Foundation For Learning Bookmarks Blog: December 2015

If you haven’t started already, it’s time to put together your holiday gift-giving list. We’ve compiled a selection of terrific toys, kits, books, and more for you to consider this year. All selections are appropriate for both boys and girls. We just know you’re going to find a few that will be perfect for your young ones!

The Explore and Create Art Set
There is no greater invitation to play, create, and imagine than a box of brand-new art supplies. This dazzling art set comes with everything needed to set the page ablaze with color:

18 colored pencils
18 vibrant crayons
16 fine-point markers
14 richly hued pastels
8 high-saturation watercolor paints
2 paintbrushes
2 pencils with an eraser and sharpener

Draw a comic, design a dream house or the car of the future, launch a fashion revolution, create a family crest, paint a friend’s portrait, doodle to your heart’s content… With a blank piece of paper and the Explore and Create Art Set, the sky’s the limit. The set comes in a box that has a rope handle and closure, making it easy to carry. The deceptively plain brown paper exterior encourages personalization: design, decorate, and embellish the kit to make it all your own. Ages 8 and up.

14-in-1 Solar Robot Kit
There is more to this little robot than meets the eye! This solar-powered robot lets budding green energy pioneers and robotic engineers build a range of silly creatures and traveling vehicles. Sort all the kit parts into the labeled baggies to make each build a breeze. And then start by building the drive box, aka the robot’s “head.” Kids can build one robot and easily change to another, zipping from turtle-bots to boat-bots, slither-bots to zombie-bots. With two skill levels, builders begin with amusing creatures and then challenge themselves with more complex robotic forms.

Also included are unique accessories that help the robot move on land and water. A transparent housing on the robot’s body helps curious makers see the movements of the gears in action. Kids learn about renewable energy while having a blast—and solar power means no batteries required. Ages 10 and up.

Wild Detectives DVD Set
Why do penguins swim deep into the ocean when their favorite food is right at the surface? What does a lion cub do in its den when no one's watching? How do scientists decode the secret language of whales? Kids will travel the globe to uncover the answers to these and other puzzling animal mysteries with National Geographic's four-episode series Wild Detectives.

With the help of the Crittercam, an ultra-cool spy camera, kids see life through the wild eyes of bears, seals, sea turtles, and other amazing creatures. Featuring a fun, interactive format and awesome undercover filmmaking, Wild Detectives turns kids into super-sleuths and opens them to a world of animal discovery. Ages 6 to 12.

Goobi Magnetic Construction Kit
Winner of numerous awards, this magnetic set has a whole new angle on creative construction. A 90° angle, to be specific, thanks to the tripod, an innovatively shaped new part. The set's awesome 32-page instruction booklet places endless options at kids' fingertips along with the 84 bars, 61 iron balls, and 35 tripods (180 pieces plus compact carrying case in all). A simple, spontaneous, fun way to discover the basics of geometry, physics, architecture, engineering, and problem-solving! Ages 6 and up.

Smarts and Crafts Case
A case study in creativity! Each sturdy carrying case is chock-full of 1000+ craft classics like pipe cleaners, felt, sequins, pom-poms, glue, googly eyes, and much more. Just looking at the variety of shapes, colors, and materials starts fingers itching to craft. It’s everything young crafters need! Ages 6 and up.

Fitivities
Fitivities is part board game, part workout, and all fun—for the whole family. The game includes a game mat (32" x 46"), plus four sets of dice, shoe markers, spinner cards, and detailed game rules—each player (or team) gets their own set. The fun begins when players (or teams) roll the dice and move their game marker to an activity space. Spin the arrow to learn the specifics of performing that activity. Keep going—the first player (or team) to make it all the way around the mat wins the game! It's simple to set up, and the exercises are designed to be easy for all ages. Great fun indoors or out—for birthday parties, backyard barbecues, camping trips, beach parties, and more! For 2–24 players ages 6 to adult, all of whom will be performing activities at the same time.

Qwirkle
If you like Scrabble® and adore dominoes, you'll love Qwirkle, a game of strategy based on color and shape rather than letters, so both readers and non-readers can play. Winner of both Parents' Choice ® and Mensa awards, it's a game that makes you think, laugh, and applaud. Draw six of the 108 wooden tiles to start, and see how many matches you can make with the designs on the board-the result can be beautiful. For 2-4 players. Winner of Mensa Select. Winner of Parents' Choice Gold. For ages 6 and up.

Classic Start CD Set
This series has a storybook tale to appeal to every reader: Choose from The Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Each classic set features black and white illustrations and comes with 2 audio CDs. For ages 7 and up.

Books:

The Hobbit
by JRR Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return. Ages 12 and up.

The Lord of the Rings
by JRR Tolkien

Tolkien's seminal three-volume epic chronicles the War of the Ring, in which Frodo the hobbit and his companions set out to destroy the evil Ring of Power and restore peace to Middle-earth. The beloved trilogy still casts a long shadow, having established some of the most familiar and enduring tropes in fantasy literature. Ages 14 and up.

Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury

In a far future world, television dominates, and books are outlawed. The totalitarian regime has ordered all books to be burned by "firemen," whose job is to start the fires rather than stop them. But one fireman begins to see the value of the printed word. Ages 14 and up.

The Giver (series)
by Lois Lowry
One of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. Ages 12 and up.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

In this collection of novels, Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction, and embarks on a series of amazing adventures, from the mattress swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Ages 14 and up.

Anne of Green Gables
by LM Montgomery

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a rather prim and elderly brother and sister pair, send away for an orphan boy to help them run their farm on Canada's Prince Edward Island. But when the orphan arrives, he's not a he, he's a she — the loquacious and dreamy red-haired Anne-with-an-E Shirley — who quickly takes up a central place in their hearts. Ages 9 and up.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie's humorous, semiautobiographical novel, follows 14-year-old Junior — poor, skinny and with a freakishly big head — as he leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation for a mostly white school in a nearby town. Alexie captures the pain and awkwardness of adolescence while also meditating on the devastation that poverty, racism and alcoholism have wreaked on Native American communities.  Ages 12 and up.

A Ring of Endless Light
by Madeleine L’Engle

Struggling to confront her grandfather's impending death, 16-year-old Vicky Austin finds herself the center of attention of three young men, one of whom is a dolphin researcher. When the inevitable crisis comes, she must rely on the love of others — both human and dolphin — to overcome her grief.   Ages 12 and up.

Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink

Caddie Woodlawn isn't interested in being a lady. Living on the Wisconsin frontier with her pioneer family, the free-spirited tomboy — inspired by the memories of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother — runs wild, causes trouble, has adventures and befriends the local Indian tribe. Ages 8 to 12.

The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate

Ivan, a silverback gorilla who has spent his life in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant, and decides that he must find her a better life. The novel is illustrated by Patricia Castelao and inspired by a real gorilla named Ivan, who lived in a mall and later became a celebrity at the Atlanta Zoo. Ages 8 to 12.

Misty of Chincoteague
by Marguerite Henry

Paul Beebe and his sister Maureen have their hearts set on buying and taming Phantom, the wildest mare on Assateague Island. Though Phantom remains wild, her daughter Misty becomes an important part of the Beebe family. Marguerite Henry's tale of the wild ponies is illustrated by Wesley Dennis. Ages 8 to 12.

Redwall (series)
by Brian Jacques

Deep in the Mossflower Forest lies Redwall Abbey, populated by a motley cast of mice, squirrels, hedgehogs and other forest creatures. This 22-book series covers a vast span of time in the idyllic world of Redwall; jump in anywhere and join heroes like Martin the Warrior and Triss the Squirrelmaid as they battle evil in between lavish abbey feasts of Veggible Molebake and Woodland Summercream Pudding. Ages 12 and up.

The Cricket in Times Square
by George Selden

Chester the cricket is happy living in a peaceful Connecticut meadow. But when he follows the smell of a picnic-goer's liverwurst all the way to New York's Times Square, he finds he can't get enough of big city life with his new friends, a cat, a mouse and a boy. Ages 8 to 12.

Ramona (series)
by Beverly Cleary

Ramona Quimby, irrepressible owl-wrecker, burr-crown-maker, one-bite-apple-eater, anti-smoking campaigner and toothpaste squeezer, goes from pesty little sister to grown-up 10-year-old over the course of this beloved, humorous series by author Beverly Cleary. Ramona began as an incidental character in a different series, but quickly became a kid-lit icon in her own right. Ages 8 to 10.

The Twenty-One Balloons
by William Pene du Bois

William Pène du Bois' classic novel documents the incredible adventures of Professor William Waterman Sherman, who in 1883 sets off in a balloon across the Pacific, survives a volcanic eruption, discovers a fantastical diamond-filled island, and is eventually picked up floating in the Atlantic. Ages 8 to 10.

Here are 6 father figures or role models of the Christmas TV season, from quintessential to questionable.

Question: What are the names of the 6 children characters?

Bonus question: Only one of these dad-like or role-modeling characters is actually portraying the father of the child in the scene depicted. Which one?

Answer:

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Answers:

Susan Walker sits on the lap of Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street.
Michael Hobbs watches Buddy the Elf drink a lot of soda in Elf.
Cindy Lou Who receives a pat on the head in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Zuzu Bailey gets some help with her petals and a hug in It's a Wonderful Life.
Ralphie Parker can't remember what special present he wants Santa to bring him in A Christmas Story.
Hermey the Dentist learns from Yukon Cornelius that he's not such a misfit in Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer.

Bonus answer:
George Bailey is the father of Zuzu. None of the other "Father Christmases" are the actual fathers of the children characters depicted: Susan speculates that Kris Kringle is just a nice old man with whiskers. Or is he? Buddy the elf is the older half-brother to Michael. As far as Mr. Grinch, he's a mean one, and at best only a very distant relative to Cindy Lou and all the Whos down in Whoville. Department Store Santa ("You'll shoot your eye out, Kid") is just one more adult obstacle in the way of Ralphie's dream of acquiring an official Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range model air rifle. And finally (spoiler alert), Yukon Cornelius and Hermie's relationship is simply that of a man in need of a Bumble tooth puller.

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