The book “After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again”, written and illustrated by Dan Santat, is the book we read for our PB Blogs today.  

The book “After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again” Starts of by telling us what happened after Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall. He got repaired by the king and his men, but got PTSD and became afraid of heights.  His fear kept him from heights for a long time, so he made a paper bird to fight his fear of heights. For a while, he felt like everything was ok again. But then an accident happened, and the bird came crashing down. Humpty Dumpty felt sad, and he was about to give up, but then he built up courage, and climbed all the way up, and took a leap of faith, turning from a egg into a bird.

I can connect this to myself because I used to have a fear of heights. I can relate this to media because in the movie “Black Panther”, the main character falls off a cliff and supposedly dies, but comes back and avenges his people. I can relate this to a book because there were millions of stories just like this. Lastly, I can relate this to the world because a lot of people get PTSD from things like this, and have to overcome it. Overall, I give this book a 9/10 and rate it for kids from the ages of 9-10.

The book “The Fantastic Undersea Life Of Jacques Cousteau”, written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarina, is a true story about a man who loved the ocean, and is the book we read today. The book starts off by telling us about a small, weak boy. The doctors told the boy to swim to stay active, and he found out he loved the ocean. When the boy grew up he found out that he couldn’t swim because he broke his arms, and would have to wear arm brackets for the rest of his life, but he refused to stop, and swam in the Mediterranean every day. After that, he did many things including making the first oxygen tank for scuba diving, and taking the first underwater video. This relates to me because when I was younger my parents told me to go swimming. This relates to the media because lots of people started to take pictures underwater. I can relate this to text because there were many books of Jacques Cousteau’s adventures. Finally, I can relate this to the world because he changed for the better.

Overall, I give this book a 10/10 and rate it for kids at the ages of 6-10 because it teaches them about a great man.

The book “The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art”, Written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary Grandpre is the book we’re reading for our PB Blog today.

The book starts off by telling us that there was a little boy named Wassily Kandinsky. Wassily was a normal boy, and would play the piano, and do maths and science while his parents would have dinner parties. When he was 5, his aunt gave him a paint brush that “speaks to him.” He started to draw what the brush told him, but when he showed the adults, they said that it was horrid and they put him in art classes. In those classes, he kept drawing what he wanted, but his teachers kept telling him to draw houses instead until he did. After that, he lived his life how everyone around him wanted him to, until he was a lot older. He was studying to be a lawyer, but he kept hearing the colors, so he started painting his way again, and creating abstract art.

I can relate this to the world because even though this is a historical fiction, it’s based off a true story. I can relate this to media because there was a story of a woman finding his art in her attic on the news, that she apparently sold for $20,000,000. I can relate this to myself because I had a friend that could also “hear colours”. Lastly, I can relate this to text because he created abstract art and inspired many people to start painting abstract and writing about abstract.

Overall, I give this book a 9/10 and rate it for 7-9 year olds, because it teaches you to listen to yourself instead of what others want you to do.

The book “There”, written and illustrated by Marie – Louise Fitzpatrick is the book we’re reading for our PB Blogs today. The book “There” starts off by telling us that a child wants to go “there”, but they never mention where “there” is. The kid keeps wondering things like “what will happen there? Will I be able to do things like tame a dragon? Or will I not even get there at all?”. The kid says that no matter what though, he can’t go today because he’s busy. I can relate this to myself because when I was a kid, I always wanted to go places. I can relate this to text because in a lot of books, the main character wants to go somewhere. I can relate this to media because just like text to text, the main character wants to go somewhere. Lastly, I can relate this to the world because there are a lot of mysterious places in the world, just like the place the kid wants to go to.

Overall, I rate this book for 7 year olds, because it’s a pretty simple book in my opinion.

The book “Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story From Africa” was written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter, and is the book we’re reading for our PB Blog today. The book “Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story From Africa” starts off by telling us that she farms for work, lives in Kenya and is amazing in school, and that she got a scholarship to work in America. But when she returned to Kenya she sees that most of the trees are gone! She starts to cry because of it, until she gets an idea: she will start planting trees in her backyard! She starts to spread the word and soon everyone starts planting trees. But the lumberjacks keep cutting down the trees, even though Wangari pleads them not to. But that doesn’t only make them cut down the trees, the police send her to prison. But the citizens keep planting trees, and the lumberjack’ give up. Overall, I think this book is a 8/10 and for 10 year olds, because it teaches kids about the world around them.

For our first blog after spring break, we had to make real life connections between a book we read and our lives, and I chose to do “Bats Big Game”, written by  Margaret Read McDonald. The book is about a bat that really wants to be on the winning sport team. He switches between the animal team and the bird team, and they finally notice, and tell him that he can’t switch teams like that. I can relate that to myself because in grade 3, one of my friends kept switching between teams, even though he was on the other team. I can relate this story to another book that basically means the same thing as “Bats Big Game”. I can relate this to the real world because for a lot of debates, people keep switching their opinion, even though they have to pick one. Lastly, I can relate this to the media. Many people on big sports teams or leagues get cut or get put on another team. Overall, this was a great activity to get us going again.

The book, “Sir Cumfrence and the Dragon of Pi”, written by Cindy Neuschwander and illustrated by Wayne Geehan, is the book we read for our last PB Blog of term 2. One day, Sir Cumfrence was eating something, and his stomach started hurting a lot. He told his son to get the doctor, and that his stomach felt like it was on fire. So his son, Radius went to the doctor, but couldn’t find him, so he got a potion called fire belly instead. He gave it to his dad, but his dad became a dragon, so Radius went to try to find a cure. Meanwhile, the soldiers want to plan to hunt down the dragon at morning the next day. Radius found a potion with a poem (the answer was Pi, but he didn’t know that yet), and showed it to his mom. After a while, they find out that the answer is Pi, and they save their dad. Overall, I think this book deserves a 8/10, for 10 year olds who are about to learn about Pi.

For my last act of kindness, I chose to help my dad with the groceries. Last Tuesday, when I got back from one of my after school classes, I heard the garage door open, and my mom told me that my dad went grocery shopping before he came, so I went downstairs to help him. My dad was happy I came and helped him, and so was I.

On Monday, the 25th, I was getting ready to go home at 3, but I saw that Milan and Amrit’s hands’ were full, so I stacked their chair for them. This made them feel happy, and it made me feel great too, because I helped them.

For our PB Blog today, we read “Morris Micklewhite And The Tangerine Dress”, written by Christine Baldacchino and illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant. Morris lived with his cat and mom, and loved school. He loved singing, Eating, and Painting, but most of all he loved play time, were he could wear a tangerine dress. But wearing a tangerine dress caused some problems for him. On Monday, Becky tried to pull the dress straight off his back. On Tuesday, Eli and Henry didn’t let him on their ship, since “astronauts don’t wear dresses”. On Wednesday, the girls made fun of his nail polish, and on Thursday, the boys didn’t want him to sit with them because “they didn’t want to turn into girls”. On Friday he had a stomach ache since all the kids were mean to him, so he didn’t go to school. On Sunday, he had a dream about being in outer space, so he made a cardboard rocket ship, and painted a picture of a made up planet, and took it to school on Monday. Henry and Eli saw his ship, and asked them if thats really what different planets look like, and he offered a spot to them on their space ship. After that, Eli, Morris, and Henry became best friends, and when Becky said “Astronauts don’t wear dresses” to him, Morris replied, “this one does”. I rate this book a 9/10 for 9 year olds, because it teaches the valuable lesson that everyone could be different.