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Posts Tagged ‘Children’

A new children’s book, Let’s Go Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, has been selected to be used in a teen mentoring program for Safe, Humane Chicago.

In 2007 Chicago community leaders, city officials, local police and members of the faith based community joined with humane and animal related groups, to form Safe, Humane Chicago. This unique coalition’s mission is to educate children about the consequences of dog fighting, conduct animal education programs for both adults and children, and develop youth intervention programs, so kids will not become involved in this illegal activity. Their goal is also to teach an alternative to violence. A Massachusetts SPCA study concluded that those who attend dog fights are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people.

Let’s Go Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary was specifically designed to be read aloud in home, library, or classroom settings and to encourage conversation with children about kindness to animals and responsible pet ownership. Kelsey’s books will be distributed to teen mentors in a Safe, Humane Chicago pilot program. The teenagers will be responsible for educating younger children about compassion and caring for animals.

People are starting to recognize that the issue of dog fighting is about preventing any acceptance of an atmosphere of violence in our communities. You don’t have to be a dog person to want a safe environment for you family. Seventy percent of dog fighter’s or other animal abuse offenders have also been arrested for violent crimes against people. They are intertwined! Children are the key to breaking the cycle.

In writing an environmentally-friendly book, they were able to bring adult and child together in a new way that hasn’t been known to man in a very long time. By reading this book, you will see that it has the power to rekindle any mind, young or old.

Every photograph tells a story. The story that it tells is perhaps unknown to the reader but not to the creator. The presence of the exotic pictures gives the reader so many new ideas and you can feel your imagination widening by the turning of every page. This book shows us that every child has the ability to visualize a whole new world outside of their own and that they should embrace it, not hide from it. Barry and Tracy Kane have put together a book that just might have enough influence to change our generation.

Tracy Kane majored in illustration at Philadelphia College of Art and worked
in Public Television as a commercial artist for several years. She created the highly successful “Fairy Houses Series” of children’s books with her husband, Barry Kane who is a photographer.

In conclusion, by adding personal stories from real people and real ‘Fairy Houses’, it makes the book that much more relative. This book is a beautiful piece of art and it just might have the potential to break the barrier between humans and technology. Highly Recommended for parents wanting to create a stronger bond between their children and nature by Reviewer: Allbooks Reviews

Title: Fairy Houses and Beyond!
Authors: Barry and Tracy Kane
Publisher: Light-Beams Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9708104-6-5
Pages: 62
Price: $15.95 US
Date: Nov 2008
Genre: Children’s Environmental Book

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed

Recommended for ages 8-12

Imagine growing up in a city where everyone has some sort of superpower. Everyone, that is, except you. That’s the situation for the main character in The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy: The Hero Revealed. It’s the first in a series by William Boniface. Here’s why I think it deserves more attention.

Ordinary Boy, who lives in Superopolis, doesn’t have any powers, so he just wears jeans and a t-shirt, unlike his friends and the rest of the citizens, who wear tights, capes, bodysuits, and other outfits that match their super capabilities.

He and his friends are part of a team called the Junior Leaguers. The other members are Halogen Boy, who glows brighter depending on the amount of apple juice he’s been drinking; Tadpole, who can stick his tongue out twenty feet; Plasma Girl, who turns into a jelly-like substance; and Stench–yup, you can guess why he got his name!

When a set of new collecting cards comes out, the group rushes to buy some and tries to collect the entire set. To their horror, they discover an evil secret about the last card they need. The rest of the book details their search to find that last card, and all the adventures they encounter in the process.

The comic-style illustrations throughout the story are great. Heroes have broad shoulders and square chins, and villains are evil and bizarre, like the mysterious Professor Brain-Drain, who wears a lab coat, un-see-through glasses, and a colander on his head.

This reads like a comic book story, although it isn’t presented in comic book format. It’s like a chapter book, with lots of clear, intriguing illustrations, such as a picture of Ordinary Boy’s father, Thermo, setting a teddy bear on fire in his hand. It really makes you wonder what the heck could be coming up next.

Reluctant readers and boys especially will love the non-stop action and crazy cast of characters. There is a complex story line full of surprises, which keeps them wanting to read more. And with such interesting town folks in the city of Superopolis, you know there have to be more and more adventures to come.

I’m really surprised this isn’t as popular as the Captain Underpants series, because it’s much more imaginative and less silly. Kids who like the animated movie The Incredibles will enjoy The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy: The Hero Revealed by William Boniface.

With all of the controversy surrounding Harry Potter, including cries to ban the book from schools, the novels have done something that American parents and teachers, as a group, have failed to do. They have made our children read.

A recent study by Scholastic notes some intriguing statistics among the kids of Harry Potter’s world. Parents and kids both credit Potter with getting kids to read for fun; just over half of the kids surveyed said they neglected to do so before latching on to the series. Almost two thirds – 65% – have noted improvements at school since they started Rowling’s works.

More important than grades, however, is the entire shift in attitude towards reading. Previous surveys have found that children’s reading drops after the age of 8. The average Harry Potter reader, however, start the series at 9 and continue to read – and reread – the books as they get older.

Reread the books. This single statement spoke volumes to me. Most people I know read a book once and then never again. Most people, who will watch the same movie over and over, refuse to read a book they have already enjoyed because ‘they know how it ends’. They watch the same television shows with the same expected, overused endings. Yet we have kids now reading and rereading books. The idea boggles the mind.

Speaking of mindboggling, you do realize that most adults read less than five books after they graduate school, be it high school or college. Reading is apparently too difficult for most people. But Rowlings has lured her audience to read not one but six books, and eagerly anticipate the seventh. Not only that, but according to the aforementioned survey, half of Harry Potter readers will seek out a new series to devour. One in three – that is 33% – intend to reread the series. Oddly, only 27% intend to look for a new Rowlings book; perhaps the rest are afraid of being sucked into another ten year series.

You can put me down for all three sections, personally (no word was spoken on overlap, by the way). I will reread the entire series immediately before Book 7 comes out, trying to time it so that I receive my book ‘just in the nick of time’. That’s how I managed the last two books. I will continue to seek out new books and new series to read. And I will eagerly anticipate Rowlings next book – although I might wait until she concludes her next series before I start reading this time around.

Pee Wee’s Family In a Nutshell (ISBN# 0969788320) is the third installment in the series of children’s books written by Larraine Roulston. The series is based on the character Pee Wee Worman – who teaches readers about vermiculture, or composting with worms. Larraine shares a powerful quote from Charles Darwin on the inside cover followed by a statement on the next page where the author makes it clear that she sees compost as “more then a fertilizer, more than a soil conditioner – it is a symbol of continuing life”.

Pee Wee’s Family In a Nutshell opens with a new song (by Fay Herridge, Sabrina Wall, Sarah Wall and Michael Wall) written for the main character, P.W. Worman. The book begins where the second in the series left off. After reminiscing to his friends about the worm bin where he was born, Pee Wee realized how much he missed his cousins and other dear friends from the past. His new pals noticed his gloomy mood and they set out on another adventure to reunite Pee Wee with his family. Ironically, the worm bin at school needed a caretaker. Nancy and her brother Scott won the contest for the right to care for the bin over the summer and they proudly toted it home right after school. Too tired to anything else for the bin at the moment, they rested it by the backyard apple tree. Suddenly, Vanessa – the magical and beautiful butterfly, visits Nancy, Scott and their friends Mathieu and Naseem one more time. With her special powers, Vanessa shrinks the children down to the size of bugs. Pee Wee was thrilled to visit with his family – and share the adventure with his dear friends – but the compost pile will always be “home” for him.

The book is illustrated by artist Kate Sawatsky, and features curly vines swooping around the pages, back yard scenes, composting ingredients and lots of fruit and flowers.

International Compost Awareness Week occurs in early May every year – this is a perfect time to use the Pee Wee Worman series to read to groups of children at the various events held during this week. Retailing at only $6.95 (Canadian), this paperback book is a bargain for frugal minded educators, parents and caregivers. The final four pages provide a short glossary of composting terms, information on indoor worm bins and outside compost piles and a list of resources including books and websites that will lead readers to much more information on composting.

Larraine Roulston, the author of this series of worm compost books for children, has been involved with Recycling Council of Ontario for a number of years and wrote a newspaper column for 15 years called ‘Recycler’s Report’. Her series of Pee Wee books has inspired the Recycling Council of Ontario to provide a 30 minute P.W. Worman puppet show that is performed at schools, libraries and environmental fairs. Larraine is a loving and enthusiastic grandmother who hopes to spread knowledge of the benefits and importance of composting.

Be sure to visit Larraine’s website: