Manga Review: Komomo Confiserie vol. 1 by Maki Minami

"As a little girl, Komomo Ninomiya delighted in picking on Natsu Azumi, the son of her family's pastry chef. Ten years later, when  the family fortune is lost and she has no place to live, Komomo encounters Natsu again in her hour of need. Now that Natsu is a master pastry chef in his own right, he'll help Komomo-- but only if she works for him at his new confiserie." (back of book summary)

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Okay, first of all, I am not someone who reads a lot of manga. This book, Komomo Confiserie vol 1 is the first manga I've actually read. The description on the back of the book was promising. I loved the idea of people meeting up again 10 years later. I was intrigued. The book itself ended up being really disappointing. Komomo's treatment of Natsu as children was appalling. She was a spoiled little rich girl who always got what she wanted, including Natsu's sweets (who lets a 5 year old bake by himself?!) which would fill her with warmth and MAKE HER CRY. Seriously? His sweets could make her cry?!

Fast forward 10 years and Komomo is being forced to work part time jobs (all of which she fails at and is fired from, sometimes multiple jobs in the same day) because her family has lost their wealth, she's renting a room at someone's home (her family has abandoned her) and she's just as awful as she was at 5. Natsu is returning from France as the youngest pastry chef ever and running a confiserie. Television interviews reveal that he can't wait to see Komomo again to repay her for the way she treated him as a child, introducing a weird revenge plot through out the book. Oh! There is also the introduction of a mysterious man telling Komomo to learn not to show emotion for some reason I can only guess will be explained in a further volume.

Seriously, Natsu made me so angry throughout most of the rest of the book. I wanted to slap his arrogant attitude from his face and make him start acting like an actual human being with compassion toward Komomo and I wanted to tell her to run away from his abusive behavior. From the time the two meet up again at 15, Natsu tells others the he was the only one allowed to abuse bully Komomo. He tells her not to befriend another pastry chef (6 years older) who is coming to work the shop when Natsu and Komomo have to go to school, he constantly belittles her and treats her poorly.

I spent so much time wishing for redeeming qualities for either of them that when they finally happened, I was so annoyed I didn't care. There are at least 4 more volumes to this series and I can safely say I will NOT be picking them up off the library shelves.

Love from Library Land,
Amber

Kiddie Kardio

Kiddie Kardio is probably one of my favorite parts of the week. For 30 minutes every Thursday, I get to dance with toddlers and preschoolers. Some days, the kids just kind of stand there and stare at me, but there are days when those little ones will dance with wild abandon and it is hilarious. Most of the songs we use are from the Fresh Beat Band and the Imagination Movers(because they don't make me want to shove pencils through my eyeballs like some children's musicians).

During Kiddie Kardio, not only do we exercise through dancing, we also work on life skills like cleaning up our toys and waiting our turn. Each song where the kids get a handheld object (scarves, shaker eggs, lummi sticks, bean bags or hand bells) the kids have to come get them (learning to wait their turn) and put them back in the proper bins (cleaning up).

Our typical routine:

D.J. Get the Party Started (scarves)
Spin Around
Dance with Me
Here we Go (lummi sticks)
Tap it Out (lummi sticks)
A Friend Like You (shaker eggs)
Freeze Dance
Wiggle Song (Dragon Tales)
Mover Music (Imagination Movers)
Jump Up (Imagination Movers)
Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah (Aly and AJ) (Parachute time)
We're Unstoppable (parachute time)

Parachute time may be the best thing about Kiddie Kardio. During Aly and AJ song, the parents and I work the parachute and the kids dance underneath it as it goes up and down. The happy squeals of the kids is infectious. The kids love the parachute, the parents and I love the cool breeze that comes from moving it. The second parachute song We're Unstoppable by the Fresh Beat Band is the invitation for the kids to handle the parachute if they want . If the kids are the ones holding the parachute, I kneel down to their height to help out. The parachute tends to move quicker and not as high as when the adults do it, but the kids love it just the same.

Kiddie Kardio is a 30 minute class for ages 2-5 held every Thursday during our Story Time Sessions.


With Love from Library Land,
Amber

Early Learning Kits

 

 


Early Literacy/ Early Childhood Learning is something we are really trying to focus on this year. Each of these little boxes on the shelf ($1 at Dollar Tree) contains some sort of Early Learning Game- most of which I have purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers. My favorite creator on TPT is Lavinia Pop and you can find her TPT site here.

 

I hand stitched the felt letters in about a week and they are quickly becoming one of our biggest hits. The little ones love to play with them and the parents love having a more physical way to introduce the alphabet to them.

Our current themes are:
Alpha-Art
Counting Turtles
Ocean
Ice Cream Alphabet and Math
Fall
Apples and Pumpkins

I have been showcasing a new kit each week and the parents have enjoyed sharing them with their little ones. I have more to make. I would like to be able to rotate the kits each season.

Love from Library Land,
Amber

STEAM Travels: Ancient Greece: Edible Parthenons

One of my goals with the new Where in Time is Ms. Amber?  program I'm doing, is I want to extend the lesson beyond one class. I wanted to find a way to teach about history and not still have a lecture. So I decided that this year, we would do a cross curriculum approach and I would pair history with STEAM.

Our first STEAM Travels class focused on creating Edible Parthenons. I picked up icing tubs from the dollar tree ( 10 oz for $1 at the Dollar Tree) graham crackers (family pack about $5), mini marshmallows, mini York Peppermint patties and peppermints. I paired the kids up into 3 teams and gave each  team a picture of the Parthenon and then I allowed them to get creative in trying to build it. Two of the teams were pretty successful, one team. . . well, they tried.

   

The kids had a blast "building" these things, and by building, I mean eating the construction supplies. I still maintain that the sugar highs they left with are were not my fault.

With Love from Library Land,

Amber