Once upon a Time

From The Velveteen Rabbit

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

Summer Bridge activities

The jump from 4th grade to fifth grade seems to be a life changing stage from tadpole to frog style in terms of a kid's learning life cycle. While in fourth grade, they learn how to write structured paragraph, know frequently mispelled words, learn about two dimensional figure in math, in fifth grade, their comprehension is expected to ramp up immensely. Preparing them for the real world and engaging them with it, teacher consultants suggest usng the summer time between fourth and fifth grade for various tyoes of reading. Pick up a subject your child is interested in, and give them access to books both in nonfiction and fiction style. Getting them involved in community. Summer Bridge activities is on right track with exposing your child to fact and fiction books. I personally like the fitness activities. When it comes to math, the key thing is seeing it in real life. So when kids do the grocery bill, or calculating the distance to travel on trips (in the book, there's an activity with calculating based on scale, which will help kids learn reading distance sin map), they will see it less as math and more as fun. The book is full of reading comprehension passages on variety of subjects like astronomy, bird watching which is a great way to introduce them to new subjects and see if thats a new point of takeoff for their further reading. The experiments on making backbone, sunscreen protection are fun and educational.

Is the End of Unemployment here?

We have the rare opportunity of finding if what the book says works. Oil prices are falling. There's a push for increase in wages and not hurting small business while at it.
In 'End Unemploymnet Now', author Ravi Batra explains how the US economy was strong in the past and what are its ills now. He explains wage gap, its effect on the lives of middle class and the 1%. Tariffs, free trade and the role of congress in mindlessly increasing nation debt.
There are many graphs to illustrate author's points. With these, the agenda is clear, each picture corresponds to the point being explained. There are some examples related to other countries like Germany.
I like the fictional example of Bill and Bob, commoners who showcase the curren situation of unemployment and the economic crisis.

T S Shure Pirates of the High Seas Wooden Magnetic Action Heroes

Like the T S Shure Teeny Tiny Quadruplets Wooden Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls, this Pirates of the High Seas Wooden Magnetic Action Heroes set is filled with lots of creative fun. It has all the bearings a pirate needs, a colourful outfit, map, sword, hook for a hand, treasure chest to find and a wooden leg for an original day. Both the pirates come with a dress already stuck on, so you get an idea of how to deck them up, before they can get ready for what Pirates do. Children can spend a good deal of time, matching the dresses and accessories. The figures will add a new dimension to that pirate story you are reading or a role play.

Story books in frames

Mercy Gilbert Hospital has pages of  "Two Cool Coyotes" and "Have you ever seen a Jackalope" in the lobby of new moms.

and

Polarizing LED Light Desk Lamp

This 3M Polarizing LED Task Light Desk Lamp comes with the anti-glare it promises and a range of light levels. The lamp can be turned to different angles as you need it.

T.S.Shure Teeny Tiny Quadruplets Wooden Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls

T.S.Shure Teeny Tiny Quadruplets Wooden Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls

At first I thought, why quadruplets? But on second thought, its perfect for this age kids, who eye others toys. Since each one of the quadruplets comes with an identical set of gear for different occasions, it makes it perfect for divvying up and sharing. Coming to the packaging part, one set of doll and its related dresses all fit in a small ziploc bag. It is easy for sharing that way with other kids or you can make your own tiny travel set. Travel Light.
Without much ado, this toy is lots of fun with its mix and match dresses and shoes, that clip on to the main baby toy, magnetically. If a kid has color preference, you can sort them that way too.

T.S. Shure ArchiQuest Wooden Farm Blocks Playset & Storybook

I saw a picture book in the library with a farm theme, and magnetic pieces at the back. In T.S. Shure ArchiQuest Wooden Farm Blocks, its the well done blocks that steal the show. The picture book, though tiny and too wordy, is very helpful in assembling the blocks for nice stories. There are so many blocks that you dont have to play with them all at once. You can split them into the farm animals sections one day and the vegetables and plant sections the other day. At first, I thought that they could all be placed on the wooden board at once, but that wont work. You will have to spread them on a mat for an elaborate story. The attractive wooden blocks will keep kids engaged with all the farm scenes vivid, right in front of them. studies have shown that blocks help kids in acquiring language faster.

Three Bears in a Boat

The sea in each page and the sky are pleasant. When the bears come to the cave, looking for a blue seashell for their mom, I was reminded of the 'Cave' book by Diane Siebert that I picked up along with this book. I am glad that there are connections that I can use to interlink books.

Bugs Galore

The well spaced imaginary  bugs filling the page is engrossing. The lightning bug did make us wonder where we could we catch them at the nearest.
Firefly in Arizona
I have seen fireflies in Georgia, in an apartment which bordered woods. I then had to explain my daughter about woods and forest.

Molting

When I looked at the characters, I related it to the movie Mud from a scene. The book has an accent which makes it easy to get into the world of west, potential outlaws. There is a raw quality where kids innocence and ignorance (because of their isolation in an Orphanage) meet the real world. A controlled 'Lord of the Flies'. Characters Me and Billy are like the differing voices in the head, one giving in to another. The clash and survival of the adventure and wisdom hats.
The teenagers faced with their first brush with freedom and responsibility assess the world with its good, bad and the ugly.

Almost hypochondriac

As soon as I opened the package,I was amazed at the size of the doll. I saw the 'Try me' pointing to the stethescope. A gentle press led to a disco throb. The sick baby doubles as a beautiful doll as well as a great baby who knows whats wrong with her and asks the little mommy/doctor leading questions so she can be nursed back to feeling better. I didnt recognise the ear thermometer when I saw it. In that matter, the packaging was good with names of each of the instrument that the little doctor will need to make the baby feel better. I hadnt expected the sick baby's face to go red with fever. Luckily the insert had instructions on how to heal the baby with the medicine. Your little doctor can provide cure on the go with all his/her instruments that fit well into the doctor bag.
The sick baby talks in full sentences and struggles with words like stethescope and tongue depressor. A fun game that will teach the kids about identifying problems and solving them.

What time is it Mr Crocodile?

We read this story as children about a beguiling crocodile wanting the sweet heart of a monkey for her husband in The Monkey and the Crocodile. I didnt realise that this rivalry was universal. In 'What time is it Mr Crocodile?', the crocodile thinks the monkeys are pesky. Mr Esquire even makes an agenda for tomorrow involving the extermination of monkeys. The list of activities to be done reminded me of the Frog's list in The Frog and the Toad series.
After reading the story, my daughter kept telling papa that the crocodile fell upside down. It didnt strike me at all, that it was in this book. I had totally forgotten about it. In that page, crocodile is upside down having tumbled from the skate board. At first, her reaction was that the book is upside down.
In the end, the crocodile has a change of heart, after the monkeys realise that the crocodile is tired and make him 'Monkey stew'.
What might seaweed ice cream be?

The Predator Paradox

I picked this book 'the Predator Paradox: Ending the War with Wolves, Bears, Cougars and Coyotes' as it was categorised under Science & Math. I was curious what science was about to bring to the ecological situation. Numbers are a very good lens to use on this problem of whos depleting what by their actions. With all the studies and statistics, 'perception-blight' hypothesis, 'compensatory mortality' show the fallacies that we are prone to without quantisation. Even putting a number on how much less time an animal spends foraging under the fear of a predator shows the role of predators.

And Away we go

Compared to the sly fox in The Fox and the Stork, its a merry fox in 'And Away we go' that lets all animals join the hot air balloon ride and enjoy friends company.