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Happily Ever Moey! A Fairy Tale Lark in Central Park

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PreS-Gr 4—Well-known fairy tales by Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen are brought to life with a twist in music and live action by the award-winning band, Moey's Music Party (Melissa Levis, Adriane Palikat, and Ari Jacobson), and 65 New York City kids. Each vignette includes the band singing, the band and children dressed in appropriate costumes acting out scenes, and many puppets and props. Guitars, keyboards, and percussion accompany the songs, which have cute lyrics and some anachronisms (e.g., the princess from "Princess and the Pea" prefers a futon to mattresses). The band makes clever use of some of Central Park's locations. For example, the Big Bad Wolf tries to blow down Tavern on the Green, and Sleeping Beauty holds court at Belvedere Castle. The scenes include "Leave the Bears Alone" ("Goldilocks and the Three Bears"), "You Can't Blow Me Down" ("The Three Little Pigs"), "Better Smart Than Fast" ("The Gingerbread Man"), "You're Different" ("The Ugly Duckling"), "I'll Do It Alone" ("The Little Red Hen"), "Slow and Steady" ("The Tortoise and the Hare"), and more. Three more songs—"Story Time," "Happily Ever After," and "Moey's Music Party"—round out the selections. In the Bonus Material, viewers can meet Moey (Melissa Levis) and watch scenes from other concerts in which the band performed. The accompanying CD contains all 14 songs. This production, a winner of a 2011 Parent's Choice FunStuff Award, will be a real treat for New Yorkers who will recognize the Central Park locations, and it will also appeal to all fans of fairy tales.—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX
In this beautiful, heartrending, yet horrifying film, North Koreans tell their stories of imprisonment, sexual slavery, torture, murder, and escape to China or South Korea during the nearly 50-year regime of Kim Il Sung (1912—94). The interviews are illustrated through the interspersion of dance sequences, archival news footage, and drawings. Particularly interesting are the North Korean propaganda films celebrating Kim Il Sung as God and showing in the face of mass starvation happy workers, elaborate military displays, and the creation of a new flower in 1988 in honor of the 46th birthday of Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong Il. A valuable time line traces 20th-century events in Korea. Bonus features include previously unreleased footage of camp refugees. This mesmerizing film displays excellent production values and is highly recommended for Asia collections.—Kitty Chen Dean, formerly with Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, NY
Reviewed by Kitty Chen Dean , Jul 01, 2011

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