Tag Archives: Young Adult

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Movie Trailer: Three Movie Trailers

Hello Lovely Readers,

Today I have three new(ish) trailers to share with you guys, all three of I am excited for. The first is one that you have probably not be able to avoid, which is the first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. You can watch the trailer below. It is just enough to start to grab our attention, drop a little spoiler in (Peeta apparently siding with President Snow), and yet not jade us out on any great action sequences months before the movie hits theater. I really like this teaser (even if I am not a huge teaser trailer fan!)

The next on is the second trailer for The Giver, and I am much more impressed. Before I mentioned that the first trailer was confusing, didn’t match what I had always pictured, and just looked a bit of a mess. This one however fixes a lot of that. First thing is that they are doing what I expected, which is starting in black and white and then adding color as the memories are revealed (which will make sense if you read the book, or wait for my review of the book hopefully up within the month). Second is that it tells a cohesive story so anyone who hasn’t read the  book can have a vague idea of what the movie is about. Now I am much more interested in seeing this movie in cinemas!

The last is one that I have been watching out for since I heard the early decisions on casting, and that is the new Annie movie. I loved the earlier Annie movies, and I don’t even know how many times I read the novel when I was younger. I am really excited for this movie, as it looks like a good modernization. I love that the cast is much more diverse, as this better reflects the economic struggles that form the foundation of the story of Annie. Plus I am excited to hear how they adapt the songs!

So what do you all think, any of these movies look exciting for you? Have you read any of the books these are based on?

Until next time,

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Random News: Kids aren’t Reading

Hello Lovely Readers,

As some of you who have been following this blog for a while will know, I am a huge advocate for people to read, especially younger people. So it was very distressing this week to read several articles that talked about how rates of young people reading for pleasure are dropping. Frances and I have talked about how important books were to us when we were younger. Most of my closest friends from primary and high school favorite books and authors, and we would pass on our favorite books to each other. For me, I cannot imagine not reading for fun. In university when I had less time, I started to feel rather unhappy, and realized it was because I had mostly stopped reading for fun. By reading just a couple pages of something I choose helped me sleep better and made me feel better. So all this combined with the news is distressing to me.

The first article is from Yahoo, and you can read it here. The main point of the article is that while children are still reading for pleasure, the number is lower than it was 10 years ago, and worse, it seems proficiency levels are dropping. While this may not take into account different ways children are reading (such as online, although it appears e-readers were included), it is very worrying.

Worse it seems from the Yahoo article and one from NPR (which you can read/listen to here) teens are some of the worst effected. According to the article, “Nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year — if that.” This again is a drop from where it was in the past 10 years. While further research is needed, some are speculating it is the rise in other technologies that are taking away from reading time, even if those same technologies can be used to encourage reading.

Thankfully it wasn’t all doom and gloom this week, instead there was a great piece from CNN on how LeVar Burton (from Star Trek) has devoted his life to encouraging children to read, which you can check out here. I know he was a big fixture in my childhood with Reading Rainbow, which I was sad to realize stopped airing in 2009. Luckily, he is still working in the area, and has even developed the “Reading Rainbow App” which has been helping to encourage the use of the new forms of technologies to make reading more interactive.

For those like me who used to watch Reading Rainbow, I thought you would appreciate the theme song. It brought back so many memories for me, and I still knew all the lyrics!!

What do you guys think? Is it time to start worrying about how much children and teens are reading? How do you try to encourage the younger generations, and even the older ones to read? Are there and groups/charities/outreach programs that you recommend? I think this is a very important issue and I know I will be looking into ways to help out!

Until next time,

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Random News: Children’s Books Nostalgia

Hello Lovely Readers,

Today I am feeling a little nostalgic for all my favorite books from when I was a kid, and thankfully Buzzfeed has some lists about this!

First up  is a list of 21 Great Book Series From Your Childhood. I have read so many of these, and forgotten how many I loved until I saw this list. Cam Jansan and I solved many mysteries together (she had a photographic memory and would say “Click” to remember things like a camera). I still own all my Nancy Drew books, and I had a fight with my school librarian as they were the only books I would check out for a while! Wayside school was so wacky and I loved how absurd those stories were! I loved trying to figure out if the teachers from the Bailey School Kids were really monsters or not!

Second is 24 Childrens’ And YA Books Everyone Should Read Or Re-Read. Again I have read over half of these, and many of them I re-read rather frequently. As I said in my review Ella Enchanted, was one of my first fairy tale re-tellings and still one of my favorite audio-books.

For the next two finds, the lists take a slightly different turn. The first is Kids’ Books We’re Still Recovering From. Books almost never scared me, so the sad stories were much more likely to traumatize me. I know that when I saw The Little Princess in the cinema it was the first time I cried during a movie (I still haven’t been able to re-watch it!).

The second list is 14 Books That Traumatized You As A Kid. I have to say, their number 1 pick, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, was one of my favorite series of books. I loved scary stories, and loved re-telling them at slumber parties! I think this list has some books that I need to re-read!

Have you guys read many of these books? What books traumatized you? Did you have any scary story recommendations for me?

Until next time,

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Random News: Cruella and What Terrifies Teens

Hello Lovely Readers,

I have a sort of strange mix of news for you today. The first is that work is being done an a movie starring Cruella de Vil, tentatively named Cruella. This is in line with the new Sleeping Beauty re-make starring and named after, Maleficent (with some great photos of Angelina Jolie in the Maleficent costume!). While Cruella is still in very early writing stages, it could be a very interesting film. Even better, Glenn Close, who played an amazing Cruella in the live action adaptation of 101 Dalmatians, is an executive producer on this script! I think this is something to watch, especially after we find out if Maleficent the movie is any good! You can read the article here.

Second, is an interesting piece over at NPR about What’s Terrifying Teens In Today’s YA Novels (click to go to the article). Specifically the article talks about how a lot of the current fears of adults trickle into popular YA novels, even if the novels were written just before things got really bad. Right now every country seems to be experiencing some economic troubles, and as I write this the USA government has shut down because of money based disagreements. Specially, the author of the article highlights The Hunger Games and Divergent, as books with terrifying economic based distress and how brutal unemployment is. I really suggest reading the article as it provides a lot of food for thought.

Until next time,