You'd think by now both sides would've realized how Britain played them against each other during World War I & joined forces against England accordingly.

I don't know if most Middle Schoolers are mature enough to handle the Holocaust. I was working in a middle school and passed a roomfull of kids watching the climax of "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" and openly laughing at the parents' reactions to finding their son. Very glad I don't go there anymore.

6TH GRADE?!??!!!!!! I know seniors who barely made it through reading it—not due to overly sophisticated or complex writing, but the sheer emotional brutality. It grinds both your mind and heart to dust.

It is odd that Baum (and his subsequent Royal Historians) and Norton Juster had a large claim to American fantasy/magic "turf" without a lot of competition for a number of years, though when I was a kid I remember devouring a whole bunch of books about magic by Ruth Chew, and the fabulously underrated Edward Eager…

Oh fart, you're right, he was French. :) I remember reading a biography of journalist Nellie Bly that talked about when she dashed around the world in less than 80 days (to prove it could in fact be done), she stopped off and saw Verne in Paris, who was surprised someone took the book so seriously!

(An arrow flies into the wall:) "What is this?" "I dunno." (2nd arrow hits wall:) "Well, how about THAT?!?" And of course the immortal: "Sorry folks, we now return you to…the arts." (Woman restarts erotic dance with donkey.)

…who are unfortunately then fingered as suspects in a game of "Clue."

Yeah, the wiseacre from "Bosom Buddies" "Bachelor Party" & "Splash" was the best Hanks. It started to slowly dissipate with "Big" and "Sleepless in Seattle" and effectively disappeared with the one-two punch of "Philadelphia" & "Forrest Gump."

We have friends whose daughter never heard that song either because they'd always fast-forward through it. I think it's pretty (and I worry about the habit of teaching kids to fast forward every time they don't like/get bored with something), but let the parents pile on me, I can take it.

I had a weird bout of depression after I found out one of the minor actors from "Heathers" had committed suicide. Wondered if it had to do with his lack of a substantial Hollywood career. (I also had the misfortune of Googling a childhood crush, the guy who played Barnaby in "Hello, Dolly!" Horrifying; shades of…

Oh yeah, the Tripods. Those were indeed pretty good (if kind of disturbing for pre-Middle Schoolers). And of course Jules Verne and HG Wells are British science fiction masters, so there's that. The Atlantic article does a nice job explaining the lack of, for want of a better word, whimsy in American culture and…

Oh you are SO my new best friend. :) My kids in my Children's Lit Revisited class next year are going to get a lot out of this article.

Whenever someone asks me what's the scariest, most disturbing horror film I've ever seen, without hesitating I respond "The Magdalene Sisters." I've set foot in a couple Catholic churches since then for weddings, etc. but I've never given them a dime and I never will.

No diss on "Harry Potter"—JK Rowling is an awesome lady—but I do get a little weary of fanboys and know-nothing media types who are always willing to drop to their knees for another round of appendage-sucking: "' Harry Potter' is the greatest fantasy of all time! JK Rowling is a genius! There's never been anything…

San Francisco loves to take credit for "Angels" (especially the part where heaven is described as similar to it), but it was—surprisingly—Los Angeles that first staged the full, entire play as a complete production. But every time the SF Chronicle does an article about Kushner or "Angels," they make sure to trumpet…

Yes, he stays a mouse. I think the ending was just right—it makes total sense the cool secretary/assistant would track him and the other children down to undo the witches' spell—but I remember the special effects she used were cheesy. But that's a minor quibble for a movie that's so good in every other aspect, and…

I'm still amazed that the filmmakers (and studio) never tied off Sean's story. That dangling plot thread is almost criminal. (We know he's alive, because the precogs can see him, but…)

You could actually argue that Dahl's works adapt to film better than a darn lot of children's lit do. I haven't seen "BFG" yet, but "James" "Matilda" "Fantastic Mr. Fox" "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" and "The Witches" make up a hell of an assortment of quality movies. (Now, will someone please do "Danny…

"Hook." Especially considering the potential it had.

Kubrick is not the Beatles. Kubrick is Philip Glass.