A Net in Time

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Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance! 

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance!  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. 🙂

Do you have a need to keep your body moving?  Do your fingers like to move to a beat? Perhaps your children are the same?   Then you MUST take a look at Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance!  A dance for your hands and fingers that just might get your whole body moving too! 

Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!

The Basic Details

Title: Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!
Author: Herve Tullet
Publisher: Chronicle Kids
Pages: 64
Intended Audience: Preschool – Kindergarten, 3-5 years
Formats Available: Hardcover
Received: Hardcover
Reviewed For: Raincoast Books

About the Author

Herve Tullet is a New York Times bestselling author.  He has written a fair number of books in both English and French.  Running creative workshops worldwide, this artist/creator/performer lived in New York for a couple of years.   As an artist, he aims to « encourage audiences to become cultural producers of their own » and to bring communities together.

About Tap! Tap! Tap!

Harnessing his love of dance, the passion of his illustrations, and the great big format of this book, Herve invites you to a very special dance: your hand becoming the dancer and the book the dance floor.  Take your time sweeping, swirling, and tapping your way through this bright, engaging dance! 

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Looking Deeper into Tap! Tap! Tap!

Start with a slow beat.  A simple tap tap tap.  Follow the colours.  Feel the rhythm… tap tap tap. 

As you work through the pages, you’ll find the colours will become more vibrant and busy. 

And before you know it your hands will be in a full crescendo of colour and motion! 

Throughout you’ll see the text is a good size for easy reading, which is important when your hands are in motion following colour, lines, and splash!  It’s like a musician starting a slow lyrical piece and over time blazing into a wave of emotion and sound.   You’ll find dips and pauses just like in any piece of music.  Follow the instructions and learn the rhythm of it all. 

Do I recommend?

Okay, when I first got this book I thought meh.  🙂   

But since then I’ve had cause to relook my “meh” response and go you know what?  It’s a neat idea.  Follow form and colour, and read text to see the sway and jibe of musical form.  And suddenly, this book becomes fun.  Can you image having a class of young music students learning the music isn’t just noise, but it’s motion, and colour, and variance of speed, and…. MORE!  Music engages us, even if we just start with our hands. 

Can’t you just see your children having fun learning to dance with their hands? 

So gather your littles around you and Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!  Follow the easy instructions and watch your  (or your children’s) hands come alive! 

The many assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams 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. 🙂

The title in this middle school read had me curious, why would someone want to assassinate Samir?   By page 37 I TOTALLY knew why people wanted Samir to die and so I stayed to see how it all played out.  What a rollicking ride!  Oh my, the various assassinations…. their creativity, and well… lack of success… This book by Daniel Nayeri was a very fun read.   Let’s talk! 

the many assassinations of Samir the seller of dreams

The Basic Details

Title: The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams
Author: Daniel Nayeri
Illustrator: Daniel Miyares
Publisher: Levine Querido
Pages: 224
Intended Audience: 8-12 years, Grade 3-7
Genre: Folk Tales & Myths, Action & Adventure, Middle School Literature,
Formats Available: Kindle, Audio, Hardcover
Received: Hardcover
Reviewed For: Raincoast Books

About the Author and The Book

Daniel Nayeri hails from Iran and now lives in Oklahoma with his wife and son.  He has written nine other books for children and youth.  His middle Eastern background is evident through this most recent one. 

The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams introduces us to Monkey and Samir’s larger “family” of travelers.  We are brought along the Silk Road, through a dangerous section filled with battles against weather and other, not always natural, disasters.  Samir is a man who likes to talk and spin his words to suit his purposes, leaving him with a rather large number of enemies.  Will he be able to fight them off?  Can Monkey help him?   Stay tuned! 

The many assassinations of Samir the seller of dreams

Looking Deeper into The many assassinations of Samir the seller of dreams

You need to check out the illustrations by Daniel Miyares. A new one for every chapter, in full colour.  They really help bring the story to life in the midst of many assassinations and danger. 

The text is a nice size and easy to read.  

Every chapter opens with an interesting piece of artwork that leads into the chapter before us. Chapters filled with excitement, challenge, choices, and knowledge.  History woven into words and adventures

My Thoughts

The first line draws you in immediately “The first time I was stoned to death by an angry mob, I was not even a criminal.”.   Doesn’t that make you curious? 

How many times was this young man stoned?  Did he become a criminal in the end?  Why was the mob angry? And what do you mean… the first time you were stoned to death?  How can someone be stoned to death twice? 

Wouldn’t YOU want to know more?   I know I did!   So many emotions throughout!  Anger at Samir, frustration with the brothers, along with curiousity about how this would all play out, humour, incredulity and more.  I found this a fun read and I think you will too.  This is not just for middle schoolers! It’s for anyone looking for a fun read that might surprise you in the end. 

Check out The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams.  Learn a bit about The Silk Road and the dangers of travelling it (and the rewards) and follow Monkey! 

You Grow, Girl

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for You Grow, Girl! 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. 🙂

You Grow, girl! is a delightful picture book filled with plant-based affirmations for the younger ladies in your life.  With colourful images, rhyming text, and cute expressions it’s sure to please.  Want to learn more, let’s jump right in then! 

You grow girl rose rossner

The basic details for You Grow, Girl!

Title: You Grow, Girl!
Type: picture book
Author: Rose Rossner
Illustrator: Natalie Briscoe
Publisher: sourcebooks/wonderland
Pages: 40
Intended Audience: Age 3-7, Grade K-3
Formats available: Hardcover

About Rose Rossner

Rose Rossner has a son as well as a husky named Dino.  She has written several children’s books over the years.  You may recall that I reviewed another of her books a while back entitled All I want for Christmas is Ewe.  She works with a variety of illustrators to bring her stories to life. 

You Grow, Girl!  is book for young ladies to encourage them to be all they can be. Using plant metaphors young ladies are encouraged to bloom where they’re planted.  Encouraging words flood each page with rhyming lyrics to encourage the ease of reading. 

You Grow Girl! Rose Rossner

Looking More Closely

Colourful plant based images fill the pages. 

As the plants pop up on the page, words of encouragement grow right along with them.  

Will young children catch all the references?  For sure they won’t.  They will catch the encouragement and love that fill the pages.  And hopefully know that you, the gifter of such a book mean them as well. 

You will discover rhyming lyrics.   Sometimes the rhymes are obvious, running over a two page spread, and other times they just continue the story by turning the next page.  

Natalie Briscoe does a fantastic job combining the seeds of encouragement with the budding plants. Her bright use of colour brings everything to life in a fun way. 

Is this book just for kids?   For certainly not…. it would be a fun book to give to a young adult starting out on their first job.  A loved one who loves to work with plants and gardens.  Or even to show a budding wordsmith and see if they can ferret out all the word puns.  

It’s well worth checking out You grow, Girl!  to encourage the young women in your life (or those budding wordsmiths who need a corny book to search though).   Because honestly, in some ways it is corny.  🙂   But it’s a fun sort of corny to help loved ones smile.   

The Best Middle School Books of 2022

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So last week I walked you through the best of the picture books I reviewed last year.   Since I read a fair amount of middle school books, it’s only fair I let you know which ones I thought were the best.    So here we go with the best middle school books for 2022.   🙂   I hope you find some treasures. 

I’ll link to my reviews and if I can get the HTML to work… my amazon affiliate link for your ease in finding them all! 

The Best Middle School Books of 2022

Graphic Novels

I don’t review a lot of graphic novels.  They honestly aren’t my favourite way to read a book, but occasionally I read one that I really like.   I had that with this one Ride On.  Young people, horses, growth as youth develop in their friendship, just all good stuff.   You can find it on Amazon. 

Ride On

Historically based

Seen and Unseen brings us to the unique perspectives of three photographers of the Japanese internment during WW2.  Such a hard time for a people group.  Find it on Amazon. 

Some topics are hard to cover, and the realities of Jewish lives as Nazis take over their homeland aren’t exactly easy reading.  The Boy Behind the Door is done well, walking us through the daily changes and challenges of one young Jewish lad.  Your Amazon link. 

Fallout drops us into the Cold War all centred around the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Pictures help paint the story of this time period.   Your Amazon connection. 

Seen and Unseen

Just for Fun Reads

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts was a good read just for fun.  Good if you like fantasy and magic and teens beating the odds and succeeding.   You’ll find it here on Amazon. 

If you want a read that’s a bit more serious, dealing with loss and coping, Lolo’s Light might suit the bill for you.  A death, a light, a wish, and so friends and neighbours find their way through.   Link.

Dealing with change while handling one’s own heritage is sometimes is a challenge.  Watching a young lass learn how to handle it all was excellent in Shine On, Luz Véliz!   You can find it on Amazon. 

I laughed my way through Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians and then hubsters grabbed it up and enjoyed it enough he proceeded to order the next couple of books in the series.  Which reminds me I should tell you what I thought of those books sometime.  Find it on Amazon and look for the rest of the series! 

Shine on Luz Veliz

Stories to Help You Think

Consider how we treat the world and the animals we live with this story split between two worlds with an indigenous flavour.  A Snake Falls to Earth is a book to take your time with as you switch between perspectives and consider connections.  Your Link. 

The Callers asks the question: Can something come from nothing? And if it can’t, where does it come from?  The disparity between the haves and the have nots is pulled into the light.  Amazon Link. 

A Snake Falls to Earth

Books to Learn From

This morning I learned a new word “ruthful”.  Being a word nerd, I like to play with new words so when I looked at Absurd Words it just fit so well you know?  Perhaps you might know a young word nerd who needs a bit of encouragement to expand their horizons.   Find it here. 

What has been your favourite middle school book this year?  What book might you recommend?

The Best Picture Books of 2022.

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Oh, do join me in a fun trip down memory lane.  I’m looking today at the best picture books of 2022.  Some of these books bring a smile to my face in memory, and I hope might present you with some good books to look for.   Help your littles learn new material, or enjoy a good read.  Let your middle and high schoolers meet a good introductory book to a new topic!   Both are good!  Do not downplay the effectiveness of an excellent picture book eh? 

I will link to my review as well as give you direct links via my amazon affiliate profile for your ease of use.

The Best Picture Books of 2022.

Topical Picture Books

The Leaf Thief.  Consider the changing seasons with this fun book about a squirrel all alarmed by his leaves disappearing on him! 

Hedgehog’s Home for Winter is another changing seasons book, this time featuring a cute hedgehog rather than a squirrel.  Loved the images in this picture book. 

Another than the evolutionary point of view in How to make a mountain, this is an excellent primer in understanding how mountains, rocks, and various ecosystems all play a role within each other. 

People are more connected globally than we might think which Our World is a Family points out quite nicely you’ll find. 

Are you struggling to help your children understand how important sleep is to the brain and even how the brain works? Good Night to your Fantastic Elastic Brain is an excellent primer to help children and youth. 

The Whale Who Swam Through Time is look at a bowhead whale over the 200 years of her life.  So much changed in the course of her life, a good way to see the affects of mankind on the created world. 

Oh you must Listen to the Language of The Trees.  See their interconnectedness.  I found this read so fascinating and discovered myself researching different ideas I didn’t know before.  A great primer of middle and high school with so many ideas for them to use as jumping off points for research. 

Listen to the language of the trees

Just a good story

Now What?  Faatz gives us a fun read of the joys of exploring one’s imagination.  I’d love this one as a bedtime story!  🙂 

I saw Love is for Roaring and I just started to smile.  Can a roaring lion learn something about love and friendship?  A good question eh? 

Bunnies and dancing!  What more could you ask for in a springtime read with your littles? It’s Just a Bunnypalooza is a fun quick read, that will teach you some dance moves too! I enjoyed sharing this one with my dancing nieces and nephews. 

Another story that made me smile from the first time I read it.  This is a great book to share with children of all ages.  🙂   Big Dreams, Small fish.  Multi-cultural, helpfulness, and family. It’s all good! 

Love is for roaring

Have you read any good picture books this year either as reviews, schooling, or with your children?   I’d love to hear what you consider to be The Best Picture Books of 2022.  Sharing books is always a good thing is it not? 🙂

But I’m Not Sick!

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for But I’m Not Sick through Jenkins Group, Inc. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂

Do you have children nervous about going to the doctor whether they are sick or not?  But I’m not sick walks children through what a well-kid check at the doctor is all about.   No needles, just a health check and people helping maintain a child’s good health. 

But I'm not sick by Andrena Zeigler

Details you’ll need

Title: But I’m Not Sick
Author: Andrena J. Ziegler
Illustrator: Mark Brayer
Pages: 42
Publisher:  Palmetto Publishing
Formats Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback
Intended Audience: Children
Received: Paperback
Reviewed for: Jenkins Group, Inc.

The Author and The Book

Andrena J. Zeigler, has worked as an advanced Practical Nurse specializing in pediatrics for 20 years.   She loves teaching the next generation of pediatric nurses and nurse practitioners.  Married, with children and living in South Carolina.  In her free time Ms. Zeigler enjoys being creative in cooking, decorating, designing, and writing. 

But I’m Not Sick is about a young girl going to the doctor for a healthy child check who didn’t understand why she had to go to the doctor because she wasn’t sick.  Her mom reassured it that she was just going for a check up but still, the child looked uncertain.  The story walks us through her check up. 

Looking more closely at But I’m Not Sick

Clear images and bright colours fill the pages.  Text is highlighted on a page with blue, with full colour pages opposite.  The kindness of the medical staff is evident throughout. 

The text is large enough to read easily with a group of children, yet comfortable enough for snuggling in a chair for reading.  

The doc does her best to reassure her young charge that everything is fine, even down to her rumbling tummy.  Could it be a monster below just wanting to make himself known?   For some children this fun could be fun, and others it might be alarming, so know your children first eh? 

Through images and text you can see the care the medical staff have for their patient.  Helping their charge feel comfortable despite her insistence that she’s not sick, ergo she doesn’t need to be there!

Read it?

There were a couple of things I didn’t much care for.  For instance, in my experience, tonsils don’t sway and slide.  And calling a child’s stomach a growling monster….would work for most children but not all.   So know your children.

OTHER THAN THAT… I thought But I’m not sick, a well-done book, you could see the author’s experience shine through.  From mom accompanying her daughter through the various steps of her check, to the daughter saying But I’m not sick! 

I love how the doctor explains her actions throughout. Looking in the ears, listening to her stomach, and checking her reflexes. Sometimes doctors and nurses don’t do enough explaining with children from my experiences with my lad. 

I don’t review many books concerning medical issues, but The Button Pusher deals with ADHD (for middle school) and Fighting Parkinson’s and Winning (for adults). 

The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz

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I am enjoying a variety of WW2 based fiction lately.  None have impacted me as much as the story of Mala Zimetbaum as told in The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz.  I’m not saying other WW2 haven’t drawn me in completely, but this one drove me to learn more.  Let’s talk eh?  Oh… yes, must get the legalities out the way.  I’ll be linking to Amazon so you can find it easily should you wish.  The proceeds of that affiliate link help me bring you move reviews.  🙂

the girl who escaped from Auschwitz

The Basic Details

Title: The Girl who Escaped from Auschwitz: A world war II novel based on a true story
Author: Ellie Midwood
Genre: WW2, WW2 fiction, 20th Century historical romance, WW2 historical fiction
Formats: Kindle, Audio, Paperback
Pages: 390
Additions: Book Club Discussion Questions
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Intended Audience: Young Adult, Adult

Discovering the Author and the Book

Ellie Midwood can be found on facebook, and is an author of historical fiction.  A New Yorker, she lives with her fiancée and dog (Shark Bait).  Her grandfather fed her love of history with his stories of fighting as part of the 2nd Guards Tank Army.  A Jewess, she feds her love of WW2 and Holocaust History by collecting rare materials concerning it. 

After reading The Girl who Escaped from Auschwitz I urge you to learn more about Mala Zimetbaum.  You’ll see the cruelty and kindness of people during WW2 and life in the concentration camps.   The lies told, the truths seen, and how hope can live even in hard times.   This is the fictionalized story of Mala and Edward.  A love born in the hardness of Nazi extremism. Desperation leads to hope in escape.  Can it be done? Will it last?  We already know the story, but getting there… it’s worth the journey.

the girl who escaped from Auschwitz

The Girl who Escaped from Auschwitz

How does one find hope in horrible situations?

It’s not an easy thing to do you know.  When you are surrounded by death, bullying, and lies.  How does one find hope?  For Mala, being in a privileged position due to ability with languages, hope came in small things.  Finding ways to help fellow inmates, ways to change another’s fortunes, and ways to be beyond your present circumstances.  It’s not easy, and for hope to be overcome, is too often possible. 

And then Edward.  Unexpected, a fellow prisoner, finding courage to ask for help.  Discovering in each other a common ally. 

The clear writing pattern, and the personalization of Mala and Edward brought this story to life.  The gruffness of the Russian prisoners, the hopelessness of moms losing their children, the choice to believe despite smoke and stench, and betrayal of the photo op prisoners.  All the emotions out on a shirt sleeve for all to see, wrapped up with straight-forward depictions of being in prison just for being who you are. 

This is a well-written story to draws you in.   Definitely recommend. 

And it to your schooling?

Are you researching European History?  Or perhaps studying WW2?  Perhaps your study is more along the lines of understanding why people in confinement act they way they do.   The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz will add depth to those studies.  Showing you how people can live beyond religious lines, and find hope in the hard things of life.   Even if the story doesn’t end in roses, it shows that people can stand for more than you think when push comes to shove.  And THAT my dear readers, is worth reading about. 

Want to read other WW2 books?  Check out this list.