Wednesday, March 27, 1991 —- North Shore News - 44

Cherrytree Books - just for kids

VERY NOW and then | stumble across a particularly
good line of children’s books (not all that surprising
considering the way they leave the darned things

i . laying about) but to discover two — and from the same
publisher, at that — is a very rare event indeed.

Cherrytree Books, a British firm
whose titles are distributed here by
Macmillan of Canada/Gage.
publishes two series that parents
with kids seven to 10 years old will
welcome.
The first helps youngsters to deal
H with emotions. Individua! books,
ail authored by Janine Amos,
4 feature titles such as Afraid,
Angry, Hurt, Jealous, Lonely,
‘ Sad and, the newest addition,
rns Feelings.
. Most parents know the pitialls

Mike Steele

BOOK, REVIEW

The Modelling Book, with each
involved in simply ordering of the first six titles offering expla-
children to step being jealous, nations of such things as Life In
angry and so on: when they com- —- The Oceans, Caves, icebergs,
ply it’s entirely to avoid threatened Volcanoes, Storms and Life In
consequences; they really dan’t The Polar Lands.

} learn why they feel the way they A strong message of en-

y , de or how to deal with such feel- . vironmenta! responsibility and

; : ings on subsequent occasions. awareness is a theme common to

ve The result, of course, is an ali and Caves even provides a

: endless round of unpleasant skir- simple home experiment for mak-
mishes in which both parents and ing stalactites and stalagmites.
children lose. (Like most folks | could never

Amos’ approach, employed remember which was which, ei-

ou throughout this series, is to com-

rere bine a simple but “universal’’
story (sharing a toy, for example)
with periodic questions inserted in
the text for the reader to answer
— or for parents to pose to their
offspring.

I

|

{
Thus kids are given the oppor- 4

tunity to do more than just read

i about examples of destructive and
correct behaviors — they have to
put a bit of themselves inio the |
situations as well. This is what I
educators would labe! the interac- |
tive, as opposed to passive,
method. I

The only drawback with these J
excelient, fully illustrated books is
that they're available here solely in i
a glossy, hardcever format and 1
retail for $14.95 apiece. A paper- ” :
back edition, were one offered,
would likely cost a third of that.

The other Cherrytree series that
impressed me is an educational
line with some nine books by
Robin Kerrod. Again, these are
hardcover titles with the latest;
Secrets of Science, selling for
$15.95,

Titles include: Plarts in Action,
How Things Work, Fire and
Water, Air in Action and so on.
All are clearly written, methodical,
interesting and iustrated
throughout.

Budget-conscious moms ‘n‘
dads (not to mention terrified sit-
ters and harried grandparents) will
be pleased to hear that it really
is possible to entertain youngsters
(ages seven-10) for less than $5, as
the following books from
Scholastic-TAB publications dem-
onstrate.

Scholastic now offers an exten-
sive range of magazine-format
crafts and nature books, softcover
editions costing just $4.95 each.

New to this raster is The
Madelling Book, packed with rec-
ipes for homemade play dough,
salt dough and papier mache
along with directions for using
various t pes of conmmercially

922-5751

available modelling clays. . ; . # pes obs
Peter and the staff at Seamates Sea
to invite alf their customers and friends to their re-opening.
After months of renovations we are ready to re-open our doors!
Come enjoy one of our fine steak or seafood selections done in
“Seamates Tradition.” ‘

Scholastic has also introduced a
nature series in the same format as

GEORGE WALKER’S.
TINY TU-TU’S for TWO”

For 2 year olds & parent

Gi, “KIADERDANCE”

D 3-4 year olds

! 12] ADULT BALLET

For fun & fitness

BALLET CHARACTER @

9-8 yeur oids (levels) gj

985-4071

ther. If you want to appear
knowledgeable when your kids
ask you, try this simple litle trick 1
devised for my own spotty memo-
ry: the “ein “stalactite’

stands for ceiling, the ‘‘g"' in
“stalagmite’’ stands for ground.
No applause, please, just send a
small donation to your local book
reviewer.)

And while we're still on the sub-
ject of low-cost Scholastic titles,
here are two more recent ones
worthy of note.

According to the press release
which accompanied my capy of
Stones and Cones (63 pp.;
$4.95}, it “...celebrates nature
and encourages children’s
creativity.” This is one of the few
times when a marketing blurb ap-
pears to be entirely accurate.

There are dozens of different
projects in Stones and Cones in-
cluding how to make cornhusk
dolls, potato puppets, pebble pets,
bathtub boats and leaf yachts, just
to name a few.

Many of these projects would
appeal to beth girls and boys and,
best of all, they entail little or no
expense, Although recommended
for ages 12 and up, most kids
seven and over should be able to

~ oe gn, fi ia

handle them with ease.

And last but not least is a kids’
guide to North America’s favorite
household pet — pregnant
household pet, that is.

Alan Trussell-Culien’s Our Cat
Has Kittens (28 pp.; $4.95) is a
photographic essay for little ones
that explains what to expect and
what happens when the family
feline has little ones. Explanations
include cat courting, birthing and
postnatal kitty care.

Ewould only quibble with Our
Cat Has Kittens on oe point;
unfortunately it’s nota minor one.

Any book that attempts to teach
children about cat behavior and
youngsters’ responsibilities to their
pets but fails to include informa-
tion on the necessity for inocula-
tions and spaying/tixing is seriously
flawed.

NEXT WEEK:

Is there a fundamental dif-
ference in the ways that Asian and
nen-Asian companies and cor-
porations do business? Are North
American firms unwitting partici-
pants in a high-stakes, high-risk
game without realizing it?

Chin-Ning Chu, author of The
Asian Mind Game says they are.

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