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A young boy sitting on the ground reading a children's board book

Picking Up Where They Leave Off… an Interview with Randy Testa

Last week, I wrote about a disturbing trend I see in children’s movies. For this week’s post, I asked Randy Testa, Vice President of Education and Professional Development at Walden Media, to share some reflections on the process of adapting children’s books to screen. Randy Testa spent six years as a third grade teacher, earned…

Cover art for The Last Holiday by Gil Scott-Heron

The Last Holiday

The Last Holiday Gil Scott-Heron Grove Press, January 2012 384 pages $25.00 “The first change that takes place is in your mind. You have to change your mind before you change the way you’re livin’ and the way you move.” —1991 We remember him as the bluesologist, the godfather of rap. But for a long…

Photograph of the silhouette of a mother holding her child at the beach

Knocking Off Mom (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love G-Rated Murder)

I first noticed it when my daughter was three years old, but I kept my mouth shut. Who was I to spoil her enjoyment of classic children’s movies? Maybe I was imagining the trend. Still, once I’d started seeing it, I saw it everywhere…right there in front of me, in movie after heartwarming children’s movie….

Image of a tree with the sun setting through it's branches, and a beautiful pink and purple sky

Under the Influence

When you were in school, did you ever do one of those projects (usually in a foreign languageclass, where you’re getting the hang of basic vocabulary) in which you invent a family tree? You know, the works: Judi Dench is your grandmother, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is your dad, and so on. (If you didn’t,…