Did you know that pretty soon I'll be heading off for a vacation?  Yes!   It's that time of year again and I'm looking forward to getting away.  :)   We are heading up to Grundy Lake which the boys really love going to.   Fishing, kayaking, swimming, trails to walk and more. 

BUT.... it's a four and a half hour drive!   I'll have two boys to keep busy, and I am sure that when YOU go on vacation you will have children that need something to do as well. We can play the alphabet game, the cow game and how many _____ can you find type of games.   BUT it's good to have quieter things they can do as well.  Enter therein a couple of vacation help books.

I don't know if you are going to take a trip to Toronto, but if you do and you want your children to know something about Ontario's Capital, this book Totally Toronto will definitely get the ball rolling.  It is filled with all sorts of activities to engage your children, Dot to dot, fill in the blank, word find, decoding secret messages and more.

It's a nice sized book (8.5 by 11) with all images well away from the edges of the page, making it ideal to work on wherever you are.  62 pages of fun for your children.  I would say its geared to 6-10 year olds.

Now here's a book for the monster lovers among you... or the wanna be monster lovers.  :)   Tattoo Time: Monster Activities.

It starts off with tattoo, 2 pages each of two sets of designs.  None of them are scary monsters, they actually look pretty friendly.  :)

This is followed by 32 pages of monster activities.   From colouring to drawing pictures to seek and find and more.    A fun little book about 9 x 5 inches.   Easy to take along as it lies flat with pages that would come out easily if needed.   This book is good for younger children.

So what kind of books have you found to help your children while away the hours on the road?    Do you let them get lost in their tablets or delve into the lives of people in their reading books, or do you also provide activity books?  

Take one French student who likes to read, show him a variety of books of different reading levels, have him pick one and then review it for you.   Our student chose "Trouble Next Door" as his first book to read.

This the fourth book in the Carver Chronicles Series by Karen English.     It is illustrated by Laura Freeman. 

Book Synopsis:

In the fourth book in the Carver Chronicles series, third grader Calvin is dealing with his next door neighbors moving away-and the school bully moving in. Meanwhile, competition at the school science fair is heating up, and Calvin must decide what to do when his data doesn't prove his theory.

My 16 year old French Students review:
"I started out liking this book, and then it got boring for a while.   All the boy was doing was hiding, hiding, hiding. Then the story started to get interesting again and I thought, oh good, it is not going to end the way I think.  The book ended with everyone so happy with each other.  For me, this book, it helped me learn new words so that was good, but I don't like the happy ending.  Not everything is so happy."

My Thoughts:
First off you need to know that I didn't read the whole book through, I skimmed it.
I liked the illustrations by Laura Freedman, they helped to tell the story.
This was a great beginner book to give my student confidence in reading regular stories in English, not too hard, and not too easy.  He was able to understand most of the book and what he could not was great vocabulary for him.

As I read the book I noticed that Calvin learned some important lessons about himself, about others, about what to do when an hypothesis doesn't turn out as expected and about competition.   I am planning on giving this book to my son to read, I suspect he would like it, since there is science, friendship and an interesting story about Harper and his mother.

You know how when you raise children they have minds of their own?

And sometimes the child's mind and the mothers mind collide?

That was the case lately with my son and I over a review book from Raincoast Books.   It's called "Revenge of the Green Banana".

My son started reading this book, got about 1/3 of the way through and brought it to me saying "Mom, it's too catholic and the people are really mean in it!".   I didn't understand what he meant so did a quick skim and read of the end of the book.  I found it humourous in the ending... and the part that I skimmed showed how the plot developed and how the protaganist learned an important lesson.  I thought, this book is okay, and therefore encouraged my son to give it another chance.

He did read it through, though frequently said "MOM!   This book is Not funny, the people are really mean and the boy is spending all his money!!!"    I have to admit, that my lad's strong sense of justice prevented him from finding anything to enjoy in this book.

Whereas my "mother" instinct said "Good book, the lad in the book learns an important lesson, and realizes that sometimes people in authority have reasons for the things they do, good teaching moment."

So it's hard for me to tell you what our end result of reviewing this book is, because it's so very mixed.   :)

I would say that it depends ALOT on your children.    Do they have a strong sense of justice and fair play?   If so... so NOT the book to encourage your child to read.  They will simply be annoyed and angry at how things turned out.

BUT if they can see beyond the underlying story and see how a group of children banded together, and how the protagonist figured out that he should have done things differently, and how it was funny how he "saved the day" in the end... then... it will be a good book for them to read.  :)  

You know your children best... perhaps better than I know mine in retrospect.  I should have heeded his comments better BUT then I would have missed out on a great discussion with him about how people can view the same book quite differently, about how age differences can influence how one sees a book, as well as how God made us to be as people influences what we see/hear/view in a book.   It's good to have those discussions and I hope is the start of many other discussions about books where we will disagree about different aspects of them.

Is good is it not?

The Revenge of the Green Banana
Written by Jim Murphy
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5.5 x 8.25 · 224 pages
Ages 10-12 years

Today I have another Claudia Mills book for you.   You may recall that I did a review for Simon Ellis, this is one of his classmates.  We met him as the farm boy on Simon's Spelling Team that made sure the team knew how to spell the word trough.  Cody is a boy who likes animals so it makes sense that a book about him would be called Cody Harmon, King of Pets.

My Son's Review

"It was an enjoyable book".

"It had a good story line to it.   They had a pet show.  Not everyone had their own pet so one person loaned their pets out.   Cody had to make a hard decision to not let a friend borrow his most favourite pet and letting him have another pet and seeing that friend not treat the rooster very nicely.  They were able to stay friends".  

"The reason he didn't let his friend borrow his dog was the friend threw a stone at a squirrel"

"I think other children should read this book".

First up: by Betsy Harvey Kraft.

I found this an interesting book to read, filled with great illustrations, about daring and persistence and faith in his design.    George Ferris tried time and again to get funding for his invention, and finally got it.   His observation wheel went up in Chicago for the World's Fair.    So many skeptics until acceptance came.

I can just imagine the wonder, the excitement and the fear that such a large invention would have rendered.   The first of it's kind.

People have copied his design since that day.   It's exciting to see all the different ones that have gone up throughout the world.   It's unfortunate how Ferris' wheel ended up but his invention lives on in Ferris wheels everywhere. 

Illustrator Seven Salerno did the Ferris wheel justice in his rendition of it.

This is a wordy picture book, so not one to hold up to read for story hour, but it's an excellent book to set with if you want to start a study on Ferris Wheels as it gives a good grounding into the determination needed by George Ferris to get it erected and used by the public.  A book study could easily be written for it as well and I'm contemplating doing that as it's a solidly good book.

Published by Henry Holt and Co. it is 9.45 x 11.24 · 42 pages and geared for ages 5-9 years.

Next, let me introduce you to a book ALL about Coyotes.   Coyote Moon by Maria Gianferrari.

Coyote Moon is book that to my 51 year old eyes need to be read in a well light room.  The books' colouration FITS really well in the life of a Coyote and when they are most active.   In this book we go with coyote mom as she heads out to find lunch for her brood of youngsters. 

Can she get a rabbit or a goose or ?????

I have to admit I was disappointed at what the coyote ended up catching.   As I read the book I was fascinated learning about the coyote, the lyrical sentences drew me in and caused me to want to know more about them, and then to basically have the coyote be called a chicken thief at  the end. 

I grew up on a farm.   And coyotes don't exactly have a good rap growing up, and I guess I just expected more from this book.   It's good to have that realism and I appreciated the end note by the author pointing out how very adaptable coyotes are to living in all sorts of environments.   Coyotes will make do wherever they find themselves.

I just wanted more.

It's a wonderfully illustrated book, the coyotes are portrayed realistically.   I don't want to leave you with the impression that I disliked this book because I liked it.   I just hoped for a different prey to be caught at the end.  Momma coyote took care of her family and this is what the book was about, could she find prey, could she use all her skills, knowing that she'd miss at least once, maybe twice until finally she achieved her goal.. food for herself and her younglings.

Good job momma coyote, excellent job in illustrating by Bagram Ibatoulline, pleasant and informative lyrical verse by Maria Gianferrari.  This book would be an excellent introduction to the study of Coyotes as it shows them in fine detail and in their environment, living their lives.

Published by Roaring Brook Press, it is 10.89 x 10.24  and runs 32 pages, geared for children ages 4-8 years.

These books were generously sent to me by Raincoast Books.

 Simon Ellis and his best friend Jackson are in trouble, a distance is growing between them... could this be the end of their friendship?   What can Simon do?   Will third grade be a horrible time for Simon?

My son and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through Simon Ellis: Spelling Bee Champ.   My son thought the game the boys made up when they were younger sounded fun and then when mom got stopped by the police over it.. he just HOOTED!   I can totally imagine other children enjoying this book as well.

A good story, I have to admit, I found it interesting how they ran the spelling bee as a team.  It was a new idea to me, and I could see how it would cause tension in children.   Especially if a good speller was linked with some not so good spellers.   

Simon learned that competition with a team was an interesting challenge that required some give and take, and his friend learned that smart kids make mistakes too, sometimes even on purpose!

Could my son have read this book by himself?   Sure... but it was fun to read it together and during the spelling test I would stop and give him two different ways of spelling a word and then ask... so which do you think is right?   Sometimes he was right, and sometimes well... let's just say we haven't done a lot of spelling work.  :)

I NEED to introduce you to this delightful children's book.

It even gets a thumbs up from my mail carrier!   :)

Allow me to introduce you to:

Author Hannah Hall, together with illustrator Bill Bolton have created a lovely children book called Would a Worm Go On a Walk?  

Lovely illustrations.
Funny commentary.  But don't take my word for it, let me show you.

Natalie and I laughed as I quickly read the book to her on her route, she told me her grandkids would be delighted with it.

I read it with my ten year old.. and even he thought it was a great book!

It's a cute book that's easy to read, with one or two sentences per page, which is great for early readers.  The illustrations are brightly coloured, with events and activities that children would be very familiar with. 

Every section ends with a NO! with an explanation about why all the silly questions asked wouldn't work.  It's repetitive in nature which adds to it's charm.  Makes it funner for the youngsters reading along with the story.... helping them to read along.  :)

The end of the book shows the point of it all.. how all of us are so incredibly different from each other, and it doesn't change one pivotal fact.. we were ALL created on purpose by a wise creator God.    But the animals weren't the crown of his creation... the crown was us.. His people.   He made us each according to his purpose too.

It's a lovely sweet book just filled with great pictures to talk about and look at with your children.  The inspirational message at the close of the book just makes it all the better for faith-loving families.

This book was provided to me by FlyBy Promotions.  It is a Worthy Kids book by Ideals   It is 32 pages long.   I received a hardcover book.  It's font is easy to read by both young and old.  Check below for a chance to win a copy of your own.

Contest Rules:
Open to USA and Canada.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Did you know that it is shark week?   Yeah, I know, go figure that eh?   On my, resurrected old blog I recently posted about a book called "Shark Week".  Fascinating book, and I was thinking about how sharks also live in Coral Reefs, not just in volcanoes, or in the Arctic.    So I wanted to tell you about this neat little book called Coral Reefs, written by Jason Chin ...and I think that he is also the illustrator. 

I have to admit, when I started reading the book I thought it would be about a girl exploring the coral reef since she is pictured on every gorgeously illustrated page, and I was confused that it wasn't.   As I continued to examine the illustrations closely I realized that the girl in the images was holding a copy of the book Coral Reef itself.

Jason Chin has written a fact-filled, carefully illustrated book about the Coral Reef, based on his experiences visiting the barrier reef in Belize.

Check out the detail from the very first page.  See how the girl is reaching for the coral reef book?   (yes, I know, sometimes I'm slow on these details).  :)

The book proceeds telling us how corals grow.  

The coral just keeps growing and growing, ever expanding upon itself, providing food and shelter for 1,000's of marine life.   Can you imagine that Belize Barrier Reef is over 180 miles long, and the Great Barrier Reef system is over 1,400 mi long.

A whole web of life is connected to the coral reefs.

It's all a giant food chain that can be found in all the parts of the coral reef and the areas surrounding it like lagoon and the ocean beyond.

I appreciated that the author took time to talk about individual animals and how one might be able to hide from this animal by going to this part the reef, but while doing so needs to keep an eye out not to be trapped by another animal.  Showing how the grouper is helped by the gobies, and the gobies are helped by the grouper.

As the book progressed we learned how the coral reef is like a city with all the different parts interacting with each other, sometimes in good ways and sometimes in not so good ways, but always somehow interacting.

At the close of the book, we learned about some of the dangers coral reefs are facing and learned some additional facts about coral reefs.

Did you know that the coral reefs in Indonesia are the most diverse?  There was lots of good information provided for me in this book, even pictures with sharks in them (YEAH for shark week).   But it always amazes the diversity one can find in the coral reefs, from the coral itself which grows in many different ways, to the plants and animals that dwell in and around them.

Coral Reefs was provided to me by Raincoast Books.
It is 40 pages long, about 9 x 12 inches, a softcover picture book aimed at children 5-9 years old, but would serve well as an introduction to coral reefs for any age.

Jason Chin is the author and artist of the award-winning book Redwoods , which Kirkus Reviews called, An inventive eye-opening adventure." His work also includes illustrations for Simon Winchester's The Day the World Exploded . He and his wife Deirdre, also an artist, live in Vermont. 

If you are interested in learning about Coral Reefs, do yourself a favour and check out

Want to see a NEAT book on the human body?  You must check out this book from Silver Dolphin Books.  It's called 3D Explorer: Human Body, discover the fascinating secrets of the human body.

It's a hands-on, check out the human body book!   5 different pop-ups of different aspects of the human body WITH a key to understanding them!   Full colour illustrations. Images to help define harder to understand terms.. like the drawings showing the different types of joints we have.  Complex 3D images, Easy to read. 

My lad is always interested in learning things about the world around him, and that includes how we work.  He will frequently come to me with new stuff that he has learned and that has amazed him.   Take for instance this one on how the immune system works.

Or about a month ago, I was browsing in one of the thrift stores and we came across a technical book.. I think for doctors to learn all the parts of the body... EVERYTHING was broken down so we could look up how the ear works and we could see the tendons that are not working right in my feet and legs.  It helped both of us gain a better understanding of what is going in our bodies.

NOW.... This book doesn't have that technical detail (neither should it) but it has a ton of interesting facts to amaze and delight, not only your children, but you as mom and dad as well.   My son's response to the 3-D images was "oh wow, look at this mom!"

For those to whom it matters it does contain some evolutionary stuff in, but not much and could be easily bypassed (or used as a talking point).  

The book starts off with "What is a Human" and proceeds from their to different aspects of the body, pulling up 3D images of Bones and Muscles, The brain, the eye, respiration and digestion.   It closes off with a page on the human life cycle and what it takes to grow well (ie. a balanced diet).

Each 3D image is presented with a section inbetween them, thereby adding strength to the pages.   They come with a Key to help you know what you are looking at.

I appreciated the full colour illustrations, as well as how they used colour to delineate different areas of the book. 

As I read through this book I could see myself using it to teach a co-op class.   The text was informative which makes the job a whole lot easier, having the 3D models makes it so handy to view and understand.  My lad enjoyed going through the book, I have to admit, he focused on the 3D pages more than the rest (less reading you know) but he overall liked the book.    "It gives good details mom" and "I like how the pop-ups show more than one layer mom".

Raincoast Books generously provided with 3D Explorer, Human Body to review, I found it VERY interesting, and if purchasing it would find it good value for the money.   It is suitable for ages 7 and up, but the technical language may need to be read as it does talk about endrocrine, pariental etc.  Using the correct terminology it's a book I will pull out again next year with my lad as we cover some specific aspect of how the human body works.

Could this book have been more timely or what?
My lad.. interested in outer space.
And what does Raincoast send me?   A great great book on How to be a Space Explorer!   Just so timely and perfect!

This book has everything young explorers need to know about travelling in space.  Real-life photos graphs, experiments to try out at home, interviews with real astronauts, what life is like in zero gravity, finding your way around the solar system and...how to pee in a spacesuit.  :)   

Great illustrations and wonderful pictures guide your child on their journey on How to be Space Explorer.  Lonely Planet, cooperating with author and astrobiologist Mark Brake, have combined to produce an outstanding (and helpul) book on Space Exploration.  Geared for 8+.

As you can see from the table of contents the book contains a well of information.  One of the things I appreciate is the different forms this information takes.

From quirky astronaut drawings that draw your attention to important details (for instance that 1/3 of all astronauts get space sick)  To the full colour illustrations scattered through out the book.

This book is a resource you can use for quite a long time (or perhaps want to give a home on your shelf).  Learning about mission, astronauts, needed supplies, equipment, the planets and their moons and so much more.

I have to admit, I liked this book.

• Well written.  The knowledge is presented as if they were talking to a person, for instance, "So how do we solve your fuel shortage problems for deep-space travel?"   It's all YOU the astronaut and what YOU will need and issues that YOU need to figure out.  This makes it a child-friendly book. 
• Full-colour illustrations, and real-life photography where appropriate.

How to be a Space Explorer is written by Mark Brake and is published by Lonely Planet Kids.  It is a hardcover book 160 pages long, making it good value.   I was sent a copy by Raincoast Books for my honest review.