Elementary

How Cities Work Activity Book

September 16, 2020 By Annette1 1 Comment

Oh… How Cities Work is a rather neat activity book that I can’t wait to tell you all about! Stickers, colouring, word searches and more fill the pages. Help your children understand how cities work! Tall skyscrapers, bustling waterways, and even the city architect!

What I am Reviewing

How Cities Work (activity book) is a lonely planet kids book. A book that is illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock that helps your children understand the workings of a city through hands-on activities. With over 200 stickers, word searches, writing assignments, mazes and such like you’ll explore most aspects of city life. Written for children 6-8 years old.

I am reviewing this book on behalf of Raincoast books. A companion book to go along with this activity book is How Cities Work. These books are part of the How Things Work Series. This series includes such books as Trains and Airports, and you may remember How Animals Build that I reviewed a bit ago.

Details for How Cities Work

With so much going on in a city environment, there’s plenty here to discover, explore and get creative with. Stuffed full of facts about the inner workings of the city. You’ll discover wonderful illustrations of scenes including rush-hour traffic, garden centres and building sites. There is plenty here to keep your children occupied and challenged either at home or on the road.

Activities include: Search and finds, colouring, spot the difference, add stickers, design a poster, word search, writing assignments, mazes, etc.

Among the pages you’ll find six pages of more than 200 stickers. I love that it’s not just a “put a sticker on” book, but it’s also a “thinking it through” exercise of figuring out what is going on and use a sticker to fix it! Or today we’re learning about animals in a zoo, can you help the escaped animals get back to where they belong.

The illustrations, done by James Fulliver Hancock, match those of How Cities work (another in this series). Fitting these two books together will help your children learn a great deal about the workings of a city. They are well done, fitting smoothly together.

Should you Get it?

Yes! It’s a fun book and well worth getting. It will not only teach your children various functions of a city, but also let them have fun while doing so. How Cities Work (activity book) is informative and gives your children a productive way to utilize their time well. 🙂

Other books to pair this with that I have reviewed are:

The Word for Friend

September 9, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

Some picture books speak to the heart while providing evocative images to stimulate conversation between reader and child. The Word for Friend by Aidan Chase is one such book. Imagine if you would, moving to a new place and not knowing the language. What would an imaginative child do? Find a way through, with the help of another imaginative child. 🙂

What I am Reviewing

The Word for Friend is a 40 hardcover picture book geared for children 4-8 years old. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, Aidan Cassie is the author and illustrator. This review is on behalf of Raincoast Books.

From the cover:

Kemala the pangolin is sure she’s going to make friends at her new school in her new country. After all, Kemala loves to talk. The kids at school like talking, too – but their words are all different. ….

At first, no one understands Kemala either. This realization makes her curl into a little ball … But a classmate helps draw her out with an art project that …. Soon, Kemala is learning the most universal language of all: friendship.

The Details of The Word for Friend

I really like this book. I do. The bright colours, the well-done illustrations, and the fantastic story. It’s a wonderful package. Kemala is a wonderful youngster wrapped up in her pangolin suit.

Her struggle is real. New community, new classmates, new language, and a new living situation. It’s hard for a child to adjust to so many new things.

“Let’s just go back home!” was the plea.

But…. a friend happened. It wasn’t easy, not being able to talk well, but through puppets and effort, a lonely pangolin learns. Until finally she sees a possibility. Can she and Ana pull it off?

Should you Get it?

The Word for Friend by Aidan Cassie is a darling book. Just as Little Juniper Make it Big was a great picture book, so is this one. You will enjoy reading this with your littles, and perhaps can even turn it an opening for your own theatre production! Now wouldn’t THAT be fun? 🙂

It’s also a great way to start introducing some Spanish into the lives of your little ones. Learn that amiko means friend, and build bridges to new friendships as well! 🙂

Florence and Her Fantastic Family Tree

August 29, 2020 By Annette1 4 Comments

When I opened the cover to Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree, I was immediately brought back to a conversation with a cousin. One of her children was being asked to do a family tree yet her child had a rather divergent family tree and was very frustrated by this. The child didn’t want to look strange to peers, but wanted to complete the assignment. The words “antiquated lessons” came up.

Florence has a VERY divergent family tree and she handles this assignment with all these worries, and yet, she looks beyond her worries to her ability to show off her family. A timely book I think hmm?

What I am Reviewing

On behalf of Raincoast books and Familius books I am reviewing Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree. It will come as a jacketed hardcover of 32 pages. Written by Judy Gilliam with the soft illustrations by Laura Addari.

From the cover

Florence and Her Fantastic Family Tree explores the idea of what it means to have a big, messy, complicated, and remarkable family as a young girl tries to complete her family tree assignment for school. With adorable drawings and the succinct words of a child, you can’t help but love your own family tree, no matter how large or small, simple or chaotic.

Florence and her fantastic family tree information

The problem is real so… does a child run away from it or grab up the opportunity? Florence, using her own words, tells us how she handled this challenged. How can she make a family tree when “my family tree doesn’t just have a trunk, roots, leaves and extra limbs. My family tree is prickly, scaly, and partially overgrown.“

Using soft tones, the illustrator helps us watch Florence’s worry turn into a sense of accomplishment. And I have to tell you as adult… it was wonderful to see. I love watching children take what could be a painful assignment and turn it into something that is great. THIS happens.

The story is told in Florence’s own words. Sharing her words, her working out what her family is like. It’s like sitting next to her as she does her homework listening in.

You’ll find the font easy enough to read. It’s not in bold and appears handwritten. It would be easy enough to hold up with a group of children to share it. I could see a teacher using this with her class before she gives them a family tree assignment. What a great way to let children know it doesn’t matter what their family looks like, just follow how the branches go even if they intertwine or go off ways.

Should you Get it?

I thought Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree was a good read. Enjoyable, easy to read, the character develops, and good results. Regardless of what YOUR family looks like, it would be good to share with your children. Help them develop empathy for what other people’s families might look like. Instead of calling it an antiquated idea, let us celebrate with children what their families look like.

Where Is Our Library?

August 26, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

Did you know that the New York Public Library is guarded by two lions? Their names are Patience and Fortitude. Today’s review is about those two lions and their love for children’s literature. Where is our library? is a sequel to “Lost in the Library“. Such a delightful picture book… it was a cute read I’d love to share with a child.

About Where is Our Library

Published by Henry Holt & Co., Where is our Library? features Patience and Fortitude from the New York Public Library. In this their second book Patience and Fortitude are bewildered. Where has their lovely children’s library disappeared to? The Lions are LONGING to read some good stories, but they must suss out where they have been taken. Over the course of 40 children in grades 1 and 2 will be delighted to follow the lions around New York searching for their books.

Stevie Lewis did a marvellous job of illustrating Where is Our Library by Josh Funk. It is part of the series “A Story of Patience and Fortitude”.

Raincoast Books sent me an ARC copy to review.

The Details

Lions waking up and roaming through the library! That’s what you’ll find. Then they move out of the library and onto the city streets. As they move along they’ll meet characters and solve a mystery…that of lost books!

Rhyming couplets fill the pages, with a large font making it an easy to read book. It would be so much fun to sit on the floor with a group of children around reading together. Holding it up so the children can follow along easily. It’s a fun read for littles (and their grown-ups too!) 🙂

Since the story happens at night, many of the illustrated pages have a dark background. The pace is fast-moving because lions themselves are fast moving and besides… they had a mystery to solve. Would they do so before morning came?

Should you Get it?

The best picture books are ones that adults can enjoy alongside the children they read them with. Where is our Library is easily enjoyed by adult and child alike. I urge you to pick it, enjoy the mystery with Patience and Fortitude. You won’t regret it. The excellent illustrations by Lewis and the fun story by Funk make it a winner all round.

Let’s Ride a Wave

July 1, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

One of the things I’ve been doing for the past few years is marking a papers for a biology course. It’s been a good field to venture into and I enjoy doing it the longer I do it. I’m learning to connect with my students and offer them better, more specific feedback. Part of marking this biology course is seeing if my students understand waves…not just ocean waves though they play a role, but also wavelength, sound, light etc. Let’s ride a wave! would be an excellent book to help some of my struggling 9th graders. Let me tell you all about this latest review.

Introducing Let’s Ride a Wave!

Let’s ride a wave! is part of a series called Everyday Science Academy. Chris Ferrie has put together this series to help answer questions children have about the world around them.

Red Kangeroo asks the question while sitting at the beach “I wonder if the waves ever stop?” Dr. Chris steps in to help Red Kangeroo understand.

Starting with watching the ocean waves, Dr. Chris helps the reader understand that some waves you see, like the ocean waves, and moved along to other waves you see the results of but can’t actually see.

Sourcebooks has put together a brightly coloured 40-page picture book to help 5-9-year-olds understand the physics of waves. Chris Ferrie helps children dive into the science of light and sound waves. I have the pleasure of reviewing this book for Raincoast Books.

You’ll find the text easy to read using accurate terminology. Learning about ultraviolet, electromagnetic, wavelength, tides, x-rays and more. At the close you’ll find a glossary in language easy enough for children to understand but detailed enough to be accurate.

I LOVE that experiments are included to test out ideas! From listening to different pitchs and tones, to making your your wavelengths.

Should you get it?

Yes, if you have any interest in any questions, or learning more about how waves work as light and sound. Let’s Make a Wave! is a fantastic primer into how waves work. It’s great for elementary students as is, giving steps into learning physics, and the excitement of having questions answered.

If you are struggling to make sense of your grade nine/ten biology, reading picture books like this one make complex ideas simple enough to understand. This gives the building blocks you need to further advance your studies.

Others in the series are (affiliate links)

Let’s get moving.
Let’s Ride a Plane. (review coming soon)
Let’s Make a rainbow.

If looking for additional physics resources, check out SchoolhouseTeachers.com. They have a variety of physics courses from Red Wagon and other sources from grade five and up.

Cannonball

June 20, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

Ah, the joy of looking forward to summer, swimming, camping, and spending time with family and friends. It’s a time to boost skills, explore new places, and learn more about yourself. Cannonball takes the goal of one young person and helps us look forward to all that summer has to offer. This is my review on behalf of Raincoast books.