scholarly journals The Pear Violin by B. Zhao

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Fantasy World ◽  
Suspension Of Disbelief

Zhao, Bingbo. The Pear Violin, illustrated by Gumi. Starfish Bay Children’s Books, 2016.Bingbo Zhao, who publishes under his first name, Bingbo, has published more than 370 children’s books and won more than 50 awards.  The Pear Violin is an imaginative picture book which starts from the idea that pears and violins are shaped alike. In Bingbo’s fantasy world, a squirrel cuts a pear in half, uses a twig and some of his whiskers to make a bow, and begins playing.  In this world foxes, elephants, bears, lions and a variety of other animals all inhabit the same forest.  The music of the violin is so powerful that it can make the fox stop chasing the chicken and the lion “let the rabbit lie in his arms, so that the rabbit would feel warmer when listening to the music.”  The music also has the power to make a small pear seed grow quickly into a tree and grow many pears.  All the animals make the pears into cellos, violins and violas and all play beautiful music together. Throughout the book Gumi (no last name given) illustrates the motion and emotion of the animals.  The animals’ faces show curiosity when the seed starts to grow and excitement when they play together in the concert. A suspension of disbelief is required for the enjoyment of this book.  Some children will ask, “Why don’t the pears rot?” and “Why are bears and elephants in the same forest?”   However, for most, it will just be a fun book which carries the message that music brings people together.  This book would be good for public libraries and school libraries.Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sean BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety

scholarly journals One Bear Extraordinaire by J. McGowan

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
The Moon ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Good Book ◽  
Just Right

McGowan, Jayme. One Bear Extraordinaire.  Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2015.This picture book is a story about a bear who begins the tale as a “one man band”, playing a guitar, drum, cymbals, harmonica and tambourine.   Although legendary in the forest, he feels that, “something is missing”, so he sets out to find it.  As he journeys, other animals join him, but none of them fill the void.  Eventually the group encounters Wolf Pup, who wants to join but has no instrument.  Bear offers him several of his instruments, but he just chews them.  Finally, Wolf Pup howls at the moon and Bear realizes that what his song needed was a singer.  In the end Bear just has his guitar left, but he has four other band members and their tune “sounded just right.” There are two music messages in this book.  First, being a solo performer is fine, but making music with others is fine, too.  The second message is that everyone has something to contribute, if they are just given a chance. McGowan’s technique for creating pictures is unusual.  She builds up layers of paper, and then photographs the image.  Children will enjoy identifying objects and creatures in the brightly coloured pictures.  This is a good book and should be included in public libraries and school libraries.Recommended:  3 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sean BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

scholarly journals The Pond by N. Davies

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
School Library ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Water Lily ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Family ◽  
To Come

Davies, Nicola. The Pond. Illustrated by Cathy Fisher. Graffeg, 2017. In this picture book, a half-finished garden pond, “a muddy, messy hole that filled our garden,” becomes a metaphor for a family’s grief at the death of a father, “a muddy, messy hole that filled our hearts.” The story highlights the fact that when someone dies, the family loses not only the person, but also the activities that the family did with that person. Eventually, the mother in this story gets the pond lined and it starts to come to life with tadpoles, dragonflies and a water lily, mirroring the family’s progression through their grief.  The artwork really carries the story forward, and accompanied by the simple text Nicola Davies depicts aquatic environments in a variety of ways. Her work is cinematic, capturing the movement and messiness of pond life.  She uses dark colours, splatters, scribbles and fractures in lines to depict the family’s grief. Some of the images are beautiful.  Her water lilies on solid black backgrounds are exceptional. The images in this book will engage all ages. This book would be good for children coping with loss or those preparing to cope with loss and should be a part of public and school library collections.  Recommendation:  4 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sean Borle Sean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.  

scholarly journals Bears in a Band by S. Parenteau

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Musical Activities

Parenteau, Shirley.  Bears in a Band.  Candlewick Press, 2016.This is a great little book.  Children will love the rhymes, which tell the story of four brightly coloured teddy bears, who pick up instruments and begin to play.  They make a joyful noise that eventually wakes “Big Brown Bear." Instead of being angry, Big Bear joins as a conductor and the music becomes even better.There are two music messages in this book.  First, parents should celebrate their children’s musical activities and accept that there will be noise.  Second, everyone should attempt to find the music in themselves, and share that with everyone.The text is simple.  Young children will quickly memorize it.  “The bears all play a noisy song/They don’t care if the notes are wrong." The images are happy, uplifting and full of warm fuzzies. This would be a good bedtime picture book for young children.   I highly recommend this book for libraries. Highly recommended:  4 stars out of 4 Reviewer:  Sean BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

scholarly journals Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Superpowers! by M. Walsh

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
First Person ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Good Book ◽  
Negative Attributes ◽  
Positive Presentation

Walsh, Melanie.  Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Superpowers! Candlewick Press, 2016.This picture book is designed to help children better understand children who are on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum. Isaac, like many children with Asperger’s Syndrome, has symptoms that include needing to fidget, sensitivity to sound, exceptional memory for certain kinds of facts, and lack of verbal filters. Instead of making these as negative attributes, Melanie Walsh has used the “superhero” concept as a vehicle for their positive presentation. Telling the story in the first person allows Isaac to directly describe for the reader what his life is like. This allows readers to empathize more easily. For example, he says:  “Because I’m a superhero, I have lots of things to think about. I try to remember to be friendly and say hello to people I know, but sometimes I forget. I’m not being rude.” The artwork is brightly coloured. The images are simple and easy to understand, so it does not distract from the story.  This would be a good book to read out loud and discuss in a class where there is a child with Asperger’s. While it may not exactly represent all children with Asperger’s, it is a good generalization and will help other children be more accepting of others who have these “superhero” behaviours.Highly Recommended:  4 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sean BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety. 

scholarly journals Artificial Eyes by B. Sheen

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Junior High School ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Text Book ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Black And White

Sheen, Barbara.  Artificial Eyes. Norwood House Press, 2017.Artificial Eyes is one of a series of non-fiction books called Tech Bytes, that “explores...new technologies and how they are changing the way people perform everyday tasks.” Barbara Sheen, author of almost 100 children’s books, explores the history of artificial eyes, how they are made, their effect on people’s lives, and future developments. This is a detailed work that is designed to be a reference or text book for Grades 4 – 6. It is an odd combination of factual presentation and anecdotal stories about individuals. For example, “When Teddy was two years old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in his eye. To rid him of the disease, his eye was surgically removed.”  Squeamish children may find some content disturbing. To balance the dense text, most pages have a photograph, diagram, or side-bar containing interesting information. There are also “Did you know?” boxes, which allow for some level of interaction. For example, “Did you know? Bionic eyes only provide black-and-white vision. Experts are working on software that would let wearers see colors.”  The end of each chapter also has text-based questions and potential research projects. In this way it is more like a text book, but it is unlikely that a classroom would need textbooks on a subject this specific.While the short sentence and paragraph structures are appropriate for the upper elementary reading level, many of the words and word-combinations will be difficult for students in these grades. They may require help in understanding the content. There are few children’s books about artificial eyes, so this would be a good addition to public libraries and both elementary and junior high school libraries. Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sean C. BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

scholarly journals I'm Sad by M.I. Black and D.R. Ohi

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Young Child ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Ice Cream ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
The One ◽  
Whipped Cream

Black, Michael I, and Debbie R. Ohi. I'm Sad. Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 2018. This book is about a sad flamingo and his friends, a girl and a potato, who try to cheer him up. This absurd collection of characters talk about whether or not flamingo will always feel sad and what makes them feel less sad. Much of the dialog is silly.  When the potato says that he knows what cheers him up, the picture is of a happy potato and the word “DIRT!!!” in giant letters.  Coming after a discussion of ice cream as a “cheer me up”, “dirt” is unexpected and funny. At the end of the book the flamingo asks, “Will you still like me if I’m sad again tomorrow?” The potato responds with an almost nasty, “I don’t even like you now.”  This response is meant as a joke and the next two pages show uproarious laughter.  However, young children may not understand that it is not usually an appropriate response and some people would find it hurtful.   Debi Ridpath Ohi’s simple illustrations do a good job of presenting expressions and emotions. There are often broken black lines around the images, which, strangely, make the characters, particularly the flamingo, look like they are constantly trembling. Apart from that, the images are fun. The most amusing is the one showing the potato as a fourth scoop of ice cream on a cone, with whipped cream and a cherry on top.  This book might give a sad young child a few moments of laughter and in the end delivers the message that it’s OK to feel a little bit sad. With these two thoughts in mind, this book is recommended for libraries for young children: daycares, schools, and public libraries.   Recommended:  3 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sean Borle Sean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

scholarly journals The Sound of All Things by M. Uhlberg

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Amusement Park ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Deaf Person ◽  
Adult Reading ◽  
Intimate Knowledge

Uhlberg, Myron.  The Sound of All Things, illustrated by Ted Papoulas, Peachtree Publishers, 2016.This is an autobiographical story about Myron, who is the child of two deaf parents, attempting to explain sounds to them as they spend a day at the Coney Island amusement park. The illustrations in this book are spectacular. Ted Papoulas captures not only the detail of the amusement park, the library and fireworks, he also captures whole stories in the expressions on people’s faces. All of the illustrations reflect the 1920s, when Myron was a child. Many of the illustrations have a dark tone to them, using browns for building interiors, street scenes and evenings, adding to a vintage look. For a picture book this text is wordy, dense, and written at an adult reading level. Myron’s voice, however, is authentic. Only the child of a deaf person would be able to write, “My mother’s hands sat silent in her lap.” The text displays the intimate knowledge that Myron has of the deaf world and his struggles to translate sound to his parents. '“What does the ocean sound like?”  “It is loud,” I answered again. “Don’t be lazy,” [my father] signed.  I squirmed in my seat. I didn’t have enough words to tell my father what he wanted to know”'. Because the text is sophisticated for a picture book, it would be appropriate for upper elementary and above.I would recommend this book for public libraries and school libraries and to anyone who teaches deaf children or children of deaf people. Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sean BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety. 

scholarly journals A New Song for Herman by P. McAllister

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
School Library ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Green House ◽  
The Subject

McAllister, Paul. A New Song for Herman. Herman’s Monster House Publishing, 2017.There are many books designed to help children who are afraid of monsters.  This is the second book that Paul McAllister has written on the subject. In this one, Herman, a green House Monster turned Barista Monster, works at Sarah’s cafe and is famous for his mochaccinos. However, his work is suffering because he is being kept awake at night by an Attic Monster. It turns out that the Attic Monster is just baking cookies in an old Easy Bake Oven, so Herman offers him a job baking at the restaurant. The text is simple, but includes some repetition of the Attic Monster’s song “humba rumba lumba rumba gurgle gurgle bing!”, which children will enjoy and will want to repeat during a reading. Both the text and the illustrations help children identify with monsters rather than being afraid of them. Emily Brown has made the monsters look like cuddly stuffy toys. Even the Attic Monster who scares Herman turns out to be “the cutest little monster he’d ever seen.” Brown has also included fun details in the illustrations. For example, when Herman is at his most sleep deprived, he makes the coffee with dirt and Brown shows him holding a coffee pot that has a flower growing out of it. This fun book is recommended for public and school library collections.Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sean C. BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety. 

scholarly journals Under the Bed Fred by L. Bailey

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Good Book ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Page Book

Bailey, Linda. Under the Bed Fred. Tundra Books, 2017.In this offering of the “monsters are not scary” genre, award winning author Linda Bailey has written a chapter book for newly independent readers. There are five chapters telling the story of Leo, who is afraid of the monster, Fred, who lives under his bed. Eventually Leo befriends Fred and discovers he is not scary. He takes Fred to school, where Fred defends him against the class bully, who is portrayed as a red-headed child with a green shirt. Most readers will relate to dealing with a bully at school.The book is well paced for a new reader’s daily reading time. The text is simple and nearly every page has an illustration. One can imagine a child in Grade 2 or 3 being able to read a chapter each day and feel success at having completed a 63 page book by the end of a week.The illustrations are comic style. The monster looks a lot like a brown bear.  There are lots of action images, extreme expressions, and speech balloons.  The text appears as a very large typeface to emphasize something scary or loud. Sometimes the text is printed at an angle and sometimes words like “KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!”, “GRRRRRROWWLL!” and “CRASH! OOF! POP!” are printed over images for effect.Overall, this is a good book and it is therefore recommended for public and school libraries. Recommendation: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sean C. BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety. 

scholarly journals The Good Egg by J., J., and P. Oswald

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
The Right

John, Jory and Pete Oswald. The Good Egg. HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2019. This imaginative picture book by bestselling creators Jory John and Pete Oswald uses beautiful illustrations and humour to tackle social and emotional skills. The Good Egg is the counterpart to the duo’s book The Bad Seed. As the title suggests, the main character of this book is a good egg, “A verrrrrry good egg.” The beginning of the book shows how the good egg stands apart from the rest of the rowdy dozen in his carton by trying to do good deeds—he’s rescuing a cat when we first meet him. But as the story progresses, we see that the good egg is trying so hard to be good, while everyone around him is rotten, that he reaches a breaking point. The good egg literally begins to crack from all of the self-imposed pressure. Deciding that it is in his best interest to leave the carton, the good egg embarks on a journey of self-care, and self-reflection. On his journey, the good egg finds peace by taking walks, reading, writing in his journal, and just breathing. Eventually, the good egg starts to feel like himself again. At the same time, he realizes that he is lonely without his friends. He learns that even though the other eggs aren’t perfect, he doesn’t have to be either. The good egg decides that it is much better to be with those you love than to be alone, so he returns to his carton. The detailed and expressive illustrations by Oswald bring the characters in The Good Egg to life, making them relatable to kids. The story flows nicely with just the right amount of words, making it a good read-aloud, and useful for class and family discussions on topics like perfectionism, self-care, and accepting yourself and others as they are. It is one of those picture books that gives kids an opportunity to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and to empathize. Overall, The Good Egg reminds us of the importance of balance and self-care, and accepting those we love, even if they are a bit rotten sometimes. Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Tara GordonTara Gordon is a University of Alberta SLIS student with a lifelong passion for children’s books. Outside of school, Tara enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. 

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