Author Archives: TodayWeDid

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About TodayWeDid

I spend my time sharing my love of reading, arts and crafts with my four children. I also review children's and YA books.
Feb26

Where Does Thursday Go? by Janeen Brian and Stephen Michael King

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IMG_3826Where Does Thursday Go? by Janeen Brian and illustrated by Stephen Michael King, paperback picture book, published by Margaret Hamilton Books in 2001.

What a good question! Just where does Thursday go before Friday arrives? Friends Splodge and Humbug go exploring under the stars on Thursday night to see if they can find out.

With its distinctive and gentle illustrations and a unique story, this beautiful tale celebrates the curiosity of children. My children ask what seems like thousands of questions every day, and I don’t always know the answers, but that never deters them! So Where Does Thursday Go? appealed to their curious minds, and satisfied their love of reading. This is a nice book to share, and we enjoyed talking about what we thought Thursday would look like, and whether it would look different to the other days of the week.

Where Does Thursday Go? is most suitable for preschoolers and  children in lower primary school, but is loved by all of my children.

Feb22

Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn by Belinda Murrell and Serena Geddes

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IMG_3813Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn by Belinda Murrell and illustrated by Serena Geddes, paperback chapter book, 86 pages, published by Random House Australia in 2013.

Meet Lulu Bell, a great big sister to Rosie and Gus, best friend to Molly and daughter of the local vet. During the preparations for Rosie’s mermaid themed birthday party, their Dad is called out to capture an escaped pony before it can get hurt. Until its owners can be found, the pony is placed in Lulu’s backyard, where the party is soon to be held. Unfortunately the pony gets up to some mischief, upsetting Rosie. Luckily Lulu has an idea that will help to make Rosie’s party the best ever.

A simple story of family, friends and fun, this chapter book captivated my kindergartner. She enjoyed the storyline, and identified with the family, which were very realistic. She liked the way Gus spoke, and called himself “Bug Boy” and the way that Rosie and Lulu interacted as sisters. The idea of a mermaid party was quite appealing to her also!

For self reading, Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn, would suit a slightly more confident reader than one just starting chapter books. While the chapters were reasonably short, and the black and white illustrations frequent, there is more depth to this story than is usually seen in a first chapter book. The language was very suitable for lower primary school children, and the story easy enough to follow. I read this one to my kindergartner as she’s not yet onto chapter books, and she has already asked for more Lulu Bell!

 

 

Feb16

Slime

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Packets of cornflour.

Packets of cornflour.

This is the easiest way to make slime, and requires only cornflour and water. I usually add some food colouring to the mix too, for a bit of extra fun. Green is our favourite slime colour. I once made it red, and it stained everything it touched, including our skin, so no more red slime for us!

I used a kilogram of cornflour in each tub, and roughly the equivalent in water. I normally just add water while mixing until I get to a consistency that I like. Less water makes it firmer, more water makes it runnier. I tend to lean towards firmer to start, as inevitably, the kids want to add water to the mix at some point while playing with it. The food colouring can be added to the water as you mix it in, or to the already mixed slime (it’s easier to do it while mixing in the water).

The first touch.

The first touch.

Getting our hands slimy.

Getting our hands slimy.

Past experience told me to get the kids into swimmers and take this activity outside. It is very messy. Afterwards I can hose the kids down, hose out the tubs and hose the mess from the grass too. Luckily it was really hot so we enjoyed playing with the hose once we were finished with the slime.

Letting her hands sink into the slime.

Letting her hands sink into the slime.

Oozing slime.

Oozing slime.

 

Previously we have used various plastic animals, cups, scoops, spoons, tongs and funnels with the slime, but the kids have just as much fun without any extra play items. It is a fascinating substance that keeps the kids entertained for ages. It is lots of fun to scoop up in our hands, squish it between our fingers, and let it ooze back into the tub. We talked about its liquid and solid properties and looked at ways of changing the pressure on the slime to cause it to solidify or to liquify. The kids tried pressing it quickly or letting their hands slide into it. And of course, eventually one of them stood in it, and then sat in it. Baby T was particularly pleased with the way it squelched up between his toes.

Baby T dropping slime on L's head.

Baby T dropping slime on L’s head.

Jan30

Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman

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IMG_3715Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman, paperback novel, 344 pages, published by Faber and Faber Limited in 2014.

Strictly ruled by a group of council members, the settlement has been isolated and lost from other people for several generations. It is surrounded by tall walls from which guards watch the surrounding forest through the night, waiting for signs of the malmaci, a dangerous beast that sometimes takes settlement members. It is important that no one leaves the safety of the settlement after dark, and even during the day, no one should stray too far into the woods. Most of the members of the settlement are obedient and adhere to the routines, rules and rituals of their community, but sometimes a member will stray from the path, becoming known as wayward or stained, bringing shame to their families. Another major concern for the settlement is the freezing winter known as the Winterkill which is almost upon them as Emmeline comes of age. As a cripple and a stained person, she is surprised by a marriage proposal, while still trying to figure out her feelings for another boy in the settlement. All the while she is drawn to the woods, curious as to what lies beyond the settlement. Her curiosity may result in dire consequences for herself, and the other members of her community, but without risk, there can not be discovery.

Winterkill reminded me a lot of M. Night Shyamalan’s film The Village. There were many similar points, isolated village, monster lurking in the forest, overbearing and strict leaders. I liked that movie, but I like this book even more. Right from the start I liked Emmeline. She has determination, courage and individuality in a society which promotes conformity and compliance. A very interesting and strong character that jumps from the page, I just wanted everything to work out well for her. I also liked Kane, the boy that Emmeline fancies. He too, was very well written, interesting and somewhat mysterious. The characters and the landscape became increasingly clear to me as I read, or more fell into Emmeline’s world. I felt her isolation, her shame, her disappointment and wariness. And I felt her desire to explore, to love and to make her Pa proud again. This is definitely a story I won’t forget in a hurry.

This young adult novel is suitable for upper primary through high school students. I found Winterkill to be an intriguing and page-turning read that I would recommend for any fan of dystopian fiction. I have read on Kate A. Boorman’s website that this to be the first book of a triology, with the next book to be released later this year. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.

 

 

Jan30

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

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IMG_37131Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick, paperback novel, 392 pages, published by Simon & Schuster in 2014.

Britt Pfeiffer has convinced her best friend, Korbie, to backpack through the Teton Ranges in Wyoming for the spring break of their final year of high school. The girls have very little experience hiking through the ranges, but Korbie’s parents’ own a large cabin on the shores of a lake in the mountains, which they can use as a base for their adventure. The weather turns foul as they journey up the mountain, forcing them to abandon their vehicle and seek shelter from the driving snow. Sodden and fatigued they find salvation in a small cabin in the forest, where two young men are also waiting out the storm. For two pretty and exuberant girls, it should be fun to shack up with two handsome lads like Mason and Shaun for the night, but the boys have plans, and the girls are at their mercy. Britt finds herself fighting her way down the mountain through the dark and swirling storm, surrounded by dangers both environmental and human.

Elements of adventure, mystery, suspense, and romance are intertwined in this captivating young adult novel. Black Ice was a sled ride through the mountains, full of twists and dark turns, that kept me guessing. There were some well written action sequences, with plenty of teenage deliberation and introspection, and some non-graphic romantic scenes. It was an exciting read with palpable tension, that I blew through quickly as I needed to know what happened next.

The characters were all rather bratty and entitled, and I greatly disliked Korbie and her brother, Calvin. It seemed incongruous that Britt would be friends with Korbie, but they had been friends for a long time and it is often hard to let those relationships go. I liked the way that Britt developed as a character through the story. From reliance on the men in her life while taking them for granted, she grows to be a more resourceful, strong and independent leading lady. This traumatic experience strengthens rather than unravels her, always good for a female protagonist. Mason was a very complicated, yet intriguing character which many moods and secrets. He could have gone either way for most of the book, while Shaun was obviously derailed and dangerous. The shallowness and selfishness of several of the characters served to highlight the complexity and intensity of Britt and Mason.

Being a young adult novel, plenty of teenage issues were touched upon, relationships, first love, kissing, physical and emotional insecurities. This helps to shape the novel into something that teenagers can relate to, and it seems to be endemic in this genre. While the sexual elements of this book were quite tame, there was violence and death that may disturb more innocent or immature readers.

Black Ice is most suitable for middle to upper high school students and beyond.

Jan28

Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall

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IMG_36851Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, paperback chapter book, 113 pages, published by Scholastic in 2007.

Bean is a mischievous seven year old with a love of annoying her older sister, Nancy. She’s a bit of a tomboy, who loves playing outside and getting dirty. Ivy lives in a house across the road from Bean, and is quite prim in comparison, favouring quiet reading and wearing pretty dresses. They couldn’t be more dissimilar, but when Bean finds herself in a bind, Ivy offers to help, and they discover that they have more in common than they initially thought.

This is the first book in the Ivy + Bean series, and the only one we’ve read so far. It contained easy to read language and text with a simple format, black and white illustrations and reasonably short chapters.

Ivy + Bean is most suitable for lower primary school children, who are gaining confidence in their reading. I read this book to my kindergartener, she loved it and has asked for more Ivy + Bean adventures. We read it in just a couple of sessions, as she wanted to “read just one more chapter, mum, pleeeeeease”.  My third grader also read this book, and while she found it extremely easy as a text, she quite enjoyed the story. Ivy and Bean make an odd couple, but they are good characters, making us laugh, and sometimes groan, and who will encourage kids to read about their adventures.

 

Jan26

Friday Barnes Girl Detective by R. A. Spratt

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IMG_3690Friday Barnes Girl Detective by R. A. Spratt, paperback novel, 256 pages, published by Random House Australia in 2014.

Friday Barnes Girl Detective is a new series from R. A. Spratt, the creator of the Nanny Piggins series. The story follows Friday Barnes, a rather unusual eleven year old, with an uncanny ability of solving mysteries. She is the youngest daughter of two academics who have not the time nor the inclination to provide their genius daughter with the emotional support and attention that most children experience. They are just a little too preoccupied with their work, which has left Friday to to do much as she pleases. As she mostly likes to learn, experiment and observe, she doesn’t usually get up to too much mischief. After Friday solves a bank robbery case, she uses the reward money to enrol herself at Highcrest Academy, the most exclusive boarding school in the country. As soon as she arrives, Friday realises that beneath the school’s veneer of respectability are mysterious occurrences, learning competitiveness and general rich-kid hi-jinks. She quickly finds herself solving cases of missing homework and false accusations, dealing with a boy in her class who inexplicably appears to hate her, and most interesting of all, the Yeti that has made a home for itself in the school’s swamp.

Friday is a very interesting character. She is intelligent, precocious, peculiar, observant, and yet lacks the ability to correctly decipher social cues, and she dresses terribly! She reminds me a lot of that great and strange detective, Sherlock Holmes, who has been a favourite of mine since childhood. This young detective has definitely got me interested. I was reading this book to my third grader, a few chapters each day, except she liked Friday Barnes so much she sneakily read the rest of it without me!

All the characters were well written, and easily conjured in the imagination. I quite liked Friday’s best friend, the airy Melanie, who fulfilled the faithful sidekick role so well. And of course, our hero must have an arch nemesis, in this case, Ian Wainscott, who has a penchant for mean pranks and snide remarks.

As Friday is a genius this book contained some advanced language and terms that my third grader had not run across previously, mostly regarding her abilities in maths and science. I explained these terms, but they seemed mostly to serve the point of Friday’s extreme intelligence rather than to progress the story, and as such their inclusion did not lessen the enjoyment my third grader gained from the book. She quite happily devoured the story as it should be taken, with great enthusiasm and intrigue.

Suitable for children in middle primary school through to lower high school, Friday Barnes Girl Detective is the start of a great series, sure to entertain young mystery fans. We are now eagerly anticipating reading the second book in the series, Friday Barnes Under Suspicion, which has been recently released in Australia.

Dec24

Merry Christmas 2014!

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It’s almost time for Santa to arrive in our house, and we have been getting ready for his arrival with much enthusiasm this evening.

A throwing out reindeer food.

A throwing out reindeer food.

Before dark, we went outside and the kids spread their reindeer food around the front yard. The glitter in the feed will help to guide the reindeer down to land on our lawn, and then they can munch on the food while they wait for Santa. L and A threw some of the reindeer food in the air, so it rained (A made this pun as she threw it) all over us, consequently we are all very glittery!

L and A made some chalk markings to show where Santa should enter our house (we don’t have a chimney). L also wrote “Santa stop here please” on our front path, just in case. She also put a number of notes around the house to show Santa where the tree is and the like.

A message for Santa.

A message for Santa.

The snack.

The snack.

The snack went out onto the table, each girl chose a biscuit for Santa. L put out a big cup of water, while A thought Santa would prefer milk. And apparently the reindeer are hungry this year, as they are also getting a nice juicy carrot to eat. There are more notes indicating what Santa should do.

One of the notes L left for Santa.

One of the notes L left for Santa.

The kids watched their favourite Christmas movie, The Grinch, before going off to bed. They are very excited, but hopefully they will be able to go to sleep quickly.

I know of so many families that have an absurdly early start on Christmas morning, but that tends not to be us. On more than one occasion, at least one of the kids has slept beyond eight o’clock on Christmas morning! Hopefully that will be the case again tomorrow, and we will all have been able to get a good night’s rest.

I hope Santa finds each and every one of you tonight 🙂 We will be enjoying some wonderful family time tomorrow, and we hope you do to. Merry Christmas from all of us at Today We Did.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 

 

 

Dec24

Christmas Garland

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IMG_3261

IMG_3248Tucked away in the craft drawers I found a packet of cardboard Christmas garland shapes. It consisted of ten pieces of alternating bauble and snowflake shapes that could be decorated and then combined to string across the wall or the top of a door or window.

Shaking on glitter.

Shaking on glitter.

Glitter was the only decorating material we considered, so we took the glitter tub and the cardboard garlands outside. The kids painted on glue with paintbrushes and then shook glitter onto the glue.

Creating patterns with the glitter.

Creating patterns with the glitter.

L made some interesting patterns on her baubles and snowflakes. She added glue in a swirl shape and covered it with one colour of glitter, and then blew the excess off. Then, she placed glue in the plain section and added a different colour of glitter to this glue. She also did some stripes using the same method. These look great.

Some of the garlands hanging up to dry.

Some of the garlands hanging up to dry.

Glitter patterns.

Glitter patterns.

A liked to use lots of different colours all over hers, which also look great. At least twice, the lid of one of the glitter tubes came off, dumping a heap of glitter onto the shapes. As there was a lot of glitter left on the muck mat, I painted glue all over the last two pieces of garland, and then pressed them glue side down into the excess glitter. The glitter colours were very mixed up, but I liked the way they came up, and we didn’t waste too much glitter!

Ready to be combined to make a lovely glittery garland string.

Ready to be combined to make a lovely glittery garland string.

Once the garland pieces were completely dry, I stapled them together, end to end. We tied the finished garland from the curtain rod on our large lounge room windows. It is quite festive!

Hanging from the curtain rod.

Hanging from the curtain rod.

Dec23

The Adventures of The Bailey School Kids: Santa Claus Doesn’t Mop Floors by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones

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IMG_3287The Adventures of The Bailey School Kids: Santa Claus Doesn’t Mop Floors by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones and illustrated by John Steven Gurney, paperback chapter book, 71 pages, first published by Scholastic Inc. in 1991, this edition published in 2007.

After having to clean up another mess made by the third grade class at Bailey Elementary School, the school janitor quits. In his place, starts Mr Jolly, who looks rather like Santa Claus, and is always turning the heat down to chilly. Messes are no match for Mr Jolly who can have the school sparkling again in no time. And he’s been watching the 3rd grade gang and writing in his little notebook, as if he’s taking notes about the kids. Could he really be Santa?

Santa Claus Doesn’t Mop Floors is a chapter book containing short chapters and a shallow story-line, suitable for children in lower to middle primary school.

It is an easy read, but I greatly disliked the main gang of characters. They were rude, destructive and disrespectful, especially Eddie, who often bullied and coerced his fellow gang members into naughty behaviour. Spreading peanut butter and whipped cream through the school may seem funny to some, but it is still vandalism. I don’t condone these behaviours and I don’t want my children thinking that it is okay to play these sorts of “pranks”. Basically the kids were horrible, and fell well short of the decent role models I have come to expect from good kids books. Even if the writing and plot had been better, I still could not have stepped past the poor behaviour and lack of any meaningful consequences for the gang.

The main theme of the story seemed to be to restore Eddie’s Christmas spirit, through kindness and the presence of magic. However, the plot wasn’t deep enough to really examine the causes for his lack of belief in Christmas. It also didn’t explore why he thought the solution to his sadness and trouble was to be a jerk to everyone else. I would have preferred a bit more moralising.

I did think that I might have been placing too much of my adult (and rule abiding) self forwards whilst reading Santa Claus Doesn’t Mop Floors, so I sought the opinion of my second grader. She also disliked the children in the book, (she too is quite rule abiding and often complains about disruptive kids ruining for classroom learning experience). She thought it was average and not worthy of another read. For a child that devours books of all varieties, often re-reading books I think aren’t great, several times in close succession, I was surprised by her strong disappointment in this Christmas themed book. We will not be seeking any further books in this series, which appears to contain around fifty titles.