Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts

'A-Train Allen' Book Review - Multicultural Children's Book Day

  I think this is my fourth year reviewing books for Multicultural Children's Book Day ! If you need ideas for multicultural children...

 


I think this is my fourth year reviewing books for Multicultural Children's Book Day! If you need ideas for multicultural children's books to add to your home or school library, MCBD is a great resource. They also have free classroom kits and other resources for bringing diversity into story time. Anyway, this year I was gifted a copy of "A-Train Allen" by Lesley Younge to review. This book was a grand prize winner of the Own Voices, Own Stories Award from the Cherry Lake Publishing Group. The Own Voices, Own Stories Award is offered every year to a new author from historically marginalized groups. This award helps get diverse books in bookstores and on bookshelves!

So first, let me say CONGRATULATIONS!! to Lesley Younge for winning the award and getting her book published. And now, I can tell you a bit about the book! 

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'Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival' Mini Unit - Day 2

We continued our mini unit study of Mid-Autumn Festival by reading pages 8-12 in " Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival " by Eugenia Ch...

We continued our mini unit study of Mid-Autumn Festival by reading pages 8-12 in "Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival" by Eugenia Chu and Y.Y. Chan. This section is all about preparing for the festival!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival' Mini Unit Day 1

  Author Eugenia Chu is at it again and this time she's teamed up with Y.Y. Chan and illustrator Eliza Hsu Chen to bring us an amazing r...

 


Author Eugenia Chu is at it again and this time she's teamed up with Y.Y. Chan and illustrator Eliza Hsu Chen to bring us an amazing reference book for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Just like "Celebrating Chinese New Year," this is an all-inclusive guide to the holiday including information about its history, legends, traditions, as well as instructions on how to make your own mooncakes and decorations. 

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Little Bun: A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings' Book Review - Multicultural Children's Book Day

  I was very excited to be gifted a copy of "Little Bun: A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings" by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett and Emil...

 


I was very excited to be gifted a copy of "Little Bun: A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings" by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett and Emily Blodgett to review for Multicultural Children's Book Day. Amanda is the founder of Miss Panda Chinese and is also the Chinese Language consultant on the Netflix show, Word Party. 

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Stressy Jessy' Book Review

  I LOVE children's books that support mental and emotional health. I feel it's a topic that was completely overlooked when I was gr...

 


I LOVE children's books that support mental and emotional health. I feel it's a topic that was completely overlooked when I was growing up and I personally don't have a great handle on stress and anxiety or fully understand what really makes me, me. So when I find books like "Stressy Jessy" by Carmel Shami and Rani Bar-Segev, I get really excited! 

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.


A post for "Stressy Jessy" popped up in my Facebook feed one day and I immediately said, that's a book I need to read and share! As a mom, my brain is constantly filled to the brim and bubbling over with tasks, ideas, worries...you name it! And I am definitely not the best at focusing on the most important things and setting the rest aside. There have also been times Lil C couldn't get to sleep at night because she couldn't stop her brain from thinking. I figured if Lil C and I had trouble quieting our brains, I knew there had to be lots more people out there with the same struggles! So I reached out to author Carmel Shami and she was generous enough to send me a copy of her book to share with you all!

After reading the book, I am certain that "Stressy Jessy" is an amazing resource to add to your bookshelf. Jessy's story is simple, straight-forward, and relatable. He has typical kid stresses - an argument with a friend, a teacher who yells, difficult homework - and when all those thoughts won't stop swimming through his head, he turns to his mom to help him quiet them. Mom's strategy is simple, yet effective: organize your thoughts like you organize the things in your room. Make a list of thoughts and sort them into categories like fears, tasks, problems, dreams, and ideas. Then, you can figure out what to do about them.

One of the things I've learned in trying to cope with my feelings of anxiety and overwhelm is that simply writing down or sharing things can make a BIG difference. It sort of makes it tangible and easier to deal with. Now that it's written down you don't have to stress as much that you'll forget about it. And sometimes, the thought just wanted to be heard and you can say, I heard you, thank you but this is not something that needs my energy. Carmel also suggests writing down happy thoughts and things you are grateful for - this can help you realize that even when bad things seem to be piling up, there's always good in your life as well. 

One thing I wasn't expecting was for "Stressy Jessy" to touch my heart! Carmel uses the Hebrew word balagan which means mess. My mom, who passed away several years ago, used to use that word all the time when she was telling me to clean up my messes! I had completely forgotten about it! Reading that word brought her right back to me. Apparently balagan is not only used in Hebrew, but in various eastern European countries as well. My mom's family was from Ukraine so that makes sense! She used to also tell me I had a Ð·Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ñ‚а верба (zolota verba) growing behind me because I would randomly leave things all over - I knew золота meant golden but I never actually knew what a верба was! According to Google, it's a willow. But now, with the help of Stressy Jessy's strategies, I have more confidence that I can tackle my mental and physical balagan and prune that golden willow! 

I hope this book finds its way to all those, young and old alike, who need a little help settling their thoughts. And don't forget to check out these other awesome books that support mental and emotional health:

'My Dad...the Best Dad Ever' Book Review and Father's Day Drawing Page

  Makeup artist, mom, and author Lauren Vena is back at it with her second book, "My Dad...the Best Dad Ever." This book celebrat...

 


Makeup artist, mom, and author Lauren Vena is back at it with her second book, "My Dad...the Best Dad Ever." This book celebrates the endearing and sometimes weird imperfections of dads that make them so lovable and super to their kids.

Like I said about moms in my review of "My Mom...the Best Mom Ever," the roles and expectations for fathers have also changed through the generations. While the norm years ago was fathers earn the money and mothers raise the children, now I see the roles more blurred a lot of the time. And I think it's awesome! While I haven't met any stay-at-home dads in my little circle yet, we do know tons of families where both parents work and both share the job of raising their children. 

Just like us moms, all those dads out there haven't figured out how to be perfect parents (and they never will!) but on the whole they are much more involved in their kids' day to day lives than generations before. But we all know it doesn't matter exactly what you do or don't do, when you truly love your children they know it and that will make you the best dad ever in their eyes. Here's some proof:

Why is your Dad the best dad ever?

"He makes the best pierogis and makes us multiplayers [servers]." - Lil C, 10

"He plays games with me like Minecraft Dungeons and other video games, Nerf wars, tag, and hide and seek. And he's better at putting maple syrup on pancakes!" - Squidgy, 6

"I think Daddy is really cool. I love Daddy's really stupid funny dad jokes. I like all the cool creative things I do with him. I like when I went to Home Depot and Target with Daddy. I got to listen to Encanto and Hamilton the whole car ride." - Chloe, 12

"I like asking him cool science questions. I also loved going to Sonic 2 with Daddy in NYC. I also like throwing footballs or basketballs with Daddy." - Ben, 6

"He likes to play with us, like board games, wrestling, nerf, and video games." - Logan, 10

"He lets us have dessert and buys us ice cream." - Alice, 6


Activity: Tell your Dad what makes him the best dad ever! Download and print the Best Dad Ever Drawing Page then fill it out and give it to your Dad on Father's Day! And if your child would like their drawing featured on the Cardboard Mom Facebook page, please scan and email their drawing to cardboardmom@gmail.com with their first name/nickname and age.

Chinese New Year Mini Unit Day 3 with 'Celebrating Chinese New Year'

  Today is the last day of Chinese New Year, the day of the Lantern Festival! We've finished reading "Celebrating Chinese New Year...

 


Today is the last day of Chinese New Year, the day of the Lantern Festival! We've finished reading "Celebrating Chinese New Year" by Eugenia Chu and Javiera Mac-lean and used it for inspiration to end this 15 day celebration with a bang!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.



We made paper bag dragon puppets for the Dragon Dance. The dragon printouts we used came from Pink Stripey Socks. 


We also made some paper lanterns to decorate our school area even more. Lil C turned her lantern into a tiger lantern - I think it came out adorable!



After reading the "Around the World" section and finding out they have dragon boat races in Sydney, Australia, we just had to make a dragon boat! The benefit of having a GIANT Lego collection is you can build a dragon boat without needing to buy the set! Thank you Lego for having downloadable building instructions!


I don't know if we have enough specialty pieces to build another one, but we at least got one dragon boat! I love it and think it's so fun and the kids think it's hysterical that there's a croissant as the dragon's nose!

It is VERY cold here today, but if we're brave enough we'll go out on the patio under the full moon tonight and light a couple of sparklers!

I want to send Eugenia Chu another HUGE thank you for sharing her awesome book, "Celebrating Chinese New Year: History, Traditions, and Activities" with us. We loved learning all about the holiday and the different ways people celebrate in China and across the world!

Check out the rest of our Chinese New Year fun!

Chinese New Year Mini Unit Day 2 with 'Celebrating Chinese New Year'

We continued with our Chinese New Year mini unit study today, reading the section on how people prepare for the Lunar New Year and common fo...

We continued with our Chinese New Year mini unit study today, reading the section on how people prepare for the Lunar New Year and common foods that are made in "Celebrating Chinese New Year" by Eugenia Chu. 


This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

Chinese New Year Mini Unit Day 1 with 'Celebrating Chinese New Year'

  When author Eugenia Chu sent me a copy of her new book, "Celebrating Chinese New Year" I knew it would be the perfect base for ...

 


When author Eugenia Chu sent me a copy of her new book, "Celebrating Chinese New Year" I knew it would be the perfect base for a mini unit on Chinese New Year! This is an all inclusive guide to Chinese New Year - it includes history, background, legends, and an introduction to common traditions and foods. At the end of the book, Eugenia also includes a bunch of activities like making your own paper lanterns, dragon puppets, as well as her mother's famous jiăozi recipe!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes' Book Review - Multicultural Children's Book Day

  I was very excited to receive a free copy of  "Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes"  by Juana Medina from Candlewick Press to review...

 


I was very excited to receive a free copy of "Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes" by Juana Medina from Candlewick Press to review for Multicultural Children's Book Day. I love books that sprinkle in non-English words and couldn't wait to find out what changes were in store for Juana (although, the cover did give me a clue that there was probably a baby involed!) "Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes" is an easy chapter book (with pictures on every page) and is the third book in the Juana and Lucas series by Juana Medina. I was thrilled to discover my library carries the series so we can go back and read the first two books as well! But back to this book.


Juana and her perrito, Lucas, live in Bogota, Columbia. (Of course, that made me want to learn more about Columbia - Global Explorers trip anyone??) We soon learn that Juana's Mami recently got remarried and they are all adjusting to life together in a new house. Juana is getting more comfortable with the situation but then Mami springs another surprise on her - she's going to have a baby! Juana is not thrilled. And then she becomes even LESS thrilled when she learns that Mami signed her up for skating camp during school break when Juana was looking forward to relaxing and having fun swimming, reading, visiting her abuelos, and having sleepovers. How is she going to handle this??


Juana resists going to skating camp, but Mami insists she give it at least 5 tries. I might have to try this strategy! Squidgy is more resistant than Lil C to trying new unfamiliar things, but maybe giving him a clear ending point where he has the choice whether to stop or continue will help. As the story goes on, Juana tackles some more changes, like taking on more responsibility when Mami gets put on bedrest, having to stay with her abuelos while Mami is in the hospital, and having to wait to touch and hold her new baby sister because she is born prematurely.


This book touches on so many topics I think every kid can feel a comradery with Juana - getting a stepdad, becoming a big sibling, trying a new camp, making new friends, feeling like the odd one out, coping with Mami being on bedrest, and having a baby born prematurely. It's such a great look into how change affects children - they need communication, information, support, time, and encouragement! This is a great reminder for us as parents so we can help our children through the changes. Just keep in mind that it won't always go perfectly. When we moved a few years back, we tried to do all this and make it exciting by looking at all the positives we'd gain from the move, but Lil C still had a breakdown when we officially moved out of our old house. There were a lot of tears and hugs. But now we're all so happy in our new bigger house, with a bedroom for everyone, a great school area, and large backyard with lots of trees, animals, and a hill for sledding! 

Like we discovered with our new house, change can be scary and uncomfortable and unwelcome, but often, change can be really wonderful. It can often just take a few (or five!) tries to realize something new is actually fantásticas!



My challenge to all of you is, try something new this week! It can be something tiny like a new food, book, or movie, or something bigger like a new activity, class, or talking to a new person! Give it a try and see what happens!

Check out my other MCBD 2022 review: "Sissy Goes Tiny"


Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2022 (1/28/22) is in its 9th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of young readers and educators.

MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission & History HERE.

MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!

SUPER PLATINUM: Make A Way Media

PLATINUM: Language Lizard

GOLD: Barefoot Books, KidLitTV, Candlewick, Capstone, Abrams Books

SILVER: Pack-n-Go Girls, Charlotte Riggle, Kimberly Gordon Biddle  

BRONZE: Carole P. Roman, Patrice McLaurin, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin.com, Redfin Canada, Redfin Mortgage, Redfin/Title Forward, Create & Educate, Star Bright Books, Vivian Kirkfield, Dr. Eleanor Wint, Kind World Publishing, Snowflake Stories, Lisa Wee, SONGJU MA, Melissa Stoller, J.C. Kato and J.C.², Crystel Patterson, Audrey Press, Pragmaticmom, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales 

MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!

Charlene Mosley (official MCBD2022 Poster Creator)
Illustrator Isabelle Roxas (Class Kit Poster Creator)

Alva Sachs, Brianna Carter, Ebony Zay Zay, Rita Bhandari, Gwen Jackson, Lois Petren/The 5 Enchanted Mermaids, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Josh Funk, Afsaneh Moradian, Eugenia Chu, Maritza Martínez Mejía, Diana Huang, Kathleen Burkinshaw, CultureGroove, Sandra Elaine Scott, Dorena Williamson, Veronica Appleton, Alejandra Domenzain, Lauren Muskovitz and Sandfish Publishing, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Kimberly Lee, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Nancy Tupper Ling, Winsome Hudson-Bingham, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Sivan Hong, Michael Genhart, Debbie Dadey, Elizabeth Cureton, Stephanie Wildman, Maryann Jacob, Sherri Maret, Rochelle Melander, Dia Mixon, Kiyanda and Benjamin Young, Shereen Rahming, Linda Thornburg and Katherine Archer,  Rebecca Flansburg and BA Norrgard , Maxine Schur  Natalie McDonald-Perkins

MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!

MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!

Check out MCBD's Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents

Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit

FREE Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Raising Awareness on Systemic Racism in America Classroom Kit

Gallery of Our Free Posters

FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program

Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party! Be sure and follow MCBD and Make A Way Media on Twitter!

This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.

We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **

Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

'Sissy Goes Tiny' Book Review - Multicultural Children's Book Day

  I am super excited to be a part of Multicultural Children's Book Day for the second year! Communicating with author Eugenia Chu on he...

 


I am super excited to be a part of Multicultural Children's Book Day for the second year! Communicating with author Eugenia Chu on her book "Brandon Makes Jiao Zi" for last year's MCBD was just the start of so many more author collaborations and friendships! Not to mention a lot of awesome new books to review and share. 

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Maya and the Turtle' and 'Land of Morning Calm' Book Review

  When author John C. Stickler reached out to me to share his and his wife's book, "Maya and the Turtle: A Korean Fairy Tale,"...

 


When author John C. Stickler reached out to me to share his and his wife's book, "Maya and the Turtle: A Korean Fairy Tale," it planted the seeds of heading to Korea for our next Global Explorers destination. And when I mentioned the idea and he sent me "Land of Morning Calm: Korean Culture Then and Now" as well, I KNEW Korea would be our next destination! So while I finish putting together all the activities and resources for our "trip," here's a glimpse at these two amazing books.

"Maya and the Turtle" is a Korean fairytale written by Soma Han and her husband, John C. Stickler. It tells the story of Maya, a girl who finds a little turtle all alone one day and brings it home to care for it and keep it safe. Many years later, when Maya offers to sacrifice herself to a monstrous centipede in exchange for money to help her ill father, the turtle - who has now grown to an enormous size - in turn sacrifices itself to save Maya. It is a tale of family, love, selflessness, sacrifice, and destiny. The tale was told to Soma by her mother who was told the story by her mother growing up in a small village in Korea. With John's help, Soma translated the tale into English and paired it with her own beautiful watercolor images (seriously, they are amazing!). The story is very well told, something that I know is not always easy to do when you are translating from one language to another. I may have never heard the story told in Korean, but I imagine that this version maintains the essence of the original tale. The new audiobook version is wonderful to listen to as well.

I grew up hearing variations on fairytales by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm in addition to a couple Ukrainian fairytales my mom would tell us. Now, I find it so interesting to read folktales from around the world - it's so fascinating to find strings of commonality in tales told on opposite sides of the country! I've actually just discovered Grace Lin's novels based on Chinese folktales and "Maya and the Turtle" reminded me very much of tales of monstrous magical creatures in Lin's novels. 



"Land of Morning Calm" contains the same beautiful illustrations by Soma Han and delves deep into Korean Culture. I would recommend this book for older elementary students as it really goes into detail about various aspects of Korean culture including dress, food, language, celebrations, and the flag. The book also incorporates various legends and folktales which simply add to the book's charm. If you want a taste of Korean culture, I highly recommend this book. It can be used with younger children, but I would plan on reading only a few pages at a time and mixing it with hands-on activities to maintain their interest. 

Please come back next week for a Global Explorers trip to Korea!

'The Adventures of Keva: The Power of Trees' Book Review

  When I saw "The Adventures of Keva: The Power of the Trees" by Ebony Zayzay and Upit Dyoni, I just knew I had to read it! The t...

 


When I saw "The Adventures of Keva: The Power of the Trees" by Ebony Zayzay and Upit Dyoni, I just knew I had to read it! The tree on the cover was amazing and powerful and inspiring and I wanted to know more about Keva and her trees. So I was overjoyed when author Ebony Zayzay sent me a copy to review.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'The Funny Foods Best Friends' Book Review

  "The Funny Foods Best Friends" was written by the daughter of author Jessica D. Adams . Janiece has helped illustrate some of h...

 


"The Funny Foods Best Friends" was written by the daughter of author Jessica D. Adams. Janiece has helped illustrate some of her mom's books and when her mom told her she should write a story about her food characters, she did!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Quigley the Quiet Hedgehog' Book Review

  When author Claudine Norden generously sent me her book, "Quigley the Quiet Hedgehog" to check out, I wasn't really sure wha...

 


When author Claudine Norden generously sent me her book, "Quigley the Quiet Hedgehog" to check out, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'd never come across a children's book discussing introversion and I think that is exactly why Claudine set out to write this series!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at zero cost to you.

'Global Kids: 50+ Games, Crafts, Recipes, and More from Around the World' Review

  When I saw this Global Kids activity card set, I immediately thought of my Global Explorers series! How perfect would these be to pair w...

 

When I saw this Global Kids activity card set, I immediately thought of my Global Explorers series! How perfect would these be to pair with our country visits??

Barefoot Books generously sent me a complimentary Planet Protector Pack to review. Regardless, I only recommend products I personally use or believe would be beneficial to my readers. All opinions and ideas are my own.


There are five different categories of cards in the pack: create, play, eat, celebrate, and help out. The top of each card tells you what kind of card it is and what country it represents. Here is an example of a celebrate card, with a brief description of the holiday on the front. The back provides directions for making your own Diwali lantern.



And here is an example of an eat card.


These cards would be fantastic to use with country studies (and I will definitely be listing relevant cards in my Global Explorers posts), but you could also just grab a card when you need an activity to occupy the kids for a little while!

'Barefoot Books World Atlas Sticker Book' Book Review

I've been searching for a nice atlas - preferably a sticker one so Squidgy can interact with it and put stickers everywhere since Lil C ...


I've been searching for a nice atlas - preferably a sticker one so Squidgy can interact with it and put stickers everywhere since Lil C had a sticker animal atlas when we were doing Kindergarten work. And I have to say, "Barefoot Books World Atlas Sticker Book" by Nick Crane and David Dean is PERFECT! I was SO excited to receive it from Barefoot Books!

Barefoot Books generously sent me a complimentary Planet Protector Pack to review. Regardless, I only recommend products I personally use or believe would be beneficial to my readers. All opinions and ideas are mine.


The book begins with an overview of the earth, showing the continents and oceans. On this page children can place transportation stickers as well as footprint and compass stickers to show where they have been and where they would like to travel.



Then the book moves on to the oceans of the world. This is different from many children's atlases where the oceans are really only focused on where they meet land.



From there, we move to land masses. The book tackles the continents in sections so each area of larger continents can be highlighted. For example, there are pages for Southeast Asia, East Asia, North and Central Asia, South Asia, and Southwest Asia. I was very excited when I turned to the Europe page and found that Ukraine - where both sets of my grandparents grew up - had not just one but four stickers! Growing up, almost no one had heard of Ukraine even though it is about the size of Texas and sits right between Poland and Russia. I'm sure much of the reason for that was Ukraine was part of the USSR until I was 9. But anyway, I digress. My point is, this atlas really tries to highlight as many countries as possible and seems to blend facts about famous landmarks and cultures with those about lesser known ones. There are so many little facts to read and I guarantee everyone will learn something new!



The stickers are nicely organized by page number and can be pulled out of the book so you don't have to keep flipping back and forth. We have not started placing any of the stickers, but the description says the stickers are reusable.



Finally, at the very back of the book is a pocket with a fold out map of the world which includes every sticker image in the atlas! 



I absolutely see us using this atlas all the time as our unit studies take us around the world! It would also be a wonderful resource to use along with our Global Explorers series!

Explore my reviews of the other resources in Barefoot Books' Planet Protector Pack:

'Planet Power' Book Review

"Planet Power" by Stacy P. Clark and Annalisa Beghelli is a fantastic introduction to the world of renewable energy for children....


"Planet Power" by Stacy P. Clark and Annalisa Beghelli is a fantastic introduction to the world of renewable energy for children. It explores hydro, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and wave power and for each of them, discusses a city/country which is currently utilizing this power. I'm going to be perfectly honest with you and admit I hadn't even heard of tidal and wave power before reading this book! The book explains that all these forms of energy are created when some force - water, steam, wind - spins a turbine and powers a generator. Maybe this book will help our children grow up and discover a new method of harvesting renewable energy!

Barefoot Books generously sent me a complimentary Planet Protector pack to review. Regardless, I only recommend products I personally use or believe would be beneficial to my readers. All opinions and ideas are mine.


"Planet Power" would be perfect as a stand alone book to read with your children just to give them a taste of the various kinds of renewable energy sources available but it would also be a great starting point for a unit study on renewable energy. While reading, ideas kept popping into my brain for hands on exploration such as solar ovens, what melts in the sun, water play exploring water wheels, and making pin wheels. I had just been talking to another homeschooling mom about doing activities and lessons with our kids on climate change, conservation, and protecting the earth - I'm excited to use this book in a unity study on renewable energy and protecting the earth with our kids! 


Explore my reviews of the other resources in Barefoot Books' Planet Protector Pack:

'Barefoot Books Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery' Book Review

  When I began reading "Water" by Christy Mihaly and Mariona Cabassa, I was overwhelmed with the amount of content and breadth of...

 


When I began reading "Water" by Christy Mihaly and Mariona Cabassa, I was overwhelmed with the amount of content and breadth of information it provided! It is an AMAZING resource for all things water-related. As I kept reading, ideas constantly popped into my head of activities that could extend the learning on these pages or other books that could be read along. It honestly could be the focal point of a full unit study on water - and hopefully I'll have the time to create it one day! But I definitely didn't want to wait to share this wonderful book with you all. 

Barefoot Books generously sent me a complimentary Planet Protector pack to review. Regardless, I only recommend products I personally use or believe would be beneficial to my readers. All opinions and ideas are mine. 

First off, I want to explain that this is not simply an encyclopedia of information about water. There are various kinds of content within the book. The bulk of the book is informative, such as this page introducing water's various states.



There are also interactive sections which give you activities and experiments to do at home to extend your learning or help protect water. These include little flaps for children to lift as well as side flaps.



You can find brief bios of people around the world who are trying to help their communities in some way - in expanding access to clean water to fighting against pollution.



You can also find cultural folktales from various countries all relating to water in some way. 



Finally, the end of the book provides you with information about a variety of jobs working with water in addition to bios on the author, the illustrator, and the cultural storytellers. 

I cannot wait to utilize this book in our homeschool studies and I hope you all check it out as well!

'Addison Rue is a Paleontologist' Book Review plus Dinosaur Tar Pit Sensory Play

  Do you love dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures? Do you think it would be cool to discover the fossil of a never-before-seen creatur...

 


Do you love dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures? Do you think it would be cool to discover the fossil of a never-before-seen creature? Or maybe solve the mystery of why the dinosaurs all died? Have you ever dreamt of being a paleontologist? Well, Addison Rue has. 

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In "Addison Rue is a Paleontologist" by Samantha Cruz - the first book of the series, "Addison Rue and the Big Dreaming Book" - Addison Rue drifts off to sleep and finds herself right in the middle of a dig site! She realizes that she is a paleontologist and as so it is her job to learn about the past by studying fossils. As luck would have it, there are bones buried in her dig site! What does she uncover? You'll have to pick up this book to find out!

As homeschoolers, books like "Addison Rue is a Paleontologist" are fantastic for introducing unit study topics and building interest. After reading the story with my children (author Samantha Cruz kindly gifted us a digital copy for review), we were ready to become paleontologists. Or, almost ready...

Before we could excavate dinosaur fossils, we had to help them get trapped in tar pits where they could be preserved so as paleontologists we could uncover them millions of years later. To make our tar pits, we turned to our favorite non-Newtonian substance - oobleck.

Tar Pit Oobleck

Materials:
- cornstarch
- used coffee grounds
- water
- (optional) coffee

Directions:
1. Pour cornstarch into plastic bin. We used cold cuts containers and poured 2 cups of cornstarch into each one. (I HIGHLY recommend making a separate bin for each child, it makes things so much simpler.)


2. Add some used coffee grounds. We added about a 1/4 cup to each bin.


3. Add water (and coffee, if desired). I've often read a good ratio of cornstarch to water is 2:1 so we added 1 cup of liquid. However, our oobleck was too runny and we needed to add more cornstarch. Next time we do it I would start with a 1/2 cup of liquid and add a tablespoon at a time until we get the right consistency.


4. Stir it all together and start playing! We collected toy dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures as well as some bugs. As soon as you drop one onto the oobleck it slowly starts sinking in!


Since it's summer, this activity was definitely best done outside - much easier cleanup! I also put out a pot of water for rinsing hands/toys and a washcloth for each of them for drying. Lil C and Squidgy had tons of fun burying the animals in the "tar pits" and just messing around with the oobleck. We were definitely out there for a couple of hours at least.


When we were all done playing for the day, we dropped a bunch of animals into the oobleck (I also added a couple rocks, shells, and shark teeth) and put the bins aside to dry for a full day or two. Come back tomorrow to find out what we did next!
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