Maria Barbo

We're all fans of Harry Potter and also origami enthusiasts in this family. There are several very attractive designs on the cover of this book, so we ordered it eagerly as soon as we saw it in the Scholastic catalogue. ... Scholastic apparently had difficulties with supply so we ordered this in the winter, waited for months, got blindsided by quarantine lockdown in March, and finally got the book in September!

All this time we had been imagining a book like other fannish origami books with show more sheets of printed origami paper tucked in the back cover. The "included paper", however, is one sheet per design, and it's printed on sheets of regular book paper bound into the book. Not really the best weight or texture for origami, and worse yet, you have to actually cut the paper to shape. Anyone who's ever done origami knows how important it is to have an absolutely perfect square and how difficult it is to trim one by hand. Unless you want to cut your book to pieces, the best option is to colour photocopy the page you want -- and on photocopy paper, it's still not the best weight or texture-- and you still have to cut the squares to shape! Completely impractical that you have to destroy the book to make the articles and only giving one paper per model means that you aren't allowed to make mistakes -- and on top of that, the paper being unsuitable means that mistakes will probably lead to paper tears. Overall, a tempting but frustrating book.

Finally, a word on the instructions. The editors have chosen not to indicate mountain and valley folds with different symbols on the diagrams, although they do describe them in the beginning of the book. We first tried the Snitch, and it's a very basic origami "water bomb" aka balloon, so it wasn't a very difficult test, but the instructions seem to indicate fold direction by arrows. The Snitch paper was printed with a very detailed pattern, but it would be quite effective with a gold metallic origami paper. We then tested the dragon model. This was excellent, and it could be done effectively with plain paper and have its eyes added with a pen with perhaps a little shading if you want. You could make an entire dragon preserve with dragons of all species and never have to photocopy a thing. Most of the models are doable by adults for the entertainment of children. Actual children will need help. But once helped, this book will provide inspiration to create some fun models and find other Potter-adaptable patterns. show less

This Hello Kitty tale recounts the adventure when Hello Kitty and her friends go ice-skating. Her friends teach Hello Kitty to skate fast and help her learn how to twirl on the ice. When Fifi arrives, she has a new skating dress and ice skates, but when she steps onto the ice, her new skates are untied.

What will happen to Fifi? How will her friends help her?

This cute tale will appeal to readers who like Hello Kitty as well as to ice-skating fans. Cheerful illustrations accompany the simple show more text, keeping readers entranced and moving the story right along. show less

I remember excitedly renting out this book from the library as a small child, and the eventual, crushing disappointment of knowing that it would have to be returned. This bore one of my favorite childhood memories - my mom taking the book to work with her the day that it was due for return and staying at the office until the wee hours of the morning, photocopying every single page to be stapled into a massive packet.

It's still a source of good memories for me.

The story is about Clifford the big red dog. The story takes place during Christmas. The gang of children gather in search for a Christmas tree. They brought three dog friend. One named T-Bone. He loves to sing. However, one of the owner’s demand he quit. Then, T-Bone alone started searching for a tree. T- Bone got lost and lays beneath a beautiful tree. He then begins to sing and the crew find him. Then they all relies the beautiful tree T-Bone found

The story was very simple and, I show more actually decided to read this one to the neighborhood children. I asked the children’s parents, will they walked home, to stop by one after noon. I read, to the kids, the book Clifford The Big Red Dog- Deck The Halls. The story was very smooth because I had read it out loud for practice. However, at first I got nervous because the parents were listening too. Eventually, I got rid of the high pitched nervous voice and, became real comfortable. I read slow but, not too slow because I was trying to make my an impression.

I did learn a few things from the reading this story because it was a Christmas story and it is February. The children questioned why I was reading it? I had to reply with smarts and, I said because Christmas should be every day. Just without gifts. They kind of just looked at me and, I laughed. But overall that 20 minutes were awkward. I finally finished and spoke to the parents. I thanked them for letting me read for class.

I read to the same four kids a chapter book. I took about 8 days and I went over the one hour. However, the children were excited. I again read a Christmas book and finally told them that it is my most favorite time of the year. The story was about a group of children thought there school teacher was a vampire. They are scared of her. The librarian is also suppose to be a vampire. The catch about the story is that the main character Eddie dose not like to read. Therefore, he never gets his work done. Yet, one thing he does read is scary stories. Eventually the teacher invites the group of kid to her house and they go to her basement in search for something. Unknowing the teacher shows them all her scary books. She Also tells them that the book know if they are unread and, the consequence is so bad that they don’t even want to now what will happen. So, Eddie takes a couple books and reads, reads, and, reads some more. Overall, the lesson was that you can woo a child to read by giving them something they like and, a little push.

I would use this book as a semester chapter book. The story was way too long for the neighborhood children but, they all went along with it. I will make sure to never make that mistake again. Also, the two books I read were the two books I chose from the selection my teacher gave us. Therefore, I was able to give the book to the neighborhood. I am not really sure exactly wat the children are doing currently because the bad weather and I have not seen them walking for about three weeks.

I would use this book in group activities and, copy the activities that are at the end. The book came with fill in the blank and puzzles. I also, would create a vocabulary list from the readings. Overall I really enjoyed reading to the children from the neighborhood. show less