Black Cauldron movie night

When I was in 6th grade I was given a copy of the first three books of the Chronicles of Prydain.  I spent a few years not reading the books, and then devoured all the ones I owned and spent years tracking down the rest. So, I’ve long been looking forward to this book and a movie night, mainly so the kids would read the books, the movie….

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The books The Black Cauldron is based on

Like with most movies Disney creates it’s very loosely based on a book.  And by very loosely based I mean they took plot elements from two books and destroyed them both.

The Book of Three*- Taran wants to be more than he is.  He is convinced he is truly the son of a fallen king and destined to be a great warrior.  Instead, he is a pig keeper until his pig runs away and Taran heads off to find her.  Meet great characters: Eilonwy of the red-gold hair, Dallben the Enchanter, Prince Gwydion of the gray mane.

The Black Cauldron*- Taran and his companions set out to help Prince Gwydion destroy the Black Cauldron, maker of the dread cauldron warriors.  Adventure awaits Taran as he sets out, but he will face difficult choices on the journey.

As a side note, if you’ve got a daughter who loves adventure stories or high fantasy you need to read Lloyd Alexander, he’s got some great heroines in his series.  The Illyrian Adventure* is part of an amazing series that I read frequently as a child.

The Black Cauldron– I have very mixed feelings about this movie.  On the one hand, it’s of a favorite book, on the other hand, it really mucks with the book and turns it into a farce.

The Black Cauldron projects

For some reason, I don’t have pictures of most of the kids’ projects.  I only have Superman’s Lego rendition of the Witches of Morva cottage.

But, there’s quite a lot you can do with this, so here are a few ideas:

• Compare the book to Welsh mythology
• Talk about how Taran grows from book to book, and how he changed
• What assumptions did Taran make when he talked with Eilonwy?
• How is the movie different from the book?
• Make Aodan’s brooch

The Black Cauldron snacks

• Aodan’s Brooch- pretzel with rolo on it and an M&M to melt it down, baked in the oven for a few minutes to melt the rolo (M&M is added after the oven)
• Munchings and Crunchings- pretzels for Gurgi’s snacks
• Black Cauldrons- mini brownies baked in mini muffin tins with green frosting on them
• Knowledge Brew- Buy Root Beer Concentrate and follow the directions on the back of the bottle, then add in a block of dry ice.  It makes quite impressive fog coming off your giant pot.

Snacks are fairly light this time around because no one had really inspired snacks to suggest.  Every now and then I’m just stuck for ideas.

Check out more Book and a Movie ideas for 5th grade

• The full list of books made into movies on bookmarks (if you sign up for my newsletter you can get it free!)
• Indian in the Cupboard book club
• Misty of Chincoteague book club
• Johnny Tremain book club

“The Black Cauldron concept art by James Coleman, 1985” by gameraboy is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0