Bloomsbury Children’s Books | Page 3 of 4

Who Gives A Poop?, STEM, fun, edutainment for 10 and up

Regardless of your stance on books, STEM, mglit, or chocolate chip cookies, we can all agree that Who Gives A Poop?, Surprising Science From One End To The Other is one of the cleverest book titles you’ll ever run across. The book is a story of things that we see every day. Sometimes it’s hiding in plain sight and other times it smacks us on the shoulder while we’re sitting at the pool. It’s worth noting that actually did happen to our son this summer from a passing seagull. Now that I’ve read this book I know that so many things could’ve been gleaned by taking a look at that white splotch that splattered from him onto our stuff.

It’s science. Stem. funny. readable. and makes ages 10 and up curious

A Way With Wild Things is much more than a garden book

A Way With Wild Things is not a children’s illustrated book that’s specifically for spring. It may seem that way, what with the countless flowers, insects, animals and overall happiness. Instead, the book gives the kids who don’t seek the spotlight their time in the limelight, even if they don’t think that they deserve it. It does this with a combination of seek-and-find, a child’s natural curiosity and her grandmother’s 100^th birthday. How does a girl who is usually more comfortable act when there’s a giant party happening in the park?

When is a book about a gardening girl not about a gardening girl?

The Girl and the Dinosaur, a soft, dreamy good-night book

The moon sucks you in. Then, when you’re looking at the moon you pay attention to the red-haired girl who is sitting on the back of a dinosaur. It’s then when notice the tagline for The Girl and the Dinosaur, believe in the impossible. The only thing that’s missing from the book’s cover is a message from Steven Spielberg saying that he’ll be turning it into a major motion picture.

The Girl and the dinosaur is great good-night reading

Ravi’s Roar, teaches through fun and not guilt

There are two current illustrate book series on kid’s emotions that have been in our wheelhouse lately. For our money, and for a couple of reasons the Big Bright Feelings series is much more enjoyable and effective. The later term is more important for us now because our 8 year-old is having issues processing certain things. Currently his ‘thing’ is anger, thus it was a perfect time for us to read Ravi’s Roar by Tom Percival.

Ravi’s Roar lets early elementary aged kids know that they’ll get angry and that’s OK, but it also lets them know how to deal with it.

Teaching about anger is tough for kids, Ravi’s Roar does it w/out preching

Everest, illustrated book/large graphic novel excellence

Educational illustrated books get a bad rap. When readers get to a certain age they feel that books with too many pictures are babyish. The exceptions to those books are graphic novels, which are more mature in their eyes. Everest, The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Nogay is an illustrated book in name only. In reality, the content, intelligence, details, information and length put this more in league with a graphic novel, albeit one that’s bigger in size than a standard comic book.

Everest is a blend of illustrated book and graphic novel that will captivate you

Spies, Lies and Disguise presents WW II in a way perfect for middle school

I firmly believe that kids honestly want to learn. So far as the content, there are those things that they need to learn and those things that they want to learn. In middle school when kids start to earnestly learn about WW II they’re faced with the quandary of studying a horrifying period of human history, yet actually wanting to do it. Teaching or educating kids about this period of time is tricky too because there are so many angles that an author could approach it. Spies, Lies and Disguise, The Daring Tricks and Deeds That Won World War II by Jennifer Swanson with illustrations by Kevin O’Malley is an excellent supplemental text to those kids who already know the basics of WW II and want to learn more.

If your middle grade student is tough to embrace history, check this out

Machines In Motion, pointed vehicle history with great art

Imagine that Billy from The Family Circus was all grown up and has become an engineer. From time to time he still reverts back to his habit of drawing where he’s visited around the neighborhood. Machines In Motion, by Tom Jackson with illustrations by Chris Mould has moments that will remind cartoon fans of his exploits, but at a much more educational level. Think of a vehicle that moves people and it’s covered in this book to some extent. It’s a big, over sized book that will grab upper elementary through middle school readers by the hand and make them want to learn about transportation.

Entertaining education about machines and technology at its finest

Lola Dutch! I Love You So Much, #3 in a must-read series for 3-7

Oh, Lola Dutch, you are too much. If you’ve got a kid who is between three and seven this series of books needs to be on your radar. Lola Dutch!, I Love You So Much is the third book in this series by Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright. These books will skew a little more for girls than boys, but that’s only because Lola is a girl who wears a tutu. When our son was six he laughed along with us as we read Lola Dutch, the first book in series to him. He’s old enough to where he can read them by himself, laughing as he looks at the art.

Lola Dutch I Love You So Much is the third book in this imaginative and art heavy series about a young girl and the power of pretend play.

This book series is imaginative play and rhyming at it’s cutest