KIDS’ BOOKS A Tiny Troublemaker Penelope Jane is a very tiny fairy (“tall as an eyelash”) who lives in Carrie’s top right dresser drawer. She’s French (her favorite food is the croissant), and when she wreaks havoc in Carrie’s kindergarten classroom, she finds a way to be heroic to make up for her naughtiness. “Penelope Jane: A Fairy’s Tale”–with charming illus-trations by G. Brian Karas–is the first children’s book from singer-songwriter Roseanne Cash, and it comes with a bonus CD. Cash sings “How to Be Strong,” a sweet self-esteem song for Penelope Jane and everyone else on the playground.
LEARNING Work Till You Drop Add Etta Kralovec and John Buell to the small but vocal cadre of those who question loading down kids with work at the end of each school day. In their new book, “The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children and Limits Learning,” the two educators make the case that not only is homework inequitable (it favors kids whose families have the most resources), it doesn’t necessarily improve test scores. They also see homework connected to our society’s obsession with working long hours. “Why are we working so hard?” asks Kralovec. “If we free up time from homework, we allow people to participate in a wide range of activities that could improve the overall quality of life.”
GAMES A Family Matter With a name like chatter Matters, we’re not sure if the new board game from Mattel will give Monopoly a run for its money. But the game’s creators are on to something about family life: there’s not enough of it. It’s designed to get kids and their parents together and talking. When a player lands on certain squares on the board, he draws a card that asks him questions testing his knowledge of family habits and lore (“Who in my family plays an instrument?” “What is one of my grandparents’ first names?” “Name something someone in my family is doing to make the world better”); how he answers is meant to jump-start a conversation. Because the game requires reading and writing, it’s aimed at ages 8 and up. Frankly, it might be tough to lure older kids away from their GameBoys for this kind of togetherness, but with a little help from Mom or Dad, kids as young as 5 or 6 could have fun taking a turn at rolling the dice.
