Books | Page 42 of 82

No Reading Allowed, a fun look at homonyms for ages 7 and up

Homonyms and homophones are evil, foul words that use the English language as their playing field. I watch as some of my ESL students twist and turn their minds in order to grapple with the fact that know or no and new and knew can exist in the same language universe. Having words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, yet pronounced the same, and have different meanings is a trick that’s exclusive to the English language. I thought that too, but homonyms are in fact, evil foul words that exist in every language. No Reading Allowed, The Worst Read-Aloud Book.

Bee not afraid of these fowl words

Round, it’s all around us and that’s the point of the book

What is art? It’s a challenging term to define but you know it when you see it. Round is an illustrated book that confused me at first. The irony of a very simple illustrated book making me scratch my head was not lost by my inner critic. From the get-go, Round is beautiful and has gorgeous illustrations of various things found in nature that are well, round. However, much like art doesn’t have just one definition, round can also have several shades of its shape.

Round, yes, yes it is

Baby Montessori Boxed Set is cranium food for new people

Montessori. Just the mere mention of it can confuse, intimidate and equally raise or repel parents to their education line in the sand. We think of Montessori as a way of teaching in a way that lets kids find the answer, lets them think more on their own, or uses different methods to engage the students. For example, I teach at a public school, but my methods are ‘Montessori-esque’, in that I’ll let the students dangle on the fishing line of education for a while before I give them the answer. It’s better to teach kids how to get to the answer than to just provide them with it. Those new or expecting parents who want to inspire newborns through crawlers with various concepts should check out Baby Montessori Boxes Set.

Baby Montessori Boxed Set uses disparate colors, hard lines and simple images to create cranium food for new people.

A board book by any other name, yet with more Rorschach

Dr. Fauci, an illustrated book with background and keeps it straight

Let’s start this out by saying Dr. Fauci, How A Boy From Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor has nuggets that both the left and right will use for their talking points. In actuality, this is an illustrated book that plays it straight down the middle and it’s a shame that some people see absolutely everything through a political prism. Due to COVID, Fauci is of course a household name. Our nine-year-old, who has never seen a nightly newscast, knew who Dr. Fauci is during the height of the pandemic. This is a book that inspires curiosity and wants young readers to ask questions, which is something that everybody should agree on, right?

Dr. Fauci How A Boy From Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor is an illustrated book that shows the life of a young kid who grew up to become the medical face of COVID

Doctor, doctor, gimmie the news

The Stuff Between the Stars, dazzling non-fiction STEM in story and art

Grey matter and dark matter walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, “what’s the matter?”. Dark says, “I’m not attracted to anybody”. It’s worth noting that I know absolutely nothing about dark matter and didn’t even know that it was an actual thing before I read The Stuff Between the Stars. The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe, is an excellent example of an intelligent, illustrated book that treats its young audience with respect and isn’t afraid to broach big-scale ideas. It does this and accomplishes what an illustrated book should do, which is to entertain young readers. As a healthy aside, those rare illustrated books will tell them something new and make them curious about the bigger picture.

The Stuff Between the Stars is the story of Vera Rubin and works on any measurement for a great illustrated book.

Vera Rubin saw dark matter and gave it a name

The Leak, mixed results for journo girls who are in 6th grade

The Leak is a graphic novel that centers around a tween girl and four issues that are central to her life. There are boys (actually one in particular), her family, her hobby-which is writing and creating her newsletter, and midnight black sludge that she finds near the lake that she goes fishing at. It’s written by Kate Reed Petty with illustrations by Andrea Bell. The graphic novel is interesting because it has a laser tight appeal to a certain age range due to several characteristics.

The Leak is a graphic novel with good intentions, but has a conflict between its content and appearance.

For lower middle school readers

Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry, fun, elementary outsider art

Banksy is the enigmatic artist whose minimalist work is immediately recognizable to some adults. It’s witty, smart, funny when it wants to be, and sends a message if that’s the intent of the piece. Banksy has inspired LEGO books on his art and always remains in the shadows, an unknown artist who uses previously naked buildings as his canvas. Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry is an illustrated book that’s on-level for elementary school readers, but will they know or care about this artist whose work can be esoteric, nuanced, or illegal?

Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry, an illustrated book look at this outsider artist, their work and exhibits for ages six and up.

This book works whether you know who Banksy’s art or not

The Wisdom of Picard, bite-sized smarts from Star Trek’s main man

Our 11-year-old son giddily tossed the 2021 Hallmark Christmas Ornament catalog my direction. “Dad, there are lots of Star Trek ornaments in it-I know that you love Star Trek”, he said. Internally I was thinking, it’s not that I like Star Trek more, it’s just that we have more Star Trek Christmas Ornaments than any other franchise*, but I didn’t correct him. That got me thinking about Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard, a book of quotations from everyone’s wisest and most follicly challenged captain.

The Wisdom of Picard presents bite-sized smart nuggets of conversation or quotes from Star Trek’s main man.

Smart it is, Make it so you will say