Our oldest son just turned 7and is knee deep in a world of darts. He’s got a couple of dart guns and jumped like a cat when a pickle is placed behind him when he found out we were reviewing the Dart Zone Enforcer Motorized Belt Blaster. Aside from being a mouthful of a title, this dart gun looks impressive and manages to do so in a compact form that’s very durable.
Continue reading Dart Zone Enforcer Motorized Belt Blaster 40 rounds of fun
So, I’ve only seen one Harry Potter film and that was the release from 2002, The Chamber of Secrets. As an adult watching it, having never read the book I was impressed, but not enough to read the books or see any more films from the characters. Flash forward 14 years and the prequel to the Harry Potter stories is out. But is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
Well, let’s start out by saying that it is a very good film. I knew nothing about the plot and that fact served me quite well as the magic, beasts and characters came into their own. The only thing that I knew about the Harry Potter universe is that a muggle is a non-magical being and that the bulk of the previous Potter films had a kid-centered family focus.
As a review, I don’t mean that as a pejorative, it’s just that from what I saw in Secrets it was aimed at children. The true power of the Potter-Universe hadn’t been discovered at that point. After that film I know that they got more inventive, a little darker at times and much more popular. It only makes sense, as the characters in the film got older, so did their fan base.
So, is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
There are elements of the film that will be great for 8 year old children. However, on the whole, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is fine for 10 year olds and in some cases 9 year old. It’s rated PG-13 and is really on the soft side of that rating. The film is such a soft PG-13 one wonders if the producers asked for it so that audiences wouldn’t think that it was too soft. To this point: it’s worth noting what worldwide audiences have their ‘official’ age recommendations as. ‘G’ in Japan, Netherlands 9 and 12 in the UK/Canada and elsewhere.
Our 7 year old would’ve been too bothered by some of the action sequences which are fraught with tension. For parents there isn’t any discernible instance of bad language. The lead character, Newt does say ‘bugger’ a couple of times. However, that’s only offensive if you’re in the UK and even then mildly so in the British colloquial vocabulary.
If our oldest were 9, I would’ve stopped watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and immediately gone home and gotten him. For that age (given proper adult supervision…..) this is a great film, jammed with humor, good/bad decisions, plus a couple solid references to Hogwarts.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is Harry Potter without the kid-centric title figure. The content in the film is A-Ok with ages 10 and up, as well as adults-who are willing to grade the film on a curve. Take the middle school and upper elementary kids, they’ll love this film and you’ll be the cool parent, just possibly enough o make them forgive you for the dreck that you thought they would’ve liked. This one is the real family deal.
An Excessive Alphabet, Avalanches of As to Zillions of Zs looks familiar and that’s OK. It’s written by Judi Barrett, with illustrations by Ron Barrett, the team behind the children’s classic, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Even if you’ve never read that book there is a comfort food quality in An Excessive Alphabet that makes readers feel that everything is going to be alright.
Continue reading An Excessive Alphabet is proof that it’s OK to have more
I’m a Let’s Play Ambassador and was compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. My wife sometimes jokes with me because I don’t remember much of my childhood. I remember things here and there, but they mostly revolve around play, some neighborhood friends and the parks we used to frequent. It’s selective memory-and I do try to remember the feelings that my wife so desperately want to hear about. However, when the rubber hits the road I always remember the fun, the play.
It was those horrible games of soccer on the field that was too short. If you kicked the ball too high on one side of the field it would go into the fenced in dog area, kick it the other direction and it would go into the creek. The only thing missing from this game of soccer apparently was a crew of Lost Boys and a gasoline shortage.
As as adult I wrote down what I remember about play-and how I can make it better-and more memorable for our kids. Check out the article over at the Let’s Play website.
Kid Lit is a fun genre. It’s also one that people who don’t have someone in that demographic might not know. Keith Baker and his peas are one that we just discovered. It’s the soul sibling to Homer Simpson when he said, ‘give peas a chance’. Then Mr. Burns asked, ‘how do you want to get the peas’? ‘With a fork’..,but that’s another story. Hap-pea All Year is a kidlit book that teaches pre-k through early elementary school kids the months of the year by showing peas having fun.
Continue reading Hap-pea all Year, a monthly, where’s-the-pea #KidLit joyfest
Voltron Legendary Defender is a five-issue mini-series from Lion Forge Comics that takes place immediately after episode 108, Rebirth, from the latest Voltron series that’s airing on Netflix. The content in the comic book is great for ages 9 and up because it teaches teamwork and friendship, but also has action and space travel to keep kids interested.
Continue reading Voltron, Legendary Defender, #4 review
Let’s look at one of the most anticipated comics for us this year. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is easily one of the best all age comics you can pick up any month. Contrast that with the fact that there really isn’t a consistent Batman comic book that’s great for young readers. Put the two franchises together for a 6-issue run where they have to work together and you have Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, a mini-series that kids 6 and older must pick up.
Continue reading Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1, cowabunga indeed
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The middle of November, relatives are coming into town or you are going on the road. What are the best all age comics that you need to make the road trip more tolerable? It could be a comic book or two at your otherwise comic-free house to entertain small people. There are some classic ones like Simpsons Comics and Sonic hitting stores, both of which are always dependable.
First off let’s start with the teens. There are two cool comic books that might fly under their radar. If you have a 13 year old boy or older and you want them to feel at home pick up either one of these two. He Man Thundercats #2 brings the two 80’s franchises together in a mash up that parents-in-the know will dig and teens who like middle Earth style action will also. The trailer for Kong: Skull Island is everything I hoped it would be. The comic book Kong of Skull Island has some incredibly impressive monster art, smashing, jungle scenes that are great for those same ages.
For the true all age comics there are seemingly sets of everything. There are two Archies. Archie #14 from Archie Comics is the more contemporary, updated version and Archie Comic Super Special #7 is the thicker, ‘classic’ Archie.
There are three Doctor Who comics, not including the final issue of Supremacy of the Cybermen min-series.
Scooby got a reboot, did you hear? Yeah, Scooby Apocalypse is the zombie Scooby that’s good for teen readers. Their most recent issue came out last week. This week sees Scooby Doo Where Are You #75 and Daphne has to get all warrior princess on some ghosts in order to help the team. This is a classic and every issue can be included as one of the best all age comics when you see it.
Our 5 year old may not know it, but he’s super excited about Donald Quest, a five issue mini-series starring steampunk Donald and his partner Mickey. Can our 5 year old read? No. But he loves looking at Donald Duck and this one is right up his alley. If Donald isn’t your scene there is also a new Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse and Darkwing Duck available. The music in the podcast is from Halloween.
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Action/Science Fiction
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