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Day 27: Holiday Books for Children

November 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Tonight as we sat at the dinner table, I was glancing at the flap of the book I was reading – you know, the part filled with praise and people saying great stuff about the books.

“It’s always good,” said Pumpkin.

“Well,” I responded, “you don’t sell very many books when you put bad things on their covers.”

“I wonder if they pay people to say good things about bad books,” was her reply.

Probably some do. But – I am not one of those who gets paid to talk about books. I get books in the mail and I’m happy for it because WE LOVE BOOKS – but the opinions are, of course, mine. I tend to avoid talking about the books we don’t enjoy but I don’t mind at all sharing with you the ones that we’ve loved.

This latest round of books are great for the approaching holiday season. The girls and I put up our Christmas tree tonight and I admit, I think I’m finally ready to find that Christmas spirit. Here are a few of the Christmas stories that we’ll be re-reading this season.

Twelve Days of Christmas Susan Jeffers

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Jeffers

This story is a retelling of the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, only it’s focused around a girl named Emma who finds a gift left for her by Santa and then imagines this great adventure where Santa saves the day. The illustrations are lovely – in fact, The Princess mentioned repeatedly how much she loved the art. I can never remember how the song goes so it’s kind of awesome to have a book as a cheat sheet.

Charlie the Ranch Dog

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Charlie’s Snow Day (I Can Read Book 1) based on the Charlie the Ranch Dog books by Ree Drummond

We’re kinda fans of The Pioneer Woman around here (well, her cookbooks and her recipes anyway… I hate to say it but the show leaves me kinda underwhelmed though I really love how she keeps her spices in mason jars), and that extends to Charlie the Ranch Dog. My youngest is a huge Charlie fan. Well, she’s a huge fan of most dogs – but when she saw this Charlie book in the mail, she may have squealed. This learning-to-read book is a bit young for my eight-year-old, but she loved the adventures of Charlie playing in the snow (and Charlie’s eventual longing for the warmth indoors).

Zoomer's Out of this world christmas

Zoomer’s Out-of-This-World Christmas Written and illustrated by Ned Young

Another dog book! When a space ship crash lands in Zoomer’s backyard, Zoomer and his brothers end up having a picnic with a family from outer space and sharing adventures before helping them mend their ship to send them on their way so they could get home in time for Santa’s arrival. A bright, funny story with lots of made-up words and creative and intriguing illustrations.

Biscuit's Christmas Storybook

Biscuit’s Christmas Storybook Collection

What? More dogs?! (Hey, we know what we like). This collection of Biscuit stories features nine stories – they’re short and easy to read so they’re ideal for your beginning reader. Both of my girls are far past the Biscuit stage of books – but your beginning reader will love them even though they’re not all Christmassy or even winter-y and some of them kind of seem like an odd selection for this Christmas storybook but odds are the only person in your home it will bother is you.

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What are your favorite Christmas books for kiddos?

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Thursday Ten: Gaining Confidence. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta. Edition

October 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

1. Well, with all this free time on my hands I have decided to try to spend more time on portraits. It’s a process because despite my business background and marketing degree, none of that helps with the lack of confidence that can creep in when it comes to my photography skills. It’s too bad, really, because I am the one getting in my own way.

2. Kayak is the coolest. Now, you can set a budget and see all the places you still can’t afford to go. {Flights to Spain for under a grand but…alas! Not yet for me.}

3. Fall, how I already miss thee. What the heck, Michigan? It’s already COLD here. Cold weather means comfort food so last night I baked some beer bread. Delish.

4. And in the midst of editing photographs, I lose sight of taking my own pictures just because. Except this one. This one I love.
052 | 365

5. Halloween is coming and though I strongly dislike Halloween, there’ve been quite a few adorable Halloween books for kids to land in my mailbox. Like Monsters on the Loose!: A Seek and Solve Mystery!, which is very “Where’s Waldo”-esque but without the Waldo. A fun oversized book with brightly colored illustrations to keep your kiddos busy for a bit, looking for the “monsters.” Also Hedgehug’s Halloween – an adorable Hedgehog and awesome collage style illustrations. Finally, Lulu Goes to Witch School (I Can Read Book 2), ideal for your learning to read kiddo. Each of these books retails for under ten bucks each on Amazon right now. Mostly because Halloween is in a few days and I should have told you about these awesome books like two weeks ago.

6. WHERE’S MY EDITORIAL CALENDAR?

7. Earlier in the week after a few rough days, I went on a walk after work with one of my dearest friends on the planet. We both kind of needed to vent. The long walk and the accompanying conversation sparked a lot of thoughts and potential blog posts (I always threaten to write deep blog posts but then I never do it, so don’t you worry). My wheels are turning.

8. I am pretty tired this week. Looking forward to a weekend of sleeping in. I hope my brain lets me sleep in!

9. A week past 37, I’m holding up remarkably well for an old lady. And… not really feeling any older. Birthdays are weird, I guess. There’s a lot of emotion tied into my birthdays, mostly because there’s a whole lot of upheaval in my life… but… aside from these gray hairs, I’m doing alright.

10. Every year my mom writes one of those long “this is what we did this year” Christmas letters — I’ve always kind of hated them. When I was a kid, I hated them because our year never could compare with those from people who spent their holidays skiing and traveling and having adventures. As an adult, they’re dreadful for kind of the same reason — how many years in a row do people want to read about us having essentially the same life? This year, I’ve asked if I can write it — it seems like we can’t just be business as usual this year. Every time I’ve tried to imagine what I’ll write, my eyes fill with tears – but I figure that will just have to be okay.

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Fun Children’s Books for Back To School

September 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If I was a more organized blogger, I’d have probably written and posted this over a month ago – when some of y’all were getting your kids ready for school ALL THE WAY BACK IN AUGUST. Here in Michigan, law says public school can’t start until after Labor Day, which means that while kids all over the country are already back in the swing of things, my peeps are enjoying (I hope!) their first day of third and sixth grade today.

I received some fun school related books to review – and I forgot to tell you about them. I hope you’ll give me a free pass because this summer was ridiculously hard. Maybe next year, I’ll get my self together and be legit with an editorial calendar or something.

Stranger things have happened.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Library Card

I grew up with Amelia Bedelia stories – silly, literal Amelia Bedelia (who doesn’t love saying that name?) – and in this update, Amelia gets new life…as a kid! I don’t know that I love it, to be honest – this updated and young Amelia, but the book and illustrations are fun and the story is cute. Seeing as how I have a kiddo just itching to get her first library card, I thought this book was a fun read. Amelia’s class goes to the library, learns about how to find books, and gets their first library card. And when Amelia Bedelia checks out her book, something goes wrong… it wouldn’t be Amelia Bedelia otherwise!

My New Teacher and Me

My New Teacher and Me!

This delightful story from Al Yankovic (yeah, that’s the one) surprised me – a skeptic because, well… I don’t love his music. I don’t love the parodies, I don’t find him particularly amusing but I think that this is the right target demographic for Weird Al, because I really kinda dug this story about Billy on his first day of school. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for a rhyming story for kids and the bright illustrations enhanced the details of the wild stories Billy tells his doubting teacher, Mr. Booth, on the first day of school. A lovely tale about imagination and thinking beyond what’s already known. It was almost inspiring. I liked it.

Clark the Shark

Clark the Shark reminds me of any number of students I’ve seen over the past several years that my kids have been in school – only, y’know… he’s a shark. Easily excitable, not always on task, boisterous in a way that can be annoying to others… Clark the Shark struggles because his behavior makes his friends not want to play with him and causes the teacher to reprimand him often. A little lesson in self control teaches Clark that there’s a time and a place for that playful behavior. A good book for that oh-so-enthusiastic kiddo in your life – in a not preachy way, it provides a good lesson – that the enthusiasm is great, but sometimes we need to take it easy, or as Clark’s teacher says: “Stay Cool.”

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Those are a few of the books that have found their way to our bookshelves and our hearts as we roll into a new school year. Opinions, as always, are my own, though the books were sent to me for review. These books are appropriate for ages four to eight, approximately – though your mileage may vary depending on your kiddo.

Happy School!

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