Blog

We need to talk about Vaginas

May 31, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for We Need to Talk about Vaginas through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

Not an easy topic to you know? To talk with young ladies about their bodies and how they work. Too often we let them learn from others who don’t have their best needs at heart. We need to talk about vaginas is written by a doctor who wants to help young ladies understand their bodies. Let’s look deeper shall we?

The Basic Details of We need to Talk about Vaginas

Title: We need to Talk about Vaginas: An important book about vulvas, periods, puberty, and sex!
Author: Dr. Allison K Rodgers
Illustrator: Annika Le Large
Publisher: Neon Squid
Pages: 64
Intended Audience: 10-14 years
Genre: Teenage girls, nonfiction, books on maturing, girls and women’s issues, sexuality
Formats available: Flexibound, Kindle
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Received: flexibound

About the Author

Dr. Allison K. Rodgers is an Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor based in Chicago, Illinois. She discusses common issues for young women. Her goal is to give accurate health information to those interested. You can find her on Instagram (mostly about fertility) and TikTok.

About the book

But KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, ergo the more we know about our vaginas and vulvas the better equipped we are to deal with our bodies. In this beautifully illustrated book Dr. Allison K. Rodgers explains in simple tems everything from why we have periods to sex and consent in the age of social media. You’ll learn the correct names for everything, understand periods, vaginas, self-care, and puberty changes.

Looking Deeper

Clear illustrations are provided, giving accurate descriptions and facts throughout. The language is non-complicated, the focus on providing clear information to a younger audience. A book like this would have been hugely helpful to me in my early teen years as talking with my folks about such things was basically a no-go.

You’ll find all skin tones used throughout, as is the openness about different sexual attractions. I didn’t know there was so much variation in how hymen presents itself. Good to know information eh? Popping up you’ll notice references to non-traditional sexual orientation.

For the most part, each new topic covers a two page spread. Each topic broken down into easy to understand bite sized pieces. Giving just enough information that if a young lady wanted to know more, she would know the search terms to use.

Would I recommend it?

If I could rip out about four pages of this short book, I could heartily recommend it. BUT the woke part of it, where gender identity becomes part of the conversation… made me want to hurl it into the garbage. You won’t find this book only talking about vaginas but also about sexuality, puberty, masturbation and the like. It is written from a non-faith perspective.

BUT all said … if you want a resource to help your daughter (or even yourself if you’ve not seriously looked into how your body work) understand her body and the changes in store as she becomes a woman, this is a clearly presented treatise that speaks to girls well.

Inclusivity matters

I love the inclusivity of all skin colours, the accurate drawings, the clearly presented facts, and even the presentation of aspects I wouldn’t have thought to include.

Can “we need to talk about vaginas” be used within a faith based household? FOR SURE. Have open and honest conversations with your daughters about how it’s an insult to be called cisgendered, how men are men regardless of their mental illnesses, and women are always women even if they don’t always feel like it. Talk with them about periods, how our bodies work, sexual choices, and protecting themselves. Talk about how our faith influences how we live our lives. Girls need to know these things. Talk about how dealing with our sexuality in a faith-based way in a world the encourages deviance is difficult. The more we know, the more we can help ourselves and others within our communities.

Please, just use this book as a conversation starter, to help your girls think more deeply about who they are as women and what that means…even if their idea of being a woman looks differently to them than it does to you. 🙂 Help your girls be comfortable being the women they are becoming.

To what do I owe this pleasure?

May 26, 2023 By Annette1 12 Comments

Every week it is my pleasure to join in with the Five Minute Friday community, taking time to entertain my muse through poetry. This weeks’ word is “owe” and what came to mind is “to what do I owe this pleasure?” Do you know the pleasure of being part of a community? Of helping to build a better community for those around you?

To what do I owe this pleasure?

To what do I owe this pleasure?
This meeting of new minds,
or old friends?
The chance to connect and see
those in my community with which
I have connection, though sometimes
only a tenuous one.

This morning,
despite not feeling well,
I remembered to check in
on a young man going through
some tough times as he matures.
Learning that work skills matter
along with choosing some people
to ignore as you simply do your job.

I thought of my boy,
and his willingness to help his
friends buy items, using
my amazon account, though
admittedly in hindsight, I wonder
why the lad can’t ask his own folks
to help out with such purposes, but
I respect my son’s desire to be
of aid to those important to him.
Through him, my community connections grow
and so I have more people with which I can
exclaim “to what do I owe this pleasure?”

As I sit here pondering this,
I see how this is how communities grow.
One person, introducing another person,
and that second person learning to keep
that introduced connection alive.

And this too, is how God’s family grows
is it not?
One of his people saying to another,
hey, I knew this guy, this God of the
universe, can I introduce you?
and God, you know what? He doesn’t need
any type of reminder to stay in
contact with the new one introduced to him.

Such a thought makes me grin!
Could be my bleariness since I’m
not feeling well.
But the idea of God needing a reminder
when he sustains the entire universe,
and calls us all by name. He knows us
full well, and thereby needs no reminders.

So, what do you do to build
the connections God has in his community
that he builds around you?
It’s not always an easy question to
answer is it? So often I feel
like I simply don’t do enough.
How about you?

God Speaks to us

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Acts 2:46-47

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed

May 24, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed through Harbour Publishing. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

You might remember I recently reviewed A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest. You will find The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed to be just as excellently done. I can’t wait to tell you all about this fantastic resource, I learned so much! You will too and your children will have fun with the variety of activities included within!

The Basic Details for The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed

Title: The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed
Author: Amanda Swinimer
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Formats available: paperback
Pages: 168 pages
Intended Audience: 6-12 years, grades 3-4,
Genre: Seaweed, Kid’s activity books, Education resource, flower and plant book, environment and ecology book,
Reviewed for: Harbour Publishing
Format received: paperback

The Author

Amanda Swinimer moved to British Columbia where she opened her business Dakini Tidal Wilds. She holds a bachelor of science degree from Dalhousie University with an advanced major in Marine Biology. For two decades, Amanda has been sustainably harvesting, by hand, wild, edible seaweeds. She is passionate about preserving the diversity of our coastlands and the health of our oceans. An international speaker who eagerly shares her love of seaweed.

About The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed

This colourful, activity-packed book explores the science of seaweed from the Atlantic and Pacific coastlands. As you learn about the different types of seaweed, you’ll be shown how to sustainably harvest and use it. You will be provided with many fun facts about marine plants and animals. Expand your nature studies with a unique focus as you comb the beaches around you.

Taking a closer look

Did you know just how many different types of seaweed there are? Brown, red and green varieties. Amanda Swinimer takes her time in introducing us to seaweed from Pacific and Atlantic coastlands. Seven chapters round out the 168 pages.

I don’t know why I found this amusing to learn about the dead man’s fingers seaweed. What a unique name, and I can see why they chose the name. What would you call them if you saw these bloated seaweed on the coast? As she goes through the different types of seaweed you’ll find drawings, pictorial images, the latin name, and basic information on them.

Discovering, as you learn about seaweed, a variety of activities to do, from making a sea weed soak to using seaweed in recipes, learn about cleaning up the coastlands, and the importance of reducing the amount of plastic you use. Did you know you can use Turkish seaweed as a dishcloth?

Tons of images dot the pages. Every page has images or drawings. From seeing the size of brown kelp next to orcas to making boas out of feather kelp.

The sheer amount of information shared, you can just see how passionate Ms. Swinimer is about seaweed and the coastlands.

Would I recommend?

I absolutely adore books that provide excellent resources to supplement learning about a topic. Can’t you just see the delight on your children’s faces if they find a detached dead man’s finger and squirt you with water? Or made use of Turkish seaweed to wash the dishes when you go for a picnic lunch at the beach?

The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed is a fantastic resource to expand your studies of life on the coastland of Canada or the USA. Observe, learn, and create! Use this excellent kid’s guide to help your children better understand the importance of seaweed in the world’s ecology.

The Chapters of Our Lives

May 19, 2023 By Annette1 8 Comments

It’s funny you know? A person thinks they know what they are going to write for FMF post (graciously hosted by Miss Kate), and then a quirk of the day pokes its’ head into the mix. Sometimes I wonder if the chapters of our lives cause us to forget some of the growing pains of our own lives. What kind of fall-out might that have in our understanding of each other? Just gotta wonder sometimes eh?

The Chapters of Our Lives

there are times I wonder
if perhaps the chapter of life
I am right now
precludes me understanding
some of the things the younger
generation struggles with.

Not just the moral battles
my lad will have to wade
through. But some of the
emotional struggles so many
20-25 years olds seem to struggle
with, and I wonder what caused
that shift… or perhaps I am
just misremembering the angst
of my own early 20’s.

and that well enough could be
that the more comfortable
I get with who I am, and
whose I am that I forget all
the steps that it waded
through to simply get to
where I am today.

What do you think?
Might it be possible
that as we move through the
chapters of our lives that
we forget some of the emotional
baggage we waded through on the
way to getting to where God
has brought us to?

What is the cost of such
forgetting? Does it stop us
from trying to understand the
cost of growing up and what that
looks and/or feels like?
Does forgetting make us grumpy old
adults who say “kids these days! Bah!!
they have no brains!”

Or do we think back to how
stupid and thoughtless we used to
be and remember the strain of
getting it all together
(and I can’t even say I’m there yet!)
and ergo show more patience
then perhaps we knew we had?

And perhaps, just perhaps,
in remembering our past we can
then consider more clearly the
emotions and thought-processes
of the younger generations following?
And through it all, perhaps,
just perhaps, we’ll learn a thing
or two ourselves!

A Kids Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest

May 17, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for A Kids Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest through Harbour Publishing. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

I ADORE books that seek to teach in practical ways as well as educate. A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest is a fantastic book, complete with teacher’s guide filled with cool facts, activities and recipes to delight the reader. Reading through this paperback makes me wish they had one called “Plants of Ontario!” Although, observing the layout and activities I’m sure it could be adapted! 🙂

The Basic Details for A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest

Title: A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest
Author: Philippa Joly
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Pages: 192
Intended Audience: 6-12 years, grades 3-4
Formats Available: Paperback
Genre: Pacific Northwest, Plants, Flower and Plants book, Children’s plant books, Environment and ecology, children’s activity books,
Reviewed for: Harbour Publishing
Copy Received: Paperback

Author

Running an outdoor school for children, and leader of workshops, Philippa Joly uses her education and a clinical and community herbalist, paramedic and outdoor educator to open up nature to children. She lives in British Columbia with her plant-savvy daughter and cat. Ms. Joly delights in helping people understand the healing properties of the plants around us while teaching about ethical wildcrafting. You will see her knowledge brought out in A kid’s guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest

This Resource

Encourage your children to get outside and enjoy the weather and nature as they take in the world around them in the Pacific Northwest.

Plants surround us wherever we are, and using them we can boost our children’s self-confidence, increase their attention spans and their physical well-being. This book helps our children appreciate the world in which they are growing up in.

Looking More Closely

I have enjoyed walking the trail near my house, figuring a berry I would eat regularly were some type of raspberry. In reading through A Kid’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest I learned these berries are blackcap raspberries. Fantastic to learn eh?

Discover within, recipes, games, mysteries, personal anecdotes, crafts and so much more. You can even learn how to make your own salves! Plantain grows all around where I live so this would be rather cool to try don’t you think?

The font is easy to read. The copious use of images and photos makes it so easy to follow instructions or to learn what the plants are you are learning about. Latin names, pictures of leaves and berries, wildlife you might see around, and so much more.

Personal anecdotes add such a nice touch, drawing out stories from the reader itself. Drew to mind a time when I was out walking in the bush and came across a youngish possum hiding in a stump. The sheer amount of noise coming from such a small critter. You would have thought it was a small bear! 🙂 I thought for sure it would play dead but it chose to hiss and hiss at me.

Plant profiles are divided into seasons, spring is probably the biggest section. You’ll also find chapters dedicated to the indigenous peoples of the area, the regions covered, the dos and don’ts of wildcrafting, plant families and guilds, poisonous plants and invasive plants.

At the close you’ll find a glossary, a plant quiz, suggested readings and comprehensive index.

What do I think of a Kids guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest?

A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest is a fantastic resource for teachers, or parents, wanting to ensure their charges/children learn more about plants in this area. With interesting facts, a variety of activities and yummy recipes, this book is sure to please! With all the work done for you it makes it easy to review, gather supplies, and let your children learn.

Don’t think this book isn’t helpful if you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest. Many of these plants grow in a wider area. I live in Ontario, not in British Columbia through to California. And just think of the ideas you will get! And the fun you will have with your children learning the value in the plants around you. 🙂 Add this resource into your bookbag as you conduct your nature studies.

Deliberating over deliberateness

May 12, 2023 By Annette1 8 Comments

Ah, today’s word seemed to sit well with me today, coinciding well with my work and my own frame of mind. 🙂 Deliberating over deliberateness is my answer to Miss Kate’s word prompt of the day. Deliberate is the word, let’s see how everyone plays with it! 🙂

Deliberating over deliberateness

Taking time throughout the day
to deliberate on the word deliberate.
One has to ponder just which
pronunciation and meaning of the word
one might wish to expound upon.

I’m not a person who takes a
long time to deliberate most often.
There are, of course, moments when I do take
my time, and then I do so very deliberately.
Pondering my options, or even just
taking the time to calm down so that I
can think through thoughtfully.

But today was a good day to ponder
as I shifted cans, and boxes, trying
to figure out the best way to
display items in the baking section
to please only my manager, and my boss,
but also my own esthetics, and the customers.
There is a deliberateness to displaying items,
not only to encourage sales, but to make
a section look inviting.

In many ways, having only been on the
job these past 18 months, I have
much to learn, but innate
ability helps in the deliberating
over the deliberateness of
product placement. 🙂

And when I’m stuck
I have a lovely manager
who always offers her
years of experience to balance
out my learning curve.
And so, with each new task,
my skills improve, and
I have fun learning more. 🙂

Faith Connection

1 Peter 1:13

¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 24:27

²⁷Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.

Pinocchio

May 10, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for Pinocchio through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

Aren’t we all familiar with the story of Pinocchio? A little wooden toy, a living puppet who wants to be a real boy. I don’t know about you, but I’m only familiar with the short storybook, not the original story. And wow, if you have not read the original text of Pinocchio… I urge you to do so! AND if you must read any copy, grab up Carlo Collodi’s version with illustrations by Gris Grimly. They fit the original text so well, you will be delighted. 🙂 Come, let me show you what you have been missing.

The Basic Details of Pinocchio

Title: Pinocchio
Author: Carlo Collodi
Illustrator: Gris Grimly
Introduction: Guillermo Del Toro
Pages: 224
Series: Tor Classics
Intended Audience: 10-12 years, grades 3-7
Genre: Classic Literature, Fantasy, Growing Up, Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult
Formats Available: Kindle, Paperback
Reviewed For: Raincoast Books.

About the Author and Illustration

Carlos Collodi is the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini who lived 1826 – 1890. The Adventures of Pinocchio was originally published as a series of weekly adventures. He was an author, humourist, and journalist. An Italian who was educated at a theological seminary, but he withdrew when he knew he didn’t want to become a priest. He started working in a book store where he was an assistant to a prominent Italian manuscript specialist.

About the Book

This edition has the full text of the original Pinocchio with a mixture of full-page and spot illustrations in black and white integrated in the text, in pen-and-ink style. The ink is sepia brown.

Pinocchio is the story of a wooden puppet, made by a lonely woodcarver looking for boy to call his own. When the puppet comes to life, he needs to learn how to be a boy, but he has so much to learn about being a good boy. This is his story. A tale of whimsy and magic, of mistakes and growth.

Looking Deeper

One of the biggest draws for me in reading the original text of Pinocchio, are the illustrations by Gris Grimly. They are SO true to the story! Check them out eh? You will find not only full page drawings…

but also illustrations that fit within the text. The quirkiness of the images suits the language and style of the original text. Like any good illustration, they help put a face to the characters found within.

You’ll find the text easy to read, but mind… it’s not all easy reading. Pinocchio is sometimes, really not a nice puppet. He has his moments of being good and right, but mostly… he’s just a self-centred little boog. (there’s really no nice way of putting it). 🙂 Throughout you can see how the Pinocchio story that we know and love came into being.

Recommendation

Read a classic! Enjoy illustrations that fit the story so very well. Pinocchio the classic, is much like the Pinocchio, the shortened version, but more intense, better suited to an older crowd. 🙂 I think many middle school students would enjoy this story.

As a homeschooling parent I could see asking my child to read it and then point out the differences and similarities between the modern and the classic versions.

Blog

We need to talk about Vaginas

The Basic Details of We need to Talk about Vaginas

About the Author

About the book

Looking Deeper