This was utter nonsense!

I guess the title should have given fair warning, but I was still surprised at it. Maybe I was missing a lot, but I could not get anything out of these poems and was just hoping the book would finish quickly.

Really not my cup of tea.

~Little Black Classics 100~

Heir of Ra reads like an adventure novel. Sure, it is fast paced and there is not a dull moment with lots of things going on. It is also young adult. I know believe this is a combination that doesn't work for me.

The main character helps her father the archeologists at digs around the world, but is not present when one goes terribly wrong and her father and his team are poisoned when opening a special treasure in Egypt. She sets off after a valuable artifact which may or may not hold the antidote but is herself also hunted by people with guns. Lots of guns. She is also assisted by two other students.

I don't know. I don't think it was a bad book, but the story was way too unbelievable for me. (I have no problem with fantasy at all, but the many neat escapes these people manage is stretching my suspension of disbelieve a bit too far). The science-y part was rather more fiction than science, in case that puts you off.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Nonsense Show by Eric Carle has vivid illustrations of surrealism throughout the book. Birds think that it is silly for them to them fly and not swim and fish think swimming is absolutely preposterous. The text and illustrations are so quirky and fun! Upper and lower elementary grades would enjoy listen to and looking through the book. It would be great to collaborate with the art teacher and let student create their own pieces of surrealism to be displayed around the classroom. Students could write about what animals of people in their pictures would normally be doing and then what they are actually doing in the drawing or painting.

This book is so ridiculous - and that is what makes it great! B.J. Novak dared to be different. He created a funny and interesting book for children, but he wanted to make it with no pictures! This book is designed to make grownups sound incredibly silly. The text itself is bright and exuberant, and will hold the attention of young readers. I would allow my students to write an advertisement for this book and present it to their peers, the school librarian, or the principal. I think it would also be fun to write letters to Mr. Novak and thank him for writing this crazy book!

 

Read aloud by author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiiS2NDkfI4

 

Guided Reading - L

Lexile - 380L

DRA - 20

 

 

The Know-Nonsense Guide to Measurements:... The Know-Nonsense Guide to Measurements is a nice, basic introduction to units of measure. It does a good job of simply defining what the measurements actually measure, as well as give us a sense of scale. The illustrations are fun, the font is easy to read and well-spaced, and the definitions are kept as simple as possible.

There are occasional full-page illustrations that are a nice way to break up the information that’s being thrust at the reader. I particularly liked the representation of Dorothy and Toto. It was unexpected, but definitely made me grin.

The Know-Nonsense Guide to Measurements is very much just a basic introduction, though. While there are a few things listed for reference, there’s a lack of ‘try this’/’see for yourself’ type projects that I’m used to seeing in non-fiction educational books. I wish they were present in this one.
Overall, it’s a nice, cute beginning step to understanding measurements, but only that. While I might recommend it as supplementary material, it truthfully doesn’t seem worth purchasing for anything other than its cuteness value, considering the variety of other books out there that do what this sets out to do.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.