A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

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Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance! 

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance!  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. 🙂

Do you have a need to keep your body moving?  Do your fingers like to move to a beat? Perhaps your children are the same?   Then you MUST take a look at Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance!  A dance for your hands and fingers that just might get your whole body moving too! 

Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!

The Basic Details

Title: Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!
Author: Herve Tullet
Publisher: Chronicle Kids
Pages: 64
Intended Audience: Preschool – Kindergarten, 3-5 years
Formats Available: Hardcover
Received: Hardcover
Reviewed For: Raincoast Books

About the Author

Herve Tullet is a New York Times bestselling author.  He has written a fair number of books in both English and French.  Running creative workshops worldwide, this artist/creator/performer lived in New York for a couple of years.   As an artist, he aims to « encourage audiences to become cultural producers of their own » and to bring communities together.

About Tap! Tap! Tap!

Harnessing his love of dance, the passion of his illustrations, and the great big format of this book, Herve invites you to a very special dance: your hand becoming the dancer and the book the dance floor.  Take your time sweeping, swirling, and tapping your way through this bright, engaging dance! 

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Looking Deeper into Tap! Tap! Tap!

Start with a slow beat.  A simple tap tap tap.  Follow the colours.  Feel the rhythm… tap tap tap. 

As you work through the pages, you’ll find the colours will become more vibrant and busy. 

And before you know it your hands will be in a full crescendo of colour and motion! 

Throughout you’ll see the text is a good size for easy reading, which is important when your hands are in motion following colour, lines, and splash!  It’s like a musician starting a slow lyrical piece and over time blazing into a wave of emotion and sound.   You’ll find dips and pauses just like in any piece of music.  Follow the instructions and learn the rhythm of it all. 

Do I recommend?

Okay, when I first got this book I thought meh.  🙂   

But since then I’ve had cause to relook my “meh” response and go you know what?  It’s a neat idea.  Follow form and colour, and read text to see the sway and jibe of musical form.  And suddenly, this book becomes fun.  Can you image having a class of young music students learning the music isn’t just noise, but it’s motion, and colour, and variance of speed, and…. MORE!  Music engages us, even if we just start with our hands. 

Can’t you just see your children having fun learning to dance with their hands? 

So gather your littles around you and Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance!  Follow the easy instructions and watch your  (or your children’s) hands come alive! 

The Best Picture Books of 2022.

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Oh, do join me in a fun trip down memory lane.  I’m looking today at the best picture books of 2022.  Some of these books bring a smile to my face in memory, and I hope might present you with some good books to look for.   Help your littles learn new material, or enjoy a good read.  Let your middle and high schoolers meet a good introductory book to a new topic!   Both are good!  Do not downplay the effectiveness of an excellent picture book eh? 

I will link to my review as well as give you direct links via my amazon affiliate profile for your ease of use.

The Best Picture Books of 2022.

Topical Picture Books

The Leaf Thief.  Consider the changing seasons with this fun book about a squirrel all alarmed by his leaves disappearing on him! 

Hedgehog’s Home for Winter is another changing seasons book, this time featuring a cute hedgehog rather than a squirrel.  Loved the images in this picture book. 

Another than the evolutionary point of view in How to make a mountain, this is an excellent primer in understanding how mountains, rocks, and various ecosystems all play a role within each other. 

People are more connected globally than we might think which Our World is a Family points out quite nicely you’ll find. 

Are you struggling to help your children understand how important sleep is to the brain and even how the brain works? Good Night to your Fantastic Elastic Brain is an excellent primer to help children and youth. 

The Whale Who Swam Through Time is look at a bowhead whale over the 200 years of her life.  So much changed in the course of her life, a good way to see the affects of mankind on the created world. 

Oh you must Listen to the Language of The Trees.  See their interconnectedness.  I found this read so fascinating and discovered myself researching different ideas I didn’t know before.  A great primer of middle and high school with so many ideas for them to use as jumping off points for research. 

Listen to the language of the trees

Just a good story

Now What?  Faatz gives us a fun read of the joys of exploring one’s imagination.  I’d love this one as a bedtime story!  🙂 

I saw Love is for Roaring and I just started to smile.  Can a roaring lion learn something about love and friendship?  A good question eh? 

Bunnies and dancing!  What more could you ask for in a springtime read with your littles? It’s Just a Bunnypalooza is a fun quick read, that will teach you some dance moves too! I enjoyed sharing this one with my dancing nieces and nephews. 

Another story that made me smile from the first time I read it.  This is a great book to share with children of all ages.  🙂   Big Dreams, Small fish.  Multi-cultural, helpfulness, and family. It’s all good! 

Love is for roaring

Have you read any good picture books this year either as reviews, schooling, or with your children?   I’d love to hear what you consider to be The Best Picture Books of 2022.  Sharing books is always a good thing is it not? 🙂

When We All Get Together

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (When We All Get Together) through Jenkins Group Inc. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂

Guess what I get to review today!!!!!   A lovely little picture book by a fellow Canadian… who ALSO lives right here in Ontario.  Heather Bradley introduces us to Canadian animals as she teaches us collective nouns.   I can’t wait to give you a glimpse inside!

When we all get together - heather bradley

The Basic Details

Title: When we all get together
Author: Heather Bradley
Publisher: Friesen Press
Winner: animal non-fiction category – moonbeam children’s book awards
Pages: 44
Intended Audience: children
Style: picture book
Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, paperback
Reviewed for: Jenkins Group Inc.
Received: paperback

About the Author:

Three dogs and several bird feeders round out the household of Heather Bradley as she resides in Lindsay, Ontario.  This retired elementary teacher, who also worked with the Ontario Science Centre, loves sharing her passion for nature with children. 

About When we all get Together

From a mischief of mice to a loveliness of ladybugs, groups of creatures have beautiful, descriptive names. Join the Canadian wildlife in the maple tree forest. They’re all gathering together one by one—until unwanted pests arrive!

when we all get together

Digging Deeper into When We All Get Together

Groups of animals on a variety of backgrounds fill the pages.  I love how the animals are NOT decked out in colourful costumes, but rather appear as they would in the wild.  Natural surroundings are included in each image as well. 

Spend some time learning collective nouns.  Can you believe that a group of bears is called a sleuth?!?!  What an odd term don’t you think?  Makes me think of a bunch of detectives running around trying to solve the local animal problems.  🙂  Can you see the fun children might have? 

Wolverines, Moose, Raccoons and more.   Can you guess what a group of them could be called?  And why would you call them that?  Why would a group of chipmunks be called a scurry? (perhaps from how they behave one might think?)

Did you know a group of cats is called a clowder?   Well, part of my small clowder was very curious about this book!  🙂   Figured you all ought to meet little Benji! 

Add to your shelves?

Learning collective nouns in a fun way. It’s a good thing that!  I love that the pages don’t vary where the text is.  This makes it very easy to cover up the text and have your children (or students) guess what the animal is and perhaps figure out what a group of them is.   It would be so easy to turn Heather Bradley’s book, When we All Get Together, into a group activity, a matching game, or spelling lesson.     

But even without the teaching aspect, it’s just an excellent little book about animals.  The fact that you learn about the collective nouns for each doesn’t diminish the fun illustrations.    And it’s so nice to see different Canadian animals don’t you think? 

I love the versatility offered in “When we all Get Together” and I think you will too!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Irving Berlin

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Irving Berlin) through Arcadia Publishing. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂

Irving Berlin is a well-known composer that perhaps you might like to know better.  This time of year we often sing I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could introduce yourself and/or your children to who he is?   Paul M. Kaplan walks us through this rags-to-riches story of America’s most popular commercial composer in Irving Berlin: from Penniless Immigrant to America’s songwriter. 

Irving Berlin by Paul M Kaplan

The Basic Details

Title: Irving Berlin: from penniless immigrant to America’s songwriter
Author: Paul M. Kaplan
Publisher: Pelican Books
Pages: 144
Intended Audience: 11-17 years, writing level grade 6-8
Formats: Kindle, Paperback
Reviewed for: Arcadia Publishing
Format received: paperback

About the Author

I was actually unable to discover much about Paul M Kaplan.  I did learn that this is his seventh published title and second biography for young people.  You can catch a list of his books on GoodReads.

About the book

Irving Berlin and his family fled anti-Jewish Russia before he went on to become one of America’s most popular commercial composers. As a self-taught pianist, Berlin is responsible for many hit songs such as “God Bless America,” “White Christmas,” as well as the musical Annie Get Your Gun. Author Paul Kaplan traces the path of the man behind the songs through this rags-to-riches story and Berlin’s place in the music business in the early twentieth century, including the tragedies that befell him on this journey.

Digging Deeper into Irving Berlin

Fifteen chapters round out this 144 page biography of Irving Berlin.   Written in an easy to read style with short chapters and loads of pictures. 

Chapters are aptly named and stick to the topic and follow easily after each other.  I like a biography that follows a life historically and doesn’t jump back and forth.  Makes it easier for younger readers too!  🙂 

At the close of the book you’ll find a glossary, notes, and references pages.  Each of the 45 images clearly states where it came from and helped bring Berlin’s history to life. 

My thoughts

So I initially thought this, I can write this review without reading this book.  Looks like a decent book, the couple pages I read in the middle read well, ergo easy review.  I had a cold though and needed something to read, so I started at the beginning.  Lo and behold, I couldn’t put Irving Berlin down.  It was so interesting.   I love a well-done biography, don’t you? 

I learned about immigration, pluggers, singing waiters and more. Learning how the music industry changed over the years was intriguing, and helped me understand a bit of where we are today. Irving Berlin (formally Israel Baline) has led a fascinating life that all started with loving to listen to his dad sing. 

I can easily see Mr. Kaplan’s book being used as a biography for youth in grades 7-10.  It would be good to have them read it and pick one theme from Berlin’s life to research.  It’s good to know more about a country’s history don’t you find? 

Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA) 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. 🙂

Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA is a book filled with funny food puns. You’ll need to check it out with the cookie dough letters and the various foodstuffs in pictures.  Some of them are very easy to figure out, others, well, not so much eh?  It’s a fun book to gift or leave out for guests to enjoy.  A family-friendly book for you to enjoy.  Want to know more… read on! 

Don't Worry, Be Ha-PEA: 101 Deliciously Clever Food Puns

Brief Description of Don’t Worry be Ha-Pea

Curious about how this punny, food-filled 128-page hardcover came into being?   Check out this video! 

Discovering food-oriented puns with full-colour images, divided into seven sections, by Marie Saba.  Published by Familius Books.   You’ll discover 101 Deliciously Clever Food Puns in Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA.  Some are very easy, others, well, let’s just say we haven’t quite figured them out yet in this household.  Still fun trying though eh? 

I mentioned seven categories:

  • Deliciously Romantic
  • Movie Title Munchies
  • Nom-Nom Celebrity Names
  • Spicy Slang
  • Sweet Inspiration
  • Tasty Tourist Attractions
  • Yummy Cartoon Characters

Diving in for a Closer Look

Other than the title pages for each section, every page has a pun on it.  The backgrounds are always a solid background, either in singular colour, or as wood panel background. 

I can just see the fun Marie Saba had in creating these.  Wouldn’t it be fun to just come up with puns?  Finding the right produce, and then figuring how to put it together.  She must have used a thesaurus a lot since some of the puns are CLOSE plays on words.  🙂

It’s not a very big book, maybe 7 x 7, which makes it easy to slip into a bag so you can bring it along to gathering and have fun with friends solving the puns (whether you do so correctly or not).  Try, fail, try, succeed, laugh and enjoy yourself. 

Should you get it?

Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA: 101 Deliciously Clever Food Puns by Marie Saba is a fun little book.  It’s one that I would happily gift a foodie!  Or have it sitting out on a table for guests to browse when over for a visit.  There is nothing in them to worry about with your children as all the puns are family-friendly. 

OH, I was just thinking.. this would be a good book to use with kids learning a second language.  Can they figure out what the picture is and then hunt for a near word or a rhyming word to solve the pun? Wouldn’t it be a handy way to help cement learning?  Or even to use with a cooking unit for homeschooling (or in the public school system)?  Might be a fun way to encourage your children to practice their thinking skills eh?  

Listen to the Language of the Trees

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Listen to the Language of the Trees) 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. 🙂

Too often adults dismiss the value of picture books when it comes to learning.  It’s so easy to think, it’s a book for little children, what can I learn from it?  What could a middle school or high school student learn?  The thing about picture books is they contain bite-sized bits of learning that you might otherwise miss in a bigger, more wordy book.   Those bite-sized bits can encourage anyone to look deeper into a new concept.  In Listen to the Language of the Trees, I learned about the importance of the mycorrhizal network and about the work they are doing in labs, with an eventual look at field research. 

Listen to the language of the trees

The basic details

Today I am reviewing Listen to the Language of the Trees: a story of how forests communicate underground.   My version is an ARC softcover that I am reviewing on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Sourcebooks for kids has, together with Tera Kelley, published a picturebook geared at children 4-8 years of age. 40 pages come complete with full colour images, a teacher/parent help section, and an activities area, you have yourselves a small unit study for young children.  This same unit study will prove to be a great starting point for older readers.  

Digging Deeper into Listen to the Language of the Trees

One of the items I appreciate in this book is the clarity of the images. Illustrator Marie Hermansson did an excellent job of conveying how support happened underground.  Full-coloured illustrations demonstrate the path underground to help not only the little tree but also the big tree as well.  Rather neat how the mycorrhizal network is run.

The font is clear and easy to read, I only wish it has been larger to facilitate reading this tome with a group of interested children. 

Do you just love the details?   That squirrel!   Oh my, I could have so much fun talking with a young reader about the squirrel and all the other details provided in these fantastic drawings. 

You’ll love the teacher/parent notes at the close.  They are provided in three formats.  One with easy cutouts with brief explanations, this is written mostly for children.  The second, with more of an adult perspective, includes a more in-depth explanation of what they know and don’t know and how most research has been done in a lab.  Real-world experimentation/observation needs to occur yet.  And third, activities your children can do to add to their learning.

Add it to your shelves?

I have to admit, Listen to the Language of the Trees: a story of how forests communicate underground, surprised me.  I was rather skeptical about the whole mycorrhizal network so it led me to do a bit of research on it.  Such an interesting study!   This video below is just brief intro. 

So this is just a neat way to present this idea to children.   

I think it would be fantastic to also use with middle school and high school students to peak their interest in the unexpected connections in life.  My son in his biology class learned about the classic sea anemone and fish that co-exist and other symbiotic relationships.  Who would have thought that fungi could also do such things?  Rather interesting no?

The Perfect Rejection Resume

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Perfect Rejection Resume) 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. 🙂 

Well okay, The Perfect Rejection Resume is a reader’s guide to building a career through failure.  Written by Dr. Eli Joseph you will find persistence and self-reflection to be a huge part of the journey.   Let me take some time to walk you through this paperback self-help book. 

The Perfect Rejection Resume

The Basic Details for The Perfect Rejection Resume

Author is Dr. Eli Joseph, an American academic with a doctorate in Business Administration and speaker through TedX. The Perfect Rejection Resume: a Reader’s Guide to Building a Career through Failure has been published by Elisee Joseph.  It runs at 162 pages with 6 chapters, each broken into subsections.  Illustrations were done by Creative Designs by Alifian Saputra.  Janice Gassam wrote the foreword, and I’m reviewing it on behalf of Ascot Media Group.   I received an ARC for my review.

Digging Deeper

You will find the Perect Rejection Resume to be a fairly straight-forward read.  Within the 162 pages you’ll find Joseph using examples from his own life to demonstrate the principles he’s teaching.  Over and over you’ll see demonstrated the power of persistance. 

Textually it’s set up to be easy to read, with bold texting, point forms, lists etc.  This makes it very easy to highlight/bookmark to revisit sections for review. 

Case studies in the form of resumes (all the various rejections) of various people were included.  When you consider that some people got rejected 63 times before they made it through… The persistence just amazes me.  

It makes me think of Thomas Edison who said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”   Each of these rejection resumes makes me think, each of these people found something that won’t work, and so they tried again. 

You will be given ample time to reflect on what you are learning.  After each case study you’ll discover these exercises.  But within the overall text you’ll often discover questions to ask yourself. A chance to think through what you may have done wrong and what you could do better. 

Add it to your shelves?

As I was talking about The Perfect Rejection Resume with my lad I said “It felt like the author was too young to have written this book.  He needs more experience behind him to give weight to his words”.  I went on to say that it makes it harder for me to read the book with the audience I think he has in mind.  My perception is it is geared for 20-somethings in mind, not over 50-year-olds!

It appeared to me that Dr. Eli Joseph repeatedly wanted the ultimate goal throughout his entire life without doing the work needed FIRST to meet those goals.  Ergo he would get rejected.  He needed to find a different way of reaching his goals, and he did.  He didn’t let rejection stop him, which I find admirable. At the same time, if he had written the book a bit differently, like “how to let rejection teach you new skills” I would have been more receptive. 

All that said, are there useful takeaways from The Perfect Rejection Resume?  For sure!   He has great exercises for self-reflection, good questions to ask yourself, and challenges to fulfill.   He includes a variety of rejection resumes for using as case studies.  In those resumes you see persistence, and a refining of their career paths, just as I would expect. 

How to Use?

Now I can see using this as part of a careers class, to help youth/young adults see that sometimes being persistent is exactly what you need to win through the day.  The reflection questions alone are most excellent to teach criticial thinking skills.