Kingdom Keepers

[jakeman]

I did mean to aim it at Ederikari, but it kind of bothers me when people evaluate a book intended for 4th-7th graders in an adult perspective.

Sorry if I aimed it wrong.

I believe my confusion came in when the quote was from Enderkari but the context appeared to be referring to my post. I understand that it bothers you when a book is evaluated based on the wrong age group. That would be the same as making a 1st grader read War and Peace and then coming to the conclusion that the book was too advance.

However, as I have stated I judged the book not for the recommended age group but for other adults. As for my opinion for the young adults it was intended, it was a good book that is nothing great, but I would recommend it none the less so that they will be reading something.

A book would have to be morally corrupt for me not to allow a child to read it.

no offense, but show me a 11-12-13-14 year old that thinks what makes the park tick is '''magic'', besides the ones with problems.sad to say it, but most ppl in this age group dont belive in magic, i know i sure didnt.

I agree. That's why I looked at these passages in the context of the whole. Such as, this and this were fabricated but this wasn't. It was just a little odd from a story flow point of view.

So once again:
For adults: Get it. Read it. Hope the next one's better.
For kids: Get it because you need to read something.

 

[GenieGirl]

haven't read much more of it than a description, but Maleficent is described as a witch! Sorry folks, she is a fairy!!! she is already called a witch b/c of elphaba (aka wicked witch of the west) and not this in a childrens book. ARGH!

 

[Miss Bell]

I got the book on amazon.com, but am 3rd in line to read it behind my 13 year old daughter and my husband (I drew the short straw.) So far, my daughter is who is an avid reader and an avid believer in the magic is enjoying it very much. I'll let you know how I feel, when I get my turn.

 

[Enderikari]

SIMMER DOWN!

I'm taking a course on adolescent literature right now, and frankly, the way people are describing the book is a good way to get young adults into reading. If the young adults are interested in Disney, this would be a good book to get them to read. It would entice them to read, rather than play a video game or watch TV, and it would help the young adults to become better readers. I may use this book for one of my assignments now. I could have some very interesting insights for this book for book reports.

...oh God, I'm becoming a teacher...

Oh god, you're becoming a college student, which is even worse in the know-it-all sense. Read, my comments, realize what I said. How I recognized that it was a children's book, and as a children's book should not have included the content you will find in that book. It's not about simmering down, because CM's at Disney are told to, above all, preserve the magical guest experience, especially for children. For Ridley Pearson to write about the characters, the utilidor, the Avacs, in the manner that he did, is quite literally a vicious slap in the face to the 51,000 cast members working hard to provide the magic every day.
As children's literature, it fails to capture imagination, in fact, does its very best to tear down an existing fantasy structure.
As children's literature, it sets the boundarys of its own world, then breaks them, but not for the sake of plot, or characterization, or any useful sense.

Then why were you so upset? Or did it just take the insight of an education major to get you to see that?

And as for enticing them to read, there are other, well-written books on the shelves to read, children just need to be introduced to them; the responsibility of both the parents and the teachers. But I guess that's just the insight of somebody with a Public Relations degree.

 

[robynchic]

It's not a slap in the face to me, and I'm a CM.

You're still looking at it critically as an adult. "Preserving the magic" is nonsense if you're trying to get children to read. There are books for CREATING magic for that age group, i.e. Chronnicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Eragon...

Let there be one that gives a little reality to the world. Moreso than the violent video games they play today.

And I'm not "becoming" a college student, as you say. You're throwing insults at me because I'm pointing out that you're looking at this book far too critically. Who's the person acting so juvenile? Let it go. Just LET IT GO.

 

[yoyoflamingo]

One of the parts I had a problem with, aside everything mentioned here, was the whole thing that Walt planned these clues, yet to find them in rides built decades after Walt died seems odd.

But who can resist Small World AAs coming to life and attacking a boatload of teenagers?

 

[Connor002]

You're still looking at it critically as an adult. "Preserving the magic" is nonsense if you're trying to get children to read. There are books for CREATING magic for that age group, i.e. Chronnicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Eragon...

No! Erago and Harry Potter are not kiddie books! Not NOT NOT!





Ahhh... sorry for the interuption... you may continue :lookaroun

 

[robynchic]

One of the parts I had a problem with, aside everything mentioned here, was the whole thing that Walt planned these clues, yet to find them in rides built decades after Walt died seems odd.

See, I find that to be a legitimate concern. However, there is always the imaginary continuity clause that when Walt had videos made to be shown after his death, that he also asked that those clues be put in there... :lol:

 

[robynchic]

No! Erago and Harry Potter are not kiddie books! Not NOT NOT!





Ahhh... sorry for the interuption... you may continue :lookaroun

The Harry Potter series starts off as a 12+ age group, so there is some gap. And I will admit, I don't know the age group for Eragon, but I'm reading that now for my English class, but that is also 12+, according to Barnes and Noble online.

And how many kids do you see that are younger than 12 reading Harry Potter?

Seriously, Connor, let's talk on a messaging client. Take your pick which one, and I'll PM you my screen name.

 

[Connor002]

Seriously, Connor, let's talk on a messaging client. Take your pick which one, and I'll PM you my screen name.

I'm tring to get somting working, but my computer seems to hate me. What did I ever do to it? Well, so I downloaded 20 things at once, big deal. Soda on the ketboard? I cleaned it off before it did any damage. So what if I don't turn you off enough? You can take it. Don't you dare give me an error message. Oh! Now you've done it. This isn't going to go unpunished. *make computer play It's a Small World song repetadly*

 

[robynchic]

I'm tring to get somting working, but my computer seems to hate me. What did I ever do to it? Well, so I downloaded 20 things at once, big deal. Soda on the ketboard? I cleaned it off before it did any damage. So what if I don't turn you off enough? You can take it. Don't you dare give me an error message. Oh! Now you've done it. This isn't going to go unpunished. *make computer play It's a Small World song repetadly*

:lol: too funny, man...

 

[Miss Bell]

Again--haven't read it yet, but I am a middle school English teacher. It seems to me that this books seems to be written with a Harry Potter, Eragon fan-base in mind. Those kids are not going to have the magic spoiled for them by finding out about the utilidors--they love that stuff. My daughter is disappointed that she has to wait until she is 16 to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour.

Pre-teens and teens today can still revel in the magic, but they are not so naive that they can't appreciate how it is done.

This book does not look like it was written for 8 year olds. Now I'm sure that there are 8 year olds that will read it, just like there are 8 year olds who will work their way through Harry Potter, whether they are ready for it or not. There is no shame as a parent to tell your child to wait to read a book until they are a little older.

 

[robynchic]

Oh thank GOODNESS for an educator to be giving their input.

Miss Bell, do you see where I'm coming from? Does it sound like the typical "GET KIDS TO READ" spiel?

 

[Miss Bell]

Miss Bell, do you see where I'm coming from? Does it sound like the typical "GET KIDS TO READ" spiel?

Yes--that's how I see it, too. It's so much harder to find good books that 11 to 14 year olds want to read--particularly boys. Harry Potter and Eragon have been lifesavers for me in the classroom. Pretty much once you can find that one book that will hook a kid into reading, they are willing to try to read more and more things. I am currently reading Peter and the Starcatchers which was co-authored by the same author and Dave Barry. This is about Peter Pan before he became Peter Pan. It is the same kind of thing, kids are going to love it because it is full a fantasy-type stuff, but they already have the connection to the orginal Peter Pan story. I'm sure that J.M. Barrie scholars are protesting the sacrilege of this book, too, but as I am reading I can think of tons of kids in my classes who would love to read it.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Oh thank GOODNESS for an educator to be giving their input.

Thank goodness, indeed. Now the rest of the folks here can learn how to properly analyze what they read instead of assuming they're smart enough to do it on their own.

 

[Enderikari]

You're still looking at it critically as an adult. "Preserving the magic" is nonsense if you're trying to get children to read.

Wow... Just wow... and you claim to be a cast member? The ends justify the means? How simply Machiavellian... I hope we are not teaching that to the children that would be our future.

I am an adult, and I am looking at it critically, however, I am looking at it critically from a juvenile reader perspective. The book has information that shouldn't be in there, both as a Disney Editions book and a piece of juvenile fiction. Kudos to Eragon and Harry Potter, and their authors; for creating a world they are able to play around in. But the author of Kingdom Keepers did not create his own world, and choose not to play by the rules of the world he choose to inhabit.

In my humble but accurate opinion, this is not a behavior we should encourage in the "leaders of tomorrow." So, i think you should be the one to "let it go"

 

[DDuckFan130]

Wow... Just wow... and you claim to be a cast member? The ends justify the means? How simply Machiavellian... I hope we are not teaching that to the children that would be our future.

I am an adult, and I am looking at it critically, however, I am looking at it critically from a juvenile reader perspective. The book has information that shouldn't be in there, both as a Disney Editions book and a piece of juvenile fiction. Kudos to Eragon and Harry Potter, and their authors; for creating a world they are able to play around in. But the author of Kingdom Keepers did not create his own world, and choose not to play by the rules of the world he choose to inhabit.

In my humble but accurate opinion, this is not a behavior we should encourage in the "leaders of tomorrow." So, i think you should be the one to "let it go"

Hmm...I can definitely see your points. And from what I can tell about this book, you're right in that JK Rowling created a new world through her words. The author of this book did not. Just chose to embellish their own story around it. Sorry if this sounds like nonsense because I did not read those whole thread through. :lol:

For elementary children, fantasy and make-believe are fine. Once you get into adolescence, the most important thing is to introduce literature that not only is enjoyable for the student, but also relevant to issues they are or will be dealing with. Of course, in the middle of all that, you can introduce Harry Potter and other books like that. Let's face it, even though I haven't read HP, I will have to eventually because it'll play such an integral role in the classrooms, if not already :lol:.

The most important thing to me for those kids is not just the fact that they'd want to read a book because it looks cool. They should want to read it because "oh I can relate to that character...that's cool."

Doesn't make sense, but oh well...yeah :lookaroun

 

[wdwishes2005]

Wow... Just wow... and you claim to be a cast member? The ends justify the means? How simply Machiavellian... I hope we are not teaching that to the children that would be our future.

I am an adult, and I am looking at it critically, however, I am looking at it critically from a juvenile reader perspective. The book has information that shouldn't be in there, both as a Disney Editions book and a piece of juvenile fiction. Kudos to Eragon and Harry Potter, and their authors; for creating a world they are able to play around in. But the author of Kingdom Keepers did not create his own world, and choose not to play by the rules of the world he choose to inhabit.

In my humble but accurate opinion, this is not a behavior we should encourage in the "leaders of tomorrow." So, i think you should be the one to "let it go"

once again, show me a kid in the target range that believes in ''magic''

 

[Erika]

Hmm...I can definitely see your points. And from what I can tell about this book, you're right in that JK Rowling created a new world through her words. The author of this book did not. Just chose to embellish their own story around it. Sorry if this sounds like nonsense because I did not read those whole thread through. :lol:

For elementary children, fantasy and make-believe are fine. Once you get into adolescence, the most important thing is to introduce literature that not only is enjoyable for the student, but also relevant to issues they are or will be dealing with. Of course, in the middle of all that, you can introduce Harry Potter and other books like that. Let's face it, even though I haven't read HP, I will have to eventually because it'll play such an integral role in the classrooms, if not already :lol:.

The most important thing to me for those kids is not just the fact that they'd want to read a book because it looks cool. They should want to read it because "oh I can relate to that character...that's cool."

Doesn't make sense, but oh well...yeah :lookaroun

Makes sense to me :wave:

I hope your students appreciate you.

 

[DDuckFan130]

Makes sense to me :wave:

I hope your students appreciate you.

Aww shucks ...thank you