Wow, this large sized book filled with photographs and illustrations is a book that I wish I would have had as a kid. The Kids Guide to Nature Adventures would be a great book to give to your kids at the beginning of summer to keep them entertained on those days when they are sure to say that they are bored and don’t have anything to do. This book solves that problem because it has plenty of things to do which are definately not boring; they are fun and filled with learning experiences.
There are chapters on Hiking, Camping, Wildlife, Mini-Wildlife, Plant Life, Exploring The Shore, and Night Life. Each chapter has activities, helpful hints, photographs and exploratory ideas. It is so interesting in fact that I do believe a child looking for something to do will find it between these pages and not even realize that they are learning valuable information!
While the book fosters the idea of exploring the world we live in it also instills practical and solid information about the proper ways to do so; keeping safety and conservation in mind. I really like how the book teaches kids to practice independent outdoor skills but also, instills the wisdom of keeping adults involved and informed about the activities.
This book is a few years old, it was published in 2003 by Lark Books, a division of Sterling Publishing Co, Inc. It was written by Joe Rhatigan and the photographs were taken by John Widman.
There are some really great tips in this book for a crash course in survival in the wild. The book, How To Survive In The Wilderness gives great ideas on how to prepare for an adventure out in the wilderness should you be interested in hiking or camping or even just exploring some unknown areas. However, not everyone who gets lost in the wild has been on an adventure that they have prepared for.
Sometimes people find themselves in the wilderness due to an accident or through a natural disaster. Tim O’Shei gives practical advice whether you are an adult or a child that can save your life if you should find yourself out in the wilderness without preparation. He teaches you how to find or make a shelter in all kinds of weather. He warns you about where you should build your shelter and why you need to consider changing weather patterns when you do build one.
In the book, Tim teaches you how to make a fire, how to find water when there is no obvious lake, river or pond; he even talks about warming up snow to get water so that you don’t lower your body temperature by just eating snow. This is important to maintain your body temperature because it could mean life or death.
There is a section in the picture book on finding food in the wild. He talks about what to look for and what to avoid; so that you don’t get sick from eating the wrong things. He also tells you how to store your food so that it doesn’t draw wild animals to your campsite or shelter; because that could be dangerous to have wild animals looking for food in the area where you are staying.
Another important part of the book teaches you how to make SOS signals that will get noticed by rescuers. They tell you where is the best place to go to be found. Some more practical advice given says not to go far from your original starting point. How to avoid getting trapped in the lowest valleys in case of flooding…and how to use the sky for directions when trying to find your way out of the wilderness.
How to survive in the wilderness is a book that is very useful. I think both boys and girls will enjoy learning some basic information on being independent in the woods. This book was published in 2009 by Capstone Press. You can find their website here: http://www.capstonepress.com It appears that there are about 6 titles in this series of How To Survive…. but they are not all by the same author. The other titles are: How to survive a flood, How to survive an eathquake, How to survive a tornado, How to survive being lost at sea, How to survive on a deserted island.
Marjorie Priceman has written a wonderful book of whimsy about making a cherry pie. She starts off telling us what we will need to make the pie, after she gives us a recipe. She tells us where to get the items we need to make the pie; at the cook shop. However, if the cook shop is closed…oh no, what do we need to do then? All of a sudden making a cherry pie becomes much more complicated and we need to do some traveling to get the supplies we need.
The book has a map of the United States and we do use it to travel to get the supplies that we need to make our cherry pie. Step by step the author teaches us to use some critical thinking to solve the problem of getting what we need. She takes us to states that have interesting facts and natural resources that when we put them to use will allow us to get the items that are needed for pie making. We really do see what the country has to offer us as we travel.
The illustration is colorful and fun. Who knew that there was so much activity required to make a cherry pie? This children’s picture book was published by Alred A Knopf in 2008. You can visit their website here: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids .
I love this children’s book called, The Storyteller’s Candle. It is the story of a woman named Pura Belpre who was born in Puerto Rico. She became the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City. She brings her rich culture and her story telling abilities to the city where many latino’s had come to begin a new life. The library was viewed by them to be off limits to them. They did not know of the richness of culture inside the walls of the library…of the books written not only in English but also in Spanish.
Soon, the story telling room was transformed into a place that celebrated their Spanish culture in an environment that had previously seemed so cold and foreign to them having coming from a tropical island. This story is written in both English and Spanish. It is rich in history, in emotion and in culture. Mrs. Belpre puts on a fiesta complete with a parade, dances and a play. She uses puppets in her story telling at school which is where the children first learned about her work at the library. I think adults and children alike will enjoy it.The illustrations are realistic and golden and represent the latino culture well. The pictures take us back in time and show what New York City was like back then.
It was written by Lucia Gonzalez and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. It was published by Children’s Book Press in 2008. You can see their website here: http://www.childrensbookpress.org .
This is a great book for kids. This handbook shows wonderful illustrations for performing magic tricks with ropes and coins. It also gives you wonderful tips for preparing ahead of time to do a trick, gives information about what props are needed to do the tricks; and, the book also gives ideas and hints on performing the tricks in the best way possible. There are even little snippets about famous and skilled magicians and tricks that they were known for.
For those who have not performed in front of an audience…there are some helpful ideas on how to relax your audience and help them focus on what you want them to focus on and how to distract them from the things that you dont want them to notice while performing a trick. For tricks that use slight of hand motions there are some behind the scenes suggestions that will keep the audience guessing about how the magician was able to perform such a neat trick.
Kids will love this book so that they can amaze anyone by doing these tricks in front of them. It will make them an instant hit with their peers when they know how the trick is done and their friends do not.
The author of the book is Joe Fullman, the editor is Amanda Askew, the designer is Jackie Palmer, the illustrator is Mark Turner for Beehive Illustrations. The publisher is Steve Evans and the creative director is Zeta Davies. The book was published by QEB Publishing, Inc in 2008. Their website can be found here: http://www.qeb-publishing.com
The Day Leo Said, I Hate You is a children’s picture book which communicates to both child and parent the importance of communication. Leo is struggling during his day because everything that he finds to do to entertain himself is earning him a laundry list of “No’s” from his mother.
Mom clearly is telling Leo that there are times that she has to say no; however, Leo feels very put upon because he isn’t being allowed to do what he wants. He resents the word no and he resents being told no by his mother. In fact, Leo hates the word no. Finally, in an overflow of emotion…Leo mistakenly tells his mother that he hates her. He instantly regrets it and mom feels she must teach Leo the difference between hating things and circumstances; and, telling people that he hates them.
The pictures in this picture book are designed well to show the activities and the emotions that the characters are feeling. The feelings that Leo feels are intense and so this book uses a really great true to life situation to be a teachable moment. Leo not only says something wrong, he chooses to act out while he is angry; which gets him told no once more. Leo has made a mistake and by talking things through learns how to correct his error and make things right. Mom shows that even when mistakes are made, there is forgiveness to be had. She shows love to her child even when he has done wrong. I think this book will be a wonderful way to use a book meant to educate and entertain to also help build an opportunity for character building. I think kids from 2-10 can benefit from this book and enjoy it as well.
The author of the book is Robie H. Harris. She has a website here: http://www.robieharris.com/ . The illustrator of the book is Molly Bang. Her website is here: http://www.mollybang.com/ . The book was published by Little, Brown and Company in 2008. Their website is: http://www.lb-kids.com .
Ten things that I can do to help my world, is a nice picture book that was written for children ages 3 and up. It starts training the very young child to start thinking about how he or she impacts the world by the choices that they make. It encourages them at their level to turn off light, save water when doing personal care; to be mindful of what they throw away and how they treat the other life forms on the planet.
By teaching them to make healthier and greener choices at such a young age…this book has the ability to impact their long term actions which can only help them to be more aware of the decisions that they make. The books pictures are cute and simple; they are very relatable to a young child’s world view.
While the lessons appear to be simple it really goes to the core of protecting our planet and our own health. The book even encourages a little one to choose walking over other forms of transportation. This is something that needs to be encouraged just as much as the recycling…exercising and taking care of ourselves and the Earth.
This book was written by Melanie Walsh and it was published by http://www.candlewick.com/.
Percival’s Party is a book to delight the senses of the eye. There are brillant colors on every page in the book. Percival is a butterfly with wonderful friends who are determined to help Percival have the best party in town.
This book shows the joy of teamwork, friendship, and artistry. I think most young children will enjoy the storyline as well as the shiny mylar colors. The great thing about this book is the design of it…as it is a sturdy board book that will stand the test of time and the wear and tear of excited young fingers who will eagerly turn the pages.
No this is not a “new” book…it was copyrighted in 2002 . The author is Jill Turner and the illustrator is Peter Townsend. Here is the website for the book. sales@thebookcompany.com.au The publisher is Glenn Johnstone