If your child dreams of being a successful author, or if they simply love to dabble in their journal, they'll appreciate My Brilliant Career, a film that had an impact on us when we were young women. Judy Davis makes her debut as Sybylla Melvyn, an impoverished Australian farm girl determined to fulfill her dream of becoming a great writer, even though it means rejecting a man she loves. Although the film's ending surprised the kids -- our modern romantics couldn't understand why Sybylla spurned a man in order to write -- the character's passion for her craft stirred their creative juices. We jumped on the chance to introduce them to 826, a national, non-profit organization devoted to helping kids become good writers, and took our daughter to a writing workshop hosted by a local art museum. Our nine year-old daughter wrote the first two chapters of a murder mystery which she finished at home a few weekends later. Even if she's not quite ready for a Sybylla-like sacrifice, the 826 workshop helped turn her creative impulses into something we could all read and enjoy.
Click here for more about 826 and the film.
