A few days ago, we treated you to our version of “Jingle Bells” — as sung from the perspective of Greg Heffley. Today, we’ve got another twisted Christmas carol for you — this time in honor of our favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter!

Inspired by the brief reference to “God Bless Ye Merry Hippogriffs” in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we present our imagined version of the song:

(PS – If you’re on the go — or busy waging a war on Death Eaters — just download the audio.)

There are even more verses in the real song, but we figured you could only take so much of Karen’s singing. (Hardy har har.)

Do you ever sing your own version of famous songs? Leave a comment with your ideas for new and improved lyrics to any tune, holiday-related or not!

— Happy holidays from Karen and Nancy!

Instrumentals courtesy of Songsculptor.com

Recently, we learned a new word. We love it because: a) we never knew a word existed to describe this activity, and b) it just sounds funny.

The word is filking.

Filking means re-writing the lyrics to a song, with your own twist. For the holidays, we decided to try our hand at filking with some traditional carols — adapted for children’s book lovers!

Today, we present to you… “Jingle Bells” from the perspective of Greg Heffley, the star of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series:

(PS – If you’re on the go — or busy figuring out how to score some free hot cocoa — just download the audio.)

Hope we didn’t kill your eardrums with Karen’s singing voice! You have two days to recover, and then check back here at Kidsmomo for another attempt at kidlit Christmas carol filking. (HA HA HA. Filking. That sounds funny…)

— Happy holidays from Karen and Nancy!

Thank you to Cameron Lui for arranging and performing the instrumentals!

Like the station inspector chasing after Hugo, or Hugo and Isabelle seeking out the answer to a mystery, last week Nancy and Karen went in search of a magical movie experience… We saw Hugo, based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick!

And did the movie deliver? To find out, you’ll just have to watch the video review below! You know, just like Hugo and Isabelle watching a film, or — oh, forget it, let’s just get to the review:

(PS – If you’re on the go — or busy winding the clocks at the local train station — don’t worry, you can still listen to our review. Just download the audio.)

Have you seen the new movie Hugo? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the book? And what do you think: do you need to know the book already in order to enjoy the film?

What happens when you take thousands of the most passionate Harry Potter devotees in the country and put them all together in one theater to watch The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (aka the final HP movie)? TOTAL FANDEMONIUM!

But the real question is: Did the movie live up to the super duper high standards of this crowd? Watch our video to find out:

Have you seen the new Harry Potter movie? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the books?

And, of course, stay tuned for more LeakyCon coverage on Kidsmomo!

— Nancy (Ravenclaw) and Karen (Hufflepuff)

 
Btw: Karen works at Scholastic and Nancy used to work there, but our jobs are not connected to LeakyCon, sadly. We’re attending for our own enjoyment — and yours — as the ridiculous fans that we are.

What’s black and white and red all over? An embarrassed penguin!

Ha ha ha ha ha! Aren’t we hilarious?

Okay, to be honest, we found that joke on the Internet. But we really did create the video review below, for the new film Mr. Popper’s Penguins, starring Jim Carrey. So take a look and see if we found the movie positively perfect, partially pleasant, or plainly putrid!

(PS – If you’re on the go — or busy practicing a penguin dance routine — don’t worry, you can still listen to our review. Just download the audio.)

Have you seen the new Mr. Popper’s Penguins movie? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the book? And what was YOUR favorite penguin moment?

Are you ready to have an absolutely thrill-a-delic summer? That’s certainly what Judy Moody is after in the new movie, Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, based on the book series by Megan McDonald (and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds).

But will Judy get the double-rare experience that she wants? And more importantly, if you watch this movie, will YOU? Watch our video review to find out!

(PS – If you’re on the go — or you’re just in a mood — don’t worry, you can still listen to our review. Just download the audio.)

Have you seen the new Judy Moody movie? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the books?

Our current theme is Wacky, Gross, Weird — and Real, meaning books packed with crazy but true facts about this amazing world we live in. In fact, some of the facts are so crazy, they sound more like fiction to us, and we got to thinking… could YOU tell what’s real and what’s not?

Watch our Kidsmomo Trivia Challenge video and play along! Can YOU distinguish the facts from the lies?

Greg. Rodrick. Rowley. Fregley. Chirag. And, of course, that embarrassing diary… They’re all back in the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, based on the book Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney.

And surprise, surprise — Nancy and Karen were also back in the theater on opening night to watch the story come to life on the big screen. But did it live up to the book? Or should the film be avoided like the Cheese Touch? Watch our video review to get our take on the movie:

(PS – If you’re on the go — or too busy being tormented by your older sibling — don’t worry, you can still listen to our review. Just download the audio.)

Have you seen the new Wimpy Kid movie? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the book and the earlier film?

Happy April Fools’ Day! Last year, we tricked the whole world into thinking that J.K. Rowling had another Harry Potter book up her sleeve. Okay, fine, we tried to trick the world and the world was a little smarter than we gave it credit for…

So this year, we’re playing it straight — which is a rare occurrence for us, as you’ll find when you listen to this special April 1st KidsmomoMo: a blooper reel from our podcast recording sessions!

Download the MP3

Yes, we truly are fools, but at least you get some entertainment out of it, right?

— Happy Humor Month from Karen and Nancy

It’s the final trip to Narnia for the Pevensie children in the new movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, based on the book by C.S. Lewis. And it’s certainly an amazing adventure for THEM — but is it worth the journey for YOU, the moviegoer? Nancy and Karen aren’t so sure…

Watch our video review to find out what we liked and what we didn’t like, and whether we’d recommend climbing aboard — or jumping ship:

(PS – If you’re on the go — say, sailing the seas of a magical kingdom — don’t worry, you can still listen to our review. Just download the audio.)

Have you seen the new Narnia movie? Leave a comment with YOUR review! How do you think it compared to the book and the earlier films?