Review of Bedtime Math, by Laura Overdeck, illustrated by Jim Paillot

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Bedtime Math
by Laura Overdeck

A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late

illustrated by Jim Paillot

Feiwel and Friends, New York, 2013. 86 pages.
Starred Review
2013 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #6 Children’s Nonfiction

I already talked about Bedtime Math on my blog, when it only referred to a website. Then I used the book in my Every Child Ready to Read program, “Fun with Math for Parents and Preschoolers.”

I am tremendously excited about Bedtime Math, because I discovered how wonderful it is years ago, when my second son was about five years old. I’m not sure how it started, but he began asking for math problems at bedtime. (It might have been when I told him that when he turned six, his age plus his age would equal his brother’s age, and his age *times* his age would equal my age. His next question was, “What’s times?” One week later, his brother asked him “What’s 16 times 4?” and he figured out the answer in his head!)

Anyway, this started a stretch where I’d make up math problems for him at bedtime, after reading three books, when he was tucked in and cozy in bed. He learned the magic words I was NOT able to resist that would extend bedtime on and on: “Just one more math problem, Mommy, please!”

The problems in Bedtime Math are much better and more fun than the simply numerical problems I made up for my son. Each two-page spread has a fun scenario, followed by related math problems, one for “wee ones” (involving counting), one for “Little kids,” and one for “Big kids.” You can also get problems from their website or app.

The categories used are “Exploding Food,” “Wild Pets,” “Extreme Vehicles,” “Sports You Shouldn’t Try at Home,” and “Really Odd Jobs.”
For example, after telling us about squirt bottles for ketchup (“Squirting ketchup is also more fun than throwing a tomato: While a tomato smacking into something might explode and make a mess, ketchup already is a mess.”), here are the problems listed:

Wee ones: If you squirt 3 squirts of ketchup on a hot dog, and then 1 more squirt on your friend’s head, how many squirts did you fire off?

Little kids: If you line up some burgers and squirt ketchup on the 1st burger, then every 3rd burger after that, which burger in the lineup is the 4th burger to get squirted?

Big kids: If you squirt 2 cups of ketchup, and each cup used 14 tomatoes, how many tomatoes’ worth of ketchup did you just squirt?

I am excited about Bedtime Math! May the Math Madness spread! Laura Overdeck says in the Introduction:

Bedtime Math’s goal is simple: to make math a fun part of kids’ everyday lives, not just something found only in homework assignments. Math should be as beloved as the bedtime story….We never hear people say “Ewww, a book at bedtime?!” Likewise, there’s absolutely no reason to say that about math. Numbers are beautiful, and kids love attention. Bedtime Math just puts the two together. With that, let the games begin.

bedtimemath.org
mackids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids, by Jerome Pohlen

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids

His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities and Thought Experiments

by Jerome Pohlen

Chicago Review Press, 2012. 126 pages.
Starred Review

Wow! This book not only tells you about Albert Einstein’s life, it also gives you a grasp of the basic ideas behind relativity. In a way kids can understand. In a way I can understand!

The majority of the book is a serviceable, well-written biography. It tells about Einstein’s life, his family, where he lived, and how the two world wars affected him. There are many old photographs and other visual aids.

But along with the biography, you’ve got a series of thought experiments and other activities to help the reader understand the concepts. It starts with one of Albert Einstein’s earliest experiments, playing with a magnet and compass. In the section on his childhood, you’re challenged to build a house of cards, something he liked to do as a child. It continues with a cool experiment calculating the speed of life with a chocolate bar in a microwave and an experiment with milk in a water bottle that shows why the sky is blue. Especially interesting are thought experiments which Einstein himself described to help understand Relativity.

The combination of facts with activities and thought experiments makes this an especially interesting book that kids will understand at a deeper level.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/albert_einstein_and_relativity.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Look Up!

Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard

by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Candlewick Press, 2013. 54 pages.
Starred Review

This wonderful book explains to kids how to get started bird-watching. The author is an artist who also encourages kids to sketch the birds they see. Her own illustrations in this book are not intimidating, and she tells the reader that you will get better with practice, and points out what things to notice.

She tells you how to get started and why to get started. Also where to get started (anywhere!). Here’s where she talks about sketching birds:

Try to sketch while keeping your eyes on the bird as much as you can. This takes practice, but it’s so worth doing. Don’t worry about how “good” your picture is – the act of drawing is valuable no matter what the result looks like, because when we draw, we look extra, extra hard, and that helps us focus our attention. There’s so much to pay attention to – shape, color, sound, and more! So let’s take each aspect one at a time.

Then the book looks in more detail at these aspects of birds, to help you learn to identify them. She wraps up by explaining how to use field guides, bird habitats, and classification.

There’s so much crammed into this book! It makes bird-watching seem accessible and even fun! As if the main text weren’t enough, most pages have speech bubbles coming from the birds, who give wisecracks that make information about them even more memorable.

This book is clearly a labor of love. She says right at the start that she’s not an expert bird-watcher. “I just really love birds.”

candlewick.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/look_up.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Poems to Learn by Heart, by Caroline Kennedy

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

Poems to Learn by Heart

by Caroline Kennedy
paintings by Jon J Muth

Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2013. 192 pages.
Starred Review

Caroline Kennedy has collected in this book a rich treasury of poems, all worth committing to memory, and also worth reciting aloud even if you haven’t memorized them.

There’s a nice variety here, including poems I’ve known since childhood and were recited by my fellow students, such as “Casey at the Bat,” as well as much newer poems, less well-known poems, and even some poems by students.

She divides them into sections with similar themes, using a line from one of the poems to title each section. We’ve got “Here I Am and other poems about the self,” “I Dreamed I Had to Pick a Mother Out and other poems about family,” “I’m Expecting You! and other poems about friendship and love,” “I Met a Little Elf-Man, Once and other poems about fairies, ogres, and witches,” “Where Can a Man Buy a Cap for His Knee? and other nonsensical poems,” “It Is the Duty of the Student and other poems about school,” “We Dance Round in a Ring and Suppose and other poems about sports and games,” “Four Score and Seven Years Ago and other poems about war,” “The World Is So Full of a Number of Things and other poems about nature,” and “Extra Credit” (extra difficult poems to memorize).

It took me a very long time to read this book, because I read it a little at a time, trying to read as many poems as possible aloud to myself. But each time I checked the book out, it was on hold when three weeks were up, and then it took weeks for my hold to come in again. This last time, I made extra effort to finish reading it before my time was up! I’m amazed that it’s been out for months, but all copies are still on hold. I didn’t realize there were so many lovers of poetry in our county, but that fact makes me happy.

One thing’s for sure, the next time a child or a parent comes to the library looking for a poem to recite, I will give them this book – if we are lucky enough to actually find it on the shelf! This is a treasure trove of delightfully recitable poems.

disneyhyperionbooks.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/poems_to_learn_by_heart.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of What the Heart Knows, by Joyce Sidman, illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

What the Heart Knows

Chants, Charms & Blessings

by Joyce Sidman
illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013. 65 pages.
Starred Review

What the Heart Knows is a book of poems by an illustrious poet, who has already won Newbery Honor, and with illustrations by a distinguished artist, who has already won Caldecott Honor.

My library has this book categorized as for young adults, but the poems can be enjoyed by old adults as well. Indeed, what makes it most a book of poetry for children is that a children’s book writer and a children’s book illustrator created it. Most of the poems are universal, and the dreamy, surreal pictures can be appreciated by anyone.

The four sections of the book are “Chants & Charms – to bolster courage and guard against evil,” “Spells & Invocations – to cause something to happen,” “Laments & Remembrances – to remember, regret, or grieve,” and “Praise Songs & Blessings – to celebrate, thank, or express love.” A “Note to the Reader” at the front of the book explains why this theme was chosen:

We speak to send messages to the world. We chant for what we want, bless what we like, lament what we’ve lost. When angry, we curse; when in love, we sing.

We have always done this. Since earliest human history, we have used language to try to influence the world around us….

We may no longer believe that words can make crops grow, prevent illness, or keep rivers from flooding. But we still believe in the power of the words themselves. Why else would we pray, sing, or write? Finding phrases to match the emotion inside us still brings an explosive, soaring joy.

I wrote these poems for comfort, for understanding, for hope: to remind myself of things I keep learning and forgetting and learning again. They’re about repairing friendship, slowing down time, understanding happiness, facing the worst kind of loss. They are words to speak in the face of loneliness, fear, delight, or confusion.

I hope they work for you. I hope you’re inspired to write some of your own – and chant them, in your own voice.

This book is full of images for abstract things. “Come Happiness” sees happiness as a raindrop or a heartbeat or a breeze. “Time Spells” suggests that time you want to slow down “stretch like a sleepy dog, slow and languid and warm with flickering light.”

I like “Chant Against the Dark,” though I wouldn’t want to suggest it to a very young child. This stanza, for example, might give them ideas, making things worse:

Don’t come close, dark.
Don’t breathe on me.
When the lamp clicks off,
don’t creak and shift
like some wild-eyed horse
waiting for its rider.

But for an older reader? Beautiful!

Some others I love are “Chant to Repair a Friendship”:

Come, friend, forgive the past;
I was wrong and I am grieving.

,

“Sleep Charm”:

One by one, those cares will drop
from you like stones
into deep water.
Slip from your dayskin
and swim, shimmering,
into the dream beyond the dream.

,

“How to Find a Poem”:

Wake with a dream-filled head

,

“Invitation to Lost Things”:

Come out, come out
from your hidden places,
hair clips, homework, phones.

,

“Blessing on the Smell of Dog”:

May his scent seep through
perfumed shampoos
like the rich tang of mud in spring.”

,

“Teacher”:

I loved how I hated numbers, had always
hated them, would continue to hate them
until I saw them sprout from your hands.

,

“Silly Love Song”

If you are the Maserati,
then I am the oil change.

,

and “I Find Peace”:

I find peace in the lazy doze of Saturdays
and in the beat of a pounding run.

The ones most perfect for teens are “Lament for Teddy”:

Where is the one
whose mute love followed me
all the days of my life?
The one I boxed up and packed away?
The one I thought I didn’t need?
The one I felt / I had outgrown?

,

“Where Is My Body?”:

Where is my body?
The one I’m used to,
slim and ordinary as a twig?…

Where is the body
that housed an
Olympic gymnast,
sumo wrestler,
pirate,
dancer;
all waiting, poised
in endless possibility?

When did I grow
awkward, lumpish,
a stranger in my own skin —
each day revealing
some fresh freakishness?

,

and “Lament for My Old Life”

I hated to leave that house,
fought it tooth and nail.

.

Here is poetry that will make you think and will help you look at the world differently. Perhaps it will motivate you to put your wishes into words.

joycesidman.com
sacredbee.com
hmhbooks.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/what_the_heart_knows.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Giving Thanks, edited by Katherine Paterson

Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Poetry 0

Giving Thanks

Poems, Prayers, and Praise Songs of Thanksgiving

Edited and with reflections by Katherine Paterson
Illustrations by Pamela Dalton

Handprint Books (Chronicle), San Francisco, 2013. 53 pages.

This beautiful book is appropriate for children and adults, and is perfect as a way to celebrate Thanksgiving. I went through it slowly, reading a page a day as part of my devotional time. If I had kids living with me now, it would have been nice to read a page aloud at the dinner table.

What’s included are prayers and poems from all over the world, going back hundreds of years, all with a theme of giving thanks.

The section headings are “Gather Around the Table” (Thanks for food), “A Celebration of Life” (Thanks for nature), “The Spirit Within” (Thanks for personal blessings), and “Circle of Community” (Thanks for loved ones).

The book is decorated with exquisite and intricate cut-paper illustrations. Even though they are pictures of the cut-paper illustrations, I found myself wanting to handle the pages delicately. I can’t imagine having the patience and care to create such fine work! The reader feels privileged to get to enjoy it.

This isn’t a long book, and the format is that of a picture book, which is probably why it is marketed as a children’s book. But what a nice reminder and method for giving thanks.

terabithia.com
pameladaltonpapercutting.com
chroniclekids.com

I’m reviewing this book today in honor of Thanksgiving and Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Jean Little Library.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/giving_thanks.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Goat Lady, by Jane Bregoli

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review 0

The Goat Lady

by Jane Bregoli

Tilbury House, Gardiner, Maine, 2004. 32 pages.

I’m reviewing this book in honor of my friend Kathe Barsotti. Kathe is working for zoning changes to let pygmy goats be allowed in the Town of Herndon, because their milk eases her arthritis. I mentioned that to my coworker Mary, after Kathe’s picture was in the local paper. Mary immediately said that I had to read The Goat Lady. In the past, Mary has booktalked this book in the schools.

Sure enough, the Goat Lady had started raising goats because their milk cured her arthritis. Though the Goat Lady of the book ended up with far more goats than my friend Kathe tends.

The story of the Goat Lady, Noelie Houle, is told from the perspective of neighbor children. When they moved to the neighborhood they were fascinated by a nearby rundown farmhouse with a yard full of white goats. They got to know the neighbor and her friendly goats, and learned to help care for them.

The children’s mother, who turns out to be the author of this book, was an artist. She painted many portraits of Noelie and her goats, which are used throughout the book.

Mom finished enough paintings of Noelie and her goats to fill the walls of the town hall for an art show. On opening night of the show, lots of people came: the “Meals on Wheels” drivers who brought Noelie’s lunch on weekdays; the young man who helped her feed the goats between his school bus runs; the church lady who helped her with grocery shopping; the men who delivered hay and dried corn; the nurse who changed the bandage on her sore leg; the nurse’s husband, who liked to talk in French with Noelie; and a young woman who had been able to drink only goat’s milk when she was a child.

My only complaint? There are many lovely pictures of Noelie in the book, but they chose one for the cover in which she looks rather dumpy.

A sad thing about this book is that it’s buried in the biography section. It is indeed a picture book biography about a remarkable person. She lived a quiet life, and children won’t think to look for her by name. But those who discover her story will be delighted.

I’m reviewing this book today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Wrapped in Foil.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/goat_lady.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Follow Follow, by Marilyn Singer

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry 0

Follow Follow

A Book of Reverso Poems

by Marilyn Singer
illustrated by Josée Masse

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. 32 pages.

Like Mirror Mirror, Follow Follow is a book of Reverso poems based on fairy tales. Marilyn Singer created this form. It consists of a pair of two poems. “Read the first poem down and it says one thing. Read it back up, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization, and it means something completely different.”

The beauty of using fairy tales for the reversos is that children will know the stories they are based on (notes in the back explain the basics if any need to be filled in), and will appreciate the implications of the two perspectives.

Some of the poems include the two perspectives of the hare and the tortoise, the emperor and the boy who sees he’s wearing no clothes, the big bad wolf climbing down the chimney and the pig in his brick house waiting for him, the mayor of Hamelin and the Pied Piper.

These are fun to read and clever, and what better way to illustrate that there’s always another side to the story?

marilynsinger.net
joseemasse.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/follow_follow.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Becoming Babe Ruth, by Matt Tavares

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review 1

Becoming Babe Ruth

by Matt Tavares

Candlewick Press, 2013. 40 pages.

Who knew Babe Ruth went to reform school at age 7? Becoming Babe Ruth looks at George Ruth’s childhood and how even he had to work at becoming a great baseball player.

The book focuses on his years at St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, where he played baseball and learned from Brother Matthias. Years later, when he was famous, he still had a special relationship with the school and helped them raise money to rebuild after a fire. The band from the school got to go on the road with the New York Yankees for the last two weeks of the 1920 baseball season, special guests of Babe Ruth.

This is also a beautiful picture book, with extra large pictures of a larger-than-life baseball player. I like the focus on a boy down on his luck who works hard and makes it big, but still remembers where he came from.

The author says in a note at the end, “Becoming the king of baseball took countless hours of practice and plenty of support and guidance from his school and from his teacher and mentor, Brother Matthias. And even at the height of his fame, he remained eternally grateful to those who helped him become Babe Ruth.”

candlewick.com

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Booktalking.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/becoming_babe_ruth.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Tapir Scientist, by Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science 0

The Tapir Scientist

Saving South America’s Largest Mammal

text by Sy Montgomery
photographs by Nic Bishop

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013. 80 pages.

The Tapir Scientist is another volume in the fabulous Scientists in the Field series. This series follows real scientists doing interesting work out in the real world.

The scientist featured in this book is Pati Medici of Brazil. She and her team are studying tapirs. In this book, they are in the Pantanal region, trying to put radio collars on wild tapirs. To do that, they must either trap the tapir or shoot it with a tranquilizer dart.

They also get blood samples and tick samples when they trap the tapirs. And, of course, they track the ones that already have a collar.

This book follows the routine of the team on their mission, explaining the day to day process when the author and photographer joined the expedition. As in all the books in this series, plenty of lavish photographs illustrate the story. In this book, many of the photographs are of other exotic wildlife in the area, but I’m not going to begrudge any animal photography done by Nic Bishop, even if it’s only loosely related to tapirs.

I like the way this book tells how it went — with setbacks as well as triumphs. There were times when the dart didn’t work and times when they captured a tapir that already had a collar.

This series shows that the life of a scientist can be adventurous and exciting. And you’ll find out about tapirs while you’re at it.

I’m posting this review tonight in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today by Abby the Librarian.

sciencemeetsadventure.com
hmhbooks.com
tapirconservation.org.br

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/tapir_scientist.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.