Book Review: The List

The List by Patricia Forde

Let me preface this review by saying my opinion is very much influenced by the comparisons to The Giver and Fahrenheit 451. Why? Because I absolutely love both of these books. I read The Giver as middle schooler and never forgot it, so I was thrilled when I got to teach it as an adult. As far as Fahrenheit 451 goes, it is one of my all-time favorites. I have highlighted, underlined, and written notes in my multiple copies of the novel. So, when The List was compared to the two of these works, I jumped at the chance to read it. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my personal hype.

However, this is still a good book and I can easily it working well in middle-grade classrooms for teaching the basics of literature (symbolism, allegory, themes, etc.). This middle grades novel tells the story of a dystopian world called Ark following the Melting (a result of global warming) where the people are forbidden from speaking using non-list words. The general idea is that language, art and music are what led to man’s downfall; therefore, extraneous words should be avoided. Young Letta, the main character, is a wordsmith, meaning she is responsible for documenting the proper list words. Letta develops a friendship with a desecrator (someone who does not follow orders and instead pursues the arts) and uncovers a harmful conspiracy by the leader, John Noa.

It has a very intriguing premise and may work well for teaching; however, it was pretty slow moving for me. The lengthy descriptive passages seemed to weigh the novel down rather than add to it. I wanted to be more attached to the characters and the plot. I also wanted the reader to see the power of words when more emphasis seemed to be placed on the power of art in general. It may be that I have just been saturated with dystopian novels, so for young people being introduced to the genre, they may feel differently. And, as I said earlier, as a former teacher, I was constantly picking up on how easy it would be to teach.

* I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

* You may purchase this book from Amazon here. This is an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Board Books for Book Nerds and/or Babies

Being a parent of little ones is fun for many reasons, but one of the most selfishly fun reasons is because you are the one in control of what your children own. You buy the stuff. You can buy them whatever you want! So, when you love books, you buy them books. When you really really love books, you buy them books about books. Therefore, I present this list of Board Books for Book Nerds and/or Babies for all my fellow bookworm parent friends and for anyone looking for excellent baby shower gifts. (And, it’s totally okay to buy these for yourself instead of your kids.)

That's a nice stack of bedtime reads

***Warning: This post may make you having you saying, “Take all my money!”***

Babylit Series

If you are a fan of the classics, you have to include some (or all) of the books in the fantastic Babylit series. These board books just make my day. I love reading baby versions of Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, The Odyssey, and Edgar Allen Poe to my babies because I can. There is sure to be an adapted classic for every bookworm. Babies have brains, y’all. Start ‘em young. Ha ha ha! Truthfully, these books are fun for book-loving moms and dads, but they do incorporate baby learning by covering colors, numbers, opposites and more.

                            

      

Les Petits Fairy Tales

Oh my word, these are fun! Back when I was a teacher, I loved to show my students “60 second Shakespeare” videos. Basically, these videos condensed the plays into 60 seconds. With this board book series, you have the same thing. The classics are brightly illustrated and the story is told with one word per page. Genius! My favorite is Rapunzel because one page simply says “Scissors.” Both of my kids learned all the basic fairy tales from these fun books.

         

        

Cozy Classics

Another terrific series, Cozy Classics, also focuses on condensing popular novels into one word per page stories for little ones. The difference with this series is the illustrations are actually made up of needle-felted scenes, so the characters look more puppet-like. If you want to go ahead and introduce your 6-month-old to War & Peace, this is the series for you.

     

     

Mini Myths

If you are a fan of myths, you must purchase a few of the Mini Myths series board books for your kids. They are so clever! These books combine allusions to mythology while also teaching children lessons. How can you resist titles such as Be Patient, Pandora!, Don’t Get Lost, Odysseus! and Play Nice, Hercules! I certainly can’t, which is why I am constantly adding more to my collection.

   

   

Haiku Books

I am a huge fan of haikus. When I hear the 5-7-5 pattern, my heart goes pitter patter. Just me? Ha ha ha! Seriously, though, I love a good haiku. And kids do too! They are often some of the first poems kids learn to write. You can start them early with these books.

     

* You may read more about these books on amazon by clicking on the titles or the book covers. These are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!*

20 Books on Big Feelings for Little Kids

Recently, a friend asked for a list of books on feelings for toddlers. This request took me back to when we first encountered toddler tantrums with my son. I remember looking for ways to help him learn to deal with feelings so they wouldn’t turn into monster-like outbursts. So, when I began researching books about feelings, I realized that there really are multiple facets on this topic: feelings in general, temper tantrums and bad days.

Ultimately, I believe tantrums and bad days for little ones most often are because they “feel some sort of way” and just haven’t learned how to handle them, which is why the list includes children’s books for babies up through older children. And, let’s be honest – I know many adults (myself included) who have not mastered this skill yet either.

Since this is a big list, I am simply listing the books without reviews, but rest assured, we did sit down and read each of them, so they are Lit Loving Mom approved! You can click the title or the book cover to visit Amazon to read more about each book.

Books about Feelings

In My Heart: A Book of Feelings

Glad Monster, Sad Monster

The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings

How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods

Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day

Feelings

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods

Hurty Feelings

ABC Look at Me

Books about Temper Tantrums

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Mouse Was Mad

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo

When Sophie Gets Angry -  Really, Really Angry

Finn Throws a Fit!

I Was So Mad

Jilly's Terrible Temper Tantrums

Books about Bad Days

Grumpy Bird

Mean Soup

My No, No, No Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Not a book, but a resource that worked well with my son is this terrific piece called “Belly Breathe” by Common and Colbie Caillat on Sesame Street. We still talk about breathing the monster out to help when he is on the verge of a meltdown.

** This list contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!**

5 Books to Teach Colors

Colors Are Confusing 

Confession: We have been a little worried our 2.5 year old is color blind. I do not mean that offensively to anyone who is color blind or jokingly. We were seriously worried about her lack of color understanding. Somewhat frustrating since she loves all things rainbow.

We could hold a red solo cup in front of her and ask her what color it was. The conversation went like this:

What color is this cup?

Blue! It BLUE cup.

No, it’s not blue. Try again. What color is this cup?

Green! It GREEN!

No, it’s not green. Try again. What color is it?

White! No, Purple! PURPLE cup!

Nope. Try again.

Yellow cup!

No, baby girl. It’s RED. It is a RED cup. Red like a fire engine.

Y’all. We just could not understand. And this was becoming a regular thing. She’d excitedly yell in the car, “Look Mom! A RED car! A RED car!” I’d look and the car would be BLUE. What in the world? For the life of me, I do not remember colors being this difficult to teach my first born. But, for whatever reason, it was just not clicking.

Then, it came time to set up her preschool meeting and assessment (yes, that is an actual thing). So, I did what any former teaching book loving mom would do. I panicked and ordered several books about colors on Amazon (as if we didn’t already own color books, cards, toys, puzzles, etc.) But, lo and behold, she is starting to get it.

Her preschool assessment is today, and she can proudly identify both PURPLE and GREEN correctly 95% of the time. We are on a roll.

Therefore, I am presenting the books we’ve been using that have somehow made sense to her little brain.

Monsters Love Colors

This children’s book by Mike Austin is fantastic! Both of my kids are always fans of anything to do with monsters. This book combines monsters, silly sounding words and lots of onomatopoeia with bright illustrations and squiggles. It teaches children about the different colors using different colored monsters by emphasizing fun color words (Yellow = Roar!), as well as teaching them how mixing certain colors makes new colors. It is fun to read (even for adults) and kids will giggle and learn at the same time. Win, win!

Steam Train Dream Train Colors

My daughter is also in the train stage. Trains are just so much fun to toddlers and preschoolers. Who knew? Well, clearly Sherri Duskey Rinker did when she created the bestselling book Steam Train Dream Train. I tend to find most book spin-offs as simply ploys to get more money. However, in this case, the book stands alone well. It is just as fun and uses smart tools to teach colors. Each page focuses on a different solid color with the corresponding page full of things that are that same color. The solid colored page includes lines that rhyme and have rhythm making it enjoyable as a read aloud.

Color Dog

If you do not have a Matthew Van Fleet book on your bookshelf, you must change that today! Van Fleet’s books are, by far, my children’s most read and most adored books. In this touch, feel, pull the tab, moveable scene book (yes, these books really have it all), dogs help introduce the concept of color. Tons of dogs are used to create colorful pictures. My kids laugh aloud as they see a dog pass stinky green gas on one page. What can I say? We have a very sophisticated sense of humor in our home. But, with all the interactive touch and pull features, it is effective in teaching concepts.

Tabbed Board Books: My First Colors: Let’s Learn Them All

This is simply a basic word book with colored pictures, but sometimes the basic books work the best. In this particular book, there are tabbed pages for each color of the rainbow. Each page is full of items that are the key color. So, your child will both learn about colors and increase his/her vocabulary. Another perk to this book is that anyone can use it to teach colors. For example, my 6 year has been using it to teacher his little sister colors.

Bear Sees Colors

We love the Bear series (Bear Snores On) in our home. Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman have created a bear that children love because he is humble and kind and friends with all the animals. In this book, Bear is learning about all the different colors in the world around him. Readers take a walk with Bear through the woods and play spy the different colors with Bear. Since kids love to play I spy, this is a great book to use to point out colors. 

* You may order these book from amazon. This blog has affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Book Review: The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places

The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places By Pete Begler

As a book lover and a mother, I have a list of books that keeps growing of all the books I am excited to read with my kids. My son recently turned 6 years old, so most of these titles are getting closer and closer to reality. I get giddy thinking about introducing him to Harry Potter, Narnia, Roald Dahl and Rick Riordan, just to name a few. And, now, I have a new title to add to that ever-growing stack of fantasy books. I am pleased to introduce children’s book fans to The Fearless Travelers’ Guide to Wicked Places by Pete Begler.

Let me begin by saying, whoa. This book is fantastic! I mean, you should recognize if I am grouping it with Roald Dahl and Rick Riordan, it means I am a big fan. Children’s books for middle age kids are often hit or miss for me, but the ones that stand out are amazing. This is definitely the case for The Fearless Travelers’ Guide to Wicked Places.

This hefty novel contains several fast-paced chapters with exciting and scary adventures that make the pages fly by. As an adult, I had a hard time stopping reading to do the things I needed to be doing. The novel focuses on a young girl named Nell who has the gift of seeing what others around her cannot see. When her mother is taken by a cloud of witches, she and her brothers must make a trek into the Wicked Places, the land of Dreams and Nightmares, to save her.

Imagine every good dream and every nightmare you had as a kid – they are brought to life in this book. The children can fly as comets, animals wear clothing and whales are made of stars. But, there are also scary, evil clowns, skeletons and clouds that rain knives and blood. It is a delightful fright fest (if there has ever been such a thing, this is it).

While Nell and her brothers and their new friends have to battle evil enemies, travel through various dream worlds (beautiful and terrifying) and find their way through mazes, they must also remember who they are. By staying true to themselves and saying yes to facing obstacles, they will find their way home.

This book was so much fun! I cannot wait until my son is old enough to read this one. If you have a reluctant reader, this would be a great choice. It has something for everyone. This book was just released this week and I am thankful I got to be one of the first to read it and tell others about it.

* I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

* You may order this book from amazon here. This is an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting my blog!

MANGA CLASSICS: The Scarlet Letter

Teachers and parents of teens, I have a treat for you! I recently joined NetGalley and fell down the incredible rabbit hole of free books. Free books just to read and review! I got a little overly excited, which I have since learned is common for a NetGalley newbie. But, I wanted to read them all! Give me all the books!

Imagine my silly delight when I stumbled across a Manga Classics version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s class, The Scarlet Letter. As a huge fan of this novel (as a reader and a former teacher), I could not pass this opportunity up. Now, now. I know there are always the purists, but I think the purists need to chill out. Kids need to see the classics in a form they can appreciate. And, for many students, this form is manga.

Am I saying this manga edition is a replacement for The Scarlet Letter? Absolutely not. The problem with manga editions or graphic novel editions of any classic works are that the beauty of the language is simply not there. The reason Hawthorne and Dickens and Austen stand the test of time is because of the words they used to tell their stories. A manga is not made to incorporate lengthy sentences or sophisticated vocabulary.

However, the benefit of adding this manga edition of the classic work to your library is that it is a great supplemental tool for teaching the plot, characters and symbolism. Even with most of the words stripped away, the plot is still clear. The characters are illustrated well. And symbolism is expressed with art. I could see using this material for an additional resource while I was teaching high school easily.

Will students be able to write an essay or pass a test by reading this edition? No. Will they possibly enjoy the story more by reading it alongside the assigned text. Yes. Give it a try!

* I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

* You may order this book from amazon here. This is an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting my blog!