Handmade Glass Bead Trunk Show and The Whole Bead Show

‘Tis the season for bead shows and craft fairs and trunk shows and backyard crafty gatherings. Everyone needs gifts. Crafty types need to sell people those gifts. So here’s a trunk show being held in the Ventura County area of Southern California. Newberry Park to be exact. Creative Castle to be even more precise. There will be six handmade glass bead makers, and for reasons of complete disclosure, I am one of them. If you live near Thousand Oaks, stop by and buy beads by Amy Caswell, Bernadette Fuentes, Jackie Mixon, Cathy McNassor, Debbie Sanders and myself. The show is from 10-5 this Saturday, November 14th.

Now if you happen to be further south, say the San Diego area, you can visit The Whole Bead Show. It’s being held November 13-15. Check out their site for more details. At that show there’s a fine variety of beads, vintage, handmade, and many many more. The Whole Bead Show is a traveling bead show that makes it’s way across the country through the course of the year, even Hawaii. If it comes to your area you should check it out. They usually offer jewelry classes too. Check them out. As I said, ’tis the season. Shop Handmade!!

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Trees are an essential part of nature, both for the oxygen they produce and the habitats they provide to animals. But if you don’t live near a forest you might not think about all that happens within them very much.

The Secret Life of the Forest: Trees, Animals and Fungi, by Klára Holik, Ivi Niesner and Jana Sedlácková explores the inner workings of the forest, from the biggest trees to the smallest parasites, answering questions about the forest and sharing basic information about different kinds of forests, the water cycle, how to visit the forest and more. It’s aimed at kids ages 6 to 9.

It starts at the beginning with information on where seeds come from, how pollination happens and different creatures (and mechanisms like wind) that help move tree seeds and other seeds around in different forests. It talks about photosynthesis, how trees communicate with each other, tree rings, layers of the forest, how tree seeds move and how fungi and trees help each other.

Readers will learn about the oldest known fungus in the world, how ants help other animals to reproduce and what plant and animal parasites make trouble in the forest.

The book also covers decomposition, an overview of forest types from around the world (including the heaviest living organism), how fire affects forests, animals of the rainforest and swamp and ways people use wood.

Information is presented in bite-sized segments, with cartoony illustrations that are somewhat accurate to nature. You can check out some of the pages and watch a flip through on the publisher’s website.

It also includes forest experiments kids can try, such as building bird houses, looking for springs and checking ingredients on snack foods for palm oil, which comes from the rainforest. There’s also information on the best way to visit the forest to be respectful of the organisms that live there.

In the back you’ll find a glossary of some of the important words included in the book, and there’s a QR code teachers or parents can scan to get more information or learning resources.

This book provides a nice overview of life in the forest and how the plants and animals work together to keep it growing the way it needs to. It also covers a little bit of what humans can do to protect the forests we have left.

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by Albatross Books. Suggested retail price $18.95

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