Book Review - Geronimo Stilton: Operation: Secret Recipe

About the Book
My family and I traveled to Milan, Italy, for a special event: the unveiling of the precious ancient parchment containing the secret, original recipe for panettone, a traditional sweet holiday bread. But right before the big moment, the recipe was stolen! And the thief was masquerading as... me! Could I catch the thief and clear my name?



My Take on the Book
In this new book, Geronimo and his family take off for Milan, Italy. Someone has stolen a panettone recipe. Geronimo travels through Milan with his family helping him to try to catch the thief. The major problem is that the thief looks like Geronimo. He must disguise himself.

As the reader you will enjoy not only the adventure with the twists and turns of this mystery of who stole the recipe, but you will also learn about all the famous places to visit in Milan. The church, the gallery, the art galleries, and more. It is not only a fun story but also very educational.

Of course in the end the culprit is caught and found out to be a cat in disguise who wants Geronimo and his newspaper to fail.

Your second to fourth grader will enjoy this story. It is written on a fourth grade level. There is lots of humor especially through the play on words. A very nice chapter book.

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Book Review - BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning

About the Book
Tell your school's story and grow your personal and school brand

BrandED shows school leaders how to move beyond mascots and clever taglines to showcase their school's assets—and enhance communication with students, parents and all stakeholders. Through smart conversations about the genuine power of branding in education, this book shows how a "BrandED" mindset can improve schools by strengthening relationships, improving communication, telling your story, and increasing resources. Ideas borrowed from the world of business are adjusted for the unique needs of education. Practical tools, templates, and resources allow you to implement the strategies presented quickly and easily, while stories of real-world schools illustrate what BrandED thinking can do for your students, teachers, and community.

Today's school leaders cannot remain in the ivory tower. This book will help you drive positive transformation as you craft and share the powerful story of your unique school brand.

• Leverage digital tools to become the storyteller-in-chief and build better community relationships
• Strengthen internal and external communications among students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders
• Increase resources by establishing strategic partnerships and strengthening ties to key stakeholders
• Promote connectivity, transparency, and community to build a positive culture that extends beyond the schoolhouse door

Authors Eric Sheninger and Trish Rubin, experts on school branding and change leadership, show you how BrandED thinking captures the focused spirit of the outstanding work taking place in schools every day; work that can be easily recognized, talked about, and valued. Get the word out, and invite the community in to build the positive relationships that benefit everyone.



My Take on the Book
WOW! As someone that currently sits on a school board we have started to have the conversations mentioned in this book and they are really changing the direction of our district and the direction on how we communicate. This book is such a great resource that will guide you and your district in moving toward a new normal in communicating with your stakeholders within the district. The book is set up to be practical and to give you so many steps that you can easily take to start moving your district in the right direction. The book is written for people in all levels of education and will push even the most adept communicator to become even better in telling the story of your district.


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Book Review - Chengdu Can Do

About the Book
Chengdu can do many things all by himself. He can get down from his branch, and he can look for breakfast. Chengdu can jump, he can push, and he can pull. He can climb, he can stretch, and he can swing. But sometimes even the most capable young panda could use a little help. Independent-minded toddlers will love following along as the determined Chengdu reaches for his goal of some tasty leaves. The gentle text is a delight to hear read aloud, and a variety of fold-out pages add to the fun.



My Take on the Book
Barney Saltzberg has written a nice story for young children. It is about a young panda bear who is venturing out to see what it can do alone. The author shows the reader all the things the panda can do. It reminds me of how young children show themselves and their parents how they are becoming independent. At the end of the story Chengdu learns that he cannot yet do everything on his own and he receives help, just like a young child. A good story to discuss with your young child about his independence in what he/she can do alone and what they still need some help with as they grow.
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Book Review - The New Dad's Playbook: Gearing Up for the Biggest Game of Your Life

About the Book
When it comes to the unknown territory of having a baby, moms-to-be have nearly unending resources to plan and execute a healthy pregnancy and navigate those first months and years as a parent with confidence. New dads? Not so much. They want to get in the game too, but, says Super Bowl champion Benjamin Watson, "I could find clearer direction for putting together a baby swing than for taking care of a newborn child."

The New Dad's Playbook is every man's game plan to being the best partner and the best father, from pre-season (preparing for fatherhood) to Super Bowl (birth) to post-season (after baby is home). It helps men understand what their wives are going through physically and emotionally during and after pregnancy, allowing them to support their most important teammate. It tells men what to expect when their baby is home--and what to do when the unexpected happens. This tell-it-like-it-is book will take men from just winging it to winning it.


My Take on the Book
This is a great book that really provides you with practical tips for how to be a better dad. So often when you become a father you feel lost, as there is no true manual, but this book really redefines this and provides new dads an opportunity to better understand what to expect in those early moments of life. I loved how down to earth the book was and how you really felt that the author was giving you not only an inside look at his own experiences but also a frank open conversation on topics that are not usually been talked about among men. This is a great book for all new dads!

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Book Review - Rock Away Granny

About the Book
Getting dropped off at Grandma’s house could be a total snooze. Hours of sitting in the rocking chairs. But not this Grandma. Up she hops to wheel out the record player. And then, with kitty as the DJ—a dance party! The twist, the swing, the Monster Mash—they rock, rock, rock, at Granny’s house tonight.

Then right as Mom returns, everyone crashes out in the rocking chairs. Just another boring night at Grandma’s (Mom thinks). Wink!

Includes pictures of easy to follow dance steps like the side pass, cuddle, and underarm turn.


My Take on the Book
This was a very fun picture book that your young reader will love. You get to see the special relationships between the grandma and child and it reminds me a lot of the relationship my daughter has with her grandmother. The images in this are so fun and I love the connection of music into the relationship! Talk about being young at heart!


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Book Review - Marvel: Guardians of the Galaxy 1000 Dot-to-Dot Book

About the Book
Join your favorite band of interstellar heroes on a thrilling adventure from best-selling dot-to-dot artist Thomas Pavitte. Featuring 20 complex puzzles to complete, each consisting of at least 1,000 dots, this book will bring hours of fun to fans of Rocket, Groot, Star-Lord, and the rest of the team. Marvel fans will have a blast bringing the Guardians and their foes to life!


My Take on the Book
This was a great new book for any fan of Guardians of the Galaxy. Get ready to be challenged by some very cool Dot-to-Dots and also have a blast in coloring the completed pictures afterwards. The images that you get really work to draw you into the Guardians of the Galaxy world. I know my daughters loved making these and to be honest I did too!

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Taking Math To A New Level With The Casio: PRIZM fx-CG50

About the Casio: PRIZM fx-CG50
Move beyond black and white to see math in full color! The Casio: PRIZM fx-CG50 is a revolutionary graphing calculator with patent-pending features that will enhance understanding of even the most complex mathematics. PRIZM allows for a new way to learn math by enabling students to experiment with concepts utilizing real-life images. This leads to the creation of their own mathematical understanding relationships by creating graphs on their own.

The Casio fx-CG50 PRIZM offers

advanced features of a next-generation graphing calculator, the fx-CG50 PRIZMTM will support students and educators through middle school and high school and into college. With Natural Textbook Display and an intuitive icon-based menu, students will find the PRIZMTM incredibly easy to use and its brand-new 3D Graph Drawing and improved catalog function allows for greater engagement and real-life application in the mathematics classroom.

Key Features:

• Natural Textbook Display
• High-resolution LCD display with over 65,000 colors
• Casio “Picture Plot” technology – infusing real-life images into math
• Color Link and Conditional Formatting for graphs, charts, and spreadsheets
• Capable of graphing X= relations
• Built-in graphing of conic sections
• Streamlined solving for intercepts, intersections, etc.
• Easily calculate values for given independent/dependent values
• Interactive Equation Solver
• Ability to edit previous entries
• Statistics regressions and graphical displays
• Statistics Residual Calculations
• Numeric differentiation and integration
• Recursive sequences
• Matrix operations and inverses
• Data-collection compatible (with separate EA-200 device)
• Spacious 3.17” LCD screen with over 82,000 pixels
• Direct-connect to compatible projectors
• USB-to-computer connectivity
• Not a Computer Algebra System (C.A.S.)
• Permitted on all major exams
• MSRP: $119.99

My Take on the Casio: PRIZM fx-CG50
The Casio: PRIZM fx-CG50 simply blew my mind. After using this I had to say that I wished that I had such a calculator when I was in high school myself. By far this is the most advanced calculator that I have ever used. That being said though this calculator is made to be able to be used by people of all walks of life.

In reading through everything on this one of the things that really sets this apart is that it is running on a 32-bit SH-4 RISC processor which by far is the fastest that I have seen. The calculator has the graphing capability which again is a plus. Having said this, I have to put in a plug that being someone that had used the old TI-84, the controls and ease of using the graphing capabilities on this were far easier and more flexible than the TI-84!

You get some explanations for the many functions of this extensive calculator within the packaging itself, but I found a ton of great instruction through online videos that are available too. There is even a short guided tour within the device that will help you get started!

While I have not gone too far into these capabilities yet, I know that the math that will come in the future for my daughters will definitely necessitate this great calculator and I am so glad that I found it for myself!


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