Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers 


That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune--without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird 


That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 


And on the strangest sea; 


Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

What a beautiful and inspiring poem, the most excellent way to see the end of 2009 and the very beginning of a new hope for 2010. I also like the way that the graffiti image above is a play on words—twisting a very negative sounding expression into a positive action. Let’s work together and help each other to make this year the best… To all a Happy New Year 2010!

The Gruffalo

“A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood…” Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling ode to imagination and self-belief.

This is a wonderfully animated adaptation of The Gruffalo. Using CGI a marvellous effect. I love the way that the CGI characters have captured the originally illustrated expressions by Axel Sheffler perfectly (as seen below) all eyes wide with smiling suggestions. The transformation from the original illustrations to the CGI animation is a challenging one and not always successful. There is much loyalty and care in the way that the character’s personality and the illustrative designs are adapted into CGI. The characteristics are absolutely the most perfect rendition of Axel Scheffler's illustrations, I see his drawing in no other way. It’s nice to think that children seeing the animation before the book, will be thrilled and inspired at seeing the book and very likely reading it, from memory and picture association; before they can actually read the text unaided. Having watched the DVD just a few too many times.

Where I think the animation supersedes the book is in the making of the deep dark wood, it is a much richer visually engaging setting there is no white space to be seen. The story connectivity is enhanced quite dramatically making the adventure more seamlessly and fun. It fondly reminded me of The Gingerbread Man as this story is also rhyming, but there’s a clever subtle variety within that repetition which both surprises and delights—flowing with René Aubry’s understated orchestral score. Seen as a whole it’s just good knockabout comedy japery. I really liked the changing of perspectives from very large to very small viewpoints allowing both the mouse and the Gruffalo to be seen with equal significance… full screen. The voice-overs are excellent too, it is so well cast! I especially liked James Corden’s voice as The Gruffalo. All that said, books can be more personal, holding them in your hands, turning the pages at your leisure, discussing the story and illustrations, maybe customizing them by writing notes on the inside cover—reading stories to children triggers their imagination.

http://www.gruffalo.com/