Great Books For Kids ~ Fall 2020 #MySillyLittleGang

Author: Silvie October 20, 2020 1 Comment

My boys love to read so we are sharing with you today their favorite books. I hope this list of great books for kids helps you with any gift ideas you may need. As they are great for any occasion.

Great Books For Kids ~ Fall 2020

The Monstrous Me Collections by Natalie Reeves Billing

These two books are each written from two different perspectives which shows the readers that there are always different sides to a story. My little guy and I loved reading both of these books. It’s funny to watch him realize that not everything is always as he sees it. Let me tell you more about these books.

My Mummy is a Monster: My Children are Monsters (Monstrous Me Book 1)

The Monstrous Me series is a split perspective book looking at situations from another point of view to help children develop a sense of balance, roundedness, and wellbeing. Readers can literally and figuratively, turn the story on its head, and look at the very same situations from different angles. In this first book, ‘My Mummy’s a Monster’ an inquisitive little girl is convinced her mum is a monster. But, is she really? When we look through her mummy’s eyes, we see a very different story.

My Daddy is a Monster: My Kids are Monsters (Monstrous Me Book 2)

The Monstrous Me series is a split perspective book looking at situations from another point of view to help children develop a sense of balance, roundedness, and wellbeing. Readers can turn the story on its head and look at the very same situations from different angles. In this book, ‘My Daddy is a Monster’ an inquisitive little boy is convinced his dad is a monster. But, is he really? When we look through his daddy’s eyes, we see a very different story.

About The Author

Natalie Reeves Billing is a Liverpool lass with a spooky sense of humor, which often spills onto the page. She loves to write fantastical stories for young audiences and dabbles in poetry. Natalie spent most of her early career in the music industry as a performer and professional songwriter. This lead, almost inevitably, to storytelling.

Natalie is a fellow of the School of Social Entrepreneurs and a student of The Golden Egg Academy. She is mentored under the Lloyds Bank SSE program, with her literacy projects, and by Liverpool Editing Company.  She is published in several anthologies with her poetry and short stories, including Writing on the Wall and 8N Publishing USA, with its Winter Chills collection. She is currently developing a children’s animated series with her scriptwriting partner and delivering creative workshops throughout Merseyside. Natalie’s children’s books, My Mummy is a Monster, from the Monstrous Me collection, and Ben and the Bug, a story through the eyes of a germ, is out now on Amazon.

A Family Guide to Terrariums for Kids by Patricia Buzo

This is a great book for those kids who love doing things with their hands. And who love to see things come to life. My boys love helping me out in the garden so this book was totally up our alley. Each of them has made their own terrarium and love caring for it.

Design, plant, and grow a world of your very own—inside a terrarium! Including 15 unique, imagination-inspiring project plans, each accompanied by adorable, full-color photographs, kids and their grown-ups will discover how easy terrariums are to plant and grow. 

Kids love to create, imagine, and have fun. Nothing fulfills all three of those desires quite like designing and planting a terrarium. With the step-by-step project instructions found in A Family Guide to Terrariums for Kids, the results are beautiful, inspiring, and confidence-building. Making these little landscapes develops motor skills, spatial awareness, and provides a wealth of sensory input. The science behind the art is included with quick and simple lessons on ecosystem functions, the water cycle, and plant nutrition. But for kids, it’s all about being active and building something cool! Plus, when the project is complete, there’s a piece of living art to share with family and friends or display on a bedroom shelf.

With the terrarium plans found in A Family Guide to Terrariums for Kids, everyone in the family can tap their inner “science geek” to:

● Use multi-colored sand and succulents to craft a desert terrarium
● Plant, trim and tend a terrarium bonsai tree
● Build a peat bog filled with carnivorous plants
● Make an aquatic terrarium, complete with a marimo moss ball “pet”
● Design a prehistoric garden of air plants
● Create a plant-filled habitat for a praying mantis
● Grow a Japanese garden with living rocks

With information on selecting the best terrarium container, growing materials, decorative elements, tools, and plants, readers are primed for success that lasts long after the terrarium has been built. Terrariums combine imagination and creativity with a dash of hands-on science. And you get to play in the dirt! What could be better than that?

About the Author

Patricia Buzo is the owner and artist behind Doodle Bird Terrariums. From the age of 15, she had a successful career in fine art and mural painting, often choosing plants and nature as her preferred subject matter. Looking for a chance to work more closely with nature, Patricia founded her terrarium-making business in 2008, and through trial and error has become an expert in her craft. Both by experimentation and research, she perfected how to best create and care for planted terrariums, while at the same time using her artist background to create realistic miniature landscapes using live mosses and other tiny plant life. 

Just Watch Me! by Erin Silver

Since my two oldest love playing video games (honestly, what kid doesn’t?) this book was perfect for them. They are also big fans of technology class so that’s another win for them. This book is funny and has a great story line. It was a fast and easy read.

Twelve-year-old Simon Rosen has qualified for the Canadian Video Game Championships in Vancouver. His parents agree to take him if he can get straight As in school. Simon is sure this trip is exactly what his parents need to fall in love again. Unfortunately, Simon is enrolled in Technology, and the class isn’t what he expected. Instead of building robots, it’s a social media course! To get an A, he needs to create “engaging content” on his own live-streaming VideoKids channel. Simon accidentally streams one embarrassing video after another. Nothing goes right! The pressure mounts when it’s announced that only one student will get an A, pitting Simon against his best friend Jocelyn, who also needs an A. Things get worse when he has to confront two bullies who are out to get him. In this hilarious story about growing up in the social media era, one thing is for sure: Simon is in for the toughest semester of his life.

About the Author

Erin Silver has been writing professionally for nearly 20 years. Her work has appeared in everything from The Washington Post and Globe and Mail to Harper’s Bazaar and Good Housekeeping, among many other North American magazines, newspapers, and blogs.

Her middle-grade novel, Just Watch Me, placed third in the Uncommon Quest writing competition and will be published by Common Deer Press in October 2020. A picture book about the amazing ways kids around the world have helped during the pandemic will be published by Second Story Press on time for the holidays in 2020. Proud to Play, a non-fiction book for middle-grade kids about the experience of LGBTQ athletes in professional sports will be published by Lorimer in spring 2021. Her picture book, The Shiva, and Rush Hour, a middle-grade book about traffic, will be published by Orca in 2022.

Erin has a BA from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate journalism degree from Ryerson University, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from King’s College. She’s a member of CANSCAIP, SCBWI, IBBY, The Writers Union of Canada, and Authors Booking Service. Visit her online at erinsilver.ca.

Copycat Science by Mike Barfield

My youngest loves science, which is why this book was such a great hit! This book teaches you about many amazing scientists and great science experiments that go with each scientist. All in a fun comic book style. Truly a fabulous book that has given us many hands-on experiments that we love.

Science is entertaining… science is funny… science is downright ridiculous!

Explore the wacky world of STEM in this comic book of exciting experiments.

● Defy gravity with air pressure!
● Extract DNA from a living thing!
● Learn the science of SLIME!
● Create a lightning bolt in the dark!
● Prove theories about light with Newton’s wheel!

…and much more! Discover STEM topics through the lives of over 40 scientists and their amazing discoveries. Read the comic strips then have a go at each STEM experiment yourself. Featuring a diverse range of scientists throughout history this book will inspire you to give science a go! Are you ready?

About the Author

Ben Handicott studied linguistics and education before heading off to learn Vietnamese and Mandarin over a number of years living in Asia. On his return home, he published travel books for Lonely Planet. His books with Wide-Eyed Editions include Hello Atlas and Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World. Ben now looks to pass on his love of travel, food, and language to his own children.

Aretha Franklin (Little People, BIG DREAMS)

We love all the Little People, BIG DREAMS books. But the Aretha Franklin book is my favorite. I gotta say I love her music so maybe that’s why this is my favorite.

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Aretha Franklin, “The Queen of Soul.”

The fourth of five children, Aretha was born in Tennessee and took the stage at an early age in her father’s church choir. She went on to become the best-selling rhythm and blues singer of all time, and the first woman to be installed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the broadcaster’s life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

The B on Your Thumb by Colette Hiller

This is the first book that my niece runs to every time she comes over. She loves it when we read this together. This book is fun, engaging, and educative.

The B on Your Thumb is a book of 60 hilariously illustrated rhymes and delightful ditties to boost early reading—each poem teaches a specific sound, spelling, or rule. Using rhythm and wordplay, they promote phonics awareness, thinking skills, and literacy. But most of all, this book delights young readers with the fun and silliness of the English language.

This is a book where words like to play,
where letters get cross when they don’t get their way.
There are sounds to make and jokes to uncover.
An owl in your bowl, for you to discover.
Meet the K on your knee, who’s ready for fun,
and don’t be alarmed by the B on your thumb!

An introduction instructs grown-ups on how to use the book and extensive activities at the end allow children to build on their learning. Grouped into four categories—sounds, silent letters and secrets, spellings, and words that sound the same—the poems include:

● See with Two Ees
● The Story of Q and U
● The Rain in the Train
● Ridiculous Ph
● Enough of Uff
● Certainly a C
● The Most ImportANT
● Which Witch

Learning to read has never been so much fun! The B on Your Thumb is a must for every young family’s bookshelf.

About the Author

Colette Hiller is a writer, arts producer, and mother of twins. Her art projects have reached hundreds of thousands of participants—she is the woman who put pianos and ping-pong tables in countless locations across the UK and is also the mind behind the hit Talking Statues project.

Her children’s rhymes have been featured on BBC Words and Pictures and her children’s LP, Applehead, has been a hit with kids across the world, selling over 50,000 copies. An advocate of early learning, Colette believes that even very young children are receptive to the joy of wordplay (she taught her own twins to read by the time they were three).

ABC for Me: ABC What Can I Be? by Sugar Snap Studio

This is an adorable board book of professions listed from A to Z. Where readers learn a little about each profession and that they can be anything they choose. The illustrations are colorful and fun!

ABC What Can I Be? presents a wonderful world full of career possibilities—from Astronomer to ZooKeeper and everything in between. Representing kids of all kinds, this book shows that there are no limits to what a kid can pursue.

Whether they are fascinated by animals, trains, flowers, teaching, or any other thing, kids can grow up to be whatever they want! ABC What Can I Be? presents a whole alphabet full of exciting, thoughtful, and wonderful things children can do.

Pairing a career with each letter of the alphabet, ABC What Can I Be? features colorful illustrations and fascinating careers to get kids thinking about all the possibilities for their future. Each page introduces a letter of the alphabet with bright artwork and highlights a career that is fun, challenging and makes a big impact in its own way. These 26 careers—which include Dentist, Floral Designer, Meteorologist, Robotics Engineer, Train Conductor, and Wildlife Conservationist—are just some of the things a kid can become! A fun read for the whole family, ABC What Can I Be? is not only perfect for teaching toddlers their ABCs, but also for encouraging them to consider all the careers available to them when they grow up.

With endearing illustrations and mindful concepts, the ABC for Me series pairs each letter of the alphabet with words that promote big dreams and healthy living.

50 Maps of the World: Explore the globe with 50 fact-filled maps! by Ben Handicott

This book is fun, educational, and colorful. We love that it’s filled with key facts, and moments to remember. At the end of the book, there is also a search and find. Where they give you illustrations of animals, plants, etc. And you can search for them throughout the book. There is also a glossary and index. We can’t wait to check out the other books in the series to get to learn more about our fabulous country!

50 Maps of the World is an essential addition to the bookshelf of any young travel lover, map maestro, or geography genius. Spanning the world from Spain to Singapore, Colombia to Canada, Turkey to Tanzania, discover all you need to know about some of the most awesome places on Earth.

Geography, history, and culture spill from the pages in this luxuriously illustrated treasure trove of travel knowledge. Each two-page spread is dedicated to a different country, providing both quick-fire facts and the chance to delve deeper into what makes every nation unique.

Natural wonders, bustling metropolises, storied pasts, and cultural icons are all presented in expert detail by a pair of experienced explorers.

● Meet our earliest ancestors in Ethiopia, marvel at Machu Picchu in Peru, and visit the floating villages of Cambodia in this colorful guide to 50 fascinating countries.
● Each spread includes dozens of spotlighted locations, a timeline of the nation’s history, and introductions to the people who have helped shape it.
●With the expertise of Ben Handicott (Hello Atlas, Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World) and Kalya Ryan, alongside the stunning illustrations of Sol Linero (The 50 States, 50 Cities of the U.S.A.), experience the diversity of our world like never before.

50 Maps of the World reimagines what maps can be, providing not just a geographical fact fest but a vivid insight into the history, culture, and wildlife that shape our living world. It is the perfect gift for young globetrotters and armchair travelers alike.

About the Author

Ben Handicott studied linguistics and education before heading off to learn Vietnamese and Mandarin over a number of years living in Asia. On his return home he published travel books for Lonely Planet. His books with Wide-Eyed Editions include Hello Atlas and Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World. Ben now looks to pass on his love of travel, food and language to his own children.

Find more book reviews on my blog here.

Are you looking to gain more exposure for your Brand OR Products this year? My Silly Little Gang has many perfect opportunities for you! For more information click here, or contact me at mslgblog@gmail.com. The 2020 Gift Guides are the perfect place to get noticed.