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favorite children's books on TV
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From: Robin L. Gibson <gibsonr>
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:31:48 -0400
I was thinking about the relationship of popular culture in relation to children's books and children's television programming these days. As the mother of a 5 year old and 2 year old and a 2 month old, I've become more familiar with television's offerings in recent months. Since I'm a children's librarian too, the house is full of books, and we do take frequent visits to the library ("go libry 'gin" is what the 2 year old told me yesterday), but the TV is on more often in our house these days than it used to be.
There are some really good offerings out there based on children's books. One of our favorites is "Max and Ruby" on Nickelodeon. Many of the episodes are based on Rosemary Well's original books, and retain the simplicity and charm and the wonderful sibling relationship of the books -- just perfect for the 2 year old. And it's great to go to the library and be able to show him the Max books -- he loves them too. The George and Martha series on HBO is also quite well done and faithful to the spirit of the books.
In other cases, the original book just provides the characters and basis to start from -- as in "George Shrinks" -- another of our favorites, but since the book is practically wordless, the stories in this case are all new -- it just begins with the basic premise of George being small. It is interesting too -they treat "Shrinks" as the entire family's last name, rather than only a verb. The Clifford TV show has made me appreciate the books more (I didn't really care much for them, though I know they are extremely popular with children).
I was surprised, and pleased, to see Madlenka appear on Sesame Street the other day. I was preparing lunch, and just walked into the room and saw what looked like Peter Sis's artwork, but animated, on screen. My five year old confirmed that it was Madlenka, and we have seen several other short segments featuring Madlenka. In this case, I think the TV program might lead children to the books. Sis's artwork is quite distinctive and different, and now more children will recognize it when coming across one of his books in a library. In other cases, such as Clifford, I think the popular books lead children to be interested in the television program. So it is a symbiotic relationship; television is not just a parasite, though I will almost always prefer the book.
Robin
-Robin L. Gibson 252 Knoll Drive Granville, Ohio 43023 gibsonr at denison.edu
Received on Fri 16 Jul 2004 01:31:48 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:31:48 -0400
I was thinking about the relationship of popular culture in relation to children's books and children's television programming these days. As the mother of a 5 year old and 2 year old and a 2 month old, I've become more familiar with television's offerings in recent months. Since I'm a children's librarian too, the house is full of books, and we do take frequent visits to the library ("go libry 'gin" is what the 2 year old told me yesterday), but the TV is on more often in our house these days than it used to be.
There are some really good offerings out there based on children's books. One of our favorites is "Max and Ruby" on Nickelodeon. Many of the episodes are based on Rosemary Well's original books, and retain the simplicity and charm and the wonderful sibling relationship of the books -- just perfect for the 2 year old. And it's great to go to the library and be able to show him the Max books -- he loves them too. The George and Martha series on HBO is also quite well done and faithful to the spirit of the books.
In other cases, the original book just provides the characters and basis to start from -- as in "George Shrinks" -- another of our favorites, but since the book is practically wordless, the stories in this case are all new -- it just begins with the basic premise of George being small. It is interesting too -they treat "Shrinks" as the entire family's last name, rather than only a verb. The Clifford TV show has made me appreciate the books more (I didn't really care much for them, though I know they are extremely popular with children).
I was surprised, and pleased, to see Madlenka appear on Sesame Street the other day. I was preparing lunch, and just walked into the room and saw what looked like Peter Sis's artwork, but animated, on screen. My five year old confirmed that it was Madlenka, and we have seen several other short segments featuring Madlenka. In this case, I think the TV program might lead children to the books. Sis's artwork is quite distinctive and different, and now more children will recognize it when coming across one of his books in a library. In other cases, such as Clifford, I think the popular books lead children to be interested in the television program. So it is a symbiotic relationship; television is not just a parasite, though I will almost always prefer the book.
Robin
-Robin L. Gibson 252 Knoll Drive Granville, Ohio 43023 gibsonr at denison.edu
Received on Fri 16 Jul 2004 01:31:48 PM CDT
