Shrek! – William Steig

Many parents and children are familiar with the Dreamworks movie Shrek. Less people realize that the movie was based on a picture book titled Shrek! authored by William Steig and published in 1993. The book begins with this hilarious sentence, “His mother was ugly and his father was ugly, but Shrek was uglier”. The book is different than the movie, and the illustration don’t really match the movie characters that we are familiar with. This is such a fun book, but it takes a little while to get used to the differences. Shrek is an ogre. Everywhere he goes trees … Continue reading

Is the Book or the Movie Better?

While checking out books at the library this morning, I got into a discussion with two librarians about books that had been made into movies, and how the book is almost always better. One of the ladies commented that “E.T.” and “The Horse Whisperer” made much better movies than books, and I got to thinking about that as I drove home. What movies have I seen that were more enjoyable than the books? The first that comes to mind is “Somewhere in Time.” The movie, made in 1980 and starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, is a beautiful if somewhat … Continue reading