Senor Parrot's Perch

Angela and the Baby Jesus, written by Frank McCourt and illustrated by Raul Colon is a beautifully told
story. McCourt tells the tale his mother Angela told him that happened to her as a child.

Seeing the baby Jesus in the Nativity in the church, Angela’s heart goes out to him, thinking he must be cold lying there, so she takes him, so that she can keep him warm. What unfolds from this is a glimpse into a beautiful, loving family and a very original reflection of the true meaning of Christmas, the giving of a life for another’s.

I had checked this out from the library to read, curious, and having heard nothing before about it. It is a wonderful book which we all in the family loved, and which I will probably go out and buy for keeps this weekend. I recommend it highly.

Other books by Frank McCourt include Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir
and Teacher Man: A Memoir. Other books illustrated by Raul Colon are As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson, and Mightier Than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys
by Jane Yolen.

Veterans’ Day isn’t much anymore. When I was a child, all our fathers served in one way or another in WWII or the Korean War and helped build the world I grew up on. Some of my friends were children of their mother’s second husband, the first remaining somewhere in Europe or at the bottom of the Pacific. That world died with Viet Nam.

The Children’s Book Review-Growing Readers has provided a nice list of books that remember those who bravely put their lives on the line for us. Now, many of the children reading thises books would have grand parents and great grandparents who served in WWII or the Korean War, or in the Viet Nam or first Iraq wars. Many will have fathers who have or continue to serve in Iraq or Afganistan. And since Viet Nam, they have grandmothers and mothers serving as well.

Let’s always remember their great sacrifice.

Diane Petryk Bloom, the Children’s book reviewer at the Examiner.com, of Milwaukee, has put�together a nice list of new Christmas books. I love these lists. Now its off to look around for them to check them out and see what’s worth buying, and what’s worth leaving behind. I already know that the Hannah Montana entry will be left behind. But Lemony Snickets’ The Lump of Coal will probably make the list.

Robots, as ubiquitous as they already are, still seem futuristic. This is probably because we think of robots as androids, robots made to look and behave as humans, rather than a wide variety of machines programmed to do human work for us without us having to be there with them.

This aspect of robotics is still far off, though it is approaching. An interesting book that looks into this area of robotics is Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, by Timothy N. Hornyak, an excellent book written at a high school or adult level. Nevertheless, the human aspect of robotics stimulates the interest of children and makes robots an attractive method for exploring technology and building skills that will prepare our children for their own futures.

Still thinking about children’s books, though, my oldest daughter and I read six that we found at the library which were all worth the time. I wrote about the first three a while ago. The next three were more age appropriate for my older daughter and more interesting, too.

The best of these was How To Build A Robot, by Clive Gifford. Though published almost 10 years ago, this little book covered all the important issues concerning robots, and managed to be both informative, funny, and the most thought provoking and engaging in its presentation of robotics.

How to Build a Robot consisted of seven chapters that covered what a robot entails, their development from a historical period, the components and their functions, control, teaching robots how to think. Along the way, Gifford supplies simple experiments to show readers how they might approach a problem that robotics engineers face. All of this, along with his witty style and the fun cartoonish illustrations make this book a great introduction.

The next book that I liked was Robot, also by Clive Gifford. This is a Dorling Kindersley book from way back in 1998. I’d like to compare it to the current one, Robot (DK Eyewitness Books, by Roger Bridgman. Like all DK books this was of excellent quality and really strong on photographic illustrations. The text was excellent, just as with How to Build a Robot, but the format was just not as engaging, nor as informative, as How to Build a Robot.

The third of my upper tier of robot books for kids is Robots Among Us: The Challenges and promises of Robotics, by Christopher W. Baker. This short book was really nearly the equal of Robot. It also covered the basics of robotics very well and it had excellent photographs. It was the strongest of all three in its coverage of robotic intelligence and the challenges in programming robots to make decisions and to learn, which are the core to artificial intelligence.

I love science, and I like books that encourage that same interest in others. Over at Planet Esme she provides these reviews of�some interesting science-related kids’ books and some more of her recommendations and comparisons of�additional books that deal� with animal life cycles. She reviews This is Your LIfe Cycle With Special Guest Dahlia the Dragonfly by Heather Lynn Miller and illustrated by Michael Chesworth; Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Kate Endle; and Houdini the Magic Caterpillar by Janet Pederson

She follows up with a long list of reasons why Chicago should replace New York as the publishing hub of America. I buy most all of them, and In her reasoning she mentions Wisconsin twice. As everyone who lives here in Wisconsin knows, just being near this beautiful state is reason enough, and Madison’s only about 150 miles away, a two hour hop, skip, and a jump from a full day of fun for us northern neighbors.

A while ago I decided to get a LEGO Mindstorms NXTrobot to build with my kids. I thought that, more than just a fun toy, building a robot would excite an interest in science and open a doorway to all sorts of explorations.

So far, I’ve been right on. Anticipating getting an actual robot was the first fun thing. And reading about all that robots was just like adding more caffeine to their coffee.

Our first stop was the local library. There we either checked out the books on the shelf, or special ordered interesting books from other branches. Our local library system in Madison had an excellent variety for a broad range of developmental abilities, ages, and experience.

Those written for the youngest children, ages 9 and down, were pretty much the same, addressing what a robot really is, how they are used, sensors and actuators, artificial intelligence and robotic learning,� and programming, albeit, at a very elementary level that even a small child could understand.

The books at this level were:

• It Could Still Be a Robot (Rookie Read-About Science) by Allan Fowler (ISBN 0516204319 – Very elementary, and suitable for reading even to my 5-year old
• Robots (Kaleidoscope:Technology) by Darcy Lockman (ISBN 0761410473) – for a bit older kids, first though 3rd grade, but good even as a starter for older kids as an introduction to what more mature books will cover. It presents a wide range of uses.
• Robotics (Life in the Future) by Mark Beyer – Like Robots, above, for kids 2nd through 4th grade, illustrating lots of uses and concepts.

These three formed a sort of a first wave, the most basic introduction. They were definitely worth reading and worked well to prime the pump, but they weren’t as deep as I needed to go for my older daughter.

For myself, these books gave me a foundation for asking my daughters questions to help guide their attention and thought, and to prepare them for understanding the technological challenges and pave the way for eventually designing their own robots. From this, I made a little list of questions to keep us all thinking about our goals in building robots.

If your kids like the Lego or Playmobil castles, or any of the other building toys,� Castle Under Siege! by Andrew Solway is a little book that offers a fun hook into some the science behind those ancient buildings. Already engrossed in the imaginary building of a castle and defending it against all enemies, kids are primed to learn how it was really done. Books like this are great segues into learning more on their own.

I found this book in the library by chance, while looking for books about robots to share with my kids. I grabbed it, realizing that these simple applications might help my kids see just why science is cool. It also provides a nice window into the past. Its aimed at 2nd through 4th graders, though some older kids might enjoy the quick informative read, especially coupled with David Macaulay’s great Castle, which is aimed at higher age level than Castle Under Siege!

Medieval society seems like all labor, but there were lots of machines at work to create and maintain their way of life. Castle Under Siege! looks at a few of these, like the drawbridge, crossbow, catapults, and siege engines were actually applications of simple machines. Photographic reenactments and illustrations help explain the concepts.

Simple machines are also so simple, that a trip to the hardware, home improvement, or hobby store to pick up a couple pulleys, boards, dowels and wooden wheels can result in some quick construction of the same machines on a tabletop scale.

Anyone with kids knows how much they want a pet of their own. And, anyone who was a kid remembers wanting and hoping for a pet of their own. There’s a magic that exists between a child and his pet that adults never have with their own pets. Much of that magic is in the mind of the child, but mostly it seems to be a bonding of peers, becoming close and best friends.

But when the child is very young, they don’t understand their pets and often are unwittingly harmful to them. Its hard to teach them ahead of time. We catch them picking up the cat by the hind leg and getting scratched, or scrunching the dog’s ear and getting bitten.

Children need to learn how to live with their pet, and that’s where Tails Are Not For Pulling comes in handy. Simply and clearly written by Elizabeth Verdick and perfectly illustrated by Marieka Heinlen, it is a great, fun read for young children already have or will be getting a pet soon.

It starts with the simple, fun, question for your child, “If pets could talk, what do you think they’d say?” Then it delivers the answers, teaching your child to think about what his or her pet is saying with their posture, actions, and noises.

Like most of the other books I write about, I’ve tested, this one on #2 the five year old, still young enough to misunderstand what Sherlock the cat is telling her, and not yet realizing how she might be hurting him. It was a real eye opener for her. The lessons are so simply presented. The illustrations are so appropriate. The message really took hold. It’s an excellent pick for a young child who will be receiving a new pet in the house.

Tails Are Not For Pulling is part of a series from Free Spirit Publishing for teaching behavior to young children written and illustrated by this same duo.

Just over a week ago I was with the family at the bookstore. The kids were looking at books that interested them and I was browsing in the kid’s poetry section. There I found John Updike’s A Child’s Calendar, and perfectly illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Until then I hadn’t any idea that John Updike had written anything for children. I opened it and began reading, and after half-way through the first poem decided I had to have this book. You should have it, too.

The poems are simple rhymes perfectly suited for children, one for every month. Each captures the essence of that month in the way a child sees it, experiences it, and remembers it. Each poem in turn develops and carries forward the rhythm of the year as it opens and closes and opens again. And each awakens in you your own memories. (more…)

For a couple years now we’ve been reading King Cat, written and illustrated by Tracy Gallup, to the kids at night. Its a frequent choice. Perhaps because King Cat is a bit like our own cat, sometimes a wild animal exploring and hunting the neighborhood yards and the woods out back, sometimes aloof and snooty, other times affectionate and companionable, winding himself around our legs and trailing us everywhere.

Gallup’s King Cat lives the comfy life with the Petticombs. Riding comfortably on the shoulders of Mr. Petticomb as if he were a piece of clothing, it occurs to King Cat that he might be seen. Other cats might get the wrong impression, thinking him a mere pet. Petulantly leaping from Mr. Petticomb’s shoulders, he declares himself King Cat and sets off to romp and rule in the garden … for a while, at least, until a few things change.

The illustrations excellently expand the story telling the story as much as the text written mostly in rhyming couplets. This makes it a great lap book that can be returned to many times.

We have a couple other books by Tracy Gallup from her “A Crazy Little Series” of books. Each of these unique little stories is illustrated with her curious dolls and natural objects; Shell Crazy with shells and sand and Tree Crazy with twigs, bark, seeds and roots. The girls are fixated by the fun little stories and� the amusing little characters.

Any of these would be great gifts for young kids and the books from the “A Crazy Little Series” would be excellent for some adults, as well.

Tracy Gallup’s books are published by Mackinac Island Press.