Waldo is back in a made for Halloween special and although he gives a lot of tricks, they sure feel like treats when you solve them! This edition includes a Glow-In-The-Dark slider that reveals hidden in the dark pictures, only adding to the mind boggling fun. This book will last well through this holiday and into the ones for years to come. Every time you pick up a Waldo book, the search begins anew. Hours of fun! I love this book although it makes my eyes see crisscross. All kidding aside, this book bolsters eye strength and concentration and has just the comfort appeal of our beloved Waldo, his striped clothes and the wonderful cast of characters.
A Dynamic Duo of well written and beautifully illustrated non-fiction books by Whitney Stewart and Christine Engel.
What’s On Your Plate: Exploring the World of Food
This is not simply a book about exploring the world of food; it is actually a book about the world and its varied cultures. The facts are extremely well researched, honest and eye-opening. The wonderful union of author and illustrator is wholly creative and engaging, with just the right amount of pertinent information, each one accompanied by a recipe, opening up the door to explore and be curious about cultures and peoples. I appreciate how it draws lines connecting one place to another through the food and gives voice to our multicultural heritages. I love the mix illustrations of drawings and actual images. Its very eye-catching and really brings life to the information. I think this book will peak even the most finicky eaters interest to explore!
What Do You Celebrate: Holidays and Festivals Around the World
A great introduction to the varied yet similar holidays and festivals across cultures and the world. Even if the celebration is not specific to your culture, the overlying message is that although we are unique, we are all connected by our similarities. It is a very inspiring and accessible book about diversity, acceptance and the human spirit. I highly recommend this book. It is so relevant and full of joy and jubilation. The accompanying illustrations are beautifully detailed and depict a wide range of peoples. I love the mix collage aspect of the art!
Thank you to Whitney Stewart for sending me these books. All opinions expressed are my own.
Gilly the Giraffe Self Esteem Activity Book: A Therapeutic Story With Creative Activities to Help Children Aged 5-10 by Dr. Karen Treisman
This book puts the B in Brave! Such a useful and accessible book. Just reading the book is inspiring and has helped me to focus on how I can facilitate a positive learning environment for the students and the teachers by incorporating the story and ideas into my in-school yoga classes. The story is one that flows well by adding yoga poses, breathing activities and short meditations and the added applied practices offer many useful ways of building self-esteem activities into the classroom.
Dr. Treisman brings another part of the world to many readers-with new words and ways. This is a great book about diversity. It is colorful, eye-opening and totally relateable. The story promotes creative problem solving, by offering a view from another angle. It is like a game of Statues, where one person sets themselves up as a statue; the next person walks around, looking at the shape from different angles, and then fits themselves into the structure, which is a fun way of promoting this way of thinking.
I highly recommend incorporating these activities throughout the day. Practicing increases personal growth and strength.
Anther great book by Dr. Triesman is Presley Pug, check out my review here.
Thank you to JK Publishing for sending me a copy of this book. All onions expressed are my own.
Adorable, diverse illustrations connected to beautiful simple breathing prompts. From A-Z, easy to follow breathing prompts, each one aimed to elicit a calming response. This book is a great one for young children and it can be used more widely- any teacher could offer up one of these breathing practices at the beginning of each class. Students can encouraged to note the ones they like the best to keep in their tool boxes of practices they know help them to feel good, calm and in-control. Calming breaths can be used to bring focus and attention in a classroom as well as a home or office but are also great to combine with a yoga pose! Great accessible ideas to incorporate into today’s mindful classroom.
Fun, accessible introduction to the power of the breath!
Dr Karen Treisman is the prolific author and creator of this wonderful therapeutic story designed to help start conversations with children about coping with big feelings and how to find inner peace and a sense of overall calmness. This therapeutic story about the universal commonness of having feelings and expressing emotions is full of kid friendly examples. At the heart, this story explains, through the eyes of an adorable pug name Presley, that although each person’s experiences are unique that every person has these experiences which makes the journey to finding peace within the turmoil all the more accessible.
This story on one level should be read by caring adults, as it clearly presents a picture of a young child struggling to come in control and it is also a perfect book to be read aloud. It is sweet and interesting and offers many fun and easily reachable activities to help kids cope with their emotions and find calm, especially the idea of a ‘mind retreat’ – an imaginary safe space where he can relax. Even an imaginary place can offer comfort and security a personal space to relax in and find ones calm. The sweet drawings by Sarah Peacock enhance the story and I can see many kids wanting to snuggle up with Presley for comfort!
With the assistance of the creative activities and photocopiable worksheets, children to explore the ideas raised in the story. Growing up takes practice and that is good, because by practicing something, we get better at it. Getting better at something leads to happier feelings and a stronger sense of self-worth. The book also presents practical tools for parents, teachers, caregivers and other professional who support children aged 5-10.
This book will come in very handy with my in-school yoga and mindfulness program. as having applied practices to bolster learning is extremely useful and fits in very well with the classroom environment.
I have a copy of this wonderful book to giveaway. Please comment on this post and share on twitter. Be sure to tag @dr_treisman @JKPBooks @alwaysbedancing. Winner will be selected on September 30th.
Thank you to Jessica Kingsley Publishing for sending me this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
For more information about me, please visit alwaysbedancing dot com
The Mindfulness Skills Activity Book For Children by Chris Willard, PsyD and Mitch Abblett, PhD. (Illustrations by Kimberly Hermesch, M.Ed.; PESI Publishing and Media)
This book is full of fabulous activities that help connect social emotional learning to mindfulness concepts. I have found it immediately applicable and have already used a number of its offerings: Focus Mountain, Square Fence Breathing, SLOW Stream Floating and Fave Flames, to name a few. I have the awesome opportunity of bringing mindful concepts into school communities, K-12, both in classrooms and with professional development, and it is wonderful to have such a great resource to integrate into my programming. I highly recommend this book. The activities are engaging and accessible and they offer a great jumping off point to dig deeper.
¡Olé Namaste! Eve Costarelli
Thank you to Chris Willard for sending me this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
For more information, please visit alwaysbedancing dot com
I Am Uniquely Eve 