The Storm, by Cynthia Rylant :: Read Aloud Thursday

Time for another Read Aloud Thursday hosted by Amy at Hope is the Word.

(To link up to Read Aloud Thursdays, click over to Hope is the Word.)

At the beginning of the year I made a pact not to buy any new books this year. January went by and I fulfilled my personal vow. One month down, eleven to go. In February I smoked us out of house and home and away from all of our books. (It looks as if they are going to toss all of my books and I'll be replacing them all. Whimper and sigh.) I renege my vow. I will not just buy SOME books this year, I will be RE-buying A LOT! Also, I can't exactly sit with our family in temporary housing without a book in sight now, can I?! That is just not to be borne! We have a lot of spare time these days and I'd rather like to use it well and part of using our time well means to read. So I went off to Goodwill in search of a chapter book and some picture books to tide us over.

(I went to the library also, but when I went there I was met with a fine per usual. I never find it worth it to pay the fine because I always think I could have BOUGHT a handful of books at Goodwill. But I digress...)

At Goodwill I found a copy of The Storm, by Cynthia Rylant which is the first book in a series called Lighthouse Family. (I didn't realize it was part of a series at the time.) I figured since it was written by the author of our favorite Poppleton books, we could hardly go wrong. Plus it described itself as being about a lighthouse, obviously near the sea, and it features animals. Again, where could we possibly go wrong?!)

In this introductory chapter book, we meet Pandora the cat and keeper of the lighthouse. She's been keeping the lighthouse for four, long years and is frequently quite lonely. However, she keeps at the job because her life was once saved by a lighthouse and she is interested in saving the lives of others. One stormy night it so happens that her light saves the life of a dog named Seabold. Seabold is a sailor dog and prefers to always be alone at sea. However, he lost his boat and the use of his leg during the storm and discovers himself a resident of the lighthouse for one long winter. During the winter, Pandora and Seabold discover friendship and their own blend of family. (I'm going to ignore any potential political statements that could be twisted from this. They are so very faint and not easy to discern from the story that I'm pretty sure it's just my adult modern brain that is picking up the vibe because we're inundated with arguments about What Makes a Family these days. I feel pretty confident that Rylant is just telling a cute story.) Mostly what I discern is that this is a story about loneliness and friendship and most of the reviews online that I found seem to think the same.

I liked this statement which the American Library Association made about these books (mentioned on Amazon):

"Rylant's strength is her creation of appealing characters that appreciate the security of home even as they yearn for adventures within safely defined boundaries."

That, I like! I like it very much!

What other reviewers seem to agree on is that the writing in these stories is absolutely beautiful. This was a fact impressed upon me as we read along. I was as fully engaged in the tale as Bookworm1, so much so that when my voice gave out and he asked if Daddy could finish the story I said, "NO WAY!" (Only just a little quieter than that.) I wanted to know how the story turned out also! Rylant is descriptive in her story telling, and she uses more challenging vocabulary words which not only beautify the story but expand language. I love it! Check out this passage as an example (and this is not one of the best. It's just good.)

"Thus, as the wind grew crisper and harder and the sky filled with birds going away, Seabold stood at the edge of the shore and realized that this winter he would not sail.
He thought that he would be despondent. He thought that he would be depressed.
But he wasn't." (Chapter 6, Purpose, page 49)

I really enjoyed this story and Bookworm1 did also. He liked the fact that the book was short. (Ha!) He liked the animal characters. He liked that they lived by the ocean and that Pandora mentioned that she had a whale friend who passes by seasonally. He was hoping that we'd meet the whale in this book but judging by the rest of the titles in this series, I think he's in for some fun surprises and treats. I'm not ready to say, "Move over, Tumtum and Nutmeg!" Not at all. But I think we can make some room on our shelves by adding this series to our collection. And there really is no better time than the present to read this series so -- guess what?! :) We're going to do it!

Other titles in The Lighthouse Family Series:

The Whale (Hello!)
The Turtle
The Eagle
The Octopus (Seriously!? Does it GET any better than that?!)

I think we'll be pleasantly occupied with The Lighthouse Family for a bit. Because yes, I did so just throw those books into my Amazon cart!

Star of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a Starfish, by Janet Halfmann

When Halfmann asked if I'd like to take a peek at her new book, Star of the Sea I didn't have to think twice. ("Does switching to Geico save you money!?" Sorry. I couldn't resist...)



We've read and loved every book that we've read by Janet Halfmann and Star of the Sea is no exception. Regulars around here know that Bookworm1 loves is obsessed with sea creatures so I knew he'd love this book. Naturally, I was right! (I like to be right. Halfmann makes it so easy for me to be right with my son sometimes.)

"Stars blink in the night sky above the rocky coast." And below? An ochre sea star - "the common starfish of the Pacific Coast" - is resting on the rocks. Starfish are so beautiful to look at (even in my humble opinion) and in this book we discover how it is that they move, hunt for food, eat and escape from predators. This book reads as a story. We spend our time getting to know this one particular star fish and how she functions in the ocean. The last page spread includes a list of facts about starfish so that you can learn more detailed information about them should you wish. Illustrated by Joan Paley, this book is a delight to look at and learn from! (This is definitely a winning title to have on hand to read before going off to explore tide pools along the Oregon coast!)

Simply put: we loved it. Which should come as no great surprise.

As you know, we went to Texas for Christmas and while we were there we went to Sea World! Imagine Bookworm1's delight when he FINALLY got to see a killer whale! And a beluga! Oh my sea stars! (Heh.) It was such a fun trip. Here is one of our pictures from the Shamu Christmas show (which was truly incredible):



Yes, we continue to revel in sea life around these parts. Thank you, Janet Halfmann, for writing about our favorite topic and for allowing us the opportunity to browse your new book. It is well-loved!

* I've finally decided to create a new label for books on Ocean Life, seeing that we have read and talked about so many around these parts. So if you are ever looking for books on the topic, I'll make it a bit easier for you to find them!

Craft With Rice & Reading

From Carrie:

My friend (and sister-in-law), Jennifer, is a crafty and creative type of person. She wows and floors me with her ideas sometimes. I confess to NOT being crafty or creative. I have to see someone else do something (about a million times) before I feel like I can give it a go myself, with any hope at success. She told me about this simple idea that she worked up for my (cute and ever so adorable nephew) to play with. I think I can do this one. So you probably can as well. I asked if she wouldn't mind writing the steps up for me (and others) and she graciously agreed to do so. Check this out.

******

From Jennifer:



Carrie introduced me to amazing world of Safari Ltd. in a recent post she did about Narnia. I was curious, so I jumped over to their web site to see what other kinds of mythical creatures they had (I was really digging their Pegasus) and that is when I discovered: Toobs!!! Oh happy day! A Toob will feature miniature replicas and come in different themes: Horses, Dinosaurs, Arctic, Sea-life, and much more. They come with 12 replicas, which are about 1.5" to 3" tall and look fantastic! In and of themselves they are enough to let any imagination take flight, but then I had a stroke of genius. Why not make an environment for my son to play with his Toob figurines in? Enter: COLORED RICE! So I ran to our local craft store and after much deliberation bought the Safari Ltd Coral Reef Toob, mainly because it sported Nemo and Dory. And, while my son played with his new toys I set about to create an ocean for him! You can make an ocean, desert, Dino dig site, jungle, or any other environment with just a few household goods and a little creativity.

Here's what ours looked like:

This ocean has already provided hours of entertainment and keeps my little one occupied while I am busy in the kitchen. And, the best part is that it encourages creativity in my youngster! I love watching his imagination take flight.


How to Dye Rice:

Step 1. Collect the following:
Uncooked Rice (White or Brown*)
Vinegar
Food Coloring (I used Wilton Gel Food Coloring-Pastel Colors because I wanted tropical waters for our ocean)
Sandwich Zip Bags
1 Cup Measuring Cup
1/2 tsp. Measuring Spoon
Plastic box/bin with an air tight lid**

*Use White Rice for crisper colors and Brown Rice for deeper colors or a combo
**My box didn't have a lid so I just dump our ocean back into a Gallon Zip bag when play time ends



Step 2. Choose how many colors you are going to dye (I did three) and set out the corresponding number of zip bags.

Depending on how big your box is you will determine how many cups of rice you will want to dye. Feel free to measure un-dyed rice into your box to see how much you want. But, none of these measurements have to be exact. This should be fun for all parties involved and not stressful!
Note: I will be demonstrating 1 cup Rice to 1/2 tsp. Vinegar for ease. You can dye larger batches at once with a larger zip bag in needed.

Step 3. Measure 1 tsp. Vinegar into a zip bag and add 4-6 drops of food coloring. Zip and mix Vinegar and Food Coloring. Repeat for each color you are making.



Step 4. Measure 1 Cup of Rice into your zip bag. Zip and mix Rice with your Food Coloring and Vinegar mixture together until all the rice is well coated. Repeat for each color you are making.

Step 5. Allow Dyed Rice to remain in zip bag over night or for 8 hours. (I put my zip bags in a glass cooking dish just in case one of the bags had a hole the dye wouldn't stain my table.)



Step 6. After allowing the rice to dry shake the bag to loosen any rice that may have stuck together. Pour rice in to designated box and let the Adventures Began!!!
Note: If you don't want to wait over night or the rice still seems a tad moist when you first open the bags, (the Vinegar smell will disappear after a few minutes) place the rice in a glass cooking dish (9x13 works great) in your oven on low for 15-25 mins and the rice will dry it out without hurting the color.

Have fun and let the creative play began!!!


Note: Picture of my adorable nephew, our little Buckaroo.

Helpful Hint: If you are dying really large batches of rice at a time, say for a kids party, classroom, etc. consider using Easter Egg Dye instead of food coloring. It is super easy!

****

Carrie here again with a book recommendation to consider in conjunction with the Safari Ltd Coral Reef Toob:



Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef is told in rhyme, following the patten of Over in the Meadow except it involves marine life. We first borrowed this book from our library but then ended up purchasing it to add to our home library. Bookworm1 thoroughly enjoyed looking at his favorite types of creatures while listening to a rhyme about them as well! The illustrations in this book are done by Jeanette Canyon and will no doubt inspire some artful creations from your own kids. Check out this page spread:



Very imaginative, bright and cheerful - we feel safe in recommending this book. And, of course, I always feel safe in recommending Safari Ltd. animals to you! We're quite the fans around here and are delighted with our fresh converts! ;) Stay tuned for some additional ideas for Safari Ltd. figures.

Good Night, Little Sea Otter, by Janet Halfman

And on a completely different theme for today . . .

When I discovered that Janet Halfman (click on her name to read an author highlight I wrote) was releasing a new book, I knew we would enjoy reading it! Star Bright Books sent a copy of her latest, Good Night, Little Sea Otter and in no way were we disappointed!

Because it dealt with a subject matter that is near and dear to Bookworm1's (age 4) heart (i.e., sea creatures!) I hid the book upon it's arrival and pulled it out as a special treat. This book treat went over very well.

It tells the story of Little Otter who is getting ready to fall asleep on his mama. But before he goes to sleep he must say goodbye to all of his friends on the water and under it - the harbor seals, the seagull, fish, snails and sea slugs. The illustrations by Wish Williams are rich and colorful and compliment the story well. The page spreads are full of ocean animals that the story is a feast for the eyes. Everywhere you look you discover another animal. Furthermore, you just want to snuggle Little Sea Otter who is all wrapped up in kelp. He is so cute!

This is definitely a winner of a book, both from the perspective of being a bedtime story as well as a book to learn from, as you discover how it is that otters sleep safe and secure on the ocean waves. It is a very fun mama and baby read aloud book.

Good Night, Little Sea Otter is adorable and we loved it!

Thanks, Star Bright Books, for sending along a copy. Thanks to Janet Halfman for producing another story for us to enjoy.

Sharks, and Puffers, and Whales! Oh My!

I've talked about the Smithsonian Institution animal books, published by Soundprints, before (over at 5 Minutes for Books.) After the Book Expo in NYC earlier this May, I was given an opportunity to peruse a few more of their titles and you can bet I jumped on them! Non-fiction books on sea life have been Our Thing this past year (we're slowly moving on into dinosaurs, if you can believe it!) and the Smithsonian Institution collection of books is like none other!
We started with Great White Shark: Ruler of the Sea and it was an instant hit. In this book we meet a two day old great white shark who smells some blood and takes her to a feeding frenzy. (Ok, here's where I admit I wasn't sure how Bookworm1 was going to take to the blood and guts but it didn't seem to phase him.) Through this book we kind of follow along her explorations in an almost documentary type of way. We discover the animals most likely to cause the great white shark injury and we see how she grows and wises up in order to feast upon her favorite prey. I like how at the back of the book they include facts about the animal you are reading about and the facts tie into the fictional story that they are sharing to inform young readers about the animal world around them.

We have long been a fan of whales and one of our favorites is the sperm whale. Why, you ask? In a word: Monstro. Therefore we enjoyed reading Giant of the Sea: The Story of a Sperm Whale where we meet a pod of whales swimming together off the coast of Hawaii. (See? Already this conjures up beautiful and peaceful pictures, does it not?) We find a mama whale caring for her baby, teaching it how to breathe and watching her dive and hunt for food. We learn about how she makes sounds which produce echoes which help her to navigate in the waters and yes, there is a picture of the whale eating a giant squid. There are THREE WHOLE PAGES of the whale, uh, "interacting" with the squid. (Whale 1, Squid 0) We love this book. Again, at the very back there are a couple of paragraphs which include additional facts and information about the sperm whale.

Lastly, we read Puffers Surprise. When Jonathan and I were in Washington D.C. we found this little toy puffer fish (the size of a dime) which Bookworm1 carries with him e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. and so, as you might suspect, this is our favorite book of the moment. It is to be read with our little friend "Puff Puff!" For most of this story, puffer isn't puffed. He is calmly hunting for food and going about his business. But then a sea bass comes a'callin' and PUFF! (We love saying this. "PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!" I need to get it out of my system, ok?) I really don't think I can recommend this book, or any of the others in the Smithsonian Institute series on animals, more highly if your child or classroom is studying any particular creature. What better way to teach a child scientific facts than through a story (and all of their books are beautifully illustrated.) I love the inclusion of facts at the end, which we always faithfully read to increase in our knowledge of oceanic life. The books are also incredibly and very reasonably priced ($4.95-$6.95 on Amazon from what I see in searches.)

Of course, not all of the Smithsonian Institute books focus on sea life, but since that's what we focus on - that's what we read. We read a lot of sea life-related books.

For example, for the adults on this sea creature adventure, you might be interested to note that the Fifteenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection has recently been released and is entitled Discover Your Inner Hermit Crab. Sometimes I think Sherman is far more entertaining a read than the factual books that Bookworm1 is so very fond of. My favorite character is, by far and away, Fillmore, the literary sea turtle. He makes me chuckle the most. I had read some Sherman before but I hadn't read a complete collection. (This is in keeping with my rediscovery of the love of comic strips. I'm enjoying the short amusements they provide.)

Bookworm1 sat beside me, begging me to read this to him. I kept brushing him off, saying he was perfectly welcome to look at the pictures but that it had jokes that only mommy or daddy could understand. He begged and cajoled until I finally found a kid-worthy one and read it to him. He didn't get it.

So, if your kid is sea life crazy, I recommend you find a way to read Sherman on your own time. It's a much more pleasurable experience that way!

Thanks, Andrews McMeel Publishing, for allowing us the opportunity to giggle with hermit crabs and sea turtles and to Soundprints for allowing us to get our facts straight!

Under the Sea Scratch and Sketch

"We" don't actually know that we're in the possession of such an amazingly cool book as Under the Sea Scratch and Sketch quite yet. Mommy really can hardly wait to try it out with the youngster because it just seems so very cool. (I'm saving it for a Valentine's Day activity.)

For any young person who is excited about sea life, this book looks pretty awesome. The book is sturdy and spiral bound and would be exceedingly difficult to tear apart. It comes with a wooden stylus pen for creating your chosen designs on the alternating pages of black paper. Each page spread consists of one page of information on a specific sea creature and one page of black-coated gold, silver and colored glitter pages. The idea is you use your stylus to scratch the black coating off, thus creating a design of your choice on the paper. You can use the simple pattern provided on the opposing page to create a sea animal or you can make your own designs. There are a total of 20 sea creature drawings with information about each one. There are also an additional 20 "plain" pages for "free style" drawing. By that I mean that there are twenty extra pages of non coated paper for you to use a regular pen or crayons on.

This is a fun little book that is a little different from art books you might usually see. I've spotted this series of Scratch and Sketch books around various stores but hadn't picked one up until recently to check it out. Published by Peter Pauper Press there are a number of titles to choose from including: Wild Safari , Solar System, Fine Art, and Butterflies and Friends.

Since we adore all things that live in the sea around these parts, I'm excited to share this book with Bookworm1. I like the fact that it's unique and out-of-the-ordinary. As Bookworm1 would say, it's "th-pessal"! That's just the way we like our art to be!

If you'd like some additional information on these books, Jennifer wrote a review of the Scratch and Sketch Activity books over at 5 Minutes for Books. You can check out her opinion of them as well!

Tiger Tales

This is our fourth installment in the "Publishers" series. This week I've been talking about publishers that really stand out to me as producing consistently good reading materials. (See Part I, Part II, Part III.) One such publishing company is Tiger Tales. Tiger Tales really focuses on producing books that deal with character education in storybook format. I can't say my three year old has picked up on these, but it becomes obvious to older readers.

We have really enjoyed Tiger Tales around these parts, and have been particularly fond of the following books by Ruth Galloway (see my review of these books over at 5 Minutes for Books):




Smiley Shark is one of our top favorites and we like to read it while using our shark puppet which we've talked about before. As I've mentioned before, in the series by Ruth Galloway the lesson that the books focus on primarily are being confident and comfortable with your individual skills and talents. The way we would approach this is to say, "God made you unique and special and gave you particular skills and talents He meant for you to use." That is what most Tiger Tales books teach.

The illustrations in most Tiger Tales books are bright and cheerful, and also bold and simplistic appealing to even the youngest of readers. Their stories are brief and characters engaging. I've really been impressed at the quality of stories they have produced, from sea creatures to cuddly bears.

Their fall titles have recently been released and I have a few to review for you below.

What if you just can't go to sleep? Do you count sheep? That's what Emma tries to do in The 108th Sheep. She assumes and expects that she will be able to fall asleep by the time she gets to the number ten. However, she is surprised to discover herself still awake at sheep number 107. The problem intensifies when it is discovered that, try as he might, the 108th sheep doesn't have the strength it takes to leap over the bed! Some problem solving must take place in order to get the weak little sheep over the bed before Emma finally falls asleep. Written and illustrated by Ayano Imai, this is a simple story, which has a familiar ring to it, but enough of a twist to keep the reader engaged and interested.

We pulled My Favorite Michael out of the box it came in and read it three times straight. We would have read it again, but I quickly distracted my young reader with a different activity! (I enjoy reading good books multiple times, but not straight in a row!) In My Favorite Michael we meet a young boy who decides that it would be fun to dress up as someone else. First he dresses up as his daddy and "goes to work." Then he decides he needs a vacation and dresses up as a knight and saves the princess (his sister) from the dragon (his dog). Eventually though the princess has to take a nap and so Michael decides he'll be a pirate and steal some booty from the Captain of the ship (i.e., a cookie from his mommy). Cute, cute story which, of course, concludes with the idea that mommy's favorite person is Michael himself. We both really liked this one and will no doubt read it again. Many times over. (As an additional note, the next morning Daddy told me that My Favorite Michael was the requested reading of the morning and daddy himself read it three times straight as well! Obviously, this book is a hit and we like the message.)

One of our favorite titles from last year's offerings from Tiger Tales is A Magical Christmas. Mommy loves this one. It sparkles. Oh yes! Covered in mice, each one taking the time to describe what they think is so magical about Christmastime, this book is a true holiday delight and one I plan on reading multiple times this Christmas season. Love it, love it! (P.S. It sparkles.)



In the meantime, here are some other Tiger Tales books that we have enjoyed that you might find yourself drawn to also: