Customer Reviews

Queen Vernita Visits the Blue Ice Mountains

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dawn Menge, author of Queen Vernita Visits The Blue Ice Mountains, works with the severely handicapped population, her degree being in Special Education. Sometimes I think it is important to highlight the credentials of the author to provide parents the background that will be well illustrated in the book under consideration.

The primary learning process in this book is to teach children the months of the year, the days in each month and the days of the week. The repetition is extensive and serves well to reinforce what is being taught.

However, children really will not be too interested that they are learning! Because the beautifully colorful book, illustrated by Bobbi Switzer, has much to capture a child's attention!

The thrust of the storyline is that Queen Vernita, being a kind queen, shares her vacation with her friends by inviting one to visit for one month. Based upon the personal interests of that friend, then, the Blue Ice Mountains are explored. For instance, in April, the study of wildflowers was highlighted. Various flowers were detailed for each day and sometimes, additional information is provided. As I thought about the book as a learning tool, I realized that it could easily be coupled with the Internet, where the parents could find pictures of those items mentioned each month...the potential for learning, based just upon this book, is quite extensive.

Other months included physical activities including Kayaking and snorkeling.

Learning about living things included crabs, sea otters, bald eagles, bears, and whales.

December even included a little bit about Christmas and the North Pole.

My three favorite activities was the study of glaciers, the Aurora Borealis and visiting the rainforest with Ranger Larry!

At first I wondered about the characters being older individuals but then realized that the choice might be related to learning also, since it is from parents and relatives that all children start to learn about their world.

Overall, I was very impressed with the book! In fact, it will be passed on to a grandniece when I next see her. Either through self-learning or as a parent-child tool, Queen Vernita Visits The Blue Ice Mountains by Dawn Menge is highly recommended for age-specific reading and learning...and having fun too!

G. A. Bixler

I read Queen Vernita Visits the Blue Ice Mountains to my 3 1/2 year old son. While he did enjoy it, I think this book is definitely for older children. This book touts teaching children the months of the year, the days of the week and the seasons through this story. It does teach all that but by doing that, it also makes it a very long book. Each friend that visits Queen Vernita comes each month and they do something each day. So that's twelve pages plus at least seven sentences each page. A little more because the author does have to set the stage. It seemed a little forced to get everything in this book to teach all the months, days and seasons but she did get them all in. While I don't agree this book is for young children (I found my son turning pages before I was done reading or myself reading only a line or two on each page), this would be a great book for elementary school students that are learning the months, days and/or seasons. I did like the illustrations as they were fun to look at (my son really did enjoy the pictures!). Overall, it's a good book but make sure you are reading to the correct audience.

Wow, what a beautiful and unique children's book!

Each month Queen Vernita invites a friend to visit the Blue Ice Mountains. Upon arrival each friend gets to chose something they are interested in and learn about it. In January, Debbie learned all about crabs; in February, Thomas learned about sea otters; in the month on March, Christopher learned about glaciers; in April, Joshua learned all about wildflowers; and so it goes, with each guest, throughout the entire year.

This book offers a fun, painless way to impart knowledge to young minds. The writing is excellent and the illustrations are as well. I wish I could give this unusual children's book more than 5 stars!

Fortunately, education comes in many forms and in the interests of the future; all opportunities to educate children should be taken. In this book, Menge uses the premise of children visiting Queen Vernita at the Blue Ice Mountains to present a series of facts about nature. Queen Vernita receives a new visitor each of the twelve months of the year and for each month there are seven facts, one for each day of the week.
The facts also conform to the seasonal characteristics of the month, for example the first three facts for the month of April are:

On Monday, they saw mighty monkshood with its tall, blue flower spikes. These plants must have at least six hours of full sun every day.

On Tuesday, Joshua and Queen Vernita saw salmonberry. The fruit looked a lot lie a raspberry.

On Wednesday, they saw River Beauty also known as broad-leafed willowherb.

With a full-page illustration for each month, this book presents facts about nature in a manner that children will absorb and will be interested in reading. If my daughter were younger, I would strongly encourage her to read this book.

Its so rare one finds a book for young people where the main character is female and interested in science. Coming from a family of successful women in the sciences, I was so in awe of the book!

The information the main character shares about crabs, sea otters, glaciers, wild flowers, whales, eagles, bears, trees, astronomy, seals, sea sponges, reindeer is so wonderful and factual and should intrigue young readers and make them want to learn more.

While the book is great for young boys or girls, I would love to see lots of young girls read the book or have it read to them,even if they are three years old, because I want to see more young girls grow up to become professionals in the varied fields of science.

PLEASE.....if you have a young girl in your life .....buy her this book!!!

This was an absolutely fabulous book. It was 36 pages of beautiful and bright pictures. Queen Vernita decides to visit the Blue Ice Mountains. She sends out invitations to twelve of her friends. Each month her friend arrives and they do something special together. The reader learns through this book how many days are in each month. They also learn the days of the week as that is a repeated part of this book. I think the thing I really enjoyed is they way they are taught about things such as seals, bears and flowers without knowing they are being taught. Although I teach middle school, this will be a great addition to my ESOL book box. These topics are the very ones that I teach about in my lessons. Bobbi Switzer is the illustrator. The pictures are bright and charming and leave you feeling like you have been on a wonderful outing. I give this a rating of 5 out of 5.

Author Dawn Menge with the able assistance of illustrator Bobbi Switzer have created a zinger of a follower to Menge's first book in this series. Once again the story is rich in many character types in her monthly visitors to her new palace in nature - the Blue Ice Mountains in the Land of Quails. She wisely uses the same format as in her original book - every month of the year is celebrated for the seasonal changes and every month the new visitor is taken on sightseeing trips that introduce myriad concepts of friendship, natural phenomena, animal behavior - all the while emphasizing the learning of the names of the months, of the days of the week, and of the various seasons and holidays. The drawings are perky and eye catching for children, and the story of the friendship of an elderly Queen with a terrific variety of visitors makes the book personal and education and very entertaining - and more than a bit of a nod to respecting elders!. This is an engaging second installment to QUEEN VERNITA'S VISITORS. Welcome to wholesome and entertaining children's literature! Grady Harp, August 09

The second book in the Queen Vernita series, "Queen Vernita Visits the Blue Ice Mountains" is just as enjoyable as the first. Author, Dawn Menge's books are an imaginative, fun way to educate children in such a way that they learn without even realizing it! I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next addition!

Dawn Menge hits the mark again, Queen Vernita Visits the Blue ice Mountains combines fun with knowledge. The second book in the series includes facts about the Alaskan flora and fauna that makes this a book that can be shared between toddlers, preschoolers and yung elementary students alike. Once again she used the calendar to share a fun filled exploration of crab, otters, glaicers and so much more. I enjoy reading this book as well as her first to my grand-daughter and am looking forward to sharing with my second grand-child who is due in January!!!

Queen Vernita sent out 12 invitations for her friends to visit the Blue Ice Mountains in the Land of Quails. During the 12 months they learned about crabs, sea otters, tide water glaciers, plants, whales, bald eagles and more. Another great read for my boys to learn so much about the different animals, plants etc. They always want to learn more.