Wednesday, February 24, 2010

So what do we think? Iggy the Iguana



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Iggy the Iguana
Williams, Melissa. (2008). Iggy the Iguana. Houston, TX: Long Tale Publishing. ISBN #978-0-9818054-0-5. Author lists ages 7-11. Litland recommends for ages 9-12, grades 3 (advanced) through 6. See full review at http://www.litland.com/


Introverted, clumsy and a tail that is too long. Sounds like the typical “boy next door”. Or at least the lizard next door! That’s Iggy, the introverted 9 year old lizard in 4th grade. An iguana to be exact. A self-conscious one at that.  It must be tough to start a new school for a shy kid who knows so little about the world. We can feel his worry and fear, his anxiety and joy, and know that others have nerve-wracking experiences similar to our own.  Through a focus on the emotions of the character, the author captures her reader.

Ultimately, Iggy is like the rest of us. He has a need to belong, to have friends, to have fun, and have the loving security of his family. He could choose to manipulate but doesn’t; to gossip but turns the conversation towards a positive direction instead; to make fun of others but instead adapts his own style to their own. He could be scheming of how to sneak out of the house to play with new friends but, instead, he asks his mother (and she delays a decision until dinner when the family is together). Iggy may not know it, but he has a habit of making good choices.

“Iggy placed an invitation on everyone’s desk...even Bud’s! Iggy knew he couldn’t leave anyone out. That would be mean.”

In some ways, it is reminiscent of the old television show, Leave it to Beaver. But this story has very modern themes of a surfer-dude turtle, a not-so-nice Kat (with a K), a family suffering the loss of their mother, and a first crush. And in stark contrast of recent books that focus on the meanness and weakness of their characters, our “underdog” lizard is full of optimism and Hope that naturally comes out of a loving family and a school with good authority figures.

Do note that, prominent in the plot, is Iggy’s crush on Liz and his attempts to win her over as “his girl”. This may become a factor with younger advanced readers and families should discuss it together.  Those families who follow the Theology of the Body or Purity Pledges may find it an opportunity to discuss boy-girl relations in an age-appropriate manner with their children.

Coupled with an audio book, this duo has a place in the home, homeschool and traditional classroom. For those reading at home, the availability of the audio book simulates being in a class and having the teacher read to the class. There are questions asked to test comprehension at just the right points in the story. In the traditional school, this may be useful to coax reluctant readers, for tutoring, or as a standard in the school library reading lab. In any situation, children who are having difficulty mastering their readings with vocabulary, pronunciation and timing will find the audio helpful. For skilled readers, listening to the CD while reading along in the book adds fun and diversion. The story is entertaining and characters realistic (even if they are reptiles!).  We highly recommend this set for average 9-11 year old readers,  knowing it can be enjoyed by any child who simply enjoys a good book!

Face it, if your child has been bringing home books demonstrating a negative outlook or manipulative behaviour of unpopular kids, they’ve already been introduced to meanness and skirt-chasing. Steer them towards this book series instead! Iggy the Iguana is a great alternative for parents who are unsure if some recent book releases match well with their family values (Do-Re-Mi's). We recommend teachers add this to their reading list to provide concerned parents with a wider range of alternatives.

(Want to know more about iguanas and other lizards? See what Animal Planet has to say http://animal.discovery.com/guides/reptiles/reptiles.html  Also see the author's website at http://www.iggytheiguana.com/ )

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief (the movie)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief (the movie) (Released February 12, 2010)


Litland.com recommends for teenagers and adults. It lightly deals with issues of single parenting, abusive and absentee parents. Sexual humour is threaded throughout. The characters are drugged in a scene which visually portrays the essence of being high and enjoying it.

While Litland.com is not in the habit of reviewing movies (check out www.pluggedinonline if you want a movie review), we are planning to upload the review for this book soon and thought viewing the movie on its premier night would be a fun introduction to the series.


What can we say; it is Greek mythology after all! So parents who had the privilege of a traditional education reading the classics should recall all of the issues that could be dealt with in any story based upon Greek myths. Starting to get worried about whether the content is appropriate for your kids? Don’t! At least don’t worry about the older kids. For the most part, the movie presents only that information from the myths that is necessary to understand their society, the Gods and the hierarchy. The wealth of accurate mythological detail in the movie is amazing and makes it fun to guess what may be coming next. But it’s not squeaky clean... don’t be surprised at the sexual connotations throughout, beginning early on with the daughters of Aphrodite in bikinis inviting the boys to their party. Grover the Satyr is lady crazy and, when the threesome lands in Las Vegas, he is surrounded by women pawing at him and planning to marry him. The Las Vegas scenes include some cleavage-revealing dresses but only one film shot up close. And Persephone in the Underworld (hell) makes very clear what she intends to do with Grover.


In the book, the main character Percy is a 12 year old boy. In the movie, the main characters appear to be much older teens and Grover chases women, not girls. This film very clearly deals with older teen/young adult issues, not those of middle school boys.


We may have missed it, but only caught two uses of profanity (a--) and a sexual reference early on (the Gods came down to earth to “hook up” with mortals). Visually, a few of the scenes are pretty intense and the sword or knife fights show cutting of skin and bleeding. But it is primarily the sexuality of the film that renders it inappropriate for elementary and middle school children. The Las Vegas scene went on for too long. It begins with the three main characters being drugged and experiencing being high in a way that appealing to the senses. Although the characters eventually figure out why it is happening and escape, there is no moral lesson learned from the incident. It then proceeds into campy Vegas action of women who, although clothed, are intended to be sexual objects. Grover begins to act more like a rap artist chasing the ladies, and later ladies are all over him. It is as if they took adult content and attempted to down-age it by eliminating most (not all) close-up views of body parts and using tween-friendly vibrant colors for the set. Nothing about this scene fit in with the rest of the movie.

A new look at single mom’s and absentee dads. The movie’s setting portrays Percy and his mother living with a drunken, unemployed and abusive stepfather. Percy does not understand why his mother remains with the man but the reason is made known to us early on (and is another example of the humour woven throughout!). He holds resentment for his father abandoning them. Later, we meet Luke who holds much more resentment towards his own father, instructing Percy to “kick his a—“ if he sees him. While in the beginning, it may look like a diss-the-dad film, don’t let this fool you. Pay attention to how Poseidon is watching over Percy throughout, longing to be with his son but unable to for reasons beyond his control. It is also clear that Percy’s mother and father loved each other very much. Which leads to the very strong relationship between Percy and his mother.

The movie’s storyline and dialogue emphasizes the classic virtues, loyalty to family and friends, civic duty, honesty, and self-discipline. It is very funny throughout too. All aspects of the production quality are excellent and the action is fast-paced. And so, with the exception of the Las Vegas scene and the sexual connotations that pop up elsewhere, it demonstrates good character and was very enjoyable.

Interestingly, we sat between three boys of about 9-10 years in age, and two older teenage girls. Most of the audience were families or tween/teen children, although some younger children did attend. The boys did not laugh or respond during the entire film, while the rest of the audience (including those two teen girls next to us) clearly enjoyed it immensely. Let’s face it; the boys probably didn’t know enough about the Greek myths to enjoy it, and were too young to enjoy the humour too. So if your elementary or middle school children want your money to see this movie, keep them at home and rent them the DVD for Inkheart instead. Send your teens to the theatre to see this movie.


And tell them not to leave the theatre until after the credits, or they will miss the surprise ending!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Philosopher's corner: obligation to kindness

A man in an old red car is legally parked on the street side of a curb. The other side of the curb is the parking lot to our Haggen’s grocery storey. An extremely long tractor-trailer pulled into the parking lot, attempting to deliver its products to the store. Unable to make the narrow turn to exit, the trailer and semi-tractor were stuck in the lot, parallel to the red car.


The truck driver and two customers worked together to permit room for their vehicles to leave. However, the trailer still risked hitting the red car in an attempt to exit. The driver even got out of his cab to take in the amount of space available to him, then returned to try again. Although masterfully inching it this way and that, the tractor-trailer could not back out of the lot with the red car in its way.

The driver of the red car sat in it with a big grin. A customer walked over to him and spoke for a moment, then left. The driver remained in his car, refusing to move it out of the way. Parked legally on the street, he had a right to be there. Meanwhile, the truck driver who has made every attempt possible to cooperate with customers and get his rig out of the way, is still stuck.

The driver of the red car, full of himself in his own mental power trip, beamed in delight.

At what point does a person’s rights or entitlement supercede the right of another person to be treated with kindness and understanding? At what point does one’s rights or entitlement absolve them from any responsibility of kindness towards another human being? The answer to both questions is NEVER!

The founders of our great nation created a government that recognized the equality of all human beings. It did not say all rights were equal, however. There is a natural structure, a priority of lesser and greater rights, and lesser and greater wrongs.

As a member of society, we have an inherent obligation of kindness and civility towards one another. These are the fabric of society’s tapestry and, without them, it unravels. Important lessons for our children and students to learn now as they are formed to be responsible citizens of good character.

Why is character formation important to society? The Seattle beating

Why is character formation important to society? We saw an example just recently in the Seattle transit station. You can watch it yourself here: http://www.kirotv.com/news/22521498/detail.html   and  here  Three large men employed as security personnel stood by and watched a 15-year old girl savagely beaten by another girl. The bully repeatedly kicks and stomps on her head.  Let’s put this into context. The victim has first approached the security guards telling them she thought this group of girls was going to “jump” her. They would not assist. So she stood between them hoping to be safe. But one of the girls attacked her right in the middle of the men, beat her, and they stood within arms reach doing nothing. Although called security guards, apparently their job is to observe and report only; no action.

At what point, though, does being on the job mean a person stops ceases to be human? If they had not been on the job, would they still have stood around and watched another human being attacked, particularly a child? On the tape, they do not show any body language that indicates concern or emotion for the victim.

Yet in their personal lives, they likely profess openly to be caring and possibly have strong opinions about how citizens should act.

Their acts demonstrate a lack of integrity to say the least. Of greater concern is to have people stationed in a position presumed to offer public service, and show no concern for their civic duty as citizens first.

As there have been no reports in the media otherwise, we presume these three men have retained their jobs. But what if they had acted responsibly and helped this teenager...would they have been fired for being good citizens?

This convoluted logic develops from the domino effect of a lack of good character in individuals coupled with poor reasoning skills. And unfortunately this lack of good citizenship and compassion is not uncommon in our society today. While there are many causes to it, certainly the lack of character formation during childhood has its effects upon society as a whole. In past decades, children read stories whose characters demonstrated good choices, or remorse and lessons learned from bad choices. Stories in which the amount of detail given regarding bad elements was only that needed for the reader to understand the situation or peril at hand. Today we see an over-emphasis on details of gore, violence and sexuality that moves the focus to those elements rather than the good qualities and moral of the storyline.

Join us in our mission to restore good books that support the character formation of children to the top of every reading list! http://www.litland.com/

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

So what do we think? The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper's Nest





The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper’s Nest
Lerangis, Peter. (2010) The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper’s Nest. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 978-0-545-06047-9. See www.litland.com  for full review.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! No wait, that was the Wizard of Oz! But our African adventure in The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper’s Nest does have the occasional viper, hyena, and creepy crawly cross its pages sufficiently to remind us we aren’t in Kansas any more!

Although varied across the different countries, the African tribal cultures have some similarities. As collectivist societies, they believe each person is part of a circle of relations. Past, present and future in time are as one. Native spiritual beliefs mix with the modern (usually Christian or Muslim), resulting in a deep belief in and attachment to the existence of a soul and its import to the community as a whole. In Book 7, Lerangis has integrated just enough of the language and “ways” of the native Africans to create a sense of authenticity for its characters and plot setting, while still keeping the story sufficiently “light” so that its energy and pace can build as Amy and Dan succeed from one narrow escape to another.

Similar to book 3, Lerangis has filled these pages with subtle humour. Puns like Uncle Alastair being “the whac-a-mole of reliability. One minute he’d pop up in your life as protector and best friend. The next minute, he’d betray you and you’d want to bonk him down again.” add fun to the realistic dialogue of the characters. 

Newly added shadowy figures continue to intrigue us, wondering when they will pop up again. The reader has tidbits of knowledge that Amy and Dan do not possess because we hear the self-talk of other clan members. This, in a Hitchcock-like style, creates tension for readers as we think we know who they should (and should not) trust.

Looking at the dialogue between Amy and Dan pages 84-85, culminating in  “Mom and Dad would be proud of you. They valued life.” (p. 85), sometimes the advice the siblings give one another in this series seems so simple, and yet profound, it can almost serve as a guide for parents or teachers to use proactively teaching conflict resolution and collaboration skills. Details such as these are important to illuminate for those schools who have integrated character education or leadership themes into their curriculum.

When considering how good character and virtues are demonstrated in a story, it is important to consider what its main characters choose not to do, as well as their actions and words. Other questions to ask...does the story illuminate why the character makes a certain choice? Do the characters learn from their mistakes? In The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper’s Nest, this occurs throughout the story. Watching Amy and Dan mature in their own wisdom helps the reader to better differentiate wisdom and virtue. This is an excellent book and highly recommended!

Monday, February 1, 2010

The 39 Clues Book 7 Vipers Nest is here!

Yes, the newest book, # 7 in the 39 Clues series, has released! It can be purchased immediately at http://litland.parentsduty.com/Buy-Books.php  . If you want to meet its author, Peter Lerangis, check out his Facebook page for his book tour. Our review will be coming soon...don't miss it!!