Birds - with DK Canada

Little Guy likes to take walks and find 'interesting things'. That curiosity for the natural world has focused on birds lately as he has just helped put up a bird feeder in his backyard.

Birds: Explore Nature with Fun Facts and Activities from DK Canada seemed like a good fit!

He's started noticing more about birds with the birdfeeder able to be easily seen from the backdoor. Different songs, colours and behaviour. Birds provides detailed drawings, actual photos and clear text boxes exploring and explaining feet, beaks, wings, flying - physical things that can be viewed. Using some binoculars brought things even closer or clearer. Bird talks about making a bird journal - drawing birds, noting when and where you've sighted, collecting feathers and other notations.

Nests, eggs, cleaning, hatchlings and different types of birds (city, tropical,shore, freshwater, sea, woodland, night etc are each covered on a two page spread.

The facts provided are interesting and many caught Little Guy's interest. The pictures are detailed and in colour, a must for younger ones. The activities mentioned are fairly basic and there are only five or six, with some of them only being suggestions with no directions. We do plan on making the feeding bell on a rope that was detailed.

Birds did feed Little Guy's thirst for 'interesting facts'. At 60 pages, it's a nice little introductory bird book. Check out the images below.

The Bee Book with DK Canada

Earth Day is "the world's largest environmental movement" and is celebrated on April 22. But, really every day should be Earth Day. And one of the most important  players in our ecosystem. "At least 30% of the world’s crops and 90% of all plants require cross-pollination to spread and thrive, and here in Canada, bees are our most important pollinators."

I recently received a hive kit as a gift. I'm pretty excited to get started, but the instructions included were quite minimal. I just knew that DK Canada would have a book that would give me all the information I need. And they did - The Bee Book!

But before even getting to setting up a hive, you need to know more about the bees themselves. The first few chapters of The Bee Book give you just that - history, evolution, decline, species and an in depth look at honey bees that was absolutely fascinating."1 LB of honey takes up to 40,000 miles of flying to produce." " A worker can visit up to 2000 flowers a day." And did you know about the honey bee waggle dance?

How to attract bees is the next entry. Flowers (there are colour photos and descriptions of many varieties), vegetable garden plans,  houses (separate from hives),  the how and the whys.

Next was caring for bees. I had absolutely zero knowledge before reading The Bee Book. I was happy to find a box similar to mine explained. Where to set up and why. And dealing with the thing that does frighten me a bit - getting stung. Tools, equipment and care are covered. And let's not forge - you need to actually have bees to start - where to get them? There is much more to caring for bees than providing a hive. This seems somewhat daunting, but there are detailed, very clear instructions included.

And after all that hard work (more on the part of the bees I think!) - the harvest! Jarred honey, beeswax candles, beeswax polish, soaps and even some health remedies.

Am I ready to start my own hive? Well, I feel much more prepared now thanks to The Bee Book. But I'll be referring to it often! The Bee Book has detailed entries, colour photos and is well laid out with easy to read text boxes. (exactly what I've come to know and appreciate from all DK books) Check out the sample pages below.

Good Night, Baby Moon - DK Canada

DK Canada has some wonderful new books coming out this fall for both adults and children. Here's one that Little Guy and I enjoyed - Good Night, Baby Moon.

The cover is beautiful - gold lettering and stars on an indigo background. A  cutout silhouette of rabbits is framed by the title. But here's the fun part - simply press the button in the upper right hand corner to 'light up' the moon in the frame. (Yes, it is battery operated. The battery cover is securely attached with a screw).

The inside pages are 'board book' thickness are of a rich, glossy stock. They too have a lovely nighttime background with rabbit silhouettes. Little guy had to count how many rabbits were on each page. The moon is full on one page, then half, then crescent, gone and back again on subsequent pages. This book is a good introduction for toddlers as to how the moon changes shape.

The text is in a rhyming format which I always enjoy reading. It seems to flow very easily and the cadence for each page becomes almost sing song. This is a 'gentle' read. The tones suggest night and sleep. It is fairly short at four double pages. Little Guy was fascinated by the light up button. We had to flip to the front cover many, many times to press the button yet again. I do wish there was some way that the inner pictures of the changing moon could have been highlighted by the light as well.

There's a Good Night Baby Moon 'toddler time' activity kit here that you can download as well.

Good Night, Baby Moon is a beautifully illustrated book, with that little extra (the light) that had Little Guy asking to read it many, many nights in a row. And he learned something too! See below for a peek inside.

Big Ideas with DK Canada!

I am and always have been an avid mystery fan. The puzzle, the clues, the chase and that satisfying mental click when the final pieces fall into place. And really, is there any more iconic mystery character than Sherlock Holmes?

And what does that have to do with Big Ideas you ask? Well, DK Canada has this great new series they're showcasing in their Big Ideas Boutique this month.

And one of those titles in that boutique is The Sherlock Holmes Book. Oh my gosh, this book is so amazing!

"...The Sherlock Holmes Book provides a complete guide to all aspects of Holmesiana. It is a celebration of Conan Doyle's' most fascinating creation, the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes.

And I mean complete. Looking for a timeline and details on the author and his creations - check. But here's what I loved. Holmes appears in 56 short stores and four novels. Each story (in chronological order) is explored in detail in The Sherlock Holmes Book. An 'In Context' box liststhe date and the characters. Quotes from the story, info boxes talking about the time period, social mores, devices, postcards, pictures, ephemera and more accompany a dissection of the story. Which leads to my big idea.....

I'm going to go back to the beginning as well and re-read the Holmes novels and stories one by one, following up with the companion chapter from The Sherlock Holmes Book. I'm going to take my time and savour re-discovering the world of Sherlock Holmes.

The last fifty pages  of the book explore Victorian London, Holmes on stage and screen, detective fiction, the art of deduction and more. See for yourself - read an excerpt of The Sherlock Holmes Book. If you love Holmes, you'll love this book.

As with all DK books, the layout was great, glossy stock, colourful and eye catching. Oh yeah - filled with wonderful information! This was the first of The Big Ideas Simply Explained titles I've looked at and I was impressed. If you're a film buff, you might want to take a look at The Movie Book - it profiles 100 of the best movies ever made.