Tributes to and Interviews with Maurice Sendak

Many tributes to Maurice Sendak have been cropping up in the wake of his recent passing, and as these tributes describe Sendak's groundbreaking contributions to the world of children's literature much more eloquently than I could, I'll let them speak for themselves. From interviews with NPR and PBS to The Colbert Report, it's clear that, like his Wild Things protagonist Max, Sendak wasn't afraid to "let the wild rumpus start!"

Poems Poems Poems!

The Academy of American Poets has a wonderful website, Poets.org, that I often go to if I'm looking for a group of poems about a specific theme. It's super-easy to navigate:


So there you go - lots of poems about shoes, aliens, shark week. Also, as you can see, there's a "For Teens" page of poems. Under "Life and Leisure," there's a "childhood" page of poems, and under "Family and People," there are poem pages for "parenting," "daughters," and "sons."

Even BETTER, at least for our investigative purposes, is the Poetry Foundation's website, which has a similar categories function, which they call the "Poetry Tool."


(I made the blue circles)
As you can see, there is a whole section roped off for "Children's."

There are tons of great nooks and crannies on both of these organization's websites - for example, I stumbled upon "Ten Poems to Get You Through Science Class," which I would have loooved to use as a resource while I was growing up. If our lockers were any bigger, I probably would have also appreciated "Ten Poems to Read When You Get Stuffed in a Locker."

Anyway, have fun with these websites!

Cinderella & Culture

Cinderella is more than just a fairy tale. According to Wikipedia,

"The word "cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes are unrecognised, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of "Cinderella" continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media."

And, according to our friend Wikipedia, these cinderella tropes and themes have also had an influence within the field of psychology:

"The Cinderella complex was first described by Colette Dowling,^[1] who wrote a book on women's fear of independence, as an unconscious desire to be taken care of by others, based primarily on a fear of being independent. The complex is said to become more apparent as a person grows older.

Colette Dowling attempts to define women as being motivated by an unconscious desire to be taken care of as a fear of independence termed "Cinderella complex". An important aspect of the work can be defined as identifying an aspect of a larger phenomenon as to why women choose to stay in dysfunctional relationships."

And:

"The Cinderella effect is a term used by psychologists to describe the high incidence of stepchildren being physically abused, emotionally abused, sexually abused, neglected or murdered, or otherwise mistreated at the hands of their stepparents at significantly higher rates than their genetic counterparts. It takes its name from the fairy tale character Cinderella, who in the story was cruelly mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters.The effect has been called "one of the poster-children of evolutionary psychology".^[1]

South Park 'n' Mickey Mouse

Below is the South Park Studios description for the episode...

South Park: The Ring --- Original Air Date: 03.11.2009

Thinking it's his way into her heart and other body parts, Kenny takes his new girlfriend to a Jonas Brothers concert. His dream of taking their relationship to the next level is crushed when the Jonas Brothers give them purity rings.

Tags: Jonas Brothers, Kenny, girlfriend, Tammy Warner, concert, purity ring, Mr. Mouse, sex, Cartman, Butters, Stan, Kyle, B.J.

watch it at South Park Studios here.

written BY children

826 is a national non-profit that's dedicated to helping kids with writing, both creative and expository. They've highlighted some pieces on their website:
(from the LA chapter)
(chicago chapter)
(valencia chapter)
(boston chapter)

happy reading!

NYT Book Review: Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Check out a review of Peggy Orenstein's book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter. Orenstein, a mother seeking to navigate the pink fluffy marketing targeted at young girls of her daughter's age, explores "the princess" phase, a stage during which young girls often turn to glittery princess paraphernalia as a way to assert their female identity. Through field trips to toy fairs and stores, child beauty pageants, and, yes, a Miley Cyrus concert, Orenstein wrestles with this princess culture as a parent, debating its pros and cons. Definitely worth checking out (the review and the actual book) if you're interested in fairy tales and pop culture!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/books/review/Paul-t.html