Book Review: Ninja Cowboy Bear

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The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear
Author: David Bruins
Illustrator: Hilary Leung
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

A Note from the Publisher:

The Way of the Ninja
Author: David Bruins
Illustrator: Hilary Leung
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

A Note From the Publisher:



Why They Are On My Bookshelf: These both were a hit. Especially with the boys when they heard their favorite word in the world....NINJA! I also got lots of giggles when I read the title. Ahhh...perfect opportunity to talk about how all three characters are SO different yet are total buddies. The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear is all about navigating through the hard parts of friendship. Ninja, Cowboy, and Bear get themselves into an argument over bragging rights about who is the best. I think we all know how that will turn out. Lots of arguing and hurt feelings! All three go their separate ways to do some thinking and calming down. Really appreciated the teaching moment those pages provided to students. When we are upset, it's okay to walk away for awhile until you can come back with the intention to heal the problem. And that they do!

Author David Bruins other book, The Way of the Ninja, has another great teachable moment in it. What the kids and I got out of it is if you are going to have the "it's my way or the highway" attitude with your friends...don't be surprised to find yourself alone. Which can be boring and lonely! I did a lot of role playing centered around this. Discussion: What can we do when other kids don't want to play the game we have chosen? What can you do if kids are playing a game you don't want to play? Friendship takes compromise. Also, I actually have a ninja puppet I used for our role playing! Yes, cool points for the school counselor.

Check out the Ninja, Cowboy, Bear website to download the Ninja Cowboy Bear paper dolls to create your own role plays with kids. LOVE IT! Plus, they have all other kinds of cool stuff to check out. Love me a book website!

These are seriously rad.
By the way, these both have a lot of great vocabulary words for kids to learn like merrymaking, buffoonery, hilarity, agility, precision......very cool.

A Link to These Books and Others You Might Find Helpful: 
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Book Reviews: Two Favorites on Feelings

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How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods
Authors: Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Interest Level: Ages 4-9

A Note From The Publisher: Who hasn't looked at a piece of food and seen a funny face? The inspired Elffers and Freymann take it to another level in these fanciful flights featuring fruits and vegetables! Embarrassed apples, loving lemons, moody melons, red pepper roadsters, and actual banana boats—these vivid and inspired creations will delight children of every age!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I have taken a pledge to never read boring feelings books to children. How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods is just so much fun! It's really important (in my little opinion) to have a lot of resources to draw from when teaching to the social/emotional aspect of a child. Last thing you need is for students to be thinking - Oh gosh, here she comes with that snorefest feelings book again. So lets go back to the word fun. Fruits and vegetables can teach your kids about feelings. So cool! "How did they do that??" This is what the kids kept saying as we turned the pages. I sometimes waited to read the page because there were so many "wows" coming from my audience. 

Why not take it a step further? Bring in your own basket of apples, bananas, etc and let the kids pick one at the end of the lesson to describe how they are feeling. I did and it was such a blast. I heard from students for days about how much they loved the book. Good stuff! I hope you will take the pledge also. No boring feelings books!


Seriously, could this be any cuter?


Why Do You Cry? Not a Sob Story
Book Website: www.kateandsarahklise.com
Author: Kate Klise
Illustrator: M. Sarah Klise
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

A Note From The Publisher: Little Rabbit is about to turn five, and he decides he’s all through with crying. He doesn’t want crybabies at his birthday party, so he tells his friends they can come only if they’re big, like him, and don’t cry anymore. When all of his friends admit to crying sometimes, Little Rabbit is shocked. Does everybody cry? Why?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I've never really talked to the students about crying before. It's just another one of those things I assume we (including the kids) all know about and do. Why Do You Cry? made me realize if I'm going to teach kids about feelings then we need to talk about that beautiful thing people do....cry. The kids absolutely ADORED this story and fell in love with Little Rabbit. We all giggled at his idea that you should stop crying as you grow older. Little Rabbit's mother explains to him we cry because we all have feelings. Don't ya just love that? When I asked the kids a little later, "Well, so why do adults cry?" A sweet little girl said, "Because they have feelings!" Mother Rabbit also says she sometimes cries when she's happy. So be prepared to talk about tears of joy......heart it.

A Link to These Books:
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Book Review: The Way I Act

Author: Steve Metzger
Illustrations by Janan Cain
Publisher/Book Website: Parenting Press
Companion Book: The Way I Feel
Interest Level: Ages 5-9

From the Book Jacket:

Dancing! Prancing!
Running! Jumping!
Spinning like a top.
When I'm active, I feel GREAT!
And never want to stop.

So exclaims a child alive with joy in her physical self. Some children, like this one, rush headlong into their world; others, equally joyous but perhaps a little more cautious, hang back and watch for a bit. All of them, regardless of their temperament, have to choose how they will respond to the events and people in their lives.

Young school children are eager to figure out how their world works and what its "rules" are. The Way I Act is an enjoyable exploration of what it may be like to behave in certain ways. The door is opened for discussion about the consequences of behavior. In the companion book, The Way I Feel, children learned that feelings come and go and simply are. A little older now, they are ready to think about the ability they have to control how things turn out.

The Way I Act explores thirteen ways of behaving. The friendly verses and bold illustrations convey to the reader many positive ideas of how to act in a variety of situations.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I've taken a bigger interest in teaching character education the past couple of years.  I'm noticing kids want to learn about the big behavior words like compassionate, persistent, and capable (and lets not forget it's a great way to increase their vocabulary). Thanks to this wonderful new book, The Way I Act, they also want to apply these words to their daily lives. Just yesterday, a 2nd grade boy came up to me and said, "Mrs. D, I was trustworthy when my brother asked me to stay out of his room." It's also nice to use the language back to kids like, "Thanks for following all the directions. You are very capable." The bond books create between adult and child is pretty powerful if you ask me.

TRUSTWORTHY
RESPECTFUL
Helping kids improve behavior and grow into wonderful people is something I love to be a part of and watch. I feel so lucky when I have such a fantastic book to help make that happen. The kids will delight in illustrator Janan Cain's vivid depiction of each character trait. Don't pass this one up.

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 
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