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Blow It Up! – Crush It! – Shred It! – Knock It Down!

written by Erin Edison

Capstone Press      11//01/2013

978-1-4765-3526-5  /  978-1-4765-3528-9

978-1-4765-3529-6  /  978-1-4765-3527-2

Age 1 to 3   10 pages   8 x 8

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“BOOM! CRASH! CRUMBLE! Lift flaps and pull tabs to make buildings explode!

“CLUNK! CRUNCH! SMASH! Lift flaps, pull tabs, and move levers to crush those cars flat!

“SMACK! WHACK! BASH! Lift flaps, pull tabs, and move levers to knock that building down!

“RIP! CRUNCH! SHRED! Lift flaps, pull tabs, and move levers to shred tires into tiny pieces!”

Opening

“An old building is crumbling and unsafe.” [Pull the tab down and bring the building to its knees, or the ground, if you prefer.”

Review

Collectively, these four books (Blow It Up!, Shred It!, Crush It!, and Knock It Down!), are called the Destruction Group. And what destruction your child can imagine causing—all in the name of safety, not hoodlumism.

Today is best called “Boys Day.” Girls can enjoy these interesting activity books, as I did, but it is mostly boys who receive these books. Little boys will love bringing down a building, bridge, and sports arena with dynamite. In the process, the book gives your child, or you, the chance read with unabashed enthusiasm, “Boom, Kah-Pow, and Kaboom,” when your young child makes rubble out of the structure on the spread.

When the kids have exploded structures to their heart’s content, it will be time to Crush It! Let’s start with that beautiful car. Pull up the tab and, “Oh, no! The beautiful car! It is a piece of rusty junk.”

Yep, that car is a goner and it is up to the reader to pick up the car with a forklift and dump it into the crusher. That red sports car will soon become a square of steel. I am not sure where the plastic goes (my car is practically all plastic). Never mind that, here comes car number two. This car is ratty, but the engine looks pretty good. Let’s save that engine. Pull it up and out of the car. And the tires, too. We are going to salvage everything possible. Reuse is the motto!

Maybe plastic cars are shredded. Those tires shredded. So open up Shred It! One of those tires from that car has a hole in it. Go ahead, shred pick it up and all the other bad tires with your forklift. Drive over and dump those bad tires into the shredder. “Thunk, thunk!” Listen as the rubber is pulverized, “Whirl! Crunch!” Look out, here comes the pieces of rubber ready to be made into all sorts of things. The mat you mom stands on in the kitchen, or the mat she makes you wipe your feet on before coming in the house, is most likely recycled rubber tire. How, cool! You’re not done yet.

It is time to Knock It Down! There is a building you can knock down. That big steel ball is called a wrecking ball. When you swings it into the building you will wreck it. Slide the tab and make that ball ram into the building. “Whack!” Pieces are falling, so watch your head. Get that yellow construction hat on, if you got one, or use your bike helmet. Pull the next tab down and whack the lower part of the building with a loader, pulling down what remains.

True story, when my building caught fire a few years back—no, I did not start the fire—the fire department used a loader, with the pick-up container held upside down, just like it Knock It Down! The firemen pulled everything out of the apartments and the rest of the wall, too. It was horrible watching neighbors’ possessions fall to the ground. Okay, back to the job at hand. Swing the tab once more and whack the wall with another wrecker ball. The bricks crumble away. Nice Job!

Kids will love these four “destruction” books. In addition to pulling, pushing, swiping, and opening tabs, kids will read. It is truly fun to read these books aloud to your child. A couple of times reading to them and they will be reading on their own, even if it is only memorizing what you read—it is a start, a good start. The books are sturdy board books, all with nicely thick pages that will withstand some tugging pulling and pushing. The pages are easily cleaned. Jelly will wipe right off the page. I checked.

Your active little boy—and girl—will love Blow It Up!, Crush It!, Shred It!, and Knock It Down! The books can be purchased separately, but as a bundled set Capstone has a special price that will save you a bundle (pun intended). These 8 x 8 thick board books are waiting for little hands to have fun pulling, pushing, swiping, and opening up tabs so they can have fun destroying imaginary buildings and crushing imaginary red sports cars. I had fun so I know your child will, too.

BLOW IT UP! CRUSH IT! SHRED IT! KNOCK IT DOWN! Text copyright © 2014 by Erin Edison. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Capstone Press, San Francisco, CA.

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You can purchase any of these books at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Capstone Press (special bundled price)—at your favorite bookstore.

Crush It! was previously reviewed. You can read that (better) review HERE.

Learn more about the Destruction Board Book Set  HERE.

Meet the author, Erin Edison, at Jacketflap:  http://www.jacketflap.com/erin-edison/263204

Find more great books at the Capstone Press website:  http://www.capstonepub.com/

Capstone Press is an imprint of Capstone.

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Also by Erin Edison

Snow (Weather Basics)

Franklin D. Roosevelt (Presidential Biographies) 

John F. Kennedy (Presidential Biographies)

Lightning (Weather Basics)..

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copyright © 2014 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews

Getting a crush on someone not your own age, when you're as old as I am is a bummer. Let me rephrase that. I have a crush on a young woman and it's a bummer. I know it will pass, because this is one of those crushes that a person gets on a celebrity, or in my case a performer. I don't know her. If I did I wouldn't have a crush because it would be totally inappropriate. Men don't feel this way, apparently. Look at all the May/December relationships. But I am not into that. No way no how. I feel brave owning up to this temporary crush, let alone writing about it in a public blog. The thing is, I feel pretty sure I am not the only woman this happens to. If I am, so be it. I know I'm queer in a lot of ways. This is one of them.
Last night I went to a concert of Edna Vazquez and the Mariachi Band Los Palmeros with whom she's been playing for 12 years. She has the most amazing voice. I first saw her at an event at Latina Gay Pride. A friend of mine invited me to go as she was playing piano that night. I was blown away by Edna's voice, so when I saw her name on the calendar I knew I was going to go see her. But when I saw her last night, I suddenly got a crush. While I was watching her sing, I kept wishing I was 30 or 35 years younger so I could ask her out. I thought about how I was when I was 30 and 35 years younger. I would have asked her out back then. Of course, she probably wasn't born back then. So you see how ridiculous this is. But it is a fantasy.
In real life, I do enjoy her singing so much. I tried to order a CD from her website, but as far as I can tell, it consists of nothing but videos of her singing. (And I'm complaining?) I am going to take my two grandchildren with me to her concert on Sunday. Both are singers and I want them to see and hear her. For one thing I want my grandson to hear a woman who can sing as loud as he can. And for my granddaughter to see a woman sing and play the guitar in person who is not her former teacher, not Taylor Swift, etc.
My crush will go away. Probably by the time I publish this post. If not, it will evaporate in its own time. It's one of those strange things that happens to you as you age that you don't expect to happen -- like pimples. What the hell? You have skin tags AND pimples? How is that fare? I certainly don't expect myself to feel like a schoolgirl about someone who is young enough to be my daughter or maybe even my granddaughter. That feels wrong. Then I remind myself it is just a feeling, nothing I have to act on. And it will dissipate as feelings do. Anger doesn't last. Even grief which is perhaps the longest lasting feeling one can have, doesn't last forever. A crush is nothing compared to grief. In fact, it is rather pleasant.
If you're old enough to be a grandmother, and you have or have had a crush lately, I surely would like to know I have some company if you're brave enough to share. :)

Apparently this place  is just oozing with office crushes! The fun part is letting you guys extrapolate on the viability of the relationship, etc. I appreciate the laughs!

Back in Manila, when I was about 13 years old, I used to have a crush on my mom's boss' son. He was about 17 years old and was soooo cute. His name was Marsh. I used to die just looking at him, especially during that time when the long board shorts (with large flower prints) were the coolest thing :) He was just so refreshing to look at :)

Author: Don Gillmor
Illustrator: Marie-Louise Gay (on JOMB)
Published: 2000 Fitzhenry & Whiteside (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0773732187 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Enchanting moonlit expanses, snappy, intelligent narration and plenty of clever details turn the tiny personal experience of that awkward first crush into a sweeping, surreal adventure that feels almost as big as infatuation.

You can hear a JOMB chat with Marie-Louise Gay here.

You can read more about Stuart McLean here.

( illustration by David_Tazzyman)