Children’s Monthly Entertainment Review {September Edition}

Happy first day of October!  The days are flying by!  Yesterday the Weekend Chef shared some of his September favorites. Today we thought we’d share what our children were reading, watching and playing this past month.  With school and activities starting, there has been more reading going on and less movie watching and playing with electronics!

Movies:
All of these movies were borrowed from the library and watched on DVD.

The Descendants – Summary from Disney: A present-day idyllic kingdom where the benevolent teenage son of King Adam and Queen Belle offers a chance of redemption for the trouble making offspring of Disney’s classic villains: Cruella De Vil (Carlos), Maleficent (Mal), the Evil Queen (Evie) and Jafar (Jay).   This is a musical film which the kids loved!  The movie focused on the children of classic Disney villains.  They have been singing songs and watching music videos from the movie ever since they watched this.  I’m not sure how we had missed hearing about this when it first debuted on the Disney channel this past July.   I enjoyed the lessons from this movie that you don’t always have to follow in your parent’s footsteps and that you can make your own decisions and be your own person.  The kids and I talked about this after watching the movie.

Lemonade Mouth – Summary from IMDb: Five high school kids, Olivia, Wendall, Stella, Charlie, and “Mo”, meet in detention and start a band based off the lemonade vending machine outside the detention room. This is another musical drama that had originally premiered on the Disney Channel in April 2011.  The kids were excited to see Bridgit Mendler starring in this, as they are familiar with her from the Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie.  While the kids enjoyed watching this movie, their favorite of the month was definitely The Descendants.

Guardians of the Galaxy – Summary from IMDb:  A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control of the universe.  Our son had been asking to see this movie but we had said no, due to the PG-13 rating.  Several weeks ago, the Weekend Chef watched the movie (yes, on his own, this is one that I wasn’t interested in watching!).  Besides some bad language and fighting, he deemed it okay for the kids to watch.  On their most recent day off from school they watched this and liked it.  And yes, I sat there on the couch with them (reading) while they watched.  I had no clue what was going on, but the kids enjoyed the movie.  My daughter did note that she didn’t like Rocket Raccoon because, “he used a lot of bad language.”

Apps/Video Games:

Crossyroad (ipod app) I’ve mentioned this app on a Friday Favorites when my son first got into this game.  Weeks later and he is STILL obsessed with it!  It’s basically a modern version of the classic Frogger game where you try to get your character to cross the road without getting hit.  There are a lot of different characters that you can collect, with different characters having different scenery.  His highest score is 259 and he’s really proud of himself!

Minecraft  (ipod app)- This past Valentine’s Day we got the kids Minecraft for their ipods.  Yes, we were late to the Minecraft game and they have been making up for it!  This is still a favorite game of theirs.  While I was a bit hesitant in the beginning, not knowing much about it, I am seeing the educational benefits of this game.  This game reinforces creativity and problem-solving.  My son has created amazing worlds with portals and buildings that even have me impressed!

Wipeout The Game (Nintendo Wii game) –  The kids sporadically play the  Nintendo Wii.  Way back when we still had cable television, we used to DVR Wipeout and watch it together as a family.   What’s more fun than watching contestants embarrass themselves attempting ridiculous obstacles?  At a recent visit to a local, used children’s clothing and toy store I found this Wipeout game for the wii for only $5.  The kids have been having lots of fun playing this game.

Books:
My kids are constantly reading!  Neither they nor I track all the books that they read…..but I know it’s a lot!  This is a summary of mostly picture books that we’ve read together at bedtime or chapter books that both my son and I have read.  My daughter is reading multiple books at any one time and there would be too many to list here!  The below ratings are out of 5 stars.

These books have been borrowed from either our town library or the school library.

Picture Books:

Blown Away by Rob Biddulph (3 Stars) This picture book, told in rhyme tells the story of a penguin who is taken on a journey when he is blown away by a kite.  He ends up in the jungle but eventually makes his way back home.  This was an okay read for us.

The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt  – (4 Stars)  This is the sequel to the picture book The Day The Crayons Quit, which is also worth checking out!  This book is told through postcards and letters and contains humorous illustrations and text.

Fright Club by Ethan Long – (3 Stars)  A new Halloween book in which the Fright Club is practicing their scare plan for Halloween night.  When some “cute” little critters try to join Fright Club they must prove themselves to the veteran members. This was an okay Halloween read.

Monster Day At Work by Sarah Dyer – (3 Stars)  Monster is going to work with his dad.  The colorful, humorous illustrations add to this story which overall was an okay read.

New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer – (4 Stars) This picture book deals with segregation during the 1950’s when Ella Mae goes to get new shoes but can’t even try them on because she’s African American.  She and her cousin Charlotte come up with a plan to make buying shoes easier for the members of their community.  The Weekend Chef and I enjoyed this story as much as the kids.  I didn’t realize that during the Segregation period African Americans couldn’t try on shoes before buying them.

One Word From Sophia by Jim Averbeck – (4 Stars)  Sophia wants a giraffe for her birthday and in this book tries to convince different family members why it’s a good idea.  I enjoyed the racially mixed family, the colorful illustrations that include Sophia’s drawings and charts, the advanced vocabulary (that is defined in the story and in a glossary at the end) and the surprise ending!  A cute read worth checking out!

The Perfect Percival Priggs by Julie-Anne Graham – (4 Stars) Percival and his parents are perfect.  One day, Percival makes an error and worries that his parents won’t love him.  His parents help him realize that it’s okay not to be perfect.  I enjoyed how this book taught the lesson that you should do what you enjoy and not worry about being perfect.

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder – (4 Stars)  This book told the story of dancer Anna Pavlova through beautiful pictures and text.  While younger readers probably won’t enjoy the beauty of either, this book is a treat for adults!

Tell Me a Scary Story by Carl Reiner (3 Stars) A father tells his son a scary story about a little boy who meets his neighbor Mr. Neewollah and has an adventure.  Our book came with a CD in which Reiner reads the story.  While I was unfamiliar with comedian Carl Reiner, my husband is a fan.  This was another okay Halloween story.

Chapter Books:

The Escape of the Deadly Dinosaur (Secret Agent Jack Stalwart #1) by Elizabeth Singer Hunt (3 Stars) I am always on the lookout for new books for my son.  This is the first of fourteen books in the Secret Agent Jack Stalwart series.  This chapter book stars Jack Stalwart, a 9-year old secret agent.  This particular story involves Jack being assigned to find a missing dinosaur bone.  Readers must remember this is a sci-fi/fantasy book for entertainment purposes, when they read about all of Jack’s secret agent gadgets and a dinosaur coming to life.  The book interested my son enough that he’d like to read the next book in the series.

Race The Wild #1: Rain Forest Relay by Kristin Earhart (4 Stars)  See our full review of this book here.