New Picture Books Perfect for Summer Reading

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe that school is almost out, and summer is almost upon us. We had the high school graduation on Friday. I have some classroom cleanup to do and then conferences next week, but otherwise I am done! Summer means so many things. Of course, there is often a summer reading assignment as well as summer reading programs at libraries and Barnes and Noble. Grades 1 through 6 can read eight books this summer and get a free book at Barnes and Noble. When Hazel was younger, I liked to come up with different themes for us to explore in the summer. This summer I plan to share some themes and resources with you. We will start today with a roundup of new picture books that are perfect for 4 to 8-year-olds. With each book there are ideas of activities or more books to check out with it. Happy reading!

Fun Facts about Crayons and Our Exploration of Crayon Racing

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you have kids, you have crayons. Most restaurants give kids some crayons to keep them busy while their food is being prepared. I know we have quite a supply from over the years. But have you ever really thought about crayons? What are they? I decided to gather some fun facts for you about the childhood staple and then I have a fun book to share with you to give you a use for the crayons sitting around your house.

Explore Different Cultures with Food Using this Cookbook

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

With the Covid cases rising more than it has for any real travel, it is time to explore the world and cultures from home. Today's book will help you and your family do just that. It is Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook by Katie Chin.

Women in the Civil War

 

When we think about the Civil War there are a few women's names that pop in our minds like Harriet Tubman and perhaps nurses like Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott. Today I am going to delve into the lives and accomplishments of other women in the Civil War that you may not have heard of. There were many women who worked on the homefront, fundraising, making uniforms, etc., but the women I am sharing about today did even more. The Civil War was a war that made it easier for women to disguise themselves as men and fight. In fact it is estimated that there were more than 400 women who did so. Some were discovered when injured or died and others never were. They were of different races and worked for the North or the South. Each had her own courageous adventure in the war. As with the other Women in Wars posts I will share books for kids to learn more about the women when I can. To begin this post I am going to share books that have multiple women in them. I have personally found Women in the Civil War by Kari A. Cornell and Heroism Begins with Her by Winifred Conkling extremely useful and used both as sources for this post. All of the women featured in this post are featured in these books or in the Famous Women of the Civil War by Peter F. Copeland which is a coloring book.

Changing the Equation -- Meet 3 of the Mathematicians from this book #blacklivesmatter

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today we are continuing with our Black Lives Matter Series. In doing my research for Mary Eliza Mahoney I stumbled across Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM by Tonya Bolden. I was able to get a digital review copy of it. And WOW!! It is full of names some you probably heard of and others that you have not. These women are doctors, nurses, engineers, computer programmers/coders, mathematicians, scientists and so much more. I knew I had to share this book with you as quickly as I could. I wanted to make it even more meaningful to be part of our Black Lives Matter Series so I am going to review the book and share about three of the amazing women in the book and of course I picked the mathematicians. After all they are my sisters from my past life. 

YA Books for Summer Reading

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Last week I joined Penguin Kids with their Meet the Chapter Books July Summer Reading Series. It involved sharing books for kids who are just beginning with chapter books (grades 1-3). I however continued all week sharing chapter books for different age groups: grades 2-5 and grades 3-7, which brings us to today's post--young adults or grade 7+. Today's books cover such a large range of topics so I hope you find one your young adult might enjoy or perhaps you will enjoy!

Native Americans of Cape Cod and Massachusetts

This summer while visiting my parents at Cape Cod, Steve, Hazel and I journeyed to the National Seashore Visitor's Center. It was the first time I took Hazel there and possibly Steve's first time as well. We watched the videos on how Cape Cod was formed and a bit of the history of Cape Cod. There is quite a bit of history. Then we went into the small exhibit room. In this room there was various exhibits about the people of the past on Cape Cod and of course included a Native American exhibit. I thought I took some pictures, but if I did they are lost. Part of the exhibit showed the structure of a wigwam and had other tools and parts of Native American life. But what struck me the most was the recordings of Native Americans and messages they have for all. One message was how it is important to know the history of the place you live. Knowing that history will enable you to understand the land and environment and preserve it as much as possible. I have been thinking about this ever since. It made me want to investigate the Native Americans of Cape Cod. After all so many things are named using Native American words like Nauset, Skaket, Namskaket, Mashpee, Cotuit, Hyannis, Sagamore and more. Even Massachusetts comes from Native Americans. In fact it is the tribe which lived in the Greater Boston area. (Source: The Wampanoags of Masspee) 

Rice & Rocks -- A Multicultural Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of a digital book free of charge to review as part of Multicultural Kid Blogs Product Promotion Services. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am sharing with you a new multicultural picture book that shares the messages that we are all different but very much the same. It is Rice and Rocks by Sandra L. Richards and illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan. It is being released next week!!

The Mystic Princesses and the Magic Show -- A perfect chapter book for Earth Day

* Disclosure: The Gymboree links in this post are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Can you believe Friday is Earth Day? I feel like spring is just beginning and it is already the end of April. How do you get your children to focus on taking care of the Earth for Earth Day? We have the perfect chapter book for the day and it is also perfect for next week which is National Princess Week. Anyone who has been following Crafty Moms Share knows I tend to look for books about princesses who are less frilly and typical fairy tale princesses but ones that show courage, strength and independence. Well the Mystic Princesses are just that type of princess. Of course what makes them the Mystic Princesses is that they each have a parent who is a god or goddess or Mother Nature. Each princess also has a special magical talent as well. 

These princesses however have joined together to protect Harmonie. She is the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. Aphrodite sent Harmonie away with her brother Eros when she was a baby for protection from Ares. Harmonie brings peace and calm to everyone around her which goes against Ares desire for war. Now his other children are after her and Eros so they separated and the Mystic Princesses have sworn to protect Harmonie. In the first book, The Mystic Princesses and the Whirlpool, PJ LaRue introduces the princesses and the story. We had the pleasure of reviewing the first book in the series for Multicultural Children's Book Day. Now we are bringing you the second book in the series,   The Mystic Princesses and the Magic Show by PJ LaRue.

The King Cake Baby -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Keila Dwawon sent me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

It is here!! Today is Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD)!! Have you checked out the link party yet to see all the amazing multicultural children's books out there? I saved one review for today!!

In case you do not know yet, the MCCBD team’s mission to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. 

Women in Professional Baseball for Women's History Month

As I mentioned last week in my Women Inventors post, I see Women's History Month as a time to show Hazel women who were successful doing many different things. This year I found a bunch of books about women playing professional baseball. I remembered the movie A League of Their Own and I thought how fun to teach her about women in a non-traditional role and in a sport. It also helps that she has been hearing about the Boston Red Sox at school. 

Mahalia Jackson -- Black History Month Blog Series and Giveaway

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Black History Month Blog Hop and Giveaway. More details below. 

While reading the books written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s relatives this year I kept seeing mention of Mahalia Jackson. I had read the book Martin & Mahalia by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, but did not really see the connection to them besides she was a gospel singer and he was a preacher.

Reading stories about how Martin asked Mahalia to get the people in Washington in the right frame of mind for his speech and her whispering to him to tell them about his dream, made me want to learn more. Of course with any musician one of the first things I do is look for a CD at the library so we can hear the music.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--The Talking Eggs

Since this is Memorial Weekend in the USA, I thought I would take time to do another American version of Cinderella. But first, I would like to thank all the veterans and soldiers who have put their life on the line to protect our freedom and all of their families. I saying prayers for all of you.

Today I am going to feature The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci. This book is adapted from a Creole folktale which was originally in a collection of Louisiana stories by Alcee Fortier. It appears to have European roots and is expected to have been brought to America by French immigrants and spread orally throughout the American South due to different versions (Cajun or Gullah overtones).

Source

First a bit about Louisiana. Louisiana is a southern state that borders the Gulf of Mexico. Its capital is Baton Rouge and its largest city is New Orleans. Most of the state's land is formed from sediment by the Mississippi River. Louisiana is have multicultural, multilingual urban areas. The state has been strongly influenced by the French, Spanish, Native American and African cultures. Before the Louisiana Purchase, it was French and Spanish colonies. Louisiana has long hot humid summers and short mild winters. It is prone to tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  (Source)

Now onto our book. The Talking Eggs is not your typical Cinderella. In fact there is no prince figure in the story and for that matter no male in it at all. There are also no stepfamily members. The story starts with a poor (very poor) woman and her two daughters, Rose and Blanche. Blanche is the youngest and is sweet and beautiful. Rose is like her mother--always putting on airs and very lazy. Their mother has Blanche do all the work around their house while she and Rose sit on the porch fanning themselves and discussing how they will become rich and go to grand parties in the city with beautiful gowns. 

One day Blanche is sent to the well for water. While there an elderly woman asks her for some water before she dies from the heat. Blanche of course gives her some and calls her auntie. The old woman thanks her, blesses her and leaves. Blanche returns home with the bucket of water, but Rose complains that it is hot and pours it out. Then the mother and Rose scold, yell and hit Blanche for not doing a simple task like bringing her sister some cold water to drink. Blanche runs away into the woods. She begins to cry since she has no place to go and does not want to go back home. 

The elderly woman appears and asks her why she is crying. Blanche tells her how her mother and sister were treating her for something that was not her fault. The elderly woman says she can come home with her and she will give her dinner and a bed to sleep on one condition--Blanche must not laugh at anything she sees at the house. Blanche promises not to laugh.

The plants seem to move out of their way while they walk to the woman's house (and move back behind them). Then Blanche sees a house with a two-headed cow with corkscrew horns in its yard. Blanche finds it strange, but holds true to her word and does not laugh. When they enter the yard there are chickens of every color running around and they do not cluck, but sing like mockingbirds. Again, Blanche does not laugh.

Inside the woman tells Blanche to start a fire. Blanche does right away. The woman in the mean time removes her head, so she can do her hair. This frightens Blanche a bit, but figures the woman has been nothing but nice to her, so she ignores it. The woman puts her head back on and then gives Blanche a beef bone. Blanche looks at it thinking there was not much to it, but asks if she should make soup with it. The woman tells Blanche to look at the pot she put it in and there is already a thick stew. Then the woman gives Blanche one grain of rice to grind. Blanche does this even though she wonders why she only needs to grind one grain, but as she does the rice multiplies to plenty for them. They have a wonderful meal together and then the woman takes Blanche out to the porch to see the magical rabbits dancing. Blanche falls asleep out there. 

The next morning the woman asks Blanche to milk the cow. The two-headed cow is happy with Blanche and gives her the sweetest milk Blanche has ever tasted. The woman and Blanche have a lovely breakfast. Then the woman tells Blanche she must go home, but since she has been so good and kind she has a gift for her. She tells Blanche to go to the hen house and take some eggs, but only to take the ones that say "Take me" and to leave the ones that say "Don't take me." She tells Blanche to throw the eggs over her left shoulder on her way home and they will become gifts. Blanche does this. In the hen house, every nest is full of eggs. Some are gold, silver and jeweled while others look like ordinary eggs. The ordinary looking eggs are the ones that say "Take me." Blanche does what the old woman told her and she only takes those even though she would love to take one of the fancy eggs. On her way home she throws the eggs over her left shoulder as instructed and receives silver and gold coins, silk dresses and even a carriage and pony to pull it. 

Her mother and Rose are amazed when she gets home. Her mother makes Rose help her bring the things in and the mother cooks dinner for them for the first time since Blanche was old enough to cook. They get the story of the old woman out of Blanche. While Blanche is sleeping, the mother tells Rose to go find the auntie the next day and get her to give her some of the eggs. Rose does not want to, but her mother explains there is not enough for the two of them with just Blanche's things. Rose goes, but she is not nice to the old woman. She laughs at the cow and chickens and then is mean about the bone. The bone does not become a thick stew. She laughs at the one grain or rice so they do not have rice to eat. Then when the woman takes off her head, Rose grabs it and says she will not give it back until she gives her the eggs. The woman tells her she is wicked but tells her about the eggs with the instructions to throw them over her right shoulder on the way home. 

Rose leaves the woman's head on the porch and runs to the hen house. She sees all the beautiful ones and hears them say "Don't take me," but she takes them anyway. She throws them over her right shoulder as soon as she is out of view of the house and the eggs turn into snakes, toads, yellow jackets and a hungry wolf. She runs home with all of the creatures following her. When her mother sees her, she tries to protect her with a broom, but then the creatures go after her as well. They both run into the woods. When they finally return, they find a note from Blanche saying she has taken her gifts and moved to the city. Blanche remains as nice as always.

One of the nice things about this story are the lessons built into it. There is the lesson of what is on the inside matters and not the outside. There is the lesson of being kind and doing as asked. I did not make a peg doll for this story as Blanche is not a princess and Hazel seems to only really enjoy the ones that look more princesslike. Instead I used some of our eggs and decorated them more. Which would you choose? The ones you were told to take that are ordinary or the ones you were told not to take that are beautiful and look like they are worth a lot?

A Belated Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Snack

So in the book we took out of the library on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it defined celebrate with the word party in it. That is of course what Hazel took as the meaning. So she wanted to have a party. She called Nonni and asked if they could have a party since Nonni usually has her on Mondays. Nonni planned a pizza party for them. I got to wondering about snack/party ideas. I googled and really only found ideas for classes like have everyone bring a different fruit for a fruit salad or doing an entire multicultural meal. I did not have time to plan this and wanted something fun to do with Hazel. I had been saving a sugar cookie mix from Trader Joe's (they only sell them around Christmas, but we love them). So we pulled out our hand cookie cutter (that I bought for our church's Stewardship campaign last year) and made some sugar cookies. Now with more planning I could have been more creative. Next year I am thinking we will do this but the colors will be frosting using the book The Colors of Us as a guideline. You know start with white frosting and make different skin tone shades by adding food color similar to what we did with paint in this post.

Our first task was to bake the cookies. I had pulled out our hand cookie cutter as well as a dove one. Hazel wanted to make more doves, but luckily I was faster than she was so we got more hands.

While the cookies cooled we organized our decorations which was a task in itself since they were all in one bag. I thought of using M&M's since they are one of Hazel's favorites. In fact I bought a bag or regular and a bag of Valentine's Day so we would have pink, white as well as the brown, yellow and red. But I got to thinking about how the red is so red and they no longer do the tan. Then I thought of the candy store at our big furniture store where you can buy M&M's by the color by the pound as well as jelly beans. Since they did not have skin tone shades of M&M's there, I went with jelly beans. (And yes one of the local furniture stores has crazy attractions in it. The one near us is themed as Bean Town and has a candy store, a local ice cream stand, liquid fireworks, Omni theater and more. The one near where I use to live was themed as New Orleans and had a whole multimedia show of Bourban Street and looked like a theme park.)

Then we got to decorating. We did one hand of each color and then we did some of mixed colors to represent mixed races. Then we decorated one dove in white. The rest I told Hazel she could do what she wanted. While she finished them, I arranged the hands and put the white peace dove in the center.

Then to make her happy we put all the birds in the center.

And a close up of her birds:

So next year we will do something similar but take the time to make the different shades of frosting. I am also going to think of some other fun foods/party foods we could make to celebrate the day. Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear them!

After the Storm--Book Review

On Sunday I heard about this great children's book in church. The author is also a member of the United Church of Christ at a different church than mine. She is a board certified clinical nurse specialist in child psychology and mental health nursing. When she joined a group from her church to go on a mission trip to New Orleans, she was asked to do a puppet show for the children who were trying to deal with the loss after Katrina. This story is what she came up with for the puppet show. She performed it for five elementary schools there. Someone suggested she write the story as a book so she could help even more children. She decided to do so and the first issue she ran into was finding an illustrator. She happened to read a UCC newsletter where my church was mentioned involving a couple of artist members doing a project. She contacted my church and was put in touch with Alexandra Parker who is a nursing student at Drexel University. Our church was celebrating their accomplishment.

Now Wendy Parker, self-published this book. It is available at Amazon. Her goal is to reach as many people who need it that can use it. So if you have connections with schools, churches, etc. in any area that has been hit by a severe storm, please pass them this information.

This story is about a group of animals who find one another after they all lose their homes and friends in a storm. They decide it is better to work together than to be mad, sad, etc. by themselves. Together they help one another and become a family of sorts. It is an adorable story and is perfect for anyone who may have lost a house, friend, etc. It is intended for ages four to six years-old.

Please help me spread the word about this amazing resource for young children going through a crisis. Pass on the name, the link, etc. to anyone who may be in need of it. Thank you!!