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? 

Digital Wildlife Photography, by John and Barbara Gerlach

Digital Wildlife Photography

Authors: John and Barbara Gerlach

Publisher: Focal Press

Publication Date: November 14, 2012

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Boy, if there was ever a book that needed a subtitle, it's this one! I thought it was a book OF wildlife photography, not a book ABOUT wildlife photography! It's my fault for not reading the description better. I was really looking forward to some beautiful, high-res photos of wildlife, like what's on the cover. Instead it's a book about how to get the most out of your digital camera when trying to take pictures like that on your own. So disappointed!

That's not to say that YOU'LL be disappointed because now that you know what the book is about, it might be exactly the book you're looking for. Unless you're looking for a coffee table style book of glossy animal pictures, in which case you will be disappointed (but don't say I didn't warn you). Here are some of the topics covered in the book:

Chapter 1 - Cameras and Accessories: The Best Wildlife Camera SystemsChapter 2 - Choosing and Using Lenses: Selecting Quality LensesChapter 3 - Exposure StrategiesChapter 4 - Precise Focusing TechniquesChapter 5 - Shooting Quality ImagesChapter 6 - The Crucial Role of LightChapter 7 - CompositionChapter 8 - Electronic FlashChapter 9 - Getting Close to Wildlife

Not covered: Adorable little lambs jumping over their mothers. For those photos, you should really check out the Flickr stream of photographer Roeselien Raimond. She has nothing to do with this book, but she took this photo. Look! It's a leaping lamb!

Photo by: Roeselien Raimond
It's not in the book. It has nothing to do with the book. It's just an awesome photo.

Knitting Classic Style: 35 Modern Designs Inspired by Fashion's Archives, by Veronik Avery

Knitting Classic Style: 

35 Modern Designs Inspired by Fashion's Archives

Author: Veronik Avery

Photographer: Sara Cameron

Publisher: Abrams

Publication Date: October 30, 2012

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So a few weeks ago I decided to learn to knit. Well, decided might be too strong a word. Mike was learning to knit and I thought I might try it too, since I had done a little knitting as a child and figured I'd pick it right back up. I didn't. It was a disaster. I hated it. But, more importantly, I felt that knitting had defeated me and I couldn't have that (YOU WON'T BE ME, KNITTING!). So I kept at it, almost 100% out of spite. Who was the spite directed at? I dunno...the needles? It didn't matter. Eventually I got better. Sort of.

It didn't take long before spite turned into cockiness. I could knit anything! I was well on my way to being a knitting master! I had knit! I had purled! I had cast on AND bound off (binded off?). What more did I need? I was officially a Beginner Knitter, I assumed.

So when I saw this book that claimed to be "aimed at both beginning and more advanced knitters" I thought, "Aha! I'm totally ready for this!" I was wrong. So, so wrong.

Turns out knitting is like its own language, and reading a knitting pattern is like reading music. You have to know what you're looking at and really understand how it relates to what you're supposed to be doing with your hands. Knowing how to do a purl stitch really isn't enough to be able to follow a "beginner" pattern any more than knowing how to bang your fingers on a piano is enough to be able to read--and play--a piece of sheet music. This book had me feeling in over my head pretty quickly.

As cute as some of the sweaters in this book are (and some are very cute, though others just look dated and old-fashioned, if I'm honest), you really have to think about how you define "beginner" before attempting them. If you're completely fine with using patterns--and by patterns I mean a series of abbreviations and code that knitters use, not step-by-step directions--you might want to try some of these. If, like me, you would like more tutelage, you're probably not ready for this book. All but one of the photos are of the finished products; none of them (save one) are of the process itself. If this book is for beginners, I am clearly nowhere near "beginner" status.

Farmyard Knits, by Fiona Goble

Farmyard Knits

Author: Fiona Goble

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Publication Date: April 23, 2013

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WOW! Can I do this? Like, right now? Look at all the little farm animals she made! Look at the l'il tractor! OMG! Honestly, I don't think I'm ready to make any of these since I just started knitting, like, a second ago. But I think I'm going to try to get better so I can work towards this!

The book shows you how to make everything shown on the cover (including the tractor!), which you can then use as toys or as set pieces for little farm scenes. There is a warning at the beginning of the book saying that the projects described are not intended to be used as toys for small children, something about small parts and choking and what have you. So maybe technically they're supposed to be used in the latter capacity. (BUT JUST TRY TO STOP ME FROM PLAYING WITH THEM!)

Oh you know what it would be great for? Illustrating a children's book about farm animals! OMG I HAVE TO GET BETTER AT KNITTING RIGHT NOW!!

Keep reading to see more pictures from inside the book, including the knit animals in action.

Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys: Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects, by Susan B. Anderson

Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys:

Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects

Author: Susan B. Anderson

Publisher: Artisan

Publication Date: March 19, 2013

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Squeee! I want to make all of these right now, right now, RIGHT NOW!! Unfortunately, I don't think I'm anywhere near ready for these projects, but maybe I will be soon if I learn a little bit more about knitting basics. The projects are so adorable it'll be worth doing a little work to learn how to make them, and the instructions in this book seem pretty accessible. It's not just a book of patterns and abbreviations with no explanations. There are step-by-step instructions and a lot of photos and diagrams of work in progress. So I think I'll be able to figure it out.

And I hope I do because the toys in the book are ah-MAAAAZING! They are all two toys in one (like the title suggests). There's a doghouse that you flip over and it turns into a dog. There's a crocodile that folds into its own egg. There's a bunny that you turn inside out and it becomes a lamb. It's hard to describe.

Here, just hit the jump to watch a video of the reversible toys in action:

Oh, The Things My Mom Will Do...Because She Loves Me Through and Through, by Marianne Richmond

Oh, The Things My Mom Will Do...Because She Loves Me Through and Through

Author: Marianne Richmond

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Publication Date: April 2, 2013

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Let's be clear. This is a book for moms. It's a book for moms to give to other moms, or for husbands to give their wives, or maybe--just maybe--for kids to give their moms for Mother's Day. It's not a book for kids. It's like saying that a book called, "My Wife is Perfect and Makes Me a Better Person and Looks So Thin in Those Jeans" is a book for husbands. 

Oh, the Things My Mom Will Do...Because She Loves Me Through and Through is a fantasy book for moms who do too much (WAYYYY too much, but more on that later). The fantasy is that your kids not only notice, but that they are eternally grateful for your efforts at packing their school lunches and sewing their school play costumes. They are not. They should be, but they're not. Maybe they appreciate it, but NOT ENOUGH, PEOPLE. NOT ENOUGH. Certainly not enough to wax poetic about how amazing mom is for staying up all night tube-feeding their pet hamster.

Sigh. Maybe it's just that my own child is being particularly ungrateful lately (she got WAY too used to those animal shaped sandwiches I was making her!) but the mom in this story is doing wayyyyy too much. Staying up all night to take care of the sick hamster and feed it orange juice? Staying up another night working on the school costume that the child didn't even bother to tell her about? This woman needs some sleep! 

On second thought, it's possible that I'm the one who just needs some sleep...

Women, Sex, Power & Pleasure: Getting the Life (and Sex) You Want, by Evelyn Resh

Women, Sex, Power and Pleasure: 

Getting the Life (and Sex) You Want

Author: Evelyn Resh 

Publisher: Hay House 

Publication Date: March 1, 2013

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I don't normally read a lot of self-help books. Well, unless you count celebrity memoirs and cookbooks as "self-help." No? Okay, then I don't read a lot of self-help. So I guess I was expecting something different, like fluffy affirmations to "be your authentic self" or "find your inner sparkly vampire goddess" or something. That last one might have been from Fifty Shades of Grey (which is NOT a self-help book, FYI). But I was surprised by how straight forward, intelligent, relatable and, well, helpful this book was. With chapters like "I'm Too Fat to Have Sex" and "Becoming Your Own Activist" I felt author Evelyn Resh was almost speaking to me personally. How did she know I felt that way? How did she know this was just what I needed to hear? I guess it's partly because she's a smart, feminist professional who knows what she's talking about, and partly because a LOT of women feel just this way. I almost hate to admit it, but I almost cried when I read some parts of this book, they were so familiar.

It's not an easy thing to talk honestly about our sexuality, particularly for women--like me--who are not twenty-five, childless and supremely confident in our sexual expression anymore. There are a lot of reasons why things change as we get older and our lives get more complicated, but that doesn't make it easier to discuss. So I definitely see the value of books that help broach those subjects. I'm just so glad to have found a book that actually discusses women's sexuality in an intelligent and helpful manner, rather than one that condescends, coddles or infantilizes the reader by talking about "the girls," "your flower" or, ugh, "your cookie."

Summary: How Children Succeed...in 30 Minutes A Concise Summary of Paul Tough's Bestselling Book: A 30 Minute Expert Summary

Summary: How Children Succeed...in 30 Minutes

A Concise Summary of Paul Tough's Bestselling Book

Authors: 30 Minute Expert Summaries

Publisher: Garamond

Publication Date: November 29, 2012

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I got this book from the library because after listening to the unabridged audio version. I thought maybe I would like Paul Tough's book more if it were more concise. The audiobook rambled, went on and on about study after study, but seemed to provide no framework for understanding each study, particularly when the findings of one conflicted with the findings of another. All of the studies and experiments he talked about just seemed to be "a bunch of stuff that happened." His conclusion always seems to be "Well that didn't work. I guess that's not the answer." 

I thought at least this summary would provide a little clarity, pare the book down to the author's main points, if in fact he had any. I also suspected that the very existence of this "30 minute" version suggested I was not alone in thinking Paul Tough's book was convoluted. 

Turns out the condensed version didn't help except to confirm my original suspicion  Paul Tough doesn't actually understand these studies himself. He's not a psychologist or an educator or a social worker. He didn't participate in any of the research he's discussing. He simply found the subject matter compelling, found a bunch of people who had been studying child development, and related their opinions--largely unfiltered--in the form of this book. When their research (or more often anecdotal examples) conflicts, Tough doesn't know how to interpret that except with vagaries like "the answers are elusive" or "children need a certain indefinable quality in order to succeed." 

In other words I've just wasted my own time. Twice.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, by Paul Tough (Audiobook Narrated by Dan John Miller)

How Children Succeed:

Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Author: Paul Tough

(Audiobook Narrated by: Dan John Miller)

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

(Audiobook Published by: Tantor Media)

Publication Date: September 4, 2012

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I listened to the audiobook of this so I guess I should review it both as a book and as an audiobook. As an audiobook, it's fair. The narration is good, except for the fact that the narrator insists on doing accents and character voices, which is unnecessary in a non-fiction title. I know the author references interviews that he conducted or quotations that he pulled from other sources, but it doesn't mean the narrator has to act them out with every accent and "funny female voice" he can muster. At best, it's distracting. At worst, it's pretty annoying. But other than that, the narration is great.

As a book, I can understand a lot of the frustration expressed by other reviewers. The title is misleading, indicating that: (a) the book is aimed at parents or educators as a how-to guide; and (b) the author has arrived at actual conclusions about "how children succeed." Neither is entirely true.

Mostly the book is a collection of anecdotal evidence and isolated case studies that show...well, nothing. At least according to the author. It seems that every case he brings up--whether it is research done by psychologists, or pedagogical experiments undertaken by schools, or statistics gathering done by government agents--leads him to the same conclusion: Well, that didn't work. 

This book would be depressing if it weren't so ridiculous. His ultimate conclusion about why some children succeed and others don't? An intangible quality that we can't really define and don't understand how to teach but probably is either learned, acquired or inherited..or none of those.

Great. Thanks.

The 5 Money Personalities: Speaking the Same Love and Money Languages, by Scott and Bethany Palmer

The 5 Money Personalities:

Speaking the Same Love and Money Language

Authors: Scott Palmer and Bethany Palmer 

Published by Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: January 1, 2013

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I'm not one who reads a lot of self-help books, particularly those aimed at couples. I find the advice is usually so general (because it has to be if it's going to apply to everybody) that I could figure it out on my own, or else it's specific but certainly not specific to me (i.e. it makes assumptions about my religion, philosophy or goals). A lot of them just seem like gimmicks.

But The 5 Money Personalities is a little different. Everyone can relate to money. Everyone sharing a household and sharing expenses has to figure out how to make money decisions together. And a lot of us feel intimidated by the prospect.

The 5 Money Personalities is not a financial planning guide. It's not there to chastise you for the poor financial decisions you've made in the past, nor to tell you what investments to make in the future. It's a book for couples--or anyone who shares finances with someone else--to help take stock of the decisions we make and why, and to understand why our partners may make very different decisions.

Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the benefit of children of the 21st century, by Clement C. Moore (illustrated by Elena Almazova and Vitaly Shvarov)

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Edited by Santa Claus for the benefit of children of the 21st century

Author: Clement C. Moore 

Illustrators: Elena Almazova and Vitaly Shvarov 

Editor: Pamela McColl 

Publisher: Grafton and Scratch Publishers 

Publication Date: September 4, 2012 

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It's not often that I get to write a review for a children's book that's so controversial it gets featured on The Colbert Report's "Blitzkrieg On Grinchitude" segment. Though to be fair, Stephen Colbert doesn't feature many children's books at all, other than I Am a Pole (And So Can You!). But the new edition of Clement C. Moore's classic Christmas tale, Twas the Night Before Christmas, edited by Canadian anti-smoking advocate and book publisher Pamela McColl, has been making headlines all over the place. The controversy stems from the fact that she has edited out the lines about Santa's smoking:

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teethAnd the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath

Pamela McColl has long been an advocate for smoking cessation, and has worked with Allen Carr of Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Her reasoning is that it's probably a good thing to limit the amount of positive reinforcement of smoking that children are exposed to, so maybe it was time for Santa to give up the pipe. This has, apparently, blown people's minds. The backlash has been huge! 

For me, it's kind of a non-issue. I have multiple copies of the book in my house, I've enjoyed it since I was a small child and I now read it with my daughter. But if I'm being honest, I've been editing that line for Magda the last two years. She's not old enough to read it herself yet, so I can absolutely understand why parents would be interested in getting the "smoke free" version for their kids to have for years to come, particularly if the kids are reading it themselves. I'm not so "horrified" or "incensed" or whatever some of the other reviewers are saying about the edit. 

I'd also like to point out that classic literature gets edited, abridged, reinterpreted and re-worked ALL THE TIME. Just this month I've reviewed "baby versions" of Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick and Alice in Wonderland, to name a few. It's not that controversial! 

A Tale of Two Daddies, by Vanita Oelschlager (illustrated by Kristin Blackwood and Mike Blanc)

A Tale of Two Daddies

Author: Vanita Oelschlager

Illustrators: Kristin Blackwood and Mike Blanc

Publisher: VanitaBooks

Publication Date: May 1, 2010

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This is a simple story about a little girl with two daddies: Daddy and Poppa. When a boy on the playground asks her what it's like having two dads, he wants to know things like "Who tucks you in at night? Which one helps with homework? Which one braids your hair?" The little girl happily explains which of her day-to-day activities are best performed by Daddy, Poppa or both (or, in the case of staying up late or helping her match her socks, neither). The little girl's life is happy, secure and, of course, completely normal. 

I particularly liked that the illustrations were very reminiscent of primers from the 1950's. Normally I'm not a fan of children's book illustrations that look too dated, but in this case I think it's good for the story. It references an idealistic vision of Americana with nuclear families and houses in the suburbs (both children look like they could have stepped right out of Family Circus or Dick and Jane) and subtly reinforces the message that families with same-sex parents fit in perfectly well with this ideal, thank-you very much. I also liked that it wasn't focusing on her not having a mommy, but on how great it was to have two parents who loved her and were each good at different things.

Who Peed on My Yoga Mat? More Stories From a Perfectly Imperfect Life, by Lela Davidson

Who Peed on My Yoga Mat? 

More Stories From a Perfectly Imperfect Life

Author: Lela Davidson

Publisher: Jupiter Press

Publication Date: December 4, 2012

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I don't know how many times I actually laughed out loud while reading this book (lots, by the looks my partner was giving me while he was trying to do work) but I remember thinking, "If I'm going to include quotes for my review, I don't know which ones to choose!" Would it be the letter at the beginning explaining to the PTA why she shouldn't be expected to volunteer for anything involving other people's kids ("Kids never believe my 'I'll smack you in the face' threats until it's too late. No one wants that lawsuit.")? Would it be the horror she experienced when her nearly-teen daughter started listening to awful music (Enya! Her father gave her his old Enya CDs!)? Or would it be the time when she was irritated with her shaggy-haired and goateed husband after a long trip only to discover that the flight attendant was taken with him, and she realized she should see him as others do ("a handsome goat")? Too many to decide really.

I loved this book. I figured from the title that it would be funny--and it was--but I was also surprised by how sincere and even poignant it was at times. Lela Davidson writes honestly. She's just a lot funnier when she's being honest than most people are. 

And she doesn't shy away from sharing experiences that might not be universal. Not everyone can relate to "gated private public schools" and sending their kids to cotillion (a cotillion? the cotillion? cotillion classes? I don't even quite know how to write it...the thing with dancing and fancy gloves...I think) but most moms can relate to her scrimping on groceries and "not buying name brand cereal." (Actually, now that I think about it, I do buy name brand cereal and I could never afford private school tuition...maybe there's a correlation? Note to self: No more fancy cereals!)

It's not an easy thing to be funny and sincere at the same time. Well, I mean, unless you're Lela Davidson obviously.