Anne Frank - The Whole Story + Jewish Holocaust Museum = Teens Off The Couch

While Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown's latest tomes might be on your teen's holiday reading list, Anne Frank can give these best-sellers a run for their money. In Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl, the young author's description of being thirteen captures readers with the same heart-stopping directness today that it did when we raced through it decades ago. In fact, the original film adaptation (based on a popular stage play) was produced fifty years ago and has just been re-released on DVD. Our kids found ABC's 2001 mini-series, Anne Frank - The Whole Story more compelling, for it portrays Anne's entire life with equal weight given to her childhood, her time in hiding, and the end of her life in the concentration camps. (An added bonus is Ben Kingsley as Otto Frank). Although the subject matter is tough, our kids loved Anne from her book because they are aware that despite the difference in country, culture and time, Anne was just like them—interested in movies, boys, and clothes, while frustrated with the adults around her. That frustration with parents extends to knowing that such horrors as the Holocaust have happened in their world, so a visit to a Jewish Heritage Museum helps kids to see how one person can effect change. At the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, our teens pored over a few Anne Frank artifacts, and then took an intense, guided tour through an interactive exhibit that simulates being in a concentration camp. (This is not an adventure for young children!) To resenstitize our teens, we attended a talk by a Holocaust survivor who is alive because the woman who found her hiding in a barn chose to give her food and a jacket rather than call the Gestapo. Our excursion allowed us to share our closely held values with our teens on topics that remain relevant today and hopefully will help to cultivate righteous values and actions in our lives. (Click here for links to the best Jewish Heritage museums around the US, and to learn how Hilary Swank's Freedom Writers is related to Anne Frank.)

E.T. The Extra -Terrestrial + Planetarium Visit = Kids Off The Couch

Lured by a bowl of popcorn laced with Reese's Pieces, our kids were glued to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial long after the last kernel was gone. The story of a young boy and his incredible friendship with an alien left behind on Earth won our kids' hearts, just as it won our hearts over twenty years ago. The idea that life might exist on other planets excited us all, so we headed to our local planetarium for a Family Star Show to learn more about the heavens. Lost in a black hole of wonder, our kids were "star struck" in the original, and best, sense of the word.

Click here for information about a major meteor event on November 17, links to a weekly sky map, and information about how to find a planetarium near you.

Charlotte's Web + Getting to Know Spiders = Kids Off The Couch

In taking down this year's Halloween decorations, we found a few real spider webs underneath the pretend ones. Their sticky homes could give spiders a bad rap, unless you're familiar with Charlotte's Web, a story that gives arachnids a whole new spin. Based on E.B. White's classic book, the new live-action adaptation stars Dakota Fanning as Fern and Julia Roberts lending her voice to literature's most literate pig. Charlotte, the webby wordsmith, saves her friend Wilbur the pig from becoming dinner by weaving words like "Some Pig" into her web and creating a publicity stir. Like Wilbur, and our kids were enamored with Charlotte, so we checked out the a Spider Exhibit at our local natural history museum o see if Charlotte's movie star good looks were as mesmerizing off the screen. The Pavilion is an enclosed space on the Museum lawn that houses spiders cage free in a natural habitat. Kids can wander about looking for cool webs and five varieties of spiders. Arachnaphobes have nothing to fear: spiders are shy and stay put in their webs amongst the garden bushes. If you look close, you may just run into an Agiope -- Charlotte's cousin who weaves her silken threads into geometric patterns! (Click here for a video of naturalists handling a tarantula and for more books and films about spiders.)

Election Day 2009: Mount Rushmore + North By Northwest = Kids Off The Couch

Election Day 2009: Mount Rushmore + North by Northwest = Kids Off The Couch

50th Anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's Classic Thriller

Without any pressing issues on the ballot today, our thoughts drift to Presidents who were elected on previous Election Days. Four presidential greats are memorialized on Mount Rushmore, so why not take this chance to quiz your kids on this unique American tourist site? Then, treat them to one of Hitchcock's masterpieces, the climax of which features Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant scrambling around the faces of the four presidents. The film, celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this week, ranks 55th on the AFI's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies.

Quick quiz:
Whose faces are etched in stone? (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln).
Under what President was the monument commissioned, and under which recent president was the park declared a National Historic Park? (Calvin Coolidge in 1925 and George H.W. Bush in 1991).
Why was the monument erected? (To promote tourism in the Black Hills of South Dakota).
What is the controversy surrounding the monument? (The Lakota Indians believe the Black Hills land belongs to them and have responded with plans to erect a monument to Crazy Horse, nearby).

North By Northwest
The 1959 thriller stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Landau and James Mason in one of Alfred Hitchcock's most elegant and memorable thrillers about a NY ad exec (Grant) who is mistaken for a government agent and chased by foreign spies. On the run, he teams with one of the better looking spies (Saint, fresh from her Oscar win for On the Waterfront) to double-cross the crooks. Who can forget the sight of Grant being chased by a crop duster, or Eva Marie dangling precariously in her skirt and heels from Rushmore? The famous scene of the train going into the tunnel once the lovers are reunited is classic (and hopefully over your tween's heads), Bernard Herrmann's score is terrific, and we particularly love the cat-and-mouse cleverness in the scene where Grant lets a kidnapped Saint know he's hiding in the house where she is being held. Kids over 10 are ready to handle the suspense of this excellent film although parents will need to do a bit of dancing around the issue of Saint using her female wiles to do her job.

Want more?
A newly remastered DVD of North By Northwest is a great holiday gift, and worth stocking in your home library. Click here to purchase the new 50th Anniversary edition from Warner Home Library. DVD extras include documentaries about Hitchcock, Grant and a commentary by late screenwriter Earnest Lehman. Mount Rushmore is also featured in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Click here to learn more about the making of Mt. Rushmore, which was completed on October 31, 1941. Click here to read a Wall Street Journal article about the complexity of issues behind the monument.

Don't forget to vote!

Where The Wild Things Are + Viewing and Making Monster Art = Kids Off The Couch

Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's childhood tale about Max, a boy who misbehaves and is sent to bed without dinner, is the type of marketing monster that is impossible to ignore. Where The Wild Things Are (in theaters) has sparked a widespread cultural celebration of the book's classic exploration of fear, imagination and childhood innocence and critics have responded to it with accolades. The deep psychological underpinning of the book is what interests the filmmakers and while Max has fun on his wild rumpus, he comes home with a sad maturity that a young audience might not know how to handle. As adults, we were compelled by the film's lyrical beauty and sophisticated message and asked the kids why they thought Sendak's book (its ten sentences and unforgettable illustrations) has had such a lasting impact on our collective imagination - what about that story touches us? Charles Burchfield's "Heat Waves in a Swamp" is currently on display in Los Angeles' Hammer Museum, and the artist's exotic vision of nature reminds us of the expansive terrain of Sendak's fictional beasts. Both artists connect our inner turmoil to the untamed physical world, exploring the themes of wildness and our imagination in similar ways. We found online galleries replete with contemporary artists' renditions of Max and the Wild Things and before we knew it, the kids were putting together materials from the art cabinets and making masks of their own. Wildness, in our minds and in nature, is in all of us. Click here for links to the Sendak-inspired galleries and for more on our Red Flags about the movie.

"It Will Always Be About More Than Basketball" - Happy Birthday Coach Wooden!

"Success comes from knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

Today, the legendary UCLA Men's Basketball Coach John Wooden celebrates his 99th Birthday. A truly great sportsman who carried his team to a record-setting 10 championships in 12 years, Wooden may be best remembered for the Wooden-isms (like the quote above) that stand the test of time -- to learn more about the "Wizard of Westwood", check out 99 Things about John Wooden. Nothing could honor the man, the myth, and the legend more than a new documentary More Than A Game that covers the remarkable young career of LeBron James.

Our whole family was amped to watch "the LeBron documentary", to learn more about the NBA sensation who broke all kinds of records as the youngest ever player to score 1000 points in the NBA and as the #1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft straight out of high school. Directed by fellow Ohioan Kristofer Belman (who was just 21 years-old when he decided to film LeBron and the Akron St. Vincent-St Mary High School junior and senior year seasons) the documentary possesses the classic sports metaphors that melt our hearts, and infuses it with the darker side of athletic celebrity: the temptation and corruption of stealing the spotlight so early. (In theaters now, rated PG - we think it's best for kids over ten).

Right from the whistle we root for LeBron's success, pulling for the youngster who never knew his father and was born to a 16-year old unwed mother. While the film inevitably zones in on LeBron, it is also a movie about loyalty, teamwork, and sportsmanship, and the group effort that makes high-school athletics such an integral part of the American coming-of-age experience. It's clear that LeBron's success was a team effort - starting with his mom and continuing throughout his career with his teammates. No sports film is complete without a Wooden-worthy coach, and the St. Vincent Coach, Dru Joyce II, jump starts the film by paternally reminding his kids, "Basketball is a vehicle, not a be-all and end-all. Use basketball, don't let it use you."

Our kids love playing recreation league basketball; they started before the age of five and played all the way into middle school. Like AYSO, everybody gets their chance to play, parents get to root from the sidelines and the lessons learned on the court (and from a good coach) are life-long. Only a tiny fraction of the most talented athletes wind up playing sports professionally, something we always remind the kids we have coached (when they are down on themselves). As John Wooden and LeBron have taught us, it's how you play the game that really counts.

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs + Apple Picking = Kids Off The Couch

When we watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, our kids caution "Don't eat the apple" but alas, Snow White bites it every time. Our Popcorn Adventure this week combines two classics - Walt Disney's first full-length animated film, which earned him an Honorary Academy Award (featuring one big statue and seven smaller ones) and the timeless family adventure of picking apples.

Walt's gamble - that families would sit in the theaters and watch a 90-minute animated film - changed family movie going. The simple fairy tale storyline was familiar, but the memorable, chipper music and adorable dwarfs with their quirky characteristics defined a genre that has become a part of our lives. Walt's princess-and-her-coterie brainchildren were an immediate sensation in 1937 and continue to "whistle while they work" for the studio; Disney's marketing dwarfs devised a schedule to re-release the masterpieces over time (they're not all available in stores), and this week marks Snow White's turn. We say, grab it now for holiday giving, or to inspire this week's adventure. (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rated G, 83 minutes; re-release October 6, 2009).

The evil Queen is one smart lady, picking a fruit known to be irresistible since the beginning of time. How could Snow White resist? A luscious, shiny apple is nectar for the soul. As the air cools and the days grow shorter, we crave apple cider, baked apples, and apple pie - in other words, anything warm with an aroma that screams "cuddle-up-in-front-of-the fire!". Before we hunker down for winter, we head to the outskirts of town to stock up by picking apples in local orchards. An ancient sense of celebration pervades these farms, as families come from everywhere to harvest the knobby, crooked trees. Our kids race from tree to tree, competing to see who fills their bucket first. The youngest ones truly look for the low-hanging fruit and search among the grounded apples for the perfect fallen treasure. It's a mark of maturity when each child grows tall enough to maneuver the 'picker' and reach the Snow White-worthy apples at the tip top of the tree. Everyone lugs back buckets overflowing with so many apples that we scatter a trail of them behind us.

Usually, the closest we come to real farmers is the weekly produce market - so our favorite u-pick orchards are local, family-run operations where we can spend the day picking and chatting about the weather like old hands. U-Pick fruit farms abound, all over the country, so click on this nationwide Pick-Your-Own-Fruit website (or Google U-pick and your town), and pack a lunch for the car ride. We've experienced the vagaries of farming - some years the apples are gone in just a matter of days, but the next year farmers stand on the country road waving the public to come and help with a bumper crop. We always leave with a stash of delicious snacks, meals and desserts -- all of which taste better because we picked 'em!

Don't let all your hard work go to waste! Martha Stewart, our trusty kitchen guru, has an arsenal of sweet and savory recipes to ensure our golden apples wind up inside a mouth-watering concoction--try your hand at her cinnamon scented apple crisp for the perfect holiday treat, or whip up the curried apple soup for a belly-warming, seasonal delight.

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