Elementary school | Page 3 of 27

Brain Quest Presidents Smart Cards, the go-to car trip friend is updated

The United States of America is 250? I vaguely remember the 200^th anniversary and the Bi-centennial train that made its way across the country.Brain Quest Presidents Smart Cards is released the same year as its 250^th and is a surprisingly fun and engaging way to test your knowledge about the U. S. Presidents. I say ‘surprising’ because presidential facts doesn’t take up much, if any space in my wheelhouse. It’s an area that I’ve never purposely sought out information on, despite many U.S. history classes that certainly put a couple of facts in my hippocampus.

Brain Quest Presidents Smart Cards has the same format, great questions, durable cards, and engaging content, but is updated for America250 or its Bisequicentennial.

Presidents and trivia to make a road-trip fly by?

Dance in the Desert, an illustrated, timeless, allegorical wonder of a book

This past Christmas season I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas with our youngest child. I was hoping that the spirit of Linus Van Pelt would move him. After reading Dance in the Desert by Madeleine L’Engle, it could be more appropriate for him to be moved by that spirit. Dance in the Desert has been revised, abridged, and re-released after 55 years. Middle school readers will know L’Engle from A Winkle in Time, which is one of the first books they’re required to read. Dance in the Desert is from her early days as a writer, and displays a sense of wonder, optimism and joy, that’s tempered with the rough edges of life.

Dance in the Desert is re-released after 55 years and tells a fanciful story, with an allegory-if you want it, about family, bravery and wonder.

To Christmas or not-Christmas, that is the question

Arctic Adventure: A Tundra Tale, illustrated, poetic, STEM gold for 4-8

That’s a handful of alliterations in that short title, aren’t they? And while young readers might not appreciate its clever wordplay, they will immediately notice the glossy aspects to the book’s cover. The arctic fox is looking at its kit, while a mother and her daughter are in a boat in the horizon. In the background are whirling colors that older readers will associate with the aurora borealis. Younger readers might not know that fascinating light show, but will associate the pattern with something akin to Willy Wonka and be immediately curious about the show. That magic will continue as kids open Arctic Adventure. They’ll fall into wanderlust and become the armchair traveler that great illustrated books can help kids embark on.

Arctic Adventure: A Tundra Tale is an illustrated book that uses fabulous, dreamy art and succinct text to create a world that young readers will willingly get lost in.

An arctic Adventure that’s great any time of the year

Christmas Together with Polar Bear and Friends, is scaled down Carle magic

When is a board book not a board book? When it turns into a store! I needed to twist that old joke from Bazooka Joe to illustrate the difference between Christmas Together with Polar Bear and Friends. It’s a picture book from The World of Eric Carle, which brings to mind visions of oversized glossy pages, or possibly thick board book pages of friendly, multi-hued animals asking simple questions or saying simple things. Christmas Together with Polar Bear and Friends can frustratingly be both of those or neither of those. However, if you accept Christmas Together for what it is, it can be a happy, non-secular look at Charistmas via a classic name in children’s literature.

Christmas Together with Polar Bear and Friends is from the World of Eric Carle, but is presented in a scaled down size that will disappoint those familiar with his style.

I liked the 14″ pizza, not the individual size

Bread Days, an illustrated book on loss is grief over good memories

The habits and seasonal routines shape our memories and lives. Bread Days is an illustrated book by Hannah Chung. For me, one of the strongest smells and memories of my childhood revolves around Christmas. I’m sure that Chex Mix is as tasty any time of the year, but I always place it during the final two weeks of the year. It’s Christmastime baking, and the smell of those ingredients is flooding the house. That is my version of Bread Days.

Bread Days is an illustrated book by Hannah Chung that deals with a family tradition and its power to deal with grief.

Soft, lyrical

The Snowman Code is the elementary school skeleton key to get kids to read

What makes a kid want to read? The answer to that breaks down due to their age and sex. Girls tend to read much quicker and advance at younger ages. Boys are apparently made of snips, snails, puppy dog tails and fart jokes or gas euphemisms. The Snowman Code is one of the cutest chapter books for elementary age kids we’ve read this year. Not only is it a good book, it’s one that will be effortless to read for children in elementary school. These are the readers who are able to graduate to chapter books, but might need a nudge to boost their confidence to get to books that look like The Snowman Code.

The Snowman Code uses pacing, succinct dialogue, humor, well developed characters and heart to create a fabulous chapter book for elementary school.

It’ll melt hearts and make kids want to read

The King and Nothing, oversized, illustrated magic for the forever bookshelf

I’m a middle-aged dude, and The King and Nothing feels like a great illustrated book that I had forgotten about. It’s that book you used to spend hours looking at the pictures, unconsciously learning the sight words and getting lost in a book in a beanbag chair. You were five-to-seven years old and learning to love to read, but you probably weren’t calling it that then. Sometimes books like this come across our desk. In a very polite, unassuming manner, they speak to us as if they’re a character from Wallace and Gromit and ask us to read it.

The King and Nothing is the best kind of illustrated book for young audiences. It’s simple with illustrations that take advantage of its big canvas, yet gives kids the opportunity to think beyond its pages.

This book will age very well

Bud Finds Her Gift is a beautiful nature book without the guilt

The intersection of picture and illustration book is a tricky one that only publishing executives know how to successfully navigate 100% of the time. Bud Finds Her Gift is a lovely book that could be seen in either one of those categories by some people. Does the text do more of the heavy lifting or it that left up to the illustrations? The answer to that question determines if it would be classed as an illustrated book or a picture book. Granted, as the end of the day, other than the author, illustrator, and publisher, who really cares? It’s when you trip over a book like Bud Finds Her Gift that you want to describe it accurately.