Mins Move by MoveHub

Children's Informational Picture Book

Source:  I received a copy to help facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

MoveHub has created a book to help parents and their children as they face the difficulty of moving to a new country.  However, I truly believe that the suggestions and tips made in this book would be helpful for making a move across the country.

Minnie and her brother Max have learned that they are going to be moving to China.  The parents didn’t dump all of the information on the kids at one time, they gave Min just enough information at a time.  When Min has doubts about moving, the family finds ways to support her and give her just enough new information to help her.  Her imagination often gets the best of her and then she is surprised to learn the truth. An example is when she learns about dragon fruits. Her imagination gets the best of her and she thinks real dragons are involved.  She is surprised to learn all about the sweet and exotic fruit.

With this help of four psychologist giving their advice and input for this book, it is definitely a valuable resource for any parent preparing to move with their family.

You can purchase this book at  MoveHub

Student Saturday: North of Beautiful by Justina Chen

Student Reviewer: Ella S.
Genre:  Young Adult, Realistic Fiction


This book opens up with Terra saying what she looks like. Terra has a port-wine stan birthmark on her cheek. She has had surgeries but they never work. along the way she has an incident with this boy and ends up liking him, but she hiding something form him. this was a really good book. It was cool to read about how some people reacted if something was different about them.

One thing I really loved is how you could see Terra's pros and cons. I think that's great, because you can see everybody different. I can't wait to get other kids to read it and I hope they like it too.

Newest Work by Dan O'Brien and Review of the First Issue

Well, the time has come to announce Dan O’Brien’s latest project: Mobsters, Monsters & Nazis: a collaboration between Dan O’Brien and Steve Ferchaud, who illustrated Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and the Loose Change Collection Agency. What I am revealing today is the sketches for some of the interior illustrations (which will be black and white) of the first issue. It will be released as six issues (eBooks) starting on Halloween. It is influenced by film noir, pulp comics, and an abiding love of Lovecraft. It is now available for pre-order and Dan will be promoting it heavily starting in the month of October. He would love to hear what you think of it so far! Visit him at: http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter, @AuthorDanOBrien

Have a look at the great sketches in the book.

My Review:

In addition to all of the great sketches it promises to be a great read.

If you are looking for something with that old time noir feel then this is the book for you.  Reading this was like sitting in a movie theater watching an old private eye movie.  The difference is some of the characters are monsters, such as a character with tentacles on his face, a troglodyte, werewolves, while others are mobsters and Nazis.  They are all after one particular item.   Derrick Diamond is in the process of delivering it when it is stolen from him.  He is hot on the trail of the thief. He is led to the Yellow Monarch. Here is where we meet the soulful singer Ava Harpy.  From here the action is ratcheted up a notch and we are left with a cliffhanger.This is a definite must read.  I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

The Power of Habit by Eddie de Jong

Genre:  Nonfiction, Self Help

The author has created a book that effective helps people look at their habits, both good and bad and make decisions that will improve their life.  The book contains links to sites where you can get more help or info.  I’ve read multiple books like this throughout my life.  Like the author I was a very shy person and was comfortable sitting someplace alone with a book.  Books like this have helped me throughout my life.  They brought me out of my shell and made me the person I am today.  I think I liked this, more than any of the other books I’ve read because it was more user friendly.  I didn’t feel like the author had written over my head.  This is a book that should be required reading from high school on up. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who needs to get their life in order.

 

Source: I received a copy to help facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Three Children's Books by Kyle Fuhrer and Illustrator Bethany Tallack

Billy Bob the Dog & Torkelson Turtle in: The Ancient Art of Asking

Fiddler’s Green is hopping.  Everyone is busy. That is everyone except Goober Ninja.  He can’t find anything to do.  He wants to have fun but everyone is too busy.  The town had a major problem. They were too busy to play, but too afraid to ask anyone for help.  Goober decided to use his super ninja powers to help his friends.  Each time he helped out the mob of people chasing him grew. How could he be in so much trouble just for helping? What will happen when he finds himself in a dead in alley?  Maybe they both have a lesson to learn.

Good Food Gone Bad

Billy Bob the Dog and Torkelson the Turtle are cops in Fiddler’s Green.  Hypnotherapy was the evilest villain they had to deal with. When Bob and Torkelson’s friend Smallfridge tells them he thinks it would be fun to eat nothing but junk food, Hypnotherapy decides to steal all of the healthy food in Fiddler’s Green. Hypnotherapy hypnotizes all of the store owners. They lock away the healthy food leaving only juk food. Everone ate so much junk food they got fat and lazy. This allowed Hypnotherapy to play tricks on everyone. Luckily for fiddler’s Green Torkelson the Turtle didn’t eat junk food. It was up to him to save Fiddler’s Green.

The Magical Imagination of Smallfridge: The Leap of Space

Smallfridge is a young boy who likes to bounce on his bed before going to sleep each night. On one particular night he bounces himself into space where he has all kinds of adventures.  He visits the Moon, Mars and Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto. He drinks milk from the Milky Way then catches a ride back to Earth on a shooting star. This is a simple story with simplistic illustrations that make it a great bedtime story.

Suitcase Filled With Nails: Lessons Learned From Teaching Art in Kuwait by Yvonne Wakefield

Genre:  Adult, Memoir

Source: I received a copy to help facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From the back cover:

Artist and arts educator Yvonne Wakefield leaves a secure career and home life in the Pacific Northwest, so opposite to the climate and landscape she finds when she moves to the little desert state of Kuwait. For six years she will teach art there, to university aged Muslim women, and negotiate tribal and misogynistic land mines set by detractors who are threatened by anyone, especially a spirited American woman, who encourages freedom of expression. More than a good read, Suitcase Filled with Nails is filled with insights on working, living, and coping in a culture that transcends prevalent Middle East stereotypes.

My Thoughts:

I’m surprised by all that I read, and then to realize that after all she went through she continued to go back year after year. I feel I got a better look into life in Kuwait, even if it was told just from her side of it.  I believe there is more than one perspective to any story, and this is hers told from her experiences.One thing I admire is that no matter what happened she continued to fight for those she taught.  I know, even though I am an educator, I would not have the guts to go where she went and do what she do.  I believe that not only did she enrich their lives but they enriched hers.

I received a copy to help facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Student Saturday: Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher

Student Reviewer: Dylan S.
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

I finished reading the book Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher. I had seen this book in my elementary school but just never bothered to pick it up and read it. I think this book was excellent and it owuld be funny if it happened to me. It is about some kids all in the same class that come to school and they do't have a teacher! So, the class decides to try to survive the school day without a teacher. Will they make it or will they get caught by aother teacher?  Read the book to find out! I had a connection to this book, because on the last day of school it feels like we don't have a teacher because we just played games. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend you read it too.

Student Saturday: Explorer: The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi

Student Reviewer: Luis O.

Genre: Graphic Novel

Source: My teacher recommended this book to me because it’s an easy graphic novel

This book started with a little girl finding a white doll in a box that said, “I’m made of wax and very small I’ll be your friend, not just a doll. Keep me out of the sun and we’ll be fine. What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine”

The doll does all the little girl’s chores and starts to look like her until she’s 100% her. The doll draws on walls and her mother thinks it was her, but it was the doll. The girl chases the doll outside and the doll melts. There are a lot of stories like this one in this book I recommend this to people who like different stories talking about the same thing (the mystery box).

Meritropolis by Joel Ohman

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Source: I received a copy to help facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

My Thoughts:

I originally did not have a date set to review this book.  I actually received it on Friday.  I just happened to have half of the day off and decided to just peruse the book.  I should know better.  I couldn’t put it down.  The author has created a world that is beautiful and terrifying at the same time.  Meritropolis was created after a major event wiped out most of the world.  To survive they created a society where they gave each inhabitant a score that told what you were worth to their society.  If your score dropped below 50 you were put outside the gates to survive. With all of the terrors that lived outside the gates people didn’t survive.  There were the most fascinating and deadly combination creatures that preyed on those outside the gate. You had gultures, which were a combination of  geckos and vultures, ramas were a combination of a ram and a puma and a manateel which was a manatee and an eel.  I honestly believe this last one came about because of where the author lives. 

Charley is the main character. At age eight Charley and his ten year old Down’s Syndrome brother Alec were all that was left of their family.  They had lost their parents in the Event.  Charley saw his brother removed and he was placed outside the gate.  It was for this reason that Charley grew up determined to get rid of the system that killed his brother.  When he turns seventeen he is considered an adult and no longer has to live underground.  He has one of the highest scores and is noticed by those in charge.  The question is, if Charley is successful in overthrowing this system will he and the others be better off or will they have destroyed the only thing that has kept them alive all this time.

I asked for a physical copy because I believed it would be a book that I should have on my shelves.  I not only believe it, I am trying to figure out where to fit it in as a read aloud to my students.  Besides the violence this is a very clean read.  It opens the door for honest conversations about what is morally right for everyone.  I am hoping there is a sequel to this book and look forward to reading it if so.  This is an author I definitely need to keep an eye on.

About the Author:

Joel Ohman is the author of Meritropolis--"The Hunger Games meets The Village with a young Jack Reacher as a protagonist". He lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Angela and their three kids. His writing companion is Caesar, a slightly overweight Bull Mastiff who loves to eat the tops off of strawberries.

Picture courtesy of: 

 http://www.amazon.com/Joel-Ohman/e/B00NFOGFV6

You can find the author here:   Goodreads 

Nonfiction Recommendations and Something for Teachers

I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters 
by Laruen Tarshis

I have always enjoyed these true stories.  I purchased this book to put on my classroom shelves and had to read it first myself.  This one contained stories about the 2011 Tsunami that took out the power plant in Japan.  I was very familiar with most of that information.  There was a story about the Titanic which we are currently reading about in class.  The Henryville tornado of 2012 was just a couple of years ago.  I was very intrigued with the Children's Blizzard of 1888 since I grew up in Indiana.  I lived in the country and was very familiar with tying ropes from a post on the porch of our house to our wash house, then out to the garage where we kept our chickens, to the barn and finally out to the gate and then the hog houses so we could feed them.  I learned a lot about this blizzard I had never known before. The one I enjoyed the most was the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.  I had heard it mentioned once or twice before but had never read anything about it.  Lauren Tarshis does a fabulous job of making all of the information interesting to the reader.  i also love that after each one she gives information on other similar incidents and gives a list of resources so the reader can do more of their own research.  I really can't wait for my students to read this book.


World's Scariest Prisons by Emma Carlson Berne

This is another wonderful book I purchased for my class. If I know my students and I do, they will look at the title and think this is a book about haunted prisons.  I know I did.  This book describes different prisons from all over the world.  I never thought of teh Roman colosseum as a prison, yet it was.  Each story starts with a fact card at the top. This card lets you know the other names it went by.  It tells you where it is located, the years it was in operation, the number of prisoners and any notable inmates.  I was surprised to learn that social status and money could and often played a role in how a prisoner was treated, what they ate or their accommodations. Just in case you were disappointed about this not being a book about haunted prisons, there are a couple of stories about ghosts in some of the prisons.  I found this to be a very informative book and I'm sure my students will lvoe it as well.


For all of my teacher friends out there I have something for you.

3-Minute Motivators by Kathy Paterson
This book is full of quick little motivators to use when students are lagging. There is a lot of visualization used throughout the book. favorite is found on page 136 "The Unfair Test". Growing up I hated pop quizzes. I considered them to be extremely unfair. I swore I would never do this. In this activity you give a pop quiz and ask questions like "What is H2O", "What is this (hold up a pencil). The reason this test is unfair is because the only correct and acceptable answers are the ridiculous ones such as, H2O is "a home for fish" orthe pencils is "a back scratcher". The different tasks are coded by subjects and whether it is an individual, group or team activity. They also tell you when and why you can use the motivator. There are so many I really want to try with my students.