kid play

I have two little girls galloping around the house on the stick horses (sound effect: "ga-LOP, ga-LOP, ga-LOP) with their baby dolls, deep in a game of pretend. When they apparently arrive at their destination, I hear "How about you park your horsey here?" Park? A horse? I'm quite sure that's not right, but it suddenly occurs to me that I'm not sure what I would do with my horse, once we got where we were going. Other than, you know, tie it up somewhere so it didn't wander off . . .

Book Review: Jack Hanna's Wackiest, Wildest, Weirdest Animals in the World

Jack Hanna's Wackiest, Wildest, Weirdest Animals is a fun true facts book for mid range elementary schoolers (2nd to 5th grade). It profiles thirty animals--ten of the wackiest, ten of the wildest, and ten of the weirdest animals in the world. It has beautiful glossy photographs of each of the animals profiled, food, habitat and size for each, and two to three paragraphs of exciting and bizarre information.

This is a great book for lovers of the weird and wonderful in creation. Well bound, with thick glossy pages, it will stand up well for reading and re-reading. My third grade daughter sat down and read the whole thing cover to cover the afternoon it showed up at our house. It is also be well suited for a parent to sit down and read aloud with their child. The information is too dense for an early elementary age school child (my kindergartner was bored), but the included blooper DVD will be enjoyed by both younger and older children. There is no overtly spiritual slant to the book, but there didn't need to be. And it was refreshing to find a modern naturalist book entirely free of pseudo-environmental propaganda. The book simply does a fine job broadening the knowledge base for those children who want to know how things are. Highly recommended for the fans of Ranger Rick or National Geographic Kids in your home. Four out of five stars.