Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 2

by Bonggamom

Today was Day 2 of the SSS (Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp), and it was Wonder Red day. 3Po and Jammy cut out their Wonder Red masks (surprisingly, no gender issues there, I'm happy that my boys are in touch with their feminine side) and happily settled down to watch the SUPER WHY 3 Little Pigs episode once again. Here's a video of them interacting with Wonder Red as she sounds out the words TALL and BALL:

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Super Why! gets kids down to the letter 
by L.A. Story

A couple of months ago, I was tapping away on the computer while my daughter was watching a show on PBS.

All of a sudden I heard her yelling out letters: E! I!

It was great, because we'd really started focusing on the alphabet, and I was eager to see which program was encouraging her to talk back to the screen -- in a good way.

I turned around and saw what I now consider to be the newest Fab Four: Alpha Pig, Wonder Red, Princess Presto and the front man, er, boy himself, Super Why!

So when PBS Kids organized a meet and greet for Los Angeles mom bloggers at its local outlet KCET, I was ready to jump in a Why Flyer with CC and make an afternoon of it.

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As the music started with the opening credits, I smiled in recognition of how much the Harry Potter movies have premeated into our culture. Here is a scene of children arriving for school term and the music is so similar to the whimsical children's choral piece that opens the Harry Potter movies that I laughed out loud and thought the producer a cheeky monkey for slipping in that subliminal message! I wondered what other things they might borrow to make Hercule Poirot into Harry Potter! Anyway, our super sleuth has been invited to Meadowbank Girls School by his friend the headmistress Miss Bulstrode, played by Harriet Walter, who Austenites will remember portrayed Fanny Dashwood in the 1996 movie adaptation Sense and Sensibility.

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The Cat Among the Pigeons, the new Hercule Poirot mystery on PBS's Mystery was as satisfying an Agatha Cristie mystery as I've seen in a long time.

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Masterpiece Mystery continues with Six by Agatha - six adaptations of Agatha Christie novels featuring her famous sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, beginning on Sunday June 21 through July 26 on PBS .

Six by Agatha   

Learning with PBS Kids and SUPER WHY

I've always maintained that watching TV can be a positive, educational experience for children. Actually, make that: "watching PBS is a positive, educational experience for children". There's a lot of good quality programming on many kids' networks these days, but as far as I'm concerned, PBS sets the gold standard in educational TV. A lot of it has to do with my own experiences; I learned to read watching the two original PBS Kids programs: Sesame Street and The Electric Company. And because they're noncommercial, airing on nonprofit stations, I really get the sense that they put kids' interests first. I've put absolute trust in the PBS Kids brand: if it's a PBS show, I let my kids watch it.

by Ms. Place

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Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit is a fable for our times. Originally published as a serial novel between 1855 and 1857, it could be inspired by the headlines of today's economic crisis. It is all about money - how society and government deal with its abundance and shortcomings - and the effect on the individual. If you think we should be more socially evolved since this tale appeared one hundred and fifty years ago, think again. Sadly, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."[1] Too true!

Women and Children Last

'Ello, Gu'vnors, and welcome to the Tales of Charles Dickens! A hearty thank you to the folks at PBS for giving me this opportunity.

I'm usually a proponent of true-to the book adaptations, but "Oliver Twist" has entered the popular consciousness to such an extent that it's appropriate for new versions to take liberties. After all, if we can easily imagine an onscreen "Oliver" where the characters burst into songs describing pickpocketing, prostitution, murder, and abuse, we can surely handle a few plot elisions and shifted emphases.

What qualities make a successful adaptation of a classic novel for you? Are you a purist who dislikes any deviation from the sacred text? Or will you tolerate variations on the plot if the innate nature of the novel is not harmed?

Stories of episodic nature with easily classifiable characters seem to do well as screenplays--the work of Charles Dickens comes to mind. Wuthering Heights on the other hand is a story without category, defying conventional narrative structure, acted out by characters of ambiguous motivations. A variation of some sort seems almost necessary to provide the audience with a clear telling of this complex novel. I was therefore curious to see how the new Masterpiece Theater adaptation would play out.