Muppets Galore

Just a couple of notes about things going on around New York related to Muppets. The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is hosting the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit until next January. As explained on the museum's website, the exhibit contains Muppets and material covering everything from his earliest show Sam and Friends through all the films--Muppet movies as well as Dark Crystal--and the well-known television shows: The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and of course Sesame Street, which is filmed next door to the museum. There are evidently demonstrations and lectures on the weekends, but for the next couple weeks Friday afternoons are free, so you can pick which you'd rather have. We'll probably go this Friday.

If you like looking behind the scenes of the Muppets, you can then catch a screening of the new documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, which premiered at Sundance and is currently showing as part of DocuWeeks in New York and L.A. Directed by Constance Marks, who cut her teeth with the Maysles brothers, and featuring Kevin Clash (aka Elmo), this looks like one of the best looks behind the scenes of Sesame Street we've had; for me it seems more engaging than The World According to Sesame Street from 2005. Maybe it's apples and oranges because of the different emphases of the films, but giving intelligent analysis to the character and phenomenon of Elmo, and the creative personality behind him, seems like a really excellent idea.

Here's a really short teaser:

Here's an interview with the filmmakers:

and with the subject:

A note on the show

Just wanted to say Saturday's Milkshake show was everything that was expected--a little bottle of sunshine while it was raining outside. It helped cement my belief that the Just Kidding series is one of the great opportunities for New York families. This Saturday: music of the African diaspora from Heritage OP (Organic Percussion). Check it out.

Just Kidding at Symphony Space

One of the coolest things about living in New York is all the wonderful venues and events going on for youth and families all the time. Symphony Space in the Upper West Side is one of the great continual fountains of such events. Thus far, because of my interest in children's film, I've only attended the New York International Children's Film Festival (this year's tickets just went on sale a few days ago). But this Saturday I'm excited to go to a performance by Milkshake as part of Symphony Space's Just Kidding live event series. I've been vaguely aware of the series for quite a while but have never found out much about it or, obviously, attended, so it's exciting to not only see Milkshake again but tap into one of the best children's concert series in the city.

Of course, calling it a "concert series" is a little myopic, as I found out yesterday when I got to chat with Darren Critz, the performing arts director who curates the entire series. (He's the one on the left, I believe.)

Darren's a really affable guy--and incredibly knowledgeable about children's music, as I found out. He has two main programming dicta that reflect this: the first is that any performers have to be quality musicians (or dancers or thespians), and on top of that quality live performers--they have to not only sound good on their CD but engage kids at the back of a 750-seat hall. His second rule of thumb is that he wants as broad a range of music as possible, from the country sounds of Farmer Jason to pop and rock acts like Milkshake, Recess Monkey, and the Sugar Free Allstars, to, this season, international and native music such as from folk artist Suni Paz, the Thunderbird Dancers (who present an array of Native American dances), and, all the way from Cuba for the first time since 2002, los Munequitos de Matanzas (who will be giving shows for both families and adults sans kids). This array is already striking, and Darren envisions getting more artists from outside the U.S.--as well as just from outside the city--coming in and presenting their work.

Since college I've striven to be eclectic in my musical choices, so I appreciate being able to expose my daughters to such a broad spectrum of live performers this early in their lives. Tweens, it seems, have started to solidify in the type of music they like, and they're hesitant to try anything new. And parents are even worse. So Darren sees the Just Kidding series as an opportunity to expand parents' musical worlds as well as kids'. Parents are more likely to take children to a concert of music that they wouldn't normally listen to just to expose the kids to it--and the upshot is that the parents are exposed as well. One of the best things about the entire series, in fact, is watching parents get into shows and rock out with their children.

That brings me to what I believe is one of the most important purposes of live events--be they music, dance, theater, galleries, picnics, or anything else--they allow for greater interaction between parent and child than more passive (socially constrained) experiences like watching a movie. I wrote about the value of interaction between parents and children in one of my first posts on this blog (it's point #4); suffice it to say here that the type of talent lined up for Just Kidding is exactly what you would want for this type of interaction. And groups like Milkshake are great, as we discovered with our infant last year, because they pack so much more into a performance than just the music. There's such a strong visual component, as Darren pointed out, that they can entertain very, very young children (as well as adults).

Here are some other really cool things I learned about Just Kidding:

* In addition to pushing international performers, future series (which run from October through April generally) will have a stronger component of theater and dance. I'm really pleased about that.

* If you miss a performance or don't live in the city, chances are it will have been recorded and you can catch it online at Symphony Space Live. Note, that's for grown-ups' performances as well as kids', and included discussions and presentations as well as performances.

* Also, there's a lesser known book series that brings literature into the mix. These presentations aren't as frequent as those with musicians, due to publishing dates, author availability, and general book tour issues, but they're definitely worth checking out. (These are generally for 7-11 year-old readers, btw--chapter books and easy novels rather than picture books.) The next one is with Laurie Halse Anderson on March 20, with Lincoln Peirce on April 10. Authors do various things, but they include readings, discussions of their works, and even writing workshops with the kids. There are eight to ten of these a year (and, again, there are adult authors as well).

So there's definitely a lot going on--congratulations to Darren and everyone at Symphony Space for keeping such an outstanding series going for roughly a decade now. As far as this Saturday goes, I'm excited to see Milkshake again; we often listen to their music during breakfast to get my seven-year-old moving in the mornings, and I'm excited that she's excited to see them in person now that she can sing along. That kind of reaction from the kids is what these live events are all about.

Little Airplane Cafe

Ever wander around lower Manhattan and get a hankering for a stick of celery? Well now all your problems are solved! Little Airplane Productions, creators of Wonder Pets, 3rd & Bird, and the new interstitial Tobi! opened their doors yesterday to create their newest venture, the Little Airplane Cafe. The cafe is located at the studio at South Street Seaport (207 Front Street, actually). I'm not sure exactly how the layout works, since the studio itself doesn't have any street-level space, but my hunch is that it's up one flight of stairs in or around the space that has housed Little Airplane's gift shop. 

I also don't know for sure if celery's on the menu, but I do know that a series of children's music stars will be performing on various dates. Yesterday's opening was hosted by kids' DJ Mindy Thomas of the Absolutely Mindy Show and featured Laurie Berkner. Never fear if you missed that: Milkshake is coming up, as well as a reading by Stinky Cheese Man author Jon Scieszka. 

Here's a press release on the new space, and here's the cafe's page on Little Airplane's website. I suspect that future events will be posted there. 

Little Golden Book Art on Tour

The Little Golden Books were launched in October 1942, soon after America's entry into World War II when publishers like Simon and Schuster needed cheap and quick books that could inspire a devoted following ("develop a brand," we might say today). The series launched with twelve original titles and, as I recall the history, took off immediately. Librarians and arbiters of high culture for children's literature bemoaned the things, but parents and kids ate them up. At 25¢ a title, one could hardly resist them. For anyone really interested in the history of the books, their initial controversy, and subsequent imitators in the publishing industry, I recommend Leonard Marcus's Minders of Make Believe, published last year, which goes into great detail about their creator Georges Duplaix and all of those things (here's a New York Times review). Eventually those cultural gatekeepers had to acquiesce to public opinion and allow the books on their shelves, although often begrudgingly--particularly after Simon and Schuster struck a deal with the Walt Disney Company. (Marketing movies in children's literature? The Philistines had entered the temple!)

But what these folks began to realize and what the children had known all along was that, despite their bargain price, low-quality binding, and rapid publication, the Little Golden Books were really pretty amazing. The stories and the artwork were occasionally ephemeral but quite often top-notch. And soon people realized that some of the age's best authors and illustrators were putting out some of their best work under the label, people like Garth Williams, Elizabeth Orton Jones, Gustaf Tenggren, J. P. Miller, Mel Crawford, Feodor Rojankovsky, Tibor Gergely, Martin Provensen, Eloise Wilkin, Mary Blair, Hilary Knight, and Richard Scarry. These illustrators were putting out stuff that looked like this:

I have no recollection of ever reading this last title, with illustrations by Tibor Gergely. But I firmly recall strong feelings of attachment to this little tugboat; whenever I thought of him I felt incredibly important and belonging, to the point that for years I thought the Mormon children's song "Give, Said the Little Stream" was about him.

Well, the books turned 65 a few years ago, and the good folks at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature in Abeline, Texas put together a traveling exhibition of much of the original artwork. It's been touring around the country since then--it's already had its stay at the CMOM here in New York--and may soon be coming near you because it's not just hitting the major cities. In my traditional form, then, here are some links that can give further information:

First of all, the actual web page for the exhibition on the NCCIL website. The site is great for electronic samples of the artwork (not what I have above, but from inside the books) and a brief description of what the exhibit entails, plus a full schedule through January 2012. 

Right now it's housed at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, through September 7. Here's the news release (pdf) from that institution. 

Here, for some more background info, is the Little Golden Books site, in honor of their 2007 anniversary. (They're currently owned by Random House.) There's lots of information as well as a newsletter and games and printables for the youngsters.

There are also many titles for sale there, which reminds me that other websites are resources for serious collectors, like this one and this one. 

Try to get to the exhibit if it comes near you, and at any rate try revisiting these titles with your kids. We just read The Monster at the End of This Book with Loretta and she loved it. We have about five books on our shelves, but just glancing at the list of titles I realize how many there are that I loved as a child that I'd like to introduce her to. Much of the books' marketing today relies on this nostalgia factor, but I'm aware of it and still think they're worth showing my daughter. A good book, after all, is always golden.

Kids' Films in New York

It is that time of year again, the time when New York City parents wish they had more time in the day--especially Saturdays--to take their kids to all the great cinematic venues around town. The city frequently has cinematic gems showing for kids at some venue or other, but now we're in for the double treat of the New York International Children's Film Festival at five locations in Manhattan and the BAMkids Film Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. (Above is a shot from Dave Pryor's three-minute film Alien for Christmas showing at BAM.) Both are literally world-class events, so you can't go wrong with either. The NYICFF provides showings over the course of several weeks, primarily weekends, from this Friday through March 15, so it's very nice if you're not available this week, for instance, or if you want to catch more than one screening. Inversely, the BAM event is concentrated in one place and one time, this weekend: you can take the kids for an immersive day of cinematic experience, with music, food, face painting, and other kid-friendly activities; it's a partner of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, one of the top kids' film fests in the world. Both NYICFF and BAMkids have shorts, features, live-action, and 2D (cel, Flash, etc.), 3D CGI, and stop-motion animation. 

Mommy Poppins is a very good blog on kid-friendly events in the city, and this is what she has to say about NYICFF and BAMkids. I myself don't have much else to add except to urge all parents to go. These fests are both around a decade old, prices are reasonable (especially by festival standards), and they represent some of the best that a resurgent New York has to offer families, with the types of productions for children of all ages that you just can't get on television or Netflix. If nothing else it's worth it for the American premiere of the much anticipated new Wallace and Gromit film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, which premiered on British television this past Christmas season.  

Mary Poppins and the Recession

Move over, Little Orphan Annie. Mr. George Banks is the new face of the current recession. That, at least, is the story in this perceptive BBC News article by Harold Evans. In short, he discusses the stage version of Mary Poppins as an analogy for all the Bernie Madoffs in the current crisis, going on to examine how Broadway itself is losing its luster: shows are shuttering as patrons, particularly tourists, are staying home. And that is certainly true; I have a friend who was slated to be the understudy for Tarzan in Disney's newest stage show, but the whole thing got shut down about a month ago--maybe it will see the footlights in a few years, when he can presumably audition again. But despite the loss of consumers, tickets around 42nd Street remain over $100 a pop, a price tag that has kept me from ever seeing a single show on Broadway in the three years I've lived in New York. Oh, to be a groundling...

Lego Obama

I wasn't going to post anything about the inauguration--Loretta said all the kids at school were bored (keep in mind she means the four- and five-year-olds)--but this is pretty cool. If you can visit Legoland California, which I believe is in Carlsbad, before Memorial Day then you too can take part in Minifigure history. Here's the full story, with video, and here's one from the Telegraph in England a few days ago.

Barbie in Baltimore

I was down in Baltimore last week, before Christmas, to meet up with my in-laws and see the sights around the Inner Harbor. We hit both the famed National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center, both of which were extremely kid friendly, the latter perhaps even to a fault. Kudos, however, to the fantastic hands-on exhibits, the friendly staff willing to explain paleontology or chemistry to a four-year-old, and the cogent presentation we saw on liquid nitrogen--Loretta learned it's really cold. Loretta was already wanting to be a scientist when she grows up (and a ballerina), and these two venues sealed the deal.

We did not get to Geppi's Entertainment Museum, although it's just a few blocks away, and we therefore failed to see the vintage Barbie exhibit being held there. Loretta has a few Barbies and likes them well enough, but I'm slightly wary of encouraging further fanaticism in her. For those who want to walk down memory lane themselves (Barbie is turning fifty in 2009) or whose children would like to observe toys behind glass rather than play with them directly (which I don't mean sarcastically--there is a virtue to observation), then this could be a good reason to visit what is otherwise generally a grown-up's museum. (I see there are half-price Tuesdays and Thursdays, part of my problem being there on a weekend.) For further information, here's an article from the Examiner, another institution whose building I saw right there in the neighborhood. 

Shrek Lives

This is Brian d'Arcy James, on a good night.  He has taken up Mike Myer's mantle as the Scottish ogre originated by William Steig but made immensely more popular by the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks. It's now been seven years since the first Shrek hit theaters, launching Dreamworks' animation into global prominence, and it's only fitting they leverage the property to compete with Disney at their newest battleground: Broadway, the street on which this local blogging correspondent lives. 

Not being entirely a Broadway musical-type guy (in three years, total, in New York, all I've seen as yet is Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme, an opera), I haven't been following the details of this production closely. It's spent the last several months in Seattle and began previews here at The Broadway Theatre on November 8. The official opening night will be December 14, with a projected run through May 31. So parents coming through town in that time frame have that alternative to add to Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid. Non-parents are admitted as well.

The book and lyrics were written by David Lindsay-Abaire with the music by Jeanine Tesori. Direction is by Jason Moore, choreography by Josh Prince. I recall that Rob Ashford spent some time consulting with them in Seattle.

The show's website is thoroughly informative, with video, interviews, etc., etc., as well as tickets. Here's a review from Seattle by Misha Berson and another by Gianni Truzzi. Here's the notice on it from Playbill, a guide to all things Broadway. 

Finally, attention all Johnny and the Sprites fans! Although that show had a lamentably short production run you can catch its human star John Tartaglia in the role of Pinocchio. Given his work on Johnny and, before that, on Broadway's Avenue Q and Sesame Street, the fact that he is now playing a puppet must be one of the most ironic career moves in the history, but with that said he does seem remarkably fit for the part. As opening night approaches may he and all others break a leg.

Some Halloween Theatre in London

I cannot count the hours I’ve spent in the National Portrait Gallery in London’s West End. Though sizably smaller than the adjacent National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery is equally engaging, with portraiture of all shapes and sizes from pre-Elizabethan times through to, say, Annie Liebowitz and Gilbert & George. I spent many months, sketchbook in hand, analyzing each and every picture, looking at the composition, lighting, and all those other things that enthusiastic film students look at. But I can also see how the galleries, particularly the upper floors of the Tudors, Jacobeans, etc., could prove a little unnerving to youngsters…late at night…on Halloween...

Such is the premise behind a special production presented by the Polka Theatre this Friday. The play is entitled Ghosts in the Gallery and was written by Paul Sirett. A comic-historical-horror production, it is described in a press release as 500 years of British history in a ninety-minute production:

“It’s Halloween and closing time in the gallery. A young girl is desperate to see her favourite portrait of Anne Boleyn - when suddenly two hands reach out and grab her! Will she escape or end up on the gallery walls?

“Ghosts in the Gallery will take you on a fast-paced journey through time bringing over 500 years of British history to life.


“Come and meet a host of familiar faces from the Tudors to the twenty-first century including Shakespeare, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill and Princess Diana.

“Take a deep breath and hold-on tight, history is coming back to haunt you!”


The Polka Theatre itself is a children’s theatre troupe with a playhouse located in Wimbledon, out west of the centre of the city; the artistic director is Jonathan Lloyd. It was founded in 1979 and, in the theatrical capital of the world, still remains one of England’s few dramatic companies devoted exclusively to children’s theatre. Their productions include innovative and interactive tours of their facilities, plays produced on-site, and touring productions such as this one in the National Portrait Gallery. I can only imagine that Sirett’s play is interactive, with the audience following the troupe into various galleries to continue the ghastly tale (and learning some history in the process). Even given all of London’s theatrical goings on, there should be no better way to introduce youngsters to the joy of theatre and celebrate the (American) holiday at the same time.

The Brooklyn Children's Museum Reopens Its Doors

It appears that I'm writing a little series about events in New York City, but I suppose that's because quite a bit is happening. Topping off the Babar exhibit and the Little Red Lighthouse Festival is the reopening this weekend of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, which, after its $80 million facelift, looks like this.


Edward Rothstein wrote a fairly enthusiastic review in today's New York Times. Personally I like children's museums, like those in Edinburgh and Bethnal Green in London, that have displays of childhood memorabilia from ages past in addition to the hands-on activities, and it sounds like Brooklyn has its emphasis on the latter but with a fair amount of the former thrown in. It's also an institution: founded in 1899, it is the oldest children's museum in the United States; the museum website also claims to be the oldest in the world. 

Also note that there's a video included with the Times article. 

Visiting the Little Red Lighthouse

The sixteenth annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival will be held this Saturday, September 20, at the foot of the Great Gray Bridge. Among all New York City’s events for children, this is one not to be missed, and it's happening right in my neck of the woods in upper Manhattan.

In 1942 Hildegarde Swift wrote a picture book, with marvelous illustrations by Lynd Ward, about the lighthouse that sits on Jeffrey’s Hook in New York City, the bank of the Hudson River looking across to the New Jersey Palisades. It was called The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, in honor of the massive George Washington Bridge that looms directly overhead. The relationship between these two structures--most lighthouses do not situate underneath bridges--is the subject of the book. It’s not a straightforward history, of course--that can be summarized simply by saying that the lighthouse was built first--but a story about how the lighthouse felt when it was no longer needed and what it did to start feeling important again (even if it involves a bit of deus ex machina). The analogy for children, who are small and unempowered folks in a world of larger-than-life adults, is obvious yet still beneficial: everything and everyone has a purpose in this world.

An actual history of the lighthouse can be found on its Wikipedia page or in the back the book itself. What's not included in the latter is the fact that the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition in 1951, but outcry from fans, largely young ones, of the book eventually led to its ownership passing to the city's parks department, which resulted in the lighthouse's preservation to the present. That a children's book could have such a dramatic effect on public policy is encouraging. It seems, in fact, that the book was correct: even little people can have an effect in this big world.

In 2003 Vantage Books published a new paperback edition that is fairly easy to find. At sixty-four pages it’s quite longer than your typical picture book, but it can be read in one sitting. We read it a few times before going to the festival last year and Loretta, then three, loved it. She was then trying to spot the G.W. Bridge all the time, whether it were it sight (Fort Tryon Park) or not (downtown). For an even longer time she thought it was terrific she had a book about her own neighborhood.

Here are two views from New Jersey:

The lighthouse--obviously--stays in place year round. The park’s open all the time; my wife Carol regularly runs past it along the path down the Hudson, and often over the bridge itself to Fort Lee and back. What the Festival offers is, first and foremost, a chance to go inside. It is a little lighthouse, so there are free tickets distributed for entrance; last year we were too late to get in. While we don’t intend to repeat that mistake this week, there was still plenty of other activities to fill up our day: a hayride (the highlight of the day), face painting, arts and crafts (several stations), games (also several stations), and even playing in the sand by the river. Dr. Ruth made an appearance to read Swift’s book; while this was poetic, Loretta (who, remember, had read the book earlier that week) was more interested in the hands-on activities. Here’s some evidence of how we filled our day:

First things first... (Loretta wouldn't do or play anything until she looked like a kitty cat.)


"Am I as pretty as my shirt?" (That's facing south, midtown Manhattan in the background.)


Playing with Rose.

Learning to row a boat, dry docked.


The festival, which is free, runs from noon to 5pm. There’s information here and here. The actual location is Fort Washington Park, at 178th St. and the Hudson River. Last year there were good walking directions posted all the way from the A train’s 181st St station (with actual people along the way to assist those still confused). This weekend the A train’s down north of 168th St. but I expect the same service from the free shuttle bus, which runs the same route as the train all the way to 207th St.

Babar in Midtown

I'm glad some people were interested in the illustration exhibit up in Amherst, and to complement that there's news of a similar show much closer to home (at least for New Yorkers). It's "Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors" at the Morgan Library & Museum at Madison and 36th St. 

The show opens on September 19, this Friday, and runs through January 4. It features, according to the September 1 New Yorker (pae 46, but not online), 175 works (mostly watercolors, evidently) by Jean de Brunhoff and his son Laurent, who took over the series after his father's death in 1937. It includes a draft of Laurent's first such effort, Babar et Ce Coquin d'Arthur, and a number of public events: a lecture about the French imagination by Adam Gopnik on November 6 and, even more exciting, an illustrated lecture by curator Christine Nelson on November 21. There's a great deal of information, and some images, on the museum's website. This is an exhibit that is absolutely not to be missed; I think I'll wait until October, though, so I can also catch the only surviving manuscript of Paradise Lost. (Go in September to see some excellent early Bibles and prayer books.)

Babar, of course, is one of children's literature's greatest figures, so I won't add any effusive commentary here. He first appeared in 1931 in the book Histoire de Babar, le Petit Elephant. 

Presidential Politics for Preschoolers

I basically only watch Sprout, Playhouse Disney, and Noggin, so if it weren’t for the good old radio and the nice folks at WNYC I wouldn’t really know there was a presidential election this year at all. But it turns out that there is, and kids can be nearly as involved in it as grown ups. As proof, in 1984 I decided to run on an independent Second Grade ticket, with a third grader named Alex as my running mate, on a platform of less homework, increased recess, and “improved relations” with the USSR. Though I’m certain we had a plurality of votes amongst the Crestview Elementary School electorate, sadly none of us had the franchise, and the rest is history.

Times change, but kids don’t. A few months back on Super Tuesday I picked up Loretta from day care then dutifully toted her around the neighborhood trying to find the right school for me to cast my ballot. En route I asked her who we should vote for for President and she immediately said, “Baby John!” meaning the two-year-old brother of her best friend Rose. She’s been enthusiastic about the presidential race, and John's prospects, ever since.

Now, I’m not flippant all the time. I have shown her pictures of the grown-up candidates and tried to use Hillary Clinton’s campaign in particular to show her that girls can be Presidents too. (“I want to be a ballerina and the President,” was the reply.) She’s in Pre-K, not second grade, so her understanding isn’t complete, but I’d like her to at least be aware of who Bush, Obama, and McCain are, what an election is, and what a President is. Thus by 2012 she’ll be ready to embark on her own historic campaign.

There are, thankfully, a few resources to help. My sister-in-law, a former aid to a few Senators and speech writer for Mitt Romney, has “Future President” onesies for her infant that look something like this. (These ones are cute for the Traveling Pantsuit crowd.) But this is not exactly what I have in mind.

Instead, parents and educators can turn to the work of Catherine Stier. In 1999 Stier published her first children’s book, If I Were President, presenting the presidential office on a preschooler’s level. As she says in an article in the 2008 Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Market, she knew, for instance, that preschoolers memorize their addresses, so she wrote about how, upon becoming President, she would have to remember “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”



The book tied in well to tourist destinations like the White House and events like Presidents’ Day, so when the 2008 campaign was approaching she decided to make a sequel: If I Ran for President.


Several resources say that the book would not be released until October, but Amazon thankfully informs us it has been available since April 1, in the midst of the primary season; this also allowed schools, I presume, to have the book on hand when school resumed this month. Here is a brief review by Barbara Katz, posted on the book’s Amazon page, which mentions the book's strengths and apparent flaws:

“Grade 1–3—This title is a step above the usual election books, both in content and entertainment value. Six children take turns explaining the election process as if they were running for president. They discuss their decision to run, campaigning, primaries and conventions, debating, being interviewed, meeting the public, voting, and being sworn in on Inauguration Day. Stier does a good job of explaining election details, both in an introductory note about electoral votes and in the text itself. The fact that one must be 35 years of age is only mentioned in the note. The author adds flavor by providing humorous examples, such as the need to smile despite indigestion. However, the multiple narrators can be confusing. One must rely on the illustrations to know which child is speaking, and sometimes it is not apparent at first glance. The lively cartoons cheerfully clarify the action and reinforce the concepts. Libraries will want to consider this kid-friendly title.”

Other presidential book titles include Grace for President by Kelly Dipucchio, Woodrow for President (about a mouse, not Wilson) and a sequel, Woodrow, the White House Mouse, both by Peter and Cheryl Barnes, America Votes: How Our President Is Elected by Linda Granfield, Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells, Duck for President by Doreen Cronin (our family always loves Duck)…


…So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George, Vote! by Eileen Christelow, My Teacher for President by Kay Winters, and Madam President by Lane Smith. I have surely missed a great many.

But Duck aside, I have frankly never heard of any of these candidates. (I will here skip the Sarah Palin jokes to maintain the nonpartisan nature of this blog.) Youngsters—and oldsters—may prefer a candidate they have known their entire lives, a Washington outsider who has nevertheless been a consistent presence in their community and their homes, a candidate who never fails to fail and fail again. It is America’s favorite loser, this guy:


Yes, Charlie Brown is running for President. But he’ll have to face off against Lucy, Linus, his kid sister Sally, and even his own dog (good grief!). The Peanuts franchise has teamed up with Rock the Vote—a historic enterprise on its own terms—to demonstrate to children, and adults, how simple it is to register and vote (true to Rock the Vote’s purpose, assistance in registering for the real McCoy is available as well). Anyone of any age can cast a single ballot online at Peanuts Rocks the Vote, although it’s the debates that I’d really like to watch (we're missing Bill Melendez already). Some information at the bottom of the main page tells us that Charles Schultz was drawing Peanuts during twelve election years, and in 1960, '64, and '68 he had his characters get involved and run for office. So the tradition runs strong, making Rock the Vote a perfect fit with this particular franchise.

Some of Schultz’s political cartoons are available for viewing on the website, but folks in northern California are in even more luck. The Charles M. Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa is featuring an exhibit entitled “Political Peanuts” through November. (Of course, the museum would be worth visiting any time of year.) For those of us unable to get to that neighborhood, we can still watch Bill Melendez’s film from 1972 (a notorious election year), You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown. In honor of the Rock the Vote alliance, a new DVD has been released with a documentary and other, if somewhat slight, bonus features. You can watch a brief trailer—and purchase it—here.

So somewhere between 1) the actual candidates, 2) the plethora of presidential picture books, and 3) the genius of Peanuts and the ability to cast an actual vote online, children and parents should be able to work out the perfect way to foster civic awareness in this election year; the most important component, of course, would be adults setting an example by actually going and voting on election day, perhaps with the young ones in tow. Then on November 5 they can all tune back in to Sprout to see what they’ve missed.

Elephants and Bears in Massachusetts

The current exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts looks enthralling. It’s entitled “Flights into Fantasy: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection of Children’s Illustration,” which is a bit of a lengthy name but which promises a treasure trove of art from the post-Victorian heyday of children’s book illustration (1880-1940).

I’m not in Massachusetts and therefore learned of the exhibit from a Magazine Antiques article (scroll halfway down the page to find the correct section); there’s also good information on the museum’s site itself. The exhibition’s title stems from the large amount of fairy pictures included, as fairy stories were a quite popular genre in England for a very long time (think of Peter Pan in 1904). In addition to fairies, featured artists include Jean de Brunhoff (Babar), Ludwig Benelmans (Madeline), Jessie Wilcox Smith (Alice in Wonderland), Johnny Gruelle (Raggedy Ann), and many others, including original decorations for Winnie-the-Pooh by Ernest Shepard.


That latter item alone should make the trip worth the while for any New Englander who can get to Amherst. The exhibit runs through October 26.

Picnic Time for Teddy Bears in the Bronx

One thing about New York is that there’s always too much to do. Another thing is that the Bronx Zoo is always insanely busy on holiday weekends, so it's often best to try to go somewhere else. Those two things said, however, it seems that this weekend will be an ideal time to take the kids up there: it’s the annual Teddy Bear Picnic at the bear enclosures.

The zoo’s three bears--two grizzlies and a polar bear--will be hosting a bash for their little human fans all weekend long. Activities will include songs, stories, appearances by the zoo’s bear mascot, and zookeeper sessions with the actual animals. Usually when I’ve been to see them the bears there have been pretty much asleep, so getting them up on their feet (as I've seen the big cat trainers do with the tiger) will be a welcome change. Finally and most importantly, kids should bring their own teddy bears for a check up at the bear clinic; Build-a-Bear’s got nothing on this set-up.

To more fully enrich the experience, try watching a Yogi Bear cartoon on YouTube, an episode of Little Bear, an old Zaboomafoo episode or even a David Attenborough segment (I think kids are generally up to watching the Discovery Channel and the BBC Natural History Unit). Alternatively pick up a classic bear book: Corduroy, the Berenstain Bears, Paddington, or any of a host of others. There are also a host of wonderful zoo books, from Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo to one of my all-time favorites, Robert Lopshire's Put Me in the Zoo.

I’m picking up Loretta from Utah on Saturday and we keep the Sabbath on Sunday so about all we’ll have time to do before going Monday is listen to the song “Picnic Time for Teddy Bears," but I think that alone, along with bringing her teddy bear, will make the trip more special than most times we go.

All the event's scheduling details are available on the zoo website.