Product Reviews March 2006

This month's products are:

Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Snowbound Press
Maupin House Publishing, Inc.
Kimbo Educational
Follett Library Resources
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
UpstartBooks

Cezanne
A beautiful book, Paul Cezanne – A Painter's Journey by Robert Burleigh is sure to be a hit with all your readers/researchers. The text is very accessible with large pullout text making the important points of the presentation.

The art is exquisite, of course, with sizeable examples of Cezanne's paintings from all stages of his career. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the book is a must-have. $17.95 at your local bookstore.
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
www.abramsbooks.com

A Tale for March
We've all heard the story of the child who went to school an exuberant artist and shortly became the poster child for coloring within the lines. Well, Hildegarde and the Great Green Shirt Factory is about an exuberant sheep whose artistic ability is confined. It's a good story with a sophisticated play on the word "ewe."

Reading the book aloud and discussing artistic freedom is a particularly nice way to celebrate Youth Art Month. $16.95 plus s/h.
Snowbound Press
www.snowboundpress.com

20-in-10
This is the title of a 54-page book of mini-lessons from Maupin House: 20-in-10, Linking Music and Literacy with Twenty, Ten-Minute Mini-Lessons and Activities for Primary Learners. There's a CD included. There's a song covering various topics from social skills and movement to listening, letter identification, name recognition, following directions and so on. The songs and activities are cross-curricular and standards-based, from social studies and map skills to descriptive attributes, onomatopoeia, alliterations, etc. A lot of work went into this small book, coordinating writing target skills with the songs in a handy chart.

The activities for K-2 are interesting and fresh and the format is easy to use with the words of the song being explored on the outside columns of each page. $23.95 plus s/h.
Maupin House Publishing, Inc.
www.maupinhouse.com

Dance Party Fun
We hear so much about overweight kids today, how nice to learn of a fun way to help keep them in shape. Dance Party Fun from Kimbo® Educational is now available in DVD format.

Ten songs have been choreographed with easy-to-follow simple steps. The dances are motivating and will encourage children ages four and up to develop better coordination, become more fit and enjoy socialization. Dances include Disney Mambo No. 5, Shake, Rattle and Roll, Splish, Splash, Macarena and six more. We really enjoyed dancing to this one in the office, and since kids have that special sense of fun and wonder, we know they'll love it. $19.95 (DVD) $14.95 (CD) at your local school supply dealer, plus s/h if you order direct.
Kimbo Educational
www.kimboed.com

Building Character
Character is defined by the artist, Glenn Colton, as "knowing what is right, caring about what is right and doing what is right" and the 19 songs and four bonus tracks he has written on this CD, Raise Our Voices for Healthy Choices, all keep character front and center.

This celebration of character includes a focus for each song: there's optimism, acceptance, initiative, resourcefulness, responsibility, respect and even reading, poetry, creativity and lots more. The CD also gives us pdf files that allow us to print the lyrics and sheet music for each song.

The music is singable and has been kid-tested in over 4,000 concerts by this former third-grade teacher. The goal of this collection is to support character-building traits that will lead children to happy lives. The medium borrows from rhythm and blues, jazz, country and bluegrass, folk, rock and disco to capture kids attention. You can read more about Colton's approach on his website, www.glenncolton.com

There are other CDs available so it's easy to make character-building a part of your classroom day. $16.99 plus s/h.
Follett Library Resources
www.flr.follett.com

When You Are Happy
This newest book from Eileen Spinelli belongs in any art celebration because of the poetry of its text and the brilliant artwork. Geraldo Valério is the artist and the art will have children going through the book over and over.

The text is breathtakingly fantastic, yet there's an underlying reality to its fantasy. Grandmother Eileen truly understands loving children, and letting them know it. Outstanding. The book jacket says it's for ages three to six, but this would make a lovely first anniversary present. $16.95 at your bookstore.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
www.SimonSaysKids.com

Digging Into Dewey
This is a super handbook that makes teaching students the Dewey Decimal system fun and easy. There are 10 chapters to correspond with the ten major Dewey categories, and each chapter offers an "introduction to its hundreds range, what it includes and why, the 10 subcategories, print and nonprint resources that are relevant and a sampling of games and activities to familiarize students with the related subject matter and how to access it."

That all sounds very esoteric, but this is a hands-on teacher's joy. The format introduces each section, then provides print, nonprint and web resources, activities and two pages of reproducible applications using games (Bingo, word scramble, coded messages) surveys, rules for debates, etc.

This book seems to do the whole job of making kids comfortable with the library. Grades two to six, $16.95 plus s/h.
UpstartBooks
www.highsmith.com