The Curious Guide to Things That Aren't: Things you can't always touch, see, or hear. Can you guess what they are? - Hardcover

Fixx, John; Fixx, James F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1633221768 ISBN 13: 9781633221765

Publisher: Walter Foster Jr., 2016

Synopsis

The Curious Guide to Things That Aren't teaches creative thinking through deductive reasoning, listening skills, and imagination.

The Curious Guide to Things That Aren't features thoughtful riddles - one for each letter of the alphabet - paired with engaging illustrations that reveal and explain the answer. Each spread features a riddle with several clues about an intangible item, such as air, breath, and jokes. Kids then have to figure out the answers through detective work and a little creative reasoning. The clues on each page progress from challenging, more abstract clues to a simple, final clue that encourages the reader to turn the page to discover the answer. The book covers a broad range of themes, from science, language arts, social studies, math, music, and art. The Curious Guide to Things That Aren't teaches creative thinking through deductive reasoning, listening skills, and imagination.

About this title

About the Author

Abby Carter has drawn all of her life. When she was eleven, she and her grandmother had a card business: Abby drew and her grandmother sold. In college she studied art, but also liked science and nutrition, and wished there was a way to combine them all. Several years later, she and her husband founded Fresh Samantha, the juice company, which fulfilled that dream. In addition to her graphics for Fresh Samantha, she has illustrated many picture books and chapter books for children. She loves to draw odd characters and hates to draw straight lines. Abby lives with her husband and two children in Connecticut.

John Fixx is headmaster of The Country School in Madison, Connecticut. Things that Aren't is the precursor to his father's three collections of puzzles: Games for the Super-Intelligent (illustrated by Mary Durling), More Games for the Super-Intelligent, and Solve It! His experience and insight guiding the K-8 population as headmaster at various schools bring a fresh new tone to children's literature.

Reviews

K-Gr 3—A playful take on alphabet and concept books, all packaged into one. Noteworthy entries include an itch, a kiss, a memory, the universe, and time. Black-and-white illustrations, punctuated with bright orange accents, provide the perfect backdrop to the miniexploration of the often intangible topics. Children will revel in trying to decipher the clues that precede each item. In fact, they will pick up the work again and again to test their guessing and memorization abilities. Once the subject is revealed, the well-thought-out definitions cover what one would find in the dictionary and then some, including, for example, the word's use in a figurative phrase. VERDICT Bound to keep young readers questioning the world around them and even giggling about it. No guessing needed—this one is a keeper from A to Z!—Colleen S. Banick, Westport Public Schools, CT

Edition details

• Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1633221768
• ISBN 13: 9781633221765
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Carter Abby
• Number of pages: 112