Fostering curiosity in kids (and their parents) since 2011

Posts by Shala Howell

Book Review: Mr. Popper’s Penguins

When Mr. Popper’s Penguins hit the theaters this summer, instead of buying the family tickets, I hunted down a copy of the book. And it was only with great difficulty that I wrested that book away from The Four-Year-Old long enough to write this review.

A simple chart plotting the ROI of going to various places based on how many shots you'll need and how likely it is you will find fossils there

Caterpickles Cleans House

The Four-Year-Old has been asking questions much more quickly than I can research and answer them. At the moment, my pending questions queue has some 115 questions in it. So in an effort to tame the beast a bit, I’m going to break with my one primary question per Caterpickle routine and deal with several unrelated questions about glow-in-the-dark cats, fossils in Iceland (or the lack thereof), and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer all at once.

“Why is it called Fifth Disease?”

Fifth Disease is one of those deliciously mild childhood illnesses that nearly all of us get at one point or another, that are most contagious before any symptoms appear, and that clear up (in most cases) on their own. By the time the rash alerted me to the fact that my daughter was sick, she was back to feeling (mostly) great. But in all the shuttling to and from the doctor, she had plenty of time to ask questions, including “Why is it called Fifth Disease?” If Fifth Disease doesn’t win the prize for Most Literal Name in Medicine outright, it should at least be given an Honorable Mention.