March 18, 2006
TribKids: a weekly collection of child-oriented news and facts
On the screen
Traveling: At 8:30 p.m.Sunday on Nickelodeon, "Nick News With Linda Ellerbee" has an interesting installment — showing the experiences of American kids living in
Japan.
Double dribble: "Chicken Little" and "Dreamer — Inspired by a True Story," coming out Tuesday on DVD, are worth a rental look. TV shows on the DVD rebound:
the second "Ed, Edd ’n’ Eddy" release, "Scooby-Doo Meets Batman" and some "Dragon Ball Z" titles.
Buzzer-beaters: Tetris for Nintendo DS jazzes up the classic falling-blocks game with Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda and other fun modes. Tao’s Adventure: Curse of the Demon
Seal also is coming to DS. Notable titles out next week on PlayStation 2: the role-playing game River King, Major League Baseball 2K6, and round 2 of Kao the Kangaroo.
In a book
"Measle and the Mallockee," by Ian Ogilvy
What’s a mallockee, you might ask? Before you get your answer, you need to know what a wrathmonk is and what a dragondon is.
Those answers are in the first two books of the clever Measle series, which is about an ordinary son of most extraordinary parents who finds himself in unimaginable situations.
This book has Measle in a castle with his baby sister, his dog and a wrathmonk. (No, we’re not going to tell you what a wrathmonk is.
You really must read the books!) But as exciting Measle’s escapades are — getting lost in a castle with moving walls and being chased by cows that come out of a painting — what
really makes this book work are the characters. Just their names are enough to make you chuckle: Gobbin Good, Justin Bucket, Mr. Ignatius Niggle and Mumps. (OK, Mumps isn’t a new character;
it’s what Mr. Ignatius Niggle calls Measle, but you get the idea.)
While the book breezes along at a quick pace, the writing is so lovely that you might want to stop at times to re-read a sentence and enjoy it like a good piece of chocolate. But whatever you do,
don’t wash that chocolate down with any purplepine. (We told you; you must read the book!)
Kid fact
Americans spent almost $32 billion on toys last year. About a third of that was spent on video games.
Source: The Washington Post
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