The Hunterman and the Crocodile; A West African Folktale.
Beaver the Baker.
The Moons of Goose Island.
Spruce Woods Adventure.
Roar - Animal rights handbook for kids.
They've Escaped Out of His Mind!
Camp All-Star.
Beryl Markham: Never Turn Back.
Le long silence.
Beauty Begins Inside.
Encyberpedia by Monte Crises
History Online.
Baba Wagué Diakité.
New York, New York: Scholastic Press, 1997.
32 pp. hardcover, $21.99.
ISBN: 0-590-89828-0.
Grades preschool - 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
Review by Kathleen Kellett-Betsos.
*** /4
excerpt:
Once at the riverside, Bamba the Crocodile begged Donso to carry them deeper into the river where the current ran strong. But when the hunterman did so, Bamba took Donso's hand between his great jaws and smiled. "You know, I haven't had anything to eat in a long time," he said. "Wouldn't I be foolish to let you go?" The hunterman reminded Bamba of his promise, and they then argued at great length about right and wrong.
Right and wrong is indeed at the heart of this West African folktale retold by Baba Wagué Diakieé. Drawing on his heritage of tales told by his grandmother and others in his community from Mali, Diakiteé uses the folktale to teach about the responsibility of human beings toward nature. Donso the hunterman agrees to help a family of crocodiles exhausted by their pilgrimage to Mecca. After he has carried the four crocodiles stacked on his head back to their place in the river, Bamba the Crocodile refuses to let him go. As various animals come down to the river, Donso entreats them to help him, but they refuse, remembering all too well the exploitive nature of man who, for example, takes the hen's eggs - its children - then kills the hen at feast-time. Even the mango tree exclaims: "Mook! Let Bamba eat him!" (p17). Only the rabbit, charming in his guile, challenges them to show him how Donso could have carried all the crocodiles and so allows the hunter to take the crocodiles prisoner. But then, needing the crocodiles' tears to cure his ailing wife, Donso agrees to let them go if they will give him their tears of joy at being released. He thus breaks the cycle of taking from nature without giving in return: "Donso never forgot the lessons he learned from the cow, the horse, the chicken, the mango tree, and the rabbit. From that time forward he has reminded people of the importance of living in harmony with nature and the necessity of placing Man among - not above - all living things." (p27)
If the tale sounds familiar, this is because it has many, many versions and appears in both fables of Aesop and the Uncle Remus tales, as Diakiteé notes, even providing a short bibliography. The "Author's note" is especially engaging as it gives Diakiteé the opportunity to talk about his culture, his language and his view of storytelling. While the author explains the significance of his name in the Bambaran language and how to say hello (Awnitheé, pronounced "OW- nee-chay), he does not provide the meaning of the animals' interjection: "Mook!" The illustrations are also by the author, a noted artist, who has painted the simple but colourful pictures on ceramic tiles. The book blurb indicates that Diakiteé is a well-known as a storyteller in schools around the northwestern United States. Fortunately, with his first book, he is now reaching an even wider audience.
Highly Recommended.
Kathleen Kellett-Betsos teaches French language and Quebec/French Canadian civilisation and literature at Ryerson Polytechnic University.
Lars Klinting.
Toronto, ON: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.
40 pp., hardcover, $15.95.
ISBN 1-55054-252-4.
Grades preschool - 2 / Ages 5 - 7.
Review by Kathleen Kellett-Betsos.
*** /4
excerpt:
Who's that knocking on Beaver's window? It's Frippy! He has come to wish Beaver a happy birthday. Beaver is very glad to see him. But what can he offer his friend? Frippy is always so hungry. We'll make a cake!And so Beaver tosses his friend Frippy an apron and off they go! Here's another "How-to book" by Lars Klinting, translated from Swedish, and following in the tradition of Beaver the Carpenter and Beaver the Tailor. Beaver and Frippy search out Grandma's notebook full of recipes, collect up all the necessary ingredients and cooking utensils (a very important step!) and make a cake. They also make a bit of a mess which, of course, they clean up quickly. Klinting makes sure to warn children about the importance of being careful around the hot oven and cake pan. Just as Beaver and Frippy are sitting down to eat the cake, along come Beaver's friends with a gift - a new mixing bowl to replace his old cracked one. At the end of the story, Klinting includes the recipe for "Beaver's cake," in both metric and imperial measurements.
The great delight of this book is in Klinting's often humorous illustrations: Frippy perched up on a counter licking cake batter out of the bowl; Beaver and Frippy watching the cake through the oven window ("'Just like TV,'" says Frippy."); Beaver flipping the cake over onto a plate as Frippy looks on anxiously. Of course, the illustrations also serve to help children identify cooking utensils and ingredients which are presented on an uncrowded page. The only slightly confusing element for Canadian audiences might be that the illustration of vanilla extract shows it as a white powder while most of us use plain old brown liquid vanilla extract from a bottle. One really should copy out the recipe before trying it - it would be a shame to get butter on such a lovely book.
Recommended.
Kathleen Kellett-Betsos teaches French language and Quebec/French
Canadian civilisation and literature at Ryerson Polytechnic
University.
Don K. Philpot. Illustrations by Margaret Hessian.
Sandy Hook, MB: Hinterland Publishers, 1997.
unpaged, hardcover, $19.95.
ISBN 0-9680967-0-0.
Grades 1 - 6 / Ages 6 - 11.
Reviewed by Harriet Zaidman.
** /4
excerpt:
That night grandpa made a baby-sized bed for the newborn by mine. "He may cry out for his mother," grandpa warned; "talk to him. You are his only family now."The Moons of Goose Island, a story set in an aboriginal family, deals with a young boy overcoming his grief after his mother's death. When David, the youngster, goes to live with his grandparents on Goose Island, they assure him that one day he will meet his mother again. Not only must David cope with the loss of his mother, but he must learn to accommodate himself to his new surroundings. Grandma tells David that the moons of Goose Island are unlike the moons anywhere else on earth, and the book takes David and the reader through The Moon of the Returning Geese, The Leafing Moon, The Planting Moon, Summer Moon and Autumn Moon. David's moon, though, is the Moon of the Weeping Heart, as he remembers his mother. His attention is diverted when he finds an orphaned gosling. David becomes its surrogate parent and experiences the joy and annoyances of raising it throughout the summer. When fall comes, David must let the now full-grown goose follow its instincts and migrate. Although Diver, the goose, returns in the spring, he is wild and stays only a moment to show David that he is mature and independent. Initially disappointed, David realizes that his former friend is just following a natural process. David is again reminded of his mother, but the remembrance is now pleasant because he sees her in The Moon of the Journey Home. David accepts the natural process of living and dying and understands his grandmother's assurance that the moons of Goose Island are unlike any others on earth and that they were pivotal in his working his way through his grief. Young readers who experience the loss of a close family member may identify with David's grief and come to understand that the healing process is sometimes long and painful. Like David, they must come to understand that death is a natural part of life, but that the living can be filled with the joy of remembering after the pain of the loss disappears. Philpot has captured that lesson in this book. Longer than a typical picture book, the story could have been edited. However, the book can be used to discuss the stages of growth and development of nature, the bird and the boy.So that night I told the gosling the story of how I came to live on Goose Island.
The illustrations are both black ink and pencil crayon, with colour being added as "colour" returns to David's outlook on life. Though the illustrations are well done, it is hard to determine David's age because, in some pictures, he looks older than in others.
This book would be of value in a school library, for aboriginal children and for children who have experienced a personal loss.
Recommended.
Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg.
Donna Firby Gamache.
Brandon, MB: Compascor Manitoba, 1996.
96pp., paper, $12.95.
ISBN 1-895624-19-3.
Grades 4 - 7 / Ages 9 - 12.
Review by Luella Sumner.
*** /4
excerpt:
I wondered how long Aunt Martha would wait to phone Ranger Bud or the police. Would it be too late to come looking for us? If I understood Mailer right, their other partner, Jackson, would be coming with a truck, and the meat and the poachers would be gone. And Rachel and I, I hoped, would be left behind - alive. On the sofa, Rachel stirred and opened her eyes. She looked pale and frightened in the dim light. I winked, but she only stared back accusingly. I knew how she felt. I was the one who got us into this mess, and it was up to me to get us out. Somehow.
Donna Gamache, a rural Manitoba writer, tells the story of siblings, Jeff, 12, and Rachel, 10, who live on a farm in Manitoba and enjoy their adventures in the outdoors. The pair discover that poachers are shooting wildlife in the park and selling the meat on the blackmarket. They bravely, perhaps foolishly, try to follow the poachers, resorting to telling their Aunt Martha little white lies to cover their activities, sneaking out at night, and then pursuing the bad guys, only to be captured and tied up in an old cabin. The duo escape, are rescued by the Park Ranger and become heroes for saving the park wildlife from poachers. Their parents will soon return from Winnipeg where their mother has been receiving successful cancer treatments and all will be well in their world. And since Rachel had contributed several good ideas that helped them escape from the poachers, Jeff realizes that his "little sister" will be more of a future help than a hindrance.
This book should appeal both to girls and boys as the action involves both Jeff and Rachel, and Rachel is as capable as Jeff in dealing with their problems. Free to roam in the wilderness, the children ride horses with confidence and generally live a life that would seen idyllic to young readers. Despite being a trifle too good to be true, the characters are nevertheless good role models for readers.
Recommended.
Luella Sumner is Head Librarian at the Red Rock Public Library in Red Rock, Ontario.
Peter Hoggarth. Illustrated by Woody.
London, England: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 1996. Distributed by Raincoast Books.
96 pp., paper, $7.95.
ISBN 0-7475-2686-9.
Grades 5 - 8 / Ages 10 - 13.
Review by Luella Sumner.
** /4
excerpt:
Specially trained packs of hounds are used to hunt foxes, deer, hares and mink. The hounds are bred to have extra stamina so that they run faster and longer than their prey. Fox hunts: Imagine you're at home watching TV, when suddenly forty people on horseback with a pack of hounds crash through your front door and start chasing your dad down the street. It might sound hilarious, but it does really happen to foxes, and it's not their idea of fun. Foxes may be cunning, but they're usually not cunning enough to outwit a hunting party. It's no game of tag, either. Like James Bond, the hounds have a licence to kill, and when they catch up with the fox, they use it.
This book is full of facts about abuse of animals, in hunting, laboratory testing, and in being raised for food. The author suggests ways that children can help to reduce this abuse through changing their eating habits, doing volunteer work, fundraising, raising public awareness and petitioning. The style is amusing and light hearted, the illustrations comical, but the overall tone is very serious, and, in fact, borders on the fanatical at times. Since the publication is British, much of the information given, such as names and addresses to write to, are useless in the North American context, but some of the information could be adapted to Canada. For example, sample letters are given to use in writing to Members of Parliament, newspapers, manufacturers and zoos.
As no biographical information is given about the author, his authority for writing on the subject matter remains unknown. Though the humourous style makes the book easy to read, its overall tone might be too intense for some children. While Roar could spark interest in the protection of animals, parents should consider carefully whether this book is suitable for their children.
Recommended with reservations.
Luella Sumner is Head Librarian at the Red Rock Public Library, Red Rock, Ontario.
Roger Davenport. Pictures by John W. Taylor
London, England: Bloomsbury Books, l996. Distributed by Raincoast Books.
250 pp., paper, $7.95.
ISBN 0-7475-2682-6.
Grades 5 - 8 / Ages 10 and up.
Review by Jennifer Johnson.
* /4
excerpt:
At this point the train crossed on to another line and shook the book so that the words blurred. Tom Short looked around vacantly at the real world: his mother sitting opposite reading a magazine; fields and telegraph poles moving backwards outside the thick windows...How much more vibrant was the world of Fortrain! He found his place on the page and the real world receded again.
Tom Short reads from one of his favourite series while he reluctantly travels to stay with his grandfather. However, a bonus is that his grandfather was formerly the gardener for the author of the Fortrain books, and Tom has every intention of visiting the Manor where the books were created even though C.M. Furnival is no longer in residence. Tom, however, becomes even more intimately involved with this favourite fantasy epic than he could ever have imagined. Owing to the author's illness and the fear of the series being discontinued, the characters in the books seek and find a way out of his imagination and into the real world. Tom's being drawn into an elaborate plot to rescue the author from a nursing home becomes part of a letter writing campaign to publishers and film producers and, at its height, involves the transport of book characters both in actual vehicles and between minds.
Roger Davenport has taken the concepts of imagination, fiction and plot, and pulled them into the real world. The premise is wonderful, and the playing out of the ideas is effective. Characters who are well defined in the books have more resiliance to resist the pull back into fiction, one-dimensional characters are limited in their ability to deal with the challenges of conflict, and the evil creature is infinitely expandable and unpredictable whether within or without the books. However, Davenport, by adding too much to his mixture, distracts the reader from the fantasy/real life context. To an already complicated plot, he adds stock characters, such as the cruel nursing home matron, and then loads in a lot of physical comedy with misplaced hypodermics and car chases. Readers of fantasy will want more about that other world, and readers of adventure and humour may be irritated by the plunges back and forth from the mythical to the real. Diana Wynne Jones in her Wizard Howl books is able to make this transfer and carry a complicated plot, but Davenport is less successful. The reader is pulled here and there without a clear purpose. The author goes from dealing with Tom's night fears while the Monorath is in residence in his mind, to a misdirected message from the publisher, and treats all with equality. As a result, the focus on the story is distracted. Some readers who revel in detail may enjoy this; others will simply become impatient.
In They've Escaped Out of His Mind! Davenport attempts a complicated fantasy plot which amalgamates too many elements to work as a successful novel.
Not recommended.
Jennifer Johnson works as a librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.
Michael Coldwell.
Toronto, ON: James Lorimer, l996.
112 pp., paper, $8.95.
ISBN 1-55028-526-2.
Grades 6 - 9 / Ages 11 - 14.
Review by Jennifer Johnson.
** /4
excerpt:
This is going to be cool, I thought as I hauled my enormous duffle bag out of the car and turned to gaze at the grey stone building that would be my home for the next two weeks. Fourteen days of nothing but hard-core basketball with some of the best players in the entire province. The parking lot was buzzing with other boys calling their goodbyes as they were dropped off at the Dalhousie University summer basketball camp. If my stepmother hadn't tried to hug me, things would have been perfect.
Jeff has great expectations for his two weeks at basketball camp in Halifax. He assumes that his fellow players will share his passion for the game, and he submits to his stepmother's close proximity at a convention as a minor inconvenience. What he finds, however, is that, although the athletes share a love for the game, they bring their own considerable ambitions and aggressions to the courts. Although Jeff adjusts to the realities of playing with returning players, many of whom expect to be chosen for the All Star team, he is most influenced by off-court contacts. His roommate, though chosen for his basketball skills, is obsessed with mountain biking and uses his attendance at the camp as a cover for participation in a local race. Although exasperated by "crazy Chip Carson", Jeff has to stretch his own stereotypes when he finds a good teammate and friend in Chip.
Camp All-Star is Coldwell's second contribution to the Lorimer Sports Stories Series. His first novel, Fast Break, introduced Jeff at a pivotal time in his life when pick-up basketball became his passport to making new friends after a reluctant move to live with his father and new step-mother. Although Jeff had to deal with peer conflicts ranging from bullying and theft to underage drinking, he eventually found his place in the community. In Camp All-Star, Jeff is an older fourteen; and, while he does lash out at his stepmother Sharon for her drop-in visits, he has worked through his initial distrust and anger with her. In fact, his irritation with her as a representative adult and parent is a feeling shared by all of the registered campers. In Camp All-Star, Coldwell captures very effectively the assurance and studied cool of the age group. Dialogue between the characters is well handled, from put-downs to kudos, and reflects the currency of the day.
In this second novel, Coldwell stays away from the grimmer side of youth culture and abandons issues of drugs and alcohol for an elaborate tease set up by Jeff and Chip against a fellow player. Jay offends primarily in his neatness and apparent perfection of play and dress. This hoax involves a science camper named Tess who has come into contact with Jeff, mostly through adventures and misadventures with experiments. The incident, presented as a humorous element, does not work effectively, perhaps because the stereotype of the science versus the sport characters is just too extreme. The humiliation dealt out to Jay is gentle in comparison to the bullying and threats of the previous book, but it betrays a mean-spirited aspect of character which is at odds with Jeff's personality. In exploring a camp setting dominated by sport challenges, Coldwell is excellent, but, in this hazing aspect, he is less effective, trying an almost slapstick element with Chip and Jeff dressed for "maximum nerdiness." The joke, while providing relief from the stresses of on-court competition, is too great a change of mood and too unrealistic to work well within the story.
Ian Watts's cover art, which portrays two mid-teen males, effectively captures basketball's physicality and will attract its intended audience.
Camp All-Star will appeal to readers seeking stories about sports. The competitive edge of the sports writing outshines the social aspect which is introduced in the latter part of the story.
Recommended with reservations.
Jennifer Johnson works as a children's librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.
Catherine Gourley.
Berkeley, CA:: Conari Press, 1997. Distributed by Raincoast Books.
150 pp., paper, $9.95.
ISBN 1-57324-073-7.
Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up
Review by Grace Shaw.
*** /4
excerpt:
Beryl craved speed, independence, power; simple feet-on-the-ground contentment.Like many strong achieving women, Beryl Markham was raised and mentored primarily by her horse trainer father. Her East Africa home molded and inspired her to run free and unfettered and to become the first woman racehorse trainer in Africa. After conquering the ground, she took on the air.
Four years after Amelia Earhart's transatlantic flight from west to east, Beryl Markham became the first PERSON to complete the much more difficult crossing of the Atlantic from east to west. Flying solo, sometimes upside down in dense fog, she crash-landed her out-of-fuel single-engine plane in Nova Scotia after 21 amazing hours in the air.
Markham's remarkable story is written by Catherine Gourley, a journalist for various Canadian and American newspapers and magazines. Gourley's style is fairly simple but well-crafted and compelling. However, her intrusive guessing of fact or detail is an unnecessary irritant. The distant and very much external third person narration leaves the person Beryl somewhat remote and unreachable; perhaps that is the way she was.
This is an interesting read - for teenagers and adults - about a woman who accepted no limitations and did what she wanted to do! Markham's own story of her life as a professional pilot in a disappearing Africa, West with the Night, is also a vibrant and colorful adventure.
Highly recommended.
Grace Shaw is an instructor at Vancouver Community College.
Sylvie Desrosiers.
Montréal, PQ: La Courte échelle,
1996.
146pp., paper, $7.95
ISBN 2-89021-256-4.
Grades 11 and up / Age 15 and up.
Review by Kathleen L. Kellett-Betsos.
**** /4
excerpt:
Quoique... Tu m'as convaincu moi aussi que tu allais bien. Ça faisait même longtemps que je ne t'avais pas vue si en forme. Comment est-ce que tu as pu me mentir à moi aussi? A moi, ton ami d'enfance! Ça ne signifie rien pour toi, toutes les années qu'on a passeées ensemble? Ça n'a pas d'importance, tous nos mauvais coups, tous les bobos qu'on s'est infligeés, tous les films qu'on a regardés dix fois de suite?C'est toi qui m'as montré à embrasse: ça ne t'a rien fait? Moi, je m'en souviendrai toujours, figure-toi, parce que c'est le plus beau, le plus magnifique baiser qu'une fille m'ait jamais donneé!
Je sais, je ne te l'ai jamais dit. Mais tu sauras qu'il y a beaucoup de choses que je ne t'ai jamais dites! Tu as peut-être la palme des mensonges, mais pas celle des secrets! J'en ai, moi aussi, même si je suis un gars.
Un long silence, the third novel by Sylvie Desrosiers written for adolescents, is quite a departure from her humorous mystery novels for children in the series "Notdog", also published by La Courte Echelle. Here, Desrosiers presents an impassioned monologue addressed by Mathieu, who will be 21 in the year 2000, to his best friend, Alice, who had committed suicide the night before.
Desrosiers begins the novel on a note of suspense as it is not clear whether Mathieu is at a hospital bedside or, as it turns out, a funeral chapel. In view of his long friendship with Alice, he has been allowed to sit with her before the official "visiting hours". The chapters are structured by the notation of the time spent at Alice's side: "Treize heures"; "Treize heures dix", etc. and generally conclude with the arrival of flowers from loved ones and acquaintances. Mathieu begins by reminding Alice of their shared childhood and adolescence. The reminiscence inevitably becomes an inquiry into the possible sources of despair in Alice's life: her parents' financial losses leading to their subsequent coldness toward each other (not to mention a decline in lifestyle requiring her to share a bathroom for the first time in her life); her attraction to older men, particularly her professors, which has never brought her the happiness and security she sought; the difficulty of entering her chosen career of theatre; her general despair over violence and pollution in the world. He considers the signs of her distress; for example, her decision to quit the ceégep for a year:
"Tu disais que le dernier geste libre, c'etait justement de deécrocher, de dire non" (p88). Obviously, in committing suicide, she has once again "dropped out", this time saying no to life itself. And yet, Mathieu's life has not been without its difficulties: his father's discovery of his own homosexuality; his parents' divorce; the financial difficulties of the year his father neglected to make support payments; his own anxieties about his sexuality and about the danger of AIDS. Still, he is determined to live and to make a difference in the world: "Il y a tellement de choses à accomplir, Alice" (p94).
As the visiting hour approaches, Mathieu's monologue increases in intensity, reproaching Alice for having given up, for having left her parents with the memory of discovering their daughter after the suicide, for having done this impossible deed to herself and to him: "Ta mère est encore sous le choc. Ton père, je ne sais pas, mais il ne doit pas être trop reluisant. Je suis encore sous le choc moi aussi. Je suis jeune, je vais m'en remettre. Mais eux? Les deétestais-tu au point de leur laisser en souvenir des images qui peupleront leurs cauchemars jusqu'à la fin de leur vie?" (p131). And finally comes a moment of acceptance, an understanding of the fear and lack of confidence that could have led his friend to kill herself. He makes her a pledge: "Je te fais une promesse, Alice. J'arrête de pleurer, disons dans quelques jours. Et après, je rirai le plus possible. Peut-être que, de ton nuage, tu m'entendras et tu sauras que c'est pour toi." (p145).
In this very moving novel, Desrosiers gives an excellent treatment, not without humour, of a difficult subject. Many young readers may find Mathieu's monologue a little slow at times - Un long silence is certainly not for those who like a plot-driven novel. It is, however, destined to provoke much serious discussion about adolescence, the family, love, death and suicide.
Highly recommended.
Kathleen Kellett-Betsos teaches French language and Quebec/French Canadian civilisation and literature at Ryerson Polytechnic University.
Produced by the National Film Board.
The P Syndrome, 17 minutes, $26.95
193C 9195 185/EZ013.
The Pressure Zone, 11 minutes, $21.95
What's Eating You?, 13 minutes, $21.95.
3 volume set, $59.95.
Grades 6 - 8 / Ages 10 - 14.
Review by Donna Peters-Small.
*** /4
The three video tapes in the Beauty Begins Inside series aim to influence the eating habits of adolescents while exploring the issues of puberty and body image. The videos are clever and fast-paced, combining animation with scenes involving real teens. The rapid succession of images and quips did, however, sometimes obscure the key points.
The P Syndrome looks at the changes of puberty and some of the choices that come with these changes. The animation, which involved close ups of talking mouths and moving feet (never the faces and bodies that went with them) was quite clever, although it became tedious after a while. The video did address the important issues of visible body changes, particularly fat development (for girls), muscle mass and skin changes. While I appreciated the attention given to genetic influences, individual body types, and the acceptance of one's body as unique and attractive, I had some trouble with the description of puberty, first as a "syndrome" and then as "a painfully, pugnacious and prickly problem" (hence, The P Syndrome) - not a very positive position from which to promote acceptance, even if it is witty and clever
The Pressure Zone seeks to explore the messages bombarding teens from the diet and image industries. Two mirrors do battle to win the teens' allegiance. One represents the diet and muscle building "solutions" to the problems presented by the changing adolescent body. The second mirror speaks of the value of meditation and herbal remedies. "Freddy," the personal trainer, presents a delightful mockery of the destructive promoters of extreme dieting and extensive exercise or muscle building. I appreciated the stress on balance and moderation in all approaches and the criticism of "quick fixes" and short cuts. I did wonder if young teens or pre-teens would pick up on all of the tongue-in-cheek messages.
The third video in the series, What's Eating You?, seeks to answer the question, "How do you convince a teenager that there's more to life than junk food?" The two young people in the video consider how advertising influences their food choices, how what they eat can affect their skin and their health, and whether or not there are "good" foods and "bad" foods. Reference is made to a food guide without clarifying that it is the Canada Food Guide. Because the video assumes that the viewers are familiar with the guide, one would want to have given students an opportunity to examine it before the video. The fast-talking, fast-moving style of the videos is most distracting in this one. The information on nutrition and the specifics relating to vitamins, minerals and proteins goes by too quickly to be taken in thoroughly. I was very pleased, however, that vegetarianism, a popular choice today (particularly with girls) was discussed with reference made to the complex demands of such a diet.
The three Beauty Begins Inside videos are fun, witty and entertaining. Although the grade eight students that I showed them to thought they were often "silly" and "took too long to get to their point," they were valuable discussion starters and did raise the key topics in the study of puberty and eating habits. They would, perhaps, be best used with a grade six or seven audience.
Recommended.
Donna Peters-Small is a teacher and counsellor at St. Johns-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Review by L.D. Steele.
Reprinted from the EdRes mailing list.
Description:
The site claims to be the "BEST" Educational public domain and shareware library in the known universe. While I don't know what kind of library they have on Beetlegeuse, this one is pretty good. The main page is straightforward with the following options:
Evaluation:
Most of the software at the site is shareware, this means that the creator offers a free limited trial offer and then ask/requires the user to pay a registration fee. The programs offered varied from games to keep students occupied to useful learning tools. As with a lot of educational software, there are many more MacIntosh programs in each category than IBM compatibles. Schools, especially MacIntosh users, wishing to find out what educational software is available should go through the site.
Easy to navigate, and the pages are quick to download. The site's background is made up of "trains" that are 5.25" and 3.5" disks with details added. The background breaks up the bareness of the pages which are otherwise plain text and links. A "Search" tool would have been useful. Overall: M&M software, like many new sites, is not a free service as the software must be ordered from the company instead of downloaded. What you are getting in this site is a well organized array of educational software that saves you time and energy. Copies of the software found at this site may or may not be found elsewhere. If you buy numerous programs, then it is also a good bargain.
URL: http://www.encyberpedia.com/ency.htm
Review by L.D. Steele.
Reprinted from the EdRes mailing list.
Description:
Encyberpedia is a site that aims to create a "living" Encyclopedia on the Web. On the main page there are links to specific subareas (sports, maps, news, medical, and live video from around the world). There is also a "subjects index" where you can quickly locate a region of interest in areas more related to information taught in schools.
In the Subjects Index there are subareas such as: agriculture, animals, antiques, autions, art, automobiles, and aviation -- just in the "A" section. The subjects can yield rich link sources of information suitable for school. The site offers a low graphics version that does not change the appearance of the site significantly, but not offer a quicker download time. It is alos fully compatible with Netscape, Internet Explorer, Web TV and AOL. When viewed from a text-only browser, it was organized nicely.Evaluation:
This is a site that works well for people who want to browse various subject areas. The site is fairly comprehensive with many areas of interest for teachers, but it is not an "education" site per se, and aims more at the general web browser.
Format wise, although the site itself is "free", it is funded by advertisements found on the page. Because this is an award-winning site, and a well known one, there are numerous advertisements between the top of each page and the subject manner. This can be distracting. This site could take a while to download if you have a slow connection. Overall this is a good site to check out when you have the time to track down resources , and when you are curious about odd subjects.
URL: http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/k12projects/jimperry/history.html
Review by L.D. Steele.
Reprinted from the EdRes mailing list.
Description:
The History Online page is a project started by Jim Perry for his grade 7 History class. The main spotlight of the site is to get students involved in an archaelogical dig and a project that are extensively shown on websites. The first site is a Coptic monastery in Egypt that dates from 385AD; the second site is a university project to recreate what the city of Pompeii looked like before it was buried, called "The Pompeii Forum Project".
Another main resource at the site is a large collection of links to historical sites online. Subjects include: History Resources, Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Medeival Times, Exploration and Discovery, Colonial America, American Revolution, Ancient Coins. Some of the link pages are annotated and some are not. This seems to be an ongoing project. The third, and final, part of the site consists of having access to tests online, and being able to do work online. Once a teacher keys in the relevant infomation, they only have access to the results of their own students.Evaluation:
This site would be more useful for students in grades 7-12. The subject matter is interesting, and the site also gives an article on how the teacher, Jim Perry, started using the Internet in his classroom.
I did find some broken links in the site, and some spots are still under construction, but the organization is good, and the site is set up well. The site does contain frames, but it was usable when viewed with a non-frames capable browser. The tests and examples of previous student work are interesting sections which might give other teachers ideas on how to implement it on their own school projects.
- CM
Editor
Dave Jenkinson
e-mail:jenkinso@Ms.UManitoba.CA
- CM
Managing Editor
Peter Tittenberger
e-mail:cm@umanitoba.ca
Copyright © 1997 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
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The Manitoba Library Association
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