One of the teachers I work with read this as a text for surprising story structure and problem/solution exploration. I really loved the message and thOne of the teachers I work with read this as a text for surprising story structure and problem/solution exploration. I really loved the message and the kids' (first grade) reactions.
Mara lives in Sametown where everything is the same, but dares to be different. In the talent show, she wants to dance while everyone else is performing magic tricks. Everyone tries to dissuade her from being in the talent show, and the reason for this isn't clear until the end.
This is an excellent text to model problem/solution for young children, and to get them to think deeper about people in our community, and about how ability can show in a lot of different ways. It's also a fun book to show how the setting can feed into the problem, which was one of the things I talked about with my small group of students when reading this.
This will definitely be a book I want for my collection....more
This one is also cute, all the different noises that the dogs can make. I know classifying between different types of dogs and not mixing up dogs withThis one is also cute, all the different noises that the dogs can make. I know classifying between different types of dogs and not mixing up dogs with other animals is something kids have to learn to do, and I imagine a book like Doggies could definitely help introduce the ideas of diversity in the animal world there....more
I like this one a lot more than many of the country alphabet books I've read. There's a lot more about history, geography, art, and food. It seems a lI like this one a lot more than many of the country alphabet books I've read. There's a lot more about history, geography, art, and food. It seems a lot less superficial than a lot of alphabet books.
France ABCs is a strong introduction or jumping-off point for mainstream French culture. It would work well used in a research setting where students pick a topic to research more about based on interesting facts in this book.
I love the illustrations in this one as well. Beautiful watercolor by Stacey Previn that really pops....more
I think the biggest thing I picked up with this one is hTransportation Disaster Alert! details things that could go wrong with public transportation.
I think the biggest thing I picked up with this one is how many individuals are involved in keeping public transportation safe. It's important for kids to understand the role that individuals play in public transportation and allowing it to run as smoothly as it does. We live in a world that increasingly looks to machines to do these things for us, but Transportation Disaster Alert! reminds us that machines can fail too. It's important that today's generation of kids has books like Transportation Disaster Alert! to remind them that AI can't do everything, and human capital is important, especially when it comes to mechanics and transportation.
I know I would have loved this book when I was the right age for it. Perfect for fans of Percy Jackson and the like, The Jumbies introduces middle-graI know I would have loved this book when I was the right age for it. Perfect for fans of Percy Jackson and the like, The Jumbies introduces middle-grade readers to a world of Caribbean mythology.
I enjoyed the spunky Corinne La Mer and her friends, and the way they came together to face hardships. I especially like that there were significant girl and boy characters, making this an exciting book for readers of every gender. The Jumbies is an adventure fantasy that a lot of kids can get behind.
I will admit The Jumbies is somewhat scary for young readers, and there's a lot of uncertainty. However, readers should approach this knowing that there is no main character death, even if there seems like some close calls.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. They are strong and fight for each other. This is a book that kids 9-13 could easily get lost in, and see the characters as their friends.
Along with everything else, The Jumbies features a lot more family diversity than I see in most children's books. This includes a single father and a community adoption, as well as a traditional family structure. This is something I love seeing in books, and I like it even more here. Tracey Baptiste could have decided that the diverse location was enough diversity, and I'm really glad she didn't and included this familial diversity as a central part of the story. This is one of the first books for the target audience that I've seen that has this, and I really appreciate it.
*I gave this four stars on my regular Goodreads account as an adult reader, but I'm giving it five when reviewing it for the intended audience. The things I didn't like about it were mostly plot devices for an adult reader, and many of these elements would appeal more to the target audience of 9-13 year old readers.
I didn't like this one at all. Most of the pages could be about any place. Also, couldn't be any more whitewashed. I mean, the people are depicted as I didn't like this one at all. Most of the pages could be about any place. Also, couldn't be any more whitewashed. I mean, the people are depicted as black, but very lightly drawn black. There's nothing significant about culture, and only a brief mention of historical figures, but not even what they're known for other than "independence."
The biggest catch, though, is the depiction of all the people who came to Jamaica to coexist in harmony. Um, no. You have literal pictures of slaves being taken and the only words on the page are "and then the Spanish came" ... "and then the English." At least use different pictures if you want to paint a false happy picture. Or better yet, address the issues!
The premise of this one was better than the actual book. Most of the "postcards" only talked about landmarks, but there wasn't much history or even deThe premise of this one was better than the actual book. Most of the "postcards" only talked about landmarks, but there wasn't much history or even descriptions of landmarks.
As an aside, I also noticed that most of the postcards were either from girls to girls or boys to boys, based on the named. I would have liked to see at least a few cross-gender friendships.
This was okay, but nothing to write home about (pun very much intended)....more
I really liked this one. Yasmeen, a young Pakistani-American girl, celebrates Ramadan in the United States. She gets to explain some of the elements tI really liked this one. Yasmeen, a young Pakistani-American girl, celebrates Ramadan in the United States. She gets to explain some of the elements to her class at school (and I will stress she chooses to explain things when her teacher introduces the holiday to the class, and is not forced into the spotlight as the sole Muslim student - representation is so important, and I'm so glad it was done well here) and celebrate in various ways with her family.
At every stage, she notices the moon. Ramadan (and all other months on the Islamic calendar) begins at the first sighting of the new moon, and ends at the first sighting of the new moon for the next month. (For some reason, I'd always thought it had more to do with the full moon.) I enjoyed Yasmeen's interest in the moon in this one, as it is a (seemingly) central part of Ramadan. For her part, Yasmeen is fascinated by the moon and its changes throughout the month.
This one teaches about a lot of the traditions in which kids can participate in a relatable and exciting way. I enjoyed the part where Yasmeen and her brother Bilal bake cupcakes to go along with the food their parents bring to share at the mosque. It shows kids authentically learning about and participating in these traditions. I also enjoyed learning about Night of the Moon, the night before Eid. An author's note says that Muslims of many nationalities come together to celebrate on this night. I love the way this is depicted in the story as a big celebration with various objects for sale. It's a good way to remind readers that there is not just one way to be Muslim or to celebrate Ramadan.
Julie Paschkis's illustrations are gorgeous. Apart from illustrations depicting the words, she also uses a motif of tapestry-like outer illustrations that reference scenes depicted in the Quran and ancient wisdom.
An Egg Is Quiet describes eggs with different adjectives, and then provides a few pages with beautifully drawn examples depicting the biodiversity of An Egg Is Quiet describes eggs with different adjectives, and then provides a few pages with beautifully drawn examples depicting the biodiversity of eggs. Color, shape, texture, camouflage, size, and patterns are explored in this way.
Sylvia Long's illustrations are a large part of what makes An Egg Is Quiet special. They are bright, colorful, and realistically used to depict biodiversity. Each egg is labeled so readers can make connections between eggs of different species.
An Egg Is Quiet is an example of a nonfiction book that breaks traditional nonfiction styles in a way that makes kids want to read. I love the poetic style accompanied with these beautiful and realistic illustrations of eggs found in various places around the world.
I do wish there was more in the way of back matter, especially in terms of some of the research done for this book, or expansion on facts. The back page consists of pictures of many (but not all) of the adult animals mentioned and labeled as eggs in the book. I wish there were a bit more of those connections within the pages as well, instead of just in the back.
I enjoyed this one a lot more than the Thanksgiving Gilbert one.
Gilbert and his sister Lola are excited that their cousin Wally is coming for Easter. I enjoyed this one a lot more than the Thanksgiving Gilbert one.
Gilbert and his sister Lola are excited that their cousin Wally is coming for Easter. But when he arrives, Gilbert and Lola are annoyed at how competitive Wally is. When they go to the town's egg hunt, Wally, who originally says egg hunts are for babies, runs ahead to find all the eggs.
Wally is seen as a bully in this one, and Gilbert as the upstanding and more responsible one. I like this in contrast to some of the other books (or at least what I've come to expect from the titles and synopsis on most of them) because it shows a main character as a good person. I especially like the scenes where Gilbert is being a good big brother to Lola. I love seeing realistic and good sibling relationships in children's literature (I find a lot of them are pretty cringe, so seeing the well portrayed ones always makes me happy). I guess if readers are following the Gilbert books chronologically through his year, as the books are set up to do, you might see Gilbert learning from his actions and becoming a better person - er, opossum - as the year progresses and he learns from his mistakes. I certainly like his character more in this one than in the Thanksgiving one.
One thing I liked about this one is that Easter itself is never actually mentioned. While the egg hunt and the images definitely depict this aspect of the holiday, Last One in Is a Rotten Egg! would definitely make more sense in a secular or multicultural classroom than some of the other children's books available for Easter. Not everyone celebrates Easter, but anyone can participate in an egg hunt.