A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Review: Not So Different

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You know how children can ask questions that sometimes we don’t want them to?  Well, Shane Burcaw invites those questions in “Not So Different”, a book where he answers the questions from children about his disability.  Frank conversation, humour and good images round out this sensitive topic.

What we are given is a 40 page picture book filled with great images of Shane and his wheelchair.

Chat bubbles show the questions that children ask.  Frank and honest questions of children showing their curiousity about the health and well-fare of someone who might look and act a bit different from them.

Great illustrations round out the story, and the text is large enough that if you wanted to read it to a group of children it would be so easy to do.   Through it all Shane points out how, even if he does something differently, it doesn’t mean that he has any different feelings or needs from any other person out there.  Sometimes it just takes a bit more work. 

My Thoughts:

A good picture book to help elementary kids learn about differently abled people.   From how sometimes you need to think outside the box in  order to have the life you want.   Struggling with wanting to do things and finding ways to accomplish them.   Living through hurt and finding what is good.   It can’t always be easy opening yourself up to pain and questions, and yet Shane let’s children ask questions and gives them honest answers.   A good thing that. 🙂

Not so Different: What you really want to ask about being disabled.

Shane Burcaw

Matt Carr Illustrator

Softcover, 40 pages, ages 6-9 years.

Disabled, special needs, wheelchair, questions, elementary, picture book

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where to Purchase: Amazon.ca   or Amazon.com.

Review: The Boy and His Whale

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Sometimes it is very hard when nature collides with human activity, hard decisions need to be made. What can a boy do? Obey his dad, or….follow his instincts? We see this struggle in “The Boy and The Whale”.

This carefully illustrated book brings to life the struggle this boy had. What should he do about the whale?  And this review is SO hard to write because I don’t want to give the story away… cause you know.. that spoils the fun of a good book to read.

My thoughts:

I think it would be a delight to sit down with a younger child and just enjoy looking at the pictures as we read the story together.   Sharing a boy’s need to breathe,  a whale’s need to breathe and for a father to connect with his boy when a boy makes a difficult choice. 

This would make an excellent book to show the push and pull about human influence on the world and some of the difficult decisions that need to be made.

 
The Boy and the Whale
Mordicai Gerstein
Roaring Brook Press
40 pages, 4-7 years old
Hardcover, science, human impact, decisions
Picture Book
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. 

Where can you find it?   
Amazon link.

Review: March Forward, Girl

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Oh.. imagine being in the mind of an African-American girl growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 40’s and 50’s.   This is the story of Melba and how she was taught to live her life, even as inwardly she railed against it. Segregation was a horrible thing. The fear, the anger, the shame and the outrage.   It was a hard time of living.

I have to admit, the events of this book are so outside my paradigm of experience and even as I read the book and experienced Melba’s life through her eyes, a part of me didn’t really believe what I was reading.   Could people truly be so mean?  So unthinking?

Then I had to ask myself this question: Would I want my 12 year to read this book?  It’s geared for middle school… but would I truly want him to read it?   He’s a sensitive minded lad who has been raised to realize there are horrors and bad things in the world, but do I really want him reading about it now? And honestly I don’t know.  Melba paints a very real picture of what life was like for her and her people.  The needing to give way, the living in fear, as well as the sheer joy that comes from living with family and having people who genuinely care about your life.  AND oh..there was joy in the midst of it all.  The mixture of the joy with the anger providing good juxstopotion that made it all so much more real. 

I want to tell you how the book ends, but that’s not my role here.  My role is to tell you what I thought abour March Forward Girl.   It was a good book, a needful book to read, and I enjoyed watching Melba mature in her ability to think and DO in her fight against the injustices in her life and in the lives of the people around her.  

I still am not sure about sharing it with my middle schooler, though I might read it with him, that would be a good thing I think.  I think it would be could talk about the things we read together.

Scattered throughout the book are black and white images from Melba, her family, and the events of the day.

March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine.

 

Melba Pattilo Beals

Frank Morrison, Illustrator

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books

Softcover, 10+,

Autobiography, history, America, African-American

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where Can You Find it?

Amazon.com: March Forward, Girl.

Review: Once Was A Time

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Imagine the possibilities…. see the potentials…realize the dreams.  Step in the world of Once Was a Time. This great middle school read introduces us to  Lottie and Kitty who are the best of friends… soul mates who understood each other full well.  Believing in the possibilities, living out the realities of war torn England in 1940. 

This was a well-written novel by Leila Sales, who has author several young adult books.   Lottie and Kitty were so well described I felt as though I knew them and could fun with them.  Girls with crazy imaginations, a willingness to accept each others foibles, and still stick together like glue.  Leaving with dreams and plans, struggling with how their families were, dealing with the terror of war.  Good characters.

Then …oh.. the unimaginable happens, these two soul mates are separated.  What would happen?  How would Lottie manage?  Would Kitty survive?   What happens to their families?

How their lives diverge is a fascinating tale of persistance and hope.   And OH… I want to tell more but then I’d have to say SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!   And who wants that eh?   Themes covered: Time Travel, war, bullying, friendship, library, budgets, books..oh the books!, siblings, travel and more.   A well crafted book quite suited for the middle school crowd.  These characters will linger.

My Thoughts:

My lad has heard me talking about how much I have been enjoying his book, and now that he is finished Time Stoppers, and knowing how his dad has been waiting to read the series, he asked if he could read Once Was a Time next.  I joyfully said “YES!”

This was a great book…history along with intrigue with the joy of learning what true friendship is.  Makes for an excellent book middle schoolers AND their parents!  🙂

Once Was a Time

Leila Sales

Chronicle Kids

Softcover, 340 pages, Ages 10+

Fiction, middle school, time travel

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where can you find?

Amazon.ca:  Once Was a Time.

Amazon.com: Once Was a Time.

Review: The Simple Blessings of Christmas

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The Simple Blessings of Christmas is a hope-filled journey through the days of Advent.  It’s a wonderful book that if you are looking to celebrate Advent would fit well into households of faith, as well those who just want to add some joy and wonder to the holidays season.

Let me tell you more about this well made hardcover book.

25 chapers, one for each day up to Christmas.  It’s not quite long enough to be a full advent book, but it covers all the days of December up to Christmas day.   The Chapters have names such as 

  • Christmas teachs gratitude
  • Christmas encourages us to open our hearts and homes to others
  • Christmas challenges us to make our lives matter
  • Christmas shows that God is still at work in the world and in our lives
  • Christmas promises us new beginnings
  • Christmas invites us to worship

I love the set up, the clear point of each chapter highlighted on ornaments or pages reminiscent of wrapping paper.  Point on bible verses or quotes from different people, some that I recognized and others were new to me. 🙂

The chapters were short and easy to read.  Many including stories to help connect you to the teaching, others filled with questions and challenges to help you think through the joy, wonder and teachings of Christmas.

It’s simply a lovely book to use for personal or family advent readings, or to get as a gift to use next year for the days preceding Christmas.

The Simple Blessing of Christmas: A hope-filled journey through the 25 days of Advent

Mark Gilroy

Simple Truths.  Sourcebooks.

Faith, Christmas, Advent

Hardcover, 120 pages

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?  

Amazon.ca: The Simple Blessings of Christmas.

Amazon.com: The Simple Blessings of Christmas.

Review: Busy Family Planning Calendar 2018

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Do you ever find it hard to keep things straight?   The running around here and there, sometimes could have a family spinning like a wheel! A friend of mine has a calendar with names scrawled on it, arrows pointing from one slot to another, with times crossed out and .. well.. to me it looks a mess!  🙂

The Busy Family Planning Calendar works to eliminate the mess.  So I have got to tell you all about it!

This calendar has five slots for every day of the week.   So if you have three children, a mom and dad, you can easily fill up all the spaces, And if you are stuck.. you can easily use the top slot with the daily number in it as an emergency! As you can see they are nicely broken up by colour so you could follow the same person throughout the week making sure that no one is keeping too busy.   As you can see, this calendar also lists the important days of the year, not just the judeo–christian, but other popular holidays as well.

This calendar also comes with stickers!   Stickers galore.  Categories like school, half days, dentist, sleepovers and birthdays meant to fill in just one slot. Menus, spring and winter break meant to fill in two, maybe three slots.  Chores and vacation fill whole sections.   They store in this easy to access pouch, which also doubles as a great place to store birthday, anniversary, etc cards. (if you are that organized) or your bills to be paid as well!

The hole (where you’d hang it up) has been reinforced with a wire gasket … don’t know what else to call it.  Just means it won’t rip and come off your wall.    The illustrations are whimiscal without being annoying.  🙂   I have to admit, I like photography in my calendars, but the illustrations in this helpful calendar ar interesting and fun, rather than making me want to toss it away. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t always hang my calendars.  One of the things I like about this calendar is the handy place keeper.  Made of sturdy thick paper, helping you to hold your place well in this well made 17 month calendar. 

Busy family planning calendar 2018

Rockpoint

Calendar, planning, 17 months

Reviewed for Quarto Group

Art Book: Beasts from Bricks

By 6 Comments

Oh, who doesn’t like to build with lego?  I spent hours as a child playing with lego and have had lots of fun playing with my boy child…though the older he gets the more he keeps himself busy with other things and plays less with his mama.  BUT this book is cool!  Making animals from around the world, using the designs in Beasts from Bricks.  It’s great!


15 different animals which take you through the different continents of the world, teaching you the skills you need to design your own lego models of various animals you can meet in your life (or perhaps WISH you could meet in real life).

You get to build animals such as the African Elephant, Indian rhinocerous, Suffolk sheep, walrus, jack rabbit, anteater and a wombat (as well as others).   I loved that each new animals was introduced to us along with why the author builder created them.

You will find detailed parts lists along with a colour key.  The parts list is in full colour with numbers written alongside.  I didn’t find those numbers worked well with the Lego Store, so they might be with another area?  I don’t know.  BUT I do know you could go into any Lego Store with this book and they could help you find any pieces that you need, since the picture is on the page along with it’s colour.  Easy peasy!

After the opening section you get into the meat of the build.  Full colour illustrations walk you step by step through the build. As long as you are paying attention (and don’t skip steps) you can complete your build.  You may even find yourself inspired to find other animals you can build.  Sometimes to just be changing the colour (as in making a white sheep black, or multi coloured), or by using the skills you have been taught to come up with your own designs.  Who knows what you’ll be able to build eh?

Little things I liked: Each animal is colour coded, so you know all the blue is one animal, different builds he’s made pictured at the back of book, clear instructions, image of finished animal, and the pedestal each animal is placed on so you aren’t limited to stance or flat surfaces.

My Thoughts:
Get this book.  Have fun learning about and then building animals from all over the world. It’ll be great fun, you know it!  🙂

Beasts from bricks
Ekow Nimako
Quarry books
144 pages
Softcover, oversized
Lego, building, STEM, animals, engineering

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where can I find it?
Beasts from bricks.  Amazon.ca    Or    Amazon.com.

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