Tag: chapter book

Welcome to Unicorn School

~ rachelbenzine ~ 1 Comment

Plot:

Mira is so pumped for her first time at Unicorn School. Her older sister has gone for the last two summers, and it’s finally Mira’s turn! She’ll get paired with her own unicorn, and they’ll go on magical quests and earn medals and probably be best friends. This is going to be great! But then, on her first day, she gets paired with Dave. Dave is small, and rotund, and falls asleep in class, and doesn’t seem anything like the unicorn best friend that Mira has dreamed of. Welcome to Unicorn School is full of unicorns, glitter, and fart jokes… what more could you ask for? This is absolutely going to be a hit with all of the kids I know. 

What I loved most:

There’s such awesome diversity in this book. Mira is a person of color, as is her new friend, Raheem. Her other friend, Darcy, uses a wheelchair, and her inclusion in all of their activities is natural and presented as the norm. I love when books exhibit diversity as something to be expected, especially in stories for younger kids. 

Read this book if you like:

Like I said above… unicorns, glitter, and fart jokes (so basically the trifecta for elementary kids). Also read if you like laughing, adventures, summer camps, and donuts. 

Book details:

Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Ada Twist has so many questions. Why does her mom’s coffee smell stronger than her dad’s coffee? How many birds live in her backyard, and what kind of birds are they? And most urgently, how is she going to rescue her friend’s uncle, who is floating away due to his helium-filled pants?

Ada is a scientist, and there is so much she wants to learn. She is constantly doing experiments to figure out how the world around her works. STEM is all the rage right now, and it’s never too early to expose your kids to these concepts! For those who aren’t familiar, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. There’s a movement to begin educating children in these areas from a young age, as major job growth is expected in these industries in the future. By teaching children to value and utilize STEM skills from the time they’re little, we are preparing them for success in later job searches. Ada uses her scientific knowledge to get Uncle Ned back on the ground, but she does it in a way that teaches the STEM information on the down-low. Kids won’t even realize they are learning when they read this book.

I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from the publisher, Amulet Books. It will be published next week – April 16, 2019! This is the second book in the Questioners series, but you can read it as a stand-alone book. I had never read the first book (Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters), but I’ll definitely be finding a copy of it and looking forward to future titles in this series!

Favorite Passage:

She shook her head to try to think. She tapped her chin again and scribbled notes. The hum of the crowd faded. There were so many questions to answer. So much to figure out. To Ada, the whole world felt like a big cartoon bubble filled with question marks. 
– Chapter 11

What I Loved Most:

There are a few points in the book where Ada is trying to explain information to someone, but she is too worked up for her words to come out the way that she wants them too. We see her getting frustrated when she can’t communicate well, and then see her try some different techniques to communicate better. In addition to all of the great STEM information in Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants, kids may learn a few new tips for how to get their feelings and ideas across.

Read this book if you like:

Smart kids, jokes about smelly feet, chapter books, empowering children to use science in their everyday lives

Book Details: