Toys and Games Books

Noelle of the Nutcracker by Pamela Jane (with illustrations by the inimitable Jan Brett) is one of those books that I seem to have had forever. Copyrighted in 1986, my hardcover copy has been on my bedroom bookshelf since before I can remember. Needless to say that I did not remember much of the story. Happily, though, it is a fast read and I was able to finish it in a day. I dare say there are families somewhere who read this book every Christmas season the way others read Twas the Night Before Christmas and A Christmas Carol (if not, there should be).

There are two main characters in this book. One is a doll named Noelle and the other is a little girl, Ilyana. At the beginning of the story, the characters have one thing in common: they both think Noelle is wonderful.

When Ilyana and her second grade class go to visit Bugle's toy store, Ilyana is captivated by Noelle the beautiful ballerina doll that can stand in all five ballet positions and even has jointed knees and ankles. Ilyana knows her family could never afford such an expensive doll, which is fine. At least until spoiled Mary Jane decides vows that she'll get Noelle for Christmas from her rich father.

Unbeknownst to either little girl, Noelle doesn't want to be owned by anyone. While the other toys dream of being loved and held by real children, Noelle yearns to be discovered and become a dancer on stage. Noelle knows she is destined for fame when a man comes into Bugle's and buys Noelle to be a part of a production of the Nutcracker ballet. But, as Noelle painfully learns, being discovered doesn't always mean fame. And it almost never takes the place of being loved.

Noelle's story is intertwined seamlessly with Ilyana's and, to a lesser extent, Mary Jane's. As the girls get ready for their school pageant, it becomes clear that sometimes it takes more than money to make a wish come true. Sometimes, especially at Christmas, it also takes a little magic (and in this case maybe a few coincidences).

Sometimes when I read books with a child character they feel too young-I'm sure a child would enjoy them but sometimes I have a hard time relating to them on the same level of enjoyment. This book is not like that. The story is short and easy to follow, but it remained enjoyable for me reading it at the age of twenty-two. Jan Brett's illustrations also, of course, add a lot of dimension to the story (although being familiar with Brett's color-illustrated picture books I was a little sad to see the drawings were not in color). After reading the story and once again turning to the cover it's amazing to see how perfectly Brett captured Pamela Jane's vision of Noelle.

This is one of those classic Christmas stories (like the one that I mentioned earlier) that offers a nice shot of holiday spirit along with a message that's worth remembering all year.

Jan Brett is a wonderful author and, even more so, a phenomenal artist and illustrator. Her characters are playful and fun and easily loved by her young readers. My grandaughter's favourite, Annie and the Wild Animals, has been read a hundred times. I've collected a number of Jan Brett's books and hope to pass them on to my great grandchildren!!!

This is a book that makes you think back to your own childhood. To times that were simpler, sweeter, and full of dreams. The writing is a dream, and the story is perfect for the little girl on your Christmas list. What little girl today, even in the age of computers and scooters, doesn't love a doll, one, doll, a special doll, more than anything else? Pamela Jane captures the mystery of childhood, the dream of dance, and the promise of the imagination.

This is a very sweet book with the right amount of repetition for our 17 month old boys - they bring me this book along with Each Peach Pear Plum (another Ahlberg creation) to read to them....over and over and over.

This is one of the great ones. At one level Peepo is geared to very small children. Each page gives us a different glimpse of a baby's day, as the adults in his world go about their obscure yet urgent tasks. Our initial view of each full-page illustration is through a big hole in the centre of the page. A rhyming text describes the picture, and asks "what does he see?". The beautiful pictures are full of the gentle humour and double takes that are an Ahlberg trademark and their depiction of family life is dead on. My favourite is the two little sisters fiercely contending for the right to hold baby, even as he pulls the victor's hair and does just about everything else he can to make her rue that victory. The text is sweet and simple, never cloying, and perfect for small children, with lots of repetition, rhyme and rhythm, yet enough variety to keep things interesting. It talks to the child the way I wish more adults would, in a forthright, yet sympathetic (and not patronizing) tone. That baby is priceless, and his antics alone are worth the price of admission.

What puts Peepo into the "great book" category, for me, however, is the deeper answer it seems to pose to the question "what does he see?". For the illustrations hint at a story far deeper and darker than the words suggest, and seemingly targetted at adults, not children. It's easy to ignore these hints at first, but as they accumulate Peepo begins to feel more like an glimpse into an Eddic realm than a toddler one.

I use this book as an intelligence test on my friends, since about 90% of them cannot detect this hidden story and miss the hints. It is also an interesting small group exercise, since a team of 4 or 5 working together can usually eventually work out there is something much more to the pictures than initially meets the eye.

I think Peepo is a powerful illustration of the argument that we refuse to see what won't match our preconceptions, since there are things in the Peepo illustrations I have never ever seen in another book aimed at small children, yet these just don't register the first few times you look at the book. Most people don't (and perhaps can't) answer "what does he see" correctly.

Peepo's hidden message is all the more powerful for its poignant subtlety. Lots of authors have tried to say what Peepo does, but none has ever succeeded so brilliantly, in my estimation. And those who succeed in decoding Peepo may find themselves confronting bigger questions, such as why is that message so hard for us to receive and what drove the creators to bury their treasure so deep, and with such incredible art?

I have never read another small children's book that has haunted me like Peepo. Once decoded, it leaves an aftertaste more reminiscent of e.e. cummings than more typical toddler fare. And "solving" it only multiplies the mysteries. Yet mysteries aside, it is a wonderful book for small children. I have had great fun reading it to the 2- and 3-year- olds in my life. Its hints of a darker world-drama beyond the crib never once overshadow the brilliant beauty and innocence of this book, at least for the young children it will be read to.

I strongly recommend this book for small children, particularly in the board book format for those who like to try to tear books (although the larger illustrations in the softback format are nicer). Some 4-year-olds and up may fancy themselves too sophisticated for it.

This is a book I often send as a gift for new babies. My son is two and a half and has loved to have this book read to him since he was a few months old. The concept is what a baby can see. The story is told in a catchy rhyme which is fun to read (a plus for the parent who reads a lot of books to their child!) and easy to listen to. The board book has the added attraction of cut out round holes to give us the baby's view of the world - 'Peepo!'. For the baby or toddler listening to the story this is a bonus as they can put their hands through the hole and add a new sensation to the experience. The illustrations themselves give a nostalgic view of working class family life in post-war Britain. They are crammed with detail and give the child plenty to look at and for while listening to the story. The best kind of story reading experience for the very young child.

I homeschool my 7 year old son,and this is a great book for him learning science. I have been using it for the last month and my son has learned alot. I would recommend this to anyone that wants there child to learn about science. It teaches everything they need to know for 2nd and 3rd grade.

It is hard to find a science book like this for lower elementary. I did not really want a "textbook" for my 2nd grade homeschooled daughter, but I wanted something more than another science experiment book where I had to do all the explaining. This is very straight forward, requires her to read the information for herself, and includes some kind of experiment with a written exercise. The 27 chapters could easily take you through a school year and could be grouped into units with extra reading from the library.

I love the way this book combines SIMPLE experiments with great information! One of the best science books I've found for the younger elementary grades. Covers many areas with simple to understand language and end-of-section content reviews. Also, the way the book is arranged, it's easy to skip around to different sections depending on what you may be doing in other areas of homeschool at the time. Great supplement to any science curriculum!

This product is an excellent resource for both the experienced and non-experienced teachers. I would even go as far as to say that it's scope does not end with kindergarten. The scripted conversations/lessons are verbatim for a model lesson. We used this as a book study for our kindergarten teachers.

Not only have I read Rosalie Franzese's book, I return to it constantly. Her ideas are remarkable. Put simply, they work. I'm taking her class right now, and 'observing' in NYC PS 19 (elementary), where she is coordinating numerous aspects of the school's transition from a phonics based literacy program to a balanced literacy approach. (Rosalie puts us to work! It gives us a chance to see this stuff in action, and to try it out.)
Her book though - extremely clear, well researched, proven techniques for helping kindergarteners learn to read. And frankly, the techniques she outlines for kindergarten instruction can be used (perhaps slightly modified) in the entire elementary school, at least. Her book combines the most positive and beneficial aspects of phonics and whole language instruction, and offers a balanced approach that works.
If you like this book, also look at Marie Clay's Observation Survey of Early Literacy Acheivement. (It's more or less what eclas is based on, for all you NYC-ers.)

I applaud all Kinder teachers, as a first year kinder teacher, this book was definetly one to read from cover to cover.
A veteran teacher recommended it to me. Wonderful insights and tips into helping students become emergent readers and writers.

This wonderful book will please Sasha doll collectors and doll lovers the world over. Written in German with an excellent English translation it gives a clear history of Sasha Morgenthaler's life and her work in creating dolls and mannequins. The photographs are absolutely stunning and include pictures of Sasha herself, some of her sculptures, some photographs of the toys she made for her children and of course the wonderful photographs of many of the Studio dolls which were made by Sasha Morgenthaler.

The book is a beautifully produced hardback printed on thick quality paper and it is very moving to read it because so much love has gone into its production. The book includes chapters full of fascinating detail about Sasha Morgenthaler's life and work and towards the end there is a very moving description of family life by her daughter.

This is an heirloom book for anyone who loves the dolls that Sasha Morgenthaler created and it will be a treasure on your bookshelf for many years to come.

This magnificent oversized book contains the story of Sasha Morgenthaler's life along with many gorgeous color photos of studio dolls made by Morgenthaler herself in her studio. The dolls are shown with the original costumes made by Morgenthaler from fabrics she recovered from items no longer used. This book is an art book as the dolls shown are pieces of art. One never tires of reading it and dwelling on one after another example of the fine work of this doll artist.

This is a beautiful coffee table type book on the Sasha dolls. The pictures of the dolls and their outfits are absolutely stunning. If you are a collector of dolls and especially of the Sasha dolls, you have to own this book! Not only does this over-sized book have full sized color photos of all of the Sasha dolls since the beginning, it also tells in detail the life story of Sasha Morgenthaler and her dream for the Sasha dolls.

My kids got tired of their toys. i got tired of buying them new ones. So I found this book and discovered through it....new uses for the toys they already had. It was like buying all new toys. I cannot recommend this book enough if you don't want to go out and buy new toys. And, it teaches kids the science behind the toys, which is an added benefit.

I bought this book at a bookstore and liked the content. It is a very easy to use book to use with children. I have used it with my kindergarten kids and my kids who are older at home. There are so many good ideas and concepts to learn that even we teachers can learn from it! I like the book very much...in fact so much that I am going toget this author's other books through Amazon!

My kids got tired of their toys. We do not have the money to buy new ones, so my eye caught this book. I LOVE IT!!!. The book gives a whole new adventure to our kids toys. They not only learned some important science concepts with them...they now look at all of their toys and try to think of other ways to use them. This book saved me money and taught my children some important academics! I highly recommend!

My 2-year old son LOVES Sesame Street and he loves this book. Elmo, Zoe, Oscar, Cookie Monster and Big Bird are all "hiding" and when you open the flap, they appear. This book brings smiles and laughs to my little one all day long. In fact, I have had to buy a 2nd copy because the 1st copy is so worn and torn!

My daughter is 1 and loves this book! I recommend it 1000%. It is short and fun. It is a perfect little book.

We bought this book for our 15 month old grandson for Valentines Day. He can't put it down! He brings it to us when we visit and we read it over and over. It's a much bigger hit than Valentine's candy!!!

This book has many reproduceable copies for test practice in preparation for CST and Star test for grade 2.

I was looking for a book that would help my son improve is math and reading skills and this book does a nice job. It also helps in language, science, and social studies. I would recommend this book.

I homeschool, and was concerned at the end of the year whether or not my kids were up to grade level. This booklet was great - it helped me identify any weak areas (thank goodness there weren't many). By the time my kids took the end of year test they were confident (so was I) and were able to breeze through without any nervousness or fear. I highly recommend this book regardless of where your kids are schooled...it will really help in the confidence area.

I am using the Spectrum books to homeschool my 1st and 4th graders. They seem to be working very well for us.

The entire Spectrum series (McGraw Hill Publishing) offers a comprehensive, incremental and grade appropriate workbook series at a value price.
Colorful,readily available, and useful for home instruction or supplemental study.

I'm homeschooling and I could go on the road with the Spectrum books. After trying several different curriculums, I stumbled across these books in the bookstore. They were an answer to prayer. There is an answer key in the back, so I haven't had to haul around a huge teachers edition. These books, all of them (we homeschool a 1st grader and 3rd grader and we use Spectrum Spelling, Writing, Reading, Language Arts, Vocabulary, Phonics, and Math) are exactly what we needed. My first grader LOVES the reading books. We ordered both, the regular Spectrum, and the one written by Mercer Meyer with the Little Critter characters. Childrens books (especially the ones written at her level) are SO expensive, and these reading books come with so many stories, and they have exercises for reading comprehension. I REALLY can't say enough. One thing I'd like to see them do? Add science and social studies/ history and geography to their mix... art and music while we are at it!!