April is Save the Environment Month on TTLG - A review

For Save the Environment Month I have found several delightful board books for little children. Here is my review of one of them.

This is our world: A Story about taking care of the Earth

Emily Sollinger

Illustrated by Jo Brown

Board/Novelty Book

Ages 2 to 5

Simon and Schuster, 2010, 978-1-4169-7821-3

   Many children are natural environmentalists. Without being told a great deal about why we should preserve and protect the environment, they are eager to do their part because it makes sense to them. This charming little board book will giving budding young environmentalists all kinds of information about what they can do to make the planet happier. Not only that, but every double page spread contains a puzzle piece that children can remove and then use to create a puzzle in the back of the book.

   On every double page spread one aspect of environmental action is explored. Children will learn about planting trees, cleaning up a beach, how to make something useful out of recycled items, and why planting a family garden helps everyone. With warm and bright illustrations and an easy to follow text, this is a perfect book to share with little children.

  

Let's Get our Children outdoors again

Here in Ashland, Oregon, I live in a town where people are very active, where wild places are just a short ride away, and where children have plenty of outdoor spaces to play. Because of this, most of the children in this town are fit and healthy and they are environmentally aware because they have nature all around them.


Unfortunately many children don't live in places where they can easily splash in a stream or hike up a trail. I was recently in New York City, and though there are many parks in the city ( including lovely Central Park) these spaces are often far away from a child's home. Many children in big cities simply don't have easy access to big school grounds and parks, grass to roll on, bike paths to ride on. If they want to play outdoors parents and caregivers have to plan an outing. For the week of April 19 through 25 (National TV Turnoff Week) consider turning off your T.V and make plans to got to a park, to ride a bike, or to plant some flowers in flower pots for a window sill or a patio. National TV Turnoff Week ties in beautifully with Earth Day, which is on April 22nd. Celebrate this day by helping your children get back in touch with the natural world all week long. 

Worried that "childhood play [has] officially moved indoors," the people at American Girl have decided to address the problem in their own way. They have released a new doll, Lanie, who is "a thoughtful, energetic girl who discovers the world in her own backyard." There is "convincing research [that] shows that today’s children spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, leading to inactivity and increases in childhood obesity, attention deficit disorders, and even depression." The hope is that playing with Lanie and reading her stories in the Lanie books will encourage youngsters to see that there is a whole world of fun to be found outside.  "Written by acclaimed author Jane Kurtz, the Lanie books—Lanie and Lanie’s Real Adventures—introduce readers to ten-year-old Lanie Holland. Lanie loves wildlife and the outdoors, but her family prefers to do things at home—and inside. When Lanie’s adventurous and outdoorsy aunt comes to stay with them, Lanie finds a kindred spirit and learns to connect with the natural world around her. Through everyday experiences—growing a garden, bird-watching, camping in her backyard, and creating a butterfly habitat—Lanie discovers how everything in nature is connected and learns there’s a wide, wonderful world right outside her door. To further engage readers, a section at the back of each book includes letters from real girls who, like Lanie, are looking for ways to enjoy the outdoors."


In addition to bringing out the Lanie doll, American Girl is supporting the National Wildlife Foundation Be Out There program. This program encourages children to get outdoors, to get active, and to connect with nature on a meaningful level.


If National TV Turnoff Week is rainy or cold in your area, you can always turn to books. Sylvan Dell Publishing has a gift for you for this special week. They are inviting readers to read some free e-books on their website. Take a look here to see what they are offering.

April is Save the Environment Month on TTLG - A review - April 14th

Welcome to another review for Save the Environment Month on TTLG. This title is a little different, and it will appeal to gardeners and environmentalists alike. Children will love the idea that there is a way to turn household garbage into something that is useful. It might not be glamorous to compost, but it certainly can be fun!


Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth

Mary McKenna Siddals

Illustrated by Ashley Wolff

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 8

Tricycle Press, 2010, 978-1-58246-316-2

   You may not know this, but there are many ways to recycle. Of course you can take bottles, cans, newspapers, and boxes to the recycling center, but you can also recycle other things – you can compost items from your home and turn them into good rich soil that you can use in your garden.

   So what is composting anyway? Composting is when you take biodegradable items and put them in a bin of some sort. Over time what you put into this bin will break down and turn into soil that you can give back to Mother Earth.

   This book gives you a “recipe” for “environmental chefs” who want to know how to make compost. The ingredients are easy to find and include “Apple cores/Bananas, bruised/Coffee grounds with filters, used.” In fact, all your ingredients for your compost stew are things that you would normally put into a trash can. Add “Kitchen scraps/Laundry lint from dryer traps” to your compost mix, then water it, mix it, and let it sit, and very soon you will have a “dark and crumbly, rich and sweet” gift for Mother Earth.

   This wonderful rhyming picture book will show children how easy, and how fun, composting can be. Children will come to see that composting is yet another way that we can do our part for the environment. With delightful multimedia pictures on ever page (created in part by using recycled and found materials) and a catchy text, this is a perfect book to share with children who are eager to “be green.”

  

Anniversaries - Beverly Cleary's Birthday April 12th

I grew up on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean, and though I was lucky enough to get my hands on a selection of children's books that were published in the United States, some American titles never got to my part of the world at all. These included the books by Beverly Cleary, the author who created the characters Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins, among others. I ended up reading these books when I was an adult, and I have to say that I have enjoyed every single one of them.

Almost three years ago I moved to Oregon, the state where Beverly Cleary was born, and where so many of her stories are based. People here are incredibly proud of Beverly Cleary, and if you go to Portland you can even visit The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden in Grant Park where you can see the statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy - some of the characters that Clearly brought to life in her books.

Today is Beverly Clearly's birthday and I would like to share her story with you:

Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Yamhill County, Oregon. She was raised on a farm in McMinnville, and grew up in Yamhill, with no local access to a library. Beverly’s mother felt that this was a disadvantage for the students at the small farm school, and she made arrangements to have books sent there from the State Library. As a result, Beverly grew to love books.

When Beverly was six years old, her family left the farm and moved to Portland, Oregon, where she attended elementary and high school. Her struggle with reading in this new school setting was blamed partly on her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly on an unpleasant first grade teacher, Mrs. Falb. Also, after six years of living in the country, on a farm, the city life in Portland took a toll on Beverly's health, and in her first-grade year she was frequently ill, which set back her schoolwork and reading skills even further.

In the second grade, Beverly studied under her favorite and most-beloved teacher, Miss Marius, and by the third grade, she had greatly improved her reading ability and found a new enjoyment from books. She read The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins, and became a frequent visitor to the library.

The grammar school librarian was largely responsible for developing Beverly's love of reading. She encouraged Beverly to check out books about subjects to which she could relate. The librarian not only encouraged Beverly to read but also to write her own books, and instilled in Beverly the belief that she too could write for children some day.  

In 1934, age 18, she moved to Ontario, California, to attend Chaffey College, from which she earned an Associate of Arts degree. She worked as a substitute librarian at the Ontario City Library. After graduating with a BA in English in 1938 from the University of California at Berkeley, she studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where she earned a degree in library science in 1939.

As college was expensive, and it was the Depression, Beverly had to work to earn money, through the cooperative education program at the University. One afternoon as Beverly took a break from her chores at work she found herself having a sandwich with a young gentleman named Clarence Cleary, her future husband.

The Library Science degree allowed her to work with young children and develop a relationship with children at all socioeconomic levels. Her first full-time job as a librarian was in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. Beverly sympathized with children who felt that there were no books written about children like themselves. This made Beverly more driven to help provide children with stories to which they could relate.

In response to this experience, she later wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1951. It was about a boy, his dog and their friends, all of whom lived on "Klickitat Street" in Portland (a real street that was only a few blocks from where Cleary grew up as a child). According to Beverly, Henry Huggins and his friends represented all the children she grew up with, and the ones who sat in front of her during library story hours.

As she crafted her first novel, she recalled advice from her mother and incorporated her beliefs that the best writing was simple and filled with humor. She also remembered advice from a college professor who emphasized writing about universal human experience. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters.

The opportunity to work with children as a librarian opened new doors for Beverly Cleary. She wanted to write books for children but was unsure if she had the experiences needed to write what she wanted. A publisher wanted her to write a book about a kindergarten student; Cleary felt that she could not write about this as she had not attended kindergarten. She later changed her mind after the birth of her twins. She learned to add a little wit and charm to her writing for children, with the hope that this would spark an interest in reading among her students and encourage them to want to read more books of this type. She is now an international favorite among children’s authors.

In 1940 she married Clarence T. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. They eloped because Cleary's parents were Presbyterians and did not approve of the union even after it occurred because Clarence was Roman Catholic. Beverly and Clarence Cleary had twins, Marrienne Elizabeth and Malcolm James. Clarence Cleary died in 2004. Beverly Cleary currently lives in Carmel, California.

She has also written two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.

Her books are available in 15 languages in over 20 countries.

Cleary has won many awards, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1975 and the 1984 Newbery Medal for her book Dear Mr. Henshaw. Cleary received the Library of Congress Living Legends award in the Writers and Artists category in April 2000 for her significant contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States. In 1980, Cleary was awarded the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association. She received the National Medal of Arts in 2003.

The Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library, near where she lived as a child, commissioned a map that is on its lobby wall of Henry Huggins's Klickitat Street neighborhood. Statues of her beloved characters Henry Huggins; the Huggins's dog, Ribsy; and Ramona Quimby can be found in Grant Park in Portland, Oregon. In June 2008, the two-campus K–8 school of the same neighborhood, Hollyrood-Fernwood, itself the product of a merger of two schools the previous year, was officially renamed Beverly Cleary School. As a child, Cleary attended the former Fernwood Grammar School, one of the two buildings that make up the school that now bear her namesake.

In 2004, the University of Washington's Information School completed fundraising for the Beverly Cleary Endowed Chair for Children and Youth Services to honor her work and commitment to librarianship. In 2008, the school announced that she had been selected as the next recipient of the Universities Alumnus Summa Laude Dignata Award, the highest honor that the University of Washington can bestow on a graduate.

She also has a residential hall at the University of California, Berkeley, named after her.

Cleary’s books have been published in 15 different languages and have earned many awards. A few examples of awards she has won include a 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw; a 1978 Newbery Honor Book for Ramona and Her Father; a 1982 Newbery Honor Book for Ramona Quimby, Age 8; a 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the Association for Library Services to Children of the American Library Association; the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal; and the Children's Book Council's 1985 Every Child Award. Cleary’s books have been read on PBS and ABC-TV.


Do visit Beverly Cleary's website to find out more about her life and her books. 

A book about Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino

This morning I got an email from Dan Yaccarino, an incredibly talented children's book author and illustrator. He asked me to share a trailer of one of his books with you. The book is about Jacques Cousteau, a man I greatly admired when I was growing up, and whose films helped to set me on the path to becoming a zoologist.




I will have a review of The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau for you as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.

April is National Poetry Month - A review

I gave my daughter this book for Easter and ended up liking it so much that we both decided that I should review it.

Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection

Selected by Michael Rosen

Illustrated by Paul Howard

For ages 8 and up

Poetry

Candlewick Press, 2009, 978-0-7636-4210-5

In this day and age so many of us expect to be constantly entertained when we read. We like titles that have a fast-paced plot, one that will keep us engaged all the way through the book. We are less willing to explore words and the images and emotions that they describe or conjure up. Because of this tendency, we often miss out on some wonderful stories, and we completely bypass poetry. Reading poetry can take a little more work, it is a little more demanding than a simple narrative. At the same time, poetry can give us a wonderfully rich literary experience.

   For this book Michael Rosen, Britain’s Children’s Laureate, has selected classic poetry written by some of the world’s most wonderful English language poets. Some of the poets will be known to the reader, like William Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll, while others will become new friends.

   For each poet Rosen has written a short biography, and so this book is “not only a book of classic poetry; it is also a book of classic poets.” For some of the poets Rosen has chosen more than one poem, and this will help the reader get a richer picture of what the poet cared about.

   In addition to reading poems about Ozymandius, the Mock Turtle, Paul Revere’s Ride, The Jumblies, and much more, readers can read the poet’s biographies, looks at portraits of them, and admire the art that Paul Howard has created to accompany the poems.

   This is a title that young readers will dip into again and again, and it is a book that they will surely enjoy for many years to come.

   

A free demo of Stationary Studio - encourage your children to write!

Yesterday an author friend of mine Peter Reynolds, told me about this great computer program that he helped to develop that children and adults will both love. It is called Stationary Studio and it helps children (and adults for that matter), even the ones who do not like writing, to see that writing can be a lot of fun. The program includes an easy-to-use word processor, decorative elements that Peter created for the program, an easy-to-use layout tool, and more. You can try the program for free and there is no expiration date either. If you like the program and what more templates and bells and whistles you can purchase upgrades. Take a look!

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge - A review

Here is my first review for TTLG's Save the Environment Month. Enjoy!

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

Joanna Cole

Illustrated by Bruce Degen

Picture Book

Ages 7 to 9

Scholastic, 2010, 978-0-590-10826-3

   Ms. Frizzle and her class are going to put on a play about the Earth and “all the changes” that are taking place all over the planet because of global warming. One morning Ms. Frizzle brings in a book for the children to use to help them create pictures for the scenery for their play. Unfortunately, the book is rather out of date and Ms. Frizzle decides that the children need to go on a field trip so that they can better understand what is happening to the Earth and why.

   The adventure begins in the Arctic Sea, and when the children compare the picture in Ms. Frizzle’s book with what they are seeing outside of the school bus window, they quickly realize that there is a lot less ice outside then there was some years ago. Apparently, an area of ice the size of “Texas and California combined” has melted in the Arctic.

   The school bus (actually, it is a plane at this point) flies all over the planet and the children see how global warming is causing problems all over the planet. They see crops being destroyed by freakish weather, rising sea levels, melting permafrost, drought, blizzards, and much more. The question is what is causing all these changes? What is global warming and why is it happening?

   In this excellent Magic School Bus title, children are given a very clear and comprehensive picture of what global warming is, why it is happening, and what all of us can do to protect our home planet from global warming in the future. As with all the Magic School Bus titles this book is packed with information that is presented in a way that is both interesting and visually engaging.

You can find out more about the book on the official book page

Find out more information on Ms. Frizzle’s April 20th Webcast:

Climb on board with author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen on Tuesday, April 20th at 1pm ET / 10am PT as they join Ms. Frizzle to celebrate Earth Day and their new book The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey! Simply register online, then tune in on April 20th and join the fun! Visit the webcast website to register. 

FTC disclaimer: Reviewed from a copy provided by the publisher

April is Save the Environment Month on TTLG

In the current issue of Through the Looking Glass the special feature is Saving the Environment. I have a wonderful collection of books reviewed in this feature, but I also wanted to add to this content by making April TTLG's Save the Environment Month. Every week during April I will be posting additional reviews, articles and more about saving the environment.

I would like to begin by telling you about a unique environment organization called Kids For Saving Earth that was founded by a boy called Clinton.

"Clinton Hill was special......not because cancer tragically took his life at the age of eleven, but because the life he lived displayed courage and sensitivity to the world around him.

He couldn't understand what we were doing to our planet -- we dumped poisons into our skies and rivers and showed neglect for our precious plants and animals. How, he wondered, could we do such things? Of course, we all continue to wonder. But here is where Clint was different. He didn't just wonder. He acted. He started a club for kids, dedicated to peaceful Earth-saving actions. The first club was in his school, Sunny Hollow Elementary in New Hope, Minnesota.

After Clint died, his mother, Tessa, and father, William, carried on Clint's dream of a healthy planet by establishing Kids for Saving Earth(KSE) as a nonprofit organization. Tessa was a teacher so she new that the best way to educate and inspire children is through interested teachers and parents. Since 1989, Kids for  Saving Earth has provided "Education into Action" curriculum to thousands of instructors and parents. As a result there are now hundreds of thousands of kids and grown-ups all over the planet working to protect the Earth. KSE kids gave speeches at the UN, rode on a KSE float in President Bill Clinton's inaugural parade, influenced environmental legislation, greened their schools and participated in thousands of other grass roots activities to help protect our environment.

The mission of Kids for Saving Earth is to educate, inspire, and empower children to protect the Earth's environment. Kids for Saving Earth provides educational materials, posters, and a highly acclaimed web site featuring environmental education curriculum and activities. Many of our programs have been adapted to the Internet to make it faster and less costly to provide Earth-savers with updated information. Through Kids for Saving Earth's Green Shop you can order educational posters, certificates, guidebooks, CD's, "green" gifts and supplies, and much more.

A few examples of environmental programs KSE offers include: Let the Forest Be With You, The Arctic is Cool, The KSE Rainforest, The Rock the World Concert Kit and CD, The KSE Action Guide, The Little Kids Guide for Teachers, The Call to Action, The Wonderful World of Water and much more. Also KSE sends a monthly KSE Conserving Classroom Calendar and a quarterly E-Pa News to all members.  If you are interested in receiving these educational programs, sign up for one of our membership options.

You can join Kids for Saving Earth as a free member and receive an educational packet or you can join as a paid member and receive The KSE Action Guide or Little Kids Guide for Teachers and receive KSE

Promise certificates. Click here to learn more and join KSE.

Kids for Saving Earth is a 501C3 non-profit organization with an all volunteer board of directors. Donations to Kids for Saving Earth are tax deductible."

If you have a child (or children in your life) who cares about the environment visit the KFSE website and show them that there are so many things that they can do to make the world a healthier place to live.

April is National Poetry Month - A review

In case you don't know this already, April is National Poetry Month here in the U.S. In honor of this celebration of poetry I will be reviewing a poetry title once a week during the month. My first review is below. Enjoy!.

On the farm

David Elliot

Illustrated by Holly Meade

Poetry

Ages 4 to 8

Candlewick Press, 2008, 978-0-7636-3322-6

   Farms are very busy places. Not only is there always work to be done, but there are animals of all kinds, big and small, wild and domesticated, all over the place. Here is the rooster who “struts and crows,” and the cow who makes milk without really having to do anything except eat and gaze into the distance. Here is the dog lying under a tree who is “keeping guard” even though he looks as if he is fast asleep.

   For this book the author has created a delightful collection of poems that are funny, beautifully descriptive, and perfect for reading out loud. The author not only tells us about typical farm animals like cows, pigs, and sheep, but he also describes the snake in the garden, the turtle in the pond, and the bees in the field.

You can find out more about National Poetry Month on the Poets.org website.