Review: The Book with No Pictures

The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak is hilarious and perfect for young children with a twisted sense of humor. Be aware that this book requires singing and funny voices!

This book was a gift and when I first saw the cover, I wasn't sure what to think. Now my kids love this book so much that they insisted on reading it at our homeschool book club and they had all the other children in uproarious laughter.

Who knew that a picture book without pictures could be so interesting?

Review: Hamster Princess Of Mice and Magic by Ursula Vernon

(New to this series? See my review of the first book, Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible)

Hamster Princess: Of Mice and Magic by Ursula Vernon, the second book in the Hamster Princess series, is based on the classic fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", except that in Harriet's world, the princesses are mice named after the twelve months of the year. In the original fairy tale, the soldier who discovers the princesses' secret marries the eldest daughter - as you can imagine, Harriet finds her own way to make things right. Of Mice and Magic makes for a great sequel that continues with the feminist themes of the first book, by which I mean that Harriet is female, saves the day, and doesn't believe in forcing princesses to marry.

Ursula is the creator of Hugo-Award winning graphic novel Digger, which is for more mature audiences, as well as many other graphic novels and otherworks which you can find out about at
UrsulaVernon.com

Oh, and did I mention that the third book is out? I can't wait to get my hands on Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel.

Photography in the Park in Living Education

My article "Photography in the Park" is out in Living Education Spring 2016: Go Wild!

"Photography in the Park" was inspired by our trips photographing mushrooms. I'll admit that this photo was all me:

Review: Hamster Princess Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon

I'd like to take a break from educational ideas and books to share something just for fun:

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon is a hilarious graphic novel that reinvents the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar Rose), except that the princess is a hamster who fights ogres and cliff dives. You see, when Harriet learns about the curse placed on her, she realizes that she is temporarily invincible because the spell must keep her alive until her birthday in order for her to prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep. Harriet easily subverts fairy tale tropes with her no-nonsense attitude, because if she doesn't want to marry a prince, then why should she?

Harriet the Invincible is an engaging mix of traditional text story-telling and graphic novel illustrations that help deliver comedic punchlines. Because of the reading level, this series is listed as Middle Grade (8-12). My son is younger than that but enjoyed the book very much and read it multiple times in a day. I think some of the jokes may have gone over his head and that an older child will get even more out of the book.

One of the reasons I love this series is because I see a number of fairy tale mash-ups for adults, but not many (any?) for this age group, and certainly none so clever. Harriet is quite inspiring as a strong female character who happens to be a hamster.

One of the amazing things about this series is that Ursula Vernon is both author and illustrator of Hamster Princess and many other of her works. That's like writing the book twice!

Ursula is also the creator of Hugo-Award winning graphic novel Digger, which is for more mature audiences, as well as many other graphic novels and otherworks which you can find out about at
UrsulaVernon.com

Review: Its NOT the Stork #biology

I am so glad that I heard about this book from another mom. A lot of children have questions about pregnancy and every thing that goes along with it, and I'm a big fan of giving as much information as is reasonably possible. I'm also a big fan of utilizing a book like this to help me, especially with a topic like this one.

When it comes to sex and all that, I feel like we parents can be too anxious about what to tell our children when. I thought, where do I start?

Start here!

Its NOT the Stork by Robie H. Harris.

My almost-seven-year-old read it and enjoyed it. You can see right on the cover that it is intended for four-years-old and up.

If your child is older, take a look at Its So Amazing by Robie H. Harris, which is the same topic but for seven and up.

And while we're on the topic, Its Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris talks about puberty, so I assume that's for older children.

Have toddlers? Check out Who Has What? by Robie H. Harris.

Visit Robie H. Harris' website to learn more about what she writes.

Review: The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Disaster by @CBoyack

My review of The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco by Connor Boyack is live on Learning Tangent Magazine!

This is more than a book review for me because back in Feburary, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, tackled these same issues.

Last year, the town decided to allow food trucks. Not long after, a few businesses raised concerns about the food trucks hurting their own bottom line. At the same time, many other businesses, such as Fainting Goat Brewing, The Mill, and Draft Line Brewery, saw how food trucks benefited the town and its citizens. Unfortunately, the new regulations were passed.

The regulations limit food trucks to operating only two days a week, as well as ban them from commercial areas. Wow, really? Really.

If you're a local, you can follow The Mill, Draft Line Brewing, and the Fainting Goat Brewing Company on facebook to see when they're having special events with musicians and food trucks. You can also follow Flattz Signature Flatbreads, one of the food trucks that helped bring awareness to remove the regulations.

Seeing a book that explains these issues on a level that my gradeschooler can understand is wonderful. I don't often get political on my social media, but when it comes to educating our children, sometimes politics play a part and we are big believers in small government and deregulation. From that perspective, this book was perfect for my 1st grader, and my rising kindergartner now wants to run a lemonade stand.

Make sure you check out my review here!

Buy The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco by Connor Boyack, or any of the other Tuttle Twins books, directly from [ TuttleTwins.com ]

Read more reviews and find out about their teen books here.

Fun with Fractions! #Math #Homeschool

My son has been interested in fractions, so I printed out this fraction bar freebie on Teacher's Notebook and TPT, broke out fun manipulatives and our calculator.

Once it came time for review, we enjoyed:

Match It! Fractions Puzzle Cards

and Pizza Fraction Bingo. He really loves Bingo and other board games, so we have several bingo games by this company. Learning Resources also has a number of other matching fraction manipulates (see below), but if you prefer solid wood, especially for little hands, get something like Grimm's Wooden Fraction Circles:

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or this Lift and Learn Puzzle which also has the words and numbers on it. I love the nice colors, solid feel, and the food-neutral aspect of these alternatives.

There is also plenty of organic learning that you can do with fractions. I started describing their food in fractions long before we with printables and manipulatives. Cooking is a great way to learn and review fractions over and over again. You can have lots of fun baking or pouring water from one measuring cup into another.

More Learning Resources fraction manipulatives:

Pizza Fraction Fun - Pizza Fraction Magnets

Rainbow Fraction Circles - Fraction Tiles (Rectangles)

Have something cool to add? Comment below!