Difference between revisions of "Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews"
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| + | |author=Kay Maguire and Danielle Kroll | ||
| + | |title=Nature's Day: Out and About | ||
| + | |rating=4 | ||
| + | |genre=Children's Non-Fiction | ||
| + | |summary=I love books which encourage children to interact with nature - as opposed to a computer screen. I like to see them getting outdoors, preferably getting a bit dirty, being independent and getting excited about nature. A good teacher will inspire children, but ''Nature's Day: Out and About'' provides support and encouragement in equal measures and might just be what a child needs. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184780800X</amazonuk> | ||
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|author=Danielle Kroll and Nghiem Ta | |author=Danielle Kroll and Nghiem Ta | ||
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|summary= I've often shouted at people on UK quiz programmes for their ignorance of geography about their nation. People just don't seem to have learnt about or been to other areas of the place they call home. But while they get little sympathy from me when they lose the programme's cash prize, I can imagine that it would be much harder for them if they actually lived in a large country, such as the USA. 50 whole states of different size, all with a rich history of their own, their own famous places and their own noted people – the facts involved in absorbing all that's relevant would take a lot of research – or, paradoxically, this handy child-friendly book. | |summary= I've often shouted at people on UK quiz programmes for their ignorance of geography about their nation. People just don't seem to have learnt about or been to other areas of the place they call home. But while they get little sympathy from me when they lose the programme's cash prize, I can imagine that it would be much harder for them if they actually lived in a large country, such as the USA. 50 whole states of different size, all with a rich history of their own, their own famous places and their own noted people – the facts involved in absorbing all that's relevant would take a lot of research – or, paradoxically, this handy child-friendly book. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807119</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807119</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 11:30, 12 April 2016
Nature's Day: Out and About by Kay Maguire and Danielle Kroll
I love books which encourage children to interact with nature - as opposed to a computer screen. I like to see them getting outdoors, preferably getting a bit dirty, being independent and getting excited about nature. A good teacher will inspire children, but Nature's Day: Out and About provides support and encouragement in equal measures and might just be what a child needs. Full review...
Pattern Play: Cut, Fold and Make Your Own 3D Animal Models by Danielle Kroll and Nghiem Ta
Here's a neat idea for you. Provide pages with animal prints on one side - only by animal prints, I mean the sort of colours and pattern which you see on animals, not paw prints! Some are subtle and others are rather more in-your-face. On the reverse of these printed pages provide a cutting line so that you can cut and fold the paper and it becomes a 3D model of an animal. Provide some stickers which replicate faces, tails or beaks - or whatever else you feel needs highlighting - and number these so that they get into the right place. All you need to add to the mix is a pair of scissors, parental supervision if necessary for the cutting, a little imagination and you have hours of fun. Full review...
Where's Wally: The Colouring Book by Martin Handford
Are you looking for something relaxing, easy to complete and which will allow your mind to wander freely as you gently colour in a pleasing design? Do you want to indulge your imagination and use the colours which tempt you at the moment, content that it will not affect the finished creation? Would you like large spaces which you can shade in large swoops as it pleases you? Are you aiming for a soothing finished product which is easy on the eye?
Sorry: you've got the wrong book. Full review...
My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Adventures by Deborah Patterson
If you happen to have two children, born five years apart, you can count on having to live through practically four full years of school holidays – and that doesn't include Bank Holidays or teacher training. Weather permitting, that's well over 1,400 days where the impetus is on to take them somewhere, or spend money. So what better and cheaper place to take them than their own imagination? And if you can't quite unlock the door that leads there, we can certainly suggest this book. Full review...
50 Things You Should Know About: Wild Weather by Anna Claybourne
Oh, this takes me back. Out of all the things we learn at school and profess to never want to need as an adult, the water cycle is one that I had forgotten about, until now. It forms the basis of a lot of our weather, after all – the way landmasses and seas warm the air above them differently, thus causing motion in the shape of winds and altering atmospheric pressure, that we call weather. And from the gentlest high pressure, that someone somewhere will always deem too hot, to the most furious electrical storm, weather is certainly something a lot of people like to talk about. Is this book the ideal place to learn the basics of such a thing? Full review...
Outside: A Guide to Discovering Nature by Maria Ana Peixe Dias, Ines Teixeira do Rosario, Bernardo P Carvalho and Lucy Greaves (translator)
I'm on a mission: I want children - adults too - to spend a lot more time outside. I want them to have the benefits of fresh air, increasing their levels of vitamin D and the knowledge of what nature can offer them. I'd like the television, computers, mobile phones, video games and even books to be laid aside and attention given to what is available for free, but which - if we don't care for it - might not always be there. Fortunately the authors of Outside: A Guide to discovering Nature have the same ideas. Full review...
The Nature Explorer's Scrapbook by Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington
An activity book, but not as you know it is what it says on the back cover - and I have to agree. Here at Bookbag we tend to avoid 'activity books' as they usually have soft covers, lots of stickers and they're the sort of thing you pick up at the supermarket checkout in the hope that it will buy you an hour or two's peace in the school holidays. The Nature Explorer's Handbook is a different beast altogether. It's part album in which you're going to collect and store your own finds, part explanation of the best practices of how you should go about this and part nature guide. It's a substantial hardback book with an elastic band to keep it shut - as it's really going to get quite bulky when your collection grows. Production values for the book are high - this really is something which will be treasured for years. Full review...
Marooned in the Arctic by Peggy Caravantes
Misogynists are manmade. And if anyone was in a position to hate men and the lot they put on their shoulders, it was Ava Blackjack. Her surname spoke of an abusive man she had a son by, but it was her time with four other men that made for one of the last century's more remarkable stories. An Inuit native, but one brought up in a city and with English lessons, she was invited on an excursion alongside many other 'Eskimo' and four intrepid Westerners, to the uninhabited Wrangel Island, perched off the northern Siberian coast. They were there just to stick a flag in it and call it British, even if they were pretty much fully American and Canadian, and the chap whose ideas these all were bore an Icelandic name; she was along to provide native expertise, especially waterproof fur clothing. And that was it – none of her kin joined her, leaving her in one tent and four men in another, in one of the world's most remote and inhospitable places. And that was just the start of her worries… Full review...
The Little Book of Woodland Bird Songs by Andrea Pinnington and Caz Buckingham
Take a well-put-together board book (don't worry about it being a board book - no one is going to say that they’re a bit too old for a board book once they see it), add exquisite pictures of a dozen birds - one on each double-page spread - and then fill in the details. You'll need the name of the bird in English and Latin and a description of the bird in words which a child can understand but which won't patronise an adult. Then you'll need details of where the bird is found, what it eats, where it nests, how many eggs it lays, how the male and female adults differ and their size. Then you need a 'Did you know?' fact and this needs to be something which will interest children, but which adults might not know either. Does it sound simple? Well it isn't, but 'The Little Book of Woodland Bird Songs' does it perfectly. And there's a bonus, but I'll tell you about that in a moment. Full review...
3, 2, 1... Draw! by Serge Bloch
I can't draw. I've never been able to draw. A blank sheet of paper and a pencil frightens me. I thought I was probably a little bit old to change my ways but then I discovered 3, 2, 1... Draw! and there might have been a movement within the tectonic plates of my brain. It's a drawing book which isn't about blank pages: it's about imagination and inspiration, with the first encouraged and the second delivered by the barrow load. I've just had more fun than I thought possible with pencil and paper! Full review...
Mind Your Head by Juno Dawson
The number of young people suffering from mental ill health is increasing year-on-year. Yet we still find it difficult to talk about. And mental health still hasn't achieved parity with physical health in terms of services and healthcare available. Enter Mind Your Head. This is a frank and accessible overview of the issues facing young people with regards to mental ill health. It covers the various types of illness, the treatments available, how to manage them. It includes personal stories and exercises and is written in a chatty but serious way. Juno Dawson is the transgender author you might have known before as James Dawson. She's brought in clinical psychologist Dr Olivia Hewitt to help her. And also illustrator Gemma Correll to avoid any appearance of dourness. Because Mind Your Head is about serious things but is an absolute pleasure to read. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Eng Gee Fan
Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico. When she was a young schoolgirl she contracted polio and was left with a leg which was skinny as a rake, but she bore the problem stoically and in some ways delighted in being different. Then one day Frida was in a bus which crashed into a car. She was badly injured and even when she was over the worst she still had to rest in bed and filled the time by drawing pictures, including a self portrait. Eventually she showed her pictures to a famous artist - Diego Rivera - who liked the pictures, and Frida. They married and Rivera encouraged Frida's painting. She exhibited, eventually in New York, to great acclaim. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Coco Chanel by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Ana Albero
Gabrielle Chanel lived in an orphanage in a French town and after the death of her mother she went to a strict convent school. The fact that she was different didn't make her life easy, but there were early indications that she was going to be a seamstress. After she left school she sewed by day and sang by night and it was as she sang that she gained her nickname - Coco - which came from the soldiers in the audience. But her dream was designing clothes and the first step was designing and making hats: this led to her opening a hat shop. One evening, at a party she realised that a lot of the women weren't dancing: their corsets were so tight that they could hardly breathe and it was this that prompted Coco to create a new style. Her clothes were simple, straight and comfortable to wear. Full review...
World War Two: Against the Rising Sun (Campfire Graphic Novels) by Jason Quinn and Naresh Kumar
World War Two – so often a lesson subject for our primary school children, even after all this time. Nazis, Soviets, Pearl Harbor – but wait. That last wasn't just the clarion call to the Americans to join in with the rest of our Allies – it was a mere episode in a fuller story – the half of the war that was never seen by those in Europe, beyond the fact the British Empire was certainly changed forever. The War in the Pacific is something I was certainly never taught much about in school, at any age. And here's a graphic novel version of the tale from a publisher in India that can serve at last as a salutary lesson. Full review...
World War Two: Under the Shadow of the Swastika (Campfire Graphic Novels) by Lewis Helfand and Lalit Kumar Sharma
One of the most common subjects at primary school, getting on for three generations since it happened, is of course World War Two. It has the impact that sixty million dead people deserve – but only if it's taught correctly. One of the ways to present it is this book, which comes from a slightly surprising place – an Indian publisher completely new to me – but succeeds in being remarkably competent, complete and really quite readable. Full review...
Amazing Animal Journeys by Chris Packham and Jason Cockroft
It's only relatively recently that man has actually moved home at certain points of the year to take advantage of the weather or the availability of food, but wild life has been doing it for much longer and every year billions of animals move from one part of the planet to another - that's birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects. This is known as migration - and it's a real pleasure to see it used other than in the context of sensationalist newspaper headlines. Wildlife expert Chris Packham has written this introduction to the subject and it's been beautifully illustrated by Jason Cockroft. (He's the man who did the cover artwork for the final three Harry Potter books!) Full review...
Ultimate Reptileopedia by Christina Wilsdon
Have you ever wanted to know more about reptiles? Scratch that. Have you ever wanted to seemingly know everything that there ever was to know about reptiles? If so, you don't just need a normal encyclopaedia that will have a page or two on the subject, but a Reptileopedia that has more information and images of reptiles in it than you could shake a snake at. Full review...
The Drop in My Drink by Meredith Hooper and Chris Coady
This brilliant book tells the story of where water comes from in a wonderfully captivating way. In full colour picture book style, it does far more than explain scientific facts about our planet, the way life has evolved and where our water comes from. It takes the reader on an inspiring, exciting and eye-opening journey through millions of years – the same journey one little drop of water in one child' cup may have taken! Full review...
L is for London by Paul Thurlby
I spend a lot of time in London for work, and we tend to walk to a lot of our destinations which works out quite well since London days are long days and long days tend not to include time for the gym. But, as you walk from Euston to Waterloo or Elephant and Castle, you also get to see a lot of a wonderful city. I've never lived there, but I feel like every week I know it a little better. This book is London all over and whether you live elsewhere in the UK or further afield, it's a fantastic way to learn more about the place. Full review...
Timeline by Peter Goes
Tick followed tock followed tick followed tock. Once, that is, we'd got over the Big Bang, which of course was silent. We flash forwards a few billion years to the creation of the earth, have a quick look at prehistory, then it's in with the world's happenings we can be sure of and date accurately. This book makes an attempt at conveying it all along one river of time – albeit with many tributaries – and with a strong visual style points us to all that is important about our past along the way. Flick through it backwards and you can recreate a different Guinness advert to the one I quoted – but it's probably worth a much longer look. Full review...
Everything Space (National Geographic Kids Everything) by Helaine Becker and Brendan Mullan
It has to be said that too many children habitually want to be involved in the dangerous jobs – firefighter, sportsman, pilot, racing car driver, astronaut. Yes, looking up at the Milky Way or seeing planets and suns drift around in planetariums or movies seems particularly benign, but you have to bear in mind astronauts have to face severe G-force pressures when they take off, put themselves into the hands of thousands of scientists, engineers and so on to keep them safe, and face a lot when they do get out there. It seems it's just another job a child should be safely steered away from aspiring to. Luckily there is both so much we know about space, and so much we have yet to learn, that they can have a satisfying life in that world from a cosy room in an observatory. Books like this are designed to be the first step through those doors – a primer in all things from the biggest galactic clusters to the tiniest particles of dark matter. Full review...
Doctor Who: The Colouring Book by Various Artists
In my youth colouring books were popular for children: they helped to teach some valuable skills. But teachers, 'experts', thought that they stifled creativity and once you'd mastered being able to stick within the lines they were whisked away as being 'childish' and you were restricted to artistic completion of maps in geography or illustrations of experiments in science. The fact that colouring could be relaxing and fun had been forgotten. Fortunately times have changed: adults are encouraged to relax with one of the hundreds of colouring books now available and I'm delighted to see a resurgence of the idea for not just the youngest children but for those who're a bit older too. Full review...
Style Guide: Fashion From Head to Toe by Natasha Slee and Becca Stadtlander
In Style Guide: Fashion from Head to Toe we have a guided tour through fashion from the eighteen nineties to about 2010, taking a decade or so at a time and exploring several aspects of each decade. For instance the period 1890 to 1914 is divided into The Belle Epoque, Out and About and The Orient. Each division has a picture to be coloured but rather than being a picture of one garment, there's a montage of garments and accessories from the period: The Orient has eight different pictures - of the triangle bag, a fur-trimmed shawl, kimono, pleated gown, a folding fan, a Ballet Russes costume and slippers and finally a turban. On the reverse of each picture is a key. The article is numbered on the main picture and in the corresponding key you'll find some historical information and some colour details. Full review...
Stampy's Lovely Book by Joseph Garrett
If you still think of Stampy as the elephant in The Simpsons, you need to get with it. For one thing, TV is so last century – now it's all about Minecraft and other computer game worlds, and often second-screening between different new media at the same time. So why does this book from a Youtube star of Minecraft tasks, pranks and other activities, remind me of a certain TV programme that used to invite us to turn off and do something more active instead? Full review...
The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps! by Gabrielle Balkan and Sol Linero
I've often shouted at people on UK quiz programmes for their ignorance of geography about their nation. People just don't seem to have learnt about or been to other areas of the place they call home. But while they get little sympathy from me when they lose the programme's cash prize, I can imagine that it would be much harder for them if they actually lived in a large country, such as the USA. 50 whole states of different size, all with a rich history of their own, their own famous places and their own noted people – the facts involved in absorbing all that's relevant would take a lot of research – or, paradoxically, this handy child-friendly book. Full review...
