This is a short film made in 2000 for the Toronto International Film Festival by David Cronenberg. ‘Videodrome’ actor Les Carson talks about how afraid he is of the movie camera while children bring one into the house and set up to shoot their own movie with professional equipment. The actor’s fear and doubt contrast [...]

This is a 1928 version of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Match Girl,’ directed by French film great Jean Renoir and Jean Tédesco. The story is a simple one about the visions of a poor match girl as she freezes to death in the snow. It’s a loose adaptation that actually seems rather rigid and [...]

Story by Artie Knapp Illustration by Maya Ramaswamy Light On a Snowy Day IT WAS TWO DAYS before Christmas and young Maggie Dotson was already being told that her Christmas wish would not be coming true. Paxton she was told, would not be coming back. A year before that December day an injured baby deer [...]

C Merry has created an epic rambling fairy tale that weaves her own modern perspective through the classic stories that children have been familiar with for centuries. The result is both humorous and unsettling. C Merry combines these tales with mythology and Christmas to explain things that have been long forgotten. It’s a beautiful way [...]

Here’s a kids Halloween animation with a nice song by Brian Vogan. The animation is by Fashionbuddha Studio with illustrations by Alberto Cerriteño.

Artie Knapp’s new children’s book, ‘Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet,’ is available!  Tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash, Thurman the turtle decides it’s time to take action.  He’s a very environmentally conscious turtle who simply won’t take no for an answer. Here’s a recent radio interview Artie [...]

Artie Knapp’s new children’s book, ‘Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet,’ is out today!  Tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash, Thurman the turtle decides it’s time to take action.  He’s a very environmentally conscious turtle who simply won’t take no for an answer. We feature many of Knapp’s [...]

Quirky Pictures conducts another animation workshop for school children. This time it was a nine day workshop at Great Missenden C of E Combined School. The students made four films based on tales from around the world. I love the freely drawn lines and cutout characters combined with the very matter of fact narration by [...]

DOWNLOAD MP3 AUDIO In honor of the great people of Japan during a terrible crisis, I re-post this beautiful tale. This is the story of young Momotaro, whose name literally means Peach Boy. The story is one of the most popular from Japanese folklore. Its theme of the unification of a people separated by hostility [...]

Artie Knapp writes marvelous, cheerful and gently humorous tales for children.  He’s been offering his stories to this site for years and I always look forward to a new one.  Knapp’s latest accomplishment is an illustrated book of stories published by Mighty Book, Inc. and illustrated by Mike Motz. The stories included were previously published [...]