Brainstorm!

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Brainstorm! is replete with fun and intriguing activities that are
designed to give children’s minds a lively workout.

Topics include making a treasure map and surviving on a desert island,
designing fantastic buildings and redecorating your room, finding
uncommon uses for common objects and shapes, and creating codes for
sending secret message to friends. Each page ends with a
thought-provoking statement, such as “Every list of outrageous ideas
has the start of at least one great idea”; “People like making rules
to get things done, but have they tried ideas and daydreams and fun?”;
and “Daydreaming is a great pastime because you can do it anywhere.”
A chapter titled “Digging Deeper” describes the work of
archeologists and ends with the question “What could you learn from an
old shopping list, a grocery store receipt, a piece of macaroni, and a
dry-cleaning bill?”

Loris Lesynski’s comic and inventive illustrations perfectly
complement Wendy Shimkofsky’s text, which will provide hours of free
fun in homes or group contexts. Recommended.