Adventures in Reading
I always knew that Jr finally making that leap to a full blown reader would make things more interesting. No more present lists in the open. Watching where I set down my world events magazine or taking care not to leave private information like passwords out. But I didn’t really think about the books themselves.
I have a habit of bringing into the house books that I’d like to review for upcoming topics. This year one of the many science topics we will talk about is reproduction as in where babies come from though we may leave the mechanics for a bit longer if no questions come up. But back to my story! Not all books on the basics of where babies come from are created equal. So I am taking opportunity now to review a few looking for one that will suit both my boys.
Well at least I was.
I was until I brought in Everybody has a belly button: Your life before you were born. and left it sit on my bedside table where it was to wait until I had a moment to look through it.
Cut to scene: The boys are sitting on my clothes hamper when I walk in my bedroom – - reading the Everybody book in complete silence. I suppose technically Jr was reading it and LilB was only looking at it. Keep in mind had I had opportunity to look at it first this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. But it was still unseen as to content to ME! I admit to a little mental freaking out.
But I needn’t have freaked out at all! That night the Everybody book made the request list for bedtime books. I was delighted to see that it was exactly what I was looking for in a beginner reproduction book. There were correct terms. Nicely done pastel pictures that were perfectly age appropriate in my opinion. The books skips very lightly over the mechanics using the egg cell and sperm cell but not identifying from whence they came (Or how they get “together”.) Instead this book focuses on the development of the baby itself. Birth is also an area where the author takes the light touch approach and doesn’t overwhelm the children with too much information. I was very pleased with the ability of the author to be informative and interesting with a graceful balance for the age group intended to read the book. I expect that we will be reading it again as LilB is quite interested in discussing babies. Jr to my delight remembered much of what we had talked about back when his brother was born.
Oh and for the record WOMB still wins because it sounds like room. Uterus (the word) they still don’t “like”. Aren’t kids grand?!
The Canon by Natalie Angier
Would you believe that I’m not yet completely done with this book? Surprised? I didn’t think so. It is not really that far-fetched is it! Despite the fact that we (as in my boys and I) are proceeding with a one disc forward, one disc backward disjointedness – I am in love with this book!
With this selection for my Fall into Reading list I was looking to refresh my rusty science knowledge. But I am finding that I am also re-igniting my inner science nerd. It has been a joyous reunion for me. Once upon a time not so very long ago I was a science major. I wasn’t very successful at being a science major and thus switched to Psychology and Business. Despite the lack of success as a science major, I have continued to be a science nerd. And in the Canon I am at home.
Natalie Angier has a wonderful way of placing humor among the “hard” science in The Canon. I’ve actually been surprised at how much I’m laughing. I am thrilled beyond measure to listen to this audiobook with my boys. I have caught a couple things that might make some people wince if their impressionable children heard them. But me – well I’ve tossed caution to the wind and played the discs loud and proud. Questions I can handle and most of the “winces” would require a level of communal (societal) knowledge that thankfully my 7 year old doesn’t have yet. Much seems to float right over his head and that of his younger brother.
Why would I throw caution to the wind like that? For vocabulary. I can’t begin to fully fathom the expansion of the science vocabulary in my children. The other day we finished up the disc for the Chemistry section specifically this disc talked bonds. Ionic, Hydrogen, Covalent, Carbon. Bonds everywhere floating around our van. In and out of the ears of my children. Children I hope to turn into tiny science nerds.
“Childhood, then, is the one time of life when all members of an age cohort are expected to appreciate science.”
We’re about at the half way point at the moment and I will probably revisit the book here when were done.
Book Review: Quirkles
Recently I was contacted about a series of books called The Quirkles and if I would be interested in reviewing the books. I, being the book lover I am along with my enjoyment of science, said “Of course!”. My review books arrived several days later. In my box were Timothy Tornado and Zany Science Zeke.
My first impression was one of surprise. The format of the books is large which makes them easy to use with multiple children. As a paperback they have a more sturdy feel than some you will find both in the cover stock used as well as the internal paper weight that has been chosen. This is important to me as our well loved books must stand up to multiple readings. The boys were drawn to the books at first because they were new. To get a better idea of their actual interest I let them sit for a bit before bringing them out for a read.
There are several things we loved about these two books. One of which was the easy experiments that are in the back of each story. Both of my boys recognized immediately that there were things TO DO after the story. The series starts each book with the same first paragraphs. This is nice because you can pick it up at any letter and not be missing on the backstory. Also I’ve found it creates a signal that the story is coming. At least that is how it works with our Stephen Cosgrove books. The illustrations also made the boys’ “thumbs up” list. Little things like Tammy Turtle popping into her shell when scared would be noticed and exclaimed upon. The text was large which made it easy to have my Jr. read a bit or in some cases catch something that was coming up in the story.
Reading them blind was a bit of a challenge. I had not taken the time to pre-read the stories and thus my reading was done without practice or familiarity. While I enjoyed the reinforcement of the associated letter…Timothy Tornado nearly unhinged my tongue in certain places with all the “T” words in one sentence. According to the boys that is also a “thumbs up” as tongue-tying Mama is funny. The stories themselves were cute though I do take issue with the “bully becomes best friend of person he’s mean too” line that is employed in the Zany Science Zeke book. It fell very flat for me personally and was a little more than annoying. The boys did not seem to catch that so perhaps with smaller children it doesn’t matter as much. And in the Timothy Tornado story there is what I consider a “missed edit” where the words read as is makes clumsy sense. Though that didn’t affect the quality of the story much as it was easy to read over with a “fix” instead of what was written.
Even with those two strikes this series would make my read list for the simple reason that my kids enjoyed them and grabbed the books out tonight to re-read through what we needed for one of the experiments. And though my 7 year old sat through the stories it was my 4 year old that they really grabbed. So many of our phonics readers are lacking in anything but phonics. It was nice to have some science mixed in with our “T” and “Z” books.
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