Upend expectations. Take what is normally expected from a thing and completely subvert it in a much more excellent manner than you are used to. Digestion! The Musical is an illustrated book that takes the normally short presentation of those books and makes it longer. It takes a subject that every elementary-aged child is curious about and turns it into a theme park of a book. There are three distinct areas of the book that looks at how the body digests food. Digestion! The Musical works as an illustrated book for young elementary ages, as well as, a primer on the human body for ages six and up. It’s also worth noting that it does this with style, STEM, humor, and poop, just in case your audiences are curious about the end results.
Allegory, teen-angst, outsiders, corporate shenanigans, and overcoming your fears meet in mglit, what’ll ya have? If you’ve ever been to The Varsity in Atlanta, which is a fabulous place to grab a hot dog, they’ll greet you that way. Let The Monster Out is mglit that wants to be in the Stranger Things, but with-more-heart club, and almost gets there. It has high aspirations and does offer plenty of thrills along the way, but left us feeling empty as though the book was playing favorites, let us explain.
Growth is good. That’s not exactly what Gordon Gekko said, but let’s keep that phrase in the context of schooling and growth is good. That can happen in many forms, from not kicking the chair in front of you, to remembering to bring a pencil to those younger ages when they stop chewing on the pages of books. It’s a special day when board books can go the way of the Do Do and those pre-k kids know that the time for that is nigh. Books Aren’t For Eating is silly, illustrated book fun that pre-k and K kids know, but will draw in their own parallels as to things that they know that they shouldn’t be doing at that age.
Poetry is a tough nut for elementary school readers to crack. Some might find it too boring, too slow or are unable to grasp the plot of it. If there’s not a traditional story arc to the poem, then it’s even more challenging. It can be vague, esoteric, pointless and excuse to simply kick or bother the person next to you when it’s read aloud. Believe me when I say this because I read poetry to elementary school ages on a weekly basis and it’s not because I’m a glutton for having students kicked who otherwise want to be left alone. I’ll Take Care of You is a great poetry book for elementary school students. It’s easy to see how this is an illustrated poetry book that those ages will dig in spring, but here’s why it’s good anytime of the year and how to present poetry to elementary ages.
Our children have seen E.T. It didn’t carry the same emotional wallop that it did when we initially saw it, but, it’s a classic movie by any estimation. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 40th Anniversary is available and throws a couple of E.T. journals, filmed during production that has never been seen that shed some light behind the magic.
Resistance is futile
When our 11-year-old saw the film for the second or third time he was still loaded with questions. How big is the spaceship? Was that a person in costume? If it’s a robot how do they make it move? It’s the same questions that adults had when they saw the film except through the rapid-fire succession of an upper elementary school student.
I don’t know how E.T. was made. I never knew how the classic cycling against the moon back was filmed. It’s a nostalgic image that defined a decade of special effects into one shot that was emotional and encapsulated the wonder of going to the cinema. Even today, on television sets that rival the cinematic experience it packs a punch and makes you want to believe in what you’re seeing up on the screen.
Watching E.T. forty years after its release is still a joy. You know what’s going to happen, the government agent with the jingly keys, the older teens who come off as bad (but are really just teens), and the fact that some consider E.T. to be the world’s longest (and most effective) candy commercial. Surly audiences who watch the film today might bustle at some of the stereotypes and what they consider to be rote plot mechanics. However, it’s important to remember that this is the film that started it all. Lens flare was a new thing to be intentionally shown during the final product and Spielberg mastered that, in addition to other skills like no other director.
What’s refreshing about seeing the movie now is how patient the film’s scenes are. They’re longer than most modern scenes and use silence and pacing to amp up the tension. They’re also classic Speilberg. While some of his effects are standard now, they were still in their infancy when E.T. came out. However, what most audiences to the 40th Edition are eager to see are the behind-the-scenes features at the end of the film that might answer some of the questions that they or their children have.
The video production diary is fun to watch. Some of the moments are goofy, like when Spielberg dresses up in women’s clothing for the Halloween day shoot, or when Kathleen Kennedy was on location trying not to stress out about the day’s shoot. She says something about the production, Spielberg, and Jaws that was unknown to most people who have seen that classic shark movie. Even after she said it I was having trouble remembering what aspects of his production process she might have been alluding to.
There are current videos of the cast looking back at the iconic movie, Spielberg talking about its effect on his career, a cast reunion, and the music. It’s impossible to see E.T. and not realize the importance of how the soundtrack from John Williams plays into its overall impact. At the 20th Anniversary re-release of E.T., he conducted the score live at the Shrine Auditorium. You’ll see snippets of that show, as well as, a conversation with Williams about his working relationship with Spielberg throughout the years.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 40th Anniversary is the topic at hand. It comes in all manner of packaging, 4K Ultra HD + DVD and digital code, collectibles, and so on. Surely they’ll find some new material for the 50th Anniversary, and then the 100th Anniversary. It’s a film that is in the National Film Registry and will be remembered hundreds of years from now. If we can still enjoy a composition by Beethoven hundreds of years after its creation it’s logical to assume that E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will still be enjoyed by people hundreds of years from now, let’s just hope that they never remake it or try to create a sequel. And yes, an idea for a sequel was tossed around, but you’ll see that in the DVD extras.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 40th Anniversary is available now wherever you buy or download videos.
I love it when a book series gets better with a subsequent release. Unmasked is the third book in the Fright Watch series by Lorien Lawrence and manages to do that. We also read The Collectors, which was the second book in the series and while it was enjoyable, it didn’t have as much of an age-appropriate scare that some readers want. Unmasked is about a middle school girl, Marion, who uses the artistic creation of monsters as therapy. Her latest creation is a sea monster that she calls Winston. It’s all happening as the Super Blue Blood Moon and the school dance are around the corner, and Marion has developed a crush on a boy. Things can get complicated when you factor in a super-realistic mask that even gives its creator the creeps.
Rot and Snot go through a lot. Previously we saw them in an illustrated book, now it’s many more pages in a book that they took. Tot, their little sister, joins the fray for this adventure. Tater Tales #1, The Greatest in the World!, takes the mutant potato adventures one step further than their previous jaunts in an illustrated book. Tater Tales #1 is an early reader chapter book that heavy on illustrations. One could call this a first graphic novel, but it’s more in line with an emerging reader’s graphic novel. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that will make the book very comfortable for third graders and older, plus a step up for most second graders.
I’m a substitute teacher who mainly works in elementary schools, precisely four of them in the area where I live. This gives me a wider-than-average compression of books and styles. Some of the libraries and classrooms that I visit are next-level, whereas some need more attention to their catalog. The one constant in all of the classrooms and libraries that I teach in is that the reference books from National Geographic and National Geographic Kids are there. It doesn’t matter how old the National Geographic Kids Almanac is, it’s still there, read and enjoyed. I was in a library the other day and saw fourth graders thumbing through the almanac for 2013. We received a couple of the current releases from National Geographic and wanted to highlight a couple of the pros of each of them.
It’s elementary school go-to for essays on most subjects
National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition
Starting in third-grade students will write essays on various subjects and more often than not, they’ll choose animals. It could be an essay on a wacky critter with a disgusting name, cool characteristic, or unique attribute, but kids like to write about what they love, and they love these books. National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia 2nd Edition is by Dr. Lucy Spelman and is broken up into mammals, birds reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and fish. Each of those categories is then provided with dozens of animal examples that make up those areas. For example, I had no idea what a tapir is and how they’re related to rhinos.
Those two pages alone have enough information for those elementary school ages to create an age-appropriate essay on those thick-skinned beasts that live in Africa, Asia, and South America. This is curiosity food 101 with photographs being the cat videos that bring home the bacon. Kids will listlessly open the book, marvel at the colors in the pictures, become curious about Tomato Frog from Madagascar, and then start sharing facts with you about it.
Treasure of Greek Mythology
Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters is a National Geographic reference book that takes a slightly different approach. It looks at 25 characters who make up that mythology, including a timeline, map, and more resources. Each profile has gorgeous, painted illustrations that introduce its mythos and shows them at work. You’ll see how Hephaestus was born with a deformed foot and cast to an island where he could throw rocks into a volcano.
This led him to invent many things made of metal, like a chair with wheels on it which allowed him to move more quickly. His love life didn’t fare so well initially, but patience and ingenuity pay off, which led to his marriage to Aphrodite, who is covered in the next profile. That’s what will interest young readers, Treasure of Greek Mythology has narrative story elements that allow even those who haven’t embraced the Percy Jackson books will enjoy.
5,00 Awesome Facts (About Everything)
5,000 Awesome Facts (About Everything) from National Geographic Kids is that random, impossible-to-resist, rabbit hole of knowledge that captures ages seven and up for a period of their schooling. It captures them, blazes their eyes with photographs they never thought they’d see, and aligns them with droplets of information and anything and everything.
The glossary at the end of the book proves that any conceivable interest area is covered. Zorses, yeti, jug bands, creepy facts, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and thousands of others have their page number listed so that young readers can dig deep and quickly. Those ages don’t need to explore, they can just thumb any page in the book and be entertained by something. Then they’ll turn to the next page and discover something even more fascinating. Those kids will run into your office and then share with you that tidbit of things that they just discovered. Enjoy the ride, it’s education and this is the process of getting them curious and asking themselves “what is something that I don’t know?”
National Geographic Kids Almanac 2023
National Geographic Kids Almanac 2023 is the elephant in the room. This is the elementary school armchair traveler that ages 7 and up will go gaga for. Its soft format makes it akin to Grays Sports Almanac. Those ages can bend it, thumb through to different categories, and impress their erstwhile present-day Biff friends as they drop knowledge on any topic under the sun. It’s organized and a steady resource for those essays that elementary school kids will have to do. Like 5,000 Awesome Facts, its glossary is comprehensive and can shortcut readers to exactly the spot they want to research.
Every elementary school library needs this edition and every fifth-grade classroom would benefit from it. Because I work in various elementary schools I know some of the parents who I’ve seen at schools or out in the community. Sometimes they will ask me what they can do to help. Depending on the subject that their child is in I will tell them that the National Geographic Kids Almanac, 5,000 Awesome Facts or Animal Encyclopedia are low-hanging fruit. They’ll retort that they really want to help, and short of being the room parent and organizing the year’s events; I’ll tell them that these books can do more to help the classroom than almost anything else.
The Almanac retails for only $15.99 and is pound-for-pound one of the most widely read books that any elementary school library has. Depending on the time of year and the schedule for the ELA essays there will be a queue to check them out, so a library having more than one is never a bad thing.
National Geographic Kids Almanac 2023, National Geographic Kids 5,000 Awesome Facts (About Everything), Treasure of Greek Mythology, and National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia 2nd Edition are National Geographic Kids.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube