Time for Kids (magazine)

Time for Kids. News Magazine online at Time For Kids.

Time for Kids is an online and print news magazine written just for children.  It covers news stories for kids that cross the nation and globe and highlight important issues.

This online magazine has many different news stories for kids that highlight the page.  One downside to this, however, is there are no major world issues scaled for kid readers.  The news stories seem to highlight more obscure and fanciful stories rather than what is front page on the adult magazines.  While children cannot take the same strength of story present in adult news organizations, some attention should be paid to allowing students to read and understand major current events on some scale.

The website does have a section that incorporates student authors of articles that are presented to readers.  This aspect is very good as it allows readers to get information from students across the country and see their opinion on different issues at the magazine.

The magazine's web page is very colorful which will attract and hold the attention of children.  The bright red is synonymous with Time but the stories are in big lettering and there are many pictures to help enhance the different articles on the site.  The articles are often short, which makes it easier for younger or less experienced readers and the word choice and sentence structure makes it easy to read. 

There is also a section of the website that highlights homework help and gives quizzes and games to help practice school skills in math, science and vocabulary.  This could also help students stay interested and involved in reading the different news stories and practicing skills for school.

For users that subscribe to the website there are also quizzes and games built to help readers retain what they have read in the different articles on time magazine.  This will help readers remember the current events they have read.

Educators can definitely have many benefits in using Time for Kids in the classroom.  There are different games available that teachers can use to help students present current events or practice different skills online.  It also allows teachers to track what students are reading with the quiz option and make sure that they are involved on the website and reading the different current events.  There is also the idea of writing practice with students writing their own current event stories and submitting them to the magazine to have them displayed online.  Seeing work by other students on the website can inspire writing and reading goals from the class so they can experience different ways of seeing the world.

For students, the colors and games really highlight the site.  It is built to work for students aged 7-12 and it works to capture their attention and give them information on news they may not know.  While it doesn't bring major world events, it does appeal to all ages and types with stories on world events, entertainment and the sciences.  This is a great magazine for kids to get their first taste on what a news magazine can teach them.

Sesame Street: Platinum All-Time Favorites (Music CD)

Sesame Workshop. (2010).  Sesame Street: Platinum All Time Favorites.  Children's Music

The Sesame Street album was produced in 1995, rereleased in 2010 and contains many of the classic and famous songs from the hit television show.  This CD is filled with fun songs such as "Rubber Ducky", "'C' Is for Cookie", "Bein' Green" and many more.

This CD has made the rounds over the years as a perineal favorite of parents with young children.  It builds on the classic show that many people grew up with and allows parents a way to introduce simple, fun songs to their children while also helping them learn.  Songs on the CD such as "ABC-DEF-GHI" teach about letters of the alphabet as well as how they make words and can be pulled together in different ways. "Bein Green" by Kermit the Frog sings to children about maybe not always being happy about being yourself, but you are still you in the end.

A drawback to this CD is that the CD has a mix of fast and slow songs as well as some that are just for fun while others teach lessons and there is no specific organization as to how they were placed. This takes away some from learning lessons together or wanting quieter or slower songs versus upbeat and loud. 

This CD has a mix of different musical styles and instruments.  At times there are more percussion based sounds such as xylophone and drum beats as well as guitar and piano.  This CD does a great job of incorporating the different sounds and teaching kids to recognize some different styles of music.

The lyrics are very clever and interesting for this CD, they are sung by the different Sesame Street characters so children can recognize who is involved by listening and watching the show.  Each of the specific songs such as "I love Trash" and "C is for Cookie" are sung by the specific character they relate to--i.e. Oscar the Grouch-who lives in a trashcan and Cookie Monster who loves cookies.  The lyrics are very smart and on point and when listening, it feels as if the characters are there singing it to you.
For educators, this CD can help to teach lessons to children as well as just give them fun music to dance and move to in the classroom.  Upbeat songs on the track such as "'C' Is for Cookie" and "Lambaba" are very entertaining and can be used to get a class moving around and provide a break from regular activities while teaching little lessons as well, such as counting numbers and learning words.

For children, this CD is just a fun piece that allows the kids the time to learn and hear fun songs and for many, hear favorite characters from the TV show that they watch.  As it does connect to the TV show, this can be a filler when kids aren't able to watch as well as just be its own child based entertainment so they have songs just for them to listen to in the car or at home.  It appeals to all different children and also employs both kinestetic learning as well as sound learning to play or sing along and learn new things.  It is a great tool for listeners to get involved and helps them remember different things by remembering their Sesame Street friends singing all about it.  It is very clear why this CD has sold so many copies and is a favorite among parents and children alike.

Curse of the Blue Tattoo (Audiobook)

Meyer, L.A. (2004) Curse of the Blue Tattoo.  San Diego, CA: Harcourt Publishing

     Audiobook Narrated by Katherine Kellgren--Released 2008  Audio Length: Unabridged-14 hours 13 Minutes.

 Curse of the Blue Tattoo is the second novel in the Bloody Jack series that follows the adventures of Jacky Farber, an orphan in 18th Century London.  The audiobook is a great listen for any kid in the car on a long trip and captures the tale as Meyer wrote it.

The audiobook is in unabridged format and the book is easy to listen and fall into.  Katherine Kellgren is an excellent reader for this particular book.  Curse of the Blue Tattoo is written in first person and Kellgren adopts a cockney accent to essentially become Jacky for the reader.  As speakers change in the text, Kellgren changes her accent and pitch to bring life to the new character and it is not the same tone the whole way through the novel.  The narration fits this book because it captures how the characters may have sounded during 18th Century London.  Kellgren uses her shifting voices and tones to narrate how the different characters speak and shows the differences between them using her voice.

The story is also such a great adventure that it makes the reader(listener) want to stay tuned for the full fourteen hours.  Kellgren continues to make the action come to life as the pirates discover exactly who Bloody Jack is and Jacky's new struggle conquering a girl's school and many other challenges.

For this particular audiobook, sound effects were not used.  The whole narration is only Kellgren reading the text.  However, as she is presenting a book in audio format, this simplistic style works because she can then use her words to illustrate the action and tone of voice is used to guide readers into what is happening and how it should feel.  There is no feedback on the audio version and makes this book a very good listen.

This audiobook is an Odyssey Award Honor recipient for 2009 which is given by the ALA for the best audiobook for adults and young adults.  This is not Kellgren's first honor as her reading of Bloody Jack-the first book in this series received the Odyssey Award Honor in 2008.

This audiobook would be a great tool for educators to allow students to see books in different formats and allow them to almost imagine the words off the page as they listen to Kellgren.  It is a great tool for struggling readers to be able to keep up with class readings while also promoting many different book titles. Having a book read instead of doing the reading has the ability to also teach students how to pronounce different words or notice the cultural differences in how words are said. With this book's setting in London, there are words that may be pronounced differently than usual and educators can use this tool to help readers recognize those words and learn them the right way, the first time.

For readers, this book is aimed at 8-12 years old.  It encompasses adventure that many will enjoy as well as the unique twist with the young orphan being a girl trying to survive on pirate ships and 18th century London.  Many will enjoy Kellgren's style of reading the book and bringing Meyer's characters to life.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Graphic Novel)

Satrapi, Marjane. (2004) Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.  Pantheon.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is a graphic novel autobiography of Marjane Satrapi's experiences growing up in Iran before and during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.  Through the artwork and words, it tells her story of school, family and what it was like to be young in a country full of termoil.

Satrapi illustrates her life through the different blocks of picture and text that fill the pages of the novel.  It is a strong representation of what her life was like and she does her best to paint an honest picture of her feelings and thoughts during her childhood.

The drawings within Persepolis show Marjane as she grows up and give an interesting depiction that is not present in any other format.  The picture blocks tell their own story of a young girl that faces difficult times and seem to express her feelings without adding the words.  The drawing blocks that make up Persepolis are not uniform by any means and really create a sense of a child telling the story which, while written by an adult, is the story of a childhood.

The writing by Satrapi is in a conversational style that reaches readers and helps the book seem like a simple story telling.  It is easy to understand and follow and feels as if the author is reaching out to each reader and making it an adventure to find out what is next in her story.

Educators can use graphic novels in general as great learning tools for struggling readers.  It can help them see what is interesting and add pictures and conversational text to break up the words and be easier for comprehension.  This book in particular can be more than for reading.  It is a great tool to teach about historical events and looking at the difference in being a child in the United States during the 1970s and in Iran in the 1970s.

Readers aged 9-12 and older will enjoy this book but may struggle to understand some of the events that take place.  The strict ideas of the country Satrapi is writing about make seeing her culture a new experience for some readers.  While the book is mature for readers, it is a very strong story and many will enjoy it.

Between These Pages (Blog)

Between These Pages--Book Reviews for Children's Books

betweenthesepages.wordpress.com

This blog is dedicated to reviewing different children's books from Easy Readers, to Picture Books, to independent reader choices.

The blog is written by an elementary school teacher that wants to provide thoughtful and solid information on different books that are out there for kids. In her own words, she realized that there is no guidance for what is contained within different children's books and therefore wanted to provide a clear rating that evaluated the same criteria in each book reviewed to give a clear picture about what it is about.  She makes a disclaimer as to the fact that these are her opinions about the selected texts and viewers may have different feelings. 

The blog ran from July 2010 to December 2010 and listed a large number of reviews for different children's books including variations of The Nutcracker, Dinosaur books, Teen interests and many more.  The very clear aspect that is a big bonus to her reviews is that she writes each one in the same format.  She gives a summary of the work, her opinions and then has a basic list of information that she believes it is important to include that answers questions about stronger themes within the text such as sex, nudity, dating, profanity, violence and others.  This gives a clear picture about what the book is about and allows the reader to evaluate if it is good or bad for their child/teen.

The blog also does posts on story variations.  There were a series of posts about the Nutcracker story and different tellings so blog readers can see the differences and similarites between each story.  There is also a later post that breaks down interesting books on dinosaurs for different level readers.

A downside to the author's reviews is that she avoids writing about series books.  Popular series are books of a style that are read over and over and it could be important to include those so when kids read the same series, it is clear what they are getting into each time they open the book.

This blog has no timeline of when books are reviewed.  It could be old books or new books or whatever the author feels like reviewing at that point.  Because there is no guidance, this can be a bit confusing, but it still provides quality, well written reviews about different books and covers a wide range of topics.

There have been no new posts for over a year and of the posts written, there are not many comments so it is not an active blog.

If an educator is looking, this blog can provide some solid information on resources for your classroom and books that different students may enjoy.  Because the author of the blog adds tags to the work, it is easy to find recommendations based on different subjects.  This blog could definitely be an asset to any classroom adding books.

For readers, this blog is an easy way to find that next great read as well as learn about different variations of works and age ranges so they can find the perfect fit.