This is part 2 of Assignment 3, part 2. This is also for the "Features" section of the site.
ERIC CARLE
In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.
On Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and pop! out of the egg came a tiny but very hungry caterpillar…
It’s hard to believe that The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 40 this year, and its author – Eric Carle – has turned 80. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is still as popular as it was in 1969, and the caterpillar is still… well, very hungry!
One of the most common questions Eric gets from fans is: where did the idea for The Very Hungry Caterpillar come from?
There are many answers, Eric says. Some of the idea can be seen from when Eric Carle was a child. As a boy, Eric used to love walking in the woods with his father – and here, Eric learned to love bugs and animals. He says, "When I was a boy, my father would take me on walks across meadows and through woods. He would lift a stone or peel back the bark of a tree and show me the living things that lived underneath. These were very magical times and I think in my books I honour my father by writing about small creatures and the natural world. And in a way I recapture those happy times we had together." This love of nature is very clear in all of Eric’s books.
But ideas also come from just playing around. Eric says in an article from Scholastic that one day he was making holes with a holepunch and an idea came. "I playfully punched a hole into a stack of papers. I thought, a bookworm at work! Not enough for a book, but, nevertheless, a beginning." This developed into a book about a worm called Willi. It was Eric’s editor, though, who first gave him the idea for writing a story about a caterpillar, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar was born.
Today, the book has sold 29 million copies and is translated into 47 languages! The Telegraph notes that Eric has also written or illustrated over 70 picture books. These include The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon.
But The Very Hungry Caterpillar will probably always be his best-known book.
"My friends, my family, my editors, my publisher, we all wondered why it's been so successful," Eric told Newsweek. "It is a book about hope. If you're an insignificant caterpillar, you can grow up to be a big butterfly in the world."
If you haven’t yet been introduced to Eric Carle’s delightful illustrations and wonderful storytelling, now is the time to start!
Click here to watch a video of Eric Carle talking about his books!
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
Sunday, November 8, 2009
GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS
This is 500-word article #3, as part of ASSIGNMENT 3 PART 2.
This article is for KidsReads.com, and is pitched for the "Features" section. Disclaimer: The link for "Great Books for Boys" on the website is shown, but the link itself appears to be broken on the site, which is why an error page comes up when the link is clicked. -CM
GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS
After our last story on Great Books for Boys, it’s time to look at some great books that every girl should read!
Charlotte's Web
HarperCollins
Zuckerman’s farm is full of animals, but the pig, Wilbur, is lonely and bored, and he misses his beloved owner Fern. That is until Charlotte, the beautiful grey spider, appears in the barn and vows to rescue Wilbur from a farm pig’s usual fate. Charlotte’s plot to save Wilbur’s life – with the unlikely help of Templeton the rat – has delighted children for generations.
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
Atheneum
Claudia is tired of being unappreciated at home. So, with her cheapskate brother Jamie, she hatches a plot to run away and live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But Claudia and Jamie stumble on more than they bargained for when they discover Angel, the beautiful marble statue in the museum. What is Angel’s secret? Was she really sculpted by the great Michelangelo? And who is Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the statue’s enigmatic donor? Only Claudia and Jamie can find out!
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Signet Classics
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug… So begins this famous story of the March family – Meg, the graceful oldest sister; the frank, spirited Jo; quiet Beth; and ambitious Amy. As their father fights in the war far away from home, the March girls each face their own troubles and triumphs – each learning in her own way how to become a “little woman”.
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
Grosset & Dunlap
Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert want to adopt a boy to help them take care of Green Gables, the home they’ve lived in for over fifty years. It’s the last thing they expect, then, when a clerical error brings them Anne Shirley instead – a dreamy, red-haired orphan girl with a talent for getting into scrapes. Anne’s adventures as she meets new friends, goes to school, schemes and dreams make for a great read for all ages!
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sterling
When nine-year-old Sara Crewe goes to live at Miss Minchin’s Academy for Young Ladies, she has everything she could want – a maid to wait on her, a room of her own, dozens of dresses, and a beautiful doll named Emily. She is treated like a little princess. But then tragedy strikes, and the cruel Miss Minchin takes away all of Sara’s wonderful things and forces her to work as a servant with the scullery maid, Becky. Can Sara still be a little princess when she’s in rags?
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com
Monday, October 19, 2009
Mobile Networking: The Next Generation
This is my final blog post for the year, so I thought I'd turn my attention to the future of social networking and what is predicted for the years to come.
First, we social networked through computers, which are fast but not always accessible. More recently, the iPhone has made computers an optional extra in the ability to get on social networking sites, with more and more people updating their statuses through texting.
Now, according to Times Online and TechCrunch blogs, it looks like the mobile phone is going step up another notch. Proximity technology (like mobile phone GPS) + Social networking (like Facebook) = The new generation of social networking.
You walk into a party and can't remember someone's name. No hassle. Just pull out your trusty mobile, which can detect satellites and other mobiles around you, and look the person up, along with other stats.
You walk into a party and don't know anyone. No problem. Pulling out your mobile, bang! you discover you have a mutual friend or a common interest with someone 10m away from you. Conversation sorted.
You walk into a party and are hoping to meet someone single. Not a worry. Pull out your mobile and look it up. It's easy.
This mobile-centric version of social networking definitely seems like the logical step for social networks. But there are definite limitations that I can see. People will want to join to be part of a community, but the community's success depends entirely on having enough people on it to make it worthwhile joining... kind of a vicious cycle. Additionally, privacy is a big issue. Do you really want any random on the street being able to look up your personal details?
And I have to say, Mike Harvey in the Times Online article makes a lot of sense when he suggests:
Well... what do you guys think? Is this the future of social networking? Anyone heard any other theories?
First, we social networked through computers, which are fast but not always accessible. More recently, the iPhone has made computers an optional extra in the ability to get on social networking sites, with more and more people updating their statuses through texting.
Now, according to Times Online and TechCrunch blogs, it looks like the mobile phone is going step up another notch. Proximity technology (like mobile phone GPS) + Social networking (like Facebook) = The new generation of social networking.
You walk into a party and can't remember someone's name. No hassle. Just pull out your trusty mobile, which can detect satellites and other mobiles around you, and look the person up, along with other stats.
You walk into a party and don't know anyone. No problem. Pulling out your mobile, bang! you discover you have a mutual friend or a common interest with someone 10m away from you. Conversation sorted.
You walk into a party and are hoping to meet someone single. Not a worry. Pull out your mobile and look it up. It's easy.
This mobile-centric version of social networking definitely seems like the logical step for social networks. But there are definite limitations that I can see. People will want to join to be part of a community, but the community's success depends entirely on having enough people on it to make it worthwhile joining... kind of a vicious cycle. Additionally, privacy is a big issue. Do you really want any random on the street being able to look up your personal details?
And I have to say, Mike Harvey in the Times Online article makes a lot of sense when he suggests:
...in the end, are mobile social networks not just a nerdy replacement for people simply talking to each other? As one blogger put it: “I am pretty sure that an actual conversation will do the same thing. Is this the evolution of geek dating?”
Well... what do you guys think? Is this the future of social networking? Anyone heard any other theories?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Web + Uni Standards = ?
Disclaimer: While most of my posts have been dealing with social networking and other online communities, this post was inspired by our recent class which dealt with plagiarism and online content. So, a slight switch of gears.
Websites are to referencing what Marmite is to spreads. Vastly inferior.
That's what my uni career so far has shown me, at least. When it comes to referencing, almost anything is preferred to websites -- books, journals, newspapers, conference papers, edited books, papers, even films. Over and over again, my tutors have drilled into me that websites should be used sparingly, if at all, as references, and if they are, they must be "reputable".
I'm not saying this is unreasonable. Anyone can publish a website; you can write whatever you want, filter-free. Ripping information from a website is also much easier with copy and paste functions (although it's still not recommended; people still can find out, it's just less obvious). Books, on the other hand, aren't like that, and nor are newspapers, or journals, or conference papers, or films -- you can't plagiarise them easily, and they are a much more definitive source of credible information. It makes sense that websites aren't indiscriminately taken as gospel.
It's interesting to think that in a world where most people are informed by the web, the web is considered the least academic -- and arguably the least reliable -- source of information. I think I speak for most people when I say that, if I have some information I'm looking for, nine times out of ten I will go to an online source like Google, rather than borrow a book. Yet this information is, to educated people, considered the least reliable of any source.
How does this affect what we know? Will there one day be a system in place of "reliable" websites and "non-reliable" ones, rather than the hit-and-miss system of today where you guess the best you can whether a site has reliable back-up? Any thoughts?
Websites are to referencing what Marmite is to spreads. Vastly inferior.
That's what my uni career so far has shown me, at least. When it comes to referencing, almost anything is preferred to websites -- books, journals, newspapers, conference papers, edited books, papers, even films. Over and over again, my tutors have drilled into me that websites should be used sparingly, if at all, as references, and if they are, they must be "reputable".
I'm not saying this is unreasonable. Anyone can publish a website; you can write whatever you want, filter-free. Ripping information from a website is also much easier with copy and paste functions (although it's still not recommended; people still can find out, it's just less obvious). Books, on the other hand, aren't like that, and nor are newspapers, or journals, or conference papers, or films -- you can't plagiarise them easily, and they are a much more definitive source of credible information. It makes sense that websites aren't indiscriminately taken as gospel.
It's interesting to think that in a world where most people are informed by the web, the web is considered the least academic -- and arguably the least reliable -- source of information. I think I speak for most people when I say that, if I have some information I'm looking for, nine times out of ten I will go to an online source like Google, rather than borrow a book. Yet this information is, to educated people, considered the least reliable of any source.
How does this affect what we know? Will there one day be a system in place of "reliable" websites and "non-reliable" ones, rather than the hit-and-miss system of today where you guess the best you can whether a site has reliable back-up? Any thoughts?
Monday, October 12, 2009
Social Media Users Anonymous
"Social media crack". You heard it here first.
I found an article by Sharon Gaudin which asserts that we are so addicted to social networking that there will be hell and public outcry if we don't get it. After Twitter was knocked offline by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in August 2009, the website went down and millions of people were unable to tweet for two hours. In response, social networkers fled to their Facebook pages to write strongly-worded statuses about their inability to use Twitter, but some Facebook pages were also slowed by the connection problems, leaving many social networkers simply more frustrated.
As Gaudin writes:
When Twitter went offline yesterday, 45 million users -- including a growing number of older users -- were affected. And they were vocal about their feelings about it. One Facebook user noted, "Suffering tweet withdrawal." Another posted, "Wanting Twitter - NOW."
I was about to say "this is surprising", but it's not really. I'm not into Twitter, but I'll confess to having had times where I've been annoyed at slow connection or "page unavailable" errors when I've been trying to get on Facebook. I check mine every day, at least once a day and usually more. If that's addiction, then I guess I'm addicted.
It's interesting to think that only twenty or even fifteen years ago, social networking wasn't even a part of our lives, at least not our everyday interactions. When you consider how long things like paper, printing presses, telegrams, telephones and other forms of communication took to develop and -- then -- to take off, this is actually amazingly fast.
I am addicted to social networking... even if I hope never to use the phrase "tweet withdrawal".
Assignment 3, Pt 1
Image from http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com
December 2009
After 40 years of popularity, as well as winning the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1964, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is truly a children’s classic. Before seeing the movie, it’s a book everyone should read.
Max is a boy who loves getting up to mischief. After Max has been jumping down stairs, talking back to his mother and chasing the dog, Max’s mother finally sends her son to his room without supper.
No sooner is Max alone in his room than strange things begin to happen. A forest grows in his room, the walls disappear and Max finds himself sailing across an ocean by private boat. The place he lands is an island populated by Wild Things – huge and terrible creatures with terrible claws and rolling eyes. But Max is not afraid, taming the Wild Things, who quickly hail Max as their king. Max leads them in a wild rumpus of mischief and mayhem, until he begins to miss his mother and he decides home isn’t so bad after all.
Maurice Sendak is both the author and illustrator of the book. There are big pictures, sometimes taking up the whole page. Some younger readers may find the Wild Things frightening, but very few readers fail to enjoy Max’s wild adventure of imagination. This book would probably suit readers from Kindergarten to grade 3.
A movie of Where the Wild Things Are will be coming to theatres in December, with Spike Jonze directing and featuring Max Records, Catherine O’Hara, James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker. The book is so massively popular that it would be a very big task to take on an adaptation. But the film is already getting plenty of recognition for its combination of puppetry, voice performances and animation, and it looks to be one of the biggest movies of the year. While the film looks a little creepy (it’s rated PG, so it may have some scenes that younger viewers may find scary), it’s definitely set to be a treat.
Before seeing the movie, remember to read the original classic!
Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
Red Fox Books, 1963
Ages 4-8
After 40 years of popularity, as well as winning the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1964, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is truly a children’s classic. Before seeing the movie, it’s a book everyone should read.
Max is a boy who loves getting up to mischief. After Max has been jumping down stairs, talking back to his mother and chasing the dog, Max’s mother finally sends her son to his room without supper.
No sooner is Max alone in his room than strange things begin to happen. A forest grows in his room, the walls disappear and Max finds himself sailing across an ocean by private boat. The place he lands is an island populated by Wild Things – huge and terrible creatures with terrible claws and rolling eyes. But Max is not afraid, taming the Wild Things, who quickly hail Max as their king. Max leads them in a wild rumpus of mischief and mayhem, until he begins to miss his mother and he decides home isn’t so bad after all.
Maurice Sendak is both the author and illustrator of the book. There are big pictures, sometimes taking up the whole page. Some younger readers may find the Wild Things frightening, but very few readers fail to enjoy Max’s wild adventure of imagination. This book would probably suit readers from Kindergarten to grade 3.
A movie of Where the Wild Things Are will be coming to theatres in December, with Spike Jonze directing and featuring Max Records, Catherine O’Hara, James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker. The book is so massively popular that it would be a very big task to take on an adaptation. But the film is already getting plenty of recognition for its combination of puppetry, voice performances and animation, and it looks to be one of the biggest movies of the year. While the film looks a little creepy (it’s rated PG, so it may have some scenes that younger viewers may find scary), it’s definitely set to be a treat.
Before seeing the movie, remember to read the original classic!
Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
Red Fox Books, 1963
Ages 4-8
Assignment 3, Pt 1: Articles for KidsReads
Hi everyone -- I chose to do my articles for KidsReads, a site dedicated to reviews of children's books -- since I did some children's lit in my undergrad and really enjoyed it.
There are many sections of the site. My first article was pitched for Harry Central, the specifically Harry Potter-oriented section of the site. My second article was for the Features section of the site, inspired by a brief article about Where the Wild Things Are in the Books Into Movies page.
-CM
NEW HARRY THEME PARK
Ever since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first hit the shelves of bookstores across the world, Harry Potter fans everywhere have dreamed of visiting Hogwarts, playing Quidditch and visiting Diagon Alley.
But the chance to visit Harry’s world for real may soon be here. The Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter theme park is expected to open in Universal Studios in the US in 2010, a “theme park within a theme park” that will bring the magic of J.K. Rowling’s magical and popular series to life, according to Universal Studio Orlando Resort's official site.
But the chance to visit Harry’s world for real may soon be here. The Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter theme park is expected to open in Universal Studios in the US in 2010, a “theme park within a theme park” that will bring the magic of J.K. Rowling’s magical and popular series to life, according to Universal Studio Orlando Resort's official site.
J.K. Rowling has given a seal of approval to the plans. “The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting,” she says to BBC News. “I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed.”
Expectations are very high. According to WA Today, the books have sold over 400 million copies in both adult and child editions, have been sold in over 200 countries and are available in 67 languages. Films of the books have grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide and have featured such star power as Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, John Cleese, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter and Gary Oldman. The phenomenon of the books is destined to endure for years to come, with the books already considered classics.
Anyone who has read the books will know that the task of recreating the boy wizard’s world is a huge one. But Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks and Resort, promises that the park will live up to the hopes of fans, as he tells WA Today. "All of the action and adventures of Harry Potter's world will come to life here at Universal Orlando Resort," he says. "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be unlike any other experience on earth."
To stay true to Rowling’s books, the creative team for the park will be led by Stuart Craig, who is an Oscar-winner for production design and has worked on the Harry Potter movies. J.K. Rowling herself has also worked closely with the designers to make sure Harry’s world is as true to the books as possible. “Our primary goal is to make sure this experience is an authentic extension of Harry Potter's world as it is portrayed in the books and films,” Craig told BBC News.
The park will be full of activities for Harry readers to enjoy. Fans can treat themselves to Butterbeer at a replica of the Three Broomsticks, shopping at Hogsmeade, as well as have a chance to ride a Hippogriff in one of the many planned theme rides. Braver visitors will also be given a chance to give Quidditch a try, competing in the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament.
“Harry Potter continues to spark the imaginations of fans of all ages,” said the president of Warner Bros Consumer Products, Brad Globe, to WA Today. “We really have seen the anticipation continue to build for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”
Official images can be found here at the official Universal Studios site. The theme park will open next year – but we’re not sure we can wait that long!!
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