Unforgettable Childhood

My girls love to read, but summer is always a little tough. I always find that the best thing to do is find books that they really love. I thought that I would share a few of the books that are on our shelf this summer.

My nine year old found a new series that she loves by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor that is a Boy/Girl Battle.

And she has read the new Camp Club Girls books from Barbour Books. These are great books with new ones being released every couple of months.

My middle daughter really wants to read chapter books only so we have been searching for books appropriate for her age and reading level. Of course, she loves Junie B. Jones, but she wanted to read something different this summer.

After a trip to the library and our recent trip to Disney World she found the Tales from Pixie Hollow books all about the Disney Fairies. They seem to be right at her level and she can read a chapter in about 15 minutes.

My four year old has been all over the place this summer. She loves a little bit of everything. It doesn’t take any convincing to get her to read. She won’t go to bed at night without books. I will share more from her reading list after I compile some of her favorites.

What are your kids reading this summer? How do you motivate them to read?

My girls love to spend time with their Dad. They never seem to mind when I have something to do and they get him all to themselves. He plays games with them, takes them to the park and drives a lot faster on the four wheeler than I like.

He reads bedtime stories to the girls every other night so one night this week he read Karen Kingsbury’s new children’s book, Let’s Have a Daddy Day. The girls really enjoyed the book. They would love for their daddy to build them a tree house. The only thing negative they had to say is that they wished it was longer. They can’t wait to have their next Daddy Daughter Day.

Here is a little more about the book from First Wild Card Tours.

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

Let’s Have a Daddy Day

Zonderkidz (April 13, 2010)

***Special thanks to Pam Mettler of ZonderKidz for sending me a review copy.***

New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury has written more than forty of her Life-Changing Fiction titles and has nearly sixteen million in print. Dubbed by Time magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction, Karen receives hundreds of letters each week and considers her readers friends. Her fiction has made her one of the country’s favorite storytellers, and one of her novels, Like Dandelion Dust, is under production for an upcoming major motion picture release. Her emotionally gripping titles include the popular Baxter family novels, the 9/11 Series, Even Now, Ever After, and Between Sundays. Karen and her husband, Don, live in the Pacific Northwest with their six children, three of whom are adopted from Haiti. You can find out more about Karen, her books, and her appearance schedule at her website.

Dan Andreasen lives in Medina, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He has illustrated more than thirty picture books. When his daughter was asked by her first grade teacher, “What kind of work does your daddy do?” she replied, “He colors.”

Product Details:

List Price: $15.99
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (April 13, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310712157
ISBN-13: 978-0310712152

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AdLet’s Have a Daddy Day

This is a wonderful book! The pictures are beautiful and the story is touching. My girls loved to see all of the cultures and countries depicted in this book.

It was fun for them to hear the names and the customs that differ from our own. This book would be a wonderful baby gift. It made me remember the days I brought each of my own children home from the hospital.

Zonderkidz is donating $10,000 to Word Vision in celebration of the publication of this book!

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called aFIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

Just Like You: Beautiful Babies Around the World

Zonderkidz (March 9, 2010)

***Special thanks to Pam Mettler, Associate Director of Public Relations, ZonderKidz for sending me a review copy.***

Marla Stewart Konrad is keenly interested in global issues and has a special concern for the well-being of children. Her career as a speechwriter and communications professional has taken her to numerous countries in Asia and Africa. She lives near Toronto, Canada, with her family, and is the author of several books for children.

Product Details:

List Price: $15.99
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (March 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310714788
ISBN-13: 978-0310714781

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We had a wonderful Earth Day. The sun was shining all day and the temperature was perfect.

We started our morning reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

I had cut out felt board characters to tell the story. This is a fun way to get the girls involved in the story. Then after I am done, they love to tell the story back to me in their own words with the characters.

We decided that we needed to plant our own seeds.

Last night our oldest daughter had her spring concert last night. For a mom that doesn’t have a sewing machine I think her costume turned out okay. I just used a little heat bond, safety pins and pipe cleaners.

It was another great Earth Day! Today the forecast is rain so we are thankful for the beautiful day.

We celebrated our first day of what we call Earth Week in our house yesterday. I had a great suggestion from Kim at Rosie Hippo to use The Lorax by Dr. Seuss to kick off our week.

This book is a wonderful illustration of how we can hurt the environment by not taking care of the earth. It is also a great example of greed. After reading the story, we talked about what we can do to save the Earth.

We created Celebrate Earth Journals. First the girls finished drawing the Once-ler from the book. All we know is he has yellow eyes and green hands and arms. It was fun to see their creations. Next they drew a place that they would like to live. They all agreed that they want to live in a place full of color.

You can print off the Journal we used here!

Celebrate Earth Journal

For snack I had a great plan. . .but I couldn’t find any cotton candy in town. If you can find Cotton Candy, this is my suggestion to you. Buy twizzlers, frosting and cotton candy. Put a little frosting on the end of your twizzlers, grab a puff of cotton candy and stick it to the twizzlers. Now you have your own Truffula Trees.

Today we are creating E.A.R.T.H. Snack mix. . .check back tomorrow for more Earth Week Fun!

And don’t forget to check out Rosie Hippo. It is a great shop full of Unique, Natural, Organic, Handcrafted toys for your kids.

THE WINNER OF THE CHEERIOS GIFT PACK IS KELLY! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS GIFT PACK AS MUCH AS I DID!!

Cheerios and Books, what could be a better combination?

Did you know that there are books inside of Cheerios boxes right now? I didn’t. I was lucky to be provided with a Cherrios gift pack from MyBlogSparkTM. It was like Christmas opening the box, a big box of Cheerios, 5 books and a $25.00 gift card for Barnes and Noble.

What is even better is that I get to give one of you the exact same gift pack. Awesome!

So Cheerios and books, what is the connection? Here is a little explanation for you from MyBlogSpark.

Over the past eight years, Cheerios has given away more than 40 million children´s books by distributing them free inside cereal boxes and has donated $3.2 million to First Book, their non-profit partner, which provides books to children from low-income families. The program is part of Cheerios´ ongoing commitment to helping parents provide their children with a healthy, nutritional and educational foundation.

Beginning this month, Cheerios is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children´s books free inside Cheerios boxes. The books are for children ages 3 to 8 years old, and include a brand new book in the popular “Trucktown” series, available only inside Cheerios boxes. And for the first time, all five books have been specially printed in both English and Spanish.

This year´s book offerings from Cheerios – all by Simon & Schuster Children´s Publishing – are:

Junkyard Fort, written by Jon Scieszka, and illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long and Dave Gordon: Join Gabriella, Jack, Melvin, Ted, Lucy and the other Trucktown characters as they make their own fort, using things found in the junkyard. Ages 4-8.

Tea for Ruby, written by The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser: Wherever Ruby goes, a bit of disaster seems to follow. But one sunny morning, things change when the postman brings Ruby an amazing invitation: would she like to have tea with the Queen? Ruby needs to polish her manners, and quickly. Ages 4-8.

Sleepyhead, written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by John Segal: In this rhythmic bedtime story, a cat is the parent and a teddy bear is the child who doesn’t want to go to bed. All ready for bed with teeth brushed and story read, Sleepyhead teddy tries anything to prolong his bedtime; books and his quilt provide ample fodder for his imagination. Ages 3-7.

Ballyhoo Bay, written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Derek Anderson: Mira Bella, an artist who teaches painting and sculpture, loves Ballyhoo Bay and what it offers: sun, sea, sand, and sky. But one gray day a billboard arrives, announcing an impending development that would take all the fun out of the place. Read along to see if Mira Bella and her art can save the day and Ballyhoo Bay! Ages 4-8.

What´s Under the Bed?, written and illustrated by Joe Fenton: Young Fred cannot stop worrying about the scary creature that might be hiding beneath his bed. Finally summoning the courage to peer under his bed, Fred, with his cumbersome glasses, sees that the only thing there is Ted, his friendly Teddy Bear! Ages 3-7.

When we received the books, my girls made me read every book in one sitting. All five of the books are great and the illustrations are, too. Each of my girls has their own favorite and it would be hard for me to pick just one. Simon & Schuster did a great job of picking out which books to include in the Cheerios boxes.

So how do you win the awesome gift pack? All you have to do is leave me a comment with a title of one of your child’s favorite book titles, or your favorite book as a child. (And if you want an extra entry click on the button at the top of my page that says subscribe to my blog & leave me an extra comment that you are a subscriber). I will give the gift pack away on Monday morning. You can comment until Sunday night (November 1, 2009) at midnight.