This book is a work of art. It is pure poetic beauty. It is outstanding.
You receive amazing illustrations by Billy Renkl such as the imagery of our lungs being upside trees, with the comparison of the branches of trees to the capillaries in our lungs. As Diana Farid tells us,
“When you breath–whoosh–
breath fills
the upside-down tree
inside your rising chest.”
This book delivers a beautiful blend of poetry, science and art. Conveying the feeling that you, are connected, a part of, of the larger natural world. You breath in the sky and stardust and atoms of the universe! Every page has stunning imagery worthy of frame and display in home or institution. The marriage of wording and illustrations is perfectly lovely in this poetry book.
This is a poetry book about poetry. Our main character takes us on her journey of creating, or writing, her poem. Using poetic inspiration, we follow her as her words spill out, scatter, and even grow, until it reaches fruition as a POETREE.
This books is a creative, fun, active and full of rhyming words and puns to be deciphered by the reader. There is a great section in the back which asked the reader to identify rhyming and mixed up words. Also, additional websites such as www.poets.orge/national-potetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day and more.
The illustrations add to the magic of the book. Our young poet is a person of color who takes us through the city, an urban playground, and a lush garden. The magic of imagination and language combine with the lovely pictures to create a book that feels good and stimulates our brains. Recommended! Especially for teachers or parents who participate in National Poetry Month in April.
The world needs more books about Shirley Chisholm. This Ready to Ready book gives a solid background of the activist from her childhood in Barbados to her first run for Congress and her first run for President. The details and explanations were easy to follow and presented in a relatable way for even kids below a Level 3 who may have the book read to them. It contains all the important parts of Shirley’s life and quotes she is famous for.
The illustrations by Kaitlyn Shea O’Connor are great, colorful and eye-catching.
My one complaint is that the text is very close together and there are alot of words on one page. This is difficult for our leveled readers who might pick up the book.
I recommend this book if you don’t have any other biographies about Shirley Chisholm. It definitely has great information. It is not one that will fly off the shelf and the text spacing will make it harder to read for the younger kids.
The old adage, “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” may be true, but I was entranced by the intricacy of the cover, and it was a bit metaphorical for this story of a complicated, dysfunctional family. Three sisters, Eileen, Claire, and Murphy live in a small town in rural Oregon with their perpetually stressed-out mom, and have only the dimmest memories of their father who died before Murphy was born. Their mom works long hours to provide for the family and pay down a huge medical debt incurred with their dad’s illness, and she becomes more and more emotionally distant from the girls as they grow older. Each sister is facing a tough sequence of events, but none knows what the other sisters are actually going through. The tight, protective sisterly bond they used to share in years past has been completely shattered by the flawed way the sisters handle their individual challenges.
Eileen, the oldest, stumbles on a dark family secret and deals with the news by keeping it a secret, and drinking (a lot). She’s always been a talented artist, but her soul is being sucked dry by her inability to process this secret and her creativity withers away. Claire, meanwhile, has lofty plans of attending an Ivy League college and escaping the confines of her homophobic town. She follows a social media personality that espouses the concept of “excellers” and “settlers.” Claire considers herself an exceller, and effectively shuts herself off from her family, whom she thinks are all settlers: they settle for less, while she rises above. Murphy is a magician-in-training who loves attention, but feels abandoned by her family. To top it all off, she forgets to care for her pet turtle and it dies right before Christmas, which just amplifies her sadness. She has a theory that she is just the spare tire of the family…forgotten, unseen, and unheard.
None of the girls is expecting a warm or cheerful winter holiday, but what they really don’t expect is the cryptic news Eileen gets from a local law firm that they had an uncle (their dead father’s brother) in a seaside town in Oregon. Not only that, he very recently died and bequeathed his estate to the girls, each sister to receive a third of the estate upon their 18th birthday. What follows is a stormy trip, weatherwise and relationship-wise. The house turns out to be a mansion, and a bit spooky at that, but the tale never really gets to a nail-biting pitch.
Ormsbee writes in a 3rd person omniscient point of view, with chapters dedicated to each sisters’ thoughts and experiences, interspersed with chapters detailing the past, and it can be a bit tiring bopping back and forth between them all. However, readers can also glean from each chapter why each sister feels and acts the way she does, and it gives an opportunity for more understanding and empathy. Even though the somewhat ominous cover alluded to the story as being a thriller or gothic horror piece, it is neither. Rather, the mystery in this sister-tale is more about assumptions, relationships, and family secrets. It would appeal to those who enjoy reading about complicated family dynamics, with a nice twist or two in the telling. The reader who is anticipating a dark and suspenseful murder mystery might be aggravated by the slow pace and micro-detail of every interaction. We should be grateful that Ormsbee had this unknown uncle lurking in the background because without his posthumous nudging, these sisters (and their mom) would have apparently gone down their own destructive paths and flamed out, which would have made for a depressing read. As it is, the themes of redemption and resolution may be what redeem this story as a whole.
This is a story about a community of “Doomsday Preppers.” The narrator, Becca, is a third generation community member, she’s been born into the world of safety at all costs. Now, as a soon-to-be-graduate, Becca desperately wants to leave behind the craze she’s grown up in. Fortunately she finds an ally in Roy, the boy that her parents have pre-arranged her marriage to, both are keeping the same secret: they do not believe in Doomsday. The only thing really holding Becca back is her younger sister; she knows that her absence within the community will put her sister in a dangerous position. Becca and Roy work together to devise a plan to help Becca’s sister and escape from the community.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed and the storyline is unique. As readers we root for Becca and Roy and wonder what the future holds for the two of them. You could hand this book to almost any student and there will be something for them to relate to.
Students see TEDTalks much like they view a teacher – sharing information to teach. But TEDTalks are the public speaking events of today that can reach massively more ears and eyes. Anderson and Oberweger smartly build this guide to public speaking by analyzing what goes into a great TEDTalk — starting with the premise that there is no one way to give a great talk. The best talks are “fresh” and innovative rather than stale. Instead one must “breathe, play, and practice, practice, practice”.
First there’s the foundation – what is the throughline, the connecting theme that ties the ideas together? This touchstone needs to be what holds the speech together, even if a diverse number of ideas are presented. One also needs to consider the audience – who is that one person that needs to acknowledged, accepted, invited via the speech — and consider the topic — is it a topic that you can handle well and your audience can digest.
Second there are tools – think of structures here – what is the journey, the story, or the truth to be told. Compare this to the foundation. More than likely they are naturally interconnected. If not, why not. And will that still work? It might.
Third, it’s time to prepare — whether scripted or unscripted, one needs to practice. Period. Lots of reasons why are discussed – from technology glitches to physical itches. Practice, practice, practice.
This is a nice, relevant addition to any school or public library.
I have experienced more than ten United States National Parks, but I never thought of putting Yosemite on my bucket list until now.
There are waterfalls and then there are giant waterfalls. There are big trees and then there are ancient, giant trees. There are rainbows and then there are ‘moonbows”. Rock climbing, hiking, camping, and a chance to see glaciers and animals in the wild are all waiting for visitors at Yosemite National Park.
John Wallace’s illustrations of Yosemite communicate more to very early readers than actual photograph could in this 9.5″ X 6.25″ book meant for smaller hands.
With the Seattle Kraken NHL team getting ready to hit the ice, Hockey in the Wild by Nicholas Oldland, is perfect for the young readers of the Pacific Northwest.
Waiting is always hard. Anticipation and eagerness to get started with ice hockey is all represented in this hilarious tale of waiting for the ice on the lake to freeze thick enough to hold bear’s, moose’s, and beaver’s weight.
Sparky & Spike: CHARLES SCHULZ and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever is just the right amount of biography for young beginning readers, not too much, just enough.
From his early school days, Charles, AKA Sparky, wanted to be a cartoonist. His teachers and fellow students all enjoyed his drawings. Every Saturday at 9 PM it never failed, Spike would remind Sparky’s father to go down to the store and pick up the Sunday comics. Then they would read them together.
Sparky would eventually send a drawing of Spike to the comic- Ripley’s Believe It or Not, with the caption, “A HUNTING DOG THAT EATS PINS, TACKS, SCREWS, AND RAZOR BLADES IS OWNED BY C. F. SCHULZ, ST. Paul, Minn.” After waiting for two long grueling months, Sparky saw his drawing printed in the Sunday paper.
And the rest is history, Charles Schulz would eventually become the multiple award winning cartoonist of the comic – Peanuts.
What is, also, rewarding to see is a photo of the letter Charles M. Schulz sent to Daniel Andreasen on July 7, 1975, giving advice to a young want to be illustrator. That young boy, in fact, grew up to be an illustrator, the illustrator of this very book.
Highland ponies are the short (13-14.5 hands tall), strong, sturdy, smart, docile horses native to Scotland. They are well adapted to the Highlands of Scotland’s harsh climate and rugged terrain. Highland ponies are shown in various activities such as pleasure riding, jumping, and show horses in the ten full page photos throughout the book, on the right page.
The large font text, in two or three sentences per page, is opposite the photo page, on the left side. The glossary words are highlighted in gray throughout the book, as they are used. The little horseshoes in the top left corner of each page of text is a nice touch.
The Abdo Kids Code comes in both a QR code and on a website (abdokids.com code HHK5649). All of the links worked on the website revealing the book’s text, a craft, a video, a word search, and many, many photos of show horses.
