Super Girls, Gangstas, Freeters and Xenomaniacs: Gender and Modernity in Global Youth Cultures, by Susan Dewey and Karen J. Brison (eds.)

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.com

I thought from the title that this was going to be a hip-talking "teenspeak" book aimed at young women to make them feel empowered through fun little antidotes about roller derby girls in Brazil or something.

I'm an idiot.

This is actually a very serious collection of essays on the ideals of gender, particularly the gender expectations and ideals placed on young people (girls and boys both), around the globe in the modern world.

Oh, for the record, the title refers to

Butterfly, Flea, Beetle, and Bee: What Is an Insect? (Animal Groups Are CATegorical Series), by Brian P. Cleary

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.com

I admire the thought--make an informative book for kids about insects that is cute, well-illustrated AND has a rhyming verse AND teaches kids about insect classification AND showcases a few popular insects AND fits into the existing "CATegorical" series of books. I admire it in theory. But in practice? Pick a lane and stay in it. This book tries to do too many things and does none of them well. Plus, it fails to address the most obvious question: What ISN'T an insect (spider, centipede, earthworm, etc.) even if it seems like one?

My Brother is Different: A parents' guide to help children cope with an Autistic sibling, by Barbara J. Morvay

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.com

For many years I worked as an Early Childhood Educator at a developmental daycare (one that specialized in Special Needs Education). During that time I met and worked with many children with Autism and their families. I've also been a daycare teacher for about a decade, so I've read hundreds (thousands?) of children's books. My Brother is Different was written by a Special Needs Educator, not by a children's book author, and it shows.

It's informative (at least on a simple level) and it covers all the points the author was trying to make (that the sibling of an Autistic child may be confused, scared, frustrated, etc. by their sibling's behaviour) but as a children's book...well, it's terrible.

I'm sure it'll find its way on to the shelves of many teachers' and parents' collections, and perhaps it should. It does give good ideas for parents on how to talk to their children (all of their children) about Autism. But if it were used as the author intended, with the illustrated portion of the book being read to (or by) a child directly, I can't imagine it would be very successful.

There are a lot of books on the market that present Autism and other special needs to children in the form of picture books, and some of them are excellent. I've read a fair number of them to daycare classes over the years. This would probably not be added to that list. It has wonderful intentions but it might be better used as a starting point for parents and educators to have a conversation with their child, rather than as a picture book for a child to read and respond to.

Do you have favourite books about Autism? How about books that help children deal with difficult subjects?

SAVEUR Easy Italian: 30 Classic Recipes, by The Editors of SAVEUR magazine

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.com

Every time I watch a Golden Girls marathon I start to think that I could be a great Italian chef. I'm not Italian and I'm not a chef, but my spaghetti's okay and Sophia is my favourite character on that show. If she can do it... Then Saveur Easy Italian puts me in my place. Their idea of easy is things like "Swordfish Puttanesca" which, to me, sounds very intimidating.

It's a gorgeous cookbook but I think having Saveur Magazine teach you how to make "easy" recipes is a little like having Neil deGrasse Tyson teach you long division. Sure he's charming and entertaining and colourful, but you just know he's going to sneak some astrophysics in there.

Soup of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year, by Kate McMillian

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

I am so in love with this book that I want to lick the pages. Not only are there 365 different soup recipes (SOUP! I FREAKIN' LOVE SOUP!), but it actually has a calendar with menu plans.

Hit the jump for a book trailer that actually doesn't suck...and will make you hungry....

Big Blue, by Vanita Oelschlager (illustrated by Kristin Blackwood)

Buy Now on Amazon.ca

Buy Now on Amazon.com

I originally published a review of this book on my blog, Cozy Little Book Journal, and received a lot of angry comments about it because of how much I hated this book, but I stand by it, even if my original review was a lot more flippant than this one. (If you'd like to see the original review, scroll down after the jump.)

I really disliked this book. There are a lot of different ways to put a message into a book for kids, but I think any author who does that also needs to do two things: 1. Make sure the story still works and the book is actually good, and 2. Make sure that the message is actually one worth relaying. I think this book fails in both cases.

First of all, the story about the bird who eats so much that he's too fat to fly with the other birds for the winter is troubling. If that actually happened, the bird would die. But in this book he just learns to stop eating. That's the solution. THAT'S NOT A SOLUTION! It doesn't show him being more active, or eating better foods, it just says he stops eating. So when the other birds return he's skinny and happy.

Second, this is a terrible message. I get that the author is trying to tell kids that if they eat too much they'll be fat and therefore their lives will be awful but, again, that's a TERRIBLE message. The issue with this bird seems to be ONLY his size, not his actual health or skills or personality. The author perpetuates the myth that size alone is an indicator of health, which it absolutely is not. Some children, like adults, are going to be bigger than others based on genetics and body type, even more so for kids because they grow at different rates.

Driving home the point that eating a lot and being bigger than others is something you should be desperately ashamed of is not only irresponsible and inaccurate, I believe it's quite damaging to children. I don't mean that children shouldn't be taught about healthy choices, but size alone is NOT an indicator of health and fat shaming like this is just encouraging children to develop body image issues at a younger age.

UPDATE: Lexi Fairheart and the Forbidden Door, by Lisl Fair (illustrated by Nina de Polonia)

Buy Now on Amazon.com
I originally reviewed this book on July 12, 2012 (and on June 8, 2012, on my other blog, Cozy Little Book Journal), when the publisher sent me an email asking me if I would read a digital copy and give her some feedback. (You can read the original review here.) I thought the book needed a little work but definitely had potential. It had grammar mistakes, an unresolved ending and didn't distinguish between insects and spiders (which, sorry to give away the ending, is a plot point in the story). But the book has been reworked and re-edited and it looks better than ever. The illustrations are still the star, with rich and satisfying artwork on every page. The ending is much better than before, and my two-year-old certainly enjoyed the finished product (which I believe is still only available in digital format at this time). It's still a bit wordy for a picture book, and could maybe be condensed a bit. My daughter is younger than the target audience for the book (listed at 6-8 years), but she still enjoyed it. Her favourite part was "the cookies," the page in which it says that Lexi's curiosity has paid off in the past and shows her discovering a cookie jar. I think a lot of young children really enjoy solving "mysteries" within a text by looking at clues in the illustrations (which is part of the reason why picture books for young children usually don't have too many words, since the pictures tell the story as much as the text).