Education | Daddy Mojo

World Without Birds is conservation, via regional stories on extinct birds

World Without Birds is not what you’re probably thinking it is. Its title, World Without Birds: How to Save Our Planet One Bird at a Time could infer to some people that the book is impossibly pessimistic. The illustration on the cover expands that hypothesis by showing a factory in the bottom sixth that’s belching green pollution. There’s a lonely, white bird flying to the right as if they’re trying to escape the gunk that’s ruining their home, leading to a world without birds. It looks like that. Adults and older readers need to read the introduction first. I know, you never read the introduction, but the one in World Without Birds sets up the book as a series of measured short stories.

Hopefully, World Without Birds knows the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” and uses its content to win over young readers and naturalist kids.

Birds yes! Conservation yes! Cover meh.

A to Z: An Animal Alphabet, joins your forever library due to art and size

You pre-k homes or places that cater to kids under second grade know there’s no shortage of alphabet books. Some of them take root because young audiences chew on the board book pages until they’re mush. There are some ABC books that use an established intellectual property to drive the vehicle. A to Z: An Animal Alphabet by Sara Boccaccini Meadows uses an established IP, albeit a niche one, oversized pages and gorgeous art to drive home the 26 letter kids need to learn.

A to Z: An Animal Alphabet shows the very young how to do the 26 building blocks in the vein of the In Our Nature book series.

So good you’ll want to re-learn your ABC’s

My First Seek and Learn: At Home, makes learning Spanish seem like play

No bones about it, full immersion is the best way to learn a second language. Full immersion is also a luxury. If you don’t live in a country where your native tongue isn’t the primary language or can’t afford a school where that’s the modus operandi of teaching, it’s also not an option. This is where you’re thankful for those relatives who still speak a second language fluently or need to seek out books that start at a very young age. My First Seek & Learn: At Home, Mi Premer Busca & Apprende: En Casa is the same either way you say it. It combines the curious element that toddlers have hardwired into their brains and adds a bi-lingual element that will pay dividends for years to come.

My First Seek and Learn: At Home uses common, household words and happy illustrations to make learning Spanish a seek and find, for ages two and up.

Open, abierto el libro y apprendre

Unproven, Unlikely and Firmly Believed-a smart, funny quickly paced book

I read Unproven, Unlikely and Firmly Believed, but didn’t get it. My wife normally reads books with a pastel or a spring-colored spine. Typically these books are about a cute young guy who manages a book store in Maine. There’ a generational corner store in town that’s about to be managed by a cute young girl. Both of their worlds will be upended when the data center or online warehouse open up its newest facility in the valley. My wife normally reads books like that, but apparently there was a disturbance in the love and missed-connections book force which meant that she had nothing to read. She looked over at Unproven, Unlikely and Firmly Believed and asked me what it’s about.

Don’t let the conspiracy nature of Unproven, Unlikely and Firmly Believed deceive you into thinking this isn’t smart or fun to read. It’s clever, fast paced, education and doesn’t drag you down the rabbit hole.

Smart, but not too smart in its take on conspiracies

The Declaration Decoded effortlessly explains the document for ages 10 & up

The Declaration Decoded: A Guide to the Document that Inspired Our Nation implies that everyone who reads it will be a citizen of the United States. Imply and infer are tricky concepts to master, aren’t they? We’ve read other books that explained the Declaration of Independence, but those books are aimed at young audiences. This is all a bit ironic because the shape of The Declaration Decoded is smaller and more rectangular. Its more compact, hand-held package that seemingly aims at a younger demographic. Young and younger are all relative, aren’t they?

Through its format and writing, The Declaration Decoded: A Guide to the Document that Inspired our Nation makes learning fun and effortless.

make history fun, and something I can understand. Hold my drink.

Lot and Lots of Ocelots make math students wish they had it earlier

Why do I need to remind our 14-year-old of his multiplication tables? He’s “on level”, got a B in eighth-grade math, but I’m still reminding him of what 8 x 8 or what 64 divided by 8 is. Something is amiss in the state of middle school mathematics. Lot and Lots of Ocelots: A Skip Counting Book does not have this problem. If anything, Lots and Lots of Ocelots is the pre-school and early-elementary school- kryptonite to a problem that could vex kids in four-to-seven years.

Lot and Lots of Ocelots: A Skip Counting Book is the fun, effortlessly educational book that delayed middle school math students secretly wish that they had seven years earlier.

I say skip, you say count, Skip, count, skip count

What Makes A Bird?, timeless STEM that crosses into enjoyment

Quite often, we’ll talk about all-age comic books. These are comic books that can be enjoyed by any age; but have the ability to serve as entertainment for young ages. Is there such a thing as an all-age reference book? There is, but to call them a ‘reference book’ could be a disservice to how entertaining some of them are. What Makes A Bird? An Illustrated Guide to the Bird World is a fun, entertaining ‘reference book’ that belies the dreaded boring label young ages might apply to something that’s not brain rot. The book has a classic, timeless vibe that can be attributed to its illustrations and presentation.

What Makes A Bird? is effortlessly enjoyable STEM on the ancestors of dinosaurs and their habitats and characteristics today.

Resistance (and ignorance) is futile

The Six Queens of Henry VIII, non-fiction content that sticks in your head

Herman’s Hermits did more for Henry VIII than most North American schools. I just asked a group of 25 high school juniors if they knew who Henry VII was, and two students raised their hands. They knew that he had many wives, but incorrectly said that he killed all of them. To be fair, when I was a child, if a teacher had said Henry VIII we would’ve echoed it with, Herery the eighth I am, I am. Set against this backdrop is what makes The Six Queens of Henry VIII all the more remarkable. It’s an illustrated book with graphic novel element that manages to entertain audiences in equal measure to its education.

The Six Queens of Henry VIII uses varied art and succinct text to make a non-fiction book on British royalty that’s effortless to enjoy.

hIS WIVES AND hENRY vii MEET STORYTELLING TARGETED AT MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP