Posted on December 1st, 2018 by pajamapress
HW Book Reviews
“The story is told through short alternating chapters between Jeannie and Sapphire the Great (her hamster).
We join Jeannie, Alistair (her brother), and their mother three weeks after Christmas and two weeks after their father left, Harvey, left the house. Everyone is dealing with the separation in different ways. Jeannie yells everything, Alistair has turned to video games, and their mother is feeling very stressed….
This book has left me at a loss for words in a very good way. The characters are so engaging, honest, and real that you forget you are reading a book….The story is complete, satisfying, and just feels right…..
Overall rating: ♥♥♥♥♥”
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Posted in Beverley Brenna, Sapphire the Great and the Meaning of Life, Tara Anderson | Tagged Beverley-Brenna, changing-family, divorce, family, family-dynamics, friendship, hamsters, juvenile fiction, lgbt, lgbtq, pets, tara-anderson
Posted on July 17th, 2012 by pajamapress
Have you ever been totally puzzled by the peregrinations, bumps and grinds that children experience in their friendships? It was always endlessly fascinating for me to watch the way children bicker and argue with those children they declare to be their best friends. Both with my own children and those I taught, it was evident that there were constant readjustments being made in the relationships that children have with each other.
With that I would like to welcome a relatively new author who is 
able to capture that paradox. Rebecca Bender has just two picture books in print, and is a relatively new voice in Canadian literature, but what a voice it is. She has captured this unusual nature of friendship between children in both of the picture books available.
…Giraffe and Bird…resonated so well with children that it won the 2012 Blue Spruce award voted on by thousands of children across Ontario.
This title has been followed up by a hilarious sequel, Don’t Laugh at Giraffe. In this book, Rebecca examines the delicate nature of embarrassment and friendship… How Bird handles this situation is a wonderful blueprint for friendship and problem solving.
Your children will go through many situations with their friends that they will have to grapple with and find solutions for. Having books on hand that show this as a normal process in friendships will support them in these journeys, and open the conversations with thinking about how to solve their own problems in a creative and positive way.
–Peggy Thomas, Toronto Public Library
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Posted in Don't Laugh at Giraffe | Tagged animals, Canada, children, dont-laugh-at-giraffe, friendship, giraffe-and-bird, juvenile fiction, literature, Pajama Press, picture-book, reading, rebecca-bender, toronto-public-library, tpl