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Elizabeth Fais

Tag Archives: Charlotte’s Web

The Book that Rocked Your World

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Reading, SCBWI, Story

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Charlotte's Web, Elizabeth Fais, Emma Walton Hamilton, Favorite Books, It Takes Two, Julie Andrews, Julie Andrews Collection, Mandy, Mary Poppins, NY13SCBWI, SCBWI, SCBWI Winter Conference 2013, The House at Pooh Corner, The Little Gray Men

Young girl reading bookMagic happens at writers’ conferences… So it was no surprise that the air was sparkling with it at the “Practically Perfect” NY13SCBWI Winter Conference. Seriously. How could it not, with Julie Andrews (a.k.a. Mary Poppins) and her amazingly talented daughter Emma Walton Hamilton as keynote speakers?

Julie Andrews has been writing wonderful books for children for forty years–on top of launching the Julie Andrews Collection–and has collaborated with her daughter on 27 titles. To read the SCBWI blog on their presentation, go here: “It Takes Two”. You won’t want to miss it. It’s awesome!

What I wanted to talk about today came from a question asked of Julie Andrews after the presentation…

What book influenced you the most growing up?

A simple enough question … on the surface. But when I peeled back the layers of Open book with sparkles and light swirling outtime and re-experienced the feeling that one book gave me, hooking me on reading for the rest of your life…

Four words: It rocked my world.

That book opened a doorway to magic, imagination, and adventure, and I could go there any time I just by opening the pages. Pretty powerful stuff.

For Julie Andrews, that book was “The Little Gray Men“. She loves that story so much, that she brought it back into print in the Julie Andrews Collection. For the person asking the question, it was Julie Andrews’ first book, “Mandy“.

The House at Pooh CornerFor me it was “The House at Pooh Corner“. I was in the third grade, and the silliness of the story and clever misspelled words, like “rox” and “Wol” won me over instantly. And all the endearing characters were my new BFFs.

My fourth grade teacher read “Charlotte’s Web” to our class, and I fell in love with Wilbur and Charlotte. I’d never really cared much for pigs until then, and I’d been terrified of anything spidery. One story changed all that.

There have been many books since… But “The House at Pooh Corner” will always be my first; the book that was the key to a world of wonder.

How about YOU…

What book rocked your world?

Don’t be shy. You’re among friends here.

And don’t be afraid to tell us about more than one treasured story that changed your life!

Unlikely Heroes ~ and a WINNER!

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Hero, Remarkable Animals, Story

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Because of Winn-Dixie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charlotte's Web, Pig saves goat, The One And Only Ivan, Unlikely Heroes

A young pig saves a baby goat

I saw an amazing video clip that touched my heart and made me laugh, all at the same time. You might have seen it too, since I tweeted the YouTube link. It was of a young pig rescuing a baby goat that was flailing in a small pond.

It was remarkable, because of the unlikely friendship (like in the book by that very name), and an even more unlikely hero. Watch the video and see for yourself.

Real-Life can be more amazing than fiction

Since posting this, I’ve seen comments around the web that this video was staged.  Some even pointed out how the video had been altered, Photoshopping out a person who was restraining the goat in the water. Looking at the video more closely, I see this could be true. That said, I don’t doubt that the pig jumped into the water to save the baby goat (as shown) when the original situation arose. This video reenacts the event. Pigs are very smart. It’s a great story no matter what!

Unlikely Heroes in Fiction

That video got me to thinking about unlikely heroes in fiction, and how those stories stayed with me. They were stories I would read again and again. Characters such as:

  • Charlotte the spider from Charlotte’s Web
  • Ivan the silverback gorilla from The One and Only Ivan
  • Winn-Dixie the dog from Because of Winn-Dixie

In wondering why these stories had such an impact, I realized that it was because the heroes were so ordinary. I could relate to them (even though they weren’t human), and their actions. As they grew out of ordinariness and into heroes, I followed. Those stories showed me how live as a hero in the real world.

Animals and spiders aren’t the only unlikely heroes. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an ordinary teenager at the beginning of her journey, a cheerleader no less. Most all the superhero origin myths begin with an ordinary person who encounters circumstances that change his or her life in extraordinary ways.

Who’s your favorite Unlikely Hero?

Inquiring minds want to know!


Now for the “52 Reasons to Hate My Father” WINNER!!!

I put  the names of everyone who left a comment on the “52 Reasons to Hate My Father” post in a hat, shook it like there was no tomorrow, then reached in and pulled one out…

Maestro, a drum roll please!

*****
*** Tosses copious amounts of sparkly confetti ***

*****
And the winner is…

KIM GRIFFIN

(Happy Dance)

!!!!!!!!!


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