Ranger's Apprentice Giveaway!!!

Deanna, over at Mom Musings is hosting a giveaway. She's giving away a copy of The Seige of Macindaw, Book 6 in the Ranger's Apprentice series. I haven't read any of the Ranger's Apprentice books but they are on my "to read" list. I have two friends that have recommended the series and I really want to read it. Perhaps if I won, it would prompt me to begin on this series.

If you love reading and want to find some good reads, check out Deanna's blog. She's an avid reader and loves sharing her thoughts about the books she's read. Her blog is a great mix of book reviews, family activities, and with 6 kids, there's no end to the interesting topics this super - mom could post about. In addition to her reading and family adventures, she blogs about the journey she's traveling as a mother of a beautiful child with special needs. Check out her blog, you won't be sorry you did!

Oh, and don't forget to enter her book giveaway!!!

Children's Book Week

This week is Children's Book Week. I thought it would be a good time to post a link that I found a while back...

100 Books Every Child Should Hear Before Starting School.

I found the list really interesting. There are a lot of really great titles on the list. My favorite from the list is Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Both of my children have LOVED this story. We read it over and over and over again! There are many others that I haven't read and I look forward to reading real soon! This list is coming with me on our next trip to the library. With one of my kiddos starting Kindergarten this year, this is a perfect list for our summer reading.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 3

We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss and did a few activities. Of course, our snack had to be goldfish crackers and the kids loved that!

We played a magnetic fishing game that we already had. My little guy loves this game. The pole has a magnet at the end and each of the fish have magnets on them. It's easy for his little hands to manipulate successfully.

This isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books but I like the use of numbers and colors through out the book. We counted fish as we caught them on our pole and identified their color. Then, we spread out our play parachute and matched the fish to the colors. My daughter thought this was too easy but she had fun helping her brother place the fish in the correct place.

He called every color pink or white. This would make his big sister laugh and he was proud of how funny he was. Then, we ditched the fish and I would call a color and the kids would have to run and stand on that color. Both kids loved this!

Finally, we took our stuffed fish from The Cat in the Hat and used the parachute to launch him up into the air. We counted how many times we could toss him up and catch him without letting him drop onto the floor.

As I said before, this isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. It seems like he took a bunch of ideas for different books and combined them into one. The story doesn't' flow from the start of the book to the end. Despite my dislike for the books, we had fun learning our numbers and colors.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 2

The view from out the window today, was this...

...a gas truck and an excavator digging a hole in two of our neighbors' front yards. This led to lots of questions about the what and why of what was going on outside our window. So, rather than answering the questions, we pulled out Oh, the Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss.

This is a book about the silly things that you can think up. Here's our favorite picture from the book...

We decided that we want a floating balloon swimming pool like Kitty O'Sullivan Krause in our backyard too.

After reading the book, I encouraged my daughter to use her imagination to come up with silly things that the men outside our window might be doing. I thought that this would be a fun activity for her. She generally loves using her imagination. Not today. She had to know what they were really doing before she could be silly. After I explained what I really thought they were doing, (Honestly, I wasn't sure.) she was able to imagine silly ideas about them. She thought that they were digging a swimming pool and that the excavator was a giant hungry animal who was eating the dirt. Ah, her imagination is working... I was a bit worried.

A Thrifty Find

On a recent trip to the thrift store, I made a great find. I found these...

Seven books from the series of Scholastic First Discovery Books. I already own three of these and my kids, particularly the 4 year old, love them. The illustrations are beautiful. The information is in depth without being confusing for the younger learner. The best feature of the books in this series are the transparent pages. Each see-through page reveals an interesting change to the pictures in the book.

Here are the titles of the books I just bought:

• Atlas of Plants
• Boats
• Butterflies
• Dinosaurs
• Endangered Animals
• The Universe
• Whales

While these books definitely aren't brand new, I would label them as "gently used." You can tell that they've been read but there is no damage to the books whatsoever. What a find! Each of the pages is laminated, so I can run a Lysol wipe over each page to clean them right up without damaging the books.

The price for one of these books is $11.95. That would cost over $80 for all seven. They were bundled together to be sold as a lot for 2 bucks!!! Seriously, 2 bucks total!!! I'm thrilled!

Eric Carle Inspired Art

We love Eric Carle at our house! Today my daughter made a picture inspired by his work. She sat down at her desk and initiated this project all on her own! She was having trouble cutting out the shapes as she wanted them so she asked me to cut out a heart and a flower. (At this point, I still had no idea what she was creating.) She decided that the flower looked more like a cloud. (I agree.) She cut out her own mountain. She colored all three pieces and glued them on the paper. She then drew two people. She says that this picture is of "Mommy and me climbing a mountain on a cloudy day because we love each other."

Eric Carle, mountain climbing, and loving her mommy all in one picture...be still my heart!!!

The Day it Rained Hearts

I'm a little late but I have a few Valentine's Day activities that I didn't get to post before now.

The first is a craft activity that we did with the book, The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. The story is about a girl named Cornelia Augusta. She was walking along one day and hearts started raining down on her. She caught a bunch of the hearts and used them to make valentines for each of her friends. Each valentine she made with the recipient in mind.

After reading the story, we brainstormed what supplies Cornelia might have used to create each valentine. Then, we collected a variety of art supplies that we thought Cornelia would have used. My daughter used the materials to make her own versions of the cards made in the book. Here are the valentines that she made, along with the picture from the book that was her inspiration...

This was a very fun activity that she really enjoyed.

The Beautifulest Christmas Tree Ever

We woke up this morning to this...

Yippee! I just love the snow! What a way to welcome December!!!

Last night, a branch had fallen out of our Cottonwood. So, our daughter, fresh off of our Christmas Tree hunt, decided that this fallen branch would work for a reenactment of our tree hunt. We dragged that branch all over our backyard, pretending that we were trekking through the Christmas Tree Farm. Then, she decided that the "Christmas Tree" needed to be decorated. We used bungee cords to attach the branch to our backyard bench. Then, she raided her outdoor toy box looking for anything that had a handle she could hang on the branches. The above picture is her finished product. I just love the big hippety-hop ball at the very top.

Here are some close-ups of her holiday work of art. I wonder what the neighbors are thinking!!!

When she was finished, she declared, "This is the Beautifulest Christmas Tree ever!" She was so proud of her backyard tree. I am proud of her creativity. I love to see her use her imagination so creatively!

On a different note, you may have noticed that I learned how to change the template of my blog to something other that what Blogger offers. I'm feelin' mighty festive here on my blog! I got the template from this site. It was super easy to do and free too. Gotta love that!

We started the rest of our Christmas countdown activities today. Along with lighting the Advent wreath, we are reading from The Advent book, a wonderfully illustrated book by Jack and Kathy Stockman. It mimics the advent calendars where you open a door each day to reveal a prize. Behind each of the 25 doors in the book, there is a picture and part of the Christmas story.

We're also removing links from a paper chain and then counting how many are left until Christmas.

The last two activities that we are doing nightly are ones that my daughter and I made together. My mom gave us a kit for a Christmas countdown calendar. We used all the supplies from the kit but we made our own design. We didn't like the original plan that came with the kit. I'm happy with how it turned out. Sometimes kits can be great because everything you need is right there.

Inside of each day's pocket is a piece of scrapbook paper. On it, I have (or soon will) write an activity to do for the night. Most of the activities will be things that we would be doing anyways. For instance, I am saving some of my Christmas decorating to put as an activity. One night, the kids will get to help put out the nativity. On another night, we'll decorate the tree. On another, we'll bring out the basket of Christmas books. I think that this will be an activity that we'll all enjoy. Hopefully, it will become a yearly tradition.

The last thing that we're doing each night is Christmas Countdown Blocks. I took two square blocks of wood and my daughter and I wrapped them in wrapping paper. Then we took green and red cards and put number stickers on them. Every night after counting how many links are left until Christmas, my daughter will have to find the digits that make up that number. This is a skill that she needs to work on anyways.

If you try this activity, there is a trick to it. Both blocks need the numbers 0, 1, and 2. This is necessary for making numbers like 22 or 10. Every number that you make will need at least one of these digits as you're counting down. The remaining numbers get divided between the two blocks. However, when I was doing it, I finished and had one number left off. I could not figure out what the problem was. I knew that I had seen these in the store, so I knew there was a way to do it. I scoured the Internet and finally figured it out. 9 and 6 are only one number... you just flip it upside down for the one you want. So, on one block we have 0, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6(or 9). On the other, we have 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. That's the trick to figuring it out!

Children's Classics

A friend of mine blogged today about 5 Minutes for Books. First of all, I had never visited this site and already, I love it. They state on their site, "At 5 Minutes for Books, we hope to build a community of people who love books and reading." What a great hope!

Currently, they are discussing Children's Classics — Newbery Medal Winners. They are asking bloggers to review one of the Newbery books. My friend posted about her favorite Newbery Medal Winner, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. This is a book that she had given me as a gift and I loved it. It is a great book and I would highly recommend it.

As I looked at the list of Newbery Medal Winners, it made me itch to read them. I've read quite a few but I would love to read them all. Wouldn't that be wonderful?!?!?

As I looked through the list I tried to decide which is my favorite. That is hard!

When I was teaching, I had a goal of reading all of the Newbery winners and honor books. I never made it. Here are the books that I have read:

• A Year Down Yonder by by Richard Peck
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
• Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
• A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
• Moorchild by Eloise McGraw
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
• The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly
• Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman
• Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
• Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples
• Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
• On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Like Jake and Me by Mavis Jukes
• Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
• Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
• Doctor DeSoto by William Steig
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
• The Fledgling by Jane Langton
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• Abel's Island by William Steig
• A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond
• The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis
• Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
• Incident At Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert
• Sounder by William H. Armstrong
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
• It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
• The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden, pseud. (George Thompson)
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
• Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
• ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
• Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
• Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
• Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
• Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater
• Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
• Calico Bush by Rachel Field
• The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth

So, which is my favorite? That is not hard at all. My all-time favorite Children's book is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I love this book. It was recommend to me by a good friend of mine while I was a senior in college. We had been Elementary Education majors together at the same college and he had already graduated and was in his first teaching job. He thought I would like the book and he was correct. I was so enthralled with the story that when I finished reading it, I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I threw the book across the room and called my friend to tell him how deeply the book had moved me. It was the first book to ever make me cry and it is the only book that I have ever thrown across a room. (Something that I would not normally advocate!)

If this friend of mine and I had met when we were much younger, I envision that we would have been very much like the two main characters in Bridge to Terabithia, Jess and Leslie. It is a story of a very unlikely friendship and the bond that develops between these two friends. Together, they create their own magical kingdom where they let their imaginations soar. In the Kingdom of Terabithia, they learn to overcome fear and free themselves of the cares of life. In Terabithia they gain inner strength and learn how to be carefree. As in any friendship, there are highs and lows. Jess and Leslie experience both of these and the reader experiences joy, hope, sadness, anger, and frustration. There are points in the story where I hated Paterson for choosing to take the story into some unexpected twists. I felt let down as the reader and wondered if the book could even be salvaged. In the end, Paterson closes in a way that makes the reader feel a deep connection with the characters. It left me feeling warm and uplifted. It's a story that celebrates friendship and love despite differences and challenges.

Because of some deeply troubling events, I would not recommend this book for younger children...not even as a book read to them by an adult. I would recommend it for upper elementary or junior high children.

My least favorite book from the list of Newbery's I've read would have to be Missing May and Shabanu. I just simply did not like either of these stories at all.

I'll close by sharing my top five favorites under Bridge to Terabithia...The Giver, Wrinkle in Time, Number the Stars, The Bronze Bow, and Because of Winn Dixie.

Stack of Books

Once upon a time, a stack of books could totally stress me out.

Take, for example, my freshman year of college. I wandered all around campus for several hours looking for the bookstore. I could have asked where it was but I was too embarrassed, too shy, too proud to admit that I couldn't find it.

After finally finding the bookstore, With the help of two very kind upper classmen girls, I nearly broke my back lugging all those books to the cash register. Then, I nearly fainted when the cashier rang up my total. Yes, indeed, that was a BIG shock! After forking over the money, I hauled by load of books out to my beat up Dodge Omni, placed them in the passengers seat, locked the door, closed the door and walked around to get in the driver's door.

It was then that I realized that my keys were setting on the passenger's seat next to that enormous pile of books. Crap. I just locked the door!

Campus security tried unsuccessfully to open the door before calling the police who were also unsuccessful at opening the door. Finally, the police officer offered to drive me to my off campus residence in his patrol car to retrieve my spare set of keys. He told me the only problem was that if he receive a call that he had to attend to, he would have to drop me off on the side of the road. I rolled the dice and took the free ride home. Not too difficult to choose when your choices are 1. a free ride or 2. break the window.

When the whole fiasco was over, I remember looking at the stack of books and just feeling so bitter about them. They had caused me so much pain...physically, financially, and my pride was hurt too. I vividly remember picking up the book titled Hermeneutical Spiral and just laughing at the entire situation. I was laughing because it was the only thing keeping that homesick freshman that I was from crying.

So, that long story is to document just how much pain a pile of books can cause.

Not today though. Today, I look at that enormous pile of books and I long to read each one. I envision many relaxing hours curled up on the couch with a warm drink diving into each book. I haven't had that many new-to-me books at one time since college. I learned today that I no longer loath a pile of books, I embrace it!

In the last week, I have accumulated 10 new books! And, I am thrilled about each one.

5 were received as very thoughtful birthday gifts.

1 came in the mail as part of my MOPS membership.

2 are on loan from a friend who is a former pre-school teacher.

2 are from our church used book sale. ($1 per book...yippee!)

I look at this pile and I am filled with anticipation. I long to read each book RIGHT NOW. Where do I start? Should I read more than one at a time? Which do I pick? The fiction? The craft book? The cookbook? The inspirational? The factual? The educational? Such tough decisions...much better than the stack that sat locked in my Dodge Omni!

Don't get me wrong, I've always loved a good book. It's just the piles of books waiting to be read that used to intimidate me.

By the way, I don't recommend The Hermeneutical Spiral unless you need some serious help for insomnia.

The Secret Life of Bees

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I really enjoyed this book. I seriously had doubts about it based solely on the title. Honestly, I thought that it was one of the dumbest titles that I had ever heard. I mean, who really cares about the secret life of bees?!?!? Just make sure they keep makin' me my honey for my tea and I'm happy. I really don't have much time for reading an entire novel that tells me about the secret things that happen between sucking nectar from a flower and buzzing back to make honey. It really doesn't interest me. I guess I pretty much thought... hey, if it's a secret life, keep it that way! Some secrets are meant not to be shared.

Then, my friend encouraged me to read the book and even delivered the book to my home!!! So, I read a bit and I was hooked! The text was engaging and held my interest. I was pleased to find out that it wasn't a story about bees. Mind you, bees to play a huge part in the story but it's not all about the bees. By the way, after reading the book, I do get the title although, I'm still not sure what's so secret about their life. Hehe!

While the story was fun and quick and interesting, there were several parts where I felt that I had to stretch my imagination to believe. Some examples...

• Spitting on the white man's shoes...was she stupid?


• The jailbreak...it was so-o-o easy!


• Ending up at the right house on the first try...they were wandering and just stumbled into the right place?


• Being welcomed as a white girl into the home... Sure, c'mon in! That's not likely to happen!


• No one questioning what a white girl was doing there... in that day, I find this particularly hard to believe.


• A white teen and a black teen driving together through town without question... wouldn't he be beat up just for looking at her?


• The statue of Mary thing... ya, that one took a lot of imagination!

Despite all those, I still enjoyed the book. It was a bit of a fantasy to believe that a girl could stumble into such a great situation accidentally. But it offered hope. I was impressed by all of the coincidences that were throughout the book. It made me suspend reality and believe that sometimes life can be like that...good things popping up out of nowhere!

Cry, The Beloved Country

I just finished reading Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton. I enjoyed the book but I found Paton's writing style very difficult to follow. It was a beautiful and thought provoking book. I learned a lot as I read it. I learned about the history of South Africa but I also learned a lot about myself. I found the story made me think long and hard about the way that society views social classes and the obstacles that are in place to keep each social class in it's place whether one wants to or not.

I will not try to summarize the book for I cannot. It is too deep, too complex for me to do it justice. I will leave that to the literary experts.

I can however, recount what I learned. In addition to what I listed above, I learned a whole new vocabulary. Words like Kumalo, Umfundisi, or Umnumzana are definitely words that I didn't know before reading the book. Not knowing these words was probably part of my difficulty following the story. And, that leads me to the BIGGEST thing that I learned from the book: Read the entire book. I mean the entire book.

In my haste to start the book, I skipped the author's notes at the start of the book. Had I have read this I would have read the following quote: "For the benefit of readers I have appended a list of words at the end of the book, which includes by no means all the strange names and words that are used. But it contains those, a knowledge of the meaning and approximately correct pronunciation of which should add to the reader's enjoyment."

Yeppers, that information would have been helpful. Instead, I only found this list of words after I finished reading the book. So, if this is a book that you are considering reading, please know that there is a very helpful list at the end of the book. I suggest using it as you read the book. It would have been most helpful for me! Don't make the same mistake I made...learn from my mistake!

Illustrator Magnets

Many years ago, I made some magnets like this. Today while I was sorting through some old craft stuff, I came across the left-over supplies. I decided that I wanted to make some more. It's a nice, easy project...just the kind I needed today. I immediately began looking for paper to put behind the glass. I didn't want to just use scrapbooking paper. I wanted to use something that would be fun for my kiddos to use. The pictures have to be very small...about the size of a dime! I looked in our recycle bin and found a Toys'R'Us catalog. There was a page with an add for 25% off all Karen Katz books. I love her illustrations and her stories are so sweet and simple. In the add, the pictures were just the right size for my project.

I cut out three of the pictures, glued them to the back of the glass, added magnets, and the project was done. Blogger decided that this next picture needed to be sideways, but I'm including it anyways. These magnets were so hard to take a picture of!

I am very happy with how they turned out! The sweet illustrations bring a smile to my face each time I look at them. My daughter loves playing with them but we have to keep them away from her brother because EVERYTHING goes in that boy's mouth!

Time Paradox

I am a big fan of the Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer. Today I decided to check out the website and found that there is a new book in the series coming out on July 15th. It is called the Time Paradox. I knew Colfer had been working on a new book but in the excitement of my son's first year, it slipped my mind. Eoin Colfer is also going on tour with a stage show to promote Time Paradox. The show is called 'Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence." As I write this, I cannot believe that I am a fan of an author that would have a show with that title. But really, if you've read the books, it actually makes sense. Weird, I know. Anyways, his show happens to be coming to my area. I don't know if I'll attend or not but I am very excited about the release of this book. Now I know which book I will be reading next!

Twilight

I just finished reading the book, Twilight. It is the first in a series of books by Stephenie Meyer. A friend recently read the books after watching her daughter become engrossed in the series. She explains and reviews the book on her blog here. I love children's and young adult novels, so I was definitely curious. However, I am not really a fan of vampire stories. I think that they are generally silly and ignore logic just to get a fright out of the reader. But, I read the story anyways to see what the big deal was and why these books are so popular. The recommendation from a friend helped too.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! I found myself drawn into the story and fascinated by the twists and turns in the storyline. Despite the fact that it is about vampires, I found that Meyer told the story in such a way that it makes the concept of vampires living among us plausible. I couldn't put the book down and was eager to dive into each chapter. I will definitely read the other books in the series!

Memoirs of a Geisha

Last night I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Aurthur Golden. This was a fascinating book that truly captivated me. I had a very difficult time putting the book down. I would often read it before going to bed at night and I would awake in the morning with thoughts of the story roaming around in my head. In my sleepy state, I had difficulty differentiating between the fiction and the reality.

I am really bad at writing book reviews so I will not attempt to do so. A friend recommended the book to me and her review is here. She read the book because she is participating in a summer book challenge on another blog. That blogger's review is here. Both of them express my feelings about the book quite accurately.

So, what did I learn from the book? Aside from the obvious lesson that I learned about a great book, I learned a lot about the geisha. I know that the book is fictional but Arthur Golden did extensive research before writing the novel and there were many things that I simply did not know before reading the novel. The very concept of a geisha was very vague to me. Now I have a clearer understanding of their life, their role, their struggles, and their successes.

In researching to learn more about the Geisha, I learned that Arthur Golden was sued for breech of contract and defamation of character by the woman he interviewed in his research for the book, Mineko Iwasaki, a former geisha. She was promised that she would remain anonymous when the book was published yet, Golden listed her in the book's acknowledgements. She later went on to write her autobiography in a book titled Geisha, A Life. Perhaps this will be a book that I read in the near future. Sounds pretty interesting.