#AbcForMeAbcWhatCanSheBe #NetGalley

Title: ABC what can she be?
Author: Jessie Ford
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr

Summary: Alphabet book focused on jobs that girls can do.

Rating:🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

Review: Good, simple and a way to help break barriers. You'd think that this day and age girls wouldn't need something like this..but they do.

I work as a first grade teacher. You'd be surprised on what girls think girls can't do..either because of lack of experience of that's something they've been told.


This came out at the beginning of October so it can be purchased.

 Downloaded from Netgalley freely..in exchange I write a nifty review of it. 

#MyBirthday #SammyInTheFall #NetGalley

Title: My Birthday
Author: Anita Bijsterbosch
Publisher: Clavis
Publish day: September 1, 2018
Rating:🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

Summary:
Hurray, it’s Bear’s birthday! But everybody seems to have forgotten. And when Bear goes out to visit his friends, everybody is busy. But when he gets home again, a big surprise awaits him!

A funny birthday book with peep holes and folding pages. For toddlers ages 24 months and up, focusing on the child’s daily life.

Review:

Back of the eARC says, "Sweet book with peepholes and folding pages, about animal houses and a birthday surprised." This is a toddler-focus book that I clicked and downloaded because of the cover. Board books with movable parts for younger kids are good items to have to help kids gain interest in books. It's cute and works for the age range it's meant to be for. I think it'd work for younger school age as well.

Title: Sammy in the Fall
Author: Anita Bijsterbosch
Publisher: Clavis
Publish day: September 1, 2018
Rating:🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

Summary:
It’s fall. Sammy and his little horse, Hob,have a busy day picking apples, raking leaves,collecting nuts, and playing outside.Welcome, fall! A book with half pages that hide and reveal how Sammy and Hob enjoy the season.For toddlers ages 30 months and up,with a focus on the child’s world.

Review: Back of the eARC says this is a book with half pages that hide and reveal how Sammy & Hob enjoy the season. This is a toddler book so this isn't the usual age range of books I read in elementary. But I downloaded it because the cover was cute.

I liked the format/story of the book and following the two adorable characters through their interaction with autumn .. works for this.

Overall: The books are geared toward toddler but could work in a kindergarten classroom or student in my opinion.

#WeedingWednesday: The Last Enchantments /From the Files of Madison Finn / The Eyre Affair

The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch Shelved:  May 18, 2016 

Survive/Weed:  Going to survive woo! Based on the summary seems interesting and something I may enjoy. I know that's how they ended up on my TBR list to begin with. 

From the Files of Madison Finn: Back Online by Laura Dower Shelved: May 18, 2016

Survive/Weed: The cover is adorable! It's a children's novel. Since I shelved it the same day as Enchantments... probably Goodreads Giveaway. I'm going to weed this. 

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford Shelved:  June 16, 2016

Survive/Weed: This was another book club read that  I didn't make it through. Plus it's book one of so...trying to get rid of those. 

Recognize any of these? Read any of them? Lemme know!

Thanks for stopping by :)

#AudreyTheAmazingInventor #NetGalley

Title: Audrey the Amazing Inventor
Author: Rachel Valentine
Publisher:  Quarto Publishing Group - words & picture
Publish Day: June 21, 2018!
Rating: 5/5

Summary: Meet Audrey. She wants to be an inventor, but her inventions are not entirely successful: the egg collectors and jam dispenser are a bit messy, and her faithful pet, Happy Cat, is still recovering from the mishap with the cat washer! It's enough for Audrey to lose heart and give up altogether, but with some encouraging words she gives inventing one last try. This fun and quirky picture book featuring a feisty and inspiring female protagonist with an inventive mind and curious spirit, is an inspirational story about following your dreams, caring for those you love and persevering to achieve your goals. Hilarious, heartfelt and utterly bonkers, Audrey the Inventor is a new heroine with plenty to say and do!

Review:

Cute, energetic and focused on a girls creativity. Zany attired, wild red hair tied up in pigtails with measuring tape.. she is inquisitive, creative and build things that interest her.

Most of her inventions aren't as successful as she'd like them to be..but keeps working. Very much a Little People Big Dreams kind of book.


Similar to The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires , Georgia O'Keeffe, Harriet Tubman  < Little People Big Dream Books

Downloaded from Netgalley to read in exchange for an honest review.


Thoughts:

Doesn't do the, "Girls can do what boys do" thing. It's just a girl inventing and creating things she thinks up. I'm a teeny bit older so I remember it in books and it was always annoying for me to read.
One of the things that gets on my nerves about girl independence and creating is attaching boys to it somehow. "You can do anything boys do" statements when they're not necessary & feel intrusive as if we need to include boys in conversation with what a girl can and can't do. Allow them to just do and be who they are without comparison.

They're not intrusive if someone isn't sure they should/could do something because that does help. As a kid I never questioned if I could do things since I was a girl. I did when someone said statements like that though. I was a very clueless child about gender roles with things just being for girls or boys. I think because I had all sisters who knows it may have been very apparent the segregation of what girls and boys should/can do if I had brothers.

#Goodreads 20 Books Read in 2016 Reading Challenge

2016 the year that ends my time in college. I had a lot of time to read that year, too. I've taken most of my classes so I'm just waiting for graduation.  Links go to the reviews I've written.

1. Too Many Frogs!  Sandy Asher
2. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
3. Kindred by Octavia E Butler
4. The Summoning  by Kelley Armstrong (re-read)
5. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
6. The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
7. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong (re-read)
8. The Gathering Kelley Armstrong
9. The Calling      "                       "
10. The Rising       "                        "
11. Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran
12. Omens by Kelley Armstrong
13. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A Kimmel
14. Visions by Kelley Armstrong
15. Deceptions "                        "
16. The Tropics of Serpents by Marie Brennan
17. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
18. The Orange Cat by Kelley Armstrong
19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
20. Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling

Score: 4/5

The first time that I read this was in 2016. I was one of the kids who wasn't allowed to read this because "evil" "magical" and whatever other nonsense. So, I missed out on the magic of this series and never got into it.

I watched the movies as a kid at other family members households without my Dad knowing. At the time I wasn't aware that it was just my Dad who wasn't allowing us to read it. Mom never stated whether she was fine with us reading it or not -- which would have helped. 

Good:

It is an enjoyable read for any age. Characters are likeable and what happens in this is interesting to read about.

Ron is more likeable in the books than he is in the movie. That was a pleasant surprise because I never understood why his movie character was the way he was. He was the younger brother who figured he would never shine compared to his older siblings. This is his first year at Hogwarts.

Hermione is compensating for her upbringing.

Harry Potter, you realize why he was ditched at such awful people's houses. They needed him to be easily built to defeat the bad guy.

This book demonstrates to kids that in life that there are gray areas. Things aren't always just Good guys doing Good, and the bad doing bad. The good in this --- Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron break the rules and at one point hurt their friend, Neville, to defeat the evil.

It demonstrates how kids can be hypocritical. They tell Neville that he needs to start sticking up for himself. So, he does and they are annoyed with him because he's sticking up for himself against them. The whole, "Yes, sometimes you have to speak up against friends."

Bad:

I didn't grow up with this so there isn't some sort of spark that enraptures me. I have enjoyed reading this. While I do plan on reading more of the series there isn't some urge or yearning to do so immediately. To me, it feels like a book I could have and should have been obsessed with as a kid and as adult struggle with getting into it.

But this series has influenced society and it is there and everywhere you look. Quotes in newer books, in television series, in daily life...just everywhere. 

Recommend: 

You've probably already read this before. Or twice. Or 80 times by now.

Candlelight for Rebecca - Jacqueline Dembar Green - American Girls

Another Young Adult / kid read for you! I enjoyed this little story a lot.

Good:

 Shows immigrants struggling with integration and participating in other religious activities that aren't theirs. I felt it helped demonstrate why people who move to other countries don't just suddenly "become like you."

It shows the limited view that the teacher has. She has told the kids ALL Americans celebrate Christmas. She's basically has associated Christmas with being an American which is not fact at all.

It shows her conflict with making the decoration that her teacher wants them to make. Her other friends have decided to make them but chunk them before they get home. Some of her friend's families have integrated the Christian stuff into their lives...so the kids don't have any conflict with creating the decoration for Christmas.

 Her conflict with the Christmas decoration becomes a gift to the janitor. She gifts him the decoration and he gifts her back candles for the Sabbath.

Also, the book discusses how Hanukkah became "big" in the United States and how it's not treated the same way in other countries.

Bad:

The idea that you listen and do what the teacher is wanting you to do...even if it conflicts with your personal beliefs at home. This book was published in 2009 and I know it's meant to be 1914 America but???

Thankfully, we've got to the point where Christian or anything religious focus isn't forced on students as much as it once was. 

Discussion Points:

"I was going to throw it away on my way home from school," Rebecca blurted out, "but I just couldn't." ... "I didn't know what to do. Miss Maloney said all Americans celebrate Christmas."

Bubbie put her hands on Rebecca's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Teacher is right, and she is wrong," Bubbie said."Some Americans celebrate Christmas, and some don't. But at school you must do what teacher tells you."

This sentence right here would be a fantastic statement to talk about in class. When do you feel that it is fine to disagree with a teacher? Should you address the differences in what you believe and what is being taught in the class? When should you just go along with things?

&

It shows the limited view that the teacher has. She has told the kids ALL Americans celebrate Christmas. She's basically has associated Christmas with being an American which is not fact at all.


What makes you American?  

Sadie Rose and the Daring Escape by Hilda Stahl

Amazon | BN | Indie Books | Library

 Spoilers

Score: 2/5

Now you may be wondering-- what won't she read? I am wondering that, too! But this was read due to a college course I was in. We had to read children's books for a grade. This book was published in 1989 if you couldn't tell based on the cover.

This is a series of books around her life.

Sadie, the main character doesn't like that her mother has remarried. She's struggling with things and then gets kidnapped. She relies on her religion, faith in God to survive.

Good:

It's about pioneer kind of life. Good writing. Has a moral kind of ending which I don't have any problem with that in kids books.

Bad:

I did not like the way they handled her abduction. Think this is more of what could have been or me wanting something that is missing.

I wished there was a talking point about how even if you do something good, sometimes things don't go right. She saves a dog and is abducted due to this. She did something good and is basically by this person punished by the good deed.

The whole, "No good deed goes unpunished" kind of thing that could have been spoken about. I work with kids and they are more often extrinsic focused with rewards. They don't act or treat each other nicely unless they are rewarded with something instantly.

But this could very well be a good conversation to go through talking about how she did something good but wasn't truly rewarded with it.

Recommend:

Yeah, if you're comfortable with your kids reading Christian themed stories. As far as I see there aren't any ebook version of these books. Hilda Stahl's list of books she wrote: http://www.librarything.com/author/stahlhilda