A Tree Full of Wonder: An educational rhyming book about the magic of trees for children
Written by Anna Smithers
Illustrated by Martyna Nejman
What an adorable rhyming picture book! The story begins with a riddle for young readers to ponder.
Children learn how humans and trees are dependent upon each other. Trees give off the oxygen that we breathe in while taking in the carbon dioxide humans breathe out. The author explains how trees are useful. They provide wood and paper for us, stabilize our weather, provide shelter, give us food, and afford countless opportunities for having fun.
At the end of the book, readers can test their knowledge by identifying the twelve different trees mentioned in the book and accepting the challenge to replace the trees that have been cut down.
Highly recommended for primary and elementary grade readers.
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J. S. Burke is the author of the award-winning Dragon Dreamer series. The marine biologist has applied her storytelling talents to a charming fairytale in verse. Bonus features include detailed directions on how to create beautiful snowflakes.
A young girl named Mariah lives in the frozen North. There are no children her age, so she becomes friends with the wind. Seeking to please her, The Wind fashions clouds, and later snowflakes into images to tell Mariah about the creatures and history of the past. Eventually, the Sun decides to join them creating colors and warmth. Soon the ice begins to melt, and the seasons reemerge.
Mariah possesses an insatiable curiosity about her world but also desperately wants friendship and companionship. Will she ever find her proper place in her world?
Burke provides her readers with beautiful verse and imagery, while, at the same time, enthralling them with tales of dragons, dolphins, hummingbirds, herons, and unicorns. She weaves fiction and nonfiction in a charming tale that will especially delight elementary and middle-grade readers, but one that a reader of any age can enjoy.
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It might surprise you to hear that one of the best ways to cultivate a hopeful, optimistic outlook is to practice some radical self-compassion.
Frequently people confuse self-compassion with self-indulgence or even selfishness. But being kind to yourself is just as important as being kind to others, if not more so.
Self-Compassion Makes You More Optimistic
Being kind to yourself means you can stop that vicious cycle of self-blame and recrimination. It prevents you from ruminating on past mistakes and builds your resilience and confidence so you can pick yourself up and get back on track.
When you are kind and encouraging to yourself, your anxiety levels drop, your mood lifts, and you become more optimistic and hopeful about the future.
Cultivate Mindfulness
Perhaps the best way to start your self-compassion practice is to adopt a more mindful attitude to life. Mindfulness focuses on the acceptance of who you are, where you are right now. With all your faults and all your glory. Accept that whatever you’re experiencing and feeling in the present moment is okay.
Mindfulness and self-compassion help you to overcome denial and hesitation in your reality. It allows space for hope to come in.
Accept that Hard Times Are Part of the Deal
Self-compassion accepts that all human lives are a mixture of hard times and good times. Often the bad things that happen are out of your control. All you can do is decide how you’re going to react. Will you be overwhelmed, or will you be angry? Or will you roll with punches, learn from your experiences, and get back on the horse?
In times of fear or illness or natural disasters or any other of life’s stressors, self-compassion allows you to take guilt or blame out of the equation and deal with whatever you’re faced with.
Treat Yourself As You Would A Friend
Take a moment to look at how you’re reacting. What is your self-talk saying to you? Are you reassuring yourself that things will work out okay, or are you beating yourself up for something you did or didn’t do? Would you talk to your best friend like that? How would they feel?
Be as gentle in your self-talk as you would to a loved one who is in crisis. Be loving and kind, and reassuring. Extend the hand of hope to your own heart, and help yourself on the first steps back towards better times.
If you want to create a better world for yourself and others, you need to become an active participant in studying the past to avoid repeating the mistakes others have previously made. Remember, the day you were born you became a character in history. Study the past, avoid its mistakes, learn its lessons, and create a better future for everyone.
The author has a way with words. Sullivan has succeeded in telling 100 stories about history, science, art, and culture and with wit and charm. Young readers will be intrigued by topics like ghosts, curses, snakes, space, and vampires. Each story reveals an adventure and interesting facts. Black and white illustrations accompany many of the chapters. Young readers unwittingly learn a lot while they are laughing and having a great time reading.
This is a book they will want to share with friends and family. Targeting the middle-grade audience ages nine through fourteen, but any age reader will enjoy and appreciate these gems.
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Publisher: Big Ideas Press | ISBN-13: 978-0645099805
I feel like I’m a piece, a fragment that’s missing all the good bits, but I don’t know where to find the rest … the parts I need to work properly. I bet they wouldn’t fit anyway. (Lexy, age 17)
Publisher’s Synopsis: Eight young people navigating high school and beyond, each struggling to hold on – to family, to friends, to a piece of themselves. Perhaps you know them. The bubbly girl who keeps telling you she’s okay. The high achiever who’s suddenly so intense. The young teen obsessed with social media. The boy challenged by communication. Every single day they, and others, are working hard to keep it together. So hard, they don’t see their friends are struggling, too. Through eight imagined stories, Fragments moves from a place of disconnection to connectedness.
The action of Fragments takes place in the minds and hearts of an ordinary group of young people. Their stories encompass anxiety, depression, neurodivergence, gender dysphoria, social media, bullying, family dysfunction, cross-cultural diversity, and more, culminating in a sense of hope. Although set in Australia, their stories could take place anywhere.
From the Playwright: Rarely presenting as neat packages, mental health issues often involve feelings and behaviors with jagged edges and blurred origins. Fragments embodies the theme that stress at home, at school, and in life is challenging young people beyond their usual coping abilities, leaving them disenfranchised and vulnerable. So much of adolescent life is spent looking inwards that it’s perhaps not surprising that mental health issues are often internalized. I wrote Fragments to start a conversation. It’s only when we speak openly about mental health issues – without fear or judgment – that we can chip away at the stigma that prevents many people from seeking help. It is my hope that the work will find its way into schools in Australia and overseas. The publication includes a comprehensive Study Guide, detailing activities and curriculum links for English, Drama/Arts, Health & PE, Civics, and more.
A powerful and timely mental health resource for young people and their families. Essential reading for high school.
Maura Pierlot is an award-winning author and playwright who hails from New York but has called Canberra, Australia home since the early 1990s. Her writing delves into complex issues including memory, identity, self, and, more recently, mental health. Following its sellout 2019 season in Canberra, Maura’s debut professional theatre production, Fragments is being adapted for the digital space, supported by artsACT. The work is published online by Australian Plays Transforms and in print by Big Ideas Press.
Maura is a past winner of the SOLO Monologue Competition, Hothouse Theatre for her play, Tapping Out. Her plays have been performed in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, and Hollywood. A former medical news reporter and editor of Australian Medicine, Maura also writes for children and young adults. In 2017 she was named winner of the CBCA Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program, and recipient of the Charlotte Waring Barton Award, for her young adult manuscript, Freefalling (now True North). Maura’s debut picture book,The Trouble in Tune Town won the 2018 ACT Writing and Publishing Award (Children’s category) along with international accolades.
Maura’s poetry, short stories, microfiction, and essays appear in various literary journals and anthologies. Maura has a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate, each in philosophy, specializing in ethics. When she’s not busy writing, Maura visits schools and libraries as a guest reader and speaker, serves as a Role Model for Books in Homes, and contributes reviews for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s online magazine, Reading Time.
The giveaway begins September 6, 2021, at 12:01 A.M. MT and ends October 6, 2021, at 11:59 P.M. MT.
MY REVIEW OF FRAGMENTS:
FRAGMENTS: Journeys from Isolation to Connection
Written by Maura Pierlot
Fragments is a series of monologues that lend a voice to issues of mental health faced by teens all over the world today. In these monologues, readers follow the struggles of eight teens who seek hope as they fight mental health challenges. Each fight to maintain their connections to family, friends, and the community in which they live. The monologues are representative of the issues faced by youth and adults in the challenging times of which we live.
The actors represent young people around the world struggling with emotional, social, physical, and mental issues during their teenage years. As they reveal themselves, readers at once laugh, cry, feel their pain, and empathize with one or more of the issues described. The actors may appear to be disconnected, but in truth, they are seeking the possibility of connecting with one another.
The study guide included delineates themes, the background of characters, summaries of each monologue, and curriculum guide. While the monologues are matched to the Australian curriculum for high school studies, it can readily be adapted to standards used around the world.
Pierlot’s play provided her audience an opportunity to witness the problems and challenges facing youth today. Now readers of Fragments are given the opportunity to read and ponder the insights of these teens into the causes of mental issues and the realities they present for those who are suffering. Highly recommended read and discussion opportunity for teens and adults.
TOUR SCHEDULE
Monday, September 6, 2021The Children’s Book ReviewTour Kick-OffFragments: Journeys from Isolation to Connection
Ultimate At Home Activities for Kids: 159 ways to keep children busy
Designed by Kate and Chris Stead
This activity book is a parent or caretaker’s go to resource when the kids are bored. The only materials needed are paper, pencils, the internet and common household materials like glue and scissors.
It is not age specific. Some activities are simple enough for preschoolers while others will entertain teens. Here are some of the topics: zoos, Olympics, arts and crafts, movement activities, bears, pirates, legos, music, and libraries.
Children can perform the activities by themselves, in groups, or have a competition.
I highly recommend it for entertaining children of any age.
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One Big Heart: A Celebration of Being More Alike Than Different
Written by Linsey Davis
Illustrated by Lucy Fleming
This is a very short interactive book that parents or teachers may use to discuss diversity with preschool and primary grade children. The author presents the material from a Christian viewpoint. Some families who reject that concept will need to explain or eliminate those parts of the story.
Children are asked to study the pictures and relate how we are all alike, make friendship bracelets, draw faces with different skin tones, and share their favorite foods. The heart activity demonstrates the love we feel within for all.
The book is a good starting point on the topic of multiculturalism.
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This beautifully written picture book is a wonderful addition to the library of late elementary and middle-school students. It relates the story of an African princess who became queen of two African kingdoms of the 1600s.
Njinga survived a difficult birth. After her father breathed life into her, he realized she was a survivor. Despite the jealousy of her older brother, Njinga succeeded in school and observed carefully. When her brother became king, she had to flee, but she returned when the country needed her.
This story is told simply yet eloquently. The illustrations are exquisite. There are beautiful maps, a timeline and historical facts that provide a plethora of information on African and Portuguese history.
I highly recommend the book to parents, teachers and librarians as a valuable reference book on medieval African history. It also provides a strong role model for young women who seek to be the future leaders of tomorrow.
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Publisher’s Synopsis: Who doesn’t love to color beautiful illustrations and learn interesting facts that enrich the mind?
If you also like amazing drawings and cool facts and believe it’s important to impart knowledge and broaden your child’s horizons, the We Can Color! series was created especially for you!
These eleven books cover topics that will interest anyone at any age: Dinosaurs, Vehicles, Aircraft, Space, and Animals from around the world in their natural environment: Farm, Jungle, Ocean, Savannah, Forest, and Desert!
Did you know that the most dangerous animal in the savannah is the hippopotamus? That the oldest koi fish lived to be 226 years old? That some goats can climb trees? And that the terrible T-Rex was not the biggest dinosaurs predator?
How big is the Sun relative to the Earth? What was the first man-made object to reach space? What is the fastest land animal? The tallest? The heaviest?
Did you know that scorpions glow in ultraviolet light? That male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant? That one of the astronauts lost his glove in space? That one of our planets was given its name by a girl in elementary school? And that there is an aircraft that takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane?
Do you know the speed of the fastest truck in the world? Or how much does the heaviest tractor weighs?
What is the price of the world’s most expensive fighter jet? How much does an Air Force One flight hour cost?
What is the most venomous snake in the world? The most venomous jellyfish? The most poisonous frog? And do you know how to distinguish between a mammal and a fish in the ocean? Or how to tell a jaguar from a panther?
Next to each of the 330 full-page illustrations you can color, there are interesting facts: over 1,375 facts throughout the 11 books!
All the books contain full-page original coloring pages that are not repeated!
The extra-large pages are 8.5 x 11 inches in size!
All the illustrations are single-sided to prevent bleed-through and can be torn out and displayed without losing the images on the back!
All the illustrations and information are suitable for ages 5 and up. Children, teens, and adults will enjoy relaxed moments while coloring and learning fun facts!
The We Can Color – Fun & Facts Coloring Books series includes the following books:
What kid would not want this collection of cool coloring books. Space, trucks, animals, oceans, jungles, deserts, and the world as your oyster!
The large outline images are clear and simple enough for a young child to color. But there is a plethora of information packed into each one. Young artists will also learn more than 1300 facts about each of the topics in the series.
Gershowitz provides hours of entertainment for children as young as five that can also be enjoyed by grandparents who are ninety.
I love books like these that provide an outlet of artistic expression and creativity, while expanding and enriching the mind. Highly recommended.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for a chance to win a set of the We Can Color! coloring books, as well as a Crayola Inspiration Art Case Coloring Set!
One (1) grand prize winner receives: A set of the eleven We Can Color! coloring books, as well as a Crayola Inspiration Art Case Coloring Set.
One (1) winner receives: A set of six We Can Color! coloring books.
Anyone Can Draw Unicorns: Easy Step-by-Step Drawing Tutorial for Kids, Teens, and Beginners How to Learn to Draw Unicorns Book 1 (Aspiring artist’s guide)
Written and illustrated by Julia Smith
No mystery here. The book matches its title. Smith presents 35 color pictures of unicorns. Then she gives a step by step method one box at a time to complete the drawing.
If you have a child who is enamored of unicorns, this book provides an opportunity to lend a creative outlet. Smith encourages young artists to add original details to make their drawings unique. She reminds them to practice over and over as artistic expression is a learning curve.
Budding artists who are in late elementary and middle-school will be entertained by the book
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December 15, 2021
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