planner Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 We watched Newsies Friday night. Now they're organizing a strike because the don't want to clean up their fort. Showing them Newsies was really shortsighted of me. :laugh: 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 LOL! If you're interested in the subject, you can also get the book Kid Blink Beats the World!, which is a bit more historically accurate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planner Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 LOL! If you're interested in the subject, you can also get the book Kid Blink Beats the World!, which is a bit more historically accurate. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm trying to expose my kids to media about life in New York City as I want to take them there in a year or so and I want them to have some context to the city. If anyone else has recommendations, I'd love to hear them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 I don't know how old your kids are, but two children's books I liked that are set in New York are Slake's Limbo and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. How the Other Half Lives could be interesting too. And 97 Orchard. And how could you miss All-of-a-Kind Family? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 And how could you miss All-of-a-Kind Family? Which reminds me, I keep meaning to make a trip to the Tenement Museum. OP, how old are your kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planner Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Which reminds me, I keep meaning to make a trip to the Tenement Museum. OP, how old are your kids? My kids are 10 and 13. I really want to take them to the Tenement Museum but I want them to have a good background before they go. My daughter keeps refusing to read All of A Kind Family. It's frustrating to me. I know she'd love it. I just checked it out from the library and I'm going to continually renew it until she gives in! :laugh: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 We watched Newsies Friday night. Now they're organizing a strike because the don't want to clean up their fort. Showing them Newsies was really shortsighted of me. :laugh: Tell them they have to present their request as a tap dance. :coolgleamA: 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Okay, lemme think. Surprisingly, there aren't as many books set in NYC as you might imagine, and a lot of the ones that spring to mind are either historical fiction or dated. Like Remember Me to Herald Square, I have so many fond memories of that book, but it doesn't reflect today's NYC at all! What sort of books do your kids like to read? If All-of-a-Kind Family isn't doing it for them, and it's not pure stubbornness, is there another genre that they prefer? The Inquisitor's Apprentice is set in the same time period and place, but in an AU where magic is real. (Regardless, it's bounded in actual history and worth a read.) City of Orphans is a straight historical fiction, but being written more recently it does avoid the super-sweet outward appearance of All-of-a-Kind and also that one super cringy scene in the first book where they visit their father at work and all his work buddies are sitting around talking in stereotypical accents and omg. (I had completely forgotten that scene was in there when I read it to the girls and was soooo embarrassed to read it aloud on the train!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planner Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Okay, lemme think. Surprisingly, there aren't as many books set in NYC as you might imagine, and a lot of the ones that spring to mind are either historical fiction or dated. Like Remember Me to Herald Square, I have so many fond memories of that book, but it doesn't reflect today's NYC at all! What sort of books do your kids like to read? If All-of-a-Kind Family isn't doing it for them, and it's not pure stubbornness, is there another genre that they prefer? The Inquisitor's Apprentice is set in the same time period and place, but in an AU where magic is real. (Regardless, it's bounded in actual history and worth a read.) City of Orphans is a straight historical fiction, but being written more recently it does avoid the super-sweet outward appearance of All-of-a-Kind and also that one super cringy scene in the first book where they visit their father at work and all his work buddies are sitting around talking in stereotypical accents and omg. (I had completely forgotten that scene was in there when I read it to the girls and was soooo embarrassed to read it aloud on the train!) All of A Kind Family resistance is stubbornness. I'm looking for historical fiction. City of Orphans is in the library book basket right now. I'm hoping someone will choose to pick it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Our priest, originally from NYC, mentioned this movie to me last week, so we're watching it tonight, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Harriet the Spy is set in NYC. My kids have been very interested in her UES life, so very different from their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 All of A Kind Family resistance is stubbornness. I'm looking for historical fiction. City of Orphans is in the library book basket right now. I'm hoping someone will choose to pick it up. Harriet the Spy is set in NYC. My kids have been very interested in her UES life, so very different from their own. One of the original two sequels, Sport, is also set in NYC, as is the unrelated book by the same author Nobody's Family is Going to Change. Although One Crazy Summer takes place in LA, the first sequel, Just Be Eleven, is firmly rooted in NYC. Seriously, even though it's not completely accurate (because of the magic....), try The Inquisitor's Apprentice :) Let's see what else historical-wise is in my mind. That's a weight off my mind, because contemporary fiction I don't have. A Pickpocket's Tale takes place in Colonial NYC. A Cricket in Times Square is, of course, a classic of the genre. In the Year of the Board and Jackie Robinson is a rarity in children's fiction, a book with an Asian protagonist. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (and the related series) wasn't, of course, "historical" when it was published, but it sure is now! The Amy and Laura books and the related Veronica Ganz books were my *favorites* as a child. Read them to pieces. The Saturdays is another classic, and another book which has become "historical fiction" with the passing of time. The Pigman... which is maybe a little mature for your younger one. This book provides a very accurate glimpse of Staten Island during the time it was written, and as such is inordinately popular among Staten Island middle and high school teachers. I'm not going to provide commentary for these, not because they aren't good but because I can't be bothered. Some of them are VERY good, do not take lack of commentary for lack of interest: Don't Talk to Me About the War Catch You Later, Traitor Who is Carrie? The King of Mulberry Street Silver Days (sequel to Journey to America) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Home is With Our Family The Lost Village of Central Park (haven't read this one) Voices After Midnight The Beyond the Western Sea books (two of them) Celeste's Harlem Renaissance Felita Dave at Night And, of course, if you want to move out of historical fiction you can do worse than So You Want to Be a Wizard. Or, for that matter, everybody's favorite superhero: Spiderman! (For that matter, Gargoyles, aka "the best animated Disney show ever", was set in NYC, although of course that's not a book of any sort.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 If they like musicals, there's always West Side Story! I was a HUGE Newsies fan when I was about your oldest's age... I must have seen it five times in the theater. Drove my parents slowly insane with the soundtrack (on cassette!)... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 'Seize the Day" is the ringtone when my daughter calls me :-) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rutamattatt Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 I actually heading out in an hour or so to go see the touring musical live!!! (I got tickets for three shows while it is in town. I also saw it once on Broadway and once in Louisville last fall…I know, I know. I have issues.) The stage show is just slightly different than the movie, but I like it better. Not sure where you are located, but your kids might enjoy seeing it live! It is crazy good! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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