Lion of the Sky by Laura Purdie Salas

‘you gasp as I roar,
my mane exploding, sizzling—
lion of the sky!

Haiku meet riddles in this wonderful collection from Laura Purdie Salas. The poems celebrate the seasons and describe everything from an earthworm to a baseball to an apple to snow angels, alongside full-color illustrations.’

Lion of the Sky by Laura Purdie Salas is a charming collection of haiku centered around the seasons, accompanied by gorgeous artwork. The author calls these ‘riddle-kus’ because each haiku describes a common object using riddle language, including I and me. At the end there’s a section detailing how to write riddle-ku, and a section of suggested reading books. I read this with my cubs,cand we all enjoyed it. I’ve written haiku before, but it’s been awhile and these poems inspired me to write poetry again. And my cubs to try for themselves! Recommended for those who love poetry.

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Lerner Publishing for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

 

Atlas of Adventure: Wonders of the World by Ben Handicott

Atlas of Adventure: Wonders of the World by Ben Handicott takes the reader in a world tour of awesome places. From natural wonders such as Uluru in Australia, to ancient man-made ones like the Moai of Rapa Nui, and modern ones like the towering Burj Khalifa, kids can travel the world through imagination. This was a wonderful read packed full of cool info and great artwork. My cubs and I read the together and loved it! We plan to get a hardcopy for the family library. Highly recommended!

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Quarto Publishing for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

 

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself by Susan Schwake

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself by Susan Schwake has five different chapters, focusing on different tools and mediums. Most projects are easy to carry out. My cubs and I worked through the book together. They chose several experiments that they found unusual or interesting, and several that they really enjoyed:

Weird experiments include:

Blind portraits, where you keep your gaze completely focusing in a partner while you draw them. The results are quite interesting.

Stripes and lines, where you paint a composite of just thin lines and fat stripes.

Big rolling prints, that teaches you how to use big round plastic jugs to make jumbo printing presses.

Wire wonders, where you get to make funky wire sculptures.

Colourful beasts invites artists to sketch out their favorite animals, and fill in the shape with colourful strips of paper.

Fun experiments include:

Night creatures, where you draw a night creature out, then paint it with water colours.

Colour pops, where you lay down a colour background and overlay with black/grey foreground.

Texture plates, involved in learning to use different textures in your projects

All that Glitters, where glitter is the name of the game

Two in one weaving teaches a unique method of weaving

A great book for sparking creativity, and get kids interested in art. Perfect for classroom projects!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

 

Sophie & Sadie Build a Sonnet by Amanda St John, illustrated by Luanne Martin

Another wonderful addition to the Poetry Builders series, this installment teaches budding poets the basics of sonnet writing. I read this with my cubs, and we tried out the sonnet writing. They enjoyed it. Sonnets are not among my favourite types of poems to write though! There’s a glossary at the end, and a for further reading section.

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Norwood House for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

 

Nina & Nolan Build a Nonsense Poem by Lisa Bullard, illustrated by Patrick Girourard

Another wonderful addition to the Poetry Builders series, this installment teaches budding poets the basics of writing nonsense poems. I read this with my cubs, and we all had fun trying our hand at writing nonsense poems. I have to say, the Name Game poem is cute! There’s a glossary at the end, and a for further reading section.

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Norwood House for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review.