Monday, March 21, 2011

Quality Movies for Girls

(This photo was taken before I left, and I am holding an adorable,teeny- tiny tissue box. My daughter Love won it in a basket at a charity auction and gave it to her sneezing, snuffling mom as a get well present. Wasn't that kind of her?)

Well, life here has been a bit crazy since my last post. Toward the end of the week I came down with the icky virus that has been plaguing my family. With tissues in hand, and still under the influence of Advil, I transported myself to a rather intensely scheduled regional home school conference. It was a delight to see some of my favorite authors in person ( and even get to visit with a few of them!), but it was exhausting. After returning with my brain full of valuable information, my dear husband had to leave for a short business trip.Whew!  Thank goodness we began a week of spring break today!

All of the sickness that has been swirling around in our family has reminded me of the value of a good movie. There are sometimes when you just can't muster up the strength to read a book, and that was just where this particular virus left us...stuck in bed and a bit bored. I am picky about what our children watch. I believe we must fill our children's world with beauty, particularly in the things they read and watch. Beautiful and noble characters, beautiful words, beautiful scenery are all virtues in my understanding of things.  I am not attempting to shelter our children from what is really out there, but rather to counter it with something better.  Our family lives in the city and we see the ugliness that is the result of sin every day. ( We also live rich lives filled with all types of people, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but that is a post for another day!) We are called to live beautiful lives in the midst of ugliness. Wholesome literature and entertainment not only can to empower children to live lives of  godly beauty, but our high value of these things serves as a testimony to a watching world! I don't think you can beat the following two DVDs, both put out by Masterpiece Theater. 

The first movie is The Railway Children.   I enjoyed reading this  book to my little ones years ago. It is a wonderful story of perseverance. The plot if full of mystery and action, keeping even the boys in our home engaged.  This DVD version is beautifully done and my children have watched it over and over. 

I am equally impressed with the Masterpiece Theater production of Pollyanna. We have not read this book, although a friend recently told me how much her family enjoyed reading it aloud. This version gives the character Pollyanna a dignity and nobility that I personally always thought was missing in  the cheesier versions I watched as a girl. The costumes and scenery are beautiful, and the acting is top quality. And, of course, the story is an inspiring one about seeing the blessings in every circumstance and dealing with suffering. You will enjoy this DVD as much as your girls!

We have checked bot of these DVDs out from our local library, although we have since been give Pollyanna as a gift.  They are both worth owning.  I will include an Amazon link for each in the side bar if you would like to order either one from my affiliate link. Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. My apologies to my subscribers, who may have received 14 separate versions of this post!! I thought I was in "Preview" mode, but was really in "Publish" mode! I have never claimed to be a writer, but I am definitely a re-writer! I beg your pardon :). Blessings!

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  2. I am really enjoying reading this blog! I just got caught up on your last several posts. I liked them all but particularly loved the ideas you shared on hospitality. I love the idea of preparing in advance with your children for drop in guests. We were recently gifted a deep freezer and I want to use some of your ideas of storing extra goodies there for company. Thanks for taking time to share your wisdom and ideas!
    love,
    rebekah

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  3. We all loved The Railway Children. We haven't watched Pollyanna yet, but I'll add it to our list.

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  4. I did not know there was a Railway Children movie. I can't wait to find it! We read the book - it was a shortened version - last semester. I love the Masterpiece Theatre selections. We just suspended our Direct TV service in favor of Netflix. We are finding ourselves using it more and more and less of tv. Yeah! I am always on the lookout for a good movie.
    I would love to hear a post about your recent conference and who you listened to and what you learned! :)

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  5. Thank you, ladies! I hope you will enjoy them as much as we did!

    Rebekah, last night I did a post on using the freezer and when I went to publish it Blogger ate it and , near as I can tell, it is gone! Oh my. You will love having a freezer!

    Shara, thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you will come again :). Do you have any other good movie suggestions? We are always looking for good options.

    Have a great day!

    Michelle, I have hears lots of good thing about NetFlix. Next year you need to come to the conference with me..it was wonderful and I saw your books there :).

    Shara, thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you will come again! Do you have any other good movie suggestions? We are always looking for options out there!

    Have a good day!

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