New Items
Check out the games that were just posted this July.
Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction to Genes & DNA, by Anna Claybourne. I like some Usborne books, but this one is outstanding. Without talking down to readers or sounding like a textbook, this book gives an excellent introduction to this subject. The illustrations will fascinate you and your kids. I like the combined use of the book and the computer. After introducing the basic information, the book goes on to consider the implications of what we know and where all this science may take us in the future. Some people have found this book too explicit about sex, so if you haven’t had a good discussion about sex with your children, you may not want to start with this book.
The Internet links are good and updated regularly by Usborne. The glossary, timeline, and one-page sheet of basic facts offer easy reference. Ages 9 to 14. $11.95.
CHAMPIONS OF THE WILDERNESS, by Bruce and Carol L. Malnor, illustrated by Anisa Claire Hovemann, and CHAMPIONS OF THE OCEAN, by Fran Hodgkins, illustrated by Cris Arbo. Both books are part of the new series Earth Heroes. I was taken with the format of the books right away — it’s different from any other books I’ve seen. The authors looked for the common threads linking each of these explorers and wrote about their successes and also their failures, making the point that failure is what you make of it and not necessarily a bad thing.
The short introduction to each book asks stimulating questions and points out what to look for in each biography.
Each chapter is devoted to a special person of influence, eight in each book. There are explanations of the big events that influenced each hero and intriguing details about their lives that help the reader really get to know each person. After each biographical chapter is a one-page fact sheet that boils down the important facts, the accomplishments, and the “Ripples of Influence” (those who influenced the hero and those he or she influenced in turn). Then there is a one-page timetable that sets the particular hero in the historical context of his or her own time. These books are well illustrated with black-and-white photos and drawings.
Each book ends with a couple of pages explaining how readers can become heroes in their own way.
Ages 10 to 14. Each book is $11.95.
AFTER YOU LOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE, told by Amy, Allie, and David Dennison with a foreword by Harold S. Kushner. Twins Amy and Allie were eight and their brother David was four when their dad died unexpectedly. Their mother helped them keep a journal of their thoughts and feelings for the following two years.
They wrote about their immediate reactions and how they found their own way through the grief into growth. They wrote about their emotions and what helped each of them cope with their loss and the difficult changes in their lives. They discussed the changed roles everyone played in the house and their fears. It’s a forthright and sensitive expression of how these children found their way forward that other children will easily relate to. Your children will relate to this book because it was written by children and from their perspective.
Originally titled Our Dad Died, this revised edition has added thoughts and reflections. Ages 10 to 13.$9.95.
MY LIFE CHANGED: A Journal for Coping with Loss & Grief. Most, but not all, pages have questions, statements, or quotes to think about, with space for writing thoughts and feelings or for drawing. Using this book is a good way to explore difficult and painful inner thoughts that begin the long process of healing. A companion to After You Lose Someone You Love, but useful all by itself. $8.95.
New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age” Selection
Amy, Allie, and David Dennison, won the Daily Point of Light Award, Points of Light Foundation
Commas: Teaching Students to Use Commas Correctly, Without Boring Them to Tears, by Randy Larson. Commas don’t excite most people, but they do help to keep readers from getting confused. This book explains comma usage with examples that invite humorous misinterpretation. Examples are clear, for the most part, and written with a kid’s sense of fun in mind.
There are a couple of points where you could take exception. For example, consider this item from the book: How do you punctuate the following: “Calvin liked sausage cereal and prune tarts for breakfast.”
The books says it is correct this way: Calvin liked sausage, cereal and prune tarts for breakfast. And it’s true that in much published writing today only one comma is used in this situation. But because I was taught that the element before the and in a series requires a comma, my preference is this: Calvin liked sausage, cereal, and prune tarts for breakfast. I have checked with the experts and both are “acceptable” — it’s technically a matter of choice, as long as the writer remains consistent within the same work. $14.95.
There are a couple of other instances in which writing styles have changed over the years. You might want to have a copy of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style on hand if you are not sure if something is a matter of preference. Elements of Style is written for high school students and adults.