Hilariously, a five year old is confused by convincing 'evidence' that his body is disassembling, like a cheap doll.
The pop-eyed characters of Parts completely complement the crazy fear the main character experiences. More importantly, Arnold shows children how true facts can be misconstrued. Laugh with your children. Then, see if you can find real world examples to show older children that the logic error in Parts is horrifically common, even among information specialists such as journalists & academics.
By learning to read, old Jeremiah discovers the beauty in literacy, and a shared joy.
Wise old Jeremiah farmed his whole life, and now wants to read. "You are wonderful as you are", said his wife. "But I can be better", he responds. Perhaps his way of learning was unusual, but he soon discovers that reading offers more than simple facts. Juliana asks, "When are you going to read to me?" He answers, "When the time is right". He has found a special new reason for reading!
When her widowed father advertises for a wife, Anna anxiously watches for signs that Sarah Wheaton’s visit to their prairie farm will fulfill her hopes for family harmony.
Anna's mother died after Caleb's birth, and the singing on their isolated prairie farm ended. When Papa advertised for a wife, Sarah came to visit, from Maine. And, Sarah sang! Would Sarah stay or would she return to the sea she missed? Dialogue keeps Sarah's uncertainty explicit, but MacLachlan's use of subtle action shows a growing relationship between Papa and this new woman. The contrast creates tension and encourages deeper comprehension from young readers.
Princess Elizabeth uses her distinctly independent judgment to face a Dragon and her betrothed.
Princess Elizabeth's castle is destroyed by a dragon that also kidnaps her betrothed. She sets out to rescue the Prince. A smart judge of character, she manipulates the dragon by appealing to his vanity, to rescue Prince Ronald. Watch out for the surprise ending! The bold illustrations successfully convey the Elizabeth's bold character ...& the fun!
Red is Best portrays Kelly's admirable and fun, intellectual, independence as she happily tells us all her cute reasons for preferring red.
We can't give away too much of Kelly's clear delight with red. She knows her values, and when it comes to color, its red! Kelly says, "I like my red barrettes the best. My mom says, 'You wear pink barrettes with a pink dress.' But my red barrettes make my hair laugh." The simple illustrations provide all we need to appreciate her pleasure with red; Surely you too can see that red boots make bigger steps!
Preferring human over mermaid values, Ariel puts her soul in the control of a treacherous sea-witch to become a human maiden so she can earn Prince Eric's love.
Ariel, King Triton’s youngest daughter, is fascinated by the human world. Defying his rules, she falls in love with a seagoing prince even saving him from a shipwreck. Longing to be in Eric’s world she trades her voice to a Sea-Witch to gain legs. If she fails to win Eric’s love, the witch will take her soul. In a treacherous gamble to steal Triton’s power the disguised witch uses Ariel’s voice to distract the Prince.
Five carefully themed stories present slavish adherence to plans, foolish impatience with Nature, the nature of will power, integrity in bravery, and loss of friends through one-up-man-ship.
Each of the five stories in this little anthology present a point about the vagaries of individual behavior that a child can understand. Frog and/or Toad each make some wrongful judgment that leads to a smarter understanding. Parents can ask their children what that approach might be. The stories do not raise much tension, yet they are still interesting in a way that Winnie the Pooh is not.
A dentist, who is a mouse, decides to be charitable to a fox with a toothache, but wisely prepares for duplicity.
A mouse pitying a fox with an awful toothache, and helping him? This alone should disqualify the story, but that is not the focus of the story. The mouse, Dr. de Soto, sympathizes with the fox's pain, but devises a brilliant trick to protect himself. It is the latter aspect of the story that proves its worth, and leaves the reader wondering if de Soto would do it again.
As they wrestle with grade school social conflicts and share a fantasy land, ten year old Jess learns from Leslie's bright character and values, until tragedy teaches him to adopt and live by those values.
Jess trained to be the fastest runner in 5th grade, but when he defended Leslie's right to run against the boys there was an unexpected result. She beat everyone. Jess saw a beauty in her gait, and she saw justice in him. As companions they deal with difficult school mates and escape to their imaginary forest kingdom of Terabithia. Jess gradually sees an approach to life brightly different from anything he had imagined. In a heart wrenching turn of events, Jess realizes what Leslie had shown him was worth sharing with those most worthy of it.
Stranded for eighteen years on an island off California, a native girl survives, fends off wild dogs and evades the murderous Aleuts
This story speculates on the life of Karana, an Indian girl left alone on an island near Southern California, when her tribe was moved to the mainland in the mid-1800s. For 18 years she hoped rescuers would re-unite her with her family. We follow her thoughts as she kept herself alive, solving the problems of building shelter and finding food, and even finding ways to be creative.
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