Book Review TC JAN 2021 - Montessori Foundation

Night Becomes Day: Changes in Nature

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, MFA, TC January 2021

Written by Cynthia Argentine

This is a truly gorgeous book for children! Cynthia’s words flow as you turn the pages, and she describes how the natural world is constantly transforming. The photographs superbly illustrate the transformations in nature. The message is about paying attention and to be in awe of all that is around us in the world and realizing how dynamic nature is. And watch for this – “What goes around, comes around.”

Cynthia includes three pages at the end of book for parents and teachers to share with children about different areas of science.

Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and a beautiful message for readers! Night Becomes Day would be a terrific addition to children’s (ages 3-8 years old) book collections at home, at school, or both.

Cynthia Argentine has been a guest on our Montessori Family Life Webinar Series. Join the Montessori Foundation Family Network at stage.montessori.org to watch the broadcast, Science— An Open Door to Creativity: How

Science Connects Kids to Nature, Arts, Literature, and More with Cynthia Argentine. Visit her website www.cynthiaargentine.com to purchase this and other books she has written.

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Book Review | The Yeti is Ready

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Emotionally Healthy Children, Empowerment, Family Resources, MFA, Montessori Parenting, TC January 2021

by Royce Kunze

This is a whimsical story about an imaginary creature, a yeti, that lives in the Himalaya Mountains on the border of China and India. The story tells how high up and cold the mountains are, how hard it is for other creatures including humans to get to the top, and how lonely it can be if you live up there like the yeti. It also tells about hope, being prepared for dreams to come true, patience, faith, and determination.

So everyday the yeti prepares her home for anyone who might make the journey. She knows just what a traveler would need to be comfortable after a long, difficult, cold climb. She lights the fire, makes up the guest bed, puts out games to play and movies to watch, and more including cooking and cleaning. But no one shows up. The yeti puts everything away before she goes to bed and does the same everyday. She never gives up her hopes and dreams.

There is an invitation to the reader at the end. If you and your child read this book you’ll find out what that invitation is! I would suggest that this is a book for children from about 5 to 9 years old who need some discussion about the content and the metaphor it contains.

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Book Review | How to Raise An Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, Family Resources, MFA, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting, TC January 2021

by Julie Lythcott-Haims

This is a book that every parent must read! The author helps us understand, in no uncertain terms, what it means to ‘over-parent’ and the harm it causes to our children, to ourselves, and to our world. The first two chapters focus on what parents are doing now with the very best of intentions and why we must stop hovering. But just wait until you get to Chapter 3: “Another Way.” Look at the subtitles, and you’ll know why I am so grateful for this author’s reinforcement, (whether she knows it or not)
of the validity of Montessori principles. Here are some of them: Give Them Unstructured Time; Teach Life Skills, Teach Them How to Think, Prepare Them for Hard Work, Let Them Chart Their Own Path, Normalize Struggle, and Listen to Them.

When I was teaching a Mommy and Me class, where moms brought their infants with them to learn how to interact with them, we spent 20 minutes of our one hour class just observing the babies. The hardest thing for most of the moms was to just OBSERVE. They weren’t to talk to them or move them or move their toy closer to them. I was astounded by how difficult it was for so many moms to allow their infants to learn to move independently, to struggle to reach a toy, or to interact with other infants. This kind of behavior doesn’t stop when they get older. It just changes. For example, elementary children have cell phones and must check in when they get on the school bus and then when they get to school or when they ride their bikes two blocks down the street to play at a friend’s house. I don’t even want to get started on how parents hover over adolescents!

Read this book. If you are over-parenting, it could help you stop. It you are not, it will validate that your way of parenting is a good choice for you and your family.

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Book Review | Peace, Love, Action

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, Communication, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Emotionally Healthy Children, Empowerment, MFA, Peace Education, TC January 2021

by Tanya Zabinski
Reviewed by Susan French-Lawyer, Director of Admissions at Montessori School of Syracuse, NY

It’s been quite the year. Frankly, it’s been quite the four years. I, for one, have had to work hard to keep my positivism and sense of hope alive, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for younger people to watch grown ups making such a mess of things.

Thanks to Tanya Zabinski, there is a concrete step you can take right now to give your child a sense of empowerment and hope, along with the reassurance that there are plenty of people out there making the world a better place.

Tanya, a talented silk screen print artist from Buffalo, NY, and owner of Planet Love Designs, has taken some of her favorite prints and added a few new ones to create a book that is part art, part biography, and part social change recipe.

Peace, Love, Action! takes the reader through an alphabet of themes and features familiar social change icons such as: Martin Luther King, Jr., Thich Nhat Hahn, Jane Goodall, and John Muir. But it also includes people like teenage Native American water advocate Autumn Peltier, Literacy Volunteers of America founder Ruth Johnson Colvin, Afro-Indigenous farmer Leah Penniman, Alice Waters, and Colin Kaepernick. It is a diverse group, both local and international in feel.

The prints are beautiful, simple and soothing; the biographies are short and inspiring; and the list of practical things you can do and fun factoids takes the reader from the abstract to the concrete, from observer to participant.

Though this book has a slant towards the elementary or middle school reader, it has an ageless theme and appeal. It could also make a great gift for a high school or college student, or anyone you think might enjoy a boost of optimism. I purchased a copy for myself, and now I want to spread the word about this wonderful book!

This year, give yourself and someone you love a gift that reminds us of the good that is possible and the bountiful opportunities for positive change that lie ahead.

Buy the book directly from Tanya at: peaceloveaction.com
(p.s. she sells beautiful prints and t-shirts online at planetlovedesigns.com).

Please help spread the word by sharing this with colleagues, friends, and family.

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Book Review | Right now, I Am Brave

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, Communication, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Infant-Toddler (0 to 3), Kindergarten, Language & Reading, MFA, Montessori Family Life, TC January 2021

by Dr. Daniela Owen
Illustrated by Gülce Baycik

Here’s another good one from Dr. Owen. The first lesson—when things that we find scary are not actually dangerous, it’s time to be brave. She goes on to define what it means to be brave. She explains how our brains are not always right about what is truly scary. Being brave can be tough for grown ups as well as kids.

So trying new things, doing the right thing, or doing something hard are all sometimes scary. She goes on to give children ideas about how to encourage themselves and push forward when facing scary things.

As always in this series, the illustrations are colorful, inclusive, and full of emotion. It is definitely a good addition to your home library or for your school.

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Book Review | Right Now, I Am Kind

by Lorna McGrath | Book Review TC JAN 2021, Book Reviews, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), MFA, TC January 2021

Written by Dr. Daniela Owen
Illustrated by Gülce Baycik

In this book Dr. Owen helps children think about what it is to be kind. She says we have to look outside of ourselves, outside of our wants, and think about others. She tells, in greater detail than in this review, that there are three basic ways to be kind. They are: be aware of others to see if you should change your actions based on others needs; ask people if they need help, and show people you care through random acts of kindness. The illustrations are colorful and inclusive. The message is appropriate for children who are just beginning to recognize the needs of others and a good review for children throughout the elementary years.

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