WWW Wednesdays – May 23, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
I’m still reading Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. I’ve been busy working on several projects at night and I’ve had little time to read. The book’s font size is also a little small for me, which doesn’t help with the reading speed.

 

- What I recently finished reading

Nothing new since last week. :-(

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan and  Bret Witter. With almost 600 five-star ratings on Amazon, I have a feeling this book is quite special. It tells the true story of a decorated U.S. soldier who came back from Iraq physically and emotionally injured, and how a golden retriever helped with his recovery. Tissues, please…

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Wild & Woolly by Mary Jessie Parker. Wild, a bighorn sheep, and Wooly, a ranch sheep, decide to try each other’s lives for a day but find out they prefer their own after all. At the end of the story, I love asking my kids which sheep’s life they’d prefer to have and why. It gives me great insight on their thinking patterns and personal tastes.
-  Little Monkey Lost by Keith DuQuette. Little Monkey is bored and decides to find adventure in the jungle. There he meets nine different kinds of monkeys who teach him fun new things. The end of the book features many facts about the New World Monkeys pictured and my kids like sharing the names and facts of each monkey type.
- The Birdwatchers by Simon James. “When I go birdwatching, things happen,” Grandad says. After hearing so many stories about birdwatching from her grandfather, Jess decides to join him one day. By the end of the day, she’s had the opportunity to seen plenty of birds, including a pair of dancing penguins! A very sweet story teaching respect about nature.

- What they recently finished reading
- Dinorella : A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards. What a wacky and funny story: imagine Cinderella but featuring dinosaurs. And I hope you don’t have a problem enunciating the letter D because this book is full of Ds! As in, “Dinorella is dying to go to the dance, but her dreadful stepsisters, Doris and Dora, declare she’s too dowdy and dull.” Fairy-Dactyl to the rescue!
- I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson. This is the poignant story of the son of a sharecropper who dreams of leaving Mississippi on a train with the legendary engineer Casey Jones and his black fireman Sim Webb. My kids are a little too young to grasp all the concepts in this book (slavery, cotton picker, the great migration, etc) but it was a great introduction. I also had no idea who Casey Jones was until then, but the last page of the book gives a lot of information about him and the themes in general, so this was a good lesson for all of us.

- What I think they’ll read next
I got so many books from the library this past week, you wouldn’t believe. I’m sure there’s some good stuff in there! What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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WWW Wednesdays – May 16, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. So far I’m enjoying it, especially since I have no idea where the story is going.

 

- What I recently finished reading

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. What a wonderful book, mixing  words, detailed pencil illustrations, even a few photographs so well. What a beautiful story, where strangers find out they’re all connected in one way or another. What a great mystery to be solved, piece by piece, just like the gears of the automaton Hugo tries to fix. And what great homage to the history of cinema. I recommend this amazing works of art to all children from 8 to 99.

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

My to-read bookshelf is almost empty so I’ll have to see if something new arrived at the library or if I need to pick a book from my own collection.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. We LOVE this book as it is simply hilarious! Floyd’s kite gets stuck in a tree, so the boy tries to knock it down by throwing increasingly larger and more outrageous things. You’d think when he grabs a ladder, and later on a saw, he’d finally use them right. But no, he keeps throwing them up the tree!
- Bedhead by Margie Palatini. This book is for anyone who’s ever had a bad hair day, and forgot it was picture day…
- Bad Boys Get Cookie! by Margie Palitini. The Bad Boys are back! Wolves Willy and Wally try to satisfy their sweet-tooth craving by chasing down a runaway gingerbread man. Unfortunately they try to attract it by dressing up as Hansel and Gretel, only to run into a witch in front of her gingerbread house who offers them to come inside for some sweets. Very funny!

- What they recently finished reading
I’d like to recommend a few books for the younger crowd (age 2-4) we recently read because we really liked them, even though my kids are getting too old for them.
- Jazzy in the Jungle by Lucy Cousins. In this book full of die-cut pages, the jungle animals help Mama JoJo find her baby lemur Jazzy.
- Wow City! and Wow School! by Robert Neubecker. We’ve read them before so this was a request for seconds (probably thirds). In Wow City! Izzy takes a trip to the big city with her father, and in Wow School! she starts her first day at school. In both books, a yellow dog is hiding somewhere in the picture on every spread. My kids just requested Wow America! again and I just saw that a brand new Wow Ocean! is coming out tomorrow. I’ll have to check my library for this one…

- What I think they’ll read next
I ordered a whole bunch of early reader books so we’ll find out if they’re any good soon enough. What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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How to ignite creativity

All kids are full of creative juices just waiting to flow.  They may not be talented at everything, but give them a box of crayons and they instantly know what to do with it. Give that box of crayons to an adult and just wait for the deer-in-the-headlight look. You want me to do what? Draw? I can’t draw. No five-year old is ever going to tell you he can’t draw.

My five-year old loves to draw every day, without prompting. He can’t wait to come back from school every day to draw with his colored pencils, since his school desk only features Crayola crayons, which are useless for any detailed drawing if you ask me. He also loves making up stories, usually involving warriors of some kind, maybe pirates or astronauts. Here’s one of his latest artistic renditions. Superman’s red laser eyes was a nice touch. I say, not bad, for a kid who’s not even six.

Superman drawing

My son happens to be in a kindergarten / first grade combo class and gets to stay very busy during the day doing the kindergarten work, then the first grade work, then the optional work. After a few months of formal schooling, he’s realized he can not only draw, but also write down his thoughts and ideas.

He recently started writing a long story at school during his independent study time. He wrote it on lined paper, without drawing a single picture. He used both sides of his paper but still wasn’t done. That’s when his teacher offered him to cut up some paper and staple it together like a small book. He was thrilled and rewrote his whole story on this new book format, leaving blank pages to draw across the text. He wrote the story at school, then brought the book home and drew all the illustrations (remember, we have the good colored pencils). Here’s the front cover of “The Ninja and the Samurai” (we’re still working on spelling beyond phonics). That night he read his book to his brother and me. Sweet.

The Ninja and the Samurai book

The next day, he brought his completed book back to school and asked his teacher if he could read it in front of the whole class. Er, how many of us adults would volunteer to read our book out loud in front of our peers? I’m sure he was beaming with pride.

Well, today his teacher came over to tell me that, by reading his book in front of the class and showing his peers how he wrote it (he used an outline, ha! Carrie at The Write Transition will love to hear that), he inspired at least half of his classmates to write their own books. How cool is that???

I thanked his teacher last week for allowing my son to write his book in class and she mentioned storywriting was an option, but no other kid took advantage of it but my son. This week he managed to inspire half his class to let their creative juices flow. Talk about positive peer influence!

Now for the sad part, I should note my son just finished writing his very first book, while I still haven’t written a single page of mine. How pathetic is that? Oh, wait a minute. I actually feel quite inspired. But let me grab a glass of wine first. I need some creative juices of my own.

WWW Wednesdays – May 9, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
I’ll be starting The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick tonight. The movie Hugo is based on this book. It’s over 500 pages long but I think half the pages are illustrations so this should be a fast read. I’ll want to find out if my five-year old would be interested in this story (recommendations say age 9+).

 

- What I recently finished reading

Two Truths and A Lie by Sara Shepard, the third book in The Lying Game series. I just finished this book last night. There are so many twists and turns! The previous suspects seem to be exonerated now, and previously exonerated suspects are now back on the list. Can Emma trust anyone in Sutton’s world and will Sutton’s murderer ever be brought to justice? This has to be one of the best murder mystery/thriller series I’ve read in a long time and I can’t wait to read the next one. Hopefully my nails will regrow a bit by then.

 

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. Shawn Achor’s writing style is very entertaining and helps get the point across when it comes to the benefits of positive psychology. He describes the seven principles we can follow, both at work and in our daily lives, to retrain our brains and think more positively. I enjoyed some of the exercises he suggests to create a more positive and optimistic mindset. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about positive psychology, and even to people who want to figure out why so many individuals walk around with a dark cloud over their heads all the time.

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

I have a few books on my bookshelf but I need to check which one will need to go back to the library first before I start reading.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Just One Bite: 11 Animals and Their Bites at Life Size by Lola Schaefer. This super interesting and beautifully illustrated book shows what 11 animals eat and how much they eat in a single bite. Watch out for the last spread, where a sperm whale sucks in a giant squid in one single bite! And everything in the book is up to scale, yikes!
- Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens (a Caldecott Honor book). Hare lost his land in a bet with the tortoise and his family is going hunry. But he manages to turn his bad luck around by striking a deal with the land-rich but lazy bear down the road. He will share everything he grows on the bear’s land. Well at least the top or bottom parts… My kids LOVED how smart the hare is, and how the story ends well for everyone.

- What they recently finished reading
- Ali, Child of the Desert by Jonathan London. On a trip to the Moroccan market town of Rissani, Ali becomes separated from his father during a sandstorm in the Sahara desert. Rescued by a very kind and selfless goatherd and his grandson, Ali needs to decide if he will leave with the goatherd for more fertile lands, or stay until he finds his father, facing possible death. A wonderful, WONDERFUL book about courage, resourcefulness and kindness. Every kid should read this beautiful story.
- Bus Ride Bully by Lori Mortensen. Gavin hates riding the bus because Max, the bus bully, is always picking on him. But when Max is gone for a few days, Gavin starts to worry and decides to pay him a visit. That’s when Gavin discovers quite a different Max. A great book on bullying.

- What I think they’ll read next
My request list is getting shorter at the library so I need to order more books, but so far, I’m not sure about the themes to search by.

What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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WWW Wednesdays – May 2, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. The book is very interesting so far, pulling data from various studies and Achor’s own observations of human behavior. I’ll have a more complete review after I finish the book.

 

- What I recently finished reading
Michael Scott’s The Warlock (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel). The last book of the series is coming out in the next few weeks and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

 

- What I think I’ll read next

 Two Truths and A Lie by Sara Shepard, the third book in The Lying Game series. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to read what happens in this one, even though I know I’ll probably anxiously bite my nails and lose a few hours of sleep staying up to read it.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Captain Flinn and the pirate dinosaurs by Giles Andreae. This book is PERFECT! Where else can you find not only pirates AND dinosaurs, but pirate dinosaurs? Add a battle on the seas and swordfights and you end up with delighted children.
- Purr-fect Pete by Samantha Hay. Pete is the new acro-cat addition to the circus team. He’s very little, doesn’t eat fish and smells like stinky cheese, but he’s the best on the team. Is Purr-fect Pete keeping a secret? My kids LOVED the surprising twist.
- Are you going to be good? by Cari Best. Robert is attending his first night party to celebrate Great-Gran Sadie’s 100th birthday, and his parents request him to use his best manners. Things don’t go as planned, but Robert is the one who ends up entertaining the guest of honor best.

- What they recently finished reading
- Badness for beginners : a Little Wolf and Smellybreff Adventure by Ian Whybrow. Little Wolf and his brother Smellybreff get a lesson in badness from Mom and Dad, and Little Wolf is having a hard time being bad…
- What’s the time, Little Wolf? by Ian Whybrow. Little Wolf and his brother play a naughty trick on a few rabbits in their quest for dinner. We loved the shocking ending (stuffed rabbits for dinner, anyone?), as it shows life as it is, at least for a family of hungry wolves.
- If A Chicken Stayed For Supper by Carrie Weston. Five little foxes promise their mother not to leave the den when she goes out hunting for a chicken for supper. Unable to resist going outside to play in the dark, they meet a chicken who will lead them safely back home. Oops, what will they do with the chicken who just helped them out?

- What I think they’ll read next
I have no idea, but I’m sure it will be lots of fun books!

What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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