I'm enchanted! I just finished reading this book and it was lovely! The art was fascinating; the life of E. B. White was fascinating. I want to send this book to my friend Tara because she would love it. The book really highlights the simple life and the pleasures of days gone by.
This is a biography of famous children's author E. B. White. And it answered my most burning question: what does the E. B. stand for again? It talked about his name and how what he went by changed a bit as he grew up. But this book did so much more that that.
The book dug into all of the parts of White's life that were most interesting to me. How he grew up, how he became a writer, what he wrote besides the three children's books he is best known for, and some of the backstory on those books. I loved that the book showed (truly, with writing samples) that White was a writer from a young age. I loved the quotes from White that were sprinkled throughout, especially the quote about not trying to convince anyone of your love for chickens. I had to call my mom and read her that one. And I think that is part of the reason that she bought Some Writer. Mostly, I just loved looking at this book! Every page had either a fascinating piece of information or a beautiful little piece of art by Melissa Sweet and most pages had both in abundance.
I found this book inspiring. Here's how it inspired me: I want to go canoeing! I want to write poetry! I want to start a children's literary magazine. I want to learn more about E. B. White and more about Melissa Sweet, who authored this gem of a book.
Today I will be reviewing a couple of the Animal Bites books published by Animal Planet.
First some quick stats: both of these books are by Laaren Brown. Both are 80 pages long, including all the backmatter. Both are nice big books, measuring just over 8 inches wide and 11 inches high.
Now, why do I mention how big they are? It's because my favorite thing about these books was the large photo illustrations. Some charts and collages are included in the book, but I'd say the average page has a nice big photo of an animal on it, and other photos and facts spread around the page.
My least favorite thing about these books would have to be that I felt they were kind of scattered. What I mean is they contained lots of interesting facts, but I didn't feel like I became more of an expert by reading these books. Obviously these are non-narrative books. So it's unfair for me to say that they didn't engage me in a story. But I also feel like they weren't structured in a way that I could even remember what I had read.
I dug deeper into this feeling, because I really wanted to like these books! They are beautiful, and I received a copy of each one from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Here's what bothered me, that I could put my finger on.
I found the page headings to be remarkably unhelpful. "Doctor in the house" is the heading for the page about powder blue surgeonfish. "Letting off steam" heads a page about Hydrothermal vents. It seems to me that English idioms are serving where descriptive titles would serve better.
A particularly ambiguous sidebar in the ocean animals book annoyed me. It poses the question, "Bottom-dwelling bud?" next to an anglerfish, and has check boxes for yes and no. No is marked. I was confused. Anglerfish are definitely bottom dwellers. I read the explanation to the side, "An anglerfish may look alluring, but it's just trying to find some food to eat." I didn't really know what to make of this. Apparently the question being posed was not, "Is this a bottom dwelling animal?" but "Would this animal make a good friend for you?" And that seems like definitely the less useful question to go after. Why are we even bothering with that question?
On the next page found the text uninspiring. We are presented with six snapshots of underwater animals, and this is the text we get:
Weird and cool
There are thousands of varieties of fish and ocean creatures. Some look cool, some look weird and some look just a little scary.
Hmm. So when I look at these pictures, am I supposed to be classifying them as either weird, cool or scary? That seems like a really subjective and pretty pointless exercise. This text doesn't draw my attention to anything specific about the pictures—it doesn't encourage me to closer observation. This text doesn't add anything to my knowledge about these pictures—I don't feel any more educated than I was before. I'm guessing that a Dumbo Octopus is significantly larger than a Fringeback Nudibranch. But I don't know that, and they're both presented to me in a 2.5 inch square image.
Who would I recommend these books to? I would recommend them to families that mostly just want good, big pictures of animals. There were some really cool and interesting pictures in them. I would not recommend these books for their writing. I confess (and you can probably tell from my review above) that I just enjoyed the pictures in the polar animals book and didn't look too closely at the words, once I could see they were the same caliber.
What other non-fiction books do I recommend? Check out the narrative non-fiction roundup I did back in March. Also, check out National Geographic Readers.
If you'd like to shop these books or read more reviews, here are some links:
Levi likes the National Geographic Kids series a lot, and has decided to collect them. They're definitely simpler, shorter (32 pages) and smaller (9''x5'') than the Animal Planet books, but I prefer them.
Do your kids get picky about the non-fiction they read? What are the favorite animal books in your house?
Design Mom: How to Live with Kids: A Room-by-Room Guide by Gabrielle Stanley Blair
What a great book! I tagged its pages in three different categories throughout, as you can see. I'll tell you all about it! But let's begin at the beginning.
Reading this book was a lot of fun. I requested it from the publisher, Artisan, because I love reading Gabrielle Blair's blog: Design Mom. I would say if you like the blog, it is a safe bet you will like the book. The book isn't exactly like the blog. The book reminds me most of Design Mom posts like this one, about Christmas stockings.
But what if you don't already read Design Mom? Let me tell you more about the book.
It is very conversational in tone. It is a pleasure to read, and feels like a chat with a friend. The only problem with that is that it wasn't *actually* a conversation so I couldn't ask the author to tell me MORE! I mean, I could have read double as much. Wanting more—more stories, more details—was my only complaint with the book. And that's not really a complaint, it's a compliment.
I loved the photos, all gorgeous and lovely, even when they didn't suit my personal design tastes. Some photos took up a whole two-page spread! A feast for the eyes. This reading nook looks so inviting . . .
This is the kind of lovely photography we are talking about.
Photo by Seth Smoot, styling by Kendra Smoot for Design Mom.
The book is all about designing your home to meet your family's needs—assuming you have kids. That's cool because I have kids (currently ages six, four, and one). The Blair family has six children ranging in age from high school to preschool. (You may know them from my favorite online video series, Olive Us.) Because she has kids in a wide spread of ages, Gabrielle can share from experience needed contingencies for older kids, for younger kids, and for when older and younger kids need to work together in a space.
Each room detailed in the book is broken down into snippets of advice—sometimes one page, sometimes a two-page spread. At times the advice is very concrete: "Let Your Coats Come Out of the Closet" is a snippet in the section of the book about the entryway. It makes a case for displaying your coats in your entryway, instead of keeping them in a closet. Other times, the advice Design Mom gives is quite abstract: "Aim for Function + Beauty" is a section dedicated to a formula for getting rid of clutter and surrounding yourself with items that will bring you joy and make your life easier.
Now, let me tell you about my sticky notes.
Thought about cropping this photo but then the dalmatian on the floor just matched so perfectly...
The purple notes mark pages I want to talk to my family about. Conversations to Have or Things To Do Immediately. They are things like "Choose Dinnerware that will Grow Up with Your Family"—our dinnerware is definitely not coming with us when we move this summer, so I know replacing our dinnerware is an impending project. And I know I need to tell Jacob, so that he won't be surprised by that. Another example that I have tagged is a Do-It-Yourself project of making a "You are Special Today" plate. We had one of these when I was a kid, and it was the best! I definitely want to have one of these in my house, and don't want to shell out for a replica of the one I grew up with. I've looked into it, and . . . no. I'm not much of a DIYer but all the projects in this book are super simple and practical. I've already used tips from the "Foolproof Tricks for Styling Your Bookshelves" and "Simplify Your Bedding" sections. (EDITED TO ADD: I have now completed two projects from the book, which you can see here and here!)
The pink notes mark pages that I found myself thinking about when I wasn't reading the book—great ideas that I thought I could put into practice once we move to Connecticut, or just concepts I found myself mulling over while eating my morning bowl of cereal. For example, "Storing Artwork and Homework" is often on my mind at breakfast, because I sit and stare at the pile of stuff on top of our craft dresser as I munch. Gabrielle's advice from the section on task lighting came to mind when I was squinting over a project. And the Fabric-covered Bulletin Boards look so easy that I want to make several for our new place, once we get there. But I'm absolutely not hanging anything new on my walls nine weeks before we move.
The little mantra that this book gave me and which has been playing in my head ever since is, "Do what works now." It is reminding me to not tackle projects like the bulletin boards yet. It tells me not to give away the couch until we're a little closer to our moving date. And it is inspiring me to go whole hog for rearranging the furniture to shift where the library books belong, so that they belong right next to the couch where they always end up anyway.
The yellow notes represent times that I gave myself a pat on the back for already being awesome. By that I mean that these were the parts of the book where Gabrielle suggests doing something that I'm already doing. "Rotate the Toys" and "Don't Hide the Hamper" were sections I could have written myself, having learned those lessons from experience. "Play the House Librarian" is also marked in yellow because, well, that's pretty much my favorite thing to do. (You can find my posts about building a high quality home library for kids here.)
I'd say if the idea of Design Mom: How To Live With Kids: A Room-by-Room Guide intrigues you or appeals to you, go for it! It's $21 on Amazon right now. It's the same price at Barnes and Noble. (Yes, those are affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking them, I will earn a small commission from the bookseller.)
Good grief, I like it enough that I'm going to give a copy away!
(Not my copy. My beautiful annotated copy. It's miiiiiine. And signed.)
[This giveaway is now CLOSED, but you can still sign up here for future giveaways] If you would like to enter the giveaway, I'll need your email address before April 22, 2015 . It's infinitely easier to contact a winner when I've already got an email in hand. And the most private and convenient way for me to get that is for you to subscribe to my email list, below. I promise I won't bug ya. You can read more about my email list here. You can read the full giveaway policy here. Those who already subscribe are also eligible to win.
You should get a confirmation email from me via MailChimp. Confirm your subscription and you know you are entered.
Now tell me your thoughts! What questions do you have? Leave a comment, below.
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To be clear: I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher with the understanding that I would review it here. I am not being provided with a copy to give away.** I'm just going to buy a copy for someone who wants it. I'll probably use my own affiliate link. Ha!
**update: Artisan has graciously sent a copy for our winner. Congrats to Jenni Livingston! And many thanks to Artisan.
right now. It's the same price at 
. (Yes, those are affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking them, I will earn a small commission from the bookseller.)