The Tween Whisperer Blog

Out with the Old

Hello Dear Readers,

I have not done much with this blog in a while, and I've decided to put it to rest. However, you can visit me at my new blog http://www.tracymcgill.blogspot.com where I'll be focusing less on the shenanigans of my children- though I will still attempt to wax poetic on various tween topics and solicit any advice you readers may have- and focus more on other interests, like writing, publishing, books, bikes, maybe some Woody Allen movies, and the overuse of the grammatically incorrect phrase "my bad". I don't get it. Aaanyway, please check it out and if you have any topic suggestions, I'll gladly take them on.

Thank you!

Winners for The Vampire's Assistant Giveaway Announced!

Thanks to all who entered this fantastic giveaway and thanks for all the great comments. I enjoyed reading about all the different movies you watch. Sounds like Mike Meyers is your favorite scary dude. To the winners you'll need to contact me at tweenwhisperer@gmail.com with your shipping address (remember, it must be in the US) by Wed. the 28th. If I don't hear from you, I'll have to pick another winner, and nobody wants that! Don't worry I won't sell, distribute or whisper your address to anyone.

The four winners of the Vampire's Assistant Fun Pack are:

Anette D.

Erin Pyle

Amanda C.

DG

And the Grand Prize winner of the Fun Pack and the Fandango gift certificate is:

Mike.

Congratulations and Happy Halloween to all. Sounds like you'll all be up watching scary movies, so enjoy!

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Movie Giveaway

I'm so excited to announce this sweet giveaway. I wish I could win it!

About the movie:

In theaters October 23^rd

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, based on the popular series of books by Darren Shan, is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires.  Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

 

CIRQUE DU FREAK has been rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13) for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, thematic elements and some language.

About the Book Series:

THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT and Other Tales from the Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan

New movie edition features the first three books--Cirque Du Freak, The Vampire's Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood-- bound up in one volume!

I have not yet read this book, but I do plan to so look for a review to come. Scholastic recommends the book for 6th grade and up.

Here's the best part:

One (1) Grand Prize winner receives:

• $50 Fandango.com Gift Card
• Youth backpack, T-shirt, Locker mirror and copy of the book The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan! A total of $100 value.
  

 

Four (4) Additional winners will receive:

• Youth backpack, T-shirt, Locker mirror and copy of the book The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan! A $50 value.
  

How to enter:

Leave me a comment, which will be your entry, telling me your favorite movie to watch at Halloween.

For extra entries you can post this giveaway on your Facebook page, tweet it, Digg it, and/or subscribe to this blog's feed. (See share button below.) Just be sure to send me the link so I can count it!

The winners will be chosen by random.org on Oct. 23.

Sorry, shipping is only available to U.S. addresses.

Good luck!

Author Interview: Gregory Kemp of Vinny Whiskers

I am pleased to bring you an interview with Vinny Whiskers' author, Gregory Kemp. Vinny Whiskers, published by WEbook, is a great book for adventure lovers and animal lovers, tweens who love to read and tweens who are more reluctant. You can read my full review here. In the meantime, I give you Gregory Kemp.

Is this your first book?

GK: The Legend of Vinny Whiskers is my first novel.  I contributed nine essays to 101 Things Every Man Should Know How to Do, an anthology which was published by WEbook earlier this year.  There is a lot of funny stuff in 101 Things but it’s more for adults.  There are a few sample essays from 101 Things at gregorykemp.com.  I’d say The Legend of Vinny Whiskers is for the family and 101 Things is for the dads.

Did you always want to be a writer?

GK: I never considered writing as a career but I always wanted to write a book.  I started a novel in college at Florida Tech but never finished it.  Then I had a ten year career as an engineer diver.  I traveled all over the world conducting underwater inspection of bridges and piers.  During that time I penned a few chapters and started The Legend of Vinny Whiskers.  In 2006, I left my career as an engineer diver and followed my wife to Vienna, Austria, where we now live.  After we settled in, I was finally able to finish Vinny and contribute to 101 Things.  With two books out and a third in the works, I seem to find myself as a writer (a place I’m happy to be) without really planning on it.  How’s that for luck?

Who is your favorite character in Vinny Whiskers?

GK: My favorite character is Mr. Thin Fur, Boomer’s prairie dog teacher.  He’s misunderstood by a lot of the other prairie dogs but he’s smart and he’s definitely somebody I would want on my side if I were taking on an army of rats.  I also like Mr. Thin Fur’s trademark feature: a rotini shaped hair spout on the top of his head.  In much the way Mr. Thin Fur is misunderstood among the prairie dogs, rotini is misunderstood among the pastas.  Spaghetti, linguini, fettuccine—they get all the attention but rotini is equally delicious.  Perhaps one day, when the Mr. Thin Furs of the world get the respect they deserve, so will my beloved rotini.

Do you have any tips for parents to get their boys more interested in reading?

GK: Fundamentally, I think too many kids don’t read because they are forced to read what others tell them.  I think reading in any form is fruitful.  Reading a novel is great, yes, but so are short stories, magazines, even comic books.  It engages the mind; it stirs the imagination.  In Junior High I read the scouting report of every major league baseball player.  I read the rules of Dungeons and Dragons cover to cover when I was ten.  What did I get out of it?  I remember reading about a magical potion of diminution in the rules of Dungeons and Dragons.  I had no idea what diminution meant but I was hungry to find out.  It means shrinking.  

While I was reading the book, I couldn't help but imagine it as an animated movie. Would you like to see it be made into a movie?

GK: I take that as quite a complement, so thank you.  I think one of the biggest challenges of fantasy novels is balancing the forward progression of the story with the descriptions.  Readers, especially young readers of fantasy, want the story to move along but at the same time they want to feel like they are in a completely different world.  I worked hard to render the animal world without going overboard on the descriptive details.  To answer your question, would I like to see Vinny as an animated film?  Yes, yes, and triple-yes.  I’ve got some voices picked out already.  Boomer: Toby McGuire.  Punky: Beyoncé.  I want Bill Clinton to do Ned Melvin, the naked mole rat, and Josh Holloway as Vinny Whiskers.  If you’re friends with any of these guys, could you put a good word in for me?

Halloween Costume Ideas for Tweens

Okay, I've heard from many of you about the outrageous tween Halloween costumes. One of you found my site by searching "tween girl halloween costumes that don't suck". Not sure if it was a mom looking for a costume that doesn't begin with the word "sexy" or if it was a tween looking for a costume that's not been suggested by her mother. So I've come up with some costumes that may make both of you happy. Of course, every tween is different and they each have their own ideas of what's cool. If you get the eye roll, just move on to the next one. MJ has informed me that High School Musical is definitely out. Hannah Montana is headed that way too. iCarly is IN, but not really costume material. So....

Vampires:

especially brooding teenage vampires, are of course IN. There are a wide variety of costume ideas here and you could hit the thrift store for inspiration. Go for Bella in the prom scene with blue dress and crutches or a member of the Volturi clan with long black robe and pale make-up.

The Decades:

Any of these would be easy and fun to put together.

50s girl- the classic poodles skirt and white blouse

60s girl- Woodstock just celebrated it's 40th anniversary, make your own tie-dye shirt, long skirt and braided head band

70s- eh, maybe not

80s- MJ is totally obsessed with the 80s right now. Do you still have your prom dress? Let her wear that, get a can of Aqua Net and plug in the curling iron! Or go with the 80s Madonna look. Again, hit the thrift store.

For the crafty:

Get a couple of large boxes, black and white poster board and a friend and be a pair of dice. When I was a kid, I was a Rubik's Cube- colored poster board and electical tape. Easy peasy.

One reader suggested Smarty Pants: hot glue smarties candies all over a pair of sweat pants.

MJ was a tornado one year: a gray sweat suit, we got various dollhouse items: a broom, furniture, matchbox cars etc. which we tied fishing wire around and then attached to the sweat suit so when she spun around the items flew. And we stuck leaves in her hair.

Movie Theater Floor: get a black sweat suit and hot glue stuff you'd find on the floor of the movie theater.

For the reader:

Be a classic character from literature or from history:

Jo from Little Women

A Suffragette

Shakespeare's Juliet

Cleopatra

Scarlet O'Hara

Amelia Earhart

Group ideas:

The Cat in the Hat- 2 siblings could be Thing 1 and Thing 2

American Idol Judges- you can decide if you want to include Paula. Simon would be easy. Or you could make your own contestant label on the computer.

The Brady Bunch- okay, there's your 70s costumes

The "Breakfast" Club- everyone dresses as a different breakfast cereal character, Tony the Tiger, Snap, Crackle, Pop, the Lucky Charms Leprechaun...

Okay, that's what I've got for now. Of course, for all you moms, you can just add the word sexy in front of any of these and you and your husband can have some trick or treating fun of your own after the kids are in bed. wink, wink, nudge, nudge

Me, I think I'll roll out of bed, grab a Starbucks cup, a laptop, throw on my gray t-shirt, yoga pants and flip-flops, and go as a blogger.

The New American Girl Doll

Has American Girl jumped the shark? On that note, has the phrase "jumped the shark" jumped the shark? The controversy over the new "Gwen" doll sure has people talking about the company and there's no such thing as bad press right? If you haven't heard, Gwen, is a homeless girl and is meant to teach girls about the realities of homeless people in the U.S. I'm not convinced that this is A.) sincere and B.) really going to teach girls whose parents can shell out the $95 to buy the doll about the plight of the homeless.  Although my oldest never got into these dolls much (thank you, Lord, and our bank account thanks you), we have enjoyed their books and I'm a huge proponent of how they've celebrated the lives of young women throughout history. I'm just wondering if they've created this doll, knowing it would create a buzz. 

If you read some of the product reviews on the AG website, there isn't much mentioned about her being homeless. More about how beautiful she is and her pretty dress. One shopper was concerned that she didn't have any accessories to accompany her...umm... she's homeless, therefore I'm guessing accessoryless. Perhaps the book should be about a family who keeps buying these dolls for their daughter, racking up the credit card, how with interest a $95 doll turns into a $195 doll, the bills don't get paid, the house goes into foreclosure, and they move in with Grandma. Isn't this the current American experience?
American Girl defends itself by saying that they donate millions of dollars worth of clothes and toys every year. Yeah, their clothes and dolls. How about some cash?

I don't have a problem with them making this doll. Just don't hide behind some guise of social responsibility. If that's the goal, why not have a doll who has cancer? Or whose parents are getting divorced? Or whose father is in the military? I'm just sayin'. Weigh in here- Tell me your thoughts.

Halloween is scarier than ever for Moms of Tween-Girls

I'm sure I'm not the only to have noticed the transformation of Halloween costumes for women over the past few years. Somehow the powers that be over at the costume design warehouse got in their heads that all us women really want to be for Halloween is a tramp. Yes! They've figured us out. Forget woman's lib and equal rights. Our deepest desire is to be a slutty pirate or a Little Bo Peep who's lost her dignity. Well, obviously these costumes are selling or they wouldn't still be out there. But now they are invading our young girls. In searching for a costume for MJ, here are some options I found marketed to tween girls. All of these I found on SpiritHalloween.com, but all of the costume sites are virtually the same.

This gem is called the "Harajuku Pop Girl Tween Costume".  Maybe it would be cute for a teen-aged girl, say over 16, but I doubt most tweens know what a Harajuku is, nor be allowed to listen to Hollaback Girl.

This one is actually called "Pirate Hottie Tween Costume". Because all girl pirates wear fishnet stockings and gloves. And what mom doesn't want to shell out money for a costume described as Hottie?

Maybe you're not ready for your tween to be a Harajuku or a pirate. She's just a little girl after all. What happened to the old-fashioned fairy tales like Goldilocks or Little Red Riding Hood? Not to worry. Here ya go:

I've read these stories to my kids and I don't recall anything about Little Red Riding Hood lacing up her corset before heading out to visit her grandmother. And I think Goldilocks got into Mama Bear's special drawer meant for private times with Papa Bear. This dress is too short!

Of course every tween girl begs their mom to be a convict for Halloween, but where to find a cute convict costume? Complete with corset and leather boots of course.

And finally, every mom's dream costume:

Dig in the Dancing Tween?

    I'm a big fan of the educational programming on cable. I like to watch the History Channel, Animal Planet, NatGeo, and the like. Whale Wars had MJ and I riveted and I must admit that Pawn Stars sucks me in. My husband and I have been enjoying Locked Up Abroad, although I tend to get heart palpitations while watching that show. I used to be a fan of The Learning Channel, especially when Trading Spaces was big, but lately I've noticed there's not so much learning going on there, but more and more voyeurism. They're fast becoming The Exploitation Channel. Of course, we've all had about as much Jon & Kate as one tabloid-buying nation can stomach. Between Kate's haircut and Jon's ridiculous Ed Hardy tiger shirt, I've had to amp up my Tums supply.  TLC really hit the mother load with Toddlers & Tiaras. If you haven't seen it, don't. Hold onto your innocence. 

    So I guess I shouldn't have been shocked when last night I came across the latest creation from TLC: Dancing Tweens.  At first, I was intrigued, but my heart quickly sank when I realized what was happening here. Ballroom dancing.

    Okay, so I saw the child dancers on Dancing with the Stars last season, and I must admit I was a little creeped out. But I figured, well at least it's a physical activity and I respected the fact that if a kid wants to get into that, then it's best to start young, no different than ice skating or gymnastics. So I put aside my judgment.

But now...I'm officially creeped.

This is what one of the judges said, at least I think she was a judge, maybe she was a mom.

    "They're just little kids off the floor, but when they get all tarted up for the competition, it's showtime."

Yea, that's right, tarted up.

    Then I watched as a mom chewed out her dancing 6-year-old twins, because they weren't focusing and they were embarrassing her. Ummm.... they're 6. Not focusing and embarrassing their parents is pretty much the daily agenda for a 6-year-old.

    One couple (and yes they have regular partners they dance with) who were 9, were being coached to look passionately into each other's eyes as though you're in love. (Pardon me while my head explodes.)

    You know, you've seen Dancing with the Stars. Those dances are HOT!! Who wants their daughter gyrating with some pre-pubescent boy in clubwear, uh, I mean dancewear. So why does it have to be so sexual? Why do they have to do the Samba? Couldn't they stick with the Jive and the Waltz and wear poodle skirts and long gowns? Then I would maybe agree that it's cute.

photo credit TLC

    But let's be honest, along with Toddlers & Tiaras, these shows are really about watching all the psycho moms as we collectively shake our heads in disbelief yet secretly feel better about our own ways of parenting. I watched as one mom ripped a metal comb through her son's slicked back hair over and over and over, while the kid screamed and tried to get away. I wanted to tell that mom, "Sweetie, you've got so much Brylcreem in that kid's hair, it's not going anywhere 'til the this show gets canceled".

    Now, before all you ballroom dancing fans send me hate mail, I don't believe kids and ballroom dancing is inherently bad. It is far better than the pageanting thing, in that at least it's an athletic competition. But I don't think they need to be so grown up, or excuse me, I believe the correct term is 'tarted up'. 

And to the dancing tweens out there: hey, you can dance, you can jive, you can have the time of your life. You're young and sweet, but NOT seventeen.

SpellQuizzer Giveaway!

    Do you dread practicing the weekly spelling list with your child? More importantly, does your child dread it? Well, check out this new spelling software at SpellQuizzer that will have your child begging you to practice their spelling words. You simply create your own spelling list by speaking the words into a microphone (if you don't have one you can pick one up for about $10) then the student takes the test by listening to the words and typing them into the computer. My son thinks this is a riot. Of course kids just enjoy doing anything on the computer, but he especially thinks it's funny to hear his mom's voice and I make up funny sentences to go along with the particular spelling word.

    This software has been developed to accommodate just about any spelling curriculum since you create your own list. Also, SpellQuizzer is a homeschool-friendly company with a special section on their website for software developed specifically for homeschoolers. SpellQuizzer has it's own built-in spell check which recognizes both US and UK spellings, so a student could create their own list without worry of mistakes. They might think this is fun too.

And the best part? SpellQuizzer has offered to give away a copy of this fabulous software to one of my lucky winners! A $30 value!

    To enter, simply leave me a comment on this post telling me a brief statement of what your homework routine is with your kids or what is was when you were a kid.

For a double entry, tweet about this giveaway.

For another entry, post this giveaway on your Facebook page.

Be sure to let me know if you've done this or it won't count!

A winner will be chosen by random.org on Oct. 1.

Good luck!

MJ: on MJ

I had to share what my MJ created this weekend.  You know, you just hope your kids will develop a talent, something that drives them to achieve more and influence others to do the same. Something you can proudly display to the world and say, "Hey, my kid did this!" Well, here it is in all it's splendor:

The Michael Jackson Mii Portrait

It freakishly looks like him doesn't it? I haven't played tennis with him yet, but I hear he's quite good. I think my daughter may have a future career in Mii art. She's taking commissions on a first come, first serve basis, so better get in now.

Disclaimer: Please don't send me nasty comments that I'm desecrating the memory of Michael Jackson. We are huge fans in this house and are merely trying to join with the masses in keeping his memory alive through the power of Nintendo.