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"The Well-Read Child" - 5 new articles

1. Updated Review Policy
2. Andy and Sam: Hide-and-Seek by Liesbet Slegers
3. Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach by Dianne de Las Casas, illustrated by Marita Gentry
4. Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 by Charles C. Mann
5. Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker
6. More Recent Articles
7. Search The Well-Read Child

Updated Review Policy

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm now a mom of two and enjoying every minute with my daughter and new baby boy. I've done a lot of soul-searching about this blog and continue to be dedicated to children's literature and literacy, but I've finally come to terms with the fact that with two kids and a full-time job, I just don't have as much time to dedicate to The Well-Read Child as I'd like. With that said, I'm not giving up the blog at all but want to streamline it's focus a bit and cut down on the number of review copies that sit on my shelf waiting to be reviewed.

Here's an updated review policy.


What types of books do you review?
I review books for children and young adults, but at this time am only accepting review copies of the following types of books:

• High-interest nonfiction for kids of all ages
• Books, both fiction and nonfiction, featuring multicultural characters
• Books geared specifically toward toddlers and babies 

If you have a book that fits within these categories, please e-mail me at thewellreadchild AT gmail DOT com.

From time to time, I will review other books, but I will send a specific request to a publisher or get a copy from the library. 

Do you review PDFs or ebooks?
No. I do not accept PDFs or ebooks for review. Part of the magic of reading is being able to flip through books and devour the material, especially if it's a book with illustrations.

Do you review self-published books? 
No. At this time, I am not accepting review copies of self-published books.  

Can you guarantee a review?
No. Acceptance of a book does not guarantee a review. Sometimes I choose not to review a book because it does not fit within The Well-Read Child's mission. I only spend time reviewing books that I like or books about which I have something to say. I'm always honest in my reviews, so you may expect to see negative reviews from time to time.

Questions? 
E-mail me at thewellreadchild AT gmail DOT com.

Andy and Sam: Hide-and-Seek by Liesbet Slegers

First published in the Netherlands in 2009, Andy and Sam: Hide-and-Seek is a super cute interactive book featuring a little boy named Andy and his "sometimes naughty" orange cat, Sam.

Composed of two-page spreads featuring different locations like Andy's bedroom and backyard and the zoo, readers are asked if they can find Sam who is always hiding somewhere. Once they find Sam, the book asks them to find other animals and objects in the spread. While there is no real story line, this book is a great way to introduce toddlers and preschoolers to new vocabulary words and to sharpen their visual skills and question/answer skills. 

My almost three-year-old can't get enough of the book and truly enjoys trying to find Sam. Sometimes you can only see his tail poking out from a hiding place, and other times, he's out in open but doing something funny like riding a polar bear's back at the zoo. Each time we read it, it seems like we discover something new in each spread.

Using this book is a great way to get your child to interact with books and a fun way to teach them new concepts.

Reading Level: Baby-Preschool | ISBN: 978-1-935279-35-8 | Publisher:  Kane/Miller, January 2010 | Source: Review copy from publisher

The Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child. All proceeds are used to buy brand new books for a local women and children's shelter.  

Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach by Dianne de Las Casas, illustrated by Marita Gentry

Growing up in the rich storytelling country of the Appalachians, I latched on to stories and folktales when I was very young. There's something quite magical about listening to someone tell you a story, and I especially love to hear retellings of old classics I heard when I was a child. That's why when Pelican Publishing sent a copy of Dianne de Las Casas's The Cajun Cornbread Boy, a retelling of the Gingerbread Boy, it became a fast favorite in our house. In fact, my daughter asks me to read it to her often and even makes me chase her while she says, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm full of cayenne."

So, when Pelican sent a copy of Dianne de Las Casas's newest book, Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, we were eager to crack it open. Set in New Orleans back in the day when chickens and roaches were friends, Madame Poulet (a chicken) and Monsieur Roach (a roach of course) were best friends. They live together and are supposed to forage for food together, but lazy Monsieur Roach decides to pretend to be sick and invites all of his roach friends over for a marvelous fête while Madame Poulet is out looking for food. When Madame Poulet catches on, she gets a bit of revenge, and it's the end of friendships between chickens and roaches forever.

This is the kind of story that is meant to be read and acted out loud. You absolutely have to sing the song that the roaches sing while Madame Poulet is out (set to the tune of "La Cucharacha"). While the story is mostly set inside the New Orleans house of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, Marita Gentry's illustrations give you colorful glimpses of New Orleans as Madame Poulet goes about her day foraging for food. With words and phrases like fête, madame, monsieur, and "Laissez les bons temps roule!" seamlessly sprinkled throughout, you get a sense of the city's Cajun culture. A glossary in the back defines all of the French words that are in the book.

This is the type of story you can really have fun with. Kids will laugh, especially at the stomach-turning ending.



The Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child. All proceeds are used to buy brand new books for a local women and children's shelter.

Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 by Charles C. Mann

"In Fourteen-Hundred Ninety Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." And he found a "new world" and "new people." But was this world and its people really new? Of course not! And chances are that unless your history books in school were written by anthropologists, you most likely were taught incorrect or incomplete information about the Americas before Columbus arrived. In fact, that may have been glossed over completely, and Columbus's "discovery" of America may have been the starting point of American history for you.

In Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491, Charles C. Mann sets the record straight with a compelling look at the peoples of ancient America. Based on findings presented his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Before Columbus answers three questions:

• How old was the "New World?"
• Why did Europe succeed?
• Were the Americas really a wilderness?

In answering these questions, readers are taken on amazing journey and learn some surprising facts. Stunning photographs, paintings, maps, and call-out boxes supplement the narrative and bring Native Americans and their stories to life.

This would make a perfect addition to a history class or home library. Highly recommended.






The Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child. All proceeds are used to buy brand new books for a local women and children's shelter.

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker

Holding a lifelong infatuation with archeology, I'm always watching shows or reading books about digs and discoveries. The quality of writing varies among the different books and programs. Sometimes it's way too technical. Other times it's boring and just presents fact after fact.

When Sally M. Walker's Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland was nominated for a Cybils award, I was eager to check it out, and I was delighted to see that it was well-written, engaging, and full of interesting information.

Written In Bone takes readers along the journey as scientists uncover skeletons and other artifacts from Colonial Jamestown, VA and Colonial Maryland. What makes this book exceptional are the stories it tells along the way. Not only do we learn more about the actual skeletons that were uncovered, but we learn about the way of life that was often brutal and even deadly during this period. For example, indentured servants were often abused as the bones of a young boy found hastily buried in a cellar revealed. Babies were often swaddled so much that they didn't receive important vitamins from sunlight and died in early infancy as revealed from the bones of an infant discovered in a lead coffin under a Maryland church.

The book takes readers through the excavation of the different skeletons and the process involved in determining key information about who they were, where they lived, and how they died. It never gets too technical and makes for a fascinating read.

If you get a chance to visit the DC area, a visit to the American Museum of Natural History to "meet" some of the skeletons and artifacts featured in the book. I got a chance to see it before I read the book and was pleasantly surprised to read more about some of them.

I highly recommend this book and think it may even inspire some readers to explore careers in forensic anthropology.

ISBN: 978-0-8225-7135-3 | Carolrhoda Books, 2009 | Source: Review Copy from Publisher

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