The Big Book of Things to Make, by James Mitchem (DK Publishing)

Fantastic! As always, DK Publishing delivers exactly what it promises. This is like the quintessential book of kids' crafts. It's got all those things I vaguely remember from my own childhood (pinhole cameras, bottle rockets), plus a bunch of things I used to know when I was a daycare teacher but have since forgotten (homemade slime, milk art), and a couple of things I just never knew at all (if you make jello with tonic water it glows under UV light -- why?). Basically it's one-stop awesome.

And it has a whole bonus section of "things to do" that includes tips for how to play detective or pirates or even how to make your own board game. You know, for kids who want to better at playing and figure the answer is probably in a book (hint: it totally is). I was that kid. Actually, I still am, which is why I strongly approve of this book.



BOOK DETAILS:
The Big Book of Things to Make
Author: James Mitchem
Publisher: DK Publishing
Publication Date: March 18, 2013
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Source: Edelweiss

Animal Alphabet, by DK Publishing

Animal Alphabet
Lift the flaps from A-Z!
Publisher: DK Publishing
Publication Date: March 17, 2014
Source: Edelweiss
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I love DK books. They have produced some of my favourite popular reference books and some of my favourite non-fiction to share with my child. They're always well designed, a perfect balance between clean, bright graphics and lots and lots of information.

Unfortunately I'm not sure I can provide a fully informative review of this particular title. It's an alphabet book, and the text and pictures look fantastic, but it's also a "lift-the-flap" book. I'm afraid I'm not getting the full effect just by looking at the digital review copy I received.

Based on what I've seen, I think this book is probably another winner from DK (I'd give it a 4 star rating, based on the review copy). But it's hard to fully appreciate any 3-D book (pop-up, fold-out, lift-the-flap, etc.) based on the digital version only.

But I like the pictures and fonts and all the things I can judge without seeing the final print edition. I especially like that the small letter 'a' and the small letter 'g' are written in a way that is similar to how you actually write or print them, rather than how you typically see them in books (with extra serifs and things). You wouldn't believe how many books for small children forget to do this.

See what I mean? That's Times New Roman on the left and some other font on the right (sorry, I'm terrible at font names).

a a

g g 

Anyway, it's a little thing, but it really helps when children are learning to read and write if the letters in the book look like the letters they're supposed to learn.

The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Publishing)

The Religions Book:

Big Ideas Simply Explained

Publisher: DK Adult

Publication Date: July 15, 2013
Source: Edelweiss

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I studied religions at university (I have a degree in Religious Studies and Women's Studies from McGill University...not strictly the most practical degree but fantastic for having interesting conversations) and I wish I had had this book at the time. It's not that any of the information is in-depth or comprehensive, it's just that it's a great at-a-glance guide to a lot of information, a quick reference "cheat sheet" of world religions. Plus it's easy to read and pretty to look at. And even though the information about each religion is basic, the book does a fair job of distilling complex ideas into accurate nuggets of essential facts. In all honesty, the book lives up to its title. It IS a book of "big ideas simply explained." Well done, DK!

Of course I'm not surprised. DK Publishing is responsible for some of my favourite "big ideas told simply" infographic and quick reference books. I think I'd be very happy to have an entire library of their books. It could be my "knowledge at a glance" book shelf. Oh that would be brilliant! And the books are all tall and thin so they wouldn't actually take up that much space.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. Bottom line: I highly recommend this book. Scroll down to see some page spreads from the book, which will give you an idea of the layout and general feel of the book.

Help Your Kids with Language Arts: A Step-by-Step Visual Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Writing (DK Publishing)

Help Your Kids with Language Arts:

A Step-by-Step Visual Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Writing

Author: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) 

Publisher: DK Adult 

Publication Date: May 20, 2013

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I read a lot of books about language and education, and I've reviewed some great ones (see below for just a few) but this one is AMAZING. I'm serious. It's amazing. I was actually exclaiming out loud as I read it (things like "Wow! This book is amazing!").

What makes it so great? Well first of all, every page could be blown up and used as a poster on the classroom wall. EVERY PAGE. Just look at the illustration below. It's beautiful! Every page is like that: a colourful, easy-to-read infographic that can be used as a handy reference for things like parts of speech, verb tenses, silent letters, and a whole bunch more.

It's a fantastic reference for teachers, students, writers, bloggers (especially those of us who are smug about our writing skills and then find ourselves getting lazier and lazier with grammar and spelling until one day we realize that a handy chart on the wall might, in fact, be in order), and anyone else who might need some reminders about the language. Actually, it would be great for people who have learned English as a second language and want to make sure they have the rules down.

But the book is really perfect for--as the title suggests--parents. Specifically, it's for when your kids are coming home with homework about things like the past perfect tense or when to use a semi-colon, or something called phrasal verbs, and you think, "When did this get so hard? I speak English. I went to elementary school, for heaven's sake. Why don't I remember this stuff?" But you don't want to tell your kids you don't remember because you should remember. And you do remember, really. You just might need a little handy-dandy reminder. And that's where this book comes in.

You know what else makes it great? (Besides EVERYTHING!) It starts each section--grammar, spelling, punctuation, even the introduction to the book itself--by asking the same simple question: Why? Why learn English? Why learn proper grammar? Why learn to spell?