Academy Award Winning short animated film

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"

Want to see an amazing little animated film that is all about books AND won an Academy Award this week? Click THIS link!

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, "Morris Lessmore" is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a new narrative experience that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. "Morris Lessmore" is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is one of five animated short films that will be considered for outstanding film achievements of 2011 in the 84th Academy Awards ®.

Film Awards Won by "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
To date, "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" film has drummed up fans all over the world taking home the following awards:
· Cinequest Film Fest: Best Animated Short
· Palm Springs International ShortFest: Audience Favorite Award
· SIGGRAPH: Best in Show

Hunger Games hubub is ramping up

Here's a link to the official music video for the film by Taylor Swift and featuring The Civil Wars. Who even knew they did an "official" music video for films these days?


Swift, a self-described Hunger Games fangirl, told MTV that when she first received a call from the studio about writing a song, she "immediately read the book in, like, two days and fell in love with it. I fell in love with the characters, fell in love with the world that Suzanne Collins had created. I was just so immersed in it.... When I got the call, I thought from what I'd heard about the movie, 'It's an action movie, right? We're probably going to be writing a song that's like, "We're going to win!" ' And then I read the book, and I thought, 'No, we're going to have to write sort of a death lullaby, it's so different from what I thought.' See full video below for more.


For "Mockingjay-pin possessors," Entertainment Weekly showcased the songs and performers that will be on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games.


And here's the video of Taylor talking about being a fangirl on MTV.

Get More: Music News

Stupid Fast

My librarian friend Ms. Yingling in Ohio recommended this book for a Cybils award, and by jove, it won. So of course I had to read it right away, And for once a book I want for my Kindle was available at the library WHEN I WANTED IT! It's a miracle. And now that I've read this book, I think it's even more of a miracle that it was available. Makes me think not as many boys as girls have Kindles.

Felton has pretty much been a nerd his whole life. He's had some bad stuff go down, too, like his father committing suicide and then him finding the body. But he's been getting by. As long as he keeps his head down. Suddenly, however, even with his head down he's bigger than most of the other kids his age, and it turns out he's fast on his feet. Stupid fast. This gets Felton noticed by the jocks, kids who'd mercilessly teased him previously.

At the same time Felton's school life is looking up, his home life is falling apart. His mother is spiraling down into mental illness and neglecting both him and his younger brother who is also, understandably, freaking out.

Luckily, there are people around who generally help Felton figure out how to move forward.

A beautiful character study and a good amount of tension will make this popular with girls and boys. Again, too much swearing, although also not beyond normal teenage swearing, for the MS library. An excellent choice for HS collections.

Where Things Come Back, John Corey Whaley - Printz winner

This is one of the last award winners I wanted to read this year, and it was quite excellent. This author reminds me a lot of John Green - super smart, in a way that doesn't hurt my feelings but makes me realize I'm just smart enough, but I'm nowhere near super smart. This book is also funny and sad and thought provoking and a little other-worldly almost Not in a sci-fi kind of way, but in an alternate way of thinking kind of way. Kind of. It's hard to explain. But I definitely see how it won both the debut author award and the Printz. Really great story. Would love to talk with others who've read it about the ending. Let me know if you've read it.

Too much swearing (although not really beyond average kid or gratuitous swearing) for the MS library, but great for HS libraries.

The Cybils Awards were announced today!

The Cybils awards are given each year by bloggers for the year's best children's and young adult titles.

Here's the whole list, including book apps this year!
enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens would be 200 years old today. Honestly, he's probably just as glad he's dead at this point. The great thing, however, is that even though he's not still around, his writings are! My favorites are A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. I loved the play I saw this winter that mixed up Sherlock Holmes and A Christmas Carol.

Do you have a favorite Dickens novel? Leave me a comment!