Children's Picture Atlas by Usborne

Children's Picture Atlas by Usborne

Rating: 4.5 stars

I really want Lorelei, Ben, and Kiefer to have a terrific sense of geography.  That desire-turned-goal comes from having traveled around the country, living in a bunch of different places as the daughter of a soldier.  Add to that living in a few different parts of Asia and traveling around to a few more in my twenties, and you get someone who can say she definitely was a traveler.  (Now I just travel via books. And to Reston.  Does that count as travel?)

This atlas, given to Lorelei by my sister for her 5th birthday, is a wonderful children's atlas that gives a whole lot of information presented in a manageable, organized, and understandable fashion.  One of the Standards of Learning for first grade social studies (nerdy me looked them up) here in Virginia involves maps.  And looky here, there is a page on maps--what they show, how they are made, different types of them--and a page on people--different cultures have different clothing, music, food, and religion.

(Of course, everyone is smiling and happy on this page, suggesting harmonic world peace despite these differences.  Maybe understanding the issues that arise from religious and cultural differences are part of  the Standard of Learning in grade 4...)

Then, there are pages about different climates and habitats.  Another Standard of Learning is climates, and how they shape the choices people have and the cultures that mature in them.  These pages do a really great job of showing just that--the homes desert people live in, the animals those in grasslands need to worry about, the religious festivals that occur alongside (and in) some rivers.  On these pages are symbols that kids can take the time to find on the next pages, which are...

Here come the maps!  The first is of the world, of course.  Green and blue and for travelers like me a bit of a dare: where you gonna go next?  Then, each of the continents.  The continents are a little crowded with symbols of animals, crops, and activities, but clearly and thankfully most kids are more interested in where wild horses run free than the political boundaries of Poland and Germany.

For someone who has a map of the world tattooed on her ankle (that'd be me--not my wisest choice ever, but...not something I lose sleep over either), a good book on maps is important.  Many thanks to my sister for finding this one for us!


P.S.  Speaking of maps, we love this puzzle of the United States, designed by children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino!

Wind-up Plane Book by Usborne

Wind-up Plane Book by Usborne

Rating: 4 stars

Has anyone seen these Usborne books?  They are new to us!  (Check them all out here.)  And they are new to newly four-year-old Ben, who had a very exciting birthday today.  I don't think he stopped grinning all day long.  Four!  Him!  Birthday!  Wow!  Everything had an exclamation mark on it today for Ben!

My sister got this book for him. Right away, we realized it was unique.  As you can see from the picture, it comes with a little airplane.  After Ben gleefully tore off the wrapping paper, we turned the thick board pages--I think there are just six double-spread pages in all--and saw tracks on two of the pages.  I took the airplane out and we pushed it along.  And then--enter another exclamation mark moment here!--we realized that it was a wind-up plane!  Wow!

(Yes, I should have realized it was a wind-up toy by the title, but...if you had one very excited birthday boy and his big sister and little brother doing their best to throw in their own exclamation mark-filled sounds whenever possible, you might have missed that, too.)

And so we tried it out (sorry for the odd angle):

Later, we actually read the book.  The book is Richard Scarry-esque (but with fewer factoids on each page) with an additional story.  This story is about Ben.  Ben!  "Just like me!  Ben!"  Ben takes a plane ride for the first time with his family, and he encounters all the sights and sounds that we grown-ups so quickly dismiss as commonplace.  It's a good book for kids like Ben who have been on an airplane once or twice and therefore still see it as a novel, exciting, almost magical thing.

Plus it's cool!  It has a wind-up airplane that comes with it!  Hopefully we won't lose it, like, tomorrow!


P.S.  Happy Birthday to one smiley, now snoozey Ben.