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A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Analysis
“A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez is sometimes subtitled “A tale for children”. This short story reminded me of middle grade novel Skellig by British author David Almond. Sure enough, Almond has said in interview that he was influenced by the 1960 Colombian short story, and others have […]
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Werewolves In Storytelling
I’ve previously taken a close look at wolves in literature, specifically in children’s stories. Werewolves are a separate archetype from wolves and play a different storytelling role. In folklore and fairytale, werewolves are lunar figures which stand in for cyclic time, alongside. dragons, serpents and related creatures. oh no you’re suddenly a werewolf! Except you’re […]
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When Everyone Else Is A Ghost
You may not believe in ghosts to enjoy ghost stories. I don’t either. But once you understand how ghost stories work, you’ll understand how tools of persuasion are used in other realms. Studying the ghost story is a fun way to study the techniques of persuasion. Ghost stories have plenty of other functions, too. There […]
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Ghost Stories Are Not About Ghosts
What’s the point of ghost stories? A really good and scary ghost story focuses me. It pulls me from my ordinary, self-focused fears and connects me with something older and more mysterious. Claire Cronin at Rumpus The ghost story was designed for the short form. It emerged a long time ago, from folklore and oral […]
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Monster House Film Study
Monster House is a 2006 animated feature length film for a middle grade audience. The script was written by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. Harmon and Schrab had collaborated on Laser Fart previously, a film which I have not seen and will not be adding to my watch list. Monster House is already 12 years old, but the […]
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Carrie by Stephen King Film Study
I want to talk about the 1976 movie based on Stephen King’s 1974 (breakout) novel, Carrie. Critics don’t like the new one much. The criticism is mostly that the remake was unnecessary because the first adaptation was so good. The original has a slower, more sinister pace and the main thing the reboot did was […]
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Shirley The Medium Courage The Cowardly Dog
“Shirley The Medium” is an original recomposition of elements from diverse sources: Pandora’s Box, the Ancient Greek Myth A Christmas Carol, Dickens Modern TV psychics STORY STRUCTURE OF SHIRLEY THE MEDIUM SHORTCOMING Courage is unable to tell Eustace not to open the box. He is a dog and can’t speak English. Besides that, the adults don’t […]
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The Demon In The Mattress Courage The Cowardly Dog
In “The Demon In The Mattress” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog we have the full moon, the midnight ‘witching’ hour and a comic horror story about possession. The idea of an evil mattress is of course horror fantasy, but comes from the real world mistrust we have about sleeping on other people’s beds. Here […]
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Big Foot Courage The Cowardly Dog
In the “Big Foot” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog we have a story which makes use of the legend of Big Foot. The great thing about the horror comedy genre is that writers not only have access to a treasure trove of metaphors and symbols — they also have access to urban legends and […]
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The Foolish Wishes by Charles Perrault
The Foolish Wishes passed me by as a kid, but there are no shortage of tales about characters granted 3 wishes by some sort of genie/supernatural being.
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Compare and Contrast: Twilight and Pride and Prejudice
Is Twilight the modern Pride and Prejudice? There are some interesting parallels. I listened to a lecture from the Kid You Not Podcast in which Clementine and Lauren discuss the appeal of dark paranormal romance among teenage girls. This reminded me of a lecture delivered by La Trobe University’s David Beagley. Fiction For Young Adults, Lecture […]
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The Appeal Of Dark Paranormal Romance
Paranormal romance is a literary subgenre of the romance novel. A type of speculative fiction, paranormal romance focuses on romance and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation.
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Norton’s Hut by John Marsden Picture Book Analysis
Norton’s Hut is an out-of-print Australian picture book, the second picture book written by John Marsden, and illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe. The following notes are from Genres In Children’s Literature: Lecture 04: Author and Illustrator Devices presented by David Beagley, La Trobe University, podcast available on iTunes U. PARATEXT When a young group of hikers […]
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Mushrooms In Children’s Illustration
This one goes out to all those mushroom lovers out there.