No hub about children's books would be complete without mentioning Where The Wild Things Are by by Maurice Sendak.  As you know, a movie has been made about the book.  At first glance it looks like something kids will really love.  However I just watched a fascinating "behind the scenes" look at the making of the movie and I can honestly tell you that this movie will also be cherished by adults.

Spike Jonze is the director and as one of the people associated with the movie said "Spike attracts people who are like him.  I knew a lot of people like that in the sixties; a bit wild and a bit quirky.  But true artists.  That's what Spike is."

With actors like Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hare and Forrest Whitaker providing the voices for the characters it's obvious that this is a special film.  These actors didn't wear the big furry suits however they acted their parts as if they did.  If a scene required a character to run while speaking the actors actually ran while saying their lines.

This movie wasn't made like most animated films where you have actors sitting inside a closed recording booth wearing headsets and speaking into a microphone.  Instead, the actors were on the scene (in this case, in the woods) where many scenes took place.

What I found especially fascinating about the filming of the movie was that Spike Jonze did most of his work barefoot or wearing socks.  Likewise, I saw a scene between James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hare where James was lying on a sofa and Catherine was a few feet away performing a housekeeping task.  Interestingly enough, James had his pants rolled up and was barefoot, as was Catherine.  It made me think that Spike is a laid back type of director whose personality serves to put others on the set at ease.

Also, the actors, while on the set, wore colored headbands that had wires coming out of the top.  Each headband (which actually looked like colored tape) had the initials of the character being portrayed written on it.  Not sure what that was about - if you know, leave a comment.

All in all, I was left with this statement made by one of the producers:

"What is it that's so fascinating about people running around in furry suits?  Well, it's more than that.  It's the outstanding cinematography, the quirky script and the fantastic acting."

Nuf said.

The boy in the striped pyjamas is the fourth novel by Irish author John Boyne and his first for children. The book is a touching story about an unusual friendship between 2 boys in horrific circumstances. The book is also a reminder of man’s inhuman capabilities!

The protagonist of the story is a 9 year old boy, Bruno who lives in Berlin during the World War II. He shares a 5-storey house with his parents and his 12 year old sister, Gretel as well as numerous servants. His father is always in a fancy uniform and at the beginning of the book; he has had a very important visitor called the Fury.  Consequently, Bruno’s father gets a new uniform and they have to move to a new place.

Bruno is unhappy about the move as he has to leave his school, friends, house, his grandparents and the city of Berlin with all its joyous crowds. The new house is much smaller and full of soldiers with nobody for little Bruno to play with. Soon, he notices a town of people dressed in striped pyjamas from his bedroom window.  On enquiring his father tells him that they are not real people!

Out of boredom and curiosity, one day Bruno begins to follow the wire fence separating that town from his bedroom and spotting a dot in some distance, gets closer. Only the dot is another boy and happy to finally find a prospective friend, Bruno introduces himself. The Jewish boy is named Shmuel and they meet every day at the spot to talk. Finally, for several reasons, Bruno climbs under the fence so he could explore Shmuels world.

Though initially it looks like Boyne is rather clumsy with trying to write from a child’s point of view, the storyline soon effortlessly transports you into Bruno’s worldview. The story telling is elegant and emotional with an ending quite cleverly gross in a fairy tale style!

Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship is delivered with quite a neat awareness of the illogicality between a child’s naïve egocentric ways, his loyalty to his family and his ignorance to any forms of discrimination. The subtitle of the book is “A Fable” and quite so in a similar manner like all fables do, a child is used to uncover the truths of an adult world.

With its captivating narrative style of a 9 year old and the emotions it evokes for a child growing up in that war torn world, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is sure to become another children’s book that adults enjoy too!

The Graveyard Book is an amazing tale about the terrors and triumphs of growing up. The book is at once mysterious and revealing, predictable and completely lunatic! It has become a modern classic for children with all the mystery, wisdom, excitement and dark adventures in a single chapter, putting even a potter fan to shame!
 
The book in its own way pays homage to Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories, though lightly, with a similar delight in storytelling. While Kipling’s Mowgli grew up with animals; Gaiman’s Bod grows up with ghosts, witches and the dead in the graveyard.
 
A family is viciously murdered and the only survivor, a small child is left in the graveyard.  He is then raised by a dead witch, a vampire and the ghosts of the dead. No doubt Neil Gaiman thinks his books for adults are not half as scary as the ones he writes for children! Bod gets the freedom of the entire graveyard and his friends include a poet, Nehemiah Trot and the witch, Liza Hempstock. Nobody Owens or Bod for short is the protégé of Silas who is a rather solitary nocturnal creature with supernatural mental and physical strengths.
 
Soon, growing up in the graveyard Bod has learnt to fade so he can be invisible in plain view. He has also learnt to call for help in French, night-gaunt and Morse code. But will these accomplishments in the graveyard help him with his life outside? Jack, the killer with a knife who massacred Bod’s family and the mystifying convocation are still hunting for him, can he use what he learned here to his advantage with his human peers?

When asked whether he wrote this book for children, Gaiman says that it is not a children’s book but children are sure to enjoy it. The book is about making a family and life and death, so it is bound to be well received by adults as well. The book begins with an 18 month old Bod, who is 4 years old by the second chapter and by chapter 8; he is all of 16 years! With a lot of scary stuff in the book throughout, it is equally entertaining for adults.

This witty and magical book and all the terrifying adventures Bod had are sure to leave your young ones thrilled. The dangers and excitement in the life of a small boy raised by the dead is sure to captivate many young imaginations!