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Remembering their ninja creed, they rush to help – with ninja speed!
–Dojo Daytrip by Chris Tougas
Ninja Creed
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Tag Archives: Ninja
Ninja Cowboy Bear – Rock Paper Scissors
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This book has two parts:
- Tthe story of three friends who have an argument about who is ‘the best;’ and
- An illustration of the game Ninja Cowboy Bear, which is a very physically active variation on Rock Paper Scissors.
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And soon, they each realized something very important. The ninja appreciated the bear’s great strength. The bear wondered at the cowboy’s precision and accuracy. The cowboy was in awe of the ninja’s agility. The ninja, the cowboy, and the bear recognized that no one had to be the best. They were each special and unique – just like you and me.
–Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins and Hilary Leung
Book Review: Snowballs Make the Best Gifts
Most holiday-season picture books focus on Santa Claus and the joy of giving, or receiving gifts. It’s a heart-warming experience wrapped up in a neat little box covered in pretty paper and a bow.
The best thing about this book is the way Santa Claus delivers the best possible gift to Yukio, the main character – an EPIC snowball fight! It’s not a toy or clothes or even a much-needed tool or box of supplies, it’s an activity!
The children in my life simply loved the snowball fight between a village of ninjas (and their ninja children) and a mysterious red-suited samurai who turns out to be the jolly-old-man himself. The best part? Santa reveals his identity through a letter left for Yukio, under the tree:
Dear Yukio,
I hope you enjoyed the EPIC snowball fight. I made it just for you.
Sincerely,
Samurai Santa
The story is fun, well-told and full of action and adventure. There’s a happy ending and an entire community of kids who enjoy the best snowball fight of their entire lives! So, in that respect, it’s an excellent book to read during the holidays – just for fun.
However, the book also opens up the concept of gift giving as an action instead of a thing. Sometimes the best presents don’t have wrapping paper or boxes or a place under the tree. Sometimes they are the time we spend with each other.
It’s an all-around excellent story.
–Samurai Santa, A Very Ninja Christmas, by Rubin Pingk
Halloween Book Review: The Family That Plays Together
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Ninja! Attack of the Clan by Arree Chung
The family that plays together, stays together! This family likes to play Ninja games and the book ends with a wonderful image of everyone in the family wearing home-made ninja costumes, complete with spatula weapons, while playing ‘ninja’. Everything that is good and fun about Halloween is summed up in that one image.
For more information about this and other books in the series, see the June 2017 Giggle Book Award.
All of the Halloween themed books, quotes and commentary posted to this blog can be found HERE.
Suggestions for Building Excitement Over The Holidays
Ordering Books: Whether you are building a family library or simply looking for a fun way to build-up to the Halloween celebration, having brand new books shipped to your home, in your child’s name, is a great way to do it. To a child, it is super exciting to receive a package in the mail, addressed to them! They may even want to read their brand-new book immediately AND before bed.
Library Holds: If you’d prefer to review the books before buying them, or need to maintain a tight budget, then use the local library. Go to the library website, locate the book and place it on hold. When the notification arrives, bring the child along and let them help find the books in the on-hold shelves.
Giggle Book Award: Ninja Family
Every family needs that special play time that just brings the whole family together as a team. For some families it’s a game like football, baseball or soccer. For the family in the Ninja! books by Arree Chung, it’s pretending to be NINJAS!
I strongly recommend reading these books together because the two stories, combined, illustrate the Ninja bond within the family illustrated.
Ninja!
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Ninja! is about Max, a young boy, playing pretend-ninja and causing trouble throughout the house. He wakes up his dad, steals his sister’s cookie and causes her to accidentally fall on her bottom (it was not intentional), which earns the little ninja some punishment time.
Oddly enough, according to the children in my life, the punishment is one of the funniest parts of the book – and it consists of nothing more than a picture of mom’s arm pointing and the little ninja leaving the kitchen, clearly downtrodden, with the words:
I have been shamed.
As mentioned in previous posts, I tend to use children’s books as an opportunity to indulge in a little reader’s theater. In this case, I point to the hand with an ‘uh-oh,’ which is usually echoed by the children because ALL children know what the silent point means. Then I read the words “I have been shamed” in a very dramatic ‘shamed’ voice.
Giggles galore.
Then the story takes a turn for the better as the little ninja makes amends with his little sister by giving her a costume and saying:
Baby sister, let me teach you the way of the ninja.
And they are off…
Ninja! Attack of the Clan
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Attack of the Clan features Max playing pretend-ninja alone but, this time, he doesn’t want to play alone – he wants someone to play with him. He trying to entice his sister, mother and father, but each one is fully absorbed in another task.
a misunderstanding between father and son leads Max to believe his father has agreed to play hide-and-seek when his father hasn’t even heard what Max was saying. End result? Max confronts his father, realizes the error, and returns to his room with hurt feelings.
This is a scenario most children fully understand.
Then, things change.
Maxwell, time for dinner!
So, Max heads downstairs, looking for the family, and finds dinner on the table but no one around – except the dog who is lapping up the soup. BUT, what Max does not know, but the reader DOES know, is that his entire family has bot on their ninja costumes and taken hiding places all over the dining room.
Surprise Attack!
The entire family jumps out and an epic pretend-battle ensues. First Max takes down dad by poking him in the belly button and tying him up with a jump-rope.
Then he give his mom a kiss and shouts:
The Kiss of Death!
Finally, it’s little sister’s turn.
The little ninja is elusive. She is small but powerful.
Little sister hides from Max long enough to jump on his back and lick his face.
SLURP!
I’ve been licked.
I love my ninja clan!
Between the drawings and the text,the readers theater opportunities are wonderful!
Giggles, giggles and more giggle!
The best part? The family is clearly having a wonderful time playing pretend and bonding through play.
Giggle Book Award: Ninja Bunnies Need Friends
The Giggle Book Award goes to Ninja Bunny by Jennifer Grey Olson!
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This is the story about a young bunny who gets a copy of How To Be A Super Awesome Ninja and proceeds to follow the first 10 rules. The results are mixed but most of them result in rather funny failures.
Finally, the little bunny finds himself facing a truly dangerous situation in the form of a large angry bear – with nothing but his book and a broom. It looks bad until all of his bunny friends show up and help him scare off the bear.
This moment of teamwork based success inspires the bunny to toss away his book and rewrite the rule list:
Ninja Bunny’s Rule #1: A super Awesome ninja needs super awesome friends.
Grandma Is Who She Is
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That night at bedtime Mom and Dad told me how proud they were.
“I’m proud of you too,” said a voice from the doorway.
“Grandma!” I said. “I’m sorry I told you not to be a ninja!”
“No,” said grandma. “I’m through being a ninja anyway.”
“What?” I cried. “You’re just going to be a regular old grandma?”
“I didn’t say that,” she said.
“I’m going to be a pirate instead.”
–My Grandma’s a Ninja, written by Todd Tarpley and illustrated by Danny Chatzikonstantinou
Happy Day of the Ninja!
Ninja Brothers Team Up
This is a story about two brothers. The older brother loves to pretend to be a ninja, but his ninja-play can be both rough and mean as he uses his little brother as a target. By the end, the older brother has decided to stop targeting the younger and takes him on as a partner-ninja.
As I was reading this, the children in my life made comments about the older brother’s behavior, such as: “That is very not nice!” and “You shouldn’t do that!”
I suspect this would be a very good book for families with siblings who regularly challenge one another.
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Ninja plan, Ninja scheme.
Ninja lone? No…
Ninja team!
Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop!, written by Todd Tuell and illustrated by Tad Carpenter
Ninjas Must Obey Rules
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This story shows, by way of illustrations, a child breaking many rules because he sees himself as a ninja. He is punished by both school and parents but the story implies that he continues to identify (and act) as a Ninja in secret.
If you have a ninja-wannabe in the house, it may be prudent to review this book before reading it to your budding superhero.
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“Don’t forget, a ninja must learn to pretend that he is not really a ninja…even when he is.”
–Ninja Boy Goes to School, written by N.D. Wilson and illustrated by J.J. Harrison
Honor, Kindness and Respect
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“It’s time for us to all reflect on honor, kindness and respect. Every ninja understands and fists turn into helping hands as little ninjas work as one, undoing all that they have done.”
–Dojo Daycare by Chris Tougas