A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

picturebook

The Word for Friend

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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.  🙂 

word for friend

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!  🙂 

Pirate Nell’s Tale to Tell

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Who doesn’t love a good pirate story?  Four to eight year-olds will delight in the story of Nell aboard a pirate ship.  She’s a sweet, determined character whose light is not dimmed by the nay-sayers in her life.  It is my distinct pleasure to review this delightful picture book Pirate Nell’s Tale to Tell for Raincoast Books. 

Pirate Nell's Tale to tell

What I am Reviewing

Pirate Nell’s Tale to Tell is written by Helen Docherty and beautifully illustrated by Thomas Docherty.  The words and images work well in tandem.  40 pages of storybook adventure await the 4 to 8-year-old reader.   Published by sourcebooks jabberwocky, you’ll find this hardcover book a delight to read. 

From the cover:

Nell is finally a pirate!
And she has her trusty Pirate’s Almanac to help her sail the seas, even if Captain Gnash doesn’t like books on his ship. But when the journey gets rough and the captain is in trouble, it’s Nell and all her pirate knowledge that saves the day and leads them to the greatest buried treasure of all. . .

The Details for Pirate Nell

Helen Docherty who also wrote The Snatchabook has written a delightful book of rhymes.  It is so easy to read, the words will just roll off your tongue.  As I reading quietly to myself, I couldn’t help myself and started reading aloud startling my hubby.  🙂  It’s good to do those things you know? 

Nell’s love of books is evident throughout, even if her captain disagreed.   He couldn’t see the importance of books, how could they help you be a good pirate afterall?

You’ll find loads of colour filling the pages, finding Nell hard at work whether it be scrubbing the decks or saving the Captain.  The Captain seems the not so nice sort, but by the end of the book, Nell has won him over. 

It’s a good read for both adult and child, the font big enough to read with a group of children, and illustrations varied enough to provide lots of talking points with them as well.   I received the ARC version, but the hardcover style it will come with will provide great durability.  Snatch it up, and enjoy with your pirate study today!  🙂 

Should You Get It?

Aw, this is such a cute book that fosters a love of reading.  Books helps us in so many ways

YES, go get Pirate Nell’s Tale to Tell!  Read it with your children.  Delight in the antics of the pirates, frown at the short-sightedness of the captain, and sit back in wonder at lessons learned. It’s a great romp through the world of books and learning. 

You don’t have to just use for 4-8 year olds though… it would be a great addition to a “fun with books unit”, or a Pirate study, or even a history of oceanic travel book… to talk about the work you need to do abroad ship.  Even a unit on how being kind and willing to share knowledge is a great thing to do.   It’s simply a lovely book.. read it with your children!  I think I’ll have my son read it as part of his speech studies!  

Other pirate based posts

Where Is Our Library?

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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. 

where is our library

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. 

A Place Inside of Me

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Zetta Elliot, in A Place inside of me, gives us a poem to heal the heart of young people of colour.    In this sensitive picture book we see a young skateboarders’ response to living, before and after, a community member is wounded by the police.  This review is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Just so you know, affiliate links will be used in this post. 

A Place Inside of Me

What I am Reviewing

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, A Place inside of me is written by Zetta Elliot.   Within it’s 32 pages of reinforced binding, this hardcover picture book contains a poem to heal the heart.   Noa Denmom illustrates with care and feeling, bringing to light those hidden emotions inside.

From the cover: 

Summertime is filled with joy – skateboarding and playing basketball – until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.   …….

Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers – children and adults alike – talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.

The details for A Place Inside of Me

This is not a book of simple rhyming poetry, but a poem filled with emotion from deep inside of a young man.    Enjoying his summer, until damage happens.  Then pain and anger flow out.   

 Illustrator Noa Denmon does an excellent job articulating the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting.  You’ll see with washes of colour, the grief, and anger, and healing and eventually the community.   

You’ll find the text generally in a large enough format to read with a group of children gathered round, and yet easy enough on the eyes to sit and read with a single child.  A Place Inside of Me is geared to youth 4-8 years old, but would be good with older children as well. 

Should you Get it?

Well-written, covering sensitive pain.  Opening hearts and minds to the inner turmoil of others when a member of their community is hurt.   Even though this specifically applies to Black Lives Matter, I can easily seen the theme crossing boundaries.  An excellent bridge to help children be sensitive to the feelings of those around them. 

A Place Inside of Me is definitely worth reading and I suggest you give it a good look.  Add it to your history.  🙂 

Let’s Fly a Plane

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You may remember that I reviewed Let’s Ride a Wave a couple weeks back.   Today I have another in the series called Let’s Fly a Plane.   Another well done book from the Everyday Science Academy series. It is chockful of good science information for the junior crowd.  Come along… let’s discover what it takes to fly a plane!

Let's Fly a Plane review

What am I reviewing?

Let’s fly a Plane!  Launching into the science of flight with aerospace engineering.   Created by Chris Ferrie who writes science books for children.   Sourcebooks Explore is the publisher, the length is 40.  

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my review for Raincoast Books.  Chris Ferrie’s series Everyday Science Academy seeks to answer the big science questions that children have.  Let’s Fly a Plane is no exception to that goal. 

Let’s Fly a Plane, the details

Just as in Let’s Ride a Wave, Red Kangeroo plays a pivotal role.  She asks the question that begs to be answer “How can something so big stay in the sky when I cannot?”  Dr. Chris comes to answer the question. 

sample page from Let's fly a plane

Using accurate language over colour filled pages, Dr. Chris helps his readers understand terms like thrust, drag, friction,life and airflow.    If you miss any of the definition they are also provided in the glossary. 

You’ll find the text easy to read. An easy to read font the remains consistent throughout it’s 40 pages. 

You will appreciate the details provided as you learn about all the things that help keep an airplane up in the sky. 

No science book would be complete without experiments to help cement the learning.   Let’s Fly a Plane is not exception to that rule. 

Should you get it?

For sure!   It’s a fun, informative book with good experiments for children 4-8 years old. The bright colourful pages will keep their eyes on the page while a parent reads to them.  In fact, go out and get the whole series! 🙂

Let’s Ride a Wave

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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. 

Let's Ride a wave 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. 

Let's ride a wave

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. 

let's ride a wave sample page

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)

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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. 

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Cannonball

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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. 

Cannonball by Sacha Cotter

What I am Reviewing

Take a multi-generational family, add summer heat and a swimming pool.  Then over the course of 40 pages, children aged 4-8 will be amused as one child learns to soar.  Full colour images by Josh Morgan bring the words of Sacha Cotter to life. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky is the publisher of this delightful picture book entitled Cannonball. 

The Details for Cannonball

Every page is filled with detailed, full colour images. Pages like this are so great when reading with young children.  They can use them to help tell the story, and there’s always so much to see and talk about.  From the blues of the water, to the significance of war paint, and to the birds flying in the sky.  What can you see in this page’s pictures?  Let’s talk!  I love that kind of thing with youngsters.  

Cannonball sample page

The story in and of itself is quite simple, but in simplicity there is the beauty of family love. The joy of a gramma’s confidence.  And the pleasure of discovering something new within.  It’s good you know?

Should you Get it?

Cannonball by Cotter

The only name used is that of Nan, which makes her stand out as a person of significance.  What does that tell you about her relationship with this grandchild of hers? 

So go on, get this book.  Enjoy a simple read and revel in the joy of good family connections.  🙂Â