The Handiest Things in the World

The Handiest Things in the World is an intriguing compare-and-contrast book about using tools. The idea is that there are many things we can do with our hands, but we can do the same things more efficiently by using the proper tool for the job. Examples: Eat with your fingers, or with chopsticks. Shade your eyes with your hand, or with a hat. Mix dough with your hands, or with a mixer.

The concept of the book is very Montessori-friendly. Having the right materials for each task is key. It's also quite pretty -- an oversized full-color photograph illustrates each job done with the hands, and on the opposite page, done with the tool. Charlie loves it, even if he's a little bit too young to understand the underlying concept of the book.

I definitely recommend this book, but there are two things that I wish were a bit improved. First, all of the text of the book rhymes, but many of the rhymes are trite or fudged. ("Digging in and scooping down. Let's move lots of dirt around.") Second, not all of the hand-tool connections make a lot of sense. For example, chopsticks are a tool to help you eat, but how many small children actually can eat more efficiently with chopsticks than with their fingers? For another example, one page shows a child counting on his fingers, then using a calculator. I think at the ages this picture book would be interesting, most kids don't understand what a calculator does. Then again, other examples are much better, such as catching a butterfly in a net, and sweeping with a broom.

Despite those few reservations, I love this book. It's an interesting concept that I haven't seen in many (any?) other children's books, and Charlie always enjoys it.

The Lion & the Mouse

Charlie sometimes gets angry when I try to discuss a book with him, page by page, instead of reading the printed text. "Sing it, Mommy!" he demands.

To get around this problem, I went out and bought a bunch of picture books with no words. As soon as he figured out that there was no printed text to read, he became much more engaged in thinking through the stories himself.

The Lion & the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney, is our favorite wordless book at the moment. The only words written on the pages are a few animal sounds: "Screech" for an owl and "Roar" for the lion and so forth. The watercolor paintings are so expressive that the well-known story is clearly told. Charlie and I talk about what happened and what will happen next as we turn the pages, and also about how the characters might be feeling. The pictures are also quite rich with detail in the backgrounds and the expressions of the animals. This book won the 2010 Caldecott Medal, and in my opinion, it was well deserved.

The story of the Lion & the Mouse is also a worthy one. It's a tale of unexpected friendship and repaying one good turn with another. These are lessons that I'm happy to teach to my son.

EyeLike Nature: Leaves

The EyeLike series uses amazingly beautiful photography of natural objects to tell stories and teach concepts. These have been some of our favorites, though Charlie is still too young for many of the more advanced EyeLike books. Perfect for the one-year-old set, though, are the four board books in the EyeLike Nature series: Leaves, Sticks, Stones, and Snow. For no discernible reason, Charlie fell in love with Leaves while merely liking Sticks and Stones. Understandably, since we live in Atlanta, he could never really relate to Snow. In my view, all four of them are lovely.

Each page features a colorful photo of a child interacting with some form of leaves. There are leaves growing on plants, fall leaves on the ground, piles of leaves, even a child eating salad for lunch. The text consists of a simple sentence or phrase for each picture, such as "There are leaves in my garden." I soon had the text memorized, but the pictures are so gorgeous to look at that I was rarely bored when rereading it multiple times.

Charlie also enjoys creating art projects with the various sets of EyeLike Stickers.