Recently in Tweens Category

Now that Archie has not just proposed to Veronica (issue 600), but actually married her, gone on a honeymoon, and is going to be a father (issue 601), the comic is hitting rewind and sending Archie down the literal road not taken, so he gets to propose to Betty. In issue 603, Archie returns to the "Memory Lane" road that took him from high school graduation into adulthood and takes the other path, one apparently endorsed by the fans as the New York Times reports 80 percent favor the blond girl next door over the glamorous brunette.

The series is written by Michael E. Uslan, a lifetime Archie fan, who told the Times that this idea was inspired by Robert Frost's famous poem, "The Road Not Taken" as well as the Gwyneth Paltrow movie "Sliding Doors" and the song "Both Sides Now." This dual storyline allows the characters to explore the way choices large and small affect the future. But Uslan promises that all will be resolved.

"I have written his final fate in one of these two futures," Mr. Uslan said. "Now, back in high school, it's up to the three of them. Everything they say, don't say, every action they take and fail to take, is going to add up to determine which of these two roads are taken. And one of them will be."

In the grand tradition of Alice, Dorothy, Milo, and the Pevensie children, Coraline enters a portal to a magical world that is both thrilling and terrifying, one that will both enchant her and demand her greatest resources of courage and integrity. And it will teach her that she does being given whatever she wants is not what she thought -- that what she thinks she wants may not be what she wants after all.

Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) is bored and lonely. She and her parents have just moved into a new home and she does not know anyone. Her mother (voice of Teri Hatcher) and father (voice of John Hodgman, who plays the PC in the Mac commercials) are distracted and busy with work. While they type away furiously on their computers about gardening, they never actually go outside and plant anything. Coraline meets her neighbors, a pair of one-time performers (voices of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French), a man training singing mice (voice of Ian McShane), and a boy her age named Wybie (voice of Robert Bailey Jr.), to whom she takes an immediate dislike.

She explores her surroundings and finds a mysterious locked door. Her mother tells her since the house was converted to make apartments it only opens onto a brick wall. But when she tries it herself, it opens into a tube-shaped corridor that leads to a place very like but also very unlike her own home and neighborhood. Everything is brighter and more colorful. The mother and father tell her that they are her Other parents. They sound just like her real parents and they look like them, too, except that they are utterly devoted and attentive and generous, and except for their eyes, which are sewn-on black buttons.

The Other world is enchanting for a while, with all kinds of diversions and performances. Many, like the Other parents, echo the places and characters from home. But then it begins to feel too synthetic and a little creepy. When the Other mother asks her sweetly to replace her eyes with buttons, Coraline goes home. But home is not the same. Something has happened and she will have to return to the Other place for an adventure that will require all of her courage, perseverance, and some growing up, too.

Coraline must follow the storyline and grow disenchanted with the Other place but we have the luxury of reveling in it. The creepier it gets, the more mesmerizing the visuals, ravishingly grotesque and dazzlingly inventive when the Other Mother suddenly elongates, her cheekbones sticking out like flying buttresses and her arms and legs getting spider-y. This is the first stereoscopic 3D film made in the painstakingly meticulous stop-motion system in which no more than 2-4 seconds can be completed each day because every frame requires as many as a thousand tiny adjustments. The 3D effect is all-encompassing and utterly entrancing as we feel as though we are inside the Other world as its uneasy false cheeriness slides away and we discover what is really going on. Like her parents, Coraline has been separated from authenticity of experience, in her case because she is a child. But the journey to the Other world shows her that she has what she needs to become more fully herself and to find a more vivid and vibrant life in the place she once thought of as drab and uninvolving.

The tragic shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC last week reminds us yet again of the importance of making sure that future generations do not just learn the statistics but truly understand the near-incomprehensible devastation of genocide and the toxic tragedy of bigotry.

The documentary Paper Clips is one every family should watch. It is the story of Whitwell, Tennessee, a small coal mining community (population 1600) outside of Chatanooga. The population is almost entirely white and entirely Christian. When the local school set out to teach children about tolerance and diversity, the teachers realized that most of the children had never seen a person from another country or faith. So the school decided to teach students about the Holocaust in Germany during World War II.

As the students tried to come to grips with the Nazi genocide, they had a hard time visualizing the magnitude of the loss of six million people. They wanted to collect six million of something to represent the people who were killed.

The students did some research and learned that the paperclip was invented in Norway and that Norwegians wore paperclips on their collars to demonstrate their sympathy for the Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and other groups being persecuted by the Nazis. The students decided to collect six million paperclips and began writing letters to everyone they could think of to ask for help.

This documentary shows how the project grew from a classroom assignment to an event that transformed the entire community.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, like Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was a big Nancy Drew fan when she was a young girl. I've been touched by the reports of Judge Sotomayor, growing up in a housing project, devouring books about the strong, capable, curious, honest, and courageous Nancy Drew. The Girl Sleuth is a fascinating book about Nancy Drew and other heroines of series books for girls, written by novelist Bobbie Ann Mason, who was also inspired by these feisty fictional heroines, a potent reminder of how important the media influences on our children can be.

PBS has an excellent online resource for parents about the way that media shapes children's views of the world, with separate sections for preschoolers, grade schoolers, pre-teens and teens, with tips for each age to help children understand media and think about it more critically. It even has a parent guide to texting acronyms like G2G (got to go). Kids are not the only ones who can use some help with media!

The New York Times reports that a short animated film called "The Story of Stuff" has become "a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation." What I like about the story is the way the unabashed advocacy of the film...

Cute kids + cuter dogs = one doggone cute movie. Emma Roberts (niece of Julia) stars in the movie based on the popular book by Lois Duncan about an orphaned brother and sister who rescue stray dogs. Andi (Roberts) and...

You've heard of educational software that teaches you something but this is educational software that teaches scientists something. Foldit is a Tetris-like game that is easy to understand but a challenge to master. That's what makes it fun. What makes...

One of the tenderest stories in the Bible is the tale of Ruth, the young widow who chose to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Although it fills only four short chapters, the two characters are vivid and their story involving...

Here is the opening paragraph of a new press release: Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT) and Nickelodeon/Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP), announced today that Dora the Explorer™ is growing up! The companies have introduced a whole new way to look at Dora for...

Do you have a Jonas Brothers fan in your family? Or maybe a fanatic? Some parents have found their children's devotion to the latest pop stars a little disconcerting. One father suggested that his daughter's enthusiasm might merit a discussion...

Michael Landon Jr.'s new film is The Velveteen Rabbit, based on the classic book by Margery Williams about the stuffed toy bunny loved so dearly that it becomes "real." The movie opens in select cities this Friday, February 27, and...

Disney reveals the bloopers and accidents behind the scenes at "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." It's fun to see how the young stars bounce back from their mistakes with such good spirits and good humor. Get ready to giggle...

It seems like a very minor infraction compared to the recent Chris Brown/Michael Phelps/A-Rod transgressions, but Miley Cyrus had to apologize again -- twice -- for a photograph that appeared to mock Asians. Her first apology was a bit defensive...

In honor of Black History Month, I am proud to post this wonderful tribute to Martin Luther King from Little Dizzy films. The song was written by Pat Boone the day he heard the news of Martin Luther King Jr's...

Most adults still shiver a little when the subject of middle school comes up. It is a time of the most polarizing extremes as we first begin to question everything we have been told and everything we thought we knew...

This week we observe one of the great strengths of the system created by the founding fathers, the orderly transition to a new administration. In honor of the outgoing and incoming Presidents of the United States, take a look at...

NatureTech is a terrific new DVD series from the Smithsonian Network that shows us some of the best ideas about energy, flight, and building materials technology come from observing nature. Biomimetics is the new science of looking to nature for...

The documentary The Black Candle: A Kwanzaa Celebration, narrated by Maya Angelou, uses the holiday of Kwanzaa to explore the African-American experience. The holiday was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana studies, as a way to...

One of the best moments for any movie critic is the discovery of a bright new talent. Brittany Curran, who co-stars with Lucas Grabeel in The Adventures of Foodboy, caught my attention from her first moment on screen because she...

Critics usually do not see trailers in our special screenings, so many thanks to the commenters who brought this problem to my attention. Some "Twilight" fans are seeing the disturbing trailer for "The Unborn" before the movie. The choice of...

Be sure to take a look at the excellent Ten Tips for Parenting the Facebook Generation from Beliefnet's Hesham Hassaballa. Technology has made the risks and humiliations and cliquishness of the early teen years exponentially more treacherous, and these guidelines...

A reader of this blog wrote to ask about her 14-year-old, who tells her that all of his friends watch R-rated horror films and he wants to see them, too. Here is my response: I am honored that you would...

Do you want to find a way to help children understand and the financial crisis? (Could you use a little help understanding it yourself?) Do terms like "sub-prime" and "bailout" make your eyes glaze over? Boomerang, the brilliant audio magazine...

Speaking of Disney's HSM juggernaut, Faith Fims' new DVD release "Sunday School Musical" is out this week. I have not seen it yet, but the trailer is very appealing. I love church choirs!...

I love this trailer for a new Australian movie about a girl struggling to fit in. Her friend is played by the wonderful Keisha Castle-Hughes of "Whale Rider" and "The Nativity."...

The authors of the book "So Sexy So Soon," Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne, say that children are constantly bombarded by the media and advertisers with images and portrayals of hyper-sexuality. Thong panties, padded bras, and risqué Halloween costumes for...