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CM . . .
. Volume X Number 3 . . . . October 3, 2003
excerpt:
Finally a book to banish those moments in life when you think that you'll never make it until bedtime, or until the rain stops, or until March break (or summer holidays) end a book with fun ideas to please kids and parents and maybe, even, babysitters. Dette Hunter, author of 38 Ways to Entertain Your Grandparents, has written a gem of a book aimed at making a day indoors enjoyable for all. This book had not been in our house for more than two hours when my six year old spotted it and demanded we get started on the crafts right away. Happily, the supplies needed really are those you'd find in most homes, and we quickly had wizard hats made out of newspaper. Okay, our paper stars looked more like maple leaves, but I'm hoping our babysitter is not quite as origami challenged as I am. As the introduction states, the book starts as a story because, as the introduction states, "a story is the best boredom beater there is." Leo, who is maybe nine years old, and his dog, Hubble, set out to think of ways to entertain the babysitter left with him and his sister, Daisy, for a whole day. He decides that a humongous pile of books about "dancing ducks" would not cut it as a good time and sets out to think of more imaginative ways to spend a day. And this book is nothing if not imaginative. The crafts can be very simple, such as decorating shoe laces, or simply tracing hands to make "hand y bookmarks," but all have some kid appeal and are sure to please most kids, regardless of gender, age or energy levels. While Leo's sister delights in making a "Princess Daisy" yarn doll, Leo makes a "Rocket Ship Flip Book." The narrative will probably be overlooked, as kids gravitate to the crafts, but the author predicts that this will happen in the introduction when she recommends that kids "make [the crafts] yourself and come back to the story later." Though told as a day long narrative, the book is organized into headings, such as "Buttons, Bangles, and Beads" and "Tattoo Time" (as in the washable marker kind) and "Launching Lunch". Again, the recipes are simple, some requiring microwaves and adult supervision, but all are innovative, kid friendly and healthy. Bread is turned into "technicolor toast" and bananas into "crunchy monkeys." A "hat trick bowl" turns a tortilla into a bowl, eliminating the need to wash dishes. There isn't an index, a feature which would have made looking things up slightly easier, but, due to the book's relative brevity, the table of contents does suffice. The simple creativity behind such activities as putting a wastebasket inside a laundry basket to "sink socks" until nap time shows me that the author truly knows what it's like to pull activities out of the air to entertain kids without a video or television. Obviously this book is designed more for home use than the classroom, but it may come in handy due to its space theme to teachers looking for some fun (not factual) activities to incorporate into an outer space unit. The wonderful whimsical illustrations by Stephen MacEachern perfectly complement the fun tone of the text while also providing enough detail to make the instructions easy to follow. Libraries should have copies on hand ready to recommend to harried parents, grandparents or babysitters, and the Red Cross could do worse than to hand out this terrific book out to all who complete its babysitting course. Our babysitter is coming tonight. I only hope she's ready to be entertained. Highly Recommended. Liz Greenaway has worked in bookselling and publishing and now resides in Edmonton, AB., with two small children.
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