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Big Learning News 4-6-04 |
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Big Learning News
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Table of Contents New on biglearning.org Book Review We're a little late getting our first seeds planted this year, so I went looking for a children's gardening book to get us in the mood. Instead of the how-to I intended to buy, I came home with this gem. Imagine an aunt who tells stories about the most mundane things - a raccoon rambling along a path at dusk. Now imagine your aunt turns out to be Barbara Nichol, and when she talks, the raccoon story doesn't sound mundane; it sounds wondrous. Nichol's vignettes, mostly about a single garden space in Toronto, interweave the strange and ordinary, sprinkling botany and zoology throughout in a way that is never pedantic. In each chapter, Nichols is going along telling a story when she pauses in the narrative, saying, "Now, here's an interesting thing about trees." And then she tells you and you think, "Well, that is interesting," even if you knew it already. I'm not sure how many kids will be able to see past the lack of action and characters to appreciate the beauty of the writing, at least on their own. One Small Garden might make a good fireside read-aloud on cool spring nights, or a bedtime book for kids who are just about to decide they're too old for such things. Certainly worth a try. Web Site Here's a fun, free way to for kids to develop their model-building skills. Paper Toys offers models of famous buildings, cars, and other interesting things. You print the components directly from the site - most fit on a single sheet of paper. Kids can cut out the pieces, fold the tabs and glue them together, and they've got a solid little 3-D model. Most models look straightforward to put together, despite the lack of text instructions. The instructions do lack a picture of the finished model, but the "photos" link shows assembled versions of several of the popular choices.
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