Bunchland

When it comes to folk and fairy tales, can kids handle the truth?

A recent article in the Huffington Post touched on a study exposing a recent trend in bed time reading: rather than just skipping over the darker elements of some fairy tale stories at bedtime, some parents are now chucking them altogether.

Since today would be the 226th birthday of the younger of the Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm, we figured it was a good time to take a look at these dark tales.

An astonishing one third of parents reported that their children were actually brought to tears by some scenes in the stories. Can’t say we blame them – the vengeful giant chasing Jack down the beanstalk, the roaring beast demanding that feeble beauty dine with him, and a witch straight up shoving Hansel and Gretel into an oven are all pretty freaky images. Some fairy tale themes are so deeply disturbing they can’t be masked with a veneer of gingerbread, no matter how sugar-coated the appropriated Grimm or Disney versions may be.  Read more...

Fairy tales will never get too old to love

The younger half of the German story telling duo, Wilhelm Grimm, would have been 226 this Feb. 24th. To honour his legacy, we’ve spotted a few new and amazing spins on his classic fairy tales. These ones don’t shy away from the dark and dramatic appeal of the stories they draw from.

Snow White and the Black Lagoon by Camille Rose Garcia (2012)

This artistic take on Snow White is a major treat for the eyes. Garcia’s illustrations are dramatic splattery, otherworldly, and full of rich colours, making it as great on your coffee table as it is on your kid’s bookshelf. The protagonist of the tale, with lips red as blood, hair black as ebony and skin as white as snow, is nothing short of a princess of darkness. Check out Garcia’s blog to see some of the book’s pictures. (While you’re at it, check out her 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland, Down the Rabbit Hole!)  Read more...

Meri Perra blogs about the challenges she and her partner face in trying to raise their girls with feminist values

Our daughters are joyfully riding the wave of a well-meaning but definite over-abundance of Disney Princess gifts they got for Christmas.

Part of the infestation includes a very big, very pink Disney Princess story book, the complete princess series, in point of fact, which comes with an infinite number of stickers that are now scattered all over our house.

The book is not all horrible, it’s just mostly horrible. Mulan is a brave hero who goes to war, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast gets trapped when she goes off to rescue her dad. (By which I mean, Mulan and Belle are less bad than the other stories.)  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. The New York Times parenting blog recommends the New York Times Children’s Book Review. This would be ridiculous except for the fact that we actually do have complete trust in the NYT Children’s Book Review, so a fair recommendation.

2. Disney acquired Babble. What will this mean?? We’re thinking we’re going to get more Catherine Connors in fun and silly get-ups.

3. Does being a mom make you want a smartphone? From what we’ve observed, yes.

4. Bad lessons from good movies. We knew the princess-y ones, but hadn’t thought about the unconventional play thing and the perhaps unfair optimism in Wall-E.

5. Did you see that awesome 3D chalk drawing of the Lego Terra Cotta warriors? Here’s how they did it:

Your kids’ deeply entrenched image of Snow White is about to change.

The new movie Snow White and the Huntsman is giving her armour, unkempt hair and an adventurous attitude. Kristen Stewart will portray the fierce protagonist, and she isn’t taking any advice from woodland creatures. The movie, set to come out June 2012, will be a much darker and more epic version of its Disney counterpart, and is made by the producers of Alice in Wonderland and The Sixth Sense.

We say ditch the pre-made Disney Snow White in favour of this righteous heroine.

You’ll need:  Read more...

• Tall black boots and black pants
• A sword and shield (cardboard and tin foil)
• Wrap around braids (braided yarn)
• Body armour (2 foil roasting pans, and a few mini foil pie plates, tin foil and string)

Your princess news round-up

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, princesses are all over the flipping place. Recently seemingly more than usual. Here’s what we’ve come across:

1. Is Disney evil? DeviantART-ist Chris Hill says no. Hill assigned each Disney princess (including Tinkerbell, but excluding Princess Tiana) one of the seven deadly sins.  Check out his profile and click on each card to see why he chose each Disney character for her particular sin. Via Jezebel

2. Why do little girls seem to favour princesses over ballerinas, fairies or other uber-girly symbols? Money. Princesses gets diamonds, gowns, carriages, castles, etc. Mommyish says this is perhaps why Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel (Snow White??) top the list for most popular princesses. Shouldn’t Jasmine be #1 then? She has a pet tiger. That’s way better than mice friends. Also Ariel trading in her sea princessdom for land princessdom? While we don’t know what thrown Prince Eric was heir to (do we?), we suspect Ariel downgraded.  Read more...