Children's Book Review, Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Children's Book, Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Children's Book Review written by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

Have your children discovered the joys of Lift-the-Flap books? Row, Row, Row your Boat is such a cute one, written by Angie Lionetto-Civa, illustrated by Serena Geddes, and published by New Frontier Publishing (2010).

Sitting comfortably in a little row boat, a boy looks through his spyglass and spies many exciting animals in the forest. Each animal joins him in the boat as they set off for an exciting day on the river. Children will enjoy finding all the different animals hiding under the flaps.

Look out for the crocodile! Will the little boy make it safely to land with his row boat full of friendly forest animals?

It's a simple concept, making it ideal for kids under four. Take a song that most little ones know and love to sing, and innovate on it by changing "life is but a dream" to "what can you see?" When children lift the flap, they see all sorts of rhyming animals which get added to the boat. There's a tense moment when we meet a crocodile, but all ends happily. Geddes' soft and gentle watercolour illustrations add to the atmosphere of fun and safe adventure.

The book lends itself to movement. Can't you just see babies being rocked back and forth in time with the rhythm of the words? Or toddlers enthusiastically rowing and adding animals to their boats? Older children will love to create their own new verses of the song, or even go on and design their own Lift-The-Flap books.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Looking Back to March Past

Are you wondering what today's blog title signifies? No, I'm not recalling those heady high school days when we had to practise marching past our teachers, left-right, left-right, to the tune of Colonel Bogey. Those march pasts were agony for a serge-clad child like me, born out of step with other marchers and dancers.

Today is when I'm taking a look at posts from March 2009 and March 2010. Reminiscing and checking whether I wrote anything worth re-visiting.

2009

How to Read Aloud and Wow Your Audience Tricks I use to bring reading aloud to life.

Fourteen Fantastic Hints on Reading Aloud The Queen of Read Aloud, Mem Fox gifts us with her ideas on reading aloud.

20 Ways to Incorporate Literacy into Your Kids Lives Fantastic guest post by librarian Valerie Baartz.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These My reminiscences about books from my childhood. If you have a childhood favourite you'd like to share with Book Chook readers, check out the information under the Contribute tab for A Book That Impacted My Life series.

2010

Writing with Avatars (1) Ideas for using online avatar creators to help kids get into writing.

DomoAnimate An online studio where kids can create their own (minimal) animations.

Highlights Kids Highlights magazine has an online presence that invites kids to play and learn.

Literacy My Way I hosted a day called Literacy My Way for last year's Share a Story- Shape a future blog tour. This post is a list of all the contributors and links to their posts for Literacy My Way.

Sharing Stories Using Online Editors Online spaces to involve kids in creating stories. Can your child find his way into writing via one of these?

Is There Anything Older than the Book Chook? This was my fanciful but fairly useless title for a post about a website I love where you can make your own Bayeux Tapestry-style comic. Such fun!

It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader My interpretation of what that saying really means. I created the image above left at Toon Doo. 

It's Fun to be Frugal Inexpensive literacy ideas for your family.

Reader's Theatre 4 Different ways to use Reader's Theatre with kids.

If you're looking for book reviews from March 09 and 10, try the archive at right for those months. Find other posts looking back for January and February.

Children’s Author’s Quest to Save Endangered Animals

Jan Latta is the author of 11 books for children in her True to Life series about endangered animals. She is also a wildlife photographer who travels to dangerous places to take pictures for her books. In 2007 she was commissioned by the ABC to write about her adventures on location in Diary of a Wildlife Photographer. Jan chats to us about why she risks her life to create books for young readers.

1. What inspired you to become a wildlife photographer and author?

In 1994 I went to Rwanda and came face to face with a mountain gorilla. When I found out there were only 600 of these magnificent creatures left in the wild I felt like I had to do something.

I decided to publish books for children so that they would know about the plight of these animals.

2. Have you always been an author and wildlife photographer?

No, I used to work in advertising. I taught myself to be a wildlife photographer so that I could tell the animal's stories in pictures as well as words.

3. What animals have you written about and photographed so far?

Mia the Meerkat, Gerry the Giraffe, Ping-Ping the Panda, Chipper the Cheetah, Timba the Tiger, Rufus the Rhinoceros, Chimaka the Chimpanzee, Lena the Lion, Elle the Elephant, Kolah the Koala and my most recent release is Ollie the Orangutan.

4. What are your books about?

Each story is fictional, but it's a true to life adventure that features a different animal who talks to the children about where they live, what they eat and how their family lives together.

For example, in Ollie, the Orangutan, Ollie is your guide and companion taking you on a voyage of discovery into his world. At the back of the book there are lots of Orangutan Facts and information on how you can help this endangered animal. There are also maps and a list of websites and books for further reading.

5. How far have you travelled to gather the research for your books?

I have travelled to Africa eight times, China and Borneo twice and also to India. I spend two to three weeks in a location and I follow animals every day, taking photographs and writing about them in their natural habitats.

6. Can you tell us how you live when you are on location?

I live in tents with no running water and wild animals walk through my camp.

7. You travel to dangerous places when you're doing research for your books. What are some of the most frightening things that have ever happened to you?

When an elephant the size of a double-decker bus charged our jeep and on one trip our jeep broke down and we were left stranded in a herd of buffalos.

8. Why do you keep risking your life to create your books for children?

Despite the dangers it's a great privilege to be able to photograph endangered animals in the wild, then write their stories. I love what I do. I love the challenge of being in the wild and searching for the animal that is the focus for my next book. I love talking to schools about my adventures, creating my books and helping children understand the importance of saving endangered animals.

Jan is a popular speaker at schools, libraries and festivals in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Her books are available from True to Life books where you can find out more about Jan's adventures on her blog. 


View a YouTube clip of her adventures.

Children's Book Review, Astro the Steller Sea Lion

Children's Book Review by Renee Taprell

There are many books about animals rescued in the wild, but this beautiful story about Astro the Steller Sea Lion, is a real treasure. Written by Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrated by Shennen Bersani, it was published by Sylvan Dell (2010).

Astro the Steller Sea Lion (Steller, named after naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller) was found orphaned when he was only a few days old. He was raised and cared for by The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. Astro’s first meal consisted of a delicious smoothie made from ground herring, salmon oil, and whipping cream. The perfect substitute for a sea lion pup.

When Astro was big enough to be released back into the ocean where he belonged, he had other plans. Just like a dog finding his way home, Astro kept swimming back to the centre. After many attempts, it became very clear to his friends that he had become too accustomed to being with humans and would keep coming back.

The biggest challenge was that The Marine Mammal Centre is only for sick or injured animals, not a place for Astro to live. His friends found him a temporary home at the Long Marine Lab in Santa Cruz and eventually the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where he still lives today.

Shennen Bersani’s illustrations deliver a realistic feel and heartfelt emotion. Combined with Jeanne Walker Harvey’s text based on true events, the reader is guided through the process of rescuing an orphaned sea lion and the torn emotions of the many rescuers that helped Astro survive.

The end pages contain information, activities, and extension ideas, for creative minds, making Astro the Steller Sea Lion the perfect teaching resource for schools.

Reviewed by Renee Taprell (Books for Little Hands)


Renee Taprell is an Early Childhood Teacher and aspiring children's author. Her blog, Books for Little Hands, focuses on picture books and writing for young children.


Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Children's Book Review, Dog Gone

Children's Book Review written by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

I discovered Dog Gone recently, a children's chapter book by Carole Poustie, published by Avant Press, and I'm so pleased I did. From the start, Dog Gone speaks to us in the strong, vibrant voice of its main character, Ish.

Ish’s dog is gone. Vanished in a country town. Mum’s on holiday, Dad’s in Sydney. Ish and his bossy sister Molly are staying with Gran. There are no clues. Only something mysterious in the town’s graveyard. Then a bully from the local school starts to blackmail Ish. Can things get any worse?

All of us, kids included, have times in our lives when things seem disastrous. It's great to read books that show how characters cope with disaster, and draw on our own resilience even as we empathise with theirs. Ish is a hero kids will relate to. He's crazy about fishing and his dog, and is devastated to learn that his beloved Grandpa has just died of a heart attack. Ish's problems and dilemmas are believable and pull us firmly into his story.

Dog Gone is fast-paced, with great characters. The language is evocative but simple enough for junior primary readers to understand. Ish notices things that kids would notice -" My foggy breath seemed to lead the way as my ice-block feet trudged along behind." "I couldn't sleep. My brain kept re-running everything on a TV screen attached to the inside of my eyelids." "Some people are mind readers, but Gran is a heart reader. She can tell a well-hidden feeling a mile off."

Grandpa gifted Ish with his own love of poetry, among other things. Ish's poems are dotted throughout the book, sometimes highlighting the action, sometimes providing insight into Ish's background and character, but always giving the reader a time to reflect. I love to think that kids will be inspired by Ish's example to keep their own poetry journal.

Mum and Dad are in the kitchen
shouting
I'm under the pear tree
I don't want to hear the words
neither does Lucky
he's got his head on my knee
his ears down

Dog Gone is a great read for children 8+ who want adventure, drama, a hint of spooky and a generous dollop of humour in their books. It would make an excellent resource for classrooms and libraries too. For your own autographed copy, visit this Australian author's website.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Start a Story at TimTim

I discovered TimTim recently via MakeUseOf.com.

TimTim offers both drawings done by others for you to colour, and an editor for you to draw your own. There's a fill tool, line tools, shape tools, a colour palette and most excitingly, a text element that allows you to add a text box of your own and fill it with text.

A move tool would have been good - you can see in the image above that my text became squashed and there was no way I could find to move it. There's an option to save to your desktop, or to save to TimTim - you need to log in for the latter. It's a reasonable editor but I did need some of the helpful tips I found within the site.

HOW TO DRAW ON timtim painter tool

When you start, you can either make your own new drawing or you can choose a drawing or activity from the SCROLL-BAR on the left of the canvas. There are over 100 drawings to color, many picture crosswords to solve, dot-dot drawings, and mazes. Use the scroll-bar button on the side of the scroll-bar to scroll down and see all the drawings. When you see one you like, just click on it and it will appear on the canvas ready to color. But you can also erase some lines if you want and add your own. Some drawings have text bubbles where you can use the text tool to write in your own captions.

To answer my question about moving the text I'd written: Once you start writing, use only your computer keypad to move the text or change it. If you click with the mouse again, it will start a new line of text in another position.

Another feature that actively encourages children's literacy is drawings with blank areas: On the SCROLL-BAR of the timtim painter tool are a number of drawings that have large "blank" areas inside the drawings like the one above. These are meant to be used as a framework for text messages or for another image to be drawn inside. There are many to choose from - an airplane, a truck, the AV screen above, a snowman, a Christmas heart, and many more. You can use these to write messages, make small posters, or to create a whole new idea. This new message drawing can be saved on your own computer and down-loaded to your mobile phone, sent in an email, attached to a document, or printed out.

The most exciting thing, which I double checked with website owner, Tim Newlin, is that if you have a non-commercial newspaper, blog or website, the drawings are free to use. This is such a boon to parents and teachers! All Tim asks is that we "either print or add a hyperlink to www.timtim.com as the source of the drawing so that others may link directly to us and also enjoy the site. TimTim is 100% supported by its sponsored links."

Sometimes when children are writing, they just need a little inspiration to start them off. I think TimTim can offer that in the form of cartoon-like drawings for children to colour, but more importantly, it offers a digital canvas for children to create their own drawings and at the very least start a story to accompany it. Great!

Children's Book Review, Feathers for Phoebe

Children's Book Review written by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

Have you guessed by now that I love birds? Perhaps you've noticed there's a bit of a chicken theme going at The Book Chook? So I was thrilled to discover that National Simultaneous Storytime (May 25 in Australia) had chosen Feathers for Phoebe as its picture book this year, and I was extra keen to read and review it.

What a delightful children's picture book this is! Feathers for Phoebe was written and illustrated by Rod Clement and published by Angus and Robertson, an imprint of Harper Collins, 2010.

Phoebe is small, grey, and ordinary - very ordinary. ′I want to get noticed!′ she declares.

Zelda is glamorous, talented and famous - and she runs the most popular beauty salon in the forest. And she′s only too happy to help Phoebe become the bird she′s always wanted to be. First a little feather headdress, then wing extensions - until Phoebe is transformed into a Diva.

She looks gorgeous - but when she tries to take off, surprises are in store for them both!

Clement invests Zelda and Phoebe with so much personality. Can't you just imagine Zelda's voice when she says, "Darling, darling, darling, the crest is a start but it's not enough. You need a tail!" Children will giggle over Phoebe's moves and grooves, and enjoy creating their own. Everyone who has ever contemplated a makeover will empathise with Phoebe's experiments, and rejoice when Phoebe meets another small grey bird, just like her.

Does Rod Clement share my love for our feathered friends? Aside from Feathers for Phoebe, titles like Olga the Brolga, Edward the Emu, and Edwina the Emu assure us that he does. But one look at the stunning illustrations in Feathers for Phoebe clinches it. His eye for detail and interpretation of the bird characters will make Feathers for Phoebe appeal to both adult readers and kids. And the delightfully humorous story makes a perfect read-aloud to share across Australia for National Simultaneous Storytime. Why not rush off to your local book store and grab your copy by May 25 so you can join the fun?

Check out the National Simultaneous Storytime website for teacher notes and activity sheets about Feather for Phoebe.

Read Children's Learning Activities, Feather for Phoebe.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

A Book That Impacted My Life - Hazel Edwards

Here is the third in this special series of Guest Posts here at The Book Chook. Read the first at A Book That Impacted My Life - Kelly Burstow, the second at A Book That Impacted My Life - Virginia Lowe. If you're interested in submitting an article about a children's book that has had an impact on your life, please use the Contact Me tab above. Today's article is from Hazel Edwards.

Best known for There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, which was recently translated into Chinese, Hazel writes across media, for adults and children. Pocket Bonfire Productions are premiering a short hippo film for the 30th anniversary of the book. Hazel’s latest publication is Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop (print & ebook) in the Aussie Heroes series. Hazel is married with two adult children and two grandsons for whom she writes stories each birthday.

Based on her Writing a Non Boring Family History, Hazel runs workshops for genealogists. Titles such as the easy reading Duckstar series are also fun e-books. Latest picture books include Flight of the Bumblebee with classical music CD, Plato the Platypus Plumber (part-time) and the new Birthday hippo. Co-written with ftm Ryan Kennedy, YA novel f2m the boy within about transitioning from female to male is internationally available. Recipient of the 2009 ASA Medal, in 2011 Hazel was also nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Award.

Hazel's website includes FAQs, notes, bios, bibliography, kids’ stuff and events.

The Land of Far-Beyond

I admit my secret. I was an Enid Blyton fan too.

My grandfather had a private lending library and the children’s section was a wall of Enid Blyton. So I devoured the Famous Five and the Secret Seven, and then moved onto flying with Biggles. Sunday School prize books were the only other option. They were very moral tales of missionaries and far off places like Fiji and China.

But the book which impacted on my early life was Enid Blyton’s The Land of Far-Beyond. This was my first experience with an allegorical story, which was a quest, and where the characters had the names of their attributes e.g. Mr Doubt, and the giant’s page boy called Fright. Even the places they travelled matched their names. As an adult, when we orienteered on a real map with Mt Disappointment labelled, it reminded me of The Land of Far-Beyond.

Because I no longer have my own copy, I Googled the title and had a feeling of familiarity as I looked at the cover on the Enid Blyton Society webpage. 

Today’s children would consider this cover bland, but I loved the sense of a journey conveyed in the artwork. I liked the economy of a story with several meanings and layers. But the story ALSO needed adventure and danger with eccentric characters to interest me.

My family taught me to read before I went to school. I used to read under the bedclothes with a torch. An aqua- readaholic, I still read in the bath or listen to audio books in the car.

Animal Farm by George Orwell had the same multi-appeal because at one level it’s a children’s story of animals taking over the farm, and the pigs walking on their hind legs, but really it is a political satire. It’s about the cycle of power.

I don’t think I knew The Land of Far-Beyond was based on Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress until much later. I still like symbolic shape and sub-text within a story.

Flying home from Kuala Lumpur, during Ramadan last year, I actually watched a translated reading of the Koran on the in-flight screen and decided the poetry was similar to psalms.

Maybe reading The Land of Far-Beyond contributed to family orienteering, a cartographer son called Quest, Antarctic expeditions and co-writing our Duckstar satire of performing animals? But mainly it opened the possibility for me that a book could take you into imaginatively structured ‘other’ worlds, beyond suburbia.

The Land of Far Beyond
First edition: 1942
Publisher: Methuen
Illustrator: Horace J. Knowles
Category: One-off Novels
Genre: Fantasy

Online Inspiration for Young Poets

March 21 is World Poetry Day.

I believe our young writers need all the encouragement we can give them. Young poets are a very special breed. I've been looking around for resources they might be able to use, and want to share some with you today.

Some kids aren't quite sold on poetry yet. Luckily, there are websites that cater to them by pushing interactivity or humorous verse.

Rhyme Rodeo is not a place to find great poetry. It's an interactive that children 8+ might enjoy though, where they need to choose rhyming words to finish lines, and can listen to their completed poem while reading along.

At Goggle Shared Spaces, there's Magnetic Fridge Poetry where young poets can even upload a custom set of words for a friend to create a poem with, or use the default words the way I did, in the image below.

PBS Parents has a Haiku builder which is interactive. It's a little like magnetic poetry.

Poetry Splatter is part of RIF's Reading Planet. Once kids choose a poem title, they fill in blanks from the words splattered across their screen.

Scholastic has a Poetry Idea Engine. Kids can choose to write haiku, limerick, free verse or chinquapin. Be sure to check out the tips from famous poets too.

Giggle Poetry is a website that emphasises the fun in poetry. There are all sorts of activities and word games, a great poetry class where kids can follow Bruce Lansky's directions to produce a poem of their own, as well as many poems from Bruce Lansky himself. My favourite section of Giggle Poetry is Poetry Theatre where Lansky supplies poems for performance. Perfect for family or school concerts!

Poetry 4 Kids is Kenn Nesbitt's website which I told you about in Poetry Book Giveaway last year. The emphasis again, in art work and format, is on fun, on luring kids toward the magic of poetry by sharing humorous verse first and foremost. Kenn has lessons, podcasts, and a free rhyming dictionary and app.

Robert Pottle also has a wonderful website where kids can follow directions for creating their own poetry, this time lessons are in comic format.

Kids who already love poetry may still need support and inspiration. It might seem a no-brainer, but make sure you include poetry in the books you borrow from the library, and in your family read-alouds. Be alert for opportunities for word play, help kids observe their world and create pictures using words. When write o'clock comes around, the whole family might try their hands at some poetry writing.

The Poem Farm is a lovely blog where Amy shares her poetry with the world, plus tips for writers.

The Children's Poetry Archive is a good place to search for poetry according to themes like animals, clothes, dance etc.

Fred's Petals: Fred is only 7, but she has a blog where she publishes her poems. If your youngster expresses interest in starting her own similar blog, it really doesn't take long for you to set one up and add a poem whenever she is ready to do so.

April is National Poetry Month in the US. Greg Pincus will have a new edition of 30 Poets/ 30 Days on his Gottabook blog. I LOVE this yearly tradition! Each day, Greg features a poet who writes for kids with a never-before-seen poem. This is a great way for young and old to learn about new poets and poems. Find out more about it, including ways to subscribe so a poem pings into your inbox each day, at Gottabook.

Alphabet Soup magazine really encourages young readers and writers. You'll find children's own fantastic poems and stories published there, my column on writing tips for children, wonderful children's poetry by adult poets and interviews with published writers that kids can use as inspiration and encouragement. Find out more about it, including subscription details and a free sample, via the website.

Lorraine Marwood is a wonderful Australian poet. I reviewed her poetry book, A Ute Picnic and Other Australian Poems, last year. Lorraine's website is a great encouragement to young poets, not just because of the useful resources stored there, but also for them to see that Lorraine was honoured recently as recipient of the Prime Minister's Literary Award, a huge honour. I used Lorraine's Two-Word poem activity last year for one of my Creative Prompts and Lorraine shared other great ideas in her guest post at The Book Chook, Encouraging Kids to Read and Write Poetry.

Michael Rosen is another of my favourite children's poets. At the Children's Laureate website, you can access his video tips for teachers, stacks of poetry resources, and kids can also upload (UK only) and browse videos of children's poetry performances via an external e-safe website, including embed codes. Rosen's own website is a treasure trove for young poets, including a page of poems to read. Here's Rosen performing Boogy Woogy Buggy. You're kids will love it!

Shel Silverstein has such a fun website that will intrigue kids from the start. There's a special section just for children with games and puzzles, printable and downloads. Teachers and parents can find excellent ideas here too, including a Poetry Month celebration kit in pdf format. Check out Silverstein's Crocodile's Toothache in this video below.

Author Dori Chaconas has excellent explanations for rhyming picture book writers on her website. You will need to help your child understand but I think the part about stressed syllables is beautifully explained, and might be useful to young poets.

Some people may want to introduce their kids to poetry writing but not be too sure where to start. Here's a great article at ReadWriteThink that has useful, practical suggestions. ReadWriteThink also offer interactive activities to help children write their own poems.

When I begin teaching children to write poetry, my aim is to shake loose the stored language inside their heads, and have them play with it. I always try to encourage an atmosphere that promotes a free flow of ideas. I don't worry too much at this stage over whether something IS or ISN'T poetry. My aim is to have children creating with words, and delighting in the joy of language.

If you know of a great website that encourages young poets, whether advice from an adult poet, an interactive, or a younger poet publishing their poems online, please share it with us in comments. What will you do to celebrate World Poetry Day?

Bullying? No Way!

Everyone's different.
Everyone does things in different ways.
And guess what – everyone's similar in lots of ways too.

"It makes you think ... why can't people just be people?"
...Year 5 Student (Bullying No Way)

March 18 is the Australian National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. People from government education departments and school communities are "working together to create learning environments where every student and school community member is safe, supported, respected, valued – and free from bullying, violence, harassment and discrimination."

Wouldn't that be wonderful! I would love to live in a society where we celebrated difference rather than singled it out for taunts and teasing or worse. I'm sure you would too! But what can we do as individuals to help that come to pass? One thing we can do is educate ourselves, and make sure we bring up these difficult topics on a personal, family, group and community level. The website, Bullying No Way, makes lots of suggestions that can help.

You'll find information about our rights, and the deeper issues that underpin bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence in organisations and society. There are practical strategies for the classroom, for students, for parents and for the whole school community. I really liked the ideas in Bystander Behaviour and Cyber Citizenship. The materials are aimed at schools and classrooms, but parents and individuals will certainly benefit from reading, thinking about, and discussing the issues raised. There is also a list of useful documents specifically targeting parents.

I think parents, teachers and students might bring the website to the attention of their school community, and encourage the implementation of its suggestions. There's a wealth of great material, carefully structured and very useful. Sometimes, when your child brings home a bully-related problem, you genuinely are at a loss for words and can feel quite helpless. It can help to read questions from kids and suggested answers, and you'll find lots of these on the faq page.

There's a special Chill Out Space for kids too. This shows submitted art work and writing, gives simple ideas for making a difference, and even has an arcade of activities for kids to participate in.

You know bullying is something that gets this chook wild. I wrote about it in Say NO to Bullying. My own picture book, Monster Maddie, is about a little girl who doesn't understand how to make friends and resorts to bullying ways to attract attention. I plan to talk to my friends and family about my stance on bullying today, and of course the wider world through my blog. Violence is not okay. Bullying is not okay. Let's make sure our voices are heard as we make a stand against violence and bullying.

Today Rebecca Newman interviews me on Soup Blog about Monster Maddie. I'd love you to come by and leave a comment.

Children's Book Review, Clip-Clop, Tippity-Tap: French Vocabulary on the Farm

Children's Book Review written by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

It's tricky being young or small. You often want to help, but people see you as not able to do the same jobs adults do. Here's a gorgeous new children's picture book from author Kim Chatel, called Clip-Clop, Tippity-Tap: French Vocabulary on the Farm which shows us that even little ones can be big helpers. Illustrated by Kathleen Bullock, it was published by Guardian Angel Publishing (2011).

Mini-moi is only six hands tall. He wants to work on the farm like the big horses, but he's too small. When Mini-moi runs away, he finds a whole menagerie of animals in need.

I think kids will love following Mini-moi's adventures and will certainly empathise with the little horse's desire to prove himself. His kind heart and helpful nature prompt him to offer help to all who need it, and at the end of a busy day, Farmer Yvette realises Mini-moi can do his own special work on the farm.

There are several French phrases/sentences included in the story, carefully placed so that context helps us work out their meaning. There's also a glossary at the back with translations and a great list of English/French words for animal sounds. "Croa croa" really does seem more realistic than "ribbit" doesn't it? I love the use of sound words like whoosh and thump and squawk in the story, making it ideal as a read-aloud to share with kids and have them join in.

I've reviewed several of Chatel's books - Burgher and the Woebegone, A Talent for Quiet and Rainbow Sheep. Clip-Clop, Tippity-Tap is the first that's been illustrated by Kathleen Bullock, and I believe this is a winning combination. The simple, colourful pictures are perfect for the story. Bullock's farm animals are quirky and charming, with just enough detail to be realistic, but not overwhelm. In all pages, several items and animals have the French/English labels next to their images, along with a phonetic pronunciation. You will get even more of an idea of this children's picture book from its trailer.

When I asked Chatel what prompted her to write Clip-Clop, Tippity-Tap, she said, "I grew up in one of the few English-speaking families left in Montreal, Quebec. Learning French became a life-long journey for me. I always admired my Grandmaman, Yvette Brunet, for teaching herself English. As a teenager at the beginning of the Depression, and the oldest of fourteen children, Grandmaman never finished school. She taught herself to read and speak English with magazines such as National Geographic. Grandmaman definitely portrays the spunky spirit of Mini-moi."

Clip-Clop, Tippity-Tap makes a perfect choice for parents with children who are learning French or parents who want their kids to know we live in a multilingual world. Children who love stories about animals will definitely be charmed by this tale of a tiny horse with a big heart.

Available through Amazon and Guardian Angel Publishing.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Children's Book Review, Leprechauns Never Lie

Just in time for St Patrick's Day on March 17, we have a children's book review with a hint o' the Irish from Deirdre Smith, accompanied by an activity you can try with your kids.

Leprechauns may never lie, but they can stretch the truth. In Leprechauns Never Lie, Lorna Balian has written and illustrated a wonderful book about a leprechaun who gets caught while moving his gold around the farm of an ailing grandmother named Gram, and her lazy granddaughter Ninny Nanny.

Gram and Ninny Nanny need so much done around their farm. The roof needs to be thatched, the firewood needs to be gathered, the potato patch is filled with unharvested potatoes, and the water barrel is empty. Ninny Nanny doesn’t feel like doing any of those chores. Instead she decides to find a leprechaun and become rich.

Ninny Nanny isn’t very careful where she walks while hunting for a leprechaun and actually trips over a log right onto one. She probably wouldn’t have found one any other way. The leprechaun is sly and sneaky. He tells Ninny Nanny where his gold has been instead of where it currently is through most of the book.

As Ninny Nanny searches each location, she completes one of the necessary chores. The leprechaun has to give her guidance on how to look and complete the chores, but she completes them.

By the end of the book Ninny Nanny tires of the leprechaun and his tales of where the gold is hidden. He does tell her where to look, but she doesn’t do a thorough job of looking and misses the treasure.

Hide the Shamrock

Almost every night we play hide and go seek as a family. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we decorated shamrocks we could use to play find the shamrock.

JDaniel had the best time coloring the shamrocks with crayons.

He had an even better time hiding them and trying not to guide us to them.

Deirdre Smith was a classroom teacher and technology integration specialist in elementary schools for twenty years. Although she shared a lot of knowledge with her students and learned a lot from them, it wasn’t until she became a mom that she truly came to understand that was like to share and learn beside a child.


She shares the lessons she is learning and her reflections on parenting on her blog JDaniel4’s Mom. The blog also focuses on reading and learning explorations with her son JDaniel along with mom related reviews and giveaways.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Let Them Play in the Backyard - Guest Post

It's my pleasure to welcome Australian author, Katrina Germein to The Book Chook today. 


Australian Children's author Katrina Germein wrote her first book 'Big Rain Coming' while working as a teacher in a remote Aboriginal Community. Katrina has remained passionate about writing for children ever since. Some of her other titles include Littledog and My Dad Thinks He's Funny. Katrina lives in Adelaide with her husband, their three children and a lovable old dog named Sunny.

Let Them Play in the Backyard
Supporting children to become better writers
by Katrina Germein

My son Hugo doesn’t want to be an author when he grows up. He wants to play AFL. And even story-loving, football-loathing me can see why. For Hugo, football’s a combination of structure, boundaries, and freedom. What can sometimes be missing from children’s writing programs is freedom. When all that’s on offer is structure and boundaries, it’s hard for anyone to stay motivated.

Weekly Training and Match play (Genre Writing and Spelling)

Hugo’s training involves drills and explanations. He learns the rules of the game and refines specific and necessary skills. Training is predictable and Hugo enjoys the support and security of routine. He appreciates expert advice from his coach. Come matches, Hugo is confident and prepared. Training for match play is essential but for a child to choose to play football, for a child to love it, more is needed. A focus only on drills will probably have a child wondering when the season will be over.

Many children are well versed in the writing of genres. They’ve been given expert advice and opportunities to practise. They enjoy the security of clear guidelines and have the skills they need to perform confidently on match day. In a world of mandated national testing this is essential. But for a child to choose to write, for a child to love it, more is needed. When it comes to writing, given the choice, many children would opt not to continue when the season is over.



Solo Drills (Indulging in Purposelessness)

Before school Hugo can be found kicking a ball against the side of our house. He kicks it and catches it, kicks it and catches it, kicks it and catches it. Sounds boring doesn’t it? I’m sure if I set Hugo the same thirty-minute task he’d probably think it was boring too. It would be a chore to be completed and he wouldn’t feel the soothing comfort of repetition. He’d stop setting himself private mini challenges (How many balls can I catch on the full? How many balls can I catch with my left hand?) and his catching and kicking would become sloppy as his concentration lapsed. The joy in the activity comes from self-directed exploration. Hugo notices small things like the way the balls comes off the wall when he points his foot a certain way.

What you discover for yourself is often far more meaningful than what anyone else can tell you.

Young writers devise their own kicking and catching models. They do things like set themself a challenge to write the longest story they can, write only detailed accounts of motorbike races, insist on using five adjectives before every noun and fill entire notebooks with messy handwriting. These tasks sound boring but are comforting and satisfying for the individuals who choose them. If children are given the freedom to experience the peacefulness of self-directed writing, they are more likely to appreciate writing for enjoyment. While Hugo’s kick and catch may look pointless his concerted repetition improves his ball handling skills.

The more you write the better you become, even when it looks mindless. It’s okay to write without obvious purpose sometimes.

Lunchtime Footy (Relaxing the Rules)

Lunchtime footy is competitive. It’s like Sunday morning matches without a referee, and, because of school rules, no tackling. The boys devise their own modified rules. This doesn’t mean they’re confused when they play on Sundays. Hugo isn't going to forget to tackle on the weekend. He can move between rule sets. Lunchtime footy is a fun, relaxed way to practise game play and it doesn’t even feel like practice.

Children should know that genres can be tampered with. Writing should not be a prison. Sometimes narratives can simply be stories. There ought to be more joy in story telling than just orientation, complication and resolution. Let children begin with the action, start with the complication. Journaling is a great tool for self-expression but not when every page has to be written in a perfect recount structure. Children can move between rule sets. Relax the rules and it won’t even feel like writing practice.

Commentating out Loud (Time to Dream)

Hugo plays out entire matches, for two teams, on his own in the backyard. I hear snatches of the play from the kitchen: and he takes the mark, and he’s kicked it straight through for a perfect goal. (As a girl who’s not really into footy, I think this is kind of weird but I remember my brother doing the very same thing so maybe it’s normal.)
Hugo plays out these matches lost in his own world. At the same time his brain is retrieving and processing everything he knows about the way the game is played.

Allow children to dream and write for fun. Let them create a world and wallow in if for a while. Let them write down their dreams or experiment in the style of their favourite graphic novel. Let them write a script for their favourite television show or draw and create visual texts. Let them write a poem. Let them know that it’s their space and their choice, even if what they choose seems kind of weird. Let them write the story they want to write, not the one we want them to. Let them be lost in their own world.

Playing with Dad (Sharing the love)

It’s not the score that’s important when you kick with Dad; it’s the knowing that Dad cares. It’s about having attention from an adult you love.

Children value what the people they care about value. If the adults in their life see writing as only mechanics, so will children, and well, that’s pretty boring. Children need to know that adults find writing interesting and fun.

Maybe this happens:

• by listening to a child read the ten pages they’ve written about motorbike racing
• by telling stories in the car, or by writing a note on a child’s work
• by making up silly rhyming songs
• by keeping a blog together
• by offering to scribe or type a story for a child
• by co-writing and creating a book with them

Nurturing a writer is more than checking for full stops and spelling mistakes. It’s not always the score that’s important.

Time constraints on parents are teachers are enormous. The pressures are huge. It can seem hard to justify allocating time to let children fool around randomly. But if the sun is shining, why not let them play in the back yard occasionally? At first they might stand around looking unsure but given enough time they’ll soon make up their own games. Then who knows, they might even choose to come back for another season.

Top Two Book Chook Silly Games

Laughter is the closest distance between two people. ~Victor Borge

I love games that slip a little something useful into family life. I've talked a lot about word games and you know I love board games that encourage creativity and/or are educational in some way. But there are two games I adore that have no educational value I can see. They are simply about being silly and having fun - and that is something I strongly believe in too. I try to find something to laugh about every single day - most days, I just have to look in the mirror!

Spoons This game is also called Ratfink. Do you know it? I would recommend it for 8 years and up - kids need to be able to hold and sort cards, and to lose gracefully. It's a little like gin rummy in the fact that you need to collect cards that are the same to win. But there the resemblance ends. Seat everyone around a table, and put one less teaspoon in the middle of the table than the number of players. So, with six players, put five teaspoons on the table. If there are six people playing, remove all but the first six cards in each suit from a pack of cards. With six people, you need the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten and nine of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades. With five people, you need top five cards etc

Shuffle those cards and deal them all out. Allow players a couple of moments to sort their cards. Each player is hoping to get four cards exactly the same in his hand. Four Kings or four tens for instance. When all are ready, each player discards one card to his left and picks up a card from his right, all at the same time. The dealer may need to say "now" to get it synchronized. Keep passing until someone grabs a spoon.

The player who gets four of a kind first must grab a spoon, and everyone else follows suit, except for the person who misses out. In our family, you have to miss a spoon three times to be officially "out". I have almost lost fingers in the battle to grab a spoon!

Animal Snap This is best played with a small group - 6-8 is ideal. Deal out a pack of cards evenly between players and each player's pile is face down. Each player chooses an animal noise for their own, and makes it for the rest of the group, who try to learn it.

Start the game by one player turning over his top card. Then the second player. If the cards are a match, player 1 and 2 must try to make each other's animal noise first, to get their pile of turned over cards. If not a match, player 3 turns over his first card. If 3 matches with 1 or 2, each must try to make the other's animal noise first. And so on around the circle. Keep playing until one person has won all the cards, or until the police arrive to take everyone to the zoo. Book Chook tip - choose an animal noise that isn't obvious, because it makes it harder for your opponent to remember it. Woof-woof is obvious; hee-haw might not be.

Maybe teachers could modify Animal Snap and play it with sight word cards or alphabet/sound cards. And I think Spoons could be modified too. Anything that makes learning fun for kids is worth a try.

I've taught both those games to people of all ages, so now I recommend them to you, confident that if you want a game to unite your group or family in laughter, these will do the trick!

If you're looking for other games that are fun for kids and adults alike, you might enjoy these articles: Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Simon Says
Online Mahjong
Word Fun at Only Connect
and Messing About with Words to Increase Literacy

Find more articles about ways for families to have fun together in:
What Can We Do with a Newspaper?
Fold Me Up, Scotty
Construction Ideas
and The Book Chook Bag of Tricks.

Did you know that March14 is Pi Day? If you follow the US system of allocating dates, today's 3/14. I'll be celebrating - with pie!

{Image made by Book Chook at Toon Doo}

Learn Geography with Edwin Van Moon, Balloon Tycoon - Guest Post

Here is Gina Clifford from Spotty Banana blog with a new guest post.

Gina is the author of the eclectic home learning blog Spotty Banana, where she shares information on all sorts of subjects. Gina is a child-led, project-based learning advocate who enjoys exploring fun math, science, and technology-themed activities with her son, who is a fanatic like her.

Learn Geography with Edwin Van Moon, Balloon Tycoon
by Gina Clifford

Learning geography is a hoot with this free online funschool game featuring Edwin Van Moon, Balloon Tycoon.

In the game, Edwin loves to travel the globe in his hot air balloon. He knows where he wants to go but he does not know how to get there. Kids will love directing Edwin around the world by moving the mouse. Edwin provides clues to help young learners and rewards success with stamps on a virtual passport. Players win when they have filled their passport with stamps.

Because the game assumes some knowledge of geography, young learners might consider using a globe or atlas as a guide. When our son first started learning geography, he pulled our globe over to the computer and used it as a reference. Eventually, he learned to direct Edwin successfully without the globe. Having the globe as a reference was a real asset, though, as he really enjoyed the enhanced interactive learning experience.

We really like the design of the game. Although challenging for the beginner, the animation is cute and friendly, making this an excellent game for seven and eight-year olds.

The Edwin Van Moon, Balloon Tycoon game is hosted on the funschool.com website, which does display ads. However, none of the ads we saw were inappropriate even for young children.

Messing About with Words to Increase Literacy

There is nothing--absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.

~ Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ch. 1

With Ratty, it was boats, but I have a strong belief in the power of messing about with words. Children are hard wired to enjoy nonsense, (as are Book Chooks!) and playing with language is something they take to immediately. From early peek-a-boo and finger rhymes, through nursery rhymes, poems and songs, we are exposing our kids to new vocabulary and the rhythms of language, as well as reinforcing the sheer pleasure of messing about with words. By focusing on letters, building words, listening to the sounds that join together to make a recognizable or a nonsense word, predicting, rhyming, and manipulating letters to create new words, we are helping our children learn to spell, read and write.

Here are some activities we can use to encourage kids to play with language, develop their literacy skills, and have fun. All can be used by a parent, or adapted for the classroom.

What's Missing?

Not really a formal game, What’s Missing is when a parent or teacher leaves out a word and asks children to identify it. It might be during an often-read story or nursery rhyme: “Humpty Dumpty had a great ...” Children will join in enthusiastically to provide the missing word. It’s also great fun when Dad substitutes one word in a story: “So the three bears went off for a walk in the marshmallow.” Giggles and groans of "No Dad!" will greet that one.

Rhyming Time

Encouraging your kids to play with rhyme is really beneficial to both their reading and spelling. By working out that "stink" rhymes with "sink" they are also unconsciously absorbing that chunk:ink, making it easier for them to decode "pink" and to spell "think". Combine What's Missing and Rhyming Time so children have the fun of providing a rhyme. This can start in read alouds, where you first let your voice slightly emphasise the rhyming pairs, and even slow right down on the rhyming word. Next read-through, leave a little gap and make your voice go up just before the rhyming word, so that kids can jump in to supply it. "Hickory Dickory Dock, The mouse ran up the ...?" This works well with rhyming poetry like nursery rhymes, songs and finger rhymes.

Joke and Riddle Books

Jokes and riddles appeal to most kids and are also ways to have fun with literacy. Readers who aren’t ready for a short novel might be less daunted by a book of short jokes, so keep an eye open for these at your local library or second-hand shops. It’s a magical moment when children begin to understand jokes and riddles – their eyes light up, they giggle or guffaw, and usually spend the next few days (or weeks!) sharing that same joke with everyone they meet. Supplying books of jokes at this strategic moment is a perfect way to segue into other books, and to borrowing from the library.

Another idea is to search online with your child for jokes that are suitable for kids. I found it really difficult to find sites that didn't have annoying advertising or inappropriate material until I came to The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences joke page for kids. Your children could start their own joke collection by combining favourites from books and websites. They might store them in a notebook, or even start their own Joke Blog. Groups and classes might like to bring in a favourite illustrated joke to be compiled into an anthology. Here's a chookish joke to start them off:

What does a 300 pound budgie say?

"Polly want a cracker, NOW!"

Word Games Online


Word Magnets is an activity where kids can practise using words with short and long medial vowels in sentences, by dragging them into position. In Word Blocks, they make as many words as they can from letter blocks.

FreeRice Not just for vocabulary anymore, they have Maths, Art, Geography, nevertheless, this is the original Free Rice game. For each answer as to the meaning of a word, 10 grains of rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program. No sign up necessary unless you want to track your totals etc

8 Letters in Search of a Word This is one of the games from East of the Web. You're presented with eight letters and must choose letters from the eight which make a word, and hit submit. There is a timer shown silently on a sliding bar. You rise in levels as you achieve good scores, no need for perfection. Longer words = more points. You can also compare your scores with the top 20 scores (ouch!)

Knoword More for 12+, Knoword is lots of fun. You are given a random word's definition and starting letter. Type in the rest of the word with correct spelling to advance in the game. There's a time limit too, and you can play without registering, but register to keep track of scores etc.

Save the Words Perfect for older kids, this website encourages us to adopt a word, perhaps one on the brink of extinction. Scrolling allows you to hone in on other words, clicking shows you the definition. Read more about it in my post.

What's the Word? This word game can be played online but it's also an app for iPod. Similar to hangman, but no hanging, you only have five guesses before you lose.

Scribble gives you 10 random letters, then you must make as many words as possible, using pencil and paper. Lowtech but fun.

Wordslide Get random letters which you must slide together to generate words within a time limit. Click "visit" and "play online" to try it.

Wordmaster Test your vocabulary skills by finding the missing word in a sentence. Guess letters "hangman" style.

Wordle Another Book Chook favourite, Wordle enables us to generate word clouds from any text we paste in.

Guess the Wordle Find different synonym puzzles each day for different aged kids. Hover your mouse over the wordle to see if you have the correct answer. eg First Grade puzzle might be "chum, buddy, sidekick" = friend.

School Time Games there are lots of word games on this web site’s Language Arts page. The Book Chook, of course, likes Fowl Words and Chicktionary.

Syllables Factory is a BBC game that helps kids revise how to break up words into syllables (chunks of sound). This is such an important skill for kids to learn. It helps them to decode words by identifying the syllables or chunks, and helps their spelling too.

Fit Brains You need to register for Fit Brains, but many games are free. Some of the word-based games are: Wild Word Garden, Word Power, Street of Dreams, Paradise Island.

Spelling City has some vocabulary games like Unscramble and Hangmouse.

I haven't mentioned Scrabble or Scrabble-inspired games like Lexulous because strangely, I am not a fan. Millions of other people in the world are though, and here is a link to a Make Use Of.com article about some.

Word Games in Real Life

I describe and store some of my favourite real life games under the Book Chook Bag of Tricks tab. You'll also find articles about word games on The Book Chook by using the label, word games. Recently, I invented a word game based on Only Connect in this post.

Boggle, Boggle Flash, Blurt and Orijinz (review coming soon) are definite Book Chook favourite board/electronic/card games based on fun with words. Here are some more ideas:

Word Bags

We've all played the game where you have a long word and try to make shorter words from its letters. Here's a variation. Choose some long words, type them up in large font, print them out on card, cut them up into letters and put the letters from one word into each ziploc bag. Keep a master list, number them, and put one number on that word's bag, so you can check at the end if the kids manage to get the actual word. The idea is to use the letters in the bag to make as many words as possible. Get your kids to record the words they make and then they can reuse those letters to make another word. Assigning points is fun if kids are competitive - the easiest scoring system is one point for one letter words, five points for five letter words and so on. This is a great game for those times when you're waiting at the doctor's, or for travelling.

Adopt-a-word-for-a-week

LitLad is a great blog with a feature called Word of the Week. Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. Adopting a habit like this is such a simple and effective idea to focus the whole family on acquiring new vocabulary. If you love discovering obsolete words, try Holly's other blog at Mother is Not Concerned.

Magnetic Letters

Having magnetic letters and words on the fridge encourages kids and adults to leave messages for each other, make words, and even create short poems. It's an easy strategy to implement that puts the focus on messing about with words, and makes children's functional literacy part of everyday life.

Group Writing Games are also a great way to have fun with words.

A Book Chook reader and fellow word-lover, Kathy, has recommended these word games: Word Wizard, Suds, and Spellbound. Please make a suggestion in Comments if you have a favourite word game to share.

{Image created at Pizap}

Online Resources for Reading and Writing

Let me say first of all that I love reading and I love real print books. I do. I love the way my first step into our local library transports me instantly to the joy of being a child again, one with her first library card. I love the feel of a book in my hands, and the delight of finding new authors and illustrators to admire. I love how books can be our friends, give us dreams to hold onto, and empower us. Since March 9 is World Read Aloud Day, many of us will celebrate our love for books today, and rejoice that we can share them with our children.

But literacy is not just about reading books. Literacy is about all kinds of reading. It's about writing too, and talking and listening. Singing songs to your baby is one step on the road to literacy. So is playing word games with your nine-year-old or sharing a story-telling session with a group of teens. Learning to interpret the illustrations inside a picture book is just as much a part of literacy as writing in a digital diary or going on a word walk. Making literacy fun and relevant for kids, for the whole family, is vital.

Literacy is also not just about what I call the "real world," although I believe that real world literacy is of paramount importance. The cyber world also has wonderful web spaces that encourage kids to respond creatively and to develop important skills for literacy development. I have shared countless such web resources at The Book Chook, but for the Share a Story - Shape a Future blog conference this year, I decided to list and revisit some of my favourites that encourage children's Reading and Writing.

READING

Storyline Online is a huge free site. You can click on your book of choice and listen to it being read aloud by an actor, while you follow the words in a text box on the screen. It also weaves illustrations from the book into the video. Some of my favourites like Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge and Stellaluna are here. I love it because the books are ones I would recommend on my blog. Beautiful!

Mrs P.com has online stories, read aloud by Mrs P herself, after an entertaining introduction. Kids are listening to these stories rather than following with their eyes.

The PBS Between the Lions website is excellent. If you don't know it, take some time to explore it with your kids. I like the fact the little videos are engaging AND help with reading by highlighting words as they are read aloud. Use the left side menu to scroll through all the choices, both fiction and nonfiction.

At Story Cove you'll find stories from around the world. You need to register first, or have a parent register for you, then you're free to choose a continent, select a story, and either listen to it or watch its movie. The narration is well-done in the audio version, and the movie has the same narration with art work brought to life by simple animation. You'll find lots of folk tales here, including many about that trickster, Anansi. There are also downloadable lesson plans and fun stuff for kids linked to each story.

Starfall has lots to read online. There are plays, myths, folktales, fables, fiction and nonfiction. Clicking on the ear icon will allow kids to listen while they read the pages. It really helps a young reader to hear the words spoken at the same time as he is looking at the words. That's one of many reasons read-alouds are so important. Don't forget the poetry section at Starfall with poems like Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rosetti. Short texts like poems and songs can be very engaging for young readers.

At the BBC Cbeebies website, kids can read stories online, and listen to some at the same time. This might give your children an idea of a book to search for at the library or at school.

Let's not forget RIF's Reading Planet! Kids can watch and listen to stories there, and songs too.

Professor Garfield has toon books where you can read and listen at the same time. Cute illustrations, and different languages to choose from.

Into the Book targets specific reading comprehension skills in kids K-4. I describe it in Dive Into the Book.

The International Children's Digital Library has hundreds of books from all over the world and in different languages. They are organized very well, and basically the site brings you a page at a time that you read with your eyes, then click the arrow to read the next. Not as high tech as some of the others, but special as an online library for the world's children. It's really worth a browse to see some wonderful illustrations. This also looks to be a useful way for self-published writers to promote their books. One book I enjoyed was Insect Soup, a book of poems about bugs.

Learn Something Every Day has a daily fact accompanied by a very simple cartoon-style image. Parental guidance recommended as always, but if you're careful, you can find great models for children's own writing. I described it in Learn Something Every Day.

Audio Owl has free books for adults and kids to listen to. There are classics of children's literature, Fairy Tales, and Folk Tales too. I found The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, and many beloved friends from my childhood, like What Katy Did, and Anne of Green Gables. Read more about it in my post.

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom. You can browse titles too.

WRITING - Make Books Online

Storybird is an absolute favourite of mine. You create a digital book from a huge range of great art work available, and share your book with others. You can see some Storybirds I've made in Fairy Tales Online and Creative Prompt - Start with Illustrations, and read more about it in Create Story with Storybird.

StoryJumper encourages kids to create and share their own stories online for free, and pay for printed books. Manipulating images is simple, and you can choose a templates story starter, or start from scratch. Read more in Create a Story with StoryJumper.

Bookr is simple and quick. Use available Flickr images then add captions to create a digital book. Read more in Have Fun and Develop Literacy Skills with Bookr.

Kerpoof has a range of tools that encourage creativity, including a story maker, movie maker and pictures that kids can add text to. Read more in Write Stories and More at Kerpoof.

ToonDoo is another Book Chook favourite! It has a book making feature where you compile your created comics into a book. For more information, read Making a Book at ToonDoo, and see below.

WRITING - Make Comics Online

ToonDoo is a great website where you can create your own cartoons and comics by manipulating their art work, speech bubbles, text and templates.

MakeBeliefsComix is simple and accessible for kids to use. Read more in my post, Make Your Own Comic at MakeBeliefsComix.

Cartoonist is part of Creaza's suite of tools and has lots of different worlds to choose from. Read more in Cartoonist - Sharing Stories with Cartoons.

At Myths and Legends, you use the available backgrounds and art work to create your own myths and legends. Read more in Review, Myths and Legends Website.

Comic Life Magiq is not an online resource, although it can be purchased online for what I consider a reasonable price. I love this software and so do kids.  It provides templates and you simply drag an image or images into the template, and add text. It's loads of fun to find a Creative Commons licensed image, one from the public domain, or take your own photo, then turn it into a cartoon. Here's an example of one where I created a story from photos taken of trees, or check out images 2 and 3 in this post.

WRITING - Create with Words and Images Online

Sometimes, you only have a little chunk of time for a small amount of writing, or your kids might be daunted by a longer project. Here are some articles where I describe fun and fast tools to use that might prompt some writing in your children.

At PicLits, choose a picture, and drag words onto canvas. Read more in Creative Writing with Pic-Lits.

At flauntR, upload a photo then add text to it. Find more in Use FlauntR to Play with Images and Text. (Pizap is another image editor that encourages kids to create with words and images.)

Keep Calm and Carry On is a great place for kids to go to devise their own simple poster. Read more in Keep Calm and Carry On.

Image Generator and Hetemeel are online image editors that kids can use to add text to a range of pictures. As always, parental guidance is recommended. Read more in Quick Writing Online.

Grab lots more ideas for sparking a writing activity in Fast and Fun Writing with Kids.

WRITING - Help with Getting Started Online

At the Write-N-Ator, kids respond to videos with short writing projects. Read more.

Bill Zimmerman, of MakeBeliefsComix, has over 100 printable templates kids can use in their own writing. Read more.

Writing with Writers is part of Scholastic's website. Kids take workshops with authors, editors and illustrators to develop skills in news writing, myth writing, descriptive writing and writing book reviews.

Jenny Eather of Writing Fun explains the different text types, gives a possible structure for them, and includes tips in a sidebar. Kids can compose their own examples inside a template, and print them in the template format. The text organizers actually help students with the writing process, giving them a structure to work within. You can also look at examples other students have done. Read more in my post, Writing Fun.

Writing prompts can be very useful to both adult and child writers. One Word is a simple tool. It gives us one word then encourages us to write for 60 seconds using that word as a prompt. I mention lots more prompts in my articles Try These Prompts to Encourage Kids into Writing, and Inspiring Kids to Write with Prompt Generators, and Bruce Van Patter has hundreds more ideas at his website. If creative prompts interest you, I am up to 16 in my Creative Prompt series where I suggest ideas for encouraging a little creativity in ourselves and our kids.

For many of us, there are times technology enhances the reading and writing experience. I hope the online resources above prove useful to include in your own family's balanced approach to literacy. With all the great gadgets like iPads, Nooks and Kindles, there are apps for just about everything. You can read fascinating articles about them in other posts in today's Unwrapping Literacy 2.0, hosted by Danielle at There's a Book, part of Share a Story - Shape a Future, 2011.

What's your favourite online resource for reading or writing?

Susan Stephenson is an Australian teacher, writer and book reviewer who regularly blogs about children's literature, literacy and learning at The Book Chook.



{Images:  I generated the cartoon involving Napoleon at imagegenerator.net, and the Messy Fingers at Pic-Lits. I created The Diet cartoon at ToonDoo. I added text to public domain images with great software called Comic Life Magiq. Find the original Snow White at wikimedia commons,  the original The Reverend Randall Burroughs and his son Ellis at wikimedia commons,  and the original Lord Horatio Nelson at wikimedia commons. }