Reviews

Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals

November 13, 2019 By Annette1 1 Comment

You know those adult colouring books you can get? How relaxing it is to just sit and colour? It’s a fun way to keep your hands busy as your mind wanders. At least I find it so. 🙂 Sometimes it a great way to just be “busy” when you need to stop and think for a while on something. As much as I enjoy my colouring books, I’ve also discovered the joy of sticker books. Not the kid kind … but ones where I can recreate a work of art, or buildings, or in the case of today’s review: Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals.

Being able to keep my hands busy without having to juggle pencil crayons or markers… HUGE! Why huge? Well, imagine you are killing time at a doctor’s office, sitting in a car or on public transit, attending a lecture that busy hands helps you focus on better, or whatever. Not having to mess around with paper and colouring instruments is important.

What I am Reviewing

Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals.
Silvio Rebelo.
Castle Point Books/St. Martin’s Press.
80 pages, Stiff paperback with flaps, Notebook size
8+ years
1252 stickers in total.

Meditation, relaxation, sticker books, exotic animals,

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Unbelievable animals come to life with easy sticker masterpieces.
Take your coloring to the next level by doing it with stickers instead of pencils! Each one of the 12 designs in this book has spaces for mosaic shapes that you fill in using the pages of different colored stickers in the back, allowing you to create one-of-a-kind mosaic designs. Color-by-sticker is a fun new way to express creativity and explore color, and this series gives readers the freedom to create their own unique designs, no artistic ability required.

Details of Sticker Mosaics

Silvio Rebelo has created a wonderful book! It’s notebook size makes it easy to transport anywhere. Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals offers 12 different animals to color by sticker. Choose from bobact, butterfly, chameleon, leopard, macaw, monkey, penguin, scorpion, toucan, elephant, flamingo or a frog. Each a bright colourful animal for you to enjoy creating.

It’s easy to find the stickers that you need, each two page sticker spread has a small image of page you are working on in the top right corner. The stickers and their colours are unique for each animal. This allows you to create a truly unique work of art that any animal lover will adore. All told you’ll find more than 1200 stickers to place.

They vary in range of difficulty. Some would be easily completed by most, others would take a more experienced hand. I would have loved for the creators to put them in order of difficulty in the book so you could work your way up. 🙂

For the difficult ones I would recommend using a tweezer to accurately place the stickers. Once placed, they stick. I was browsing the reviews on Amazon and one person said the stickers come off again, they don’t. A tweezer will give you the control and distance you need to place them well.

Do take your time and place them carefully. Most of mine I did well, but messed up just a bit. Still looks good from a distance.

The perforated sheets means you can later display them if you would like, or could send along for friends and family to enjoy. A gift perhaps?

Should you get it?

Of course you should make Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals part of your relaxation time. You’ll like the heavy paper and the vibrant colours of each sticker, and you’ll find that they stick well. Find the sticker, place the sticker, and ease your mind. Let your busy hands and quiet thoughts bring some relaxation in your life.

Animal Atlas

November 9, 2019 By Annette1 1 Comment

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing a Lonely Planet Kids book called Animal Atlas. This is a wonderful hardcover jam-packed with all kinds of fascinating facts about animals from all over the world. Interesting elements are included such like lift-the-flap, fold-out maps, and life-size critters to surprise you! 🙂

What I am Reviewing

Animal Atlas: Amazing facts, fold-out maps and life-size surprises.
Lonely Planet
Anne Rooney
Lucy Rose (illustrator)
Lonely Planet Kids.
Hardcover, 32 pages, Age 9-12.

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Zoology, Atlas, Animals, World-wide, Environment,

Explore the animal kingdom like never before with the Animal Atlas from Lonely Planet Kids. Unfold maps to reveal animals from every continent and lift the flaps to see their unique environments and habitats.
Discover a world of animal facts, life-size photos and creature features-from a bear’s paw and a baby turtle to an anteater’s tongue and a goliath birdeater, the world’s heaviest spider. EEK! All drawn to scale so you can measure yourself against them.

The Details of Animal Atlas

The book is divided into seven sections: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Oceania & Antarctica. Each with a map of the major environments as well as illustrated and photographic depictions of some of the animals living there.

As you can see above, many of the pages are fold-out pages. Large two-page spreads walk you through the variety of animals living in each of these areas. Most, if not all of the animals come with a small map to show you where they live in the world.

All sorts of fun facts are presented, some of them in a lift-the-flap format. Every section has at least one lift-the-flap area.

I appreciated that we didn’t just learn about animals. A variety of scientists such as Darwin, Linneaus, and Merian are also presented.

Each animal has snippets of information beside them. Details about thte country they are from, followed by information like their scientific name, size, diet, their status on the endangered list, and where they live.

True to the nature of Lonely Planet books, they aspire to educate thoroughly. To that end, they provide a habitat key to broaden the understanding of geo-systems around the world. The key changes per environment, but the colour-coding remains consistent. For instance, Oceania has biomes not seen in North America. Some biomes share similar biomes, thereby tropical forest in one biome is colour-coded the same throughout.

Recommendation

This is a great book. I love how it talks about the different parts of the world, illustrating that area with a chosen animal. You don’t just see mammals, but arthropods, birds, fish, and more. I was amazed at how large of the nests the sociable weaver could get.

I was saddened to hear of the loss of the Saiga antelope. Did you know that 50% of these temperate grassland antelope have disappeared due to a bacterial infection?

Within the pages of this hardcover book, animals as diverse as shrimp, whales, spiders, tortoises, storks and elephants can be found. I appreciate there isn’t a focus on just one type of animal.

Don’t you just love books that encourage you to look further? I found myself inspired to dig deeper into the plight of the Saiga antelope. Books like these are an encouragement to learn more about our world. The full-colour illustrations (whether drawn or real-life images) are an added encouragement.

I heartily recommend Animal Atlas to you. It is such a lovely addition to a study in geography, science, and history.

Animal Atlas is a beautifully illustrated book that would be an excellent addition to your home library or have out as a coffee table book. It encourages conversations about animals and their biomes, the world we live in, and the effects of climate change.

Prairie Lotus

November 6, 2019 By Annette1 3 Comments

Do you love Little House on the Prairie? The love of the old west, the life and stories of the people who lived there that comes to life? Prairie Lotus, the book I’m reviewing today is a lovely book in the likeness of the life of Laura Ingalls. Linda Sue Park introduces us to Hanna, the Prairie Lotus.

What I am Reviewing

Prairie Lotus.
Linda Sue Park.
Clarion Books.
Houghton Miffin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.
Ages 10-12, Grades 5-7.
272 pages.

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Old West, Asian American, Native American, History, Children’s books, Upper Elementary, Country, American history, Chinese American,

A powerful, touching, multi-layered book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father’s shop, and making at least one friend. Acclaimed, award-winning author Linda Sue Park has placed a young half-Asian girl, Hanna, in a small town in America’s heartland, in 1880. Hanna’s adjustment to her new surroundings, which primarily means negotiating the townspeople’s almost unanimous prejudice against Asians, is at the heart of the story. Narrated by Hanna, the novel has poignant moments yet sparkles with humor, introducing a captivating heroine whose wry, observant voice will resonate with readers.

The Details of Prairie Lotus

Oh, what can I tell you about Prairie Lotus? It’s a lovely book. Hanna is a delightful, but determined girl. I loved how Ms. Park developed Hanna’s character. Hanna has her fears, which are very real with distinct elements of danger. At the same time, she knows what she wants and pushes to get them. Navigating hostile waters, she manages to make a friend and get an education. It’s so interesting to watch how it all develops.

With a similar theme to the Little House on the Prairie books, Prairie Lotus touches on a situation that the Ingalls never approached. The fear and bigotry against Asian immigrants and Asian Americans. This was a prevalent part of the early days of Canada and the United States.

We get to see the varied reactions to the Native Americans, the working through of the legal requirements of the law, but mostly…. we get to see history in action. A living book that adds a great dimension to the Little house on the prairie books. Read both, and see history better.

Thoughts/Recommendations

I grew up reading Little House on the Prairie. I immersed myself into Laura’s world. When the TV show came out … I watched in. I know the Ingall’s family well. If Prairie Lotus had been out at that time I would have read it as well and been enthralled with Hanna and her life. It wasn’t easy, but she persevered.

I loved seeing her determination to see things through. Watching people pull together (for good or for ill) gave excellent insight into group dynamics. This was such an interesting book. I urge you to let your Ingall’s fans read this book.

Crossing on Time

November 2, 2019 By Annette1 3 Comments

Steam Ships… there is something about steam ships that incites the imagination (at least for me!). Did you know the first working steam engine was made to help coal miners? Building from those early models, David Macauley draws us into the world of steam ships until we reach the final steam ship, the SS United States in Crossing on Time. A steam ship the author himself travelled on.

This is actually a hard review and intro to write. I so like this book I want to draw you into it and I’m afraid my words will fail me. What will you find? Drawing, illustrations, pictures, well written text and more. Come on, let me show you why you should get this book! 🙂

What I am Reviewing

Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast ships, and a journey to the new world.
David Macaulay.
Roaring Brook Press
128 pages, Ages 10-14 years
Received: Advanced Readers Copy
Formatted as Hardcover or Kindle.

Reviewed for Raincoast books.

Steam Ships, Engines, Ships, History, Boats, Inventors,

Prior to the 1800s, ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean relied on the wind in their sails to make their journeys. But invention of steam power ushered in a new era of transportation that would change ocean travel forever: the steamship.

Award-winning author-illustrator David Macaulay guides readers through the fascinating history that culminated in the building of the most advanced – and last – of these steamships: the SS United States . This book artfully explores the design and construction of the ship and the life of its designer and engineer, William Francis Gibbs.

Framed around the author’s own experience steaming across the Atlantic on the very same SS United States, Crossing on Time is a tour de force of the art of explanation and a touching and surprising childhood story.

Details for Crossing on Time

Full colour illustrations dot every page of this book. From drawing illustrating how the engines where put together.

As well as illustrations of vessels. It was important to get ships that could run under their own power. Depending on the wind, or man-power was a barrier to moving people via the waterways. People wanted reliability in their travel, so developing better ships to transport people was an imperative. It was a difficult task, fraught with disappointment, but also with elation. Success was a great thing. The SS United States was the fulfillment of a dream for William Francis Gibbs.

The text throughout was easy to read and lead well from one page to the next. Crossing on Time is not divided into chapters, but reads just like a fiction book from page to page.

There is so much information contained within the pages, but it never felt like a hard read. Just really interesting watching the development of steam ships throughout the years. All the images/illustrations provided broke up the text and really aided understanding.

All these illustrations made me wonder if I could somehow build my own steam engine. It made me thoroughly appreciate the early inventors. Learning how to put all these intricate pieces together.

One of my delights was this fold-out page of the SS United States. Wasn’t it just immense? Remember… this was run on steam. That just amazes me.

Recommendations

I asked my son to look through Crossing on Time. His response after just a short time was “I like how they have so many diagrams. It’s an interesting book. You are keeping this one right?”

And inside I said “YAY!” Because you know what… I really like this book. It’s chock full of details about steam engines. The diagrams are well done and you could really see the progress in the steam ships.

Crossing on Time is a wonderful look back in time. A must read for anyone who loves ships, is interested in innovation, and/or likes to trace the development of invention. A delightfully informative book. Well worth reading.

Calvert Homeschool Review

October 30, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

Calvert Homeschool is a place where your students in grades 3-12 can meet all their schooling needs. Can you imagine the ease of life that creates? I do need to tell you though, their high school courses are just as intriguing for their parents (at least this parent!) I have got to tell you all about it. I’ve have, for the past few weeks been able to make good use of their mobile on-line program

What I am Reviewing.

Calvert Homeschool.
Calvert Homeschool Online.
Grades 3-12
Online homeschool, homeschool online
Individual and Family Subscriptions.

Providing quality education using multi-media lessons, hands-on experiences, customizable lesson plans, and easy to access dashboards for parent/teacher and student.

Giving you full online access to 45 courses, this online homeschooling option also provides numerous features such as interactive lessons, automatic grading, and monthly payments.

Details of Calvert Homeschool

It does take some getting used to, the system that Calvert uses as their base. You don’t go to the main site to do your learning, but to the online Calvert Homeschool site. This caused me no end of frustration until I figured that part out. 🙂 Learn from me… connect with their help department!

How we Used It

My original goal, was to have my son use the world history course. He’s currently working through material for world war 2 and I noted it had a few days on this topic. I struggled initially figuring out how to get him to this section and the amazingly helpful staff at Calvert helped me learn how to assign them and close off the rest of the course. WOOT WOOT!

He started, and he admittedly tried. But Calvert wasn’t a good fit for him. He is predominately an audio learner, and Calvert suits other learning styles better. Since Calvert DOES work for me, I stepped into the gap. I’ve been brushing up on my physics and engaging in a biology course.

Details of Calvert Homeschool On Line

Two sections to Calvert

There are two distinct sections to Calvert, the first is the parental section where you can choose lessons, customize how they will work, and grade assignments. The second section is where the student will find their assignments and complete their course work. Each requires their own login information.

Parental Dashboard

In the teacher or parental dashboard you can set up your courses, school, and students quite easily. As a parent you control how your child is able to complete their course. What constitutes an A, how they answer questions, and other important details. With the 3-12 package you can assign ANY course to your student. You will find them under each grade level. These are the options I had for grade nine.

I ended up choosing two courses from grade 10 and just one from grade nine. Grade 10 was Biology and World History, and grade nine was physics/chemistry. Adding another class later isn’t an issue, just go into the curriculum set up area and you are on the way.

If you ever get lost or don’t know what you are doing they have put together helpful manuals to assist you.

My desire is to walk you through EVERYTHING but that would make this review FAR too long, so let me just walk you through the sections I used the most.

Everything is easily right at hand. Everything that is clickable is in blue. I used the assigned work and grading tasks the most.

I absolutely loved how easy they made it for me to grade the assignments. Just click on the link and grade.

One thing that I couldn’t figure was how to know what mark to assign a given assignment. Should I give it a five out six, or a 2 out of 3? It wasn’t, at least for me, always an intuitive decision. How to fix that, I haven’t a clue. But we muddled through and grades were assigned.

Student Dashboard

Like the parent/teacher board, the student dashboard is easy to navigate.

You can see at a glance what you have to work on (a report, experiment or project) and what lesson is up next. A list of items needed for assignments can be found so it’s easy enough to have supplies at hand. One of the assignment (about needing to closely observe for experiments) called for a bowl of peanuts, my son and I (cause I told him about this one and he thought it sounded fun) used a bowl of dried fruit instead. We choose to not get lost on the details and peanuts we would have had to purchase. 🙂

Lesson Set up

One of the beauties of Calvert is that you aren’t tied down to working at home on a specified device. As long as you have the internet, you can work off your laptop, tablet or phone.

Each lesson follows a predictable format. Overview, lesson pages, questions based on the lesson. Each lesson can easily be completed in a day. Stopping and starting again is not a problem either, because we all know that things happen and sometimes lessons started have to wait.

Vocabulary Arcade

On the overview page the student is introduced to the vocabulary words used throughout. With these words comes the vocab arcade.

While I think it’s great to have a way to help students practice their vocabulary, I had to wonder why they chose to have animated characters that would clap for a correct answer. It makes sense for elementary school students, but not for high school. Neither I or my 14 year old were impressed with the arcade.

I found the flash cards to be helpful. It’s a simple platform that simply helps you learn new words.

What a lesson looks like

The overview pages introduces the lesson, showing the highlights, and giving needed vocabulary words to understand the lesson.

One of the things I really enjoyed was that videos come with transcripts! So for someone like me who would rather watch a video than listen to it. I can avoid the video and read my way through. Using this option of course is not mandatory, but it’s a lovely aid for those who have English as a second language, or other comprehension issues.

I do have a bone to pick though. Growing up in Canada, I am well used to the metric system. Using a centimeter/millimeter rule in a lesson for accuracy and then not actually being accurate. It’s just wrong. Accuracy is not guessing. If you are measuring something you DO need to be accurate but you can’t on a centimeter ruler be accurate to a 100th place value if they don’t have a 100th place value on the ruler. Anything else is just guessing.

Other than that particular math question, overall I found this secular, online homeschool option to be a good program.

Should You Use Calvert Homeschool?

There are mixed feelings in this household toward Calvert Homeschool. Read all the way through to understand why. 🙂

Normally I would have my son speak his mind, but his mind is not disposed kindly toward Calvert. He doesn’t like it. Would he adapt if I told him to, yes, but relationship is always before schooling. There are a myriad of things that he doesn’t like, but most of it comes down to personal preference and he has other avenues he’d rather pursue.

Therefore I ended up signing up the lad for two additional courses. These courses are Science300 and Integrated Physics and Chemistry. I did this so that I could review the program well. Calvert was kind enough to let us have six months, so they deserve someone reviewing their program well. The end result being: that although, like the lad, I dislike certain aspects, I do overall like the rest of the program.

What I think:

I love that if I know the material already I can skip ahead to the questions.

I love the the first page of each new section is an overview of what I will be learning about. It sets my brain in the right direction.

I dislike that for essay questions that it comes up in a F for the final grade (when you click on complete lesson). Like my lad I find that rather demotivating. I would rather it would say something like “awaiting marking by teacher”, or something, anything else than F.

I like that each page is focused. You can jump back and forth from one page to the next. You can rush through, or take your time. This aspect gives it a feel of a self-paced course. I love that the main page spells out what the next assignments are and that they are clickable.

Would it be useful for high school students?

In a nutshell yes, even though it is not a good fit for my lad, but I think I would have liked it at his age. The difference being in our learning styles. I like being able to jump back and forth, reading and re-reading and he likes to simply move straight-forward. He is an auditory learner and I’m a reader.

Calvert, I think, works best for students who like to read and who pick up on details quickly while reading. My son, reads, but when he doesn’t get something, falls back to searching for videos that will explain it better. He does not feel confident doing that with the world history course from Calvert as the questions are based directly on the lesson rather than on an overall concept.

The fact that there are a good variety of projects, it is highly customizable, and the excellent customer service makes Calvert an option you should explore further. Use the free trial period. See if it’s a good fit for your student, and give it a go. 🙂

45 members of the crew took part in reviewing Calvert. You should check out what they have to say! 🙂

Social Media Links

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CalvertHomeschool
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalvertEdu
Instagram: www.instagram.com/calverthomeschool
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/CalvertHomeschool/

King of the Mole People

October 26, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

I was struggling with how to write this review for King of the Mole People. It’s a book I didn’t particularly enjoy reading but it has some redeeming qualities. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier for me to figure out how to write it. As I was taking a break, reading through the list of words for the Write 31 Days Challenge I saw the word Accept…and like a light bulb I knew how to write this review.

A big part of King of the Mole People is Doug Underbelly needs to learn to accept himself for who he is. Many of the people in his life also need to learn this truth. You are who you are. Do not pretend to be someone else.

What I am Reviewing

King of the Mole People (Book 1).
Paul Gilligan.
Christy Ottaviano Books. Henry Holt & Company.
272 pages, hardcover, 8-12 years.

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Humour, Upper Elementary, Middle School

Doug Underbelly is doing his best to be normal. It’s not easy: he’s bad at jokes, he’s lousy at sports, and he lives in a creaky old mansion surrounded by gravestones. Also Magda, the weird girl at school, won’t leave him alone. And if that weren’t enough, he recently got crowned King of an underground race of Mole People.

Doug didn’t ask to be king – it’s a job he can’t really avoid, like the eel sandwiches his dad makes for him (with love). If he thought dealing with seventh grade was tricky, it’s nothing compared to navigating the feud between Mole People, Slug People, Mushroom Folk and Stone Goons, not to mention preventing giant worms from rising up and destroying everything. How will Doug restore order? It’s all a matter of diplomacy!

The Details for King of the Mole People

If you like Captain Underpants and books along that line (or have children who do) King of the Mole People will be highly entertaining for them. Similar humour, images and writing style.

Doug Underbelly wants so desperately to fit in, to that end he gets into a whole lot of different situations. In the midst of all that is Doug’s role as King of the Mole people. I know…go figure…. the mole people? But they are a real part of this book along with many others who dwell below.

Can Doug manage the pressures of life above and life below? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

As Doug figures things you’ll meet all the characters in simple black/white drawings. I would have to say that 3/4’s of the pages have illustrations on them. I love the illustrator portrayed Magda. Such a quirky character. I liked her from the start. She was mostly comfortable in her own skin and just needed to learn a bit more. 🙂

Thoughts/Recommendations

Growth in characters across the board make King of the Mole People a winner. While I am not a fan of the genre, I am a fan of how it all comes together in the end. One even learns some good science!

I loved how Doug learned to accept himself and work within his own abilities, even learning to use the skills he learned trying to be someone else.

Finding Narnia

October 21, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

Finding Narnia, which is the story of C.S. Lewis and his brother gives me a great opportunity to participate in the Write 31 Days Challenge. Today’s word is NOT Narnia, but rather person.

What I am Reviewing

Finding Narnia: the Story of C.S.Lewis and His Brother.
Caroline McAlister
Jessica Lanan (illustrator).
Roaring Brook Press
48 pages, Grades 1-2, Ages 4-8, trade paperback

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Narnia, C.S.Lewis, biography, siblings, boys and men, picture book,

Before C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, he was a young boy named Jack who spent his days dreaming up stories of other worlds filled with knights, castles, and talking animals. His brother, Warnie, spent his days imagining worlds filled with trains, boats, and technology. One rainy day, they found a wardrobe in a little room next to the attic, and they wondered, What if the wardrobe had no end?

Years later, Jack began to think about what could be beyond that wardrobe, and about a girl named Lucy and her siblings. This picture book biography introduces the beloved creator of The Chronicles of Narnia to a new generation of children who see hidden magic in the world around them.

The Details for Finding Narnia

Beautiful images fill the pages of Finding Narnia. The reader is introduced to the lives of the Narnia boys from boyhood through to adulthood.

Caroline McAlister does an excellent job of bringing the imagination of two young boys to life. Can’t you just see the knights in action? We get to see how they worried over their sick mama and how they dealt with it.

Their dislike of boarding school was made apparent, and over time their involvement in World War 1. The love of family was ever so clear.

The World War 2 came and to my surprise, it was also brought the beginnings of Narnia. Who would have thought?

I loved how illustrator Jessica Lanan started this lovely picture book with a map of England and then closed it with a map of Narnia. Very clever!

Recommendations

Many people chose to read the Chronicles of Narnia with their children. It’s a wonderful series. Imagine if you could introduce your children to the author of those books? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Finding Narnia is a gentle look into the life of C.S.Lewis. The lovely pictures give us insight into the sights he would have seen, the places he might have biked with his brother. The colours showing the bleakness of war or the joy of starting a good story.

It is not an indepth biography of this famous person, but picture books can’t be an indepth as a non-fiction book can they? 🙂 For sure it is a great introduction into the life of C.S.Lewis.

Reviews

What I am Reviewing

Details of Sticker Mosaics

Should you get it?

What I am Reviewing

The Details of Animal Atlas

Recommendation

What I am Reviewing

The Details of Prairie Lotus

Thoughts/Recommendations

What I am Reviewing

Details for Crossing on Time

Recommendations

What I am Reviewing.

Details of Calvert Homeschool

How we Used It

Details of Calvert Homeschool On Line

Two sections to Calvert

Parental Dashboard

Student Dashboard

Lesson Set up

Vocabulary Arcade

What a lesson looks like

Should You Use Calvert Homeschool?

What I think:

Would it be useful for high school students?

Social Media Links

What I am Reviewing

The Details for King of the Mole People

Thoughts/Recommendations

What I am Reviewing

The Details for Finding Narnia

Recommendations

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