Books for Children

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Big Dreams, Small Fish) 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.

Imagine that you are little.  Just a child in your family.  Easily shunted aside because the adults have to do the work.  Now suppose your family has a business, and… it’s not doing as well as you had hoped.  Now what do you do?  And then a family emergency arises .. NOW, What will you DO?!?!?!?!  Ah, I know, call in the neighbour lady.  She’ll mind the store, the family business, and she’ll mind the child too!  All good, worry about the store later.  Deal with family first.  And therein lies the start of Big Dreams, Small Fish.  Come on, this story will make your heart smile.

Big Dreams, Small Fish in a nutshell

Paula Cohen brings us a touching immigrant story with Big Dreams, Small Fish.  A small family with a grocery trying to make things work and care for family at the same time.  What does one small child know that could help?  You’ll have to read to find out of course!  🙂 

Published by Levine Querido this preschool picture book is geared for children 4-8 years old.  Featuring a Jewish family living in a multicultural neighbourhood.   I received a 40-page hardcover book with a dustcover.  It is a standard picture book size. 🙂 

Reviewed on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Looking More Closely

I love the pictures! 

That cat staring at the fish…. it’s so spot on!  And Shirley’s willingness to help… that sly little smile.  She knows her plan will work! 

The images often span a two-page spread, like an invitation to join in on a family going about their lives.  With a colour palette that suits the family and the various characters you run across.  People from all across the world fill the pages, it’s rather neat to see.  

Such a problem for this family.  Wanting so hard to pass along part of their heritage to the people around them.  Knowing it will be liked, but getting people to try, it’s just so very hard to do.   In the process, pick up some Jewish terminology as you go through.  It’s fun to learn new languages no? 

Part of me wants to quibble about the font, but as I look at the book as a whole it fits.  A big bold font doesn’t suit the temperament of this family-focused read. I would love it to be a tad bit bigger simply because I have older eyes and imagine reading to a group of children.  But sitting down with a child at my side, the font is perfect. 

Should it be on your shelves?

While I do get tired sometimes of girls, in various stories, being the heroes lately, Shirley fits this story.  A young lady, with her cat, trying to help her family.  You can just see her getting underfoot and trying different ideas, albeit unsuccessfully.  Her heart is on helping, on serving her family.  I love that.  Her never-give-up attitude of let’s try this, and let’s try that.  It’s very good. 

I love that at the close of the book we are invited to make our own gefilte fish.  Then we too can have Big Dreams, Small Fish!!!  A heart-warming story that showcases persistence and serving your family as best you can.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Good Night to Your Fantastic Elastic Brain) 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.  

Our brains run our entire bodies did you know that?   Without our brains, life for us, in particular, simply wouldn’t exist. So isn’t it a good idea to learn more about your fantastic brain?   Good Night to your fantastic Elastic Brain is an attempt by JoAnn and Terrence Deak to help children understand how our brains work.  Let me introduce you to this educational picturebook. 

Basic Details

Neely Daggett is the illustrator for Good Night to Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, and she does an excellent job showcasing an educational brain cartoon helping us to better understand her.   I received an ARC version from Raincoast Books for my review. The hardcover version was released April 2022. 

Brain experts (both have their PhD’s) JoAnn Deak and Terrence Deak want to help children understand the importance sleep has on the brain’s ability to function.  Therefore they put this growth mindset book together for children to encourage them to let their brain rest regularly. 

They do this through 40 pages of illustrations and text.  While writing in an engaging manner to clear explain to children 4-8 years old how the brain works. 

Looking deeper into Good Night to Your Fantastic Elastic Brain

You will find the main character to be “The Brain”.  A pink, eye-glass wearing teacher brain. 

Brain will help young children understand it’s general makeup, what the brain does during night and day, and even how the brain develops!  Throughout we are reminded of just how busy the brain is and how important it is to the brain to just sleep/rest. The brain helps us to remember, and how to forget.  And did you know that the brain needs a bath every night?   Amazing isn’t it?   Reviewing this book for you makes me want to read it all over again!

Don’t you just love wordy, educational picture books?  It makes them for more than just 4-8 year olds.  You use them to engage older students, and to introduce new topics to children with a wider age range.  Just reading this makes me want to go out and research a topic just to learn more.  It would be so easy to use this picture book with highschool students and say, so what do you want to learn more about?  Write me a paper on it.  🙂  An easy way to engage a reluctant readers interest to pursue further study hmm???

The movement and bright colours of the illustrations draw in the eye don’t they?  Combining the actions of our bodies with the actions the brain puts into motion.  Well done I thought. 

Now, do I like the cartoony brain?  Not really, but at the same time, I do cause I understand the need for it.  🙂  It’s an easy way to indicate to children that we’re all learning from the brain.  It also fits the style of the book.  It does!

Discovering more information throughout, regularly it’s summed up for us.  A great way to test our knowledge hmm?   The brain’s different activities also spur on the ability to remember don’t you think?

Is it the easiest book to read, particularly with young children in mind?   Not really.  Specific terminology may be difficult for some readers to pronounce.  And for the youngest, a lot of it might go over their head.  But older readers will get a better understanding of how the brain works, and not worry that the brain will just stop working while you are asleep. 

Add to your cupboards?

I would have no issues adding Good Night to Your Fantastic Elastic Brain to my book shelves.  I am, in fact, wondering if I can put together a small group study for my local homeschooling group.  Figuring out how to combine nature with how the brain works. I need to give it a bit more thought though. 

As I said earlier, wordy picture books like this are fantastic for using with older students to simply introduce a topic and get brain cells moving.  It’s an easy way to introduce new terminology in an engaging way without the stress.  Great for an elementary science unit on the human body too!