Review of "Animals Everywhere," by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’aulaire

Review of

Animals Everywhere, by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’aulaire 

Five out of five stars

 As the title suggests, this is a book about animals, in this case they are organized according to climate zone. It opens with some of the animals found in tropical and desert areas, then lists animals found in temperate areas and ends with a listing of animals found in the polar regions. The style of presentation is to have two opposite pages in full color with short sentences that give the name and a key descriptor of the animal. The following two pages have images that are shades of white and gray and describe the noise that the animal makes.

 With most sentences six words or less in length, this book is easy reading. It will also work well for a parent reading it to a child where they ask questions like, “Which one is the wolf?” If I had been aware of this book when my daughter was young, I would have read it to her.

Review of "Songs in the Air," by John W. Mitchell

Review of

Songs in the Air, by John W. Mitchell

Five out of five stars

 The songs in this collection were broadcast over radio station WOI in Ames, Iowa in the late 1950s. The program of the title was broadcast on Monday mornings at 11 AM. The songs are all simple ones designed for children and have a wide variety of origins. For example, the song “Spring Song” is credited to Frederic Chopin, “By Murmuring Brook” to Franz Schubert, “Hawaii” is a Hawaiian melody and “Walking at Night” is a Czechoslovakian tune.

 The songs were selected by radio personality John Mitchell and conducted by Assistant Professor of Music Education Arthur L. Redner. It is easy to imagine schoolchildren looking forward to and listening to these songs while they were seated at their desks. It is a sure bet that they had fun.

Review of "The Sports Answer Book," by Bill Mazer

Review of

The Sports Answer Book, by Bill Mazer ISBN 0448011638

Five out of five stars

 Many sports trivia books have been published, to my knowledge there are none better than this one. The breadth of coverage is very wide, and the depth of the trivia is considerable. For example, the title of one of the entries on page 184 is: “What is a mashie? What is a niblick? What is a midiron?” It turns out that all are old names for golf clubs.

 This is a book where you can read it straight through, open it to a chapter covering a specific sport or simply pop to a page at random and never be disappointed. There is nothing heavy in this book regarding analysis, just the statement of the facts followed by light analysis. There is also a lot of fuel for conversations that begin with, “Did you know that . . .?”