Monday, May 23, 2011

The Newbery Mission: Millions of Cats



Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag 
A 1929 Newbery Honor Book

   Plot: A lonely old couple decide that they want a cat, so the husband goes out to find 'the prettiest one of them all.' Soon, the old man comes across a valley filled with literally millions of cats. Unable to decide, the old man brings every single one of them home. Naturally, the wife reminds him that they can't possibly keep all those cats, so they decide that they'll keep the prettiest cat of the bunch. Of course, each of the cats find themselves the prettiest (shocking, isn't it?) So how do the cats handle this? By getting into the world's biggest cat-fight and eating each other.

   You know, for kids!

  Anyway, the couple find one scrawny kitten spared from the slaughter because it didn't consider itself pretty. But the couple keep it and it grows into a beautiful cat thanks to the love and care of the happy old couple.

  Review: Honestly, there's not much to say about this book. It's pretty much your average children's book. The story is simple and moves along nicely and the black-and-white illustrations are both simple and dream-like. Though the moral of judging a book by its cover is old news, it's still a good lesson for children to learn. I would definitely recommend this book to kids ages 4 to 7.
   Now I know some of you are thinking: How can I recommend a book that has cats eating each other? Fortunately, Ms. Gag only gives a brief mention instead of a two-page depiction of the cat carnage, so your children's mind will be free from cat cannibalism.

Final Score: 3 out of 5

That's it for the first review ever *dances with restraint* Stay tuned for next time when I tackle a book from one of the best known series out there................

Sunday, May 22, 2011

What to expect

   Well, since I have contracted the I-have-a-new-blog-so-I'm-going-spend-all-my-time-figuring-out-how-this-all-works disease, I may as well give you a brief look at two of the features that will appear on the site.

   First of all, here's a project that I myself have been working on since March. It's called: The Newbery Mission. This is where Newbery Medal and Honor books are analyzed and graded to see if they're truly worthy for kids (and adults) to read.

   The other one is called This Actually Exists? Here, I plan to give a review of a film that's either underrated or unknown by almost everyone and also tell you why or why not you should watch it.

   That's it for tonight everyone. Feel free to comment if you want to say anything.

The First Post.

   Well, here it is. The beginning of what could either be a success or a failure. Only time will tell...





....yeah....

 
   Anyway,  I've decided to start this blog for three main reasons. 1: I want to work on my writing skills and I believe this will help. 2: I have a great love of watching and reading reviews and have always wanted to try it. And 3: I believe that Christians should not shy away from the arts. Instead, we should analyze it and see if it's worth promoting or not.

   So what you'll see are reviews of either books or films that I've come across and my honest opinions about them. Sometimes you'll see me tearing a book to pieces. Sometimes I'll suggest an underrated film. I can guarantee you that I won't be the most faithful at keeping updates (Hey, I need a life too.) But I'll try my best to present good quality reviews that are both fun and glorifying to God. So, I'll leave in the words of Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont in 'The Big Store':


Dumont: Oh, I'm afraid after we're married a while a beautiful young girl will come along and you'll forget all about me.
Groucho: Don't be silly. I'll write you twice a week.