One Kid’s Trash is a real book, that’s really fun to read

“That’s life, welcome to fourth grade” is what I said in response to my class whining about the amount of work I was giving them. I consider that a precursor to what these students will experience in two years in middle school. The soft, forgiving way in which tests can be retaken again, and students are given a worst-case scenario of 70 are gone. They’ve been replaced with a still very generous, method of being able to re-take a test once, but the score you get is what you get. One Kid’s Trash is not as direct as my teaching methods, thankfully. This is a book for upper elementary and middle school students about life as the way they see it and live it. For those science-fiction or graphic novel readers, that’s not a bad thing.

Comfort reading for the good-book soul

Flash Facts is a big picture, STEM-based DC vignette

Which came first, the superheroes or the STEM facts?  Flash Facts is an original graphic novel from DC Comics, specifically their imprint, DC Graphic Novels for Kids. It posits various STEM-minded questions and places them in the wheelhouse of DC superheroes that are more than likely to have knowledge on the subject matter. For example, The Flash probably knows a lot about forensic science and crime-solving, so let’s let him address that. As an educator and parent, I love Flash Facts. Middle school ages love DC superheroes, but will they dig them when they’re talking more about STEM than catching bad guys?

Flash Facts is STEM-minded fun for ages 9 and up

Kind-of green is great too, here are some go-to ways to get it done

Want to make a switch toward more organic living, but not interested in going totally green? I get that! I was in the same position, so I came up with ideas to help me live more sustainably in manageable ways.

Cut Down On Your Waste

While we’d all love to have solar panels on our home and live without an electric bill, it just isn’t feasible. There are smaller changes that you can make in your life that will help cut down on the fossil fuels that your family creates. A big way to help the environment is to cut down on your waste. Stop using plastic grocery bags, and definitely quit throwing them in the trash. Make a conscious effort to recycle. Find ways to use your leftovers versus simply throwing them away. Consider starting your own compost pile! It may even motivate you to start the garden you’ve been dreaming of having.

Kind-of green is great too, here are some easy, go-to ways to get it done
A little green is better than no green at all

Rhinos In Nebraska, fab non-fiction storytelling for mid-elementary and up

Rhinos In Nebraska is an absurd title for a book. Nebraska is known for its picturesque plains and farmland. A book claiming to have Rhinos In Nebraska is as fanciful as flying cars or low-calorie food that tastes as good as the full-calorie version, isn’t it?  However, back up the calendar a hundred million years to the end of the Mesozoic period, reframe the title and the fiction that you thought it was, is now plausible. This is the story of the Ashfall Fossil Beds, a place that’s now on my bucket list. Beyond that, Rhinos In Nebraska is a book that will leave elementary and middle school readers hanging on every well-written word.

Rhinos In Nebraska is an impossibly true story about a skull a kid finds, followed by decades of research and herds of dinosaurs.
Non-fiction for kids is boring…..hold my juice box

Fart Quest: The Barf of the Bedazzler, a #2 that’s as great as the first

It’s over already? That’s an odd thing to say when you’re reading a physical book because your fingers gauge how thick the unread side of it is. Despite that, when I was finished reading Fart Quest: The Barf of the Bedazzler I was surprised that it was finished. I even thumbed back in the book a couple of pages, just to ensure that I didn’t skip a chapter or something like that. It was the equivalent of a dog licking the bottom of their bowl because they really liked dinner, and I was the golden retriever, paws deep in Fart Quest.

Fart Quest: The Barf of the Bedazzler, it’s the #2 book in this series that kids want to read and is incredibly entertaining
The #2 book in this series rises to the occassion

Sonny Says Mine!, a lesson to learn and fun to be had

Board books have a baby reputation. Granted, it’s deservedly so unless I start seeing elementary school readers chewing on pages. Every board book is aimed at small children, yet their content can vary from simple concepts to an early introduction to quantum physics. Sonny Says Mine! is an interesting book because its page thickness is more board book, than an illustrated book, but has more in common with poster board than anything else. The content in the book is more narrative than most illustrated books and is certainly complemented by the book’s large pages. The result is an early illustrated book that offers pre-K and elementary ages a big kid book, that softly teaches them behavior that will behoove them as they gather around bigger groups.

Sonny Says Mine! is a happy and lively, thick-paged illustrated book for pre-k and K readers as they go onward from board books.
herein lies The Cuteness between board books and illustrated books

School Is Cool!, a Hello!Lucky joint on school for the very new

Hello! Lucky, you get me. That’s what kids who are in pre-K through middle-elementary school say to themselves as they’re reading some of their books. Sabrina and Eunice Moyle have an energy and style to their brand of Hello! Lucky books that unmistakably speaks; and sometimes yells to ages four through nine. Through their neon colors and happy, yet not too juvenile rhymes their books bring up younger readers without making older readers feel as if they’re engaging in a baby book. School Is Cool! takes that same spirit and applies it to going back to or headed out on the big yellow monster for their first time.

School Is Cool! is a Hello!Lucky book from the Moyle sister that revels in its happiness and invites readers to enjoy it too.
Resistance to being happy whilst reading this is futile

The Good Dog Collection does elementary readers great

There is a book for every age and season of the emerging reader. Some of the books that young students can read have a very wide aged audience. That’s further complicated due to the fact that the jump to chapter books can be daunting for some kids. Our youngest is still struggling with going from simple chapter books to those with a more advanced narrative. A child’s confidence plays a big part in their reading level too. All of this boils down to a great series of books, Good Dog, that has now released the first four in that series into one compilation that will fill the bill for kids in K through fourth grade.

Good Dog is a long-term bridge for readers in k-4 as they level up

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