Children's Book Review, Follow the Line Books

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

Interactive children's books don't need to be enhanced by technology. Interactivity can simply mean the book creator has cleverly thought about how to engage kids and have them physically respond to a book.

Such is certainly the case with the Follow the Line books. I can't imagine anyone, child or adult, who wouldn't be entranced by these three books: Follow the Line (2006), Follow the Line through the house (2007) and Follow the Line around the world (2008). All are written and illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist and published by Puffin (Penguin). All are wonderful ways to introduce children to look carefully at the world around them, and to think of it in terms of art and design.

Each book is based upon the premise of following a line as it takes a journey through the book, and through landscapes kids will recognise. The first interactive element then is tracing the line's continuous journey with a finger. This helps kids become more engaged with the detail in the shapes of objects themselves, and also become aware of the relationships between the positive and negative shapes. Great for developing fine motor co-ordination! The line goes up and down, outlining shapes, flowing on from page to page, involving the reader in Ljungkvist's imagination.

The next interactive element is looking and finding. In this aspect, it's like an I Spy book. Follow the Line and Follow the Line through the house emphasise counting and object recognition, asking questions that encourage kids to observe and respond with numbers, patterns, colours and and objects. In Follow the Line through the house, kids are asked "Which tools have wooden handles?" and "Can you find a ring that fell out of the jewelry box?" Whereas Follow the Line around the world, while still being based upon the line's journey, introduces fascinating little snippets of information about creatures in habitats around the world. For instance, in the Amazon Rainforest double page, we learn that "Parrots can live to be a hundred years old" and in the Antarctica pages we discover that "Penguins can't fly, but they are really good swimmers and can stay underwater for a long time." If your children enjoy non-fiction, or absorbing facts about our planet, Follow the Line around the world will grab their attention.

I adore these books. As soon as I saw them I fell in love with Ljungkvist's style. Her choice of restricted colour on colour, the somehow intricate but clean and uncluttered retro look, the way she's used the line to teach us about design all make the books a visual delight. Don't take my word for it, look inside the books at Follow the Line website and at Penguin Books Australia.

The Follow the Line books are a must for libraries. They make special gifts for kids of all ages, from toddlers who'll enjoy looking and listening, to preschoolers beginning to count, to primary-aged children who love art. I can see classroom teachers basing murals on the ideas in the books and predict children will translate what they learn within these pages to art work and drawings of their own. If you're planning a trip to a gallery of modern art with your young children, any Follow the Line book will make an excellent resource.

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

Looking Back to April Past

Towards the end of the month, I like to revisit articles I've written in 2010 or 2009. Not only does this mean new readers of the blog may find something useful otherwise buried in the archives, but it also reminds me of content I can refer to when I write new articles.

April 2009

Make Your Own Comic at Make Beliefs Comix. A great comic strip generator.
The Book Chook Turns to Art. The US National Gallery of Art Kid's Page has lots to offer young artists.
Blogging? Glogging? Screen Me Up Scotty! Glogster is a fantastic place to make digital posters online.
Book Chook Ways to Start Writing Poetry. Some resources to get kids started.
Letter to the Book Chook. My response to a reader who wants her daughter to get the jump on Kindergarten by doing Phonics Workbooks.

April 2010

Online History Resources (3)
History Resources Online (2)
Online History Resources - History.com
Try These Prompts to Encourage Kids into Writing Sometimes young writers need a starter.
Spelling City Excellent website to help kids with spelling.
Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare. Resources about William Shakespeare including how to talk like Shakespeare.
Involving Kids in Music (1)
Involving Kids in Music (2) Some websites that encourage young singers and musicians.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Play the game online.
Writing with Avatars (2)

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

Children's Literacy - Performance Poetry

Children's Literacy - Performance Poetry

Because April is Poetry Month in the USA, I've been writing about ideas on children's literacy and poetry. I started my poetry celebration early, in March actually, on World Poetry Day with Online Inspiration for Young Poets. Then in Children's Literacy Through Poetry, I told you about some of my favourite children's poetry books, and gave some ideas for Poem in Your Pocket Day. On The Book Chook Facebook page, I've been discussing favourite poets and poems.

Today I'd like to share some ideas about performing a poem. These might be useful to anyone conducting lessons or workshops with children, and can be adapted for home use with one child.

Poetry originally was meant to be performed. I have a special place in my heart for all the poetry I've performed in my life. It's helped me internalise wonderful language, great rhythm and rhyme and important themes, as well as given me so much delight and comfort over the years. I very much believe in learning poetry by heart, and repeated practices for performance is one way to do this. At the very least, it helps kids develop reading fluency, but the benefits to a child's heart and mind are incalculable.

If you're introducing your kids to poetry performance, one way to get them to think about what's important for a successful performance is to model a disaster. I like to find a great rhythmic, fun poem and declaim it in a monotonous voice, head down, body slumped, ridiculous breaks and pauses, no movement. Aside from my personal enjoyment of the children's horrified silence moving into nervous giggles and culminating in relieved guffaws, I love the way this gets kids to think about features of a good performance. They've mostly noticed, if not articulated, them already.

Next we develop some ideas that will help me improve my performance, and end up with a list involving actions and movement, expression, sound effects, posture, eye contact, voice, (pitch, rate and volume) etc. We look at the poem again, and discuss its meaning, and aspects of it that will need to be interpreted eg the mood, the way a character might feel, look or move, words that might need emphasis. I ask the kids to form groups and work out a way to perform my poem (or a section of it) creatively, incorporating as many of the criteria as they can. They then perform in groups for the rest of us, and we evaluate performances, looking for what worked well, and offering suggestions for alternatives.*

With one child, you could use technology for performance. Use one of the "talking" photograph sites like Fotobabble or Blabberize to record your child via computer and microphone, or use a video camera to capture the performance for evaluation.

In subsequent lessons/workshops, I explore other poems and other ideas to enhance performance (add music, props, costumes, lighting, backdrops, improvised scenes), have kids choose poems they would like to perform, have large groups choose a favourite piece to perform and polish it to a high standard.

If you get the opportunity, take your children to poetry performances. Many big towns in Australia have a yearly Eisteddfod where children perform poems alone or in groups. In capital cities lucky people can attend live performances by poets. Youtube is another alternative. I found the video below of Valerie Bloom performing "Sandwich" which I loved. Notice the way she gives her audience a role to play. Michael Rosen also has lots of videos youngsters can enjoy and learn from.



*Because of my background as a drama teacher, I very much believe in performance for an audience. This doesn't suit all kids though, and we need to be sensitive about a child's reluctance to perform. Most kids will enjoy performance if you highlight the importance of a supportive, non-critical audience. Grandparents are great at this; Uncle Ted however might need a reminder that heckling isn't appropriate. At school, I build a climate of trust and equality before I attempt performance of any kind. I expect  audiences to have good manners, and I see that they do.

Children's Book Review, Last Tree in the City

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

Last Tree in the City is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Peter Carnavas, and published by New Frontier Publishing, 2010. New Frontier have also added value to the book by providing excellent teacher notes.

You might remember I reviewed Carnavas' The Important Things and commented,"His illustrations are unusual, minimal, but with so much expression and clever use of colour/no-colour and other details that give us lots to think about." The same is true of Last Tree in the City. The watercolour and black ink illustrations, though simple and of a very direct style, are haunting, and stay with the reader long after the book is finished.

Edward is sad after he finds the last tree in the city is no longer standing.
After some reflection, he finds a way to make things better.
A poignant tale about the environment and the way children relate to its beauty.

I like the way our child hero solves his own problem in this story. Such heroes are empowering for kids.  He inspires the whole city to follow his lead, resulting in the final, triumphant, colourful and full-of life pages, a far cry from the dull concrete jungle at the start of the book.

Last Tree in the City reminds me of a modern fable. It's entertaining but also gives us so much to think about. Hopefully, we will all take something away from this book with which we can make a difference in our own lives.

Not only teachers, but parents are looking for quality children's books that have environmental themes they can share with kids. Last Tree in the City is an excellent choice. Follow up activities might include sprouting seeds, collecting cones and fallen leaves in a park or bush walk, gardening, discussing reasons for planting and for clearing - all activities that will make kids more conscious of how our choices impact our environment.

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

April 25 is World Penguin Day! Let's Celebrate!

Last week I celebrated Children's Literacy on World Book Day and invited you to do so too. The week before I celebrated Creativity and Innovation Week, hoped you would let your inner creator run free, and gave you some quick creative thinking activities to use with kids. Today I have a different focus - penguins. Yes, it's feathers again! Today is World Penguin Day, and this post is dedicated to them.

Penguins are fascinating creatures. They've been inspiring artwork, literature, movies and children's toys for years. One of my favourite penguins is Pingu - if you don't know him, you'll find episodes on Youtube.

So are there some literacy and learning activities we can use to celebrate World Penguin Day?

Books: Your local library might have some interesting non-fiction books about penguins, or if you're in luck, you might find Mr Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. They're making a movie based on it to be released in a few months. Another penguin book I like is Penguin Small by Mick Inkpen. This is definitely fiction as there are no penguins at the North Pole, but young scientists will love to point this out. A penguin book I'm interested to read is And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. It's based on the true story of two male penguins in Central Park Zoo who were given an egg to hatch. Apparently there are people who feel that somehow this means the book promotes homosexuality and the book has been frequently challenged because of this.

Video: Do penguins like to be tickled? Decide for yourself!


Jokes: Today would be an excellent time to swap penguin jokes with your kids. Why not find some cool jokes, or even corny ones, write them out and tuck them into your child's lunchbox? Here are a couple to start you off:

What do penguins eat for lunch?
Icebergers
What do you call a penguin in the desert?
Lost
Why did the penguin cross the road?
To go with the floe

Facts: If jokes aren't for you, how about choosing today to learn some fascinating facts about penguins? Sites like Animal Planet or the Antarctic Connection might be useful and Kidzone has information nicely targeted at kids.

This website is not for the faint-hearted. It tells of plans to have us eating penguins soon, because they "taste a lot like veal, if cooked for long enough."Since the small print reveals they have a limited "responsibility for terminological exactitude" it turns out this would be a great site to use with older children who are learning about fake websites and how we can tell.

Art: Here are instructions for an easy origami penguin and a slightly more difficult one. Maggy Woodley has a cute penguin made from a deodorant bottle at Red Ted Art. Following tutorials is great for children's comprehension and also helps visual literacy when they have to follow diagrams. I found a tutorial on how to draw a baby penguin, and another on drawing a cartoon penguin. You can see my effort in the image above, which I drew in Skitch. This one is definitely something your kids can try, probably even with a mouse (computer, not real). DLTK have more crafts and ideas.

Games: Kids can design an indoor obstacle course for penguins. Tie something stretchy around ankles and waddle around the course. Play Penguin Shuffle. How about creating a board game with a penguin theme? What chance cards can they invent that would suit the theme? How will they design the board?

Write: Today would be a wonderful day to write and draw about penguins. If you don't have much time, how about a quick cartoon? I used Comic Life Magiq to create the two-panel comic at left by finding images that were licensed for re-use on flickr, choosing two pictures I liked, and thinking up dialogue to link them.

However you celebrate, I hope you enjoy World Penguin Day!

Let's Celebrate Children's Literacy on World Book Day

Parents who care about children's literacy and want their kids to love reading read with them every day. But it's fun to have special days too when reading is the whole focus of your day. Tomorrow is World Book and Copyright Day in many countries (although it was March 3 in the UK). The World Book Day website I found is UK-centric, (it's a bit far for me to travel to events) but wonderful nonetheless.

The date doesn't really matter though, does it? What I'm suggesting is that you and your kids or students set aside any day and make it your special Book Day. It might be as simple as dedicating time to reflect on how much reading and books contribute to our lives. You could organise a display at home or in the classroom where each person chooses a favourite book. If it's a problem to display real books at school, try a display of book covers illustrated by the students. At home, children could show the family their favourite page or read aloud a little of the story. How about a party, or a book picnic out doors? It might be fun to think of bookish food or choose foods your book characters might like, or even try to dress up in clothes that represent a book or character. World Book Day might also be a great day to seek out literature or folk tales from other countries. My friends at Paper Tigers can certainly help you out with book choices there.

Here are some more ideas to make your Book Day special - in the form of Book Chook Literacy Challenges.

First Book Chook Literacy Challenge: Ask your kids to summarise a book or story they know in under ten (or some other number) words. Being concise is a skill they will find handy for texting, tweeting and writing newspaper headlines, but it also helps them hone in on what a story is really about.

Some examples to get you started: Petite pigs ultimately defeat windy wolf in building battle. (The Three Little Pigs) Gran has big eyes, ears and teeth? Watch out! (Little Red Riding Hood) There are lots at Book a Minute Bedtime for you to have fun with. You could read the summary from Book a Minute and see if your kids can come up with the book. (Parental guidance advised.)

Second Book Chook Literacy Challenge: Story in a Minute. Have your kids improvise and perform a well-known story or scene from a longer book in under one minute.

Here's a description of 60 Second Fairy Tale to get you started. If your children are older, they might like to make a 90 second movie about a favourite book. Get inspiration from this article about the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival. Or check out Angry Alien's version of Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Again and as always, parental discretion advised!)

Third Book Chook Literacy Challenge: Here's a great children's book title quiz, with authors provided on the right as an extra clue. For example, "The miniature motor that was capable" = The Little Engine That Could. Good for older kids. Why not set aside some time to create a quiz of your own where the answers are book titles?

If challenges aren't your style, perhaps your children might like to explore the World Book Day's For Kids Page. There are links to book-related games, and downloadable activities for preschoolers and primary kids.

However you choose to celebrate it, I hope you have a wonderful World Book Day. In Australia, we have Book Week coming up August 20-26, so you might like to have a whole week of celebrating books then too. The theme this year is One World - Many Stories. My hope for One World is that we allow stories to bring us closer together!

And just for fun, here is a video/song about one guy who really doesn't like to be interrupted when he's reading a book!

Children's Literacy and Crafts - Guest Post

I'm delighted to welcome Maggy Woodley as a guest to The Book Chook today.

Maggy Woodley is a Mum of Two living in the UK. When she had her children, she decided to stay at home with them. Maggy started her craft blog Red Ted Art in order to share her craft ideas for both children and adults – hoping to inspire others to “have a go” and “have fun” with their children or to discover new crafts and ideas for themselves. Crafting is something for all age groups and everyone can have a go! Her weekly How Tos are aimed to be “easy to follow” and inspirational for both adults and teens, whilst her kids craft aim to please toddlers – 10yrs olds!

Children's Literacy and Crafts

Hello! I'm Maggy and I'm visiting from over at Red Ted Art, where I regularly craft with my 3 year old son (Red Ted) and my 1 year old daughter (Pip Sqeauk). We love to get crafty and share our ideas and encourage others to have a go. Today, we're very excited to Guest Post for The Book Chook!

We love books in our house, it is “the one thing” I truly indulge my children in. What we love even more, is to combine a good story with a good craft! We often take inspiration from the wonderful books around us. This makes for very successful crafting: children sometimes find it hard to “imagine a finished item” and if they know they are making something from a story they love it can be easier for them to find some motivation to start something they don’t exactly know how it will finish. I know it works, as my son (3) now regularly brings stories to me and ask me if we can make the characters within it.. he can’t get enough of crafting and I sometimes even get a 6am wake up call as he wants to finish something we started the day before.

I started crafting with my son when he was 2yrs old. We made these robots when he was 3, however I believe this craft is great for children up to around 8 years of age!

We read a British book called Harry and The Robots, by Ian Whybrow. It's a lovely book about Harry, a little boy who makes some robots for his sick grandmother. When Harry's toy robot breaks, his Granny sends the toy off to be mended and suggest they make some of their own whilst the robot is away. That night however Granny falls ill and is taken to hospital. Harry decides to make his own Robots and then sneaks them into hospital to help Granny get better! He makes LOADS in all shapes and sizes. Red Ted (3) thoroughly enjoyed the book, loved all the little robots and as mentioned above ran off and wanted to make his own.

However I'm sure you can find another robot book that you'll like in your local library…

We made two robots on consecutive days as Red Ted enjoyed the process so much. I will tell you what we used to make them, but don’t worry if you don’t have the same materials – let your imagination and your materials take you somewhere different!

Pink Robot Materials: small box (a mug arrived in this), 4 Bubble bottles (finally a use!), a bubble blowing stick (for antenna), upside down yoghurt pot for head, 3 lids (one large, 2 small), googly eyes, pink arcylic paint, scissors, PVA glue and brushes

You can also use poster paint and mix it with a little PVA glue, this will stop it crumbling.

Blue Robot Materials: a medium box (ours isn’t actually a box, the sides where “open”), 4 loo rolls, some corrugated card, 2 large lids, 10 small lids, googly eyes, blue arcylic paint, scissors, masking tape, PVA glue and brushes

We made the pink one first:
1) I made some holes for the arms and legs and stuck the bubble bottles in. Added a little glue to keep them in place – now the buttons are added at the very end, and we found with both robots, that they made the robots topple – i.e. the leg position needs to be different OR you can fill the legs or the box with rice/ stones or something to weigh it down? Just a thought for you to learn from my “mistakes”.
2) I asked Red Ted what colour he wanted and he shouted pink. So pink it was. I think it is a rather fabulous robot colour!
3) Red Ted then painted the whole robot pink. I helped him by pointing out any unpainted areas.
4) Let dry.
5) Stick on Googly eyes, buttons and antenna – I found lots of PVA worked fine, save for the antenna, where I later used superglue (personal note: don’t EVER use superglue with kids around, I think it just too tempting). Red Ted also decided to draw on the buttons a little. I think it is cute!
PLAY!

For the blue one, we stuck the loo rolls on with lots of masking tape – it has to masking tape, as paint won’t stay on “packing tape”. We used rather a lot, as we also “closed the sides” of the box with tape. For the head, we just rolled up the corrugated card and taped in place. The rest is as before. Note – this one really does topple as it has SOOOO many buttons, but I think either some weights or some “feet” could resolve the problem. Also, that last photo shows me adding lots of extra glue AROUND the buttons to help keep them on. These robots, sadly are not 1-yrs-old safe!!! But are fine for almost 3 year olds!

Play some more. And we did!! YAY!

I hope you enjoyed this craft and that our book/ craft approach inspires you to do the same. It really is a great way to come up with new ideas. Alternatively, do stop by at Red Ted Art and check out our Kids Get Crafty section – you'll always find a book review and a fun craft!

Children's Book Review, Totally Twins

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

Are your girls ready for chapter books and intrigued by other children's lives and dramas?

The Totally Twins series is written by Aleesah Darlison, illustrated by Serena Geddes, and published by New Frontier Publishing. It's recommended for readers 9-12, but I have to say that most of them will be girls! These books are ideal for kids who are looking for a fun, fascinating story with a main character that comes to life so much you can "hear" her talking to you.

There are two books in the series so far, Totally Twins - Musical Mayhem and Totally Twins - Model Mania.


Musical Mayhem

Persephone begins writing her own personal SECRET diary. She is horrified when she has to audition for the school musical and takes comfort in writing down her most SECRET thoughts. The Heartfield Heights Musical Extravaganza soon launches into full swing, much to Persephone’s dismay and her sister Portia’s jubilation.

Model Mania

Portia is determined to become the next top model. Persephone thinks she is DELUSIONAL.

Persephone spends hours on the couch at the Heavenly Models Agency writing her diary, rolling her eyes and sneezing from the toxic fumes of hairspray, perfume and makeup.

Follow the next hilarious TOTALLY TWINS adventure as Portia sets her sights on a modelling career.

Both books are about the identical-looking twins, Persephone and Portia Pinchgut. Perspehone is the neat one, Portia is the messy one. It's Persephone who's actually telling the story through her diary. The girls also have different outlooks on many things which causes conflict in their lives. But at the end of the day, they are twins, sisters and friends, and that is something very special. The series will continue, with Totally Twins - Tropical Trouble due out next, and a fourth in the pipeline.

Darlison has created such likeable characters with strong, authentic voices! She obviously understands girls of the target age, the way they feel, the way they speak, and the things that motivate them. But I also like the quirky adults in the twins' lives - Mum, Skye, is a yoga teacher, artist and laughter therapist; Miss Tamarind is their garlic-eating teacher; Grandma is a bungy-jumping travel writer. Perse's commentary on the other characters will make kids laugh, nod their heads in recognition, and perhaps reflect on situations in their own lives.

I love what Geddes did with the illustrations. Because these are chapter books, the illustrations are line sketches and serve to highlight certain parts of the story, and break it up so young readers won't be daunted by dense text. The illustrations also seem like sketches the heroine might have added to her actual diaries, and there are even little flowers drawn around the page numbers - very cute, and definitely adding to the attraction of the books.

Lots of children gobble up a book series. They love to find one enjoyable book and character(s) and continue with the fictional world an author has created in other books. I think Totally Twins will appeal to such kids, and makes a popular choice for home, school or public libraries.

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

Children's Literacy - A Dog's Life

A Dog's Life

Here's another great webpage that promotes children's literacy and children's learning. It's from Scholastic, and is based on the book A Dog's Life by Ann M. Martin (author of the Babysitter Club books) about a dog called Squirrel. The interactive page is called Create a Tale.

Kids are encouraged to create a new story based on the characters from A Dog's Life. They do this by choosing from comic style backgrounds, characters, objects and editable speech bubbles. Once the pictures are organised, they begin writing their actual story, either with a given story starter, or an idea of their own.

What I like: the site helps young writers focus on the elements of a good story. It asks questions like "Who's There? and tells us that is the omniscient POV. If kids want to know more about point of view, they can click to be taken to a pop-up explanation. They keep building their story, scene by scene, creating a picture then choosing a start for the next part of their story. There's room for five scenes. Children get the opportunity to re-edit the text, and print it out once they're done.

Kids can find more literacy and learning activities based on A Dog's Life via the index by clicking on Explore. They might like to discover more about A Dog's Life and experiment via an interactive adventure called Bone Travels On where they need to read and make some decisions for the direction their new story will take. They can also listen to Ann M. Martin read an excerpt from the book, or discover more about the author.

If you're interested in other online places where children can create and read stories, check out my recent article, Online Resources for Reading and Writing.

A Book That Impacted My Life - Caz Makepeace

Here is the fourth 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, and the third in A Book That Impacted My Life - Hazel Edwards. 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 Caz Makepeace.


When Caz is not sipping mojitos around the world she is writing about her life as a Mojito Mother- laid back, fun, fresh and with a spicy kick! Join her facebook community.

Grandpa Chook had just been killed by The Judge in The Power of One.

My eyes felt the threatening jab of tears as I read the chapter aloud to my students. A heavy silence filled the air. I think they had by now forgotten the swear words their teacher had actually read aloud from the pages.

I was disappointed that I was only teaching them for the day and could only read them half a chapter from the abridged young adult copy of the book that has had the most impact on my life.

“You know I cried my eyes out during this part of the book when I first read it. It made me so sad to see what humans, who are so full of hatred and anger, can do to one another. I’ve since read it eight times, and I still cry every time. And every time, I find something new that I can learn from the book. There are so many powerful lessons about life that can be found within the pages of this story.”

I never knew it could be possible to fall in love with a character from a book, but Peekay was the man I most wanted to marry. And the wise teachers he met along his life path that helped shape him into the strong man he was to become, were people who helped give me the tools to become a better person in my own three dimensional life.

“First with the head and then with the heart, Peekay….”

This piece of advice given by the Boxing champion, Hoppie Greenwald is carried by Peekay throughout his life. He learns the importance of independent thought, spirituality and passion.

It is by utilizing these things throughout the story that Peekay is able to fight to bring justice to those who do not have a voice, as well as striving to achieve his own dreams to be the welterweight champion of the world.

The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay, reminds me to keep one foot in the logical world of the head, with the other firmly balanced in the world of emotions and spirituality. Use both of them to overcome obstacles, strive forward in life, develop enduring relationships, and allow my human spirit to triumph.

I hope the sixth grade students will learn similar lessons from it.

"The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated.” ~ Bryce Courtenay

Best Australian Blogs 2011 Competition

Have you noticed the big blue badge that's appeared in my right side bar?

My blog has been nominated for Best Australian Blogs 2011 Competition. Voting has opened in the People's Choice Award. If you go to the People's Choice Award page and click the VOTE HERE button, you can register a vote for The Book Chook.

This is what happens once you click the button:

You get a survey monkey screen that offers you an A-Z list of blogs. The Book Chook is on the third page, under T (hit "next" button to go to it). You then need to enter your name and email address. And you're done. It took me one minute to vote for one of my favourite blogs, BeAFunMum.

If you have the time and the inclination, thanks for supporting my blog!

Let's Celebrate Creativity and Innovation

Have you ever noticed how creative and innovative your own or many of the kids you see are? A child will throw his leg over a stick and ride it off to rescue a friend, wield the stick as a sword or shore up a ramp for his toy cars with it. Children's art work and problem solving ability often amazes us, and I know I'm not the only one who just loves to watch kids involved in creative play. Creative play is also a powerful tool for experimentation, and it can enable kids to deal with their fears and insecurities in a secure and comfortable way.

Although I believe we're born with the ability to create, I also believe that creativity needs to be nurtured within us. Within our children and students too. It's so easy to get bogged down in passive activities, particularly when we're tired. But creative expression, innovation, improvisation and activities where we use our imaginations can actually be very rejuvenating. Kids might think all they want to do is flop down in front of TV, but sculpting, painting, playing or dancing will make them feel so much better. I promise!

This week is Creativity and Innovation Week. Kids or adults, we can all use inspiration for being creative and innovative in our everyday lives, so what better time to focus on it and celebrate it than this week? April 15 is also believed to be Leonardo da Vinci's birthday, a creative genius if ever there was one.

World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 - 21 is a celebration of our ability to get new ideas, use imagination and make new decisions to make the world a better place and to make your place in the world better too. Do what you can, do what you like. There’s only one rule: do no harm.

I'm often awe-struck by the amount of creativity around me. For some reason, other people's creative thinking seems so much worthier of admiration than my own. Here are a couple of amazing creative projects I think are worthy of celebration in Creativity and Innovation Week.

• Scott Snibbe: Get a taste of his work in this video which is a brief documentary about Snibbe's video installation at LA airport. Read about more of Snibbe's projects.

• Sebastian Thrun is part of a team that invented a successful driverless car. Watch this short video about it.

• Check out Imagination, which encourages us to paint with swirling lights on a black screen. What can your kids see here?
• The Webby Awards often bring me inspiration. This creative blog, What I Made, simply has me in awe! It also shares tons of ideas for creative projects. 

Are you looking for some ideas to spark creative thinking in your children or students? You might be interested in my Creative Prompt series where I suggest starters that work with writing, art, or your choice of expression.

Here are some quick activities you can incorporate into lessons or family life to help your children think creatively:

If This is the Answer, What's the Question? Answers can be in the form of text or images or objects or numbers. Easy example: "Four is the answer; what's the question?" (2+2?/how many elephants can you fit in a bus?) There can be many responses.

Think about the world differently. Ask questions like: What does the wind taste like? How does fear smell? What colour is happiness? If you were a bird, what bird would you be?

Play what if. What if you had a sausage instead of a nose? What if we had wings? What if your pet giraffe escaped? If ants ruled the world, what would we see?

Combine ideas. Take two random words, like pencil and cherry. List what you know about each, then think of ways to combine them. Could we perhaps have cherry flavoured pencils? Could a cherry be used as a pencil somehow? If we stuck a cherry on top of a pencil, how would that be useful? Can two pencils be used as chopsticks to eat cherries with? Could we create a sculpture using only pencils and cherries?

Encourage kids to look at the world flexibly. See if they can generate multiple ways of looking things. Any idea can be good, bad or interesting, depending on how you look at it. Take something that occurs in your family - like somebody has to walk the dog. What's bad about it? I must stop the game I'm playing. What's good about it? Spot will really enjoy getting out, AND I might see my friends. What's interesting about it? What if there were a dog walking machine in our backyard? What if Spot had to walk me? What if I could harness Spot to my billy cart and have him pull me along?


Lie on your backs on the grass and watch clouds drift by. What do you see? What might you see? And then what might happen?

Any other ideas for celebrating creativity and innovation?

{Image above generated by BookChook at ToonDoo}

Children's Literacy Through Poetry

It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things. ~ Stephen Mallarme

April is Poetry Month in the USA. This month or any month would be a great time to borrow some poetry books from the library, or research some good poetry collections for kids. Lorraine Marwood mentioned some in her guest article here at The Book Chook, Encouraging Kids to Read and Write Poetry, and I want to share some of my own old favourites with you today.

Children's Literacy Through Poetry Books

One of the many wonderful things about poetry is its brevity. Maybe you have no time for a longer read-aloud, or your youngster is in a hurry to be off somewhere. Keep an anthology of poetry handy and dive into it with your child when you can. Those minutes really add up over days and weeks with children's literacy.

A poem takes a short while to peruse, but a lifetime to ponder. ~ Susan Stephenson

Another reason I love poetry is that it really does encourage us to slow down and reflect. So much communication in our lives nowadays takes place at light speed, but poetry can be savoured and relished, as we tease out meaning from its carefully chosen language.

When I was at school, my teachers had us learn poetry by heart. I am so grateful to them! I truly believe this is a great way to internalise wonderful rhyme, rhythm and language. There are many times when something happens in my life, and certain lines of poetry will pop into my head, perhaps helping me understand or comforting me, or giving some much-needed perspective. As a teacher, I had my students perform poems, and because they asked me to read some so often, we learnt them by heart too.

My bookshelves contain around 100 books of poetry. Here are a very few Book Chook favourites:

A Ute Picnic  Perfect for Australian kids, or kids who'd like to learn what it's like to BE an Australian kid.

Someone is Flying Balloons- Australian Poems for Children selected by Jill Heylen and Celia Jellett

Putrid Poems compiled by Jane Covernton

Hairy Tales and Nursery Crimes by Michael Rosen

Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl

When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six by A.A.Milne

I Saw Esau edited by Iona and Peter Opie

Hist Whist collected by Dennis Saunders

Do you have any favourite children's poetry books? We'd love you to share them in comments.

If your kids find some favourite poems, why not make a Poe-Tree to display those poems, or maybe write some of your own? For even more fun with poetry, read on!

Children's Literacy Through Poems in Your Pocket

April 14 is this year's choice for celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day in the USA. I've always been fascinated by this special day, and think it's a wonderful idea. Kids enjoy having a special paper in their pockets printed with a favourite verse, and many write their own original poems for the day. Is now a good time for your family to start this tradition?

The website, Poets.org, has poems for you to download, print and tuck into your pocket. It also has ideas for holding your own Poem in Your Pocket "event":

Start a "poems for pockets" give-a-way in your school or workplace
Urge local businesses to offer discounts for those carrying poems
Post pocket-sized verses in public places
Start a street team to pass out poems in your community
Add a poem to your email footer
Post a poem on your blog or social networking page
Text a poem to friends ~ from Poets.org

Here's a Book Chook favourite snippet from Poets.org or your kids might like to explore poems from sites I mentioned in Online Inspiration for Young Poets.

ReadWriteThink has a classroom activity for Poem in Your Pocket Day that you might find useful.

Bookmaking With Kids has some delightful itsy-bitsy book projects, perfect for small pockets. Do take a look - I think your kids will enjoy these!

Which poem will I be adding to my pocket? Several. Thanks to Brenda Power of Choice Literacy I discovered the lovely poem Be Still in the World by Charles Ghigna. Thanks to Greg Pincus of Gottabook, I discovered A Stick is an Excellent Thing by Marilyn Singer. In case I meet children, I have a couple of Australian animal poems from Silly Galah by Janeen Brian in my pocket.

If you're lucky enough to know a young poet, you might be interested in my article, Online Inspiration for Young Poets.

Do you have a favourite poem you'd like to carry in your pocket on April 14?

{This post is part of Poetry Friday held at Random Noodling.}

Comparing Countries at IfItWereMyHome

Most of us are born with a great curiosity about this world we live in. We love to visit new places, get to know other people, and learn something about their countries and way of life. Kids who are lucky enough to travel overseas have wonderful opportunities for comparing their own lives with those of others.

Travel isn't the only way to compare. IfItWereMyHome.com is a fascinating website with definite appeal to young statisticians. Teens who like reading non-fiction might enjoy exploring here, and the site is a boon to those of us who just want to see how our country compares with another.

The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are. If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like? Would you be the same person?

IfItWereMyHome.com is your gateway to understanding life outside your home. Use our country comparison tool to compare living conditions in your own country to those of another. Start by selecting a region to compare on the map to the right, and begin your exploration.

I chose to compare my country, Australia, with Canada. IfItWereMyHome told me that if I lived in Canada, I would use 53.9% more electricity, consume 51.03% more oil and have 49.12% more chance of being unemployed. At the end of each fact there's a tiny arrow and that leads to more information, including the source they base their fact on. There's also a map comparison of the two countries you choose, and a separate page that allows us to visualize disasters if they'd taken place near our homes.

I have no way of knowing how reliable the facts are, but sources quoted include CIA World Factbook and World Health Organization. IfItWereMyHome would be an interesting place to start a country standard of living comparison, then do some fact-checking of your own.

**Be sure to supervise your kids when they use the site as there are inappropriate remarks and general silliness in comments underneath the facts.

Drawing with Google Docs

Madame Cluck's Facebook Page

I've been exploring Google Docs. They're useful for a range of different children's learning activities. Google Docs is continually adding new features and I follow lots of people online who use them. However there seems to be plenty for me to learn to use them effectively, and my attempts to play are limited because of lack of time. In case that applies to you too, here's what I like so far about the drawing tools. (If you're already a Google Docs power user, this will bore your socks off.)

• There are Drawing templates available for children and teens to use, just as there are templates we can use and adapt in Google Docs generally. (You might need to be signed in to Google to see these.)

• There are multiple save options: jpg and png but also svg and pdf.

• You can add an image to your drawing from your own computer, from a specific url, or use Google images to search for something suitable and check it's okay to use.

• You can collaborate online - share a drawing or a doc with a friend, see their changes in real time, and even chat with them.

• Text boxes can be tilted so they don't have to be horizontal. This was the most exciting thing of all to me as it's a quick and easy way to add angled text for words on an image. If your kids are experimenting with phoetry, this will please them. 

Children's Learning Activities

Google Docs might be a useful place for your kids to explore story creation. Older kids can use it to mind map a story or essay, while younger ones will enjoy typing up their story and adding an image from online or your own computer. There's a neat Historical Facebook template you could use as a way to represent a historical or fictional character kids are studying. (See Madame Cluck, above.) If kids are working on an assignment together that requires writing and drawing, Google Docs is a perfect way for them to work together despite physical distance.

I love that everyone has access to Google Docs. I love that it's free. It's an excellent way to collaborate with others. And really, so much of it is intuitive. There's a tool bar with icons we recognise like backwards arrow for undo, and a menu bar with tabs for file, edit, insert etc. As usual, Google has lots of support documentation. Here's a video on Google Docs in Plain English.

If you want to learn more, take a look at Macworld's article, Google Docs secrets: 20 power tips; two Youtube videos, Google Docs- Create a Drawing and Making Goofy in Google Docs (this is a speed-of-light tutorial - good luck! but might be just the inspiration your young artist needs) or check out the Google Docs Blog.

Last week I wrote about Popplet, another place to create using words and images online. Google Docs has even more features and I look forward to exploring it further soon.

Children's Book Review, On The Night That We First Met

On The Night That We First Met

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

On The Night That We First Met is an unusual picture book. Written by Nadine Bates, illustrated by Zlatica Hlavacova and to be published by Hootenanny Books (June, 2011), it almost defies classification. It's not quite a rhyming picture book, although there is rhyme in the story. It's not just a children's picture book - I can see adults buying it for each other too. On The Night That We First Met creates the atmosphere of a lovely dream.

The story begins: On the night that we first met, the trees stretched a little taller toward the velvet-cloaked sky. It goes on to say that stars hummed a little quieter to hear your soft new sound and Star shaped flowers waltzed in soft moonlight - beautiful words and descriptions slowly building in us an understanding of how special the night that we first met was. The subtext of illustrations shows us that the "we" is actually a family meeting their new baby, but the words can be applied to any loving relationship: My sweet, exquisite darling one, at last I sighed, for you had come ...on the night that we first met.

The illustrations are beautiful. Hlavacova uses soft muted colours in pictures that have a naive quality to them. Doll-like figures float through misty landscapes, complementing the evocative text.

Bates has added two special pages to involve children in thinking about their own first time meeting their families. "Ask somebody who loves you what the first time you both met was like" and "Write your very OWN story about when you met". I think this is a great way to personalise the book for a child reader. It also opens the channels of communication so parents can explain how very thankful they are to have a child in their lives.

If you're looking for a special gift for a baby shower, On The Night That We First Met is something different. It also provides an unusual perspective on relationships in general, and being a much-loved addition to a family in particular. Add beautiful music softly playing in the background and share it with your kids soon.

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

Children's Book Review, The Glasshouse

Children's Picture Book, The Glasshouse

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

The Glasshouse is an intriguing children's picture book, written by Paul Collins, illustrated by Jo Thompson and published by Ford St (2010).

Clara lives in her balanced world where everything is perfect. Her glasshouse is free of bugs, her prized pumpkins free of blemishes. But then one day a boy walks into her life and slowly Clara realises that her world is not perfect at all. Her paranoia spreads and she loses all her customers. Finally, she must face up to the realisation that her world is not perfect, and she must make allowances and compromise if she is to survive.

Although I've reviewed other Paul Collins books, this is the first children's picture book I've read by this versatile Australian author. In The Glasshouse, Collins writes a thought-provoking story about an unusual character, Clara. It's a little like a modern fairy tale or fable, but one where we need to decide for ourselves exactly what happens in the end.

This is not your average children's picture book. I would suggest The Glasshouse for primary school aged readers. It's the sort of book teachers will choose as the basis for discussions about issues like friendship, perfectionism, debilitating fears, and even environmental studies with kids. If you have a child who's a perfectionist, this book makes a fine choice for starting a discussion about the fact that perfection is not always the answer.

The illustrations are special. I really like the way Thompson has not only underlined the story, but also added another visual layer for us to think about. For example, her use of focus/blurring accentuates Clara's aloneness and separation from the outside world, and the last three pages have no text at all, yet finish the tale in an immensely satisfying way.

You can find out more about The Glasshouse via this animated book trailer.



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

Enhance Children's Literacy with Popplet

I've discovered a new place to play online place for kids to explore and play with words and images. Children's literacy is often enhanced by internet magic, and I think your children might find Popplet motivational and fun.

Popplet can best be described as a platform for ideas. It helps us explore ideas, a little like a mindmap. Or we can just collect ideas and represent them either visually, in text, or both.

Once you register/sign in, you're coached to begin exploring Popplet's features. Useful idea! Basically, you have a working screen, and you double click on it to make a popple - a little frame inside which you can add text, images from the internet or your commuter, or draw. You can change the colour of the frame and move it around too - it's very manoeuvrable. If you change your mind about anything, one click and it's editable again.

When you've assembled all your popples, you can link them to highlight their relationships. The whole popplet can then be re-edited, perhaps a different background colour chosen, and you can either print it or export it as a pdf or jpg file, or share it and make it public. The whole popplet experience is fast, easy and reasonably intuitive.

Here's a video that explains more:


I think Popplet is a great online place for kids to play and learn. If your child is working out how to present ideas for a school project say, this might help. He can map out his ideas, rearrange them, delete some, add more, represent ideas visually. A popplet might be as simple and personal as a five-year-old making frames for each family member and representing them with a picture and their name. Or he might try adding letters/sounds he knows and you can hep him find suitable pictures to match. A seven-year-old might like to represent all the dinosaurs he knows, label them, and write a little about them. I think Popplet might be a fun way to collect new French vocabulary, or practise spelling words. Kids might even use it to type up a story they've written, and add a picture to illustrate it.

What do you think of Popplet?

If you're looking for other ways to engage children with word and image play, you might like to read Fast and Fun Writing with Kids, Quick Writing Online, and Keep Calm and Carry On.

LEGO Literacy

Children's Literacy through LEGO Comics!

I love LEGO and its potential for encouraging learning, creative thinking and children's literacy. I wrote about it in LEGO and Literacy (1), LEGO and Literacy (2) and Construction Ideas.

So I was thrilled to discover the ComicBuilder at the LEGO City website.

It has a limited but reasonable range of options in the "library" including helicopters, boats and other vehicles. Kids can choose backgrounds, vehicles, people, speech bubbles, special effects and props from tabs at the top of the library, and drag them to the template they prefer. Templates range from single frame to multiples.

Some characters' positions can be altered with a pop-up editor, and size can be changed. Speech bubbles are also editable. Kids will have fun adding those extra props, explosions and special effects.

Once done, you can save your comic as a pdf to your computer, or print it out.

If your kids love LEGO, the LEGO ComicBuilder might be just the nudge they need to begin weaving some literacy into their LEGO creations. Why not start them on building pictures, and adding text within speech bubbles? After that, if they're interested, they might begin to build their own more complicated scenarios, take photographs and develop storyboards for a book or a short movie. Check out some wallpaper on the downloads page if your youngster needs inspiration for dramatic scenes he can build.

With LEGO, and children's literacy, the sky's the limit!

Writing Contest for Australian Kids

Writing Contest for Australian Kids

Children's Literacy Through Writing Contests


Writing contests can be a great way in to writing for some children. Talented writers may enjoy the opportunity to compete with others. Kids who've never shown much interest in writing before might be motivated by a prize. Other young writers will enjoy responding to the prompt organised by the contest.

Here's one for Australian students!

Writing Contest

Open to anyone currently attending an Australian school.

Write a response (poem, story, song, dialogue or description) to one of three pictures which you will find at this address.

At the top of your entry, put the title of your piece, your first name and last initial, your age and a valid email address. (A school one or gmail one is fine.) Save your entry as a Word or RTF document and send it as an attachment to sally@sallyodgers.com

One entry per person.

Entries close on June 30th 2011 and results and prizes will be announced in July.

More details on the website

Find more articles about encouraging kids to write via Table of Contents.

{Image made by BookChook at Reasonably Clever}

Children's Book Review, Yummy

Children's Book, Yummy

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

Recently, I wrote two articles here at The Book Chook - Introducing Kids to Fairy Tales Online and Fairy Tales Online and a Fairy Tale Party. I confessed to not much liking the "supermarket" books of fairy tale retellings, and asked readers for recommendations of such books suitable for children, and well-written. Both Rebecca Newman, editor of Alphabet Soup magazine, and Babette Reeves of The Passionate Librarian recommended Yummy. I jumped at the chance to review it.

Yummy was written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins (perhaps best know for her Maisy books), and published by Walker Books (2009). It's one of those more-bang-for-your-buck books that thrifty souls rejoice in. Yummy works superbly as a read-aloud, with engaging text and colourful illustrations. But it also works as a book for young readers - the print is large and kids who have listened to multiple readings will be able to predict words they might not otherwise have been able to decode.

There are eight stories within its bright yellow covers: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs and The Musicians of Bremen. Not all are fairy tales - the book's subtitle describes them as "favourite nursery stories". The important thing is, these are stories kids through the ages have known and loved, and Cousin's retelling is superb. She sustains the same lively "storyteller" voice in each tale.

I like the way many pages have phrases or words crucial to the story in extra large font, perfect to draw beginning readers into print identification. And I love that the tales we knew as kids are not dumbed down in Yummy. I believe Cousins has the balance exactly right - yes, the wolf gobbles Grandma and Red, but then a hunter chops the wolf open and out they pop, perfectly okay. I don't recall being traumatised by this fantasy as a child, and I believe today's kids can cope too.

If you're looking for some fun literacy activities to use as a follow-up to reading Yummy with your kids, consider:

• Writing a letter together - to Grandma from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Wolves, or to Goldilocks' mother, from Mama Bear.
• Designing a board game centred around one of the Yummy stories. A simple journey around the board is easiest, and you can create cards for good fortune and bad fortune. Writing out the rules and how to play is a great way to introduce kids to a simple procedural text, and you can use rules from other games as a guideline.
• Creating a Reader's Theatre based on a Yummy tale. I have explanation and suggestions for Reader's Theatre you can link to from Reader's Theatre 4.
• Drawing and labelling your favourite characters from some of the stories.

You'll find a Yummy Colouring sheet and four recipes (beginning with Goldilocks' Perfect Porridge) available as pdfs at the Walker website.

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

Bird Watching for Kids

Magpie by John Gould

I've forever been fascinated by birds. You guessed that from the Chook reference, right? We love to walk, and I'm always on the lookout for bird species I recognise, or more likely don't recognise. I listen out for bird calls too, and try to identify them. While I wouldn't call myself a twitcher or a (fully fledged!) bird watcher, being aware of the birds in my neighbourhood and national parks is part of my life.

Most children are fascinated with their natural environment, so introducing them to some form of bird watching makes good sense. You don't need special equipment - although you could introduce binoculars, reference books and online resources if you want. Bird watching develops kids' observational skills, and over time they'll begin to identify individual birds and their habitats. Recording birds you see will interest some kids - a bird watching journal would be an excellent way to keep a record by writing, a description, drawing, storing photographs etc. At Mindful Drawing, Paula is keeping a record of the birds she sees and draws during winter, and her blog would be a great source of inspiration for kids. Children might also like to collect feathers and fallen birds' nests.

One of the many things I love about Australia is the amount of birdsong we have. Once I began to travel to other countries, I discovered other people are not so lucky. Of course, it doesn't feel lucky when you're lying awake at 3.30 am and there's a koel determined to wake the neighbourhood! Here's a website that has many common Australian bird calls you can listen to. Encourage auditory memory and auditory discrimination by playing a game with these calls. Listen to say three calls of favourite birds and then play them again and try to distinguish between and identify them. Can you identify that same call out in the wild?

The Australian Museum has a great website called Birds in Backyards. There you can find out all about introduced species, why some birds behave badly in urban habitats, and explore many different species kids are likely to come across. I like the layout on each page about individual birds - it provides a description, a map of their distribution, often a call, as well as details about their lives.

My favourite page is the Top 40 bird songs. If you're not familiar with Australian bird calls, check out the Common Koel, Laughing Kookaburra, Willie Wagtail, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Australian Magpie and Rainbow Lorikeet for an idea of how noisy it gets Down Under! I love the classifications of group songs - there are The Sorrows, The Screechers, The Hooters, The Carollers, The Cacklers etc. There's also a bird finder that might help you identify a particular bird.

The US Audubon Society has a website which includes an Online Guide to North American Birds. You can browse by family, common name or use the quick guide or advanced search. It also has a special kids page with activities like guessing bird calls, printable word search puzzles etc.

The RSPB website is a guide to UK birds. If you take a peek in their shop, you'll find the cutest bird finger puppets.

One of my favourite birds is the Manakin bird. You can see it in action on Youtube, and read more about it at Wikipedia. Did anyone say moonwalk? And there's a lovely video of baby wood ducks jumping out of a tree to be with their mother at National Geographic Kids. Aren't those ducklings the cutest!

Being interested in birds not only enriches my days, but also provides a focus for local, interstate and overseas travel. I love to seek out bird sanctuaries or walks that incorporate bird hides and information points. You can include visits to zoos and Botanic Gardens when holidaying with your kids, and they will slowly begin to appreciate birds and other animals.

Bird watching can involve children in all sorts of great activities and thinking skills - reading, writing, drawing, collecting information, observing, analysing, researching. It takes kids outside and allows them to learn about their environment. Combining it with a trip to the library, the museum, the zoo, and even the pet shop will help your child to gain more understanding of a fascinating species.

Some children who say they don't like to read will adore nonfiction. Keep an eye out for books about birds, especially a good field guide. Some kids start with enjoying great photos, move on to listening to text, and suddenly find themselves picking out words and reading. Such is the power of an absorbing interest.

Here are some interesting bird pictures on Flickr, and at Treehugger you'll find Extraordinary Photos of Commonplace Birds.

Find more articles about animals at The Book Chook: Wild Music, Let's Celebrate World Animal Day, and Virtual Visiting - Switcheroo Zoo.

Image credit: By John Gould, Birds of Australia (http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/magpie.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons