Love Is the Miracle: “The Miracles on Honey Bee Hill”

Film Short Review by Regina Robbins
What’s Millie to do? She’s a pillar of her community, loved and trusted by her neighbors, and especially by the members of her church. But Millie dearly wants to experience a special kind of love that friendship doesn’t provide. After many tearful nights, she takes initiative and puts herself out there on the Internet dating scene…and meets an amazing person. When they come face to face for the first time, Millie and Ed know they are soul mates, and after a joyful courtship, they decide to be married. There’s just one problem: Ed is also female. Poor Millie can’t believe it when her adoring “church family” condemn her relationship and threaten to cut her out of their lives if she continues her sinful lifestyle.

The Ivy + Bean Blog-A-Bration Continues!

Hey, everybody, it’s week three of the Ivy + Bean Blog-A-Bration and we’re giving away a paperback copy of book three in the series, Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record. And just like last week, we’re also giving away 3 sets of Ivy and Bean Mini Notes. AND during week 9, a Grand Prize Winner will be chosen from all of the previous winners to receive:

Apps We Love: Toon Goggles

Review by Alexis Crisman Kelly
I was a bit skeptical when I first glanced through the Toon Googles app, especially when I realized that there was no “brand name” content to view. Read: You won't find episodes of Doc McStuffins or Bubble Guppies here. What you will find is hundreds of hours of original content (like MONK Little Dog above) organized around six themes: Boys; Girls; Action; Comedy; Pre-School; and Educational.

Books We Love: “Hang Glider & Mud Mask”

Stop the presses! Okay, now turn the book over and start the presses again. The only picture book of its kind, Hang Glider & Mud Mask is uniquely constructed with two front covers, two spines, and a z-shaped binding that links the two sides of the story. It’s a Möbius strip of a book as the story folds over on itself, each story “ending” on the front cover of the other story. In one story, a hang glider works his way down from the sky to the ground; in the other story, a person wearing a mud mask climbs ever higher, and they meet in the “middle.” It works like a film loop. It’s a clever little milestone and a children’s book for grown-ups; or perhaps it’s a grown-up book for kids.

It's Week 2 of the Ivy and Bean Day Blog-A-Bration

October 13th is the 1st Annual International Ivy and Bean Day, launch day of the 9th book in the New York Times bestselling series: Ivy and Bean Make the Rules. It’s week two of the Blog-A-Bration and we’re giving away a paperback copy of book two in the series, Ivy and Bean and the Ghost that Had to Go. And just like last week, we’re also giving away 3 sets of Ivy and Bean Mini Notes. AND during week 9, a Grand Prize Winner will be chosen from all of the previous winners to receive:

I See Some Very Funny Dead People: “ParaNorman”

Film Review by Maggie Hames
You know what’s wrong with this world? According to Norman of the animated film ParaNorman, people just don’t listen. And he should know, because nobody listens like Norman; it’s just that the door doesn’t swing the other way for him. Norman sees (and hears, and relates to, and jokes with) dead people in a parody of M. Night Shymalan’s 1999 mega-hit The Sixth Sense. But few people (dead or alive) lend him a sympathetic ear, with the exception of his recently-deceased grandmother, wonderfully voiced by Elaine Stritch. Kodi Smit-McPhee delivers a terrific and nuanced performance as Norman in this Chris Butler and Sam Fell directed film.

To Life! “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”

Film Review by Maggie Hames
The Odd Life of Timothy Green feels like a fable, a fabulous tale set in a storybook town. The lead characters, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) even narrate the movie as a story told to an official at an adoption agency. Their town of Stanleyville feels magical, yet it’s peopled with recognizable and surprisingly real characters, considering its amazing plot points.