Northwest Passage and Canadian Railroad Trilogy

It's been a while since I've reviewed children's books, so today I thought I'd give you two. They are titled Northwest Passage and Canadian Railroad Trilogy, and both are published by Groundwood Books.

Northwest Passage is a 12 x 9 hardcover children's book that is illustrated by Matt James. Mr. James drew his inspiration for his book from the song "Northwest Passage," written by Canadian singer Stan Rogers. The song tells the story of Mr. Rogers longing to take the Northwest Passage (a route that started in Canada's section of the Arctic Ocean, went through the Pacific Ocean and ended in Asia). This was apparently a perilous journey that many men search and died for until it was finally completed in 1906 by Roald Amundsen. In this book we see Rogers driving a bus around and reflecting on his life and comparing it to the men who sought this passage before him. The illustration style in the book is not necessarily my favorite as it comes off a bit juvenile at times. The main flow of the book is also interrupted several times to give pages of background/history in tiny font. At the end of the book is Rogers song set to verse and a gallery of the Passage explorers, which I found most interesting of all. It's a clever book, but unless you are familiar with the song or the importance of the Northwest Passage, this book probably isn't for you.

Canadian Railroad Trilogy is a 12 x 9 hardcover children's book that is illustrated by Ian Wallace. The book and art in it is inspired by Gordon Lightfoot's song with the same name as the book title. The song itself was commissioned in 1967 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Canada. The song describes how the Canadian Pacific Railroad was built. Each page is fully and lavishly illustrated with images that bring the song to life. The book does not censor the song, as it talks about drinking whiskey and pays mention to those who passed away building this railroad. At the end of the book is the song's sheet music and a small thumbnail of each image with a description of the significance of each image written by Mr. Wallace. As someone who loves trains and utilizes them everyday in my job, I found this book a joy to read and it is one I will share with my son in a few years when he gets just a little bit older!

These books were provided to me for free by Groundwood Books in exchange for honest reviews.

Catholic Encyclopedia for Children (Our Sunday Visitor)

Through the years, Our Sunday Visitor has had a successful history of publishing encyclopedia for the faithful Catholic. Such topics of these encyclopedias include Catholic History, U.S. Catholic History, the Saints, and Mary. I own and have reviewed at least three of these books, if not all four. Well, Our Sunday Visitor has recently released a kid-friendly encyclopedia, appropriately called Catholic Encyclopedia for Children. The book is divided into six sections:

1. In the Beginning
2. The Life of Jesus
3. The Church Begins to Grow
4. The Church Covers Europe
5. The Church in the New World
6. This We Believe

The first two chapters of the book rely heavily on the Old and New Testament. The sections covered in the Old Testament are Genesis, Exodus, and 1st Samuel. The New Testament takes us from the beginning of the Gospels to Pentecost in Acts 1 and 2. It also covers the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Chapter Three is very brief and spends a few pages detailing how the Apostles spread the Church as Jesus instructed them to do so. Chapters Four and Five talk about the grown and spread of the Church through the centuries. We see saintly examples in Benedict, Francis, Juan Diego, and Kateri Tekawitha to name a few. The last chapters covers tenets of our Faith, such as the Pope, the Church, the Mass, the Creed, the Sacraments, and the Communion of Saints. Again, more saints serve as examples for your children.

The first thing that stands out about this book is that it's a paperback. When I think of encyclopedias, I think of a hardcover, not a softcover. The second thing I noticed about this book is that there aren't individual entries. For the most part, the book is a series of Bible summaries, saint biographies, and illustrations on every page. The book is well-written, faithful to Church teachings, and written in a manner that is engaging and accessible for children. It would be great for parents, teachers, and catechists to have in their library. However, I don't think I'd call it an encyclopedia, at least not in the traditional sense.

This book was provided to me for free by Our Sunday Visitor in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

CV and CV: Gossip (Passport Game Studios)

It's been a long time coming, but today I am finally going to review one of my wife's favorite games - CV. CV is card and dice game for 2-4 players, ages 10 and up. It takes approximately 60 minutes to play and retails for $35. The expansion for this game CV: Gossip retails for $20.

For anyone who has ever had a job, you know that CV stands for curriculum vitae. In this game, you will be rolling dice and matching the symbols with cards off the game board to see what kind of life you end up living. Will you have a lot of different jobs? Will you value possessions more than friends? Only you and the dice will decide. Let's get to setup.

Setup
1. Lay out the game board.
2. Deal 1 card from the Life Goal deck to each player. Then, place several more face up on the board equal to the number of players minus one. (In a two player game, it'd be one card.)
3. Take the Childhood cards (yellow back with a baby carriage icon) and set aside enough cards so that each person gets three (In a two player game, that would be six). One of these cards has the bicycle card as that indicates who will go first.
4. Deal three Childhood cards to each player and then do a standard card draft. (Pick one and pass the remainder to your left. Repeat this action until you have three cards).
5. Shuffle each deck of cards - Early Adulthood (green back with motorcycle icon), Middle Age (blue back with car icon) and Old Age (pink back with glasses icon) and place each pile on its respective spot on the board.
6. If you are playing with the CV: Gossip, you will shuffle the Gossip cards into those decks as well. 7. You will also shuffle the Fate cards and put two face up near the board with the remainder in a face down deck.
8. Deal out five cards in their respective spots on the board (going left to right) from the Early Adulthood deck of cards.

Game Play
1. The player with the bicycle card from the Childhood cards lays the card down face up and goes first. He will roll four dice up to a maximum of three times (Yahtzee rules) and try to match the symbols on the dice with symbols on the cards on the game board. The symbols on the dice are a plus sign (Health), a light bulb (Knowledge), two people (Relationship), a dollar sign (Money), a smiley face (Good Luck), and a frowny face (Bad Luck).
2. You can lock in dice at any time during your roll, but you don't have to unless you roll a Bad Luck symbol. If you roll a Bad Luck symbol, the die is automatically locked in place and cannot be re-rolled. If you roll three Bad Luck symbols, you lose a card you previously acquired.
3. After you have rolled three times or decided to stop rolling because you like your results, you can purchase a maximum of two cards from the game board, and place them in your player area.
4. The seven types of cards are Event (Grey), Work (Blue), Possession (Yellow), Health (Orange), Knowledge (Green), Relationship (Purple), Gossip (Pink), and Fate (Also Blue). The last two cards are only found in the CV: Gossip expansion. Event cards are one time use only. Work, Possession, Gossip, and Fate cards must go on the top when placing them in your area. The other types of cards (Health, Knowledge, and Possession) can go on top or behind similar cards in your player area, depending on which card bonus you want to benefit from).
5. Shift cards from right to left and reload the empty spaces from the current age's deck. Also, reload any Fate cards if you are playing with the expansion and play passes to the next player.
6. Continue taking turns until all three decks run out, and the player with the most points wins!

Review

I'm sure it's been said before, but this game is like a mixture of Yahtzee and The Game of Life. Instead of going for 5 of a kind or a Full House, you are trying to get the right combination of light bulbs, dollar signs, etc. to grab a card and improve your life. For example, if you want a job as a Freelancer, you need a relationship, a light bulb, a smiley face, and a dollar sign. If you can get all those symbols, then each turn you are rewarded with a smiley face, dollar sign, and relationship. Or what do you need to have a child? A relationship and dollar sign, of course! But beware, a child will provide you with a relationship and smiley face every turn, but it will also cost you a dollar sign every turn. And therein is the beauty of the game, the cards just make sense thematically and in real life. Not to mention that the artwork in this game is very unique and makes you laugh every time you look at it.

As for the expansion, I thought it brought two new things to the game. First, the Fate cards can be bought with smiley and frowny face dice rolls, so it gives you a mechanism to negate bad rolls and avoid losing cards you previously acquired, which is a HUGE plus! The Gossip cards add a nice "take-that" element to the game in that you can give one to your opponent (or yourself) and make it harder for them to acquire cards. However, don't give them too many as each Gossip card is worth two points at the end of the game and can add up quickly. In a two-player game, my wife hated the Gossip cards, because they either lingered on the board too long, or it just felt like one person (me) kept buying them and giving them to the other person (her). However, if you are playing with more players the Gossip "love" is spread around and generally no one person gets picked on. Hopefully! I personally don't mind them, but if you aren't the type to attack your opponent, you probably won't like them either.

This game hits all the right notes. It is quick to set-up, easy to learn, and simple to score. There is a bit of strategy mixed with luck of the dice and a press your luck element as well. It is inviting enough for people new to the hobby, but will also appeal to the seasoned gamer. My wife and I have already played this game scores of times with friends, family, and just ourselves. It is a game that will remain in our collection and one that we will introduce to our son when he is slightly older. I cannot recommend this game enough, and I hope that there is another expansion or simply just more new cards added to the game!

These games were provided to me for free by Passport Game Studios in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!