Educating Risa

Full Disclosure: The book links below are through the Amazon Affiliates Program. The first link (Canada) is to amazon.ca, the second (US) to amazon.com.  If you buy a book through a link, I get more books from Amazon to sate our bibliophilic tendencies. For more book recommendations, see the “Books We Love” tab at the top of my blog.

 

Here’s the best of what we read recently:

 

 

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (Canada) (US) is one of Charlesbridge Math Adventure series. I had seen this series mentioned on many homeschool lists and math sites, and I am ever glad we checked it out! King Arthur has a problem and calls his knights to the table. But this first table is a long rectangle, and the knights at the far end can’t hear the discussion. Lady Di (of the town of Ameter) suggests to her husband Sir Cumference that the table’s shape be changed—first to a square (but that leads to knights in the corners having their own whispered conversations), then a diamond-shaped parallelogram (but the sharp corners painfully poke the King in the belly), then an octagon, etc. Finally, they try a round table, at which each knight had an equal position—no one was poked or trapped in corners, etc—and they find a solution to the King’s problem. As Lady Di of Ameter’s reach is “equal to the distance across the (round) table”, they name this measurement for her: diameter. Ditto for her husband Sir Cumference, and their child Radius. Very clever storyline that both my children enjoyed. Look for more reviews from this series in the coming weeks. Crow Boy (Canada) (US), A Caldecott Honor book from 1955, tells the story of a shy, nature-wise boy nicknamed Chibi (“tiny boy”) who attends a Japanese school. The children tease him, and even the teachers do not know what to make of him, always paying more attention to nature than to his books. Finally, in 6th grade—the last year of school—a new teacher, Mr. Isobe arrives, and realizes the boy’s intelligence. Chibi was the only child who knew where wild grapes and wild potatoes grew in the hillside behind the school, could name all the flowers in the class garden, and so on. He convinces Chibi to perform at the talent show, where he mimics the voices of crows—mother crows, father crows, newly hatched crows, crows in the morning, etc.—beautifully. From that point on he was known, affectionately, as Crow Boy, and he worked hard and happily to help support his family. A great book on different sorts of intelligence, and a look at another time and culture very different from our own. Jack Kent’s Fables of Aesop, out of print (sorry, no Canada link) (US) is perhaps the most concise yet humourous, introduction to some of Aesop’s fables out there. Each fable is told over only 4 very brief pages, in 6-10 sentences or so, plus the moral or lesson. Great artwork and really stripping the stories down to their bare essentials worked well for my boys.

 

 

A Pinky is a Baby Mouse (And Other Baby Animal Names) (Canada) (US) was our surprise find of the week; Gareth is very into mice these days, so I grabbed it based on nothing but the title. The book is a really engaging look at the different names baby animals go by, told in rhyming riddle form: “Baby spiders are spiderlings hiding beneath the leaves. Baby monkeys are infants chattering in the trees. Baby crocodiles are hatchlings resting in the rain. I am a baby boa constrictor. Tell me, what’s my name?” The end of the book has a 2-page list of baby animal names. And I guarantee your children will howl with laughter when they find out one of the names a baby seal is called! The same author has a similar rhyming riddle book about animal homes, called Armadillos Sleep In Dugouts (And Other Places Animals Live) (Canada) (US). Harry and the Lady Next Door (Canada) (US)  is a superb easy reader with funny and engaging storyline. Harry the dog (from Harry the Dirty Dog (Canada) (US)) cannot stand the very LOUD, very HIGH (opera?) singing of the lady next door, and comes up with several clever solutions to his problem. Unfortunately, they all go awry. Just when all seems lost, something Harry does unintentionally solves his problem, and the lady next door is made very happy too: win-win. Tacky the Penguin (Canada) (US), from one of our favourite funny authors, is about an odd little penguin named Tacky. He’s loud to the other penguins’ quiet; he marches quite oddly and not at all in the 1-2-3-4 pattern of the others (the boys HOWLED at this part), and he sings odd songs—which your 5-year-old will sing loudly and off-key at you for the next week! But when hunters come looking for penguins, it is Tacky’s oddness that saves the day.

 

Happy reading!