 Hi everyone, my name is Steph, this is Little Bookish Teacher and welcome or welcome back to my channel. Today I'm here to review Your Brain is a Lump of Goo by Aidan Ben-Barrick and illustrated by Christopher Nielsen. This is a really gorgeous kids non-fiction text all about the brain and not only is it about the brain, it's narrated by the brain. Aidan Ben-Barrick uses his very recognizable humor to explain some of the features of the brain for younger readers. So the brain starts off by introducing itself and then trying to compare what the brain actually is to kids who can't actually see it. So he uses comparisons and analogies to describe what the brain is and how it works and how we still don't even really know why the brain does some of the things that it does and it's still a bit of a mystery but it's a really important part of us and it makes us us and it was just a really fun time to read. So the first part of the book is very much the brain talking to us and telling us about itself and what it can do and the potential that it has. My favorite page in the whole book was this page where it's sort of highlighting the fact that all of these things that we like, that we do, that we experience are all part of what makes up the brain and then at the back of the book there is a double page spread that is more of a traditional non-fiction type of text that goes through some of the scientific language and words that we use to talk about the brain and how it functions. So the first part is really geared towards much younger readers. This part is sort of for more capable readers or those kids who really want to know more specific information. So this gives you really two options to actually explore information about the brain which I think is a really lovely way to introduce students to non-fiction texts. There is a lot of humor in the text. It's very fun to read. It would be even more fun to read out loud. It does have some really wonderful tier two words like signals connected, confused, distracted and overwhelmed which are great for exploring and unpacking with students as well as a lot of that scientific language. The names are specific parts of the brains and functions of the brain as well so you're getting that really clear academic vocab as well. In terms of being able to talk about this book with kids, at the very start of the book the author compares the brain to the size of a pineapple and uses that analogy throughout the book as a way of showing people this is kind of the size of the brain and this is what the brain can do that a pineapple can't do and vice versa. So there's a lot of good discussion points for talking about well why do you think the author has chosen to use a pineapple? As a comparison you could even take it further and go what else could have been used for this analogy etc. You can also talk about the author's choice to use a more humorous way of explaining the brain compared to the more scientific way of talking about the brain at the back of the book. Why the author has chosen to tell it in both ways and why they might have chosen to go the humorous route the first time and then go more serious. You could also talk about who is the intended audience for the book or for the different parts of the book. Ultimately I think this is a really great introduction into non-fiction texts for younger readers because it does make it fun, engaging, it's very bright and colourful and it's trying to make very complex information digestible and understandable for younger readers. In the comments I'd love to know if you've read any of Aiden Ben Barrick's other books before. His work is just fantastic and very fun to read. I will leave links to where you can find out more information about the author in the book down below. If you want to let me know that you're here but you don't want to leave a comment feel free to leave me a pineapple emoji otherwise I hope that we're on the world just staying safe and healthy and I will see you in my next video. Thanks so much for watching. Bye everyone!