Away For The Week

I'm off to Girl Guide Camp till Aug 6. I was originally going to make up some posts to go up while I was gone and such but I just got home from hospital with my oldest and I was there for almost 3 days so I got nothing done. If I can get some internet access, I'll check in.

Have a great week!

PS - My daughters' fine. She had a UTI that went undetected, but for a while they thought it was appedicitis!

Picture Book Mini Reviews

Tallulah's Tutu by Marilyn Singer (Illustrations by Alexandra Boiger)
Stars: ****

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)

Tallulah learns that there is more to being a ballerina than wearing a tutu. Great book for those little ballet lovers. Tallulah gets mad that she is doing all these ballet lessons without a tutu. She ends up learning that having a tutu doesn't mean she can dance well, she needs to learn how to dance first, and she does.


Alfred Zector, Book Collector by Kelly Dipucchio (Illustrations by Macky Pamintuan)
Stars: *****

Harper - Imprint of Harper Collins (2010)
Alfred loves collecting books so much he ends up collecting every book in the town and no one else has anything to read but him. He secludes himself in his house. Alfred discovers the true joy in reading books and fixed the problem. I love this book. It illustrates how I feel about sharing books with others. Since I can't afford to send books to everyone in the world, I choose to blog about them instead.


Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley (Illustrated by Roberta Angaramo)
Stars: *****


Holiday House (2011)

A cute book my kids love. The dog goes to a shoe store to find footwear that is good for a variety of different things dogs do (digging, swimming, scratching fleas) but in the end finds out the best footwear is his own paws! The idea of dogs wearing shoes it what makes it so funny.

The Secret Box by Barbara Lehman
Stars: *****

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
This is a different sort of book, quite different than other picture books. First of all it is wordless which I love. I get to ask my children what they think is going on and I can explain what I see, not read words given to me. It's not just being wordless that makes it different. It tells the story of a school or orphanage (it doesn't say remember...) over time, changing with the times. Then some children find a box hidden in the floorboards with items in it that are clearly from the past. They follow the map and find a special place.


Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone
Stars: ****

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)

This is a well known folktale, redone by the author. The illustrations are cute and I've always loved this folktale and was happy to share it with my children. Well done.

Time to Sleep by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Stars: ****

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
This is a unique picture book that is like nonfiction and fiction in one. It's a book about how different animals sleep. The when, the where.
e.g. Snoozing on autopilot - the white stork sleeps in flight. Scientists believe it does this by taking a series of naps that last just a few seconds each.

I Am the Book by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Illustrated by Yayo)
Stars: ****


Holiday House (2011)

A book full of poems about books!

What could be better. The poems are by different people but were all selected for inclusion by Lee Bennet Hopkins. For ages 4-8 but children don't seem to like poems. But yours might!

I Like You the Best by Carol Thompson
Stars: ***

Holiday House (2011)

A cute story about two animal friends who while playing one day, hurt each others feelings. Will they ever be friends again? Shows children that even if they fight with their friends, things will work out.

Love the illustrations!

Astro The Stellar Sea Lion by Jeanne Walker Harvey (Illustrated Shennen Bersani)
Stars: ****

Sylvan Dell Publishing (2010)

A book with real photos, showing the amazing story of Astro, a real sea lion who was found orphaned and was saved. They tried to release him into the wild but he was too accustomed to humans so he moved into the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Update: Day 2

It's really hard to get reading done with three young children! I am not even attempting to keep track of how much I've read. I'm still working on the same book: The Long Journey Home by Margaret Robinson. I also read a bit from Bindi Wildlife Adventures: Trouble at the Zoo which is a children's fiction book by Bindi Irwin, the daughter of The Crocodile Hunter. I read that while baby was awake earlier as I couldn't concentrate on anything heavier.

I hope everyone else is doing better than me!

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Update: Day 1

I joined the readathon a while back. It's going on for 3 days and is hosted by Reading Angel.

I haven't actually done any reading today but I plan to do some. I'll be reading Long Journey Home by Margaret Robinson first. I was supposed to review it this week for a blog tour but haven't been able to finish it.

Today there are some mini-challenges going on. One from IB Book Blogging (Love the name!) asked us to answer two questions.

Mini Challenge Question 1:
What is your favorite type of myth (Greek, Roman, Egyptian etc)?

Although I don't read much fiction, I do enjoy myths. I love the Greek myths that I learned in school but I also like some of the Egyptian myths. I loved studying about myths in school (but then I was one of those kids who loved school.) 

Mini Challenge Question 2:
What is your favorite book with some type of mythology in it?

I LOVED reading Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. It was hilariously funny and a very unique idea. I highly recommend it. Click above to see my review.

I'll update again tomorrow!

Teacher's Gotta Dance by Philip M. Fishman

Stars: *** 1/2

Createspace (2010)
Memoir
200 pages

Summary: At 66, Philip Fishman decides he wants to become a teacher. This is the story of his (very) short lived career. It's a memoir of that choice and that adventure and where it lead him. It's also the story of what he learned during his few weeks as a teacher.

Yes, weeks. He was a full time teacher for 3 weeks. When I heard that I was thinking, wow he must have really messed up. I was also thinking, he wrote a whole book on 3 weeks of his life? But I was wrong. First of all, his career wasn't short because he messed up and was fired. It just wasn't for him and he learned many lessons along the way. Second of all, it really is possible to write an entire book on three weeks without it being repetitive or boring.

I was pleasantly surprised and was very interested in reading as I was curious why he only taught for 3 weeks. Actually he did substitute teaching first, but he was a full time teacher for 3 weeks.

The book also has his personal reflections on many topics such as the no child left behind act, inclusion, standard test score mandates, ESL and testing. He also includes his actual tests he gave his students (he taught science) so you can try them out. I didn't personally care for this part but it is a neat add on if you want to test your science skill, see what grade 6-8 need(ed) to know about science or want to see if his test writing ability is what ended his career he he.

It would however have been better if it was picked up by a publishing company that could have helped with editing but it is one of the better self published books I've seen, that's for sure. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to anyone who ever considered being a teacher, especially if you are older and think it's too late.

Links of Interest: NONE YET
Other Reviews: NONE YET

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* I received a copy of this book to review from the author. All opinions are honest and are my own.