Presidents of the United States (A TIME ... Honestly, I think the first few pages of TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States need to be distributed out to adults. They contain a nice, easy to understand, refresher course on the Checks and Balances and the three branches of our government. There’s a few pages on each individual president. Each one contains a general story about their life and presidency. The information is laid out in a straightforward fashion with no embellishments.

On the left side of the pages you find quick reference information on them. This information is simple: Birth, Death, Political Party, Vice President, Wife, and Children.Even that can contain some interesting information! For example: We get bombarded with Democratic and Republican propaganda so much that it’s easy to forget that they weren’t always the all-powerful that they are now. Our first President was a member of the Federalist Party! Beyond that, how many of you remember that the Democrats and Republicans were originally one party? The Democrat-Republicans. Or that John Adams actually signed a bill to limit their power. (Wise man, that.) The right pages sometimes contain “Did You Know?” interesting tidbits.

The authors also helpfully include “Key Dates” with each presidency. These give readers a sense of other important events to ground the times certain presidents served in. There’s also a few key quotes from the presidents listed to. This one is particularly apt, given who the wee orange one who is the president-elect is.

“Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like Office Seeking.” Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th POTUS

Its simply written, yet it’s engrossing. There were lots of things I either did not know, or knew and had since forgotten. The best type of history book is the one that makes things interesting, and Time succeeds with this book. It contains everything from the layout of our branches of government, to past presidents and their first ladies. TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States lets young readers know more about the figurehead position of their country. It even contains an easy to read overview of the process of becoming president.

Enough's enough.

 

Back in Dec/Jan when all this was still going on I chalked it up to another bout of insanity from the lady who seems hell-bent on becoming the modern-day Nora Desmond, and let it lie.  But now this shit's gone too far.  Now even supposedly reputable sites like the Guardian are parroting this farce.

 

If you've been blissfully unaware of this latest insanity, Anne Rice- author auteur, Goddess of the Night, Mistress of Vampires, blahblahblah- went off the deep end again when she started pontificating all over the Amazon forums about the state of reviewing in general, and how everyone should have to reveal their secret identities in order to post reviews.  No more pseudonyms, aliases or screen names anywhere.  Naturally, a collection of fools, charlatans, frauds and crusaders fell over each other to be the first to pat her on the back about lending her name to the jihad against Teh Bulliez.  She was so tickled she couldn't stop sharing it on FB (here, here and here), ignoring the warnings given to her about the site in question to the point of deleting all comments about them yet left all posts from that site's contributors standing.  Because that site's history of abuse, doc-dropping and yeah- bullying, has nothing to do with nothing; what matters is they're kissing her ass here and now.  One should always focus on what's important.

 

You'll also notice that not only are the majority of them's talking about how happy they are about this are themselves doing so under false pretenses, the claims of Rice's victory over bullying amounts to a bunch of sound bites. All screenshots of her 'winning' posts are done so in a vacuum without context or reply; trust me when I tell you there's much more to the story.  And it doesn't make Rice look good.

 

I'll state with 100% certainty that any and all who run around the internet crowing about how Anne Rice showed those meanie-mean poopy-heads over on Amazon never read the entire thread.  It's pretty damn obvious TIME Magazine didn't.  Because a reading of it shows Rice getting her pop-culture intellectualism handed to her on a pretty regular basis.  For the sake of disclosure I'll admit to giving her a few lumps myself during the discussions.

 

The undercurrent here fools no one, least of all it's proponents who know they're full of shit.  That's why the vast majority almost never come out and say what's really on their minds: there should be no negative reviews posted.  Ever. (The article is satire but the comments are worth looking at).  And the few that do say so only highlights why the rest don't: it reveals them to be the whiny, spoiled, sniveling, entitled children they are.  After all, they're SOOPER-GENIUSES!  Everyone knows it; back when they were that sunflower in the third-grade play- even the teacher said so!!!  They've got a whole wall of participation trophies that confirms it!

Given Rice's well-documented history and complete denial of her own bullying, it was comically ironic to see this posted on her FB page to try and bolster her argument: Science Confirms Internet Trolls are Narcissistic, Psychopathic and Sadistic.

 

Another example of Rice's disconnect from her actions is seen in this FB exchange with one Dusty Lee.  Note how quickly Rice condescendingly changes the topic once she's been called on her previous bad behavior:

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LOVE this book! Love, love, love! The 3D is of a much higher quality than other 3D books I've come across, and it's set up just like a tour through a zoo, so the entire experience is delightful.

Plus, my students loved that it came with an extra pair of glasses so that they could go on this adventure together with a friend.

Without question, my favorite book I've come across in my adventures at the Scholastic warehouse.

Giveaway at Little Red Reads! http://littleredreads.blogspot.com/2013/04/time-for-kids-kids-in-kitchen-cookbook.html

The first thing that drew me to this cookbook is its sturdy construction and wire bound pages. Then once my kids came home from school I didn't get much of a chance to look at it since they wanted it. Which is always a good sign! This cookbook is kid approved. Each page has difficulty of the recipe, fun food facts, little known facts from Time magazine and the basic nutritional information, ingredients, serving size etc. The photos are sharp and take up much of the page since children are very visual.

My kiddos loved the "Here Comes Simon the Centipede" oreo dessert and poppy seed muffins best.

Mom's favorite is the after school snack section with easy to make and quick snacks for the family. My only wish is that there would have been a few more "just for fun" recipes instead of so many "more grown up" recipes. Make some designs out of fruit, give us bento box ideas.

But overall, we like!!

Thanks so much to Goodman Media for the book and for offering a giveaway!

Who says it’s only kids who want to know the answers to these questions? I lingered over this book, reading a couple of pages every day, for months, sharing whole paragraphs with my husband at the breakfast table, reciting key facts to my walking buddies, and telling total strangers on the train little tidbits from this delicious book. It answers such important questions as, “What Should You Do if You Run into a Bear in the Wild?” and “What fish communicates through farting?” and “What are some insects you can eat?” You just don’t get this kind of vital info in your fifth grade science class, though every kid longs to know the answers. Great photos and wonderful splashes of facts scattered on the pages combine with great questions and answers to make this a great choice for a long trip and an ideal book for those older reluctant readers.