Halloween by Gail Gibbons

Halloween by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 4 stars

Question: Do you know where the word jack-o'-lantern comes from?

Answer: An old fable.  Who knew?  Supposedly, when a mean, stingy, old man named Jack died, he wasn't allowed to go to heaven.  There wasn't any place for him to go, so he carved a turnip (!), placed a piece of hot, glowing coal in it, and roamed all night long here on Earth.  People called him Jack of the Lantern.  Or, Jack-o'-lantern.

This is the most interesting factoid in this where-does-the-holiday-come-from book by Gail Gibbons, but the other facts are pretty interesting, too.  She explains how the holiday came about and the traditions around the holiday.

As always, Gail Gibbons produces a nice little book with plenty of fine illustrations and interesting facts.  This one is good for the younger crowd, too (many of her books involve so many facts that kids under 5 tend to lose interest with all the facts).

11 more days until Halloween!

How A House is Built by Gail Gibbons

 How A House is Built by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 5 stars

After reading and falling in love with Building Our Home by Jonathan Bean, Ben became interested in how houses are built.  So I've found as many books about building homes as I can.  This one, by the leader in how-to/informative books Gail Gibbons, is the best we've found.

Usually I'd recommend Gibbons' books for kindergarten and grade school kids.  They are always jam-packed with information--in a good way, but there are usually TOO many details for four year olds like Ben. This one, though, is a great exception.  It's a bare-bones book, providing first an overview of the types of houses that exist.  (In case you wondered, Ben would prefer live in a glass house.  I informed him that's not a wise choice if he plans on inviting his brother Kiefer in as Kiefer is currently in a let-me-throw-anything-and-everything stage.)

 After that very brief introduction--that is done through more illustrations and few words--Gibbons begins to explain the many steps it takes into building a house.  There are so many lessons that can be drawn from this book...I hardly know where to begin!  One of my favorite lessons to show Ben is in the general contractor area--the architect recommends one to be in charge of a team (team! team work! everyone does their part!) that work together (did you hear that?  work together!) to get the job done right (right! not partially right!).  Also, I love explaining that everything is done by steps.  We follow recipes; Kiefer learns how to run; we climb mountains; they get to high school....EVERYTHING is done one step at a time.  I think this is comforting for my kids--I know it is for me.

Now we could have stopped there with the book and the life lessons, but...why?  I called a friend of mine who is a general contractor; might he have any projects we could visit to show Ben how a house is built, rather than just reading the words in a book?  It was our lucky day--Sidd said that they were starting a new house just 25 minutes away from ours.  So today after school, we stopped by for a visit.  I hope it'll be the first of many.

As Ben and I drove to the site, I asked him if he had any questions.  Ben is Mr. Question, so he already had a few for Mr. Kashyap.  First, what kind of house is he building?  Second, who is it for?  After some more chatting, we realized we had two more questions: How long will it take to build the house?  And finally: Can we check out the blueprints of the house?

When we got there we were totally excited.  Everyone drives past excavators all the time, but we had permission to park, get out, and watch up close!  Way cool.  So we did just that.  Sidd was tied up in the county's office so we asked our questions via text.  (A frame house; there's no buyer yet...you can buy it if you want...click here for more information; five months; yes, the plans are online.)  We will return late next week to see concrete poured for the foundation.

We finished up our Mommy and one son outing with milk for Ben, tea for me, and a shared chocolate chip cookie.  In all, a rather fine afternoon!

Farming by Gail Gibbons

Farming by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 5 stars

Gail Gibbons throws in a lot of information into her books, sometimes a bit too much, but this one is a GREAT introduction for little ones.  Here's a picture-laden book about farming: all the types of farms there are, and what happens on a farm.  Gibbons divides the books up into seasons, and draws all the different things that happen in each season on a farm, and then sketches the jobs that have got to be done in each season.

I love it!  It's a great book to carry along with you if you're heading to a farm for the day.  We frequent Frying Pan Park, though it doesn't count as a working farm.  We love Butler's Orchard for fruit and vegetables, too.  I like to have a book like this when we go to places like these so that my kids can understand the big picture at a nice, slow pace--one page at a time, they turn to the next page when they're ready.

Confession: I'm beginning to think that I might like to be a small-scale farmer in some future phase of my life.  My husband thinks I'm nuts.  He might be right, but...  I'm a girl with a lot of energy, a bunch of patience, and a passion for doing anything and everything outdoors.

So I've already started to brainwash my kids so that they can help me out with the chores and stuff.  And Lorelei can convince my husband that this venture is brilliant.  If it were up to me, we'd go to some working farm for the summer.  This appeals to me for so many reasons, including:

1. The "noise" (all that silly competition for the kids, the keepin' up with the Jones for us) from our everyday life would decrease, possibly disappear for a little while completely.
2. My kids would see--not just read about--the origin of their food.
3. They'd really know the definition of chores and learn how to work--I'm all about kids pitching in, regardless of their age.  "Everybody does their part," I say.
4. A change of scenery for any reason is a good thing.  I'm an Army brat, so I'm sorta restless by nature anyway.
5. I know they'd love it.  Me, too.

But since I can't snap my fingers and transport us to a working farm...at least not just yet...  I'll have to make do and go to farms around our area and garden as much as I can.  And dream.  And imagine myself in this book.

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 4 stars

If you've got a pint-sized fact-lover around you, you should know about Gail Gibbons.  She is a leading author of nonfiction children's books, which are like home-drawn DK books.  There is a ton of information between the covers, usually not too much story or plot for kids needing or wanting that, but totally fascinating for budding researchers.  Check out the impressive list of books she's written here.

I've got a fact-lover in Lorelei.  She LOVES to get to the bottom of things, to know random facts about little things like butterflies or zebras or flowers.  Since she started reading she's been on her own a bit in the fact-finding mission, sometimes reading things I don't realize she's reading either at home or at school.  I know that some of it comes from National Geographic publications, of which we have many, including magazines but also children's books.  But a lot of it comes from just being curious and aware and from having an astoundingly good memory!

So Gail Gibbons is becoming increasingly popular in our house.  She's not for the youngest--Ben doesn't want anything to do with this book, especially after I read a few pages of it.  No story?  Nothing to laugh at?  He's not ready for a book of facts.  That's okay.  There will be enough of Gibbons' books lying around for him when he's ready.

So about this book.

We love trees because we live among them--we are lucky to live on about five acres of land that is mostly wooded.  So this book was really cool with its diagrams and drawings and definitions.  It is a great book to check out to compliment stories on trees, or other less serious (but still important!) books to encourage your kids to think more about nature.  I actually just paused and read about five pages now, hours after the kids' bedtime.  These books are like mini-encyclopedias (remember those?) for kids, on all their favorite subjects.

Funny thing: We set out on today's hike with a mission to collect leaves and then compare them to the leaves in our own backyard.  Would they be the same, or different?  We collected nothing!  The kids were so happy just running along and finding remnants of old houses and moss and stuff that I couldn't force them into a teachable moment.  Or maybe this--enjoying nature on a gorgeous day with each other--was their teachable moment.