delicious and easy

I love cookbooks, especially ones with great photos and easy to follow recipes.  Kids’ cookbooks are very well designed these days and I only wish my own children were interested in cooking. *sigh*

Dorling Kindersley, publishing company, creates amazing nonficiton books for kids. They are full of great photos and have well designed lay outs. How to Cook is a perfect example. Beautiful photos, great illustrations, easy step by step instructions help you learn to make everything from desserts to empanadas, to falafels, to crepes.

Here’s a couple more I recommend:

  

Cookbooks are great for family literacy and for creating a wonderful way to spend time with your kids.

Praying Mantises

Every spring Mr. Ng his students praying mantises to take home and care for.  At a certain time each year, students are milling about with insects in jars and looking in the library for books to read about their new companions. Last year, we couldn’t find any praying mantis books on the shelves. Not one. So this year,  after much searching, I finally found one. A simple one, sure, but finally we have at least this one.

Why? Why? Why?

As can be expected, National geographic publishes material for kids with amazing photographs.  I also like their simple, short text which makes for great read alouds. Sometimes we read so many stories with kids, we forget how much they love nonfiction.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

Kids ask why all the time. Here is a great collection of why questions and answers.

In addition to the Ultimate, there are three of these gems in a nice square format. They make a great gift. they could also launch some research or writing your own weird but true facts.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Splat is nervous when he gets ready in the morning. he wants everythign to be perfect for Valentine’s Day. For each student in his class he has made a Valentine’s Day card, and he has made a special card for Kitten. Will he give it to her or is he too afraid?

Read this hilarious and charming tale of Splat the Cat with a crush.

Et les livres en francais:

hilarious and bad for bedtime

I’ve been reading Jan Thomas with many of the younger students and we just love her books!

Yesterday I began our storytime by showing this picture and asking the children what is was and how it grows. They had many answers, including a carrot, a vegetable and a radish. A couple guessed correctly that it is a turnip. And from there we launched into Thomas’ book, A Birthday for Cow.

Pig and Mouse are planning a big celebration for Cow’s birthday and are baking a delicious cake, while Duck tries to get them to use turnips. If you like the story, you an spend $10 and buy the app for it.

This is hilarious and a perfect book for getting your kids all excited. The cows are having a great time, at the expense of Chicken’s sofa. Chicken isn’t too pleased either. Great read, but a pretty poor choice for bedtime or trying to calm the kids down.

Everybody rhymes but Bob. Ed, Ned, and Ted are wondering what Bob’s problem is… why can’t he rhyme all the time?

Jan Thomas has written a number of other great titles, so check out her books!

Allo! Allo!

In this charming book, Soushi is lonely and looking for a friend. Soushi’s first attempts at friendship are not very successful. Will he finally find un ami?

Black History Month

February is Black History Month and here are two beautiful books to share with your children.

Black History Canada is a great website with a lot of information. Also in French.

Been There!

There are lots of information books written for intermediate kids about various countries, while many are dry, text heavy, lack nonfiction text features and have outdated photographs, the Been There! series is different.

A fresh look, well designed lay out, with most of the basic text features we’ve come to appreciate, Been There! is a good choice for research and recreational reading. Told from a first person, it reads like a narrative but is organized like a nonfiction text. Other countries in the series include Brasil, China, France, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, and Spain.

A very positive look at India and skips all the social, political and environmental issues third world countries face.

Lunar New Year

Time to clean your house, get your hair cut and don some new threads. It’s Lunar New Year, also known as Tet or Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the Dragon, an exciting and unpredictable year for all.

Grace Lin’s book has one or two short, simple sentences per page with lovely stylized drawings. The book introduces some basic aspects of this holiday., and is a nice, quick read aloud.

Our Amazing PAC

Our amazing PAC threw a Scholastic Book Fair (no small effort) and raised a lot of money for books! A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered. Thank you also to those who shopped.

Here are some of the many titles:

         

And in French: