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Reviewer:
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The Midwest Book Review
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Title:
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Baby Scrapbook
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ISBN:
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519575
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Review Date:
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12/2008
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Review:
This was published in the December 2008 issue of “California Bookwatch”.
Every parent will want to remember the outstanding details and milestones of their child’s growing up. One of the best ways to record and preserve those memories is with a scrapbook. Co-compiled and edited by Katie Daynes and Fiona Watts, “Baby Scrapbook” is a sturdy, spiral bound ‘fill in the blank’ scrapbook guide that children can use to record everything from the day they were born, to their family tree, to birthday and holiday celebrations, and more!
Of special fun worthy note is the section of colorful stickers to use on the various large and easy to handle pages for young fingers. Fun to use and recommended for all families, “Baby Scrapbook” will serve to create a family nostalgic legacy that will last a lifetime.
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Reviewer:
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Norma D. Kellam
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Title:
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Flip Flap Airport
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ISBN:
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524012
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Review Date:
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June 2009
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Review:
When Humans Fly
Since flying is more complicated for people than for birds, an airport can be an overwhelming place for young children. A new book will help prepare them for their first flight.
Flip Flap Airport by Rob Lloyd Jones, for ages 3 to about 6, belongs to the “Flip Flap Board Books” series. Due to the possibility of flaps becoming detached, this book is unsuitable for children under age 3. Youngsters will learn about various aspects of air travel, including characteristics of an airport, preparation of a plane for flight, and takeoff. The table of contents appears in the upper left-hand corner of the first page.
The bright colors of Stefano Tognetti’s cartoon-style drawings will attract the attention of young children. The first of seven double-page drawings depicts an airport, with numerous people and vehicles in front of it, and a yellow-and-white plane ascending into the sky. The introductory paragraph reads, “Millions of passengers fly from airports like this one each year.” Two men on a scaffold are washing windows. One has dropped his bucket of water, which is about to land on the busy walkway below.
Another double-page shows passengers checking in for a flight and sending their baggage through an x-ray machine. A caption reads, “To board the plane, all passengers have to pass through security checks.” A man is handing his documents to an airport security employee and another man is walking through a metal detector.
When children lift the numerous flaps, they find additional drawings and text. By lifting a flap on a large red-white-and-blue jet, youngsters see the pilot and crew, including a stewardess preparing coffee. Some of the flaps have an additional flap under them. Lifting a flap showing a travel bag and several boxes reveals an animal-carrying-case flap. Under this flap, a brown-and–white cat is looking out of the open case. Children can move a stunt plane in a circle, causing it to disappear into the clouds. Pulling a tab makes a large red-and-white plane take off. Not only will lifting flaps, pulling tabs, and turning a revolving circle keep little ones busy, but these activities will also help develop fine motor skills.
The introductory paragraph for one of the double pages begins, “Some planes only carry cargo, which can mean anything from boxes of toys to elephants going to zoos.” Two depicted planes have an unusual shape with a large superior aspect because they carry large cargo. Lifting the flap on one of these planes reveals two green helicopters inside.
The final double-page illustration shows passengers who have just arrived in the airport from a flight. Some are looking for their bags on a moving belt. Others who already have their bags are headed toward the exit. Two mothers with children are sitting on a bench. Through a large window, a night scene is visible in which a plane has landed.
As your child learns about airports, airplanes and procedures for passengers, the check-in and the flight will go more smoothly. Flying can become an experience to look forward to.
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Reviewer:
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Parent's Today: Norma Kellam
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Title:
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Leonardo da Vinci
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ISBN:
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515942
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Review Date:
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October 2008
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Review:
Children often see things in absolutes and have trouble understanding that a genius can have the same faults as other people. Reading a biography that includes a great person’s foibles can help your children understand that even geniuses aren’t perfect.
Leonardo da Vinci by Karen Ball and Rosie Dickins, for ages 7 to about 9, presents the life of this famous artist. Inclusive dates appear under each of the five chapter titles. The first chapter covers from 1452, the date of Leonardo’s birth, to 1469; however, it mainly deals with the day in his teen years when his father offered to let him become an art apprentice.
Upon discussing Leonardo’s upcoming apprenticeship, his father advised, “When you start a project, get to the end of it.” Later, when Leonardo was leaving his apprenticeship to establish his own studio, the master artist gave him the same advice. In spite of Leonardo’s failure to follow this advice, he became famous for his superb artistic skills and his ingenious inventions.
Christa Unzner’s drawing, in pastel colors, provide a view of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Men’s and boys’ outfits resemble dresses; their hair generally reaches the middle of the neck and occasionally reaches the shoulders. One drawing depicts Leonardo’s arrival at the art workshop to begin his apprenticeship. The artist, with a stern expression, is looking up from chiseling on a statue. Leonardo is clutching his sketchbook to his chest and looking at the artist. Two teenage boys are busy in the workshop, one drawing at an easel and other cleaning a table.
Various illustrations depict Leonardo’s sketches. A page of domestic cats and other felines contains one dragon. Some of the sketches are plans for potential inventions, such as a flying machine.
A photo shows an unfinished painting titled The Adoration of the Magi. A monastery commissioned this painting for an altarpiece. Leonardo decided to move on the Milan rather
than stay in Florence to complete it.
Photos also depict The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. As soon as Leonardo finished The Last Supper, a wall painting in a Milan convent, flakes of paint started coming off. The
Text explains the problem: “Leonardo preferred to use egg- or oil-based paints, but they needed
an undercoat, making the surface more likely to flake – and to make matters worse, the wall
suffered from damp…” Leonardo spent four years working on the Mona Lisa portrait for a woman, but when he finally finished this painting, he kept it.
A page titled “My Life as a Genius” gives a first-person summary of Leonardo’s life. The final page directs readers to the Internet for more information. A reading consultant and an art history consultant assisted with the 64-page hardcover book, which belongs to the “Famous Lives Gift Books” series.
You might want to discuss with your children the importance of good work habits and how much more spectacular Leonardo’s career would have been if he had consistently finished his projects. Even though Leonardo wasn’t a good model for work habits, his accomplishments were significant.
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Reviewer:
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James A. Cox The Midwest Book Review
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Title:
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Noisy Animals
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ISBN:
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515515
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Review Date:
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April 2009
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Review:
Combining board book sturdiness with audio animal sounds, the Usborne Farmyard Tales: Noisy Animals is colorfully illustrated by Stephen Cartwright and offers preschoolers with a simple text that builds line-by-line and page-by-page into a story written by Felicity Brooks of two children who feed breakfast to seven of the barnyard animals who express their appreciation by the distinctive sounds each animal makes. The accompanying sound bar provides an audio reproduction of those moos, neighs, oinks, etc., plus the Apple Tree Farm tractor! Usborne Farmyard Tales: Noisy Animals is a highly recommended addition for family, daycare center, preschool class, and community library collections.
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Reviewer:
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Today's Parent: Norma Kellam
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Title:
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Origami and Other Paper Projects
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ISBN:
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518912
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Review Date:
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October 2008
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Review:
What can children do with a piece of paper besides write or draw on it? Kids may be surprised that by folding a sheet of paper, they can make models of animals and other items. Origami, a word of Japanese origin, is the name of this paper-folding skill.
Origami and Other Paper Projects by Eileen O’Brien and Kate Needham, for ages 6 to about 12, will entertain your kids for hours as they try out the numerous projects. In addition to origami, the book also includes traditional paper crafts, which rely highly on cutting and pasting. The numbered steps, along with John Woodcock and Teri Gower’s brightly colored drawings, provide easy-to-follow directions. Howard Allman’s color photographs show the finished projects. An index directs readers to materials, techniques, and specific projects. This 48-page hard cover book with spiral binding belongs to the “Activity Books” series.
From the introductory pages, readers learn the kinds of paper they should use, proper techniques for folding, and how to trace a template. Beside an illustration depicting various kinds of paper is a caption stating, “Patterned paper, such as gift wrap, works well.” The second part of the introduction, titled “Origami Techniques,” includes an explanation of symbols used to clarify directions and a technique of folding a square piece of paper to make a preliminary base. This base can serve as the beginning of various origami models.
The largest section, titled “Origami Projects,” presents the art of paper folding plus suggestions for decorating some of the finished items. Readers must take great care to follow the folding directions exactly. One of the origami projects consists of “Snapping Mouths.” With decorations, these origami models take on characteristics of the head of the creatures they represent. Photos show several finished projects, all decorated with eyes. The rooster has orange coloring to represent a beak and red finger-like attachments for his comb. A green, pointed head frill decorates a lizard. One of the captions says, “To make the mouth snap, hold the back of the head between your fingers and thumb and snap it closed.” As the mouth closes, it makes noise.
The second section, titled “Other Paper Projects,” presents the common type of paper crafts, including various kinds of cards and a “Snapping Crocodile.” The final two pages of this section contain templates for the crocodile and a spaceship. One project consists of making three-dimensional farm animals. The introduction for this craft says, “This 3-D cow folds flat inside a card.” The directions show how to draw the cow on a folded piece of paper with its back along the fold. Making the udder and tail separately and attaching them contributes to the three-dimensional aspect. In addition to a black-and-white cow, the photos of finished projects for the “Pop-Up Farm” show a sheep, a pig, a goat, and a hen. When the card opens, the inside of it becomes the ground or grass and the animal becomes three-dimensional.
As children experiment with this book’s many projects – both origami models and traditional paper crafts – they will feel pride in their accomplishments.
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Reviewer:
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Norma D. Kellam
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Title:
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Story of Science
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ISBN:
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521462
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Review Date:
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4/13/2009
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Review:
With training, honeybees can detect explosives, associating their smell with that of sugar.
The bees swarm to the area of the explosives. This is one of the abundant fascinating facts your children can learn from a new book.
The Story of Science by Anna Claybourne, for ages 8 to about 11, presents the history of numerous scientific discoveries in various fields, including astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. Data bout scientists include their nationalities, such as “German-born genius Albert Einstein is one of the best-known, yet least understood, scientists of all time.” This enables children to understand that people from all over the world have made significant contributions to human knowledge.
Following the table of contents is an introduction to science. The first use of the word “scientist” occurred in 1833. The final double page of each section gives a history of discoveries in one aspect of that field, such as major discoveries about light for the “Physics” topic. In 1675, Isaac Newton discovered that a prism splits light into different colors. The conclusion of “Prehistoric Finds” varies from the previous pattern by presenting a pictorial timeline of discoveries about early human beings. In 1924, the unearthing in South Africa of a leg bone and skull that were three million years old proved that human beings originated on that continent. Following this final section, a two-page conclusion alerts readers that scientists have significant gaps in their knowledge, such as whether time is real of an illusion.
Adam Larkum’s abundant small carton-style drawings, in pleasing colors, inform and heighten interest. One drawing depicts a huge green bug-like creature with antennas welcoming two Earthlings in spacesuits. The text says that some of the hundreds of planets that astronomers have discovered outside of our solar system might have life-supporting conditions. Another drawing depicts the Petri dish that led to the discovery of
Penicillin. The area around a patch of mold is free of bacteria.
Illustrated information that supplements the basic text appears on the outer third of most pages. A drawing with a spinning Earth in the background shows a man looking at a watch. The accompanying explanation says that the Earth’s spin is slowing and therefore days are slightly lengthening. At one-or two-year intervals, the addition of an extra second is necessary.
A “Timeline of Scientific Discoveries,” provides a good review of the various topics. An entry for about 2, 350 years ago depicts the earth along with the following caption: “Aristotle realizes the Earth is a ball.” A glossary defines terms that might be difficult for readers, such as “ethology”: “The study of animal behavior.” The index includes the names of scientists and other terms dealing with discoveries.
Readers will find instructions for accessing websites that deal with science, thus enabling them to delve deeper into topic of interest. A scientific consultant assisted with this 96-page book with flexi-binding, which belongs to the “Science Stories” series.
Whether it’s honeybees that detect explosives or days that minutely lengthen, scientific facts can be entertaining as well as informative for kids.
For more information, call EDC Publishing at (800) 475-4522
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