Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems Review

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Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems ReviewWhat a great way to present poetry -- through shapes! The text of each of these poems is cleverly patterned like its topic, with adorable illustrations enhancing them. For example: a poem about rain has the words drizzle down like rain drops and then form the shape of an umbrella. The poems themselves are fun and representitive of some of childhood's most engaging activities and holidays. Poet, Heidi B. Roemer, has a true poet's ear that taps into the heart of children. Hideko Takahashi's illustrations of children of all colors are irresistable. Her bold and muted coloring seem to find the right balance to add even more delight to each poem. This book would be great in the classroom when studying poetry. It's a great way to introduce new poetry styles to children. But, it's also fun to read and look at. If this book doesn't get young ones hooked on poetry I don't know what will!Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems Overview

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My Brother Loved Snowflakes: The Story of Wilson A. Bentley, the Snowflake Man Review

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My Brother Loved Snowflakes: The Story of Wilson A. Bentley, the Snowflake Man ReviewThe more well known children's book, Snowflake Bentley (Caldecott Medal Book), may have won the Caldecott award, but I must confess to enjoying this book much more. "My Brother Loved Snowflakes," told from the brother's perspective, shows the human side of people who may be different than others, and makes the quest for knowledge about people, about us and our quest to learn about the world we are blessed with. Rather than playing up Willie Bentley as an eccentric, it shows him as unique, and shows children that for all his differences he gave much to our wealth of knowledge and above all the people in the story -- even the people who attend a lecture he walks out on without a word because of the snow, as very accepting that Bentley is who Bentley is and that there is nothing wrong with that. Since our children will meet so many other children who are vastly different than them, some of them seemingly eccentric, this is a subtle reminder that we all have value and that the difference is part of what makes the world interesting. We need that diversity.
This book will have an added interest to homeschoolers because Bentley and his brother are taught by their mother, a woman who encourages her son's love of learning -- and the father, though he doesn't "get" all this snowflake stuff, still strives to respect his son's desires and loves and encourage him and do what he can regardless.
We made this into something a snowflake learning fest. Bentley's photos of snowflakes are available in an inexpensive format, Snowflakes in Photographs. More modern and beautiful are the books by Kenneth G. Libbrecht. We chose The Snowflake. This had enlarged photographs and my first grader used pattern blocks to recreate some of them, as well as making paper snowflakes for the window. We also took black paper (left out in the car so it would be cold) to catch snowflakes and look at them with a magnifying glass. We will be revisiting "snowflake studis" later on when he is older to get more into the science of them, as is covered in the Libbrecht book.
Overall, this book was great for supporting our curriculum, which presents science and math in hands on ways and includes a lot of biography with explanations of how scientists go about "doing science" -- but which is to also remind us that science without the human element is purposeless, and sometimes even dangerous.My Brother Loved Snowflakes: The Story of Wilson A. Bentley, the Snowflake Man Overview

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Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather Review

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Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather ReviewA satire on the commercialization of holidays, our obsession with celebrity, and the media's tendency to make natural things seem unnatural, "Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather" is also a cleverly written and funny book about the secrets of Ground Hog Day. I like how author/illustrator Bruce Koscielniak bypasses a lengthy explanation of that whole things about how groundhog seeing it's shadow (or not) predicts whether we're in for more winter or a quick transition to Spring. Mrs. Goundhog, reading to Geoffrey in their cozy underground living room (with a whimsical wooden-planks-on-a-pole ladder to the side) FROM "Groundhog Lore," simply states: "If you see your shadow on Groundhog Day, go back to sleep, because winter will last six more weeks. Of there is no shadow, spring will soon be here."
Geoffrey doesn't see his shadow, and tells this to Merton Moose, who sensationalizes the brief event into front page news. I wish that Bruce Koscielniak had drawn Moose as a wizened and jaded reporter, so of the Walter Matthau of moose. Geoffrey's success, and Moose's publicity results in a media event the next February. There are television cameras, lots and lots of unrelated Groundhog's Day sales and promos (e.g., a billboard for "Big Tooth toothpaste, showing Geoffrey brushing his... big tooth; the "Uptown Cuisine Restaurant" sporting a banner, "Geoffrey ate here"). The mania even gets to Geoffrey, who shows up wearing a Hollywood-ish scarf and shades.
Unfortunately, when Geoffrey hurries to the ground for his prediction, there are so many cameras and people that, "I could hardly see the ground of me, much less my own shadow!"--and he has more than a shadow of a doubt about the upcoming season. Even this "failure" gets prominent newspaper and TV coverage. The consequences are humorously exaggerated; in fact, there's so much confusion that "all weather reports were canceled" until Geoffrey makes up his mind about what he saw. Fortunately, weather forecasting is in the family, and Geoffrey's off the hook thanks to Mom.
The conclusion's a bit flat, though perhaps appropriate for bedtime, Geoffrey, tired from all that forecasting, goes to bed. Koscielniak succeeds at both the children and adult levels, writing a book with multi-layered appeal. I like books like this, because it means that adults won't tire of reading it over (and over) to kids. The illustrations and fanciful narrative tone are very similar to James Marshall's (of the "Worst" series, and the "Wainy" series): Casually drawn lettering, heavy use of "sketchy" lines, faces full of expression, and a light watercolor touch. Highly recommended.Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather Overview

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