books
Wordless Wednesday: Excerpt From “Dragon” by Elizabeth
Categories: books, Dragons, Family, kids, Life, Wordless Wednesday
4 Comments
Hugo Cabret and the Kitchen Table Reviews
If you have, or know any, kids who love to read, I have two wonderful recommendations for you.
The first is a really nifty book called The Invention Of Hugo Cabret. It looks a little intimidating for younger readers (it’s about two inches thick with a rather grown-up look about it), but there are pages and pages with no words at all, or only a few words; this story is told as much in the illustrations as in the text. The three of us read it aloud together, a few chapters every night, lingering over the beautiful images, and got through it in just about a week. Both kids were mesmerized by the story, and when it was done it sparked a lot of discussion and thoughtful speculation. If you know any young readers (the published say it’s for ages 9 — 12, but Luke loved it possibly even more than Elizabeth did), check this one out!
My second recommendation is the website where I first learned of Hugo Cabret. One of my all-time favorite bloggers has landed a terrific new gig talking about children’s books with her two kids; it’s called the Kitchen Table Reviews, and it has definitely been enriching our library selections. This is a great resource for anyone who’s looking for family-friendly reading suggestions.
Enjoy!
And Now We Know
Elizabeth: “I think I’m going to draw a picture of what Dr. Claw might really look like.”
Me: “That reminds me. You have one more Inspector Gadget dvd coming in from Netflix, and that’ll be the last of them.”
Elizabeth: “I wonder if THIS TIME we’ll finally get to see Dr. Claw’s face!”
Me: “I don’t think they ever showed his face. I think it’s just one of those great mysteries of life that’s never revealed.”
Elizabeth: “Like the Onceler. You only ever see his hands and arms.”
Me: “Like how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop.”
Elizabeth: “Oh, I know that one. I counted once.”
Me: “You did? How many licks does it take?”
Elizabeth: “Four hundred ninety.”
How I love that child. She always goes that extra mile so the rest of us don’t have to.
Going…Gone.
Fifteen years ago I read a book called “Last Chance To See,” by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. It’s a nonfiction work; basically the two men got to talking one day about all the major animal species that were teetering on the brink of extinction. They decided to travel around the world and see some of these animals for themselves, before it was too late for anyone to ever see them again. Depressing subject, very engaging book. I read it in my hammock, in my hideout, surrounded by nature’s wild beauty, and I found myself profoundly moved by the stories of all those vanishing lives.
Today during supper Luke was asking about all the different ways the earth is being polluted, which got me thinking about one of the most heartwrenching chapters in that book: the story of the baiji, or Yangtze River Dolphin.
The authors described in unflinching detail the hellish life these pink (!) dolphins endured in one of the most polluted and overtrafficked rivers in the world. I think the plight of the baiji affected me more deeply than anything else in the book. I was telling the kids about them, and they wanted to see a picture of one. There were no baiji photos in the book, so I hopped online and Googled them.
And learned that the Yangtze River Dolphin was declared officially extinct last summer. Gone forever, no more baiji.
That sucks.
Categories: Animals, books, environment, Life, Wildlife
Leave a comment
Book Review: The Dangerous Book For Boys
I found this book (and it’s companion volume, “The Daring Book For Girls”) while shopping for Christmas gifts. I glanced through its pages, loved the concept, and bought one of each for my son and daughter.
My kids opened them on Christmas morning, gave them a baffled once-over and a polite “Thank you,” and moved on to cooler stuff.
I didn’t mind; it was a natural reaction to what looked like a couple of 1940’s-era textbooks. I hadn’t expected them to appreciate this particular gift right away.
Later that day, as the excitement was winding down, I sat down with “The Dangerous Book For Boys,” and perused its pages from cover to cover. This book is an absolute treasure. It’s part how-to guide, part encyclopedia, part secret agent tutorial. It offers sage advice, inspiring poetry, and valuable information about the natural world. There are step-by-step instructions for how to make a paper airplane, paper hat, paper boat, or paper water bomb. It shows how to tie five different useful knots; how to build a great treehouse, a go-cart, a workbench, a real bow and arrow, or a periscope; how to build a simple battery or electromagnet or pocket light from easy-to-find objects. It includes the rules of 14 different sports and games; how to understand morse code or US Naval Flag Codes, how to encrypt and decipher secret messages. It offers the Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary, several Latin phrases everyone should know, as well as the basic rules of English grammar. There are instructions for how to learn to juggle, skip stones across water, fish, do coin tricks or grow a sunflower. The Declaration Of Independence is printed in its entirety, as are the Ten Commandments. The subject of astronomy is covered exhaustively. There are seven poems every boy should know, and a recommended reading list of books. There are several pages devoted to navigation, including how to find North in the dark, and a detailed explanation of why the sky is blue.
And I’m not even scratching the tip of the iceberg yet.
There’s a vast wealth of information and advice contained between the covers of this amazing tome. Everyone should own a copy of this book!
“The Daring Book For Girls” is a fun companion volume, but I found it to be rather less satisfying in its content choices. If I could only buy one or the other for my child, it would be one for boys — even if she were a girl.
An Invincible Summer 