Secret of Kells

My anniversary is March 17th. We usually have dinner in a local upscale pizza joint/restaurant, but it has been sold and is now too upscale for our budget. So I was looking for a way to celebrate, and discovered that there was an Irish animated film up for an Oscar.

That sounded like a perfect way to celebrate our St. Patrick's Day anniversary, and for a bonus, it was something Mikro would enjoy, too. So I treated Kev and the boy to a movie and dinner. Here's the Village Voice's review of The Secret of Kells.

Mikro *loved* the movie. He was begging for the DVD before we exited the theater! It might be a little too much for very young kids though, as the Viking raiders are scary, dark, and bent on destruction. There is a fair amount of violence when they attack Kells. The old celtic god, Crom Cruach, is dark and spooky, and there are wolves in the forest, who at first are hostile to Brendan, the young monk.



Because we're homeschoolers, of course we filled Mikro in on the history beforehand, and looked at some celtic and norse artwork and plates from the Book of Kells, which Kev and I were lucky enough to see in person on our honeymoon in Ireland almost 19 years ago... On that same trip, we stayed with some of Kev's relatives in Kells and saw the round stone tower and St. Columcile's house.

Kevin found that there is a website for the Secret of Kells, with primary and secondary teacher's guides. Now Mikro is clamoring to learn about Irish legends. I'm making him wait till we finish Greece, Egypt and Rome, but it's a path I'm sure we'll be heading down in the near future...