The Sandlot

The Sandlot: Film, 2007 Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Director: David M. Evans Run time: 101 minutes

Plot: California, early 1960’s, a young boy by the name of Scotty Smalls moves into the neighborhood.  Quiet and academic, Scotty isn’t one to make friends easily but wants so much to find a place within the world of the neighborhood boys who play baseball…everyday.  With little knowledge on how to catch or throw a ball, Scotty experiences ridicule by these same boys until the leader of the group steps in to give him some pointers.  From there, Scotty begins to make his way into the world of summer, baseball, and friends.  As “boys will be boys”, the film chronicles the antics and good times of this circle of baseball-loving friends who show great loyalty to one another, especially when Scotty gets them all “into a pickle”.  Throw into the mix, the myth of “the beast” that lives behind the homerun wall where baseballs forever disappear and scary stories abound, and these boys are in for one crazy summer.  Hearts are tested, courage is demanded, lessons are learned, as this crew of friends finds out the true meaning of friendship, acceptance, and finally being understood.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This film is a must-see filled with moments that not only touch your heart, but also your funny-bone - laugh out loud scenes that speak to every boy and the memories of his youth.  The beauty of this film exists in telling a simple story of a boy who wants to make friends and longs for acceptance.  It is an examination of friends helping each other out and creating memories that they will remember forever.  But the film is also about listening to your heart and doing the thing you thought you couldn’t do…with the help of your buddies.  And in its simplicity, the film also uncovers the fact that we sometimes fear that which we don’t understand…and perhaps in facing the fear, we come to understand it, and ourselves, a bit better.  This is a film that is universal in its appeal with a soundtrack that acts as an effective backdrop to the story.  Sit down for a good laugh and enjoy the memories of childhood.

Rated: PG

Interest Level: Ages 8 and up

How to Hype-proof Your Tween: Marketers want to sell stuff (lots of stuff) to your kid. Here's how to short-circuit their 'spend more' messages.

      This article serves somewhat to balance out or respond to the article I last listed titled “Targeting the Tween.”  as the title to this article makes clear, strategies are offered to parent and teachers to help combat the onslaught of advertising directed at tweens.  The massive amount of money spent on tween products is too tempting to be ignored by marketers.  According to this article, there are 20 million tweens in the United States who spend approximately $50 billion a year of their own money!  Parents and other spend an additional $170 billion! Legislation was passed to limit advertising to children on television, however websites on the internet, magazine ads and apps for iPhones bombard tweens with advertising. Not surprisingly peer pressure plays into a tweens desire to spend on specific “must have” products. 

So parents are given tools to attempt to temper the urge for tweens (and their parents) to buy. Parents are reminded that they are not “bad parents” if they don’t purchase everything a tween wants.  The author states that establishing rules and setting limits on spending actually helps kid to feel secure. “Kids respond well to boundary-setting, it increases creativity and confidence.”  Parents and teachers are urged to help tweens develop critical thinking skills to be able to analyze marketing information. Open conversations with tweens about advertisements is very powerful.  Describing the fact that “Miley” was given those sneakers by the company or paid to wear them begins the process of analysis. The article provides a great website called Don’ Buy It, Get Media Smart where kids can play interactive games to discover the tricks of advertising, how to buy smart and free stuff. The link is: http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/  The author acknowledges the difficulty in avoiding all advertising and that sometimes kids need to have those special clothes to help them fit in, but setting limits, procrastinating on purchases, and limiting temptations help parents to strike a balance in spending for tweens. This article offers practical advice to arm parents in the “commercial wars” of the tween years, is well-written and supports ideas and strategies with studies of children’s buying behaviors.

Kluger, J. (July 2010). How to hype-proof your tween: marketers want to sell stuff (lots of    

       stuff) to your kid. Here's how to short-circuit their 'spend more' messages.  Good               

       Housekeeping, 251, 1. p.85(5). Retrieved  from Academic OneFile via Gale. 

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. By E.L. Konigsburg. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 1967. 162 pages.

Plot: Claudia Kincaid wants to run away from home…temporarily.  So with her trusted ally, Jamie (her younger brother), the two set off for New York City.  The adventurous duo choose the Metropolitan Museum of Art as their “place of residence”…but, of course, it must all be done in stealth.  Through careful planning and quick-thinking, the two manage to create a living space in the  museum for themselves and navigate the city as well.  Adventure soon turns into mystery as Claudia and Jamie begin to investigate a beautiful statue, “Angel”, that is attracting much attention at the museum.  Was it created by Michelangelo?  The young siblings begin their own investigation into “Angel” and find themselves in the midst of intrigue.  Soon their adventure will connect them to the enigmatic Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and her role in Angel’s mystery.  All will be solved in the end and an interesting “full-circle” conclusion will draw all to a close.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This is an entertaining read for tweens.  As the story navigates through the intricate and many rooms of the museum, it also enters into the spirits of our two main characters.  Konigsburg shares in the afterword that “ ‘Angel’ became part of Claudia’s story about finding herself, about how the greatest adventure lies not in running away but in looking inside, and the greatest discovery is not in finding out who made a statue but in finding out what makes you.”  This, to me, speaks to the desire by tweens to find their place in the universe, to make a mark, to name how they make a difference.  Claudia wants to run away so she can return home different, having made an impact somehow.  She even shares with her brother that  “I didn’t run away to come home the same.”  While this story is certainly about adventure, mystery, intrigue and the rollercoaster ride of youth, it also finds in its layers the power of familial bonds, the curiosity for knowledge and truth, the desire for individuality and the hope for making a difference.  At its core is an understanding that, like “Angel”, everyone is  special. 

Genre: Fiction

Reading Level: 5.2  Interest level: Ages 8 to 13

Awards:  Newbery Medal/Honor 1968

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows:  Film, 1974 - based on the novel by Wilson Rawls

Studio: Westamerica Film Director: Norman Tokar Run time: 97 minutes

Plot: Set in the Ozarks of Oklahoma, 12 year old Billy Coleman dreams of having his own hunting dogs.  Against the initial wishes of his mother (but having a quiet advocate in his father), Billy works hard to earn enough money to mail order two coon dogs.  With the mentoring guidance of his Grandpa (played by legendary actor James Whitmore), Billy soon has his dream.  Old Dan and L’il Ann become a part of Billy’s family and soon Billy and his two hunting dogs are out in the night hours tracking raccoons.  Word spreads throughout the county that young Billy Coleman and his two coon dogs are quite a successful team.  With the boyish inspiration of his Grandpa, Billy enters a raccoon hunting contest and finds himself in the midst of not only competition, but danger.  With Grandpa and his father accompanying him, Billy is a sure win…or is he?  And finally, as the film comes to its close, Billy’s love for his dogs and theirs for him, pays the ultimate price, with the “red fern” naming its meaning with the final panoramic view of Billy’s beloved home.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This classic film addresses the universal ideas of love, sacrifice, family, hard work, and the connection between humans and animals.  Billy’s dream speaks to a young person’s desire to make his/her own road, to work hard for something he/she wants with honesty and integrity.  Billy faces challenges in a story that deals with surviving amidst how others may perceive you, but being undaunted by those views.  The film captures the love of family and the simple joys of life.  This film, while adapted from a classic novel, does a reasonable job at poignantly displaying Wilson Rawls’ message.  However, the musical score lends itself to “cheesiness” and might well distract the tween viewer from the storyline.  Rarely is a film as good as the book, and while this proves true in this viewer’s experience, it was a joy to see the images of this classic novel come to life.

Rated: G

Interest Level: Ages 8 and up

Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri

Yummy : The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. by Greg Neri; illustrated by Randy DuBurke. Lee & Low Books, 2010. 94 pages.

Plot: This story is based on the true life and death of Robert “Yummy” Sandifer.  Yummy is 11 years old when the story takes place in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago in the summer of 1994.  Through the thoughts and narration of of Yummy’s classmate Roger, the tragic life and death of Yummy is revealed.  Yummy got his nickname because he loved to eat sweets.  He sat with his teddy bear and watched television in his granny's house.  Yummy was the perfect candidate to be recruited by the Black Disciples, a violent gang in Chicago.  Perfect in the sense that his dad is absent, his mother is abusive, he is a juvenile and he longs to belong.  For his initiation into the gang, Yummy is given a gun and told to kill a rival gang member.  Things go wrong and Yummy accidentally shoots and kills a 14 year old girl named Shavon Dean, a childhood friend of his.  The neighborhood is shocked and the police begin an all out manhunt to find her killer which sends Yummy into hiding to evade arrest.  The chase is too much and Yummy just wants  to go home.  The black Disciples have a different plan for him.  Yummy has become a liability to the gang with so much police scrutiny, so they convince Yummy that “Monster” wants to make him a deputy.  Yummy is led into a railroad tunnel and he never comes out.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This is the second graphic novel I have read and it is incredibly powerful. The reader knows that the story is based on real life events.  Neri has done an incredible job of researching the original events and blending them in with the fictional character Roger to give the reader a sense of the reasons and circumstances surrounding these murders and the gang life of inner cities.  The illustrations are stark in black and white and do an exceptional job of providing visuals for this tragedy. The reader feels a contradiction between hating Yummy as a cold blooded killer and feeling compassion for this unfortunate child swept up in a cruel life. Social conditions, gangs, violence, family, death, and moral responsibility are all themes surprisingly captured in a “comic” book.  I highly recommend this book. 

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Graphic Novel

Reading Level: 3.4  Interest level: Ages 12 and up.

Awards:  YALSA 2011 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teen

“PW's Best Books of the Year - Graphic Novels 2010”

Coretta Scott King Book Award 2011

YALSA 2011 Quick Picks for Reluctant for Young Adults

Targeting the Tween

I find it remarkable, but not surprising that advertisers focus on tweens as a target audience.  This article is found in B & T Magazine which is a business publication that focuses on marketing, advertising and media. Throughout the article references are made to Generation Z, the first generation born into the world with the internet. Their world is dominated by Google, Facebook, My Space, Wikipedia, Hotmail, Gmail, iTunes etc.  It is the knowledge of this generation and their world that savvy advertisers target for tween products.

In Australia, six to thirteen year olds account for a full 10% of the country’s population. In a survey there of 1200 six to twelve year olds, it was revealed that 67% of them own an iPod, 64% own a mobile phone and 44% have a Facebook profile. (The Facebook statistic is interesting because my understanding is that you must be thirteen years old to have a Facebook account.) In the same survey, tweens responded to the question of activities they enjoy with: 70% reading magazines, 69% reading books (encouraging to this librarian), 67% listening to music and 61% watching TV.  Compare this to the finding in the same study that the respondents watched TV for 14 hours, spent 7 hours online and 2 hours reading magazines in a one week period.

The theory for advertisers is to shift focus from traditional media to these areas where tweens spend their time (and their parents money?)  The article points to Disney’s Club Penguin as a current successful model. It is a virtual world where children can play interactive games, connect with friends and has an emphasis on safety.  Social gaming is part of the tween world allowing them to be connected to a larger group, and advertisers will spend $220 million worldwide this year in this realm.  The advice for companies targeting the tween can be summarized with “the media owners evolving best are those no longer creating just magazine titles or shows, but brands, with associated extensions such as online games, toys, CDs. books, and events such as Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards, as well as sponsorships such as Total Girls.”

I did not react with disgust to this article (I have bristled at other tween targeted advertising.)  Advertising to this group is obvious, ever present and a reality of today’s tween world.  As parents, teachers,and librarians we would be best served to be knowledgeable of the process and help tweens to be informed as they make their choices.

Ryan-Segger, T. (2010). TARGETING THE TWEEN. B&T Magazine, 60(2725), 20-25.                    

       Retrieved from EBSCOhost.