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     We just put up our 2nd episode of our podcast! This is a new pursuit that we are having so much fun with! If you haven't given the podcast a listen yet, please do and let us know what you think! As you can tell from the name, Cover to Reel, our podcast deals with books that have been made into movies.  So far, we have covered Jurassic Park and The Wizard of OZ. In honor of the launch of our podcast, we decided to use Friday Faves today to showcase some of our favorite books to movies and to give you a preview of some of the books we hope to cover in the future.  

     Harry Potter, all book volumes and all movies: We all love this series! We hope to cover each book and accompanying movie(s) one by one.
      The Lord of the Rings, all book volumes (that set includes The Hobbit) and all movies: I love the books and the movies! You can tell that we really love fantasy by these first two choices.  And of course, there is Legolas.  Enough said! 
      The Hobbit, the book and all 3 movies:  I read this book in grade school and have reread it many times.  It is no surprise to me that they took 3 movies to tell the entire story! 
      Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe: Read the entire Chronicles, but I would focus on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when it comes to the movies. 
      A Wrinkle in Time, the movie is fairly new, finally after reading the book in elementary school! 
    The Hunger Games, this one is going to be a fun discussion because the books and the movies were so excellent! 
     To Kill a Mockingbird:  The movie is such a classic so well acted by Gregory Peck.  The book is rich and wonderful with a beautiful back story of the author's. 
     Last but not least, Shrek:  Lindsey and Alicia just recorded this one for the podcast.  The book is a simple child's book, but the movies takes it so much farther! Stay tuned for the podcast about this book/movie combo! 

       So, those are our faves for this Friday! Hopefully they will help you find some entertainment for the weekend. Read a book and then watch the movie so you can join in the conversation withCover To Reel! 

This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support.

     Did you realize that this past week was National Library Week?  Living in the electronic age, have libraries become obsolete?  Are they less used than they once were.  But, as I peruse the library website that services Phoenix, I can see that libraries are still current and are keeping up with the times.  They have so many online services and extra benefits for patrons to use, all for the price of $0! So, in honor of National Library Week, and because we are all book lovers who have been library users from our youth, today's Friday Fave #57 is all about libraries! 

     When I was a child, my mother used to take me to the Clovis, CA Carnegie Library.  (You can see it and read about it here). It was constructed in 1915, so it was old and musty smelling even when I was a child.  I remember the steps up to the double doors that seemed much steeper back then and the creaky wooden floors.  The children's section was in the basement. My mom would let me go and peruse the books to my hearts content and choose the books that I wanted to read.  She would make her own choices upstairs and then come down and give me some suggestions.  I remember checking out Dr. Doolittle and the Complete Adventures of Winnie the Pooh , among many others. There weren't a lot of extra programs at the library that I can recall, but it was a magical place to me all the same. It no longer serves as the town's library, but the building still stands as a landmark of former days and houses the Clovis Chamber of Commerce. 
     When my own children were young, I would take them to the Phoenix library, especially during the summer, when school was out.  During the school year they could use the school library, and I didn't want to mix up which books went to which library. Of course, if they needed something special that the school didn't have, we would go to the city library.  But, during the summer, it was always great to keep the kids reading and to participate in our library's summer reading program.  They won little prizes until finally at the end they could win Diamondback Baseball Game tickets after reading a certain number of books! Once, I took them to hear a cowboy tell stories at the library and he actually brought in his real horse wearing a diaper! My children were fascinated! 
     So, given these experiences over the years with my kids, I polled my girls to find out what they love and remember about the library:

Alicia: I am starting with Alicia because she actually worked in the Provo Library when she was in college.  Here is what she says about the library:  "I loved working at the library. It was the best job!
 I love when libraries are partnered with Libby and I can check out audio books from home
I also enjoy aimlessly wandering the aisles and finding books I've never heard of, to read." 
    If you haven't heard of Libby, it is a free app that lets you check out audio books onto your phone or mobile device for free! Here is the link to find out about it.
     Alicia also says it is awesome to be able to check out movies from the library.  We used to do that a lot in the summer when my kids were young.  It was a great way to stay indoors and be cool in our hot AZ summers! Alicia remembers, "​That’s how I watched the Ramona movies!"

Madalynn uses the library a lot! She says, "I like checking out movies and CDs from the library. And how you can get museum and zoo passes from the library. And the seed library. And the classes and activities they have for kids. Libraries are just a great resource for low budget families to experience things."  She continues with the CDs, "When I was in middle school I would go choose CDs I thought had cool covers and that was how I discovered music."  (She means how she found her taste in music.  Of course she knew there was music, ha ha.)
     I was amazed about the seed library when Madalynn told me about it.  I am excited to check that out! I just learned that our library (Cholla Branch)  has a craft night that is totally free on Tuesday Nights! There are e-classes offered and special speakers. 
     The culture passes Maddy spoke of are an awesome way to get free passes to museums and other attractions around the city.  You have to be quick though, because they go fast! 

Lindsey says, "I like library nooks where you can sit and read. It is so quiet and peaceful." About the movies that you can check out she says, " That's how I watched a lot of movies in high school!  I think that's how we saw the BBC Chronicals of Narnia when we were kids." Now that she is a mom, she is looking forward to the story times for kids and looking into the free classes that are offered.  Speaking of being a mom, one great class being offered at our library branch is a Kindergarten Bootcamp class for children starting school in the fall of 2018! It is just one hour a week for 7 weeks, it is totally free, including supplies!  It is amazing to see the number of free classes that are available online from the library! Here are the ones available from Phoenix! 
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     So, if you haven't checked out your local library lately, now is a great time to do it!  Don't forget the books! I've listed favorites that I want to read this year on this post, and the library is a great place to find them. (Then, if you love them you can buy them! The only thing I don't love about the library is that you have to give back the books that you fall in love with.)  Summer reading programs will be starting soon! The City of Phoenix is even doing a program that encourages everyone in the city to read a book together this summer! They are taking votes on which book it will be now! They are calling it, One Book, One Phoenix. If you live in Phoenix, go and vote now.  I voted for Albuquerque by Rodolfo Anaya.  Which one would you vote for? 
​      We will leave you with a quote from Albert Einstein. 
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This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support.

     I grew up loving Fairy Tales. They could be the original versions from the Brothers Grimm, or the Disney-fied versions, it didn't matter.  As you know, I am a romantic at heart and Fairy Tales filled that magical need I had (have) inside myself. Not only that, but Fairy Tales can be used to teach lessons in a way children can understand.  Lessons about being kind, honest, hard working, and so forth.  So, as a result, my children were raised hearing Fairy Tales from me, whether I read them to them or told them from memory with my own twists.  We all have our favorites, plus we all have enjoyed some of the various spoofs and modernized versions of Fairy Tales that are available.  Because Monday, February 26th is Tell a Fairy Tale Day, we thought we would share some of our favorites in all of their many forms for today's Friday Faves.  Be sure to let us know what your favorite Fairy Tales are.

Lindsey had a hard time choosing one Fairy Tale, so she picked Into The Woods.  

This story uses many Fairy Tale characters from various stories and weaves them together into one story that deals with the consequences of the decisions made in the stories that we already know.  Into the Woods is actually a musical play, but many people love the story itself the best.

​The idea of intermixing all of these Fairy Tale characters reminds me of the television show, Once Upon a Time, available on Amazon.

Alicia chose Cinderella as her favorite. I must say that this is a story dear to all of our hearts.  Especially the Disney version because we love the music and the mice.  I also grew up watching the Roger's and Hammerstein Version with songs I always loved. It is fun to see Leslie Ann Warren on Once Upon a Time after all of these years.

But, the Cinderella story is universal and comes in many other formats. Check out these Cinderella story books (Many are available on Kindle and /or Audible): 

• An Illustrated Treasury of Grimm's Fairy Tales: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and many more classic stories
• Ella Enchanted (Newberry Honor Book) 
• Cinderella Stories Around the World: 4 Beloved Tales (Multicultural Fairy Tales) ​

And, don't forget the super cute movie with Hillary Duff,  A Cinderella Story.

Maddy's favorite Fairy Tale is Sleeping Beauty.  Even as a teenager, when we went to Disneyland, we had to stand in line for her to be able to get her picture taken with Aurora.  And she does have a point that in the Disney version movie, this princess has the most well trained, beautifully lilting voice of them all. Her range is amazing. If I am reading the credits correctly, her name is Mary Costa.

But, just like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty is an old tale with many versions.  Here are a couple of them.

• Sleeping Beauty (Original Text with Classic Illustrations)
• ​​The Sleeping Beauty: The Story of Tchaikovsky's Ballet

I used to regale my children with tellings of The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Of course, I would tell these by heart, without reading a book because my parents used to tell them to me that way. My father used to tell me that the hot porridge burnt all of the hair off of the Daddy Bear's tongue. I have passed that on to my children and grandchildren. And, when the Big, Bad Wolf went down the Pig's chimney, he landed in the hot pot which caused him to shoot back up the chimney and land so far away that he never came back to bother those 3 pigs (who all survived by the skin of their teeth) again.
But, I have seen some awesome versions of these stories over the years. Here are just a few of my favorites:

• The Disney version in book and DVD. I really like the music in this classic.
• The James Marshall Version The Three Little Pigs (Reading Railroad) I love his illustrations!
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs The very funny story from the wolf's perspective.
• The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pig Quite a cute twist on the story.
• The Three Little Javelinas Being from Arizona where there are many javelinas, I had to include this awesome version.
• Goldilocks and The Three Bears, another great James Marshall version.
• And here is a Jan Brett version! I love her stuff!

What are your favorite Fairy Tales?  Do you have a special way of telling them?  Get yourself prepared to share one with someone on Monday and enjoy the magic! 
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