Small book about emotions

Anne-Maria Kuusela 2019: Pieni kirja tunteista
Illustrations by Matias Teittinen

I previously wrote about Rounders, which teach kids about emotions.

This small book collects all the animals we read about before.  The Angry Crab, frightened penguin, nice giraffe. My personal favourite: zen flamingos.

As I so many times repeat myself: all humans need to word the emotions, so they can understand themselves and others. For example: if you encounter an angry person, do not let them suck you into their anger. Recognize their anger and realize there might be other reasons than you, which make them angry.  Fear is another important emotion to be recognized. Many time fear creates anger. 

I heard that the Finnish hockey team won the world championship, because the learned how to talk about their emotions.  Now we need to teach the parents by the hockey rink to do the same and not to rage to the referees and opponents.

The handbook of a young archaeologist

Ilari Aalto 2019: Jatulintarhoja ja hiidenkiukaita : nuoren arkeologin käsikirja
Illustrated by Elina Helkala

This book is fascinating! I even learned a few new Finnish words. All the things you learn, when you read. And  I couldn't decide, which picture to have here, so I took several.

The book is a guide in seeing things under our feet. Why is the medieval outhouse a treasure trove to the archaeologists?  The Egyptians weren't the only to use the shape of the pyramid. Of course, ours is much smaller and modest, but the burial of the dead was a ritual here in the  North as well. And they were not called pyramids, but hiidenkiuas (the stove in sauna). Very interesting. The book goes backward in time all the way to the stone age. Just keep digging.

Nature is very much present in the diggings, the Ukonkivi island in Lapland was a sacred place for Sami people.  And many other natural formations were important to people in the past. And they should be in the present.

Medieval Cities in Finland (as a province of Sweden)

One thing that bothers me is that as Finland was part of Sweden for hundreds of years, the name of the country is Sweden-Finland in all the study books. Why? There never was such a country: there was only Sweden and Finland was only its province, like Skåne. We never hear about a country called Sweden-Skåne.  Are we so petty that we need to exaggerate our importance?

Pyramids of the North

Stone of Ukko

Monster Tournament

Pasi Pitkänen: Hirviöturnajaiset 2019

Princess Rola has a monster tournament every year. Eren is big fan of the monsters and tournaments.
One day Eren finds an egg on the beach. Eren hopes it will be the most horrific monster ever.  But the creature is nothing like that.
Princess Rolan challenges Eren to the tournament against her Storm Snail. Eren and Pomelo (the creature) start practising.

In my family is raging a huge Pokemon Go fever and this book is very much in the spirit of the game. I enjoyed the illustrations, but I couldn't stop wondering, why would Eren want the princess, she seemed like a bully and very competitive person. But maybe the status of marrying a princess is important and maybe I did not understand the true nature of Rola. Cute book any way.