Casual Friday: "Goosebumps" as Great Works of Literature
What qualities elevate a kid's book to Children's Literature? Can a Goosebumps novel be a children's classic? A case for the greatness of R.L. Stine's “The Haunted Mask” (1993).
Casual Friday: Trauma and Triumph in Katherine Paterson's "Jacob Have I Loved"
What is asked of a reader when they read a depressing story about an unhappy child?
Casual Friday: Lemony Snicket's "Austere Academy" Schooling on Trans Rights and BLM
What can Lemony Snicket tell us about appropriate responses to BLM and how to empathize with trans persons?
Casual Friday: Outbreak in "The Secret Garden"
A self-isolation themed video this week. The Secret Garden begins with a terrifying account of a pandemic allowed to spread in close quarters.
Monetizing Play: Balloons!
As a a semi-employed sorta stay-at-home dad, I get a lot of time to think about toys and games: what will keep my boys (4 and 1) busy in a way that keeps both entertained, and I won't have to grow extra arms?
Munsch Ado About Nothing: “The Boy in the Drawer” as an Allegory for Tantrums
Munsch's stories very often grant children power and label adults as inconsistent, selfish, unreasonable, unhelpful, or incompetent. No wonder the books are so popular with kids.
"The Little Grumpy Cat That Wouldn't" is a Grumpy Cat You Won't Want to Put Down.
Joy, fun, and participation can sometimes become oppressive responsibilities, and therefore obstacles to happiness and identity formation.
Peace at Any Cost? Star Trek TOS, S1Ep10, "The Corbomite Maneuver"
Weird children is an apparently common theme in TOS.
“Toy Story Three” Is Not Sad, But Neither Are You For Thinking So
No, I’m not a heartless monster. I cry at the beginning of Up every time. And then I cry again at the end. Sometimes, just thinking about Up makes me cry.
Childhood, Memory, and Fantasy in "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" and "The Little Prince" (SPOILERS)
Ocean is frustrating for the way it privileges childhood, fantasy, and spirituality, but relegates these to ephemeral glimpses into a higher truth that ultimately has no place in the mundane.
Alexander is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kid
Man, that invisible castle thing? You got lazy and didn’t draw a picture, didn’t you, and now you’re upset ‘cause the teacher liked an actual picture better than your blank page? If you’re gonna be a jerk about drawing time, at least have the courage of your convictions to stand by your BS move and not act like you weren’t trying to be clever and lazy. And what have you got against sixteen, mister?