PBS has a show called Fizzy’s Lunch Lab that teaches kids and families about good nutrition. Their band, Freezer Burn, has released a special single for the holidays.
Tag Archives: kids
Mystery Contest for Halloween 2009
If you want to enter the mystery contest, just finish the mystery we’ve started below by entering your part of the story into a comment. We do not need any personal information about you. You can just enter your name or your online nickname. We don’t need an email address or anything else. The contest is open to all writers of any age and skill level. Have fun and take the story in any direction you like. There’s no real prize other than getting some attention for your writing on this site.
We’ll post the winner in our blog sometime right near Halloween.
Good luck.
Mystery Contest Winner
The winner of our April 2009 Mystery Contest is Pippa, age 10!
Congratulations to the winner! Pippa has written an imaginative and interesting continuation of the story that is a pleasant surprise.
Riley’s Crypt
The trees of the forest bent over sideways in the howling wind. The white disk of the full moon shimmered behind the swaying branches. Southbay Forest was being battered by the storm. Rain began to pelt the ground. It was an altogether nasty evening.
Riley Hitchens made his way along the muddy path with dread. The lantern’s feeble light swung wildly back and forth across the narrow way as his fingers gripped its handle tightly.
It was just an old crypt. That’s all. Nothing but a pile of old stones with a rusty iron door. That door was clanging in the wind now. It had disturbed Riley’s sleep.
So now poor Riley staggered in his soaking nightclothes toward the crypt that was creating such a din.
A wolf howled.
Riley stopped in his soggy tracks and glanced behind him. A shape flashed between the trees. He lurched forward and bolted down the mud path toward the old stone crypt.
He burst through the half-open door and sucked the dank air into his lungs. His mud-caked slippers echoed in the stone chamber. The rain pounded the forest outside. Just ahead, Riley could make out the dim shape of the tunnel entrance.
He stopped and felt the cold sweat of terror at the back of his neck.
From far down the dark winding way of the tunnel, underneath the raging of the storm, came the delicate sound of… music.
The winner’s story continues from this point…
Storybook: There’s a Moose Loose in the Caboose
By RG Johnson
THERE’S A MOOSE LOOSE IN THE CABOOSE
ON A TRAIN THAT IS FILLED WITH PRUNE JUICE
IN A VOICE OF DESPAIR “HOW’D A MOOSE GET IN THERE?”
SAID THE CONDUCTOR WHOSE NAME TAG READ BRUCE
The WotWots: Excellent Pre-School TV Show
Two fantastic, insane and rambunctious little alien characters travel around in a steampunk spaceship. The WotWots is a children’s television show from Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop, the company that did the special effects for Lord of the Rings. This introductory episode shows the two WotWots landing at the zoo to explore the various animals there. The WotWots are very inquisitive and energetic little beings with a great joy for adventure. I like it. It looks really good and the characters are the best I’ve seen in years.
Thanks to Boing Boing for posting this.
Igraine the Brave: Children’s Book About Saving a Castle Full of Books
Here’s a marvelous children’s book for Children’s Book Week. Igraine the Brave is by Cornelia Funke. It’s published by The Chicken House Ltd. Reading ages are 9 – 12.
Princess Igraine dreams of becoming a famous knight just like her great grandfather, but the truth is, life at the family castle is rather boring. Until the nephew of the baroness-next-door shows up. He’s got a dastardly plan to capture the castle and claim as his own the wonderful singing spell books that belong to Igraine’s magician parents. To make matters worse, at the very moment of the siege, her mom and dad botch a spell, turning themselves into pigs! Aided by a Gentle Giant and a Sorrowful Knight, it’s up to Igraine to be brave and save the day–and the books!
The whole idea of defending a castle full of magic books is perfect for a week that celebrates children’s books.
Kids Mystery Contest
Don’t forget the Kids Mystery Contest for April. Write your story entry and if it wins it’ll be posted for all to read right here on the blog.
Storybook: Hannah Banana
By Joshua Ingram
In the deepest jungle of Africa, there lived a family of monkeys. There was a Mama Monkey, and a Papa Monkey, and they had a young daughter named Hannah.
The monkey family lived very happily swinging and playing in the trees and vines. But unfortunately, it wasn’t all play. Papa Monkey had to make sure their home in the canopy was warm and protected.
Mama was responsible for the sewing and cooking of the family’s meals. Hannah helped with the cleaning, but her main chore was to collect all the bananas and other fruit for the monkey family’s meals.
Storybook: Gentian’s Grumpy Day
by Kristen Collier (USA)
illustration by Kevin Scott Collier
There is also a Joy the Jellyfish web site.
Gentian the Great White Shark was grumpy. Nobody wanted to approach him today! Fish fled from his path. Joy the Jellyfish saw the commotion. She gulped and then approached the out of sorts shark.
Storybook: Fairy of the Dawn – An Epic Fairy Tale
This is an epic fairy tale that reworks the classic Grimm’s story, ‘The Water of Life,’ into a grand Nordic tale of magic, goddesses, fairies and heroes. Go on an epic quest with the young son of an emperor to find the magic of the Fairy of the Dawn.
Fairy of the Dawn
By John Brookes
There was once an emperor, very great and mighty, and he ruled over an empire so large that no one knew where it began and where it ended. But if nobody could tell the exact extent of his Sovereignty everybody was aware that the emperor’s right eye laughed, while his left eye wept. One or two men of valour had the courage to go and ask him the reason of this strange fact, but he only laughed and said nothing; and the reason of the deadly enmity between his two eyes was a secret only known to the Monarch himself.
Storybook: The Adventures of Molly and Ho Ho – Moon Balloons
Here’s an ebook version of a children’s story we released in 2000. It’s by David Lawrence Parker and is about a determined little girl with an inventive mind and her kitten, Ho Ho. They take off on a great balloon adventure.
Mystery Contest for April 2009
If you want to enter the mystery contest, just finish the mystery we’ve started below by entering your part of the story into a comment. We do not need any personal information about you. You can just enter your name or your online nickname. We don’t need an email address or anything else. Of course, we are hoping that kids will be the primary contestants since the mystery is a kids mystery. There’s no real prize other than getting a lot of attention for your writing on this site.
We’ll post the winner in our blog sometime in May 2009.
Good luck.