Bruce KoscielniakReviews

Retelling: This book traces the development of clocks from the Egyption sundial to the modern day atomic clock. The illustrations carefully demonstrate the inner workings of each style of clock.

Thoughts and feelings: Unfortunately, this book has no page numbers. I would love to tell you the page that my favorite diagram was on, the one that showed how the time zones move. The center of the circle is labeled "North Pole," making the device mimic the rotation of the earth so it's easy to understand why the different time zones are necessary if you don't want people in the United States to experience sundown at 11pm. Reading about clocks really makes you want to build models. I still don't feel like I can really understand unless I see things spin. Try getting your kids to bed!

Geoffrey Groundhog has become a local celebrity for successfully predicting how long winter will last. Everyone awaits his prediction each February 2, when he emerges from his burrow to look for his shadow. But Geoffrey’s fame has grown out of control—and so has the commotion surrounding his burrow!

The illustrations are nice but the content is all dry facts with no life or clear flow.

Science
Describes the concept of time and how it has been measured throughout history, using water clocks, sundials, calendars, and atomic vibrations

Bear and Bunny decide to grow tomatoes, however they have very different approaches. Bear plants his in neat rows in tilled soil and weeds the garden diligently. Bunny throws a handful of seeds out into his overgrown weed patch. Bear guards his tomatoes and stakes them to help them grow. Bunny has a pool party. Ultimately, Bear has a huge crop of tomatoes, Bunny can't find any tomatoes in his overgrown yard.
This is a Tortoise and the Hare kind of story. Bear is careful and diligent, Bunny wants instant gratification with no work. There are funny moments and it has a good lesson in it, overall a great little read.

Is time cyclical, measureable, or does it even exist? As you read this book on the history of time keeping devices and their evolution and understanding, you revisit all those questions you once asked as a young child. This history scientific discovery, and even language development and morpheme building. You learn that clock comes from the German word "Glocke" and hour means "one twelfth part" from the Romans and Greek, and gnomon from the Greek word "one who knows". i would present this book for 1st to 3rd graders on any number or lesson blocks on telling time using old hand clocks, to science lab and building your own sundial using a half bowl. The book was interesting and many utilities for instruction.

"The Story of the Incredible Orchestra" was chock-full of information about instruments and the development of the modern day orchestra. The book begins in the 1500s with composers and the beginning of the orchestra in the 1600s. It lists reasons for performances like pageants and military music. It accounts the achievements and influences of composers like Bach, Gabrieli, and Mozart. This book also gives in depth definitions of instruments such as piano, kettledrum, oboes, and violins. The illustrations were honestly overwhelming. There were so many instruments and actions on each page that you didn't know where to look. There were also short snippets of information in all directions included in the illustrations. The text was very wordy and at a high reading level so this book would most likely have to be read aloud and discussed rather than read for pleasure. It included many dates and terminologies that required an education of music to fully understand. There are many opportunities to learn something you didn't know before! I appreciated the inclusion of today's influences such as computer synthesizers being used to recreate sounds, which is found in most music today.

Teaches kids the importance to take your time and putting hard work into something

This book is a history of clocks and how people used to tell time. It lets readers explore the science behind time and how before clocks people would look at the moon, sun, and water. Would be great introduction for a unit on time or even the sun/moon.

While this book is a bit long, the illustrations and information are interesting. It could be done in sections or by selecting portions to cover.
I would use it as a creative hook for writing assignments, showing how we choose our words and to encourage proofreading.

Geoffrey Groundhog is good at predicting about whether winter will last longer or spring will come early. As a result, he becomes a local celebrity. However, as he fame grows, he becomes unsteady of not being able to see his shadow or not because of his blindness as well as the cadre of TV cameras and lights that is outside of Geoffrey's burrow.

This picture book is good for children to learn and understand what Groundhog's day is. At the same time, it shows when you become blind as a result of too much exposure to lights and cameras, you lose your sight sense and it makes it hard to be able to see things you normally could see. It's scary to not be able to use your sight to explain natural phenomenon or any science that involves observation. Overall, it was okay to read for me, but it was a good book to read about the tradition of Groundhog's Day.

Geoffrey Groundhog's ability to make predictions about whether winter will last make him a local celebrity. However, when that results in a cadre of TV cameras and lights outside Geoffrey's burrow on February 2nd, Geoffrey can't tell if he sees his shadow or not!

This book is a really fun way to discuss Groundhog's Day and the lore that surrounds this holiday. Geoffrey is a likeable character whose ability to predict the weather gets him caught up in a chaotic situation outside his control. All of this is done in such a tongue-in-cheek way that it can't help but be funny. I love how the illustrations supplement the text by including things like Geoffrey's face being plastered on to every kind of ad come the end of January. Of course, because it's a children's book, the weather problem is easily sorted out and all's well that end wells.

Nice, mellow, detailed illustrations and diagrams.

This book effectively told about the history of time keeping and touched upon the way people relate to time in their lives. The pictures were informative, but informal making the material approachable to younger readers. Much of the specific facts may not easily be absorbed by all the readers, but a beginning notion that the world has not always been the way it is today, and something as simple as the time has changed over time.

This is a story about a hardworking bear and a lazy bunny who are neighbors and who both decide to grow tomatoes in a garden, with very different results. The story teaches responsibility, respect, and sharing.

The illustrations are so vivid and colorful and truthfully depict each of the characters to a "T".

Classroom extensions could include a discussion with the students on the importance of patience and hard work. You could also ask the students what the bunny could have done different to better his outcome.

I love books about books, and the history of books and printing, so when I saw this at the local Half Price Books clearance shelf for a buck I had to grab it. It is a children's book but still full of wonderful details on the history of the printing press and how books came to be made. The watercolor pictures are also pretty good.

A delightful little children's book about Johann Guttenberg and the invention of the printing press. The book is written, designed and illustrated by the author Bruce Koscielniak, and he is careful to point out the previous efforts made by other cultures to mass produce the written word. China, Korea and early European monastic efforts are highlighted with simple explanatory language and diagrams. An enjoyable quick read, even for adults who delight in the history of the book.½

Great introduction to Shakespeare. Quotes from the plays are sprinkled throughout the pages. Vocabulary for obsolete words and snippets of historical information help the reader understand the quotes as well as the story. Illustrations are ink and watercolor on paper.

This book is about all of the different types of glass made throughout all the different time periods in Europe. It is really neat to see and learn about the different things that these ancient people made. It also shows how they constructed them. It would be good for older children because I do not think this book would keep a young child's attention.

This is a cute story of planting and harvesting. Bunny is highly amusing, and Bear is both smart and kind. Great book for kids about growing a garden.

A colorful, informative overview of the history of timekeeping. This book fascinated me. Recommended for children who are learning to tell time.

A history of the modern printing industry, including how paper and ink are made, looking particularly at the printing press invented by Gutenberg around 1450, but also at its precursors.

The Story of the Incredible Orchestra is a children's music history book like no other. The story opens with "No Orchestras Before 1600?" and advances through the baroque period, the classical age, the romantic period, and through the 20th-century sounds of jazz. Within each era, the instruments then invented are illustrated, often with interesting side notes ("when a harpsichord key in pressed, a wooden jack with a quill plectrum [the hard, hollow point of a feather shaft] is raised to pluck the string") or a brief description of the instrument's sound ("long wood tube gives clarinets a warm, mellow tone").

This book shines in its presentation of the enormous variety of orchestra instruments throughout the ages and the lively ink-and-watercolor illustrations. Occasionally, composers and instrument creators are mentioned, but the focus here is on the instruments and the development of the orchestra as a whole. (ages 4-9)½