry Potter, I can not put it down until the book is finished. I love that! I really likes Eleanor Cameron’s paragraph about fantasy (the one you handed out in class). Cameron stated that fantasy has three paradoxes. One on the paradoxes is that fantasy breaks the laws of the world, allows the protagonist the do the impossible, and last but not least it takes the reader to another world. I completely agree with Cameron.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

One day a little boy was sitting outside by his house eating cookies. He saw a friendly little mouse and asked him if he wanted a cookie. But, if you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk. After the glass of milk the mouse will want a straw, of course. Then, naturally, the mouse will want to gaze into the mirror for a milk mustache. And the list keeps going on. The consequence of giving the mouse a cook continues to go on and on. Thus, the boy becomes very tired. In the end, the mouse wanted another cookie, which could make the story repeat. The boy falls asleep as the mouse ate the cookie.

Illustrations:
- Every time the mouse wants something he or the boy end up making a huge mess
- In one illustration of the boy and the mouse in the bathroom, the floor in black and white checkered. But, in another illustration (of the same bathroom) the floor in only white.
- The pictures are very appealing and bright

There is no dialogue in the story, but the book is still charming. The book relies on the pictures instead of the dialogue.

Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault was born on January 12, 1628 in Paris. His father, Pierre Perrault, and his mother, Paquette Le Clerc, raised Charles in a upper class family. Charles attended the finest schools and studied law. Perrault eventually landed a career in government. Perrault married Marie Guichon (who was nineteen) in 1672. Guichon died after giving birth to their daughter and their three sons. In 1695, Perrault decided to devote himself to his children and published numerous children’s tales. One of the tales was called Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals. Perrault became an instant sensation. It is said that with this tale Perrault invented a new literary genre, the fairy tale. Many of Perrault’s tales were in fact just tailored from older tales. Perrault’s most famous versions of fairy tales were Blue Beard, Sleeping Beauty on the Woods, Little Red Riding Hood, The Master Cat or Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Little Thumb and Donkey Skin. At the age of 75, Perrault died (it was 1703). I really enjoyed reading Perrault’s tales in class!

Cinderella Variations

I really enjoyed reading Cinderella go from a fairy tale, to a story, to a novel, and to finally a movie. In the expanding of the story, it really gave all of the Cinderella characters dept. All of the versions changed somewhat. My favorite was the novel Ella Enchanted. I loved the plot and the curse. I could not put that book down. In Ever After there was no magic just like in the Ritchie tale. It was unique that they managed to take the magic out of the tale, but without taking the true magic out. All of the versions were set in a non-real reality, but Ever After was based on realism.

Just A Mess

One day, the critter (the little boy…they never gave him a name) could not find his baseball mit. He asked his mother where it could be. His mother said to look in his bedroom. He went into his room and noticed how messy it was. He decided to clean up a bit. Well, actually his mother said, “You made the mess so you can clean the mess.” His younger sister (who also was not given a name) and their infant sibling (who was not given a name or a gender) were of no help. Critter threw everything in his closet, stuffed clothes in his drawers, jammed toys in his toy box, and stuffed everything under his bed. In the end, critter’s room was very unorganized. Then, Critter noticed that his pillow was missing, so of course he looked on the other side of his bed where he found his baseball mit.

This book was made purely to entertain children; there was not really a moral to the story. But he did find the mit that he was looking for so the problem was therefore solved.

Illustrations:
- In every picture there is a tiny spider and grasshopper
- The mother is out in the garden which is kind of typical of stories
- Typical mess little boy
- The rooms in the story are pained pale calm colors
- I liked how one of the illustrations showed Critter scooping up his toys with a shovel. It made me laugh.

Enchanted

I watched the Disney movie Enchanted today. I really liked the movie. It had pretty much a little bit of all of the fairy tales in one but with a twist. The main character, Giselle, is waiting for her true love. He sings in her home in the forest and the prince, Edward, hears her. They fall in love at first sight. The next day they plan to have their wedding; however, Edward’s evil stepmother pushes Giselle into portal where there is “no happily ever after.” And the story continues.

But anyways…Giselle is the typical kind, giving princess that we all know. Later on in the story, Robert gives Giselle some money to go find her prince. Giselle quickly gives the money to an old woman. The story had an evil stepmother (but it was the prince’s instead of the princess’s). Also, there was not mention of a father anywhere. Giselle was at one with nature (like all the princess’s) she sang with them and cleaned and sewed. Which also brings up another point, Giselle didn’t mind cleaning.

I really liked this movie, I would highly recommend everybody to see it!!

Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine was born September 17, 1947 in New York, New York. Levine is an American author for young adult books. Levine’s father, David, owned a commercial art studio and her mother, Sylvia, was a teacher who wrote plays for her students to perform. Levine credits her parents for her imagination. Early on, Levine loved to draw but as the years went on she knew it was her passion to write. Levine stated that, "… my painting brought me to writing for children in earnest. I took a class in writing and illustrating children's books and found that I was much more interested in the writing than in the illustrating.” Levine’s first published book was Ella Enchanted (which won a Newbery Honor in 1998). Levine has written many fairy tales with a twist; for example, her Princess Tales series is about clever heroes and heroines that go on adventures. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, The Wish, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly, Betsy Who Cried Wolf , and the six Princess Tales books. Levine is married to a man named David and they live in New York.

Discussion Promt to Ella Enchanted

Discussion Prompt: To you, what seemed to be the most significant changes that Levine has made to the Cinderella tale and character in Ella Enchanted? Explain.

Levine made many significant changes to the Cinderella tale and character in Ella Enchanted. In the tale, Ella was strong willed and very independent. In the classical tales of Cinderella, Cinderella was very timid. Ella made things happen as opposed to Cinderella who had horrible things happen to her. I really liked this Ella. Also, in Ella Enchanted, Ella had to be obedient because of her curse; however, in the classic Cinderella tale, Cinderella was an obedient girl on her own. Ella’s fairy godmother, Mandy, did not take care of Ella’s problems like the fairy godmother did in the classic Cinderella. Ella didn’t truly need her fairy. In addition, Ella knew and was in contact with her prince through out the whole story in contrast from the classic tale. Ella’s relationship with the prince was not one based on just beauty; nevertheless, it was a relationship that started with laughter and jokes.

Miss Nelson is Missing

The children in room 207 misbehaved everyday in class. They did not listen to their “good natured” teacher, Miss Nelson. One day Miss Nelson did not come to school, so the children had a substitute teacher named Miss Swamp. Miss Swamp was very ugly and strict. She put the children to work right away. As a result, the children began to miss their teacher. The children wondered what happened to Miss Nelson, so they hired detective Mc Smogg. Unfortunately, Mc Smogg wasn’t too much help. One child thought, “Maybe she was gobbled up by a shark.” The next day, Miss Nelson came back. The children were very excited and well-mannered. The children now appreciated their teacher. Miss Nelson told the children that she was in fact Miss Swamp and the children never told Miss Nelson why they were so well-behaved now.

This story teaches children to appreciate what they have.

The illustrations in this story were very stereotypical. Miss Nelson was beautiful, had blonde hair, and wore a pink dress. However, Miss Swamp had a big nose, multiple moles, long black nails, and a black dress. I thought it was clever that the only drawing of Detective Mc Smogg was of him smoking a pipe. Also, I noticed that at the beginning of the book the children were painted in dark colors (when they were misbehaving) but by the end they were pained in pastel colors (when they learned their lesson).

A 1922 Clip of Cinderella

This Cinderella clip is a Disney 1922 version. It is the same as the classic Cinderella tales we discussed in class. In the clip, Cinderella has a cat as her only friend. In most of the tales, she usually is at one with nature. Even though in this clip Cinderella doesn’t sing and clean with the animals, she clearly gets along with her feline friend instead of her sisters. This brings me to another point; in this clip Cinderella’s father and evil step mother are not mentioned or shown. She does however have two “lazy and homely” step sisters that do not allow her to go to the ball. The prince is shown as “a wonderful fellow” who likes to hunt bears. Whenever Cinderella makes it to the ball, (with help from her fairy godmother of course) everybody is very tall except from Cinderella and the prince. How convenient! And of course, they fall in love and he finds her in the end.

I really liked this clip because it defiantly showed the time period from the following:
- The fact that it was black and white
- There was no spoken dialogue
- Cinderella did not arrive to the ball in a carriage but in an old fashioned car
- Cinderella wore a flapper dress to the ball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpuxOEN6PV0