With school's finishing off the last school year and summer break rolling in, today's read seemed a perfect addition for puzzle fans to slide in during the upcoming weeks. From what I can tell, Albcell is a certain puzzle format, which works with numbers. It is so constructed to include various illustrations of, in this case, zoo animals. I'd never heard of albcell before, and as a puzzle fan, this definitely caught my attention. I'm hoping that this is one of those books, which is ideal for taking along on road trips, vacations, day adventures, visits to relatives, and more.
Let's open it up and see if it's great for these type of activities or not!
THE ALBCELL ZOO
Albcell Smart Scholastic, Vol. 2
by Gazmend Ceno
Albcell Group Publishing
Middle Grade Puzzles
110 pages
ages 8 to 10
The Albcell Zoo. We’re off to the zoo in this latest edition of Albcell! Crack the crafty creature conundrums and make many new animal friends as you peruse this edition of the celebrated picture puzzles for children ages 8–10. Unlike traditional puzzles, Albcell puzzles combine letters, shapes, and patterns, encouraging kids to explore how they connect. The result is a fun, hands-on way to strengthen alphabet recognition, observation, and early thinking skills.
MY TIDBITS
Puzzlers have plenty to do as they work through numbers and visual fun.
I hadn't run across Albcell puzzles before but was immediately drawn into the mix of numbers and images. These take a lean toward Sudoku and Co. but add more variety, some extra learning nods, and image fun. The first 17 or so pages carefully lay out how these puzzles work. The author takes the time to go step-by-step through the logic with plenty of examples for readers to work with to make things clear. With a natural and relaxed conversation style, the instructions are interesting to read, but more importantly, even those puzzlers, who need more time to understand something, will enjoy the careful and thought out breakdown.
The puzzles add a playful twist thanks to the images and incorporate these into the 'rules' nicely. Like Sudoku and Co., the numbers 1-9 are used with the same idea that each number can only be used once in each designated 'box', column or row. And that's where the similarities end. In Albcell, the 'boxes' are drawn areas, which adds visual fun and a little more abstract thought. There are also diamonds and circles involved, which designate odd or even numbers—so math ideas work their way in, too. It aids logic, number comfort, patterns, and more. And each puzzle is offered in three steps: one with just even, one with just odd, and one with both types of numbers needing to be discovered. So, it works for various levels and variety. The solutions are at the end of the book.
I found this to be a fun book for puzzle fans, and it'd be ideal for car rides, vacations, down-times, waiting times, and more. There are plenty of puzzles to keep readers busy and they progress in difficulty a bit as the book goes on. Plus, the beginning instructions are very well done. In other words, this is one to pick up and enjoy.
And here he is...
Gazmend Ceno is a writer, violinist, and puzzle creator whose work brings together art, language, and logic. He began publishing poetry and prose in Albania while still in high school and released his first poetry collection in 1999. After moving to the United States, he published Single Cloud, a collection of poetry in English, and translated several works into Albanian. Gazmend creates puzzles for readers who enjoy creative thinking, sharp logic, and a real mental challenge. If you like puzzles that push you to think in a fresh way, explore the Albcell series and get your copy today.
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