by Carolyn | Book Lists, Boys, Education, Imagination, Middle-grade, Nonfiction, Older Elementary, Picture Books, Resources
Last week, we looked at artistic creativity. This week, I want to talk about a different set of books that inspire creativity in kids, specifically, inventive creativity. Ok, maybe I just made up that term, but what I’m talking about is the drive to invent or...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Character Training, Classics, Cultural Diversity, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Newbery, Read Alouds
How would you feel if you were 13, left alone in a cabin in the wilderness, responsible to take care of it until your family arrived? That’s the situation Matt finds himself in at the beginning of The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. Through...
by Carolyn | Book Lists, Boys, Girls, Imagination, Older Elementary, Poetry, Read Alouds
It’s easy to neglect reading our kids poetry. But poetry can give our children an appreciation for words, rhythms, sounds and meaning like nothing else. Poems show you the world with a new view. They can be endearing, funny, or breathtaking; the best poems...
by Carolyn | Book Lists, Boys, Education, Older Elementary, Picture Books
Do you have a child who can’t get enough facts about animals or nature? That’s my son. Getting him interested in reading a chapter book can be tricky, but he has a magnetic ability to find books with animal facts and pictures. These aren’t always my...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Juvenile Fiction, Older Elementary
A friend of mine asked me what I knew about the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Her kids had heard about the books from their cousins, and she wanted to know if they would be appropriate. I was curious too having seen them in my library with the paperbacks geared...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Character Training, Imagination, Older Elementary, Spiritual Allegory
When I first read The Magic Bicycle by John Bibee in fifth grade, the whole Spirit Flyer Series instantly became one of my all time favorites. I didn’t have to be told that the Spirit Flyer bicycles were an allegory for the Holy Spirit or that the snakes...
by Carolyn | Boys, Education, Picture Books
Ok, I’m neither a boy, nor a kid, and I still think that this counting book is seriously cool. Author/Illustrator Christopher Wormell uses linoleum block prints in his book Teeth Tails and Tentacles to illustrate each animal with chunky black lines. Instead of...
