Teach Your Granny To Text by We Are What We Do
| Teach Your Granny To Text by We Are What We Do | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Price
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| Summary: An exciting, interactive book for kids and teens by the global social change movement, We Are What We Do. Full of activities and ideas to inspire and engage even the most reluctant reader. Buy lots of these as Christmas presents for the kids in your life. You'll be very popular, and help the planet too! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 72 | Date: October 2008 |
| Publisher: Walker Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1406320718 | |
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I loved this book. I loved the positive tone of this book. It is just so packed full of great, interactive ideas for living a better life, that I even passed it onto to my household's resident politician. He agreed that there were lots of ideas in it that capture the spirit of these new-austerity times, and took a note of a few for his next council meeting. It's true!
What we have in Teach Your Granny To Text is an interactive workbook, with ideas for interesting activities – or 'actions'. There's something to appeal to everyone, including cooking a meal from scratch, learning sign language, giving compliments (compliment cheques included), growing vegetables (basil seeds included) and recycling. It all sounds so worthy, doesn't it? However, the book is presented in such a lively manner, with vibrant photography and imaginative artwork, that it never feels anything but inspiring and contemporary. For example, there's a double page for Action #29 Speak Football with the legend There are 6,000 languages in the world. Football speaks every one of them. Finding Welsh on that page utterly charmed me, of course, as did the sentiment. I think any child (and most adults) picking up Teach Your Granny To Text will find something they want to do, something they didn't know and something to make them smile. I know I am very far from being as green as I could be, but I didn't feel nagged, just gently inspired into taking some small steps that felt a little too much trouble before.
The ideas in this book have been contributed by children and put together by a very talented team to beautifully showcase the user contributions. There's also an excellent website where users can submit comments on the various actions and contribute their own, as well as reading about the We Are What We Do movement and see the previous volumes that inspired Teach Your Granny To Text. In combination with the book, this adds to the feeling of empowerment experienced by readers of this book. There's also a section for teachers, as I think this book would be excellent for school projects – or for parents to enjoy with their children, for that matter.
I have two minor quibbles. I was mildly disappointed that the title action, Action #15 Teach Your Granny To Text, merely lists text abbreviations, rather than helps my sometimes-better-half crack the mysteries of predictive texting. Probably asking too much there! My second quibble is psychological. I have a difficulty with books that invite you to write on them, or remove things from them. I just can't. It's wrong. You aren't supposed to write on books. You aren't supposed to tear things out of books. However, I appreciate this may just be me, and perhaps my We Are What We Do action might be to seek psychological help. Or possibly photocopy the odd page.
Thanks to the good folk of Walker Books for providing this volume. It's a scarecrow book – outstanding in its field. Buy it.
If you, or a teen you know, enjoyed the interactivity of Teach Your Granny To Text and want even more things to do, check out Teenage Kicks: 101 Things to Do Before You're 16 by Clive Gifford. For adventurous types or environmental enthusiasts, try Serious Survival: How to Poo in the Arctic and Other Essential Tips for Explorers by Marshall Corwin.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Teach Your Granny To Text by We Are What We Do at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Teach Your Granny To Text by We Are What We Do at Amazon.com.
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