A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Insects

The Bee Without Wings

By Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product for The Bee Without Wings 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. ðŸ™‚

Imagine you are a handicapped bee with no way of getting around.  You are lost and alone until a friend comes along.  Can you see what joy that will bring to your heart?  The Bee Without Wings brings together Sasha, Molly and Bea into a delightful and fun friendship that will warm your heart.  Learn about bees and discover how to recover from loss. 

The Bee without wings, amberlea williams

The Basic Details for The Bee Without Wings

Title: The Bee Without Wings
Author: Amberlea Williams
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Pages: 40
Intended Audience: 4-8 year olds
Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover
Type: Picture Book
Genre: Bees, Insects, Friendship, Death/Dying, Helping Bees, Bugs
Received: Hardcover
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

About the Author

Amberlea Williams lives in Ottawa with her husband, son and cat.  She loves to illustrate, do freelance design and teach yoga.    Her parents encouraged her to go to art school when she was young.

About The Bee Without Wings

Finding a bumble bee without wings in her garden, Sasha is determined to help it survive.  This unexpected friendship leads to a summer of fun between Sasha, Molly the cat, and Bea the bee.  Bea evens learns you don’t need wings to fly! Bees don’t live long though, so Sasha discovers a meaningful way to honour her friend.   Beautifully illustrated, the tale includes an activity for creating a bee pollinator garden, along with information on how to care for early spring bees.

Looking Deeper

Tales of friendship between unlikely allies intrigue all sorts of people, and finding a bee without wings that a young girl doesn’t want to immediately just squash is fantastic. Sasha is a sweet, soft-hearted young girl who takes excellent care of her young bee friend.  

You’ll find the text easy to read as you follow along the adventures of these three young friends.  From learning how to care for this weak young bee, to finally helping her find her final resting place.  

Sasha needed to develop her problem-solving skills.  She takes time to observe and then figures out how to help.  

I just love the illustrations.  They are clear, easy to follow, with a brightness to them that encourages the reader to stay involved.   

And before you can blink an eye she had Bea up and flying!  Even if it was only a short time before Bea started to fail.   The proportions aren’t exactly to scale, but if one kept them true to size it would have been difficult to show Bea’s emotions. 

At the close of the book you’ll learn how to care for spring bees, even as we watch Sasha and Molly plant a bee garden.  Don’t you just love it when a picture book not only tells a good story, but teaches as well?

Recommendation?

Sasha is a lovely, soft-hearted girl, with excellent problem-solving skills.  Can she keep Bea alive and give her a good quality of life?  For sure?  Can she find a good way to honour her little friend?  Definitely.

What do we observe: Sasha has empathy for the bee, Sasha observes her little bee and then uses problem-solving skills to help Bea, accommodates Bea’s failing health, and then figures out how to help other bees. 

Can we learn how to help the bees through this story?  For sure!  This is an great primer for learning how to care for early spring bees.   Building a bee garden, providing safe places to get a drink, creating living quarters and much more.  An excellent start.  I only wish she had provided links or building instructions for making a bee house.   

This would be a nice companion book to actually learning about bees as this one focuses more on how we can help our bee companions. 

The Story of a Butterfly

By 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Story of a Butterfly) 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 don’t know about where you live, but here… butterflies!  Butterflies are always around in the summer, and as much as people say to kill the worms and caterpillars… I like seeing the resultant butterflies and moths despite the damage they do!   Since children often exclaim (like I do) over the presence of butterflies don’t you think they would be enchanted by The Story of a Butterfly? 

The Story of a butterfly

The Highlights of The Story of a Butterfly

The Story of a Butterfly was put together by Margaret Rose Reed.  A simple nature book helping young children understand the butterfly lifecycle and what they need to survive.  The focus is on the the life cycle and habitat of the Painted Lady Butterfly.  The picture book’s 32 pages are beautifully illustrated by Manu Montoya.  Preschoolers and kindergarteners will love the butterflies, flowers, and teaching to found within the pages. 

I am reviewing an ARC softcover edition for Raincoast Books. 

I adore letting children ask questions and then giving them the answer.  In this informative picture book, a child asks the questions filling your child’s mind.   I think it’s fantastic how each question is in large, easy-to-read font, and the answers are in a professional font. 

The explanations range from short and sweet to more lengthy.   Proper terminology is used.  This makes it a handy reference when answering questions from the nature studies you do with your children.

Natural progression is shown in the answering of questions, with the children eventually asking why they don’t see butterflies at school.  This leads to a whole new community project where we wordlessly get to watch it all come together.  

Don’t you just love the good use of colour throughout?  Even on the “summing up what we’ve learned page” you’ll find lots of colour!  It’s great to have a page that pulls all the learning together. 

Is this picture book worth your time?

Oh, I think so.  The Story of a Butterfly does a good job of telling us about the Painted Lady Butterfly.  It gives us many details about the life cycle and habitat needs of this particular butterfly.  If you learn how to take care of this one, you’ll take care of other butterflies as well! 

A good book for young children to help them learn more about butterflies, and a decent primer for older students just getting a start on a new unit study.   I enjoyed the use of colour and the details added to each page.  This provides good talking points when reading with a young child. 

Bee Scared

By 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? 

Bee Scared

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. 

The Book of Tiny Creatures

By 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Book of Tiny Creatures) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.  🙂 

When I saw this book in my pile of book to review from Raincoast I was so delighted.  My lad would have loved The Book of Tiny Creatures as a child.  I hope that I can find just the right child to gift this to as I know it will bring delight to any child fascinated by the tiny creatures around us.   

There are SO many tiny creatures around us, worms, beetles, snails, flying, crawling, slithering, everywhere living teeny tiny critters invading our world.  Let’s welcome them shall we?  🙂   Seriously!

The book of tiny creatures

Learning about Tiny Creatures

The Book of Tiny Creatures was produced by Princeton Architectural Press.  Instructively written by Nathalie Tordjman and realistically illustrated by Julien Norwood and Emmanuelle Tchoukriel.  72 pages encased in a hardcover binding, written for youth 5-9 years old. Reviewed for Raincoast Books. 

Digging Deeper

You will find five overall sections, each with five subsections.

  • Who are the Tiny Creatures? 
  • Life in the sky 
  • Close to the Ground 
  • In the Water
  • Incredible Creatures

You’ll find oodles of pictures that are so intricately drawn it’s delightful to see.  Good descriptions of select creatures as well.  Plus information pages to round out ideas and get children thinking. 

Quiz pages in each section.   Not all the answers are given (at least not that I saw quickly), which allows you to do some research, and find more questions to ask (and answer) about these amazing critters of the world.  Finding books that encourage excellent questions are always a boon to me.  Feeding curiousity in others makes my heart smile, does it do the same to yours? 

Plus things to do!  Build a terrarium, explore at the seashore, or create shelters in your backyard.  STEM activities at their best!  Learn, create, and grow!   Don’t you just love STEM activities?  Such an excellent way to put all the knowledge you are gathering to good purpose. 

I LOVe how the information is laid out and the variety of creature life featured.  I would have spent more than one night pouring over the pages with my lad and so many questions would be raised.

Should The Book of Tiny Creatures be yours?

FOR SURE!   If you have any interest in these little creatures of the world, get this book. If you have a child like mine who is fascinated by them and comes up with good questions, get this book so they can come up with MORE good questions.  Feed interests!  Help them learn and to love doing so! 

The book of tiny creatures with it’s excellent illustrations and good information is a winner!  Add it to your bookshelves as soon as you can!  🙂  It will be a good start to a study on insects, ocean creatures, Pollinators, pesky bugs, and more. 

Insects at the beach

By 11 Comments

Affiliate links will be used in this post. 

Two challenges face me this week… insects (crew challenge) and the beach (online book challenge)! The question is, how do I combine these challenges?  As I considered the word beach I remembered a book I read last fall called Beach Music. In that hardcover read I was introduced to the plight of sea turtles, and how they slapped mosquitos at the beach.  Ergo a good combination would insects at the beach… don’t you think?    

insects at the beach

Now the insects that one finds at the beach kinda depend on where your beach is.  I find more insects readily available on the beach near small lakes.  Insects are somewhat less prevalent I find at the beaches from the great lakes, but if you look for them, you’ll find them.  It could also be that I’m not paying as much attention as I’m usually at Lake Huron to swim and socialize, not relax and notice nature!   ðŸ™‚ 

Insects at the beach that annoy

I know when I go to the beach at Lake Huron the sandflies irritate me!  Annoying little pests that go after my ankles.  A small fly, they pack a nasty bite.  They seem to be worse when the weather is humid, so going to the beach when it’s just slightly chill, or there’s a wind blowing is ideal for avoiding them. 

The same goes for mosquitos!  A slight wind, and they stay away.   And the bonus is, on somewhat windy days, the beach is way less crowded too! 

Of course one can use a variety of repellants as well to hold them off.  I don’t really like using repellants, particularly at the beach since it just washes off in the water and I’d rather not poison the water critters. 

Insects that Delight

Water striders.  I will always be fascinated by these crazy insects.  They are just too cool floating on the top of the water.  You won’t find them on busy beach days at Lake Huron or where the waves are coming in rough at all, but those calm glassy days…the striders will be out!  But by smaller lakes and ponds you’ll find them, and in streams going along nature trails you’ll find them in abundance.

I’ve also seen water beetles at our local beach.   I freely admit that I don’t know the names to all these beetles, some are water bugs, others are boatmen, some bite easily, others avoid contact at all costs it seems, but they are really neat to observe as they dart around in the water.  Again, calm, quiet days are best to observe them.  Sometimes I wonder where they go when the waves are rushing in. 

Moths and butterflies flit about, as do dragonflies chasing after the mosquitos and sand flies.   I thoroughly enjoy watching the dragonflies, they are so quick and precise in their movements.  You’ll find all sizes of them, but note, not all that look like dragonflies are, some are actually damselflies.  Canadian wildlife will help you tell the difference. 

Over the years we have caught several as my lad was quite fascinated with them for quite some time.  They don’t keep well in captivity due to their need for food, but to catch and observe and then release, works really well.  

OH!  I shouldn’t forget the ants.  I always find ants at the beach regardless if at Lake Huron or out camping.  There are so many different types of ants it’s actually quite amazing.   We also find tons of small spiders as well, but they technically aren’t insects what with lacking wings and having too many legs.  🙂 

Things to help in your observations

Something you might want to do is make a Pooter… it’s a device you use for catching small insects and spiders.   Very simple to make.  You just need a jar with a lid and some flexible tubing.  Some lung power to suck the insect up and voila!  A chance to closely observe insects with the equal ability to let them go free afterwards. 

For larger insects like dragonflies and butterflies you’ll need a good bug net and patience.   Word to the wise, avoid the kids bug nets… they fall apart so easily and really aren’t worth the money.  Get a good quality one and it will last you until your children are no longer interested in insects. 🙂 

In fact, if you are going to the beach to just look for insects you’ll want to bring along all your nature study tools, and even a bug collecting tent.  We got a lot of use out of this collapsible one and eventually learned to make our own out of old tenting mesh and wire clothes hangers. 

If you have a fascination for ants (or your children do) make a formicarium or glass ant farm to keep them in.  Keep them well-fed with mealworms and honey and make sure they have water.  Catching a queen means it will last far longer as ants need a leader and a job to do in order to live well. 

insect pooter

This post is part of the blogging through the alphabet challenge as well as the online Book club. 

Fellow Participants for the Online Book Club are

abc blogging

These Unlucky Stars

By 2 Comments

raincoast FTC

Isn’t it nice when you finish a book and you think to yourself… I’m glad I read that!   These Unlucky Stars left me feeling like that.  So glad that I took the time to read it through.  I’d love to tell you all about Gillian McDunn’s touching middle school novel.   Affiliate links will be used in this review. 

These unlucky Stars

Annie is such an unlucky girl, who has learned to keep people away, and yet… people keep intruding.   Can she learn to trust anyone?  To let a door into her life crack open… just a bit?  Enter into.. sticky situation.  What will Annie do?  And thus the story unfolds as Annie works to solve her problem and learns a few things along the way. 

I loved seeing her heart…. Through all 288 pages, Gillian McDunn unwraps Annie’s character showing us her angst as she tries to do what is right, even when she knows she should have done better. Well-developed additional characters help to round out the story, each with their own struggles.   The whole community gathers around building a parade showcasing the rosy maple moth. 

Published by Bloomsbury books, I am reviewing on behalf of Raincoast books.  I received an advanced readers copy.  Geared for middle school, it is being released as a hardcover. 

What I liked

BUT Annie makes an error in judgment… and solves the problem.  Therein we find Gloria and her weird dog.  And yes… the dog is a tad bit weird. But Gloria is interesting, and watching the relationship between Gloria and Annie (as an adult reader) develop is just fun.  Thinking as a middle school reader, I think kids would see themselves in the awkwardness between the two.  This is a fun book to read, there were times when I laughed aloud.  Thoroughly enjoyable. 

I’m actually finding it hard to write this review because I enjoyed it and think most middle schoolers would as well.  It would be easy for them to see themselves in the story.  It’s hard to not tell you the whole story.

The characters were interesting, the back-stories made them so real. The way the community worked together and recognized the gifts of each other was heart-warming.  The struggles that Annie had are real ones, that could totally happen to any child.   

There was artwork scattered throughout.  All was just roughed in since I received an ARC.  Annie is a young artist, and it is her artwork featured. 

Should you get These Unlucky Stars?

Yes!  If you have middle schoolers who like to read real people stories where individuals their age solve problems in a realistic way.  Annie in These Unlucky Stars,  didn’t solve her problems in isolation, she had a community around her.  She needed to learn who to depend on and what errors in judgment she had made. Others around her also needed to learn this as well.  It was all-around well done and worthy of reading.   I would have liked to see more of the illustrations done so I could better tell you about them. I didn’t see anything objectionable within the covers. 

impromptu learning

By 1 Comment

one of the reasons I choose to homeschool is I simply enjoy having my boy around.  🙂   I like sharing his excitement in what he learns.
Yesterday while I was out doing some gardening I kept being interrupted by “mommy, come see this!”   So I’d trundle over to see what the lad had learned, done, accomplished, discovered and such forth.  Mind, I’d interrupt his play with “lad, can you come help me with….” and he’d come and help.  So turn about is fair play.
He was busy with a tub he’s put together that is half water, and part sand and dirt.   He worked quite hard at dividing it up so that water stayed on one side, and the dirt on another.
First he discovered what a water table is. 
he dug down into various parts of his dirt section and learned that in most areas the dirt was damp but there was no water, but the closer he got to the water the more water there would be in the bottom of his hole.
Second he learned that doodle bugs (pill bugs) can float on a boat!     This made for marvellous story telling and laughter as we guessed what the pill bug thought of it all.
Then came the experiments with the pill bugs themselves.  
If he made an island would they stay on it?
Can they swim?
What happens if you roll them into a ball and drop them in?
What happens if they land on their backs?
We discovered they can swim for short sections of time.
They float really well.
They can not climb when they are in the water.
The big ones are smarter than the little ones, and the middle sized ones just bolt without looking and land up in the water ALL THE TIME (the little ones moved more slowly and the big ones tested things out first).   It was actually quite interesting watching the big ones.  They’d move to various parts of the island and lean WAY down and take a good look at the water, and then come back up and trundle to a different section and test it out to.   BUT once they fell in, they would do it all the time so I”m not sure what was up with that.
The small ones and big ones stayed on the island the longest, and only the small ones would stay on the boat for any length of time.
 this picture came from this site.

no pill bugs were harmed in these experiments.  🙂