Families have dozens of products that they use on a monthly basis. We’ll use and review some of those products so you know if it’s worth your hard earned money.
We were compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. The toy equivalent of “how much is that doggie in the window?” is, “is that toy really worth what they’re charging?” To that end, we just played with the All-Pro Passer Robotic Quarterback, Groovy Glow Wubble 2 pack, Smithsonian 30X Telescope/Monocular Kit, and Smithsonian Prehistoric Sea Monster Kit. The result is one whose quality really surprised us, two that delivered as promised and one that didn’t deliver, yet.
Do you know an elementary school reader (or older) that’s looking for a way to learn more about Washington, D.C.? Granted, that is a massive age range. We’re certainly older than elementary school, yet are utterly fascinated by Washington, D.C. from A-Z. This book has dozens upon dozens of facts about Washington, D.C. that are presented in short paragraphs or a couple sentences. They’re complimented with realistically drawn pencil illustrations in a beautiful or in an over the top manner that really drives home what the text is teaching. The book says that it’s intended for ages 6-10, and while that’s true, it also serves as a jumping off point for more research for those older readers.
A great example is that we’re planning a trip to Washington, D.C. and have been re-reading this to our 7 year-old. I found out that members of our extended family wanted to visit the statue of Albert Einstein. A. I didn’t know that there was a huge, five times life statue of him, but that. B. If you rub his nose you’re supposed to get smarter. Granted, part of that increased intelligence could be trying to successfully navigate the bronze statue up to his nose. Three points of contact does the trick nine out of ten times.
Most of the letters have a couple of facts associated with it. One of the notable exceptions is S and S is for Smithsonian. In 1829, James Smithsonian, an Englishman left half a million dollars to the city of Washington. His will, specifically stated that the money be used to increase the knowledge of men. 190 years later and the Smithsonian is one of the largest and most well known museums in the world.
It’s impossible to read Washington, D.C from A-Z without walking away with some tidbit of information. Some of those kibbles will root out and motivate people to read more about them. If you’re like our 7 year-old, then it’ll inspire a base amount of immediate curiosity-with some cool illustrations about this place that your family is going.
This is also one of those great books to read when you visit an elementary school. Just bring the book and ask the class to provide you with a letter and then you read facts about that letter as it pertains to Washington, D.C. That’s one of our favorite activities to do when we’re the mystery reader and if you time this as to when they’re learning about our nation’s capital it’s win/win.
Happy Conklin Jr. has aged. The first book in the series by Paul Noth, How To Sell Your Family to the Aliens was entertaining, quickly paced and a book that upper elementary aged and older could really enjoy. In How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth Happy is 11 now and this book has gone all Empire Strikes Back on young readers. Granted, readers that young won’t know what that phrase means, but you older readers surely know that phrase exemplifies an entry into a book or movie series that exceeds the one that came before it.
How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth jumps out of the gate with a subtle nod to The Wizard of Oz, gives readers a quick refresher, or introduction to Happy and his life. We see that he traveled across space through a porthole in his sister’s compact, meet his wrestler-grandmother and learn that he’s in class beside a cute girl who he wants to be lab partners with. The later one being the most difficult thing to conquer by far-and this is a kid who has been to alien worlds, been treated like a king and more.
What makes this second book so much better for readers of any age, is that it’s more personal. The first book was good, but it was good in its weirdness. How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is immediately more relatable for anyone who reads it, especially those upper elementary through middle school readers. Instead of focusing on Happy’s family we get to see how Happy is when he’s at school trying to be normal.
However, even at school, where he’s normal, things get weird and before long Happy’s sister appears. Not long after that, so does a black hole, his beard grows again, they draw a mustache on a lizard, get trapped on an alien world and they just might have to dispose of a certain planet called Earth in the garbage.
As chaotic and scattered as that rough overview is, How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is incredibly grounded. The struggles and difficulties that a sixth grade student has in real life will be evident to those who read this book. They’ll laugh to themselves throughout it and find themselves wishing that every book that they read is this entertaining.
If you’re a fan of The Rock, back when he was a wrestler; this book is the Rock Bottom for reluctant readers.
It’s the Kryptonite for reluctant readers whose superpower is not enjoying books.
I also enjoyed the book as much as middle school will. Our third grader is just a little too enjoy it. By this summer he will have read it once and be on his way to re-reading it again. There are some illustrations on some pages, but this strength of it is in its words. It’s incredibly fast paced and is great for boys or girls who want something fun to read. Set against a school backdrop with a science-fiction paintbrush this book will make you believe that you really can travel to an alternate world through a tiny mirror. Of course, as long as you have a lizard with you and a member or two of your family is either chasing you-or there at the end to save you.
Up until a certain age, people want to do things that people older than them do. Some of it is peer pressure, possibly an unstated level of envy or sibling rivalry. The younger one always wants to do what the older one is doing. A kid’s first graphic novel can be tough because there aren’t many of them and there are even fewer good ones. As a parent, or reviewer, one also doesn’t want to describe something as “a kid’s first” because it could imply that it’s juvenile. So, now that we’ve laid that minefield thoroughly……Mr. Wolf’s Class: Mystery Club is a great graphic novel that hammers home how great reading can be to those who are pre-K through third grade.
This is the second book in this series by Aron Nels Steinke about Mr. Wolf’s class, its anthropomorphic students and the fun (plus lessons) that they have. This is in no way a ‘lesson graphic novel’ that’s heavy on morals, what to do or how to behave. So, you rebellious younger kids who are simply looking for a fun book will be OK with this. However, Mystery Club does offer lots of mainly good examples of behavior and actions that you’d like your friends-or your child’s friends to exhibit.
It’s a very cute book that perfectly encapsulates how elementary school kids act, the urban legends that every playground, classroom and personality of blocks of students. As any high school student could relate to, and think of numerous real-life examples of the characters in The Breakfast Club; elementary school readers will immediately plug into Mystery Club.
Aziza, Randy and Margot have questions about life, interpersonal relationships, how to deal with potentially difficult people and more. Of course, they broach these issues in ways that a first grader will understand, because it’s highly probable that those same kids are encountering the same things. They’re making clubs, going to parties, wondering what happens to their teachers when they go home and more.
The friendly, approachable art in Mr. Wolf’s Class is one that this age group will gravitate to also. There’s an animal of every sort in the book with age appropriate mystery to keep ages 6-9 grinning throughout. This is one of those series that elementary schools need to have in their library. The vocabulary in the book is semi-challenging for our first grader. He can read most of the sight words, but there are still many bigger words that he tags up for help with. However, it’s a book that he enjoys looking at-and leisure reading is key to raising a kid with a love of books. The third book in the series, Lucky Stars will be out in September 2019.
There are two 9-year olds and a 7-year old at my kitchen table playing with Thomas and Friends, Big Loader. 15 minutes later: There are still two 9-year olds and a 7-year old at my kitchen table playing with Thomas and Friends. I wasn’t expecting this. All of these kids are a couple years beyond enjoying Thomas the Train. Dare I say it, they’re in the demographic where they mock children who enjoy Thomas the Train, yet, here they are,eagerly playing with Big Loader. If that’s what my skeptical and surly crowd does with it, just imagine how kids who actively enjoy Thomas and Friends will react.
Big Loader is a train set that features Thomas and Percy as they move about 8 feet of track dumping loads and picking them up. Thomas goes down the ramp, maneuvers two curves and then into a holding bay where the chassis transfers from him to Percy. Percy then goes backwards where he triggers a loading platform that dumps gray balls into its cargo bin. Now that Percy has the cargo he goes to a dumping station where it’s offloaded down a zig-zag maze that empties into a green quarry. Percy moves back to the chassis transfer station and docks while the chassis goes back to Thomas.
Thomas goes to the quarry where he transfers the chassis to the brown loader. The brown loader then moves the grey balls up the bin where they fall back in to Thomas’s cargo hold. At which point the brown loader goes backward, stopping at the chassis transfer which allows Thomas to go back up the hill, dumping the grey balls into the loading platform bin.
I even found myself watching Big Loader. It’s hypnotic and kids will have an absolute blast playing with this toy. There are ways for kids to control the train once it’s on the track too. On some pieces of track there are switches that make the train change directions if they’re pressed as the train hits it. Hit the piece of track on its new direction and the train will go towards the intended direction. If you leave the train alone it will continue to run until the kids lose interest, which will take a long time.
Big Loader is well constructed and relatively easy to put together. Putting the train track in its course will take a combination of reading the instructions and looking at the photograph on the box. Once the course is put together be certain the flick the metal stud on the bottom of the trains down. If you don’t flick them down then you’ll wonder why the trains keep running off of the track. That will lead you to curse toy designers and children’s toys, when in reality, it’s just you who didn’t read the instructions.
I get it, you want to put the toy together quickly so that the kids can enjoy it. However, just exhale a moment….put Big Loader together and let the kids have the hours, upon hours of fun that the toy will provide. Thomas& Friends Big Loader retails for $39.99 and is intended for ages 3 and up,however, their older siblings (and you parents) will easily be ensnared by its charm.
Jorge Bergoglio. That name doesn’t exactly sound familiar. Isn’t that the guy down the street who does drywall? Wait, they own that business in the strip mall don’t they? No, Jorge Bergoglio is world famous and you know him even if you don’t think that you do. He’s Pope Francis by any other name and Pope Francis: Builder of Bridges is an illustrated book is the story of his life before becoming the Pope; and a little bit about why his time as Pope resonates with people outside of the Catholic Church.
Continue reading Pope Francis, Builder of Bridges-and a bit behind the title
There is a subversive charm to The Hugely-Wugely Spider that is obvious from its title. After reading the book you’ll discover even more charm, subversive mojo and a surprising amount of heartfelt warmth from its surly, curmudgeon title character. All small children know The Isty Bitsy Spider, but they demo out of it by the time they’re in Kindergarten or first grade.
Set in the world of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Hugely-Wugely Spider has always been playing second fiddle to certain spiders who can’t tell what the weather’s going to do and suffering the consequences for it. However, as Mitsy-Bitsy, Litsy-Bitsy, Witsy-Ditsy and other start to climb the waterspout it looks like Hugely Wugely has had enough.
Continue reading The Hugely-Wugely Spider, an alternative nursery rhyme done right
Ethan Long is onto something. We were fans of Fright Club. We enjoyed Valensteins even more and with Fangsgiving it’s like we’re welcoming a friend back into the fold again. The titular character, Vlad is back with his monster friends for Thanksgiving. They’re happily planning a low key Thanksgiving when his family unexpectedly pulls up. The chaos and frustration that ensue at Vlad’s house is akin to the stories and feelings that you probably associate to your Thanksgivings as well.
Family and Thanksgiving do go hand in hand and this monster tale is great to read for several reasons. The first is that I’ve grown to enjoy reading and seeing Mumford (the mummy), Sandy (the witch), Fran (Frankenstein) and Virginia (the Wolfman). Each character has their own personality and elementary school kids will grin from ear to ear while they read the book. The text in Fangsgiving is large and such that third graders will be able to read the book with ease. Kindergarten kids will be able to make out some of the sight words and really enjoy looking at the illustrations.
Secondly, this is a story that parents will relate to at some level. While they might not have unexpected visitors on Thanksgiving they will relate to the back seat driving as they prepare the big meal. Sure enough, Vlad’s family offers up their own ‘improvements’ to each aspect of the meal. Just as in real life, those ‘improvements’ only serve to ruin or delay the meal, which makes nobody happy.
Kids will especially enjoy the monster ingredient additions like baboon burps, snail spit and more that provides just enough gross-out humor to hook in those reluctant reader boys.
As with most family occasions Vlad manages to get his family and his friends on the same page. That’s the punch line for the book, which is just like your family. It might not be what some had envisioned, but it all works out and it’s never as bad as your worst case scenario.
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