Writers Jane Yolen and J. Patrick Lewis have put together a gorgeous new book on Chagall’s life for children, Self-Portrait With Seven Fingerscombining some of his most beautiful paintings with short poems they’ve written about his life. Autobiographical notes fill in details. The result is a stunning celebration of art–both visual and poetic. 

The details of Chagall’s life are presented in broad strokes–we get only the basic outline of his life. Each page shows a painting, with a poem about the painting and some notes explaining the context of the artwork to his life at that time on the opposite page. We are shown early work that reflects his love of and allegiance to the small town where he was born and raised. We see his uncle, standing on a roof playing a magic fiddle. The two places Chagall felt most at home were Vitebsk and Paris, and in his famed Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers, the viewer sees a Paris skyline through the window while the artist paints a rural Russian scene. The book does not gloss over the events that shaped his life–the fall of Paris to the Nazis, his subsequent arrest and escape by foot over the Pyrenees mountains into Spain, the destruction of his hometown, the death of his first wife. These events are naturally reflected in his art. Later parts of his life, settled in New York and then France, remarried, are shown as well.

There is a charming poem alongside his Autoportrait in which a quote from a Time Magazine article from 1965 is enlarged and played with. “I take off my hat to you, Vava, and my heart,” it begins. “Only promise not to straighten my studio.” (p.34) Another poem, next to the joyful Double-Portrait with a Glass of Wine which shows the artist on the shoulders of his beloved wife Bella, both wearing triumphant grins, says, “Bella carries me on her hands…so devoted to our small family/she could tote us like an old rag peddler…through the rough streets of the city, never feeling the weight.” (p. 20)

The poems add to the reader’s enjoyment of the art, presenting a different viewpoint. Like the example mentioned above, they often spin off from an artist’s quote or something that is known about his life.

Self-Portrait With Seven Fingers is a thoroughly delightful book. Although its format is geared towards children, I have to admit I enjoyed it myself and don’t plan on sharing it with any actual children. It would make a great gift for any child, teacher or art-lover you may know, including yourself.

Elizabeth loves art and poetry and she really does love children too, although she recognizes that their fingers are often inexplicably sticky. Read more at her blog Planet Nomad.

In Isabel Hill’s Building Stories, architecture is the focus, and readers are called to pay attention to the small details in real life buildings that help to tell each building’s unique story. What type of building might have the image of a coin carved into its facade? What could one presume about a building with instruments featured all around the archway of the entrance? What story is being told? Close-up shots of each feature are shown alongside larger viewpoints of the structures. Many of the additional photographs show dated scenes from the buildings’ first purposes, from folks behind an old-fashioned movie camera to moms pushing buggy carriages behind an apartment building. Factual information on each building is provided at the end, in a section titled “Characters and Plots,” continuing the literary metaphor. Reading through this after looking at the whole book, my suspicions were confirmed: this book will be especially loved by New Yorkers, as all the buildings are in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or the Bronx!

Switching gears to a mathematical mindset, the concept of relative sizes is addressed in Small Medium Large by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Tomek Bogacki. The title is represented by the three cutely illustrated mice on the cover, and their names are familiar to young children when referring to size. When more characters are introduced, the sizes definitely become relative. From extra large all the way up to colossal, and back down to minuscule and itty-bitty, the sizes are compared and contrasted, and added up into equal combinations. With the printed words’ sizes representing the meanings of the words, too, the visual representations of the concepts are multiple. What a fun way to introduce children to a rich vocabulary and understanding about size.

Whether you’re a parent of a young child, or a preschool teacher (like me!), Building Stories and Small Medium Large are two sure-fire hits with the children in your life.

Dawn happily indulges her love of picture books with a crew of young kids every day. In her “free time,” she also happily blogs away at my thoughts exactly.

Having a few Klutz craft/activity books on hand has become a given for me. As a parent, I enjoy that everything is included, and the instructions are thorough enough for kids to generally tackle the projects on their own.

When we were given the opportunity to review the new Fabulous Flowers by Klutz, Amanda and I jumped at the chance.

The age recommendation is 8 and up. I usually find the Klutz recommendations to be accurate, but my very crafty 12 1/2 year old daughter Amanda was a little daunted. She said that they seemed complicated. I asked why, and she said that you had to glue and hold.

When I looked at the set with my eager 7-year old son, I saw that you did have to let the glue dry on the first step of making the flower center, but honestly, there’s not much complicated about it at all.

The directions are very clear, and do require some fine motor skills, but not much skill beyond that.

The book contains punch-out pieces and instructions to guide you in making Zinnias, Daisies, Poppies, Daffodils, Larkspur and more. I love that they are real kinds of flowers and are called by their names.

Kyle and I made a zinnia, so realistic it practically smells good. Well, maybe not, but it was fun, and it is pretty:

You can buy Fabulous Flowers at the Klutz site, amazon.com or your local retailer that carries Klutz books.

Two of you (U.S. addresses only) will win your own copy! Just leave a comment, and we’ll announce the winners here on June 22. The giveaway is closed.

Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Jennifer Donovan isn’t so good about creating projects and crafts, so she especially appreciates these sort of kits that make it easy to take a little craft break. She blogs about life with her 7-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter at her blog Snapshot.

I am proud to be a member of the Hidden Valley Ranch Love Your Veggies Mom Panel. We are working together to encourage kids — ours and others — to love their veggies! I hope you’ll check out our posts about ways that we’ve gotten our families more involved with veggies.

Today I am sharing some great books and resources with you in my column at 5 Minutes for Mom that you can use to encourage your kids to get involved in vegetables. It’s proven that kids are more likely to be willing to try something that they’ve helped grow or helped make in the kitchen.

Five of you will win an awesome gift pack worth $250, thanks to the Love Your Veggies campaign. Please check out my post at 5 Minutes for Mom, leave a comment, and enter to win.

Jennifer Donovan is thankful for the opportunities that blogging has given her, such as serving as a product ambassador on the Mom Panel for Love Your Veggies.

The Ultimate Guide to Basketball is filled with pages of fun history, facts, and stats about basketball. The book is divided into six major sections: Tipoff, First Quarter, Second Quarter, Third Quarter, Fourth Quarter, and Overtime. Each of these chapters includes trivia relating to the early days of basketball, the court and positions, scoring, shooting, and rules of the WNBA and NBA. Between each of these sections, author James Buckley, Jr. includes information about every NBA team, including individual information about some of the players. The style of the Ultimate Guide to Basketball is perfect for young and middle-grade readers, particularly those who may lose interest with longer sections of reading material. Although my (Lauren) sports-loving son still enjoys fiction, books like these rank at the top of his list. With the pages and pages of history and fun facts about current teams and players, this is a book that can be read and enjoyed many times.

In First Pitch, author John Thorn relates the story of America’s favorite pastime. John Thorn is the Official Baseball Historian of Major League Baseball, and he has received many awards for his work. In First Pitch, his first children’s book, he relates the history of baseball using kid-friendly stories, historical documents, newspaper clippings, paintings, and prints. While some of baseball’s story may be well known, Thorn includes fascinating information that will be new to many and dispels some popular myths as well. If you have a baseball fan, this book is sure to be a hit. I recommend the text in this book for ages 9-12, but the stories are enjoyable for fans of any age.

In Weird Sports, Michael Teitelbaum presents a variety of sports from around the world that can seriously only be categorized as bizarre. Honestly, as I (Dawn) first browsed through the pages of this slim text aimed at kids aged seven to fourteen, I kept thinking that the pictures must have been doctored. There’s no way someone chooses to go “bog snorkeling,” right? If you think that sounds odd, you have to check out the two page spread on “extreme ironing.” Yes, that is ironing, as in sliding a hot iron over a piece of clothing, except that one photo shows someone doing it high atop a rock outcropping. (I had to laugh at the pile of orange extension cord visible in the photo!) Page after page gives information about the weirdest of the weird, but still legitimate sports, complete with boxes detailing the necessary gear and the official rules. One section highlights sports that will undoubtedly seem odd to American children yet are familiar and beloved sports for children in other countries around the world. Weird Sports stands out among nonfiction sports themed books for its outrageous fun and glimpse into the wide, weird world of sports!

Thanks to Beach Ball Books for providing review copies of these books. Put them on your shopping list for the young sports lover in your life!

Dawn and Lauren each have a few sports loving children in their families. Dawn blogs at my thoughts exactly, and Lauren at Baseballs and Bows.

So when I saw Scholastic Book Club’s** Lucky (gr. 2-3) flyer had some books about space, I knew he’d love them. One thing I really like about Scholastic Book Clubs, in addition to the amazing prices, is that the selections are broken down by grade. The smaller flyers are easier to flip through and books are grouped by subject or series.

The first book I selected was from National Geographic Kids so I wasn’t at all surprised by how impressive 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System is. If you’re wondering how there are now 13 planets, in 2005 astronomers created a new class of planets, called dwarf planets. Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet and 4 other dwarf planets have been discovered in the last 6 years or so. 13 Planets describes our solar system in amazing detail. Each planet and dwarf planet gets a page or two of pictures, easy to understand facts and even the planet’s place in mythology. This isn’t a book to be quickly skimmed, but to be slowly devoured.

My other selection was a Scholastic publication so also a wonderful book. Glow-In-the-Dark Stars and Constellations focuses on the “really huge balls of hot glowing gas” that make up our night sky. It describes the birth, life and death of a star, the different types of stars and their groupings, and what exists in space where there are no stars. It’s length allows for reading by a child with a shorter attention span or who isn’t interested in as much detail.

If you have a stargazer in your family then these books from Scholastic fit the bill.

**5 Minutes for Books is pleased to be partnering with Scholastic to review books available in their bookclubs each month. Other than receiving a couple of books that we select, we have not been compensated in any way. As always our opinions are our own.

Nancy can pick out a handful of constellations including her favorite, Orion. She writes about her 2 boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys.

Jim Arnosky’s Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators had me with one simple glance. I was seriously wowed by the details on the pencil and paint depiction of an osprey that graces the cover. Arnosky ranks at the top of my personal list of illustrators who render scenes from nature just perfectly. In addition to the incredible paintings here is a wealth of information- data on more than sixty predatory birds, including eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, pelicans, loons and more. With fold-out pages, many of the illustrations are depicted life-size, in fact!

Arnosky’s note at the beginning of the book conveys his sincere interest and appreciation for nature, and his love for birds is palpable in this book. Many margins are dotted with small pencil sketches of details like a heron’s foward-facing eyes a close-up depiction of owl wing feathers or talons. To introduce each group of birds, he shares his knowledge and short anecdotes of his personal experiences. Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators is a must-have for any bird-loving child’s bookshelf.

Another interesting resource book with a unique and impressive back story is the newly released Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf by Olivia Bouler. At only eleven years of age, Olivia Bouler is a talented artist, acutely observant ornithologist-in-training, and incredible fundraiser. With the promise to send donors original pieces of her bird-inspired artwork, Olivia has raised over $150,000 in donations to the Audubon’s Gulf oil spill recovery program! She’s articulate and passionate about nature, and she encourages children to remember that everyone can make a difference.

Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf is part field guide, part awareness raising, with paintings and information on over fifty birds, from backyard birds to sea birds. She also includes information and suggestions for other children who would like to be more eco-friendly in their own lives.

Without hesitation, I’m placing both Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators and Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf in our 5 Star Reads category, for their value as resources, their amazing artwork, and the encouragement they offer to children to enjoy, to be amazed, and to take care of the natural world around them.

I’m so happy to be able to share the birdy fun with a 5 Minutes for Books reader! We have a copy of each book to give away to one winner, please leave a comment here to be entered. (U.S. residents only, please.) We’ll announce the winner on 5/18. This giveaway is closed.

• The winner of Beside Still Waters is #12, Beth C.
• The winner of Trauma Queen is #2 Karen Gonyea.

Dawn is so happy to have three bird-loving kids of her own. Their adventures, including those in the great outdoors, are chronicled on her blog, my thoughts exactly.

Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

I think most people are familiar with Klutz books. They’re known for their layouts and bright colours, which pull their readers in, for being jam-packed with lots of facts and information, and for their great sense of humour. They always come with hands-on applications and materials, taking their topics from the theoretical to the practical, and ensuring that kids will be involved with their subject.

The Klutz Guide to the Galaxy is an excellent example of all that Klutz does so well. Packed with information about astronomy, the planets, constellations, and our galaxy, it includes kits to build-your-own sundial and a very cool working telescope, charts to figure out how old you’d be on Mars, and other fun additions. There’s a Tourist Guide to the Moon, and a map of the galaxy (with the prerequisite “you are here” annotation!). There are the phases of moon, illustrated, and the “phases of Dave,” also illustrated (My favorite was waxing gibbous Dave).

There are travel guides for the other planets (hint: you pretty much always have to pack your own oxygen) and instructions for how to navigate by the stars, along with star maps. There are instructions on how to test your night vision, which begin: 1. Drink a big glass of water before going to bed. 2. When you have to get up to go to the bathroom… There are instructions for telling time using a sun dial or using shadows, and explanations as to the difference between magnetic north and true north.

All this information is contained in a spiral-bound kid-friendly package. And, just between us, it comes in pretty handy for adults who want a fun and easy way to brush up on all that stuff they used to know, before they had to fill their heads with boring information like where their car keys are, and what time their kids need to be picked up.

It’s tempting to write about all that is included in The Klutz Guide to the Galaxy, but you really should just get your own copy. It’s educational fun for everyone. You can see some of the inside page spreads at the Klutz site.

And guess what? THREE of you get to win your very own copy! Lucky you! Leave a comment below to be entered to win (U.S. residents only). The giveaway is open until 5/11.