Category: childrens books

February 15, 2019

Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown and the Schoolyard Bully

Begin to discuss the important topic of bullying with your child using Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown and friends.

About Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown and the Schoolyard Bully

Anna Pierri’s Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown and the Schoolyard Bully is a strong introduction to the concept of bullying through easy-to-read rhymes and vibrant cartoon-style illustrations. In this first book of the series, the reader is introduced to the hero, Buster – a young mouse who’s large for his age and has “a heart that’s as big as a huge Redwood tree.” When trouble (a.k.a. old Rocky Ratnik) comes knocking for his trusty sidekick, Just Billy, Buster learns that dealing with a bully by acting like a bully is not the answer.

My Thoughts

“Because you are bigger and have strength and have might, you should use it for good – not to bully and fight” – Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown

That quote sums up this story for me perfectly. It is a fantastic, rhyming story for young children that addresses size, bullying, standing up for yourself but also using our size for good not just to intimidate. Your child will love the rhymes and bright, bold illustrations and you as the parent will love the lessons that they are learning.

We hear a lot about bullying and fighting in schools (and in general) and I know most schools put a lot of effort in to anti-bullying but sometimes the messages just don’t seem to go through. Some kids use their size to intimidate others or force them to do something they want them to do. While others may use their size to try to stand up for the weak but this can be just as wrong. Children have to learn to find that balance but also be confident in themselves to stand up and use their voices for change.

This book follows Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown (we had so much fun with his name!), who is a mouse that is large for his size and has four sisters. He has a good and kind heart and wants to protect those around him, something to be admired! He meets Just Billy (his new best friend), who is quite small for his age, intelligent but worried he is not as strong and who tends to get picked on by the larger students. Together they make a plan to stop Just Billy from being picked on but it doesn’t quite work out as planned as Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown appears to be the bully to the school teacher after pushing the real bully to the ground (and very kindly apologizes for wanting to hit the bully, which so many children can relate to!).

This is a wonderful book for you and your child to read together and begin the process of talking about bullying, peer pressure and how to stand up for ourselves. It gives them tools but also allows you to talk to them about what is going on in their own lives and help guide them in their own reactions. This will be a great resource and starting point for parents and children.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

About the Author

ANNA PIERRI calls Caledon, Ontario, home, where the local wildlife, and especially the mice, give her daily inspiration for her writing. An avid storyteller from a young age, Pierri realized her dream of becoming an author with the Buster Bartholomew Benjamin Brown series. She is also the founder of Ruby Two Shoes Publishing Inc.

About the Illustrator

STEVE SLAWICH’s vibrant and animation-style artwork in the Buster series draws from his years of cartooning experience and working with licensed children’s products for companies like Nelvana and Disney Studios, where he had a six-year, full-time stint drawing another famous mouse. Slawich currently lives with his wife and son in Huntersville, North Carolina.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

February 4, 2019

Bring Star Wars to Life with Star Wars Maker Lab

Ever wanted to move things without touching them like a Jedi can? Or grow your own kyber crystal? Now you can (and maybe just maybe you can share with your child!).

About Star Wars Maker Lab

With 20 amazing projects, Star Wars™ Maker Lab teaches your child how to become a Master of science, in both the real world and the Star Wars galaxy. Using clear step-by-step instructions, the book guides scientists and makers through each experiment – from making Jabba’s gooey slime or a hovering landspeeder, to an Ewok catapult and a glowing Gungan Globe of Peace. Each experiment has fact-filled panels to explain the real-world science as well as the Star Wars science fiction from the movies.

With projects that are out of this world, this Star Wars book can keep children entertained for hours, making use of many household items such as cardboard tubes, baking soda, cornstarch, straws, balloons, and food coloring. There is also plenty to keep adventurous scientists engaged, with instructions on how to make your own bristlebot mouse droid, lightsaber duel, and Mustafar volcano. Star Wars Maker Lab supports STREAM topics and helps children to learn the basics of science by traveling through the Star Wars galaxy.

My Thoughts

This beautiful hard cover book is a child (and adults) dream come true. We are huge Star Wars fans although we do argue over if the newer or older movies are better (I still love the oldies!). This bold, vibrant book is full of ideas that help make the popular series come to life.

I have to be honest, some of the experiments would require you to have to go out and make a special purchase as you may not have them lying around the house. Which is perfectly okay – you just would have to plan out the projects to ensure you had every item (I don’t own a hamster ball but that project looked like so much fun).

We decided to tackle making Kyber crystals this weekend. I had most of the items needed except for clothespins but we improvised and it still worked. The kids loved the craft but were a bit impatient with wanting to eat the crystals as soon as possible. I loved how the book explained the process of creating the cyrstals and how it worked while incorporating a Star Wars theme. I was also a bit impatient and kept pulling the skewers out of the solution to check on the state of the crystal formation, this was fascinating to watch even as an adult!

This is an excellent craft book for any Star Wars fan. You will want to plan ahead to ensure you have everything you need to create the crafts but you will not be disappointed (our next item to tackle is creating our own light sabres – awesome right?). The instructions are easy to follow, a lot of illustrations to help you along the way and helpful hints (like watch the hot sugar boiling but this Mom still managed to splash herself!). Enjoy hours of Star Wars themed fun with this book – you will never have a dull PA or snow day again!

You can learn more about this book on the DK Canada website and purchase a copy on Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

January 28, 2019

Making Math Fun with The Incredible Math Games Book

Kid approved games in a book that makes math a win win for parents and kids a like!

About The Incredible Math Games

The interactive The Incredible Math Games Book will capture and hold your child’s attention, making practicing math and play one and the same. With games like Zip to Zero, Shape Stepper, Math Maze, Times Tables Tug-of-War and more, kids will learn key math concepts while having fun. Everybody wins!

You can roll the dice, move the counters, lift-the-flaps, and learn with this fun-filled math game book designed for children ages 6-9.

My Thoughts

Math can be a very touchy topic for parents and students. The way math is taught in schools is quite different now (and the way my eldest learned math in grade two is now different then how my youngest is learning it) and sometimes we all struggle a bit. If you have a child going through a rough patch with math skills, it can be quite difficult at home and at school – they will not want to learn, may yell and even refuse to do the extra work sheets that come home.

I know that my kids usually learn the best when they are engaged, having fun and being hands on (I am the same way too – I am definitely a hands on learner). I had fantastic teachers throughout my elementary and high school years and what I remember the most is that they made the traditionally tougher classes of math and sciences FUN. Whether that was through games, hands on labs – the key was to grab our attention, get us laughing and in turn learning.

The Incredible Math Game Book incorporates important math skills with fun games, thinking questions and hidden answers. We were able to play a version of snakes and ladders, mazes, counted backwards to zero and so much more but it all centered around basic math skills of addition and subtraction. We could open up the flaps to reveal hidden questions or answers to some of the tougher questions. I loved that it got our minds working each time, even when we played the version of snakes and ladders – it was us prompting our son with questions like ‘you rolled a three – seventeen plus three equals?’ and him giving us his answer in order to move his marker. Even though we were having fun and playing games, he was still learning (and it even got my mind working – I am not the greatest at counting backwards!). The Incredible Math Game Book is an excellent teaching tool for you to have in your home that beats traditional work sheets hands down.

You can learn more about this book on the DK Canada website and purchase a copy on Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

November 23, 2018

The Children’s Cookbook Review

The Children’s Cookbook is full of delicious dishes kids will want to make over and over again.

About Children’s Cookbook

The Children’s Cookbook brings to life simple recipes from breakfast to light meals to main dishes to even baking for your child and yourself to prepare together. With beautiful full-color photography, simple instructions, and a focus on safety, each one makes an ideal cook-together project that will have children excited to try the new flavors in the dishes they helped make. The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow and feature a picture for every step, so children can see clearly just what to do as they build basic cooking skills, safe kitchen practices, and adventurous palates.

Our Thoughts

Empowering your child with the knowledge, skills and confidence to cook in the kitchen is so important. I still remember my first week on my own in my first apartment and my spouse asking me to make a boiled egg. I can now laugh about it but at the time my response was how the heck do I make a boiled egg??! My parents had always done this for us as kids and in our teen years so I never had to do this on my own. I had no idea where to start and this is not an over exaggeration, I didn’t know what temperature to put the stove at, how long to cook them and how to cook them properly so I don’t make everyone sick. I wont even mention when I had to cut an onion for the first time – I wasn’t even quite sure where to start, which side to cut first and how big/small it should be, my spouse had a fantastic time laughing at me over this one.

As parents, it is so important for us to teach our children these life skills so one they wont repeat our mistakes but most importantly so that they are ready to tackle the world once they leave our nest (because really we don’t want them living on five minute rice and breakfast sausages every day for months on end – not speaking from too much personal experience here!).

This book is perfect for young children and even for teens who are just starting out in the kitchen.

It is bright, bold and to the point – there is no question about what each step is asking you to do, there is the proper safety notes in place and they use ingredients you will have on hand. I joke about the boiled egg but in all honesty, children need to be shown these simple meal items. I loved that they included simple things like boiled and scrambled eggs. They also include items like making your own pizza from scratch, naan bread, chicken curry and a variety of delicious recipes from various cultural backgrounds. There is something for everyone in this book. The step by step photos are a huge bonus, I am a visual learner so this helped me greatly. You can compare what you are doing to the pictures and make corrections. There is something for all skill levels, make sure you start off easier but then as your child’s confidence grows – choose something harder. The possibilities are endless and the big bonus? Your child spending quality time with you in the kitchen. A complete win win for this Mom.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

July 18, 2018

Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock: Four Phonics Stories

Meg and Greg is a new series of chapbooks from Elspeth and Rowena Rae designed to help dyslexic children rediscover the joy of reading.

About Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock

For many children with dyslexia, the switch from being having books read to them to early readers is difficult. Words become too complex, or stories at their reading level are too simplistic to be interesting. As a result, these children often lose interest in reading completely.

A Duck in a Sock, the first installment in the Meg and Greg series, is designed specifically for young readers with dyslexia, allowing children to practice reading age-appropriate words while engaging with a truly exciting text. It includes a range of specially designed, unique features, including:

A story divided into two parts: one set of text for adults, using wider vocabulary and longer sentences to make the story interesting and engaging; one for children, using tightly controlled words and shorter sentences.
A typeface that mirrors hand-printed letters, enabling children to recognize letter shapes more familiar to them.
Children’s text printed on shaded paper to reduce the contrast between text and paper—something cited as a difficulty for some children with dyslexia.

Our Thoughts

I am a passionate reader – I have always been this way since I was young. My parents could always find me curled up with a good book. I try to always encourage my boys to embrace the joys of reading. I know that it is not always easy for children and parents. We even went through our own difficulties. Reading can be a challenge for some children and the learning process difficult for parents.

Meg and Greg is a book designed to help young children who are struggling in learning to read and their parents (who may not know how to help their children) succeed. I loved that the stories were exciting and used language that was natural for us to read aloud. Some readers can be awkward and the stories unexciting when you read them together. This is not the case for these two amazing young children – they save a sloth, lose and rescue a fish and even save farm animals. The story can be read together as you start out, then you can encourage your child to read the shorter lines while you read the longer sentences either together or to them. As they progress, they can definitely tackle the challenge of reading the longer sentences.

What I really thought was fantastic was the font – they specifically used font that children can recognize. So many times when we are out and my youngest is trying to read signs, he is frustrated by companies that use a funny font that he can’t recognize (not to mention the confusion when companies purposely put a letter backwards!). This was done on purpose so that children recognize the letters and can read the words easily.

Meg and Greg is a four-story book that is an excellent tool for parents to help their child on their reading journey. I found it not only great for children with learning difficulties but all children in general. It incorporates so many great ideas on how to help children succeed which helps to empower them in their journey. This is a definite must have book for young readers!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Authors

Elspeth Rae is a certified Orton Gillingham teacher for children with dyslexia and other language-based learning difficulties. She runs the 44 Sounds Orton Gillingham Learning Studio where she teaches reading, spelling, and writing to children ages 4-12. She lives with her husband and three children in Vancouver, BC.

Rowena Rae has an M.A. in science writing and two biology degrees. She works as a freelance editor and children’s writer. She has written science and nature articles for a children’s magazine, Yes Mag, and writes nonfiction books. She lives with her two children in Victoria, BC.

Elisa Gutiérrez is an award-winning book designer and illustrator. She is author/illustrator of Picturescape and Letter Lunch, the first of which was shortlisted for a BC Books Prize. She lives with her husband and two children in Vancouver, BC.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.