Book Review: Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What are Some that can be Done Anytime and Anywhere (OT)

Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What are Some that can be Done Anytime and Anywhere,  by Michael Dow (Dow Creative Enterprises, 308pp, $33.62, 2024) Review by Skye Anderson

Having reviewed two other 'nurse-y' titles for kids by Michael Dow, about heatstroke and bacterial meningitis, I expected the same from this book on coping skills but was I surprised! It is quite good and extremely one of a kind with nearly 150 individual illustrations - each one very detailed and worthy of discussion and comparison with the text on the facing page. As they say, when one uses more than one sense, one tends to remember more easily and for a longer time.

We also like the age range: from puberty to 99+! The reading becomes easier with advanced age since the print is large and at least one page has only one sentence though that could also be a disadvantage. 

The Topic

Stress is common in everyday life and if we can teach youngsters how to cope, it would be a lesson for the ages, a lesson well worth learning. And nurse author Michael Dow does just that with plenty of examples, mostly offered by students themselves. 

Stress is defined as well as numerous examples for how to get rid of the reactions to stress, one being accepting yourself. The author uses students to relay some of the examples and each student has a different name and even looks different to appeal to a more diverse audience.

This book can be read by an individual or used as part of a therapy session or even as a group workshop. And the words are there for you already repeated verbatim when they segue into the next page.

What We Would Change

Although we love the idea of a related illustration on each two-page spread, the font size is a bit big but one does get used to it. We would, however, make the organization of the book easier to remember by including perhaps an outline in the front or chapters and chapter titles. And we caught the advice to see a dentist yearly (we had always known that advice to be, twice a year).

Book Review: Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt (OT)

Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt, by Miahael Joffen, Christian Casey, and Jen Thum (Callaway, $24.99, ages 8-14, 96pp, grades 3-7) Review by Skye Anderson

Wow, this book has everything! Starting with the cover of 12 possible occupations of the 18 illustrated (and with text) in this book about ancient Egypt, Be a Scribe! has magnetic appeal: a father is taking his son to a scribe school far away to learn reading and 'riting so that he may qualify for a good job rather than a labor-intensive, back-breaking job like the 12 depicted on the cover or the 18 with two-page spreads inside. Those occupations may experience unemployment and hard physical labor while scribes live at the royal court.

Being a Scribe, The Best Occupation

This is actually a true story! On the journey, the father tells his son all about other occupations plus a little about maps and hieroglyphs. On the way, the father also imparts some words of wisdom in the way of mind your manners, don't blab, follow orders, don't play hooky, control yourself and be gumptious.

The book starts with an introduction (maps, hieroglyphs, etc.) then starts the journey, illustrates the different occupations (with words, too) in a two-page spread each, and ends with words of wisdom the father imparts to his son - all well-organized. We also liked the final 10 pages with details of all the items illustrated.

On Hieroglyphs

If your young reader likes codes and mysteries, he or she may just soak up the information about hieroglyphs and learn to write like an Egyptian! For me, it was too hard though.

Final Question

Do you think it really is best to become a scribe if you lived in old Egypt?

Book Review: John Adams: The Voice Heard 'Round the World (youngsters) (OT)

John Adams: The Voice Heard 'Round the World, by Marian Carlson (Schoolmaster Press, 2010, $17.95, 52pp, ages 7-17) Review by Skye Anderson

Read, Think, Speak and Write

A short little reference* book that introduces us to John Adams in order to illustrate his importance in the early days of our country. A writer, he was organized and shares his methods of organization with the young reader who is called a patriot. One page even offers ideas how to become a better patriot** in our day and age by suggesting projects to do - and even take a quiz!

The Voice

Adams was the voice of the Declaration of Independence (while Thomas Jefferson was the pen) and served as George Washington's second most influential advisor (and vice-president) before he became President himself.

Author Carlson also includes a QRC for the audiobook with the narrator accompanied by the Boston Landmark Orchestra.

*includes timelines (one of Adams and one of the new country), resources (places, media, websites) and ideas for projects 

**Patriots help others, read and study, are organized and self-sufficient, and know their rights - all these have specific fun projects to do

Book Review: Auntie Aisha Answers: The Tween Muslim's Ultimate Guide to Growing Up (OT)

Auntie Aisha Answers: The Tween Muslim's Ultimate Guide to Growing Up, by Aisha Rasheed (Daybreak Press, $22.99, 2024, age 8-12, 108pp) Review by Skye Anderson

Written for a select audience - tweener Muslims - Auntie Aisha Answers is a book in which wisdom and gentleness shines through abundantly while explaining how bodies change with puberty (both genders).

The author has such an understanding writing style when she tackles the tough questions that we would have liked to talk with her in person or have her in our family or circle of friends. She challenges the reader to be good and better, all the while explaining that the Muslim's higher power is challenging but also forgiving.

Interspersed throughout are just perfect illustrations as well as short topics within dotted lines and even suggested tasks to undertake. Some terms appear larger, bolder, and in a different (flowery?) font for emphasis which will either enhance understanding or drive the reader crazy.

Author Rasheed begins explaining what happens physically as children go through puberty and also emotionally, socially and spiritually. Best of all, she remembers what it is like to grow through this stage and come out better on the other side, with the help of religion. 

The only deterrent was the frequent use of italicized Arabic terms and references to the Koran and even that was only because this reviewer is not Muslim (I did try, however, to find someone more knowledgeable, for their viewpoint on the book).

Book Review: Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul

Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul: Stories to Celebrate the Spirit of Courage, Caring and Community, by Jack Canfield et al. (Backlist, 2012, 363pp, $16.95) Review by Skye Anderson.

The Chicken Soup books are like Reader's Digest: everyone has read them at some time(s) in their lives, even subscribed to the Digest. Then you read other things and forget about them. When you return to them a few years later, it is like going home - very comforting. Maybe that is why so many Reader's Digests find their way into the hands of deployed troops far from home.

I read my share of Chicken Soup years ago (the first Chicken Soup book came out in 1993) but don't remember which one(s). So, it was about time I came back and when the opportunity arose to read and review Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul, I jumped at the chance and was not disappointed.

Nine chapters, each with a theme such as Defining Moments or Making a Difference, not really exciting section headings but the short chapter titles are more enticing: A Hug and a Kiss, A Tiny Denim Dress, Sap to Seedling.

And interspersed are full page comics to grin at, and numerous quotes to start each chapter - quotes that simply hit the spot, from the well-known to the Bible, to everyman. In the back of the book can be found a paragraph about each author, each volunteer.

And finally, since this is a book of true stories by volunteers, most chapters end with an editor's note telling the reader more about that particular volunteer's organization - just in case you yourself are looking for an opportunity to give back (the Red Cross, Big Brothers and smaller, more local organizations, etc.).

Who are the Volunteers? 

Volunteers are ordinary people, inspired. . . . 

You will meet the college senior looking for an easy grade who decides to volunteer (but procrastinates) and then finds the experience so rewarding that he skips his own graduation party. 

You will get to know the grandmother in hospice whose own child is expecting. Grandmother wants to leave her grandchild-to-be something memorable since she won't be around, so she starts a needlepoint canvas but then slowly weakens. Her volunteer works on the project and when there is only one stitch left to do, guides the grandmother's hands so everyone will know that she started and finished the picture with her heart.

Chicken Soup, A New York Times Bestseller from 1994-1998

I decided to learn more about Chicken Soup. I already recognized the name of Jack Canfield and wondered if there was a book in the series about what dogs teach us. The website, ChickenSoup.com, would surely tell if there was a dog book in the Chicken Soup series but was I amazed to find 232 books in the series! And yes, even television got into the act with 19 episodes.

On the website, you can sign up to receive an inspirational story each day (or week) and learn how to submit your own story to celebrate the spirit of courage, caring and community.

And here is a Chicken Soup dog book trailer!

And now, if you will excuse me, I need to go to the bookstore and pick up another dose of courage, caring and community (from dogs, of course).

Book Review: Wild and Woolly Knitted Animals: A Naturalist's Notebook (OT)

Wild and Woolly Knitted Animals: A Naturalist's Notebook, by Sara Elizabeth Kellner* (Stackpole Books, $24.95, PB 176pp, 2022) Review by Skye Anderson.

Do you like animals? Do your kids like animals (what kids don't?)? Do they have enough 'stuffies' to play with but are they teddy bears and puppy dogs rather than 'the real thing'? Wouldn't they love to play with a prairie dog, a rainbow trout, a badger, a bald eagle or another wild and woolly animal?

Author and designer Sara Elizabeth Kellner has crafted a one-of-a-kind knitting pattern book for you (and your kids) with instructions for 25 cute-as-a-button yet realistic animals - some from your backyard and others from the UK or Africa. But, more than just a knitting book, Wild and Woolly Animals also includes intricate color drawings and facts about the animals themselves with paw prints (tracks) in the background - simply incredible detailed drawings by her son Pat (photo on page 164)(sort of) like the timber wolf below. After all, the book's subtitle is A Naturalists's Notebook.

And here are three wolf  'stuffies.'

Realistic wolf 'stuffies'

As a matter of fact, I would simply love to be able to purchase some of the animal drawings which introduce each pattern!

But first, I need to work on my 'zoo': I think I'll make a chimp or the ever popular hedgehog or maybe an Asian elephant mama and baby or. . . . maybe start with a family of friendly rats!

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*The author can be reached at RabbitHoleKnits.com - and check out her first book, Victorian Housecats to Knit, reviewed yesterday here.

Book Review: Victorian Housecats to Knit (OT)

Victorian Housecats to Knit, by Sara Elizabeth Kellner (Stackpole Books, 2024, 160 pp [HB], $29.95) Review by Skye Anderson. 

Oh, my! From the parlor cat to the porch cat to the window can to the library cat and the pottery shed cat and kittens to the fireplace cat,

Fireplace Cat

author and knitting designer Sara Elizabeth Kellner has done it all. And if you don't like cats, maybe you love knitting for someone who does like cats. Or maybe you just like to read about Victorian England.

Meet the Morgans (and their cats)

In the beginning is a two-page spread of the family tree of the Morgans* which makes sense as you read about the different cats and people in the different rooms - almost a historical story in itself (if you supply the plot).

The Morgans consist of cats, and twins, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Aunt Pru, the cook, . . . 

Each room in this Victorian house has its own type of cat with different color combinations and excellent unique photographs of cats in "their" rooms. For example, the porch cat is stretching out like in a dog yoga pose

Porch Cat Demonstrating the Downward Dog?

and the cook's cat is lapping up a saucer of milk. Three window cats are shown - one black, one orange and one gray - shown from both inside and outside the window.

There is a tortoiseshell, a tuxedo, a manx, a Persian and a ginger cat. I can't wait for the next book, hoping to see a Siamese cat and a calico cat! And each one has a story to go along with the knitting pattern and Victorian house room.

Author Sara Kellner recommends beginning knitters start with the window cat followed by the parlor cat (an orange one on the piano, a grey one on a coffee table and a black one next to a comfy chair) or Aunt Pru's Persian cat (three differently colored cats, each with a neck accoutrement like a bow 'necklace').

I can't wait for Sara's book of dogs to knit!

Tomorrow: Wild and Wooly Knitted Animals: A Naturalist's Notebook

Heads Up! (OT)

I was recently sent a couple of books that I simply love! They are knitting books (yes, I know they are not dog books) so they are OT (off topic) but I'm sure you will also find them unique and lovely so I wanted to give you a heads up to expect their reviews in this blog next, after I devour the books and their pictures.

If they don't start you knitting you will at least enjoy seeing the items and the colors and, oh my - reading the words! Each is truly two books in one.

And maybe you know someone who knits so you have an excuse to get these books (read them and then gift them!)

Repost: The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (today and tomorrow, in NYC and on TV)

I am reposting the blog from several years ago (February 15, 2015) which explains The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. Enjoy it today and tomorrow.

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know about America’s Dog Show – Westminster

In Color and In Person!

The colors of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show are luscious grape-purple and sparkly gold on a backdrop of a rich green carpet. Westminster is a TV staple, a seemingly out-of-reach dog show where, yes! you can walk in off the street and, luck permitting, sit in a chair on the floor and theoretically even reach out and touch the competing dogs in the ring (a faux pas – but you CAN go ‘backstage’ and meet them with their owners’ permission – champions all!)

And did you know that the lights of the Empire State Building shine Westminster purple and gold during America’s Dog Show, this year on Sunday?

You’ve watched it on TV. This year is the year to attend in person. It’s nearby – in New York City AND Monday is a federal holiday, so you have no excuse! Here is all the information you need to have a grand time at America’s Dog Show! I take the train because Penn Station allows me to walk to the evening dog show at Madison Square Garden without even going outside!

Facts and Facts from Before

Last year, Sky, a Wire Fox Terrier, was declared America’s Dog, winning over approximately 2500 dogs in two days in New York City and on TV. The excitement was electric. The 2500 dogs competed in 7 rings, 7 groups, breed by breed. Group Finals were held each evening with winners from the day shows, and the final final was composed of one representative of each of the seven groups of dogs (Toy, Terrier, Working, Sporting, Non-Sporting, Herding and Hound).

Dogs are judged, not against each other, but against the written standard for their breed.

2015 Facts

Who: All the dogs entered are champions as of 31 October. The top five dogs of each breed receive an automatic ‘pre-invite invitation’ if their people choose to enter them. Other champions vie for the remaining of the approximately 2500 places by submitting an application during November and December of the previous year.

Highly populated (and popular) breed classes this year include 56 Labs, 58 Goldens, 43 Aussies (Australian Shepherds), 41 Frenchies (French Bulldogs), 38 Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and 33 Rottweilers, just to mention a few. Only one White Bull Terrier and only only Norwegian Lundehund are entered. The entry fee for dogs is very affordable and no fee is required for this year’s 88 junior handlers to compete although they must accumulate a certain number of wins prior to the show and be under a certain age.

Most of the dogs are American but this year you will also see champions competing from 48 states (none from Idaho or North Dakota), the District of Columbia, Canada, and 13 other foreign countries.

What: The 139th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the second longest continuously held sporting event in this country, just one year behind the Kentucky Derby (since 1877 – before even I was born!). A two-day event in New York City that is televised every year.

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York City (Penn Plaza, 7th and 8th Avenues, 31st to 33rd Streets), across from the Hotel Pennsylvania. Day tickets at The Piers are less than $30 and evening tickets are $40 or $55. You may even see someone famous (Bill Cosby and Lauren Bacall have attended in the past.) Some years the event sells out.

When: February 16 and 17, 2015 (always the ‘week’ of Valentine’s Day), 8 am to 11 pm. Hounds, Toys, Non-Sporting and Herding dogs (and junior showmanship) will be shown Monday 9 am to 6 pm at Piers 92 and 94) with their group finals Monday night at 8.

Sporting, Working, and Terriers are shown Tuesday with their groups Tuesday night as well as the finals for Best in Show on Tuesday night beginning at 8, preceded by the Junior Handling Finals from the afternoon sessions.

Make a week of it! There are related events starting the previous Friday and dog shows the weekend before, a reception at the AKC (American Kennel Club) Office Sunday afternoon, awards banquets galore, seminars, and celebration breakfasts the day after, as well as champion tours of the morning TV shows. And this year – the second Westminster Agility competition was Saturday with 330 dogs and their handlers competing as a team, including mixed breeds.

Red Carpet Treatment on a Green Carpet (and Purple, of course)

Watch live streaming video on the Westminster Kennel Club website and on the Westminster App, and social media. Monday and Tuesday’s competitions will also be shown live on CNBC and the USA Network during the day, as well as 8-11 pm each evening (Monday on CNBC and Tuesday on USA Network).

Why: Why not? It’s close by and an event you will always remember. You’ve seen it on TV, now catch it in person.

How:  Take the train for a comfortable, elegant, quiet, unrushed, scenic ride into yesteryear and arrive relaxed. Come just for the day or the week. Call Amtrak at 1-800-AMTRAK or visit www.amtrak.com for rates and schedules. If your train stops at Penn Station (trains from the south), where Westminster is located, you don’t even have to venture outside!

Details: General admission tickets will cost less than 30$ for one day or at little as $40 for an evening session (see www.westminsterkennelclub.org for much more information). And fortunately there is a huge TV-type screen that can be easily seen way up in the rafters during the evening shows. Since the event is sold out some years, you should plan ahead.

Breeds, Colors, Sizes, Varieties, . . . . 192 Breeds and Varieties in 2015

Some breeds have specialized classes for each variety. For example, black cocker spaniels are shown in a different class than parti-colored ones with a third cocker class, my favorite, being ASCOB (Any Solid Color Other than Black). On the other hand, black labs and yellow labs and chocolate labs all compete together.

New breeds this year include the Coton de Tulear and the Wirehaired Vizsla, in the Non-sporting and Sporting Groups, respectively.

So, a lab would compete against all colors of labs but a cocker competes only against cockers of the same color. Hmmmmm. . . . And I often wonder why our country’s favorite dog for years, the lab, has never won Best in Show. . . .

Benching

Westminster is one of the last benched dog shows in America. That means that dogs showing on Monday are required to be there all day, in the back, even when not competing. You can go ‘backstage’ and speak with the owners, breeders, and handlers, watch the dogs being groomed, and shop, shop, shop. However, it is very crowded and similar to the crowds during the holiday shopping season, winter coats and all.

Shopping

Ah, shopping! ‘Backstage’ at Westminster you can find leashes, books, jewelry, new gadgets galore. In the Hotel Pennsylvania and next door are even more vendors with canine first aid kits, T-shirts, artwork and demonstrations of Search and Rescue and agility. Plenty to do across the street! You can even mingle in the lobby as ‘dogs and their people’ check in Sunday afternoon at 3 and meet the hotel’s doggy concierge.

The required Westminster souvenir is the guidebook which you can’t do without (for only $20) but you can also pick up a poster, notecards, a print and DVD to watch over and over again. The catalog is $25 and allows you to keep score.

Judging

Word has it that the Best in Show (BIS) (the champion of champions) judge is selected a couple of years in advance and sworn to secrecy, his or her name revealed only six months before the show. During the preliminary two days of judging, this judge is sequestered backstage so when the finals begin, the BIS judge is as unbiased as possible. This year, that person is the Hon. David C. Merriam, originally a Bull Terrier person, of Bonsall, California.

Sensation – A Sensation!

Sensation, a Pointer, is the mascot of the Westminster Dog Show and appeared on the cover of the show catalog from 1936 through 1979. From 1980-1982, a head study of Sensation was selected for the cover, but in 1983 a foil embossed version of the full body engraving appeared on the cover and has been there ever since.

Charities

Veterinary school scholarships are presented Tuesday night and other charities are supported by the Westminster Kennel Club, including (in the past) the AKC Museum of the Dog, Take The Lead, the Animal Medical Center of NYC, the ASPCA, Angel On A Leash, Greyhound Friends, and Guide Dog Foundation For The Blind.

Two New Breeds

Two newly recognized dog breeds will be shown for the first time this year.

But, Only One Westminster

There is only one Westminster! Be there in person this year!

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You’ve seen it on TV, now come see it in person!

Read More: a series of six articles from 2014 here (and photo credit)

Book Review: Leia's Obedience School (children's book)

Leia's Obedience School: A Story of Mindset, by Faith and Derek Krasnansky (Independently published, 25pp, 2023, $10.75) Review by Skye Anderson

A big book for the little ones with just a few pages to tell the completre story of 'mindset' with the cutest dog in the world and, as a bonus, drawings to show you how to draw your own Leia.

After being adopted, Leia's human mom takes her to obedience school but it is so exciting that she can't stop talking (barking) and jumping around. Then Leia notices that the other dogs are quiet and still and she wants to be  good like them. But only with a lot of practice during the week at home and changing her way of thinking, can Leia succeed in finally having a positive mindset.

Also in the back of the book, along with the drawing lesson are a few questions to help with the concept of mindset so children can adopt Leia's lessons and success to their own.

Book Review: First Ladies Make History (OT)

First Ladies Make History, by Anita McBride and   (White House Historical Association, 2024, 24pp HB, $9.00) Review by Skye Anderson

First Ladies Makes History is a little book that packs a wallop of colorful information about the wives of our presidents.

We loved the inside covers: the inside front cover has a drawing of each of the first ladies along with the dates and their husbands while the inside back cover has the presidents - all in cartoonish drawings but easily recognizable.

First Ladies opens with a chronological few pages, introducing us to some of the ladies. Each two-page spread thereafter features a different topic that many first ladies had in common, mostly the issues they favored, such as diplomacy, education, and civil rights. 

We simply loved the incredible depictions of the ladies and could recognize nearly all of them, even though they sort of look alike. It will be fun to try to identify the first ladies on the back cover, too.

First Ladies Make History will rekindle your knowledge of history and spark an interest in government in your child. Author Anita McBride was Chief of Staff to a first lady and Giovanna McBride, her daughter, is an Education major and author.

Book Review: Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' and The Chickasaw Clan Animals (OT)

Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' and The Chickasaw Clan Animals, by WT Skye and Sarah Garcia (Chickasaw Press, 2024, $7.99, 24pp) Review by Skye Anderson.

Basically a book of elementary piano music which also portrays the Chickasaw people and their clans of animals, Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' both educates and also entertains. The tune about a skunk delightedly gives us music for the teacher as well, so both student and teacher can play a fun duet.

This book contains six little songs, mostly in a minor key - one about each animal starting with the big white dog, then raccoon, woodpecker, deer, skunk, and alligator. Each animal has its clan or family of Chickasaws.

We can see so many ways this book can be used in a classroom or family. Children will have their favorite animal, perhaps due to the tune they like best. And there are paragraphs about the white dog and the other clan animals, as well as three Native American musical instruments and, finally, two pages of vocabulary and musical symbols - a lot of information and fun packed into six songs and a few pages.

And if you look closely, you will see the big white dog's body is wrapped around to the back cover! Give your child a star if they notice that!