Robert Munsch is a Canadian author and a favourite of our family so the chance to get to read a copy of one of his beautiful books that focuses on Canada’s most northern peoples through Netgalley was not something we wanted to miss out on! A Promise is a Promise is an amazing combination of beautiful imagery and stroytelling that is not to be missed. Based on an Inuit legend meant to keep the children away from dangerous ice conditions the Quallupilluit is a beautifully scary creature that comes to take children who come near the ice cracks in the sea along away. Promising never to take one who is with their parents children are taught to never venture out alone. That is until Allashua misbehaves and makes a promise as… A Promise is a Promise! 

I have to admit we are biased… we have not read a Robert Munsch book that I we haven’t loved. A Promise is a Promise did not disappoint. The illustrations are amazing and the story beautiful. The lesson is learned but at the same time the legend it brought to kids who have no background in Inuit culture without loosing all of the context. The next time we cover the Inuit people we are going to have to read this one again. 

Sadly my Kindle app version did not have the illustrations but when I loaded it up on my Kindle Fire it was fine, but with small print. I would suggest purchasing a paper copy of this book. But enough from the adult point of view… here is what my kids have to say, and as usual beware of spoilers! 

Trinity: I learned you should always do what my mommy and daddy say. The book was pretty nice. I liked the dancing best. 

Emanuel: You always should listen to your mom and dad. My favourite part was the singing of Quallupilluit. 

Gavin: I liked the characters because I liked their pointy blue hair – it looks like feathers (the Qallupilluit). I thought the cracks were cool. I would love to read this again. 

Zander: It was a pretty good book. I want to know why the kid didn’t listen. My favourite part was when they tricked the Qallupilluit with candy, dancing and bread. I would read this again, probably. 

Be sure to check Robert Munsch’s page for a list of all his amazing books HERE. 

A Promise is a Promise

November 13-14

Another round of thankful children… or at least I HOPE this is helping them stop and realize how much they DO have to be thankful for! I know that through all the ups and downs of the past 3+ years I am much more appreciative of what I DO have!

Trinity: my family

Emanuel: for the beach

Gavin: for Jesus dying for us

Zander: Having clothes to wear so I don’t have to be naked outside.

That turkey’s tail is growing

We are having minor issues with the kids being up before us and being loud! I tried having them finish their word searches (the twins) that were left over from the day before and that seems to be helping. I think we need a special box of early morning activities to let the early risers in the family keep busy and those who need a little more sleep (like the 3rd man out in the bedroom from time to time) get it. The little ones did enjoy colouring at the blue table after breakfast though! Emanuel got his Thanksgiving feel on with these colouring pages HERE.

Colouring time

We are without colour toner so unable to do the last part of the website we have been working from HERE. But, we did talk about what we know for sure and what is important to share with people about the event. I may go back and print out the last assignment as a group once we DO have toner.

The weather is still gorgeous and fall like here for the most part so of course there was time for the boys to run outside while the girls coloured with their Colour Wonder paper. Echo loves sitting with her big sister!

Spending time together

Each day brings new thought on what there is to be thankful for! and Wednesday was no exception…

Zander: the zebras and lions

Gavin: the earth

Emanuel: Mommy

Trinity: seashells because they are my favourite

The turkey is a family favourite

Emanuel got to open his newest Little Passports on Wednesday. Now the race is on to supplement it with some more information on Brazil. I have some links I have found to share when we cover this mini unit.

We did ANOTHER advanced copy kids’ review. This one a great story in a series about teddy bears. You can read the kids’ thoughts HERE. I went back to Netgalley and requested another stack of children’s books. A couple were instant download so keep an eye peeled, as long as I have them we will post one a day! Anything we can do to foster reading, or listening to stories is a total bonus for us! In fact, Gavin is my top reader this month and determined to earn his November pizza coupon!

Working hard

Don’t forget our poem… a daily practice has us all memorizing and nearly ready to record!

So cute

Ken had borrowed a video about NASA and the early space program from Cory so we had the kids watch a portion of it together. The plan is for them to do a creative and related project with Ken the following week!

Movie time

So all in all a good 2 days. With the normal ups and downs of course!!

Echo escorting Pocoyo and Hello Kitty on their date (we think permission was gotten from the Groovy Girls to use their car!)

Today’s children’s book is rather appropriate for the season! I lucked out and came across this one when I was taking a peek through some of  the listings on Netgalley and could not resist sending in a request. WARNING spoilers in Zander’s review!

Trinity: the story was pretty, it was pretty turkey. I liked the turkey. I liked the kitty and the little old lady. They were best friends together.

Emanuel: I liked the turkey. He looked cool when he got fat. It was a nice story.

Gavin: I liked when the turkey at all the food. The pictures were really colourful.

Zander: I liked the turkey. I don’t think she ever ate him. I liked the book. I would like to read it again.

I loved reading this one to the kids. Starting with that little egg and the repeated statement that it was going to be a wonderful Thanksgiving coupled with some very endearing characters and one charismatic turkey we all enjoyed the book. The illustrations are so sweet and colourful and the story was easy for the kids to follow. I really enjoyed the ending myself and we did of course discuss what possibly could have happened in future years. If you want a cute and positive Thanksgiving story this is a great choice. I think Lorna Balian and Lecia Balian did a terrific job with the book Sometimes It’s Turkey, Sometimes It’s Feathers!

Sometimes It’s Turkey, Sometimes It’s Feathers