Books for Elementary School

More Than Words

December 13, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product More Than Words: So Many Ways to Say What we Mean through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog. It costs you nothing to do so, and is a huge encouragement to me. As such it is deeply appreciated.

Do you know what augmentative and alternative communication is? Do your children have any ideas about all the different ways that people can communicate? More Than Words brought me back to my time with with differently abled children. And honestly, I thought I knew a lot but there are even more ways to communicate than I had thought of! Come along, learn the different ways people communicate!

The Basic Details for More than Words

Title: More Than Words: So many ways to say what we mean
Author: Roz Maclean
Illustrator: Roz Maclean
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 48
Intended Audience: 4-8 years
Genre: Picture Book, Children’s disabilities, Augmentative Communication, Communication, Children,
Available formats: Hardcover, Kindle
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Received: Hardcover with fly

A Closer Look

Having worked with people who need to be creative in how they communicate I love how More Than Words expresses more variety than you can imagine.

Can play be a form of expression? What about choosing between one thing and another? How about facial expressions or written language? Everyone has ways to communicate, and sometimes a preference or need to shown for one method over another!

I suppose it’s no different than a mom saying to her child, I’m so disappointed… or just showing disappointment in her body language. Both convey the same thing but are spoken differently. So does it matter how a person communicates as long as they are trying?

Good use of colour and facial expression fill the pages. And I love Maclean adding a personal touch to each communication method. Perhaps you might know a Jaya, Mateo, or Nathan who has preferred method of communicating different than you too?

The font changes were fantastic. The informative text appears as you see below. A simple, easy-to-read font, but occasionally large colourful words will jump off the page. Can you play, choose, dig, or cry? In what manner will you express yourself today? Who might you run into who talks differently?

My Thoughts

Did you know that the Roz Maclean so wants people to understand alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) that section is included at the close of the book to teach more. These forms of AAC might not be well-known to everyone. Learning how others find ways to talk is ever so helpful don’t you think? More Than Words is an easy read that I think children would enjoy reading. Perhaps they can guess how people will communicate! I love how even though we learned how a whole variety of people communicate, we needed to really think about how Nathan communicates. So as you read, give it some thought. What might Nathan be trying to say and how does he do it?

Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior

December 6, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog. It costs you nothing to do so, and is a huge encouragement to me. As such it is deeply appreciated.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you need to read a book twice to make sure you understand where it is going. When I read the description of Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior I thought it would be about a woman from history. Instead, it’s about a girl of today and how history has influenced her. I urge you to learn the history, and see the present fight for the Anishinaabe and others.

Basic Details for Water Warriors

Title: Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior
Author: Carole Lindstrom
Illustrator: Bridget George
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 40
Intended Audience: 4-8 years
Genre: Picture Book, Children’s multicultural biographies, Native Americans, Environment,
Available formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Received: Hardcover with fly

About the Author and the book

Autumn Peltier’s story is told in short form by Carole Lindstorm. Carole Lindstorm is Anishinaabe/Metis and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Her goal is to write about her people and their strength and resilience. Always and avid reader, she discovered her love of writing children’s literature when her son was a young child. She has written three books.

About the book:

Ms. Peltier’s story is told in the book Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior. It tells the story of how Indigenous women have long cared for the land and water, which in turn sustains all life on Earth – honoring their ancestors and providing for generations to come. Yet there was a time when their voices and teachings were nearly drowned out, leaving entire communities and environments in danger and without clean water.

But then came Grandma Josephine and her great-niece, Autumn Peltier.

Digging Deeper

You’ll find clear, big, and easy to read text telling this story of inspiration. I always love a book where I can choose to read it with a good of children, or with a single child gathered next to me. In this particular story, the water tells the story.

Water tells it’s story from the beginning to the present. How at first everyone helped water creating ways to it to be safe for seven generations into the future. Then other voices began to speak who didn’t listen to or care for water. People needed to learn about the importance of water again. People need to speak out for what is right. Clean water for all!

Throughout you will see images of water, with blues flowing throughout leading from one page to the other. The closing notes will teach you about Grandma Josephine and the Water Walk. 35 days of walking around Lake Superior where the water was not always blue and clean. The encouragement is strong throughout…. fight well for life-giving water!

My Thoughts

You can see the heart that Carole Lindstrom has for encouraging people to fight for what is right. In Autumn Peltier Water Warrior we see a young lady learning to care for water. Of seeing the examples of her ancestors to encourage her along the way. Indigenous activism, to help make communities and the world a better place to live. This is a good thing yes?

Meesha Makes Friends

August 9, 2023 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for Meesha Makes Friends 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. 🙂

Making friends can be really hard. I remember my son asking me once “how do you make friends? I don’t know how to do it!” I gave him a good answer at the time, and kept him in my prayers, and now at 18 he has a nice core of friends who really care that he exists. 🙂 If he had been younger, Meesha Makes Friends is a book I would have shared with him as it points to truth. Do stuff that you enjoy, and people that enjoy the same stuff will show up. Be willing to talk with them, and before you know it, friendship happens. I can’t wait to tell you more. 🙂

The basic details for Meesha Makes Friends

Title: Meesha Makes Friends
Author and Illustrator: Tom Percival
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Pages: 32
Intended Audience: 4-8 years old
Genre: Friendship, Emotions, Big feelings, children’s book, Picture Book
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Available formats: Hardcover, Kindle, softcover
Received: softcover

About the Author and book

The Author

Tom Percival is both the author and illustrator of Meesha Makes Friends. I found this website for him which lists some of the books he’s been part of. He has written a number of children’s books and lives in Stroud, with his family, which is in the United Kingdom.

The Book

Meesha is a young girl who has a hard time making friends. She finds them too noisy and chaotic and likes to spend time with her creations. They aren’t noisy or chaotic or in any way confusing. But she still wants to have friends. In this story we see her taking a risk and making some friends.

Digging Deeper

We learn who Meesha is, a quiet, creative girl. She likes making things and people, well, people can be a bit hard. And making friends… how does one DO that!?!?!?

The pages show her mood most clearly. When Meesha is frightened or unsure the colours are darker with less brilliant colours. Whereas when she’s happy the whole page is lighter with lots of colour. You’ll find the font is very easy to read.

Children with a variety of skin tones are featured throughout.

Making friends means taking risks…. is Meesha up for that? Of course she is! Teaching, seeing, working together, before you know it, a friendship can be built!

My Recommendation

I hope you have seen enough of Meesha Makes Friends to peek your interest. I think Tom Percival did a great job of showing two of the ways the people can make friends. He does so in a way that is simple and easy and makes for a good story to read.

A good book for children is one that parents/teachers/caregivers enjoy reading as well, and this one was well done. For parents how may be homeschooling children that are unsure about how to make friends, help your children see how it can be done. I find in my homeschooling journey that parents raising singleton children struggled with this the most, so help your children! Enjoy a good read while you do so.

The Science Spell Book

May 14, 2022 By Annette1 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Science Spell Book) 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.

I LOVE science. I find it absolutely fascinating looking at how God put the world together. The intricacies of animals, the movement in plants, the wonder of chemistry. It is so incredible it delights the mind and shows me the heart of God. So when I saw The Science Spell Book I thought, cool! A science book to explore!!! How neat. But I have to caution you… turning science into magic… it rubs me the wrong way.

There is much that I like in this book. I love the science contained within. But I am hesitant about how it combines science with oracles, spells, portals, and lodestones.

The Basic Details

The Science Spell book: Magical Experiments for kids was put together by Cara Florance. Published by Sourcebooks, this is a 224-page tome will with science experiments for children 7 and up.

I am reviewing a softcover ARC for Raincoast books. Part of this ARC was in full colour, it will be a gorgeous book when it’s completely done. Most of it was in greyscale so you need to be aware of that with images.

Looking Deeper in the Science Spell Book

The Science Spell Book is divided into seven sections. Each of the five main sections contains six experiments.

Introduction with includes a foreword to caregivers, how to use this book, and what you need overall.
Infusions: Elixir of Englightenment, Masked Message, Spectral Breath, Color Inversion Spell, Sanguine Energy, and Transfigured Fare.
Illumination: Glowing Gauntlets, Extinguishing Effervescence, Magic Wand, Spellbound Circuits, Fluorescent Feast, and Astal Invocation.
Sorcery: The Oracle, Rune Stones, Planet Portal, Chaotic Calling, North Divination, and Magnetic Manisfestation.
Alchemy: Starch Transmogrification, Forge of the Microbes, Aquafaba Ascension, Primal Pigments, Magical Manna, and Sorcerer’s Stone.
Alchemy: Arachnid Revivification, Forest Nymph Conjuring, Dance of the Druids, Biomineralization, Mercurial Larva, and Bewitching Blossoms.
Glossary

You’ll find lots of colour. This page below is part of the stuff to have section in the introduction. This type of illustration is found throughout.

I love the use of full colour for the title page with each experiment. It’s so attractive don’t you find? It certainly draws me into wanting to do the experiment! 🙂

Each section is introduced with a full-colour page and a bit of a write-up. You’ll have to excuse the greyscale version here, I did want to provide some variety for you. The write-ups introduce you to the field of study. Most of the information in these write-ups is purely factual. Occasionally bits of magic creeps in, but overall it’s pretty innocuous.

Each experiment lists supplies and instructions very clearly. Illustrations accompany to help stave off any difficulties you may encounter.

I absolutely love that each experiment contains a section on how you can connect this to real life and explains the importance of what you have learned.

A glossary at the close of the book helps you understand any words that might mystify you. 🙂 These definitions are very factual.

Should you Get it?

Honestly, the science in these experiments is just science. You can find many of these experiments without the hocus-pocus about them in a lot of different science books. You’ll find yourself working with batteries, red cabbage juice, cornstarch, needles, leaves and water. Nothing too alarming anywhere in any of these experiments.

The Science Spell Book is just creative marketing. That said, I’m not keen on encouraging kids into the sorcery/witchcraft/magic end of things, particularly within faith households. It’s one thing if it’s totally just a pretend world in fiction books but it’s completely different when you are linking it with the tangible world of science.

So if you want a science experiment book this will work just fine. If you use it as an educator, just for the experiments, it will work nicely for you. It would be easy enough to avoid the hocus-pocus. 🙂 Just don’t get caught up in it!

The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug

March 19, 2022 By Annette1 4 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug) through Ascot Media Group. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

Mary Cohen brings us the story of a very determined youngster in The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug. The question throughout is… can Hillary stay focused? Can she exhibit the skills she needs to achieve her hearts desire? What does this first book in a series tell us about Hillary? Can young readers learn from her?

What I am Reviewing

The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug is the first in a series of 13 books entitled The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug. In this first book Hillary expresses her desire to one day be queen. To be queen she’ll have to exhibit certain characteristics. Therefore, in this first book we see her working on those needed skills.

From the press release: The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug, from the creative team of authors Mary Cohen and Elisabeth Revel, illustrator/photographer William Dandurand, and illustrator Gary Revel Jr., tells the story of an exceptionally gifted ladybug who does well in school and dreams of becoming Queen of Ladybug Land. One day, as she is flying to school, she is taught a valuable life lesson when a Praying Mantis begins to target her classmates.

This book runs at 58 pages, and is published by Jongleur Books. My review is for Ascot Media.

What do you get?

You’ll find yourself with a easy chapter book. Children up to about grade 2 will enjoy Hillary’s story. 8 short chapters fill out the 58 pages. Young children will enjoy the suspense and simple language.

Very similarly to Fly Patrol you’ll find the art work utilizes a blend of original illustrations and photography. The illustrations are one dimensional showing limited expressions. A primary-based colour scheme means it’s easy to identify characters.

Sometimes the story was a little predictable, and the overuse of commas was a little off-putting. Irregardless, this is a good story. You’ll find its well-suited for young readers. The short chapters making it ideal for early readers.

In fact it is great to see the focus of Little Hillary. Hillary is very determined to pursue her goals. She will not allow herself to be side-tracked.

Add it to your shelves?

The Adventures of Hillary the Little Ladybug is actually a fun little book with a great premise. I had fun following the story of Hillary.

I admittedly, struggled with the editing. A good grammar editor understanding proper punctuation could make this short book better. Despite this, if I saw it in the library I would not be unhappy about picking it up. 🙂

For homeschooling purposes, this short book would fit in with a careers day. A way to jump-start looking at skills needed for future endeavors. Additionally useful in a character quality study.

The Best Books for Elementary Students

February 21, 2022 By Annette1 2 Comments

Having covered the best middle school reads and the best picture books, I figure it is now time to consider the best books for Elementary students. A mix of fiction and non-fiction, there are some absolutely wonderful books out there for 7-10 year olds. 🙂

I like seeing books in the age range, it’s often when books start to capture the interest of children as they move beyond picture books. I loved watching my lad pick out books at the library, often gravitating to books about animals.

Don’t you just love a good story? From stories with a purpose, to stories read just for fun, a good book is worth it’s weight in gold don’t you think? I’ve picked out what I believe to be the best of the elementary aged fiction books I read last year.

Fiction

The Bridge to Sharktooth Island. Working through problems in order to reach a destination. This is a well done STEAM adventure.

Archer and Zowie is perhaps a middle school book, but its one that I think elementary students would enjoy. Two youngsters, out exploring an imaginative world, and discovering much about themselves and each other.

I absolutely adore One Thing You’d Save. It would make for such a fun and interesting discussion with a group of children.

Rescue at Lake Wild is one of those chapter books that makes for an excellent read. Three good friends, a good cause, and furry animals. Makes an excellent story!

The joy of non-fiction is that even if it’s geared to a younger audience, these books are excellent for a variety of ages. Using them as a primer to get ideas flowing, a means of providing knowledge, or even as a push to learn more for youngers.

Non-fiction

Me and the World. I happen to love infographic books, they appeal to more than the age group built for, but contain so much information in an engaging manner.

Unstoppable: True Stories of Bionic Animals. This was such an interesting read. Bionics make life more possible for so many different animals.

Prank Lab: 25 hilarious science experiments. Elementary students would have a lot of fun with this book. I’d maybe NOT let them near it before April fools day. 🙂

The book of tiny creatures is one of those inbetween books between youngsters and elementary children. This book is really well done showing all those little critters that we might not normally pay any attention too.

If the youth in your life love chickens, Chickenology is a fun, informative book sure to delight them. Would be excellent if you were doing a study on chickens too!

Studying transportation? From Here to There would be an excellent addition to your shelves. Learn about the inventors and their inventions.

What’s your choice for best books for elementary students?

So I’ve covered some excellent books for elementary students this year, but I’m wondering, Have you? what books would you recommend for this age group? Why? Would any of the books I recommend work for you or the children in your sphere of influence?

Bee Scared

January 29, 2022 By Annette1 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Bee Scared) through Ascot Media. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.

Bees are in trouble! Richard Faith tries to alert young readers to their plight in his new picture book Bee Scared. Through careful story telling and potential problem solving, Mr. Faith hopes to encourage young people to help be part of the solution. How can we help these small members of our world thrive again?

What I am Reviewing

Bee Scared, is an Old Doc Turtle adventure from author Richard Faith. This picture book follows the Queen and her community of family and friends as they try to find a solution to a rather scary problem. They come up with a rather creative solution, but I have to admit, it didn’t really seem like a solution to me. 🙂 Makes me wonder if young children reading it will think of it as a solution or realize that more work needs to be done.

Can your young reader think of any ways to help Auntie Bee save the honeybees? Will their eyes be opened up to the need to protect the vulnerable insects among us?

I was supposed to get a paperback copy sent to me but that somehow disappeared so I’ll be reviewing a PDF copy of this softcover picture book. Bee Scared is the first in a series Old Doc Turtle Adventures. 29 pages of full colour illustrated by Todd Hobin. It brought to mind the bumble bees I dealt with this summer.

Digging Deeper

You’ll find the text has been helpfully placed on a screen of white to make it easier to read. The lyrics are provided in rhyming meter. The rhyme is not consistent, sometimes being alternative lines and other times being rhyming couplets. Either way, it makes for easy reading for all ages.

Artist Todd Hobin provides not quite realistic bee hives, going for the cartoon model rather than the more natural bee hives in trees or in man-made hives. I love how he filled each page with colour while providing white space for the text. The natural colours throughout fit well into the lives of bees and their world.

A solution was provided….the flight of the bumblebee dance… which I’m not quite sure was a good solution. And I’m not so sure the message was clear that MORE and BETTER solutions need to be found for the honey bee crisis. But I did find the solution funny to think of the dance being used. 🙂 Would be a great way to introduce this music to young children though, don’t you think?

I love this closing page with old Mr. Turtle’s call to action. Can we find ways to help the honey bees? How can we (young and old) make the honey bees safe again? We need these pollinators so we musn’t let them disappear!

Bee Scared, should you get it?

I think Mr. Faith makes a decent stab at helping to alert young readers to the honey bee crisis. Is Bee Scared the complete answer? Of course not, it’s a picture book for children! But it will help.

The pictures fit the story. The bees recognize the problem, and they want to live safely. I love the closing where he calls young readers to action. Save the bees! Think on ways to help these tiny creatures if you can.

Books for Elementary School

More Than Words

The Basic Details for More than Words

A Closer Look

My Thoughts

Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior

Basic Details for Water Warriors