It's been a while since I've done up a post on the books the lad and I read together at night before he settles to bed.   Ergo... this post.  :)

My son and I happen to just LOVE reading together.  Most of the time I do the reading, but occasionally he'll read to me.   Currently we are working through these five books.

Wolf Keepers by Elise Broach
My lad and I are part way into this book and already we are hooked.   It was sent to us by Raincoast books to review.

I strongly suspect that it will also intrigue a fair number of girls as well as one boy and one girl make up the main characters.  They are at the zoo, wolves are dying, people are around when they are not supposed to be.   I have to admit... we're intrigued.  "Why would someone want to hurt a wolf mom?"  "Wouldn't it be neat if they could find that treehouse mom?"   So we are kinda wondering if the two things are linked... Time will tell eh?

Ancient Greece, this is actually part of the group of books we received for the Carole Roman review.   My son thoroughly enjoys these books and likes that we are reading at night together.   He asked questions, we looked up information on line, though with this Greece book he's not real keen on learning about the Greek gods. 

Well written book that draws you into what it would be like to live in Ancient Greece.

My lad and I like history.   :)   We read a fair number of history related books.   Many of them are living books, but this encyclopedia has us fascinated at it takes us through historical events.   Every history book includes different details about historical events.  

For instance... Napolean Bonaparte... was he a villain or hero?   History books talk about him in different ways.  

This variety means that reading different histories provides for a more well-rounded education and gets my little thinker, thinking all the more. 

Reading through the Story of the World, and how it jumps around, has really been showing us how actions in one part of the world can influence what happens elsewhere.

Reading it alongside the encyclopedia is giving us some interesting insights, which of course, leads to conversation between mother and son.

I am hoping at some  point to find inexpensive copies for the mystery of history series, as I think it will give us yet another perspective.

Anyways, enjoy these books should you pick them up... good reads one and all. 

Cities are huge places, busy and so full of everything.  Government workers, hospitals, emergency vehicles, transportation of all sorts.   Families living, people working, running about their daily lives.

It can be a jumble of noise and confusion.

Now imagine that you have NEVER lived in a city and you have just moved there?   Wouldn't you like to know more?   Wouldn't you want to understand just what you have gotten yourself into?   These books reviewed, should help.

Embark on a journey from the start of a city, a small gathering of buildings in the country with farms and wildlife all around.  Through construction and work and organization gradually a city develops.   Led through the building of roads and industry, superhighways, trains and parking lots.   

We get to see people at work, people with families, shopping, moving, living.  Tunnels being dug with large machines.  Skyscrapers, parks, subways and more.  If it's in a city, you'll find it in this book.

Every page with flaps to lift and/or pages to fold out

Each page delineates clearly where it is located in the world, and gives the highlights of each city.   For instance, Hong Kong is the Hollywood of the East, Montreal hosts the biggest bell in North America, in Addis Ababa Easter is celebrated with a meat feast and Seoul has taxis specially marked for those who don't speak Korean.   Interesting facts from around the world.

Now don't you agree with me? 

Wouldn't these be great books to introduce children (and others) to the wonders that make up cities... both in operation and what makes each one special.   86 Cities explored, countries from around this entire world.

This later book, the Cities Book, will be staying as part of our resource collection.  As we travel around the world in our studies it will add a great dimension don't you agree?

Raincoast books has generously provided me with these books.
The Cities book is published by Lonely Planet Kids, is 212 pages long and is approximately 10 x 12.  Good images and graphics, great text, good overview of 86 cities from around our planet.
How Cities Work is written by James Gulliver Hancock and also published by Lonely Planet Kids.  24 pages (feels like more) and 11 x 10 inches approximately.  Lift the flap or open the page and discover all about how cities work.

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Christmas is coming!  Christmas is coming!

Over the next few weeks I plan to bring some Christmas books your way.   Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as we do.   Connecting with different aspects of our lives here in Ontario.  :)

Do you know what we celebrate at Christmas?   For those of faith in the bible, Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.Growing up my parents made a distinct effort to help us see the difference between celebrating the birth of Christ, and the act of having presents.   They never went overboard in the gift-giving department, and I try to follow that same pattern in our home now.    We open presents on Christmas Eve, which makes for a nice meal together and a great evening, this leaves Christmas Day for Church services and a quiet day remembering that without the Lord coming to earth there would be nothing worth celebrating.

Today I bring you a lovely book called "Where Jesus Slept".

Simple repetitive verse make up this book, each page adding another line to the story of where Jesus slept.

Not only that, the illustrations by Katy Hudson are stellar.

When you put it all together, you have a sweet Christmas book for your younger children.  Geared for ages 4-8.

All told, Norma Lewis and Katy Hudson put together a great, 32 page book to introduce your young ones to the true meaning of Christmas.   The celebration of the promise that God made for us.  

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Format: jacketed hardcover
Trim size: 10x10
Page count: 32
Retail price: $16.99
Reading age: 4-7

Affiliate links for your ease of locating product.  Sales will benefit my blog.

Did you know that today is Marie Curie's birthday today?    Doesn't that make it the perfect opportunity to talk about this great new book meant for children to learn all about Marie Currie?

21 experiments in the book allow children to jump into different aspects of Marie Curie's life.... like working on experiments that do the unexpected... shall we make elephant toothpaste perhaps?   Or make a write a letter, make a vision board, make a little curie or split water as you learn about the atomic bomb.    I love that the experiments engage the children in different ways. Not all science experiments or language arts activities.   Variety is such a good way to keep the interest alive.

9 chapters, 131 pages, filled in information, broken down into an easy to understand format and language.   So many pictures to make it all come to life.

See Marie working in her lab, growing up in her family, meet her parents, the places that she worked at and musicians she listened to.

I've reviewed another Chicago Review Press book called Michelangelo for Kids.  I need to tell you how much I like how these books are set up.

Timeline at the front of the book so you know how the person's life progresses.
Chapters with enough information to help you feel informed about an area in the person's life, with a great activity or two, to follow it up.

Clear easy writing style.
Tons of pictures that fit and aren't just filler.
21 different activities to do and experiments to conduct

This book is written by Amy M. O'Quinn and she's done a great job of introducing me and my son to Marie Curie.   I am looking forward to one day using this book as part of a co-op class with group of children.  It will be fun to do. :)   Almost all the work and research is already done for me.   Such a great resource to add to my collection of "ooh... I want to do this in a class someday" books.

The only thing I can think of to make it better would be a list of questions for students to answer at the close of each chapter. 

A courtesy inclusion of the amazon links to aid in you finding your own copy of this great book.   An excellent resource for your classroom.   They are affiliate links and only help support my blogging habit, and will be much appreciated if used.  :)     They do not affect your bottom line in anyway.

I wish I could remember who recommended that I read this book with my lad.  But wow... WHAT A GOOD BOOK.   Seriously.   Go read it.

Joan Aiken wrote a compelling story based loosely on early industrial England.  The timeline isn't real, but that's what was drawn to my mind as we read through this book.  The chapters are long so we often stopped half way through a chapter otherwise bedtime would get far too late.

Your child (if like mine) will get very angry during the story.   There are some horribly nasty events in the book that had my son (and my own to be honest) blood boiling.  We so wanted to give Miss Slighcarp a good talking to.

We were horrified at Mrs. Brisket and how she handled Sylvia, we wept with the children over Aunt Jane, and rejoiced with Simon being able to help Bonnie and Sylvia escape.

We learned how good it is to have people in your life who love you and care about what happens with you.   Those people will risk much for you.

My son has informed me I am NOT to put this book into our sale or giveaway pile, because apparently he wants to read it again sometime, for himself.  

That my dear readers, is the sign of a good book in my son's eyes. 

Welcome to the Blog won't you?  My dear friend and colleague Lori.

Does sound have color? Does color have sound? Evidently the answer is a resounding YES! At least it was to Vasily (Vasya) Kandinsky.

The Noisy Paint Box: The Color and Sounds Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock is a short biography about Kandinsky. It begins with his life in Russia as a child, learning all he should to be properly educated. And life went on without much excitement. Until his aunt gave him a little paint box. Explaining and showing Vasya how to correctly mix paints, educating him on how to appreciate art, something happened. Vasya began to hear things - a whisper, a hiss. No one else heard them, though. The more he mixed colors, the more he painted, the more he heard and the more he saw. But everyone thought he was being silly.

When painting what he heard, Vasya was happy. Others around him thought he should paint properly, with houses and flowers. Or for him to do his schoolwork, his math. So Vasya tried to be who they wanted. Until one day . . . That day he saw the sounds of a symphony - crashing, stomping, caroling, thundering . . . And he knew he had

The struggle to show the sounds was one Kandinsky lived with. But he learned to be true to who he was and what he saw. He learned to ask people "how does it make you feel?" And then they would be closer to understanding.

My son and I were all set to start a new living history book, but as I was cleaning up the book room and organizing things I came across this old book by Natalie Carlson.  I thought to myself it was short enough to read before reading the history book so why not, it would be a good way to introduce my lad to children who needed help.

What I didn't realize was ...how much we would learn about France and how that would ignite my son's curiousity.

MOM!   They have a fish day?   Why would they call it a fish day???  
So I asked my summer student about it as he comes from France.  His response:

1. April Fool's day is called "Poisson d'avril" in french. So I think that a good translation for April Fool's day would be The April's Fish. During this day, children used to put fish in papers on the back of their friends (or on the back of the teacher but it's even harder ;) ). On the first of April, you can say whatever you want and then add "Poisson d'Avril" which means that you are joking and you got them pranked ! To conclude on this question, most of time April Fool's day is a funny day.

Then we learned about the picking of flowers that happens in the spring, and the gifting of those flowers to the French President.

2. The first of May, we used to offer thrush flower. These flowers are called "Muguet" in France. This day is called the work's day ( = "le jour du travail" in french).
Well, those flowers are growing in Nantes so most of the people are buying trush flowers in a supermarket. Some people are offering it to the President because he is the one that controls the France and make people work. 
I found an internet site to learn the history of the muguet, here the link is : http://m.programme-tv.net/news/buzz/84746-1er-mai-pourquoi-offre-t-on-du-muguet/  . You can use google trad to translate it, I think it will be fine ;).

Other than the new things we learned about France we THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book.   The main character was an engaging young lass named Josine who caused so much trouble and yet helped resolve it as well.    We had frequent laughs and were disappointed when the story ended. 

I like reading older books with my lad, you never know what you might learn.  :) 
Do you have any you would recommend? 
If so, can you tell me why?  

I cannot tell you how much the lad and I have been enjoying this book called "Cleared for Takeoff, the Ultimate book of Flight".

We've giggled, gasped, been awed, been shocked and a whole host of other emotions.   Oh but it's a delightful, thorough treatise on flight.  Call signs, hand signals, obscure airlines, interesting birds, the history, the joys, the sorrows and so much more are contained within the 320 pages of this book.

This video below bespeaks some of the things we learned in this book, but definitely not all that we learned.  

Neither one of us has read this "Cleared for TakeOff" all the way through, we've picked our way through some of the pages that have peaked out interest.

Being amazed at the size of the Hindebergh Zeppelin.

His Joy in finding the Canadian aircraft symbol.

The text is well written with scores of full colour pictures, most look like painting, a few from real life.   It was just a pleasure to go through.

Occasionally experiments are provided to assist in the understanding of a concept, from making pop rockets to hovercrafts, enough experiments to intrigue most children.  As a parent/teacher one of the things I appreciated about the experiments was the teaching component came first with the experiment coming second.   All the experiments I found were distinguishable in being all in black and white.  All use easy to find materials.

As I mentioned earlier, this book was filled with full colour pictures to delight and inform.  I was delighted that it held global appeal, interesting tidbits from around the world are found within it's pages.

Did you know that a Canadian Pilot once landed a 767 airplane successfully that had run out of fuel and therefore all it's systems were shutting down.   None of travellers lost their lives, a only a few injured when they disembarked the aircraft?   Simply amazing.    We also learned why different countries use modified Phonetic Alphabets (for instance Saudi Arabia uses Washington rather than whiskey because of the alcohol connection).

I have been ever so pleased to have had a chance to review this book.  It's a marvellous resource for anyone interested in the world of flight.   The only thing I found lacking was an index at the close of the book, to quickly find facts.

If it is something you are planning to do a unit study on, or a create a lapbook from, snatch it up.   You really won't regret it. :)

Have you wanted to help your children understand who Ghandi was?
A man who strove to make a change in his homeland, but to do so by peaceful means.
It was a hard road he walked.
His life is explained through pictures, word and activity in this book by Ellen Mahoney, called Gandhi for Kids.

I have to tell you that this book is just lovely to hold and read.   It was a pleasure...it's hard to explain sometimes how sometimes a book appeals just because of how it lies in the hand.

BUT that is not the only reason this book appeals, so let me take a moment to tell you what a treasure trove it is.

134 pages, divided into 8 chapters, with 21 activities.   Each chapter is broken into easily read sections.

I had a thorough appreciation for the fact that activities provided were not all the same, there were write a poem, make a speech, make a craft and more. 

As I read and looked through this book I kept thinking it would be a great book to use at co-op or just to teach your students about Gandhi.   I could easily see not using the whole book (like just doing the section on working through peaceful means, or learning about the salt-walk) or even taking a semester to learn all you can about this important figure in Indian History.

Black and white pictures scattered throughout, pink boxes with additional information, and easy to read text.    There was so much information in contained within the pages, I learned so much, so will your students.  :)

This book will be an excellent resource for your studies on India, peaceful protestors, important figures in history and so forth.  It was an interesting book to go through and will remain a part of my library.

You can find it at amazon, here's a helpful link:

More vacation reads!   These ones are all review books through from Raincoast, books that I am previewing for my lad before he digs happily into them. 

Let Your Voice Be Heard.   Do you know who Pete Seeger is?  You know, neither did I, BUT I know his music oddly enough.  As I read this book and it trailed it's way through his early years, through the rest of his life, it was surprising to me, how many songs I knew that he wrote or popularized.   

Mr. Seeger said  "I started to paint because I failed to get a job as a journalist.  I started singing and playing more because I failed as a painter."

From musical parents he became a musician.  But he was more than that.  The cares and concerns of the poor working class, the plight of the underdog, these are things that stirred his heart and caused him to write more songs.

It landed him in a lot of hot water during the anti-communism days but he was able to work his way through that difficulty until he was noticed by just the right people and became very popular.

It's a bigger than average book, filled with pictures, and easy reading text.   For young people interested in learning more about the music and troubles of this time period, this book is filled with information.   It would help round out a study of folk music and how musicians can let their art show their heart.

Captain.   My son was intrigued by this book but wanted me to read it first.  His first question when I finished it was "Mom, is it a good book for me to read?".   I told him it was a good book, but it wasn't an easy book to read.  That things happen in this book that made me feel sad.  

It's the story of an underage boy heading off to battle in the great war (WW1), fighting hard battles in Turkey.   Seeing death and destruction all around him, and meeting a lad with his donkey and the unlikely friendship that happened between them.  Hard lessons were learned by both boys, and through it all the donkey Captain was part of their lives.  You HAVE to meet the camel though...oh my.. that camel!

The chapters are a good length.
I NEEDED to read the book all the way through.  It was just that kind of book.  
Would I recommend middle schoolers read it?   Yes, but probably along side their parents so they can talk  through the book.  It was be an EXCELLENT book to read as part of learning about WW1 and the conditions the soldiers fought in and the supports they needed in order to battle.

Sunker's Deep.   This is the second book in the series "The Icebreaker Trilogy".   It stands quite well on its own.  It's a fantasy with a mystery built and with a good lead in for the last book of the trilogy. 

This coming of age book leads us through Sharkey needing to be honest with the people he is leading, needing to learn to give up control and to trust his people.   It lead two groups of people together who NEEDED to be together in order to, hopefully in the third book, fulfill their true destiny.   Some of the characters are a we bit odd

The Courage Test.   The book surprised me.   I want my son to read this book and I hope that he will enjoy it.   A story of a boy and his dad traveling the route that Lewis and Clark took.   It was a dangerous journey for those men with many pitfalls along the way, and as Will and his father journey, Will has to navigate a hard journey as well.

It was a touching book about how families make things work and how sometimes the decisions parents make actually have reasoning behind it.   Lots of history in this book, even from sources I didn't expect.   It brought to mind some of the history I've learned of this expedition, putting it all together was kinda fun.  :)

But as a book for middle schoolers?   For sure.   A book even to read along with your child or tie into your own history study of Lewis and Clark.  I liked how the tie made for a good life story.

A Storm Too Soon.   This book is an adaptation of a longer novel called a storm too soon.  This book is meant for younger readers.

As an adult I found it an interesting read with no strong compelling need to read the adult version.

Based on a true story, it was written by Michael J Tougias.  Three men on a cruise when a nasty nasty storm unexpectedly hits.

I found it to be a good read.  Enjoyed the book.  
As I read it in tried to imagine my 11 year reading it.    So as  I talked with my son about the book he sounded quite intrigued by it.   He asked some good questions so I think  it would appeal to him and other children like him.  

At the close of the book they had various people give some closing thoughts, I was left wondering why Ben didn't give his thoughts at the end.   In the centre of the book, their are a lot of good pictures that show the various people involved, and what the size of the storm they were in was like.

Terror at Bottle Creek.  My lad wants to read this book next.  He's quite intrigued by the thought of a boy having to help two girls through a horrible storm, with crazy pigs, lots of snakes and an unexpectedly helpful bear.    Lots of water, strange mounds in the middle of a swamp, living on a house boat, and more.  He's just intrigued, and I have to admit, I actually enjoyed reading this book though I did find all the things that happened felt at times a little bit too much.  Watt Key does an excellent job at character development, not only of 13 year old Cort, but of all the surrounding people in his life.

I could FEEL the pain that his dad had with Cort's mom leaving him, the joy he has in being a swamp guide, to Cort's confusion over his future, the love of the dog and the terror the storm brought to a little girl.

Well written, good book.