The Seasons: Summer

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Katy Beattie

Summer by Christina Leaf is part of a four book Blastoff Beginners series of the Seasons. This set is geared towards kindergarten, with sight words, short sentences, and bright color photographs. This book has the biggest vocabulary words of any in the Seasons set: thunderstorms and lightning (p. 13). This, and the fact that the words are used to define each other in the glossary, makes this the most challenging book in the set.

This book includes a table of contents, headings, bolded words, timeline, glossary, index, and labeled photos – perfect for teaching non-fiction text features to your youngest elementary students.

Each section includes 2-3 sentences and a photograph describing when summer is (p. 6-9), including a timeline on pg. 6-7 of the seasons, things to do in summer (p. 16), and what summer looks like (p. 10).

This book is a good, quick overview of summer. It may be a little more difficult than the others in the set for a kindergartner to read independently. I like the Summer Facts page (p. 22) as it summarizes many of the facts in the book, with photos, labels and key words.

I did not like that the definition of lightning contained the word thunderstorm, and that the definition of thunderstorm contained the word lightning (p. 23). I think this would be confusing for a child who did not know what those terms meant.

I find these Blastoff Beginners a go-to in my library because I know I can count on them for quality and consistency in content and readability.

Cover of Summer by Christina Leaf. Cover shows flip flops stuck in sand, with a sand castle, pink bucket, and pink starfish. Beach balls are floating around the title.

The Seasons: Fall

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Katy Beattie

Fall by Christina Leaf is part of a four book Blastoff Beginners series of the Seasons. This set is geared towards kindergarten, with sight words, simple two syllable words, short sentences, and bright color photographs.

This book includes a table of contents, headings, bolded words, timeline, glossary, index, and labeled photos – perfect for teaching non-fiction text features to your youngest elementary students.

Each section includes 2-3 sentences and a photograph describing when fall is (p. 6-9), including a timeline on pg. 6-7 of the seasons, things to do in fall (p. 16), and what fall looks like (p. 10).

This book is a good, quick overview of fall and is easy enough for kindergarteners who are sounding out two-syllable words to read independently. I like the Fall Facts page (p. 22) as it summarizes many of the facts in the book, with photos, labels and key words.

I find these Blastoff Beginners a go-to in my library because I know I can count on them for quality and consistency in content and readability. I also appreciate the consistency in headings and page numbers throughout the books in a set. I can give out multiple books from the same set and ask students to find something to turn to page 16 and tell me one thing to do in that season. Great for beginning research skills.

Cover of Fall by Christina Leaf. Cover shows orange pumpkin surrounded by orange and red leaves falling.

The Seasons: Spring

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Katy Beattie

Spring by Christina Leaf is part of a four book Blastoff Beginners series of the Seasons. This set is geared towards kindergarten, with sight words, simple two syllable words, short sentences, and bright color photographs.

This book includes a table of contents, headings, bolded words, timeline, glossary, index, and labeled photos – perfect for teaching non-fiction text features to your youngest elementary students.

Each section includes 2-3 sentences and a photograph describing when spring is (p. 6-9), including a timeline on pg. 6-7 of the seasons, things to do in spring (p. 18), and what spring looks like (p. 10). Spring also contains a good amount of information about animals and plants in spring and how it is a time of growth.

This book is a good, quick overview of spring, easy enough for kindergarteners who are sounding out two-syllable words to read independently. I like the Spring Facts page (p. 22) as it summarizes many of the facts in the book, with photos, labels and key words.

I find these Blastoff Beginners a go-to in my library because I know I can count on them for quality and consistency in content and readability.

Cover of book Spring by Christina Leaf. Cover shows pink tulips and a butterfly.

The Seasons: Winter

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Katy Beattie

Winter by Christina Leaf is part of a four book Blastoff Beginners series of the Seasons. This set is geared towards kindergarten, with sight words, simple two syllable words, short sentences, and bright color photographs.

This book includes a table of contents, headings, bolded words, timeline, glossary, index, and labeled photos – perfect for teaching non-fiction text features to your youngest elementary students.

Each section includes 2-3 sentences and a photograph describing when winter is (p. 6-9), including a timeline on pg. 6-7 of the seasons, things to do in winter (p. 16), and what winter looks like (p. 12).

This book is a good, quick overview of winter, easy enough for kindergarteners who are sounding out two-syllable words to read independently. I like the Winter Facts page (p. 22) as it summarizes many of the facts in the book, with photos, labels and key words.

I find these Blastoff Beginners a go-to in my library because I know I can count on them for quality and consistency in content and readability.

Cover of Winter by Christina Leaf. Cover has a snowman with a green hat and scarf, and brown gloves on stick arms.

When Your Daddy’s a Soldier

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Anne Hales

Children with parents in the military do face unique challenges. In When Your Daddy’s a Soldier, the feelings and experiences of a young boy with an active duty father are portrayed in an age appropriate way. The strong connection between a soldier and his young son is clearly shown in both the text and illustrations. The additional emotional burdens that fall on all members of a military family are also addressed. This book belongs in collections that serve children of military families.

While about 80% of active duty service members are male, the way this story is told excludes both the female service members as well as the daughters of service members. Female characters (in particular mothers) in the book are portrayed as not coping well.

Acadia National Park

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Annette McQueen

Christina Leaf takes on an impressive undertaking of providing elementary age readers with the who, what, where, when, and why of the Acadia National Park in 32 pages of color photos and text.

Leaf gives basic facts and visuals on Acadia National Park while not being a vacation travel advertisement. Acadia National Park was the 6th most visited national park in 2021.

Leaf includes: plants and animals (p 12-15), history of peoples in the area (p 16-21), how ice breaks down granite (p 8-9), top sites (p 22-23), and perhaps most importantly protecting the park (p24-27) from too many visitors and climate change.

Leaf also includes graphics of 6 Acadia National Park facts, food web, and a timeline (p28-29).

More information on the Acadia National Park can be gotten safely through Factsurfer.com..

Submitted for Annette McQueen by Mary Pong

Trapped in Terror Bay: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Franklin Expedition

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Jenny Kassil

Personal rule: a book that starts with a map is going to be great. Trapped in Terror Bay is no exception to that rule, although it takes some skill and attention to navigate, much like the poor sailors on the lost Franklin expedition to the Arctic. Written almost in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure, this non-fiction book puts the reader in the doomed shoes of Captain Francis Crozier, sailing through imagined accounts of events onboard the ship, tracking the voyage across the Atlantic, around Greenland and eventually into the maze of ice and islands between the North American continent and the North Pole. As weather worsens, disease rampages, and nature triumphs over the technology of 1848, the reader explores this tragedy and its mystery in short, engaging chapters.

Within each chapter are subsections that include modern forensic research into the expedition, sidebars about characters, politics, nautical technology, and knowledge from the native peoples who have lived on the Arctic ice since time immemorial.

It took me a while for me to notice subtle changes in fonts, page color or border, or headings to denote these different sections, but once I did I read this like a textbook, skipping around to follow the parts I was interested in, then doubling back to read the sidebars that explained something in the main storyline. With that in mind, this is a great book to teach some textbook reading skills. Readers will love the inevitable doom, perfectly captured by the author, the fascinating facts and insights into life in the mid-1800’s, and the modern quest to understand the events of the past.