Summer Reading -- Chapter Book Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Last week I shared the start of my summer reading reviews with picture books and I promised to do some chapter books this week. Earlier this week I did language fun that also included some picture books. Since my chapter book reviews did not get written yet I am sharing them with you today. (Do the summer days seem to fly by for anyone else?) One book is perfect for the younger chapter book readers--grades 2-5 and the other two are for middle school grades 5-8. The first book is Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans by Gary Northfield. 

 

It's All Love -- A book of reflections for teens about love for selves, others, life and more

 

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

February is the month for love! It has Valentine's Day (14th) and Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th) in it. Yet in this world of ours love can be hard and hurtful. How do we teach our kids about love? Who should they love? Well for one thing they need to love themselves. Today I am sharing a book by teen actress Jenna Ortega. The book is It's All Love: Reflections for Your Heart & Soul. It is a book written for teens and will also be good for people in their 20's.

Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess Activity Book -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

 

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

Today I am sharing with you a fun growth mindset activity book. The book is part of the Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess series. It is Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess Activity Book by Deedee Cummings and illustrated by Charlene Mosley. The series is recommended for ages 4 to 8. 

The Golden Slipper--Vietnamese Cinderella

This year I am going to do my Multicultural Mondays a bit different by exploring some fairy tales that are in different cultures. We are first going to focus on Cinderella. I did an introduction to Cinderella with the most common version of the story by Charles Perrault. Today we are going to look at the Vietnamese version of the story called The Golden Slipper or The Brocade Slipper.

The Perfect Gift for a Child: Personalized books

Disclosure: I See Me! Inc.  gave me a copy of this book and ornament free of charge. 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.

Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing a personalized book from I See Me! Inc. Hazel describes Hazel Can Change the World as her favorite book ever!! She often pulls it out just to look at it and now reads it to herself as well as to my parents at story time. (She reads to my parents over the phone almost every night.)

She has literally made paper hearts for all of her classmates because there is a page in it where the brown haired girl gives out hearts to spread love.  I have to say it is one of the best things I have gotten her. Therefore I jumped at the idea of getting another personalized book for her. This year we got My Very Own Fairy Tale by Maia Haag and illustrated by Joyce Patti.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month -- Book Round-Up

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. I always feel bad about this month. It happens at such a busy time of the year and is often overlooked. May was chosen to mark the anniversary of the first Japanese immigration and the completion of the transcontinental railroad. (The majority of the workers on the railroad were Chinese immigrants.) It also represents such a large area. Asian-Pacific Island includes all of Asia and the islands in the Pacific including New Zealand and the Polynesian Islands. It covers a huge area. (Source)

Source: World Atlas

Although we have no Asian or Pacific Island heritage that I know of, I like to teach Hazel about all the various cultures. I always describe myself as an American mutt since I have quite a mixture of European ancestors and even have some that can be traced to the Mayflower. There is a story in our family history of someone marrying a Native American as well, but I do not know the details. As such I do not identify with any ethnicity besides American and I find it interesting to look at the different ones around. To begin looking into Asian and Pacific Island Heritage we went to the library for books.

General Asian Stories and Picture Books

• A is for Asia by Cynthia Chin-Lee
• Asian Children's Favorite Stories by David Conger, Marian Davies Toth & Kay Lyons
• Asian Holidays by Faith Winchester
• Come Look With Me: Asian Art by Kimberly Lane
• I Dreamed I was a Panda by Debra A. Johnson
• Floating Clouds, Floating Dreams Favorite Asian Folk Tales edited by I. K. Junne
• Moon Magic: Stories from Asia by Katherine Davison
• The Tiger's Whisker and Other Tales from Asia and the Pacific by Harold Courlander
• Folk Tales from Asia by  Asian Cultural Centre for Unesco
• Tikki Tikki Tembo and More Stories to Celebrate Asian Heritage DVD produced by Weston Wood Studios, Inc.

Asian Crafts and Animals

• Asian Kites by Wayne Hosking
• Haiku: Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids by Patricia Donegan
• Asian-American Crafts Kids Can Do! by Sarah Hartman
• A Kid's Guide to Asian American History by Valerie Petrillo
• Asian Crafts by Judith Hoffman Corwin
• Monkeys of Asia and Africa by Patricia A. Fink Martin
• Really Wild Animals: Adventures in Asia DVD produced by National Geographic Society

Next I took some of the many countries in the area and found some picture books to read with Hazel. I am sure there are more and of course there are more countries, but at least this is a start. I am going to add a link party to the end so people can add their own favorite Asian and/or Pacific Island themed books to help learn about the cultures and celebrate the month. Many of these books are about immigrants' experiences in coming to America or leaving their country. Since there are so many, I am not going to list each one. I will however list the ones I have posted about previously with links in case you want to learn more.

Cambodia

China

The Year of the Horse is part of a series of books about the Chinese Zodiac

Julie Black Belt and Julie Black Belt: The Belt of Fire

The Phillipines

Cora Cooks Pancit

The Bamboo Dance

India

Japan

Sora and the Cloud Review

Butterflies for Kiri

Korea

Around the World in 12 Dishes visits Korea

Thailand

Book Reviews at my Around the World in 12 Dishes visits Thailand

Vietnam

Asian-Pacific Cinderella Tales

The Golden Slipper

Kao and the Golden Fish

 

Anklet for a Princess

Kongi and Potgi

The Korean Cinderella

The Gift of the Crocodile

The Golden Sandal

Wishbones and Yeh-Shen

If you know a good book to learn about an Asian or Pacific Island culture or to help celebrate this month, please list its title and author in this link party and share with us all!! You do not need to link a review or post about the book!!

Learning Some Science Part 1 -- Back-to-School

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Today we are going to look at some books that make science (and math/computers) interesting. These books are perfect for the younger grades and teach a bit of history, science and more. The first is Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts. 

PBS Kids Halloween DVDs Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. 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.

Are you ready for Halloween? We are not. Nor are we excited for it. I really do not like the holiday and all the Halloween items seemed to be out extra early this year and they seem extremely gruesome. Has anyone else felt this way? Hazel has had bad dreams since seeing some of those bigger than life size lawn decorations at a store. I have realized it is better to not take her to most stores at this point or to avoid the ones with so many Halloween decorations. Hazel has not decided what she even wants to be yet, but she knows she has to choose from costumes she has or the Princess in Black. 

This year we are focusing on calmer and not so frightening parts of Halloween. PBS Kids has helped by sending us three DVDs to review from some of Hazel's favorite shows. 

Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge

Have you entered my current giveaway yet? Come win the fantastic book to inspire creativity and imagination!!

A bit ago I was contacted and asked if I would make and share a Fiber One Snackcessory to help promote the contest they currently are running. They offered to send me all the materials I would need to make this Snackcessory. I was intrigued and needed a bit of creativity challenge so I said yes. This weekend a package arrived with my supplies.

Now first what is a snackcessory? Well it is a container to carry your Fiber One bar (or any other snack). I'll admit it took me awhile to decide to do this because I try to stay away from most bars of any type and really any processed food, but I figured we are always looking for ways to keep snacks so why not try it.

Second, what is the challenge? You must design and enter your own snackcessory at Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge. You will have a chance to win a trip for two to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City in February 2013 and the nine finalists will each be awarded a $500 gift card for a handbag of their choice and a box of Fiber One Bars and Brownies.

Well my package arrived this weekend. It had a black container that looks like it is a hard case eye glass case, adhesive spray, a plastic ziplock bag, a small jar of glitter, a Fiber One bar, and directions. At first I was going to not do the glitter. My big fear was and is the glitter getting everywhere. I attempted to seal it, but I must admit it is coming off a bit still.

They asked us to personalize them, so I helped Hazel add some gems this morning. They were sticker gems, but did not stick to the glitter. We used glue which made them slide around a bit and they dropped a bit down the side. They originally were all in a line. Then I added her name in glitter glue. She wanted the black case as soon as she saw it. She loves opening and closing it and needless to say, for her, glitter only makes it better.

Then I decided to get creative. My first thought had been cover it with fabric. I thought about doing it like the fabric covered Easter eggs. Instead I decided since I knew Hazel would love the glitter to do some fabric covered boxes. My next challenge was finding the right size box. I found two. One is from dollhouse furniture (as a miniaturist I save lots of little boxes and containers) and one is from modeling wax that I bought for Hazel that we have not used yet. I added adhesive Velcro to the dollhouse furniture box so it could close and stay closed. Hazel added princess stickers. I think this one is for her as well.

Then I got to thinking of one Hazel could make with me. I wanted it to be more than covering a box. I thought of sewing one, but Hazel couldn't help with that. I came up with toilet paper rolls. I decided to double them up so it would be stronger. Now I'm imaging using this in a purse or school bag, so you want it to be strong as to not crush your bar. I traced the bottom of one of them twice and cut out the circles from some cardboard we had in recycling. I glued the bottom on and then for the top I cut a piece or ribbon. I glued the ribbon onto the circle so it had both ends hanging off a good amount. I glued one end to the tube and folded the other end and secured the fold with glue. I let them dry (or at least I did with the one Hazel made which turned out better). Next we picked fabric and cut out two circles slightly bigger than the cardboard circles and a rectangle big enough to cover the toilet paper roll. I used pinking shears so I would not have to worry about fraying. Hazel picked some of the nursery rhyme fabric I had leftover from her quilt. We Mod Podged the fabric on. We did the circles first and then the rectangle. We let this dry. Then I cut a adhesive Velcro square to fit the ribbon and put Velcro so it would close. And yes, the Fiber One bar does fit inside! I think I may go enter this one in the challenge! Won't you join me in it?

Jonathan London's Froggy Series Themed Birthday Party Ideas and Giveaway

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review and are providing the book for the giveaway. 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.

Have you been following the fun challenge Penguin Kids gave this month? It all started because Froggy's Birthday Wish by Jonathan London and illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz was released on March 10th! We were lucky enough to receive a review copy as well as two other Froggy books, Froggy Builds a Tree House and Froggy Gets a Doggy. Have you discovered the Froggy series yet? They are so fun. We are going to provide some general Froggy birthday party ideas as well as ones from each book. For even more Froggy birthday party ideas check out my Froggy Birthday Party Pinterest Board!

Virtual Book Club for Kids: The Amazing Pig by Paul Galdone

It is time for the Virtual Book Club for Kids!! This month the featured author is Paul Galdone. Since so many of his books are classic tales, I considered doing Cinderella and counting it as my Fairy Tales in Different Cultures, but to be very honest, I couldn't think of a fun craft or activity to do that we haven't already done with some form of Cinderella. So we decided to feature The Amazing Pig.

The Day No One Played Together--Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book digitally to review free of charge from Donalisa Helsley. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I get the honor of sharing with you a wonderful children's book about compromise. The author, Donalisa Helsley, was kind enough to send me this book digitally to review. She is part of the Multicultural Children's Book Day group. The book, The Day No One Played Together, is based one her own daughters and the all important lesson of learning to compromise. 

The story is about two sisters who go out on a beautiful day to play in the yard. Each girl has her own idea of what they should play and neither is willing to play the other's game before playing her own, so they play by themselves and are miserable. Eventually both girls go inside and try to play together inside. Again they both have ideas of what to do, but cannot decide which idea to play first and both end up playing alone again.  At lunch their mother suggests they compromise. She explains that compromise means finding something to do together with a little of both ideas in it. After lunch they find a way that both girls can play together and still do what she wants and have fun together.

This book is a wonderful example for young children about compromising. It gives a clear definition of the word compromise and then follows it with an example. It is a must read for all families with young children. Then the bonus is that it is a multicultural children's book since the girls are not Caucasian. And as they should, the girls learn it is more fun to compromise and play together than to play alone. They compromise by one sister giving a concert to the other girl's dolls. Since we read this book, Hazel has been talking about compromising whenever we come to a difference of opinions. She definitely got the concept from the book. 

The book also is a Mom's Choice Award Recipient. It is available on Donalisa's website, Wild About Reading, as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I definitely recommend this book and reading it to young children and especially siblings. 

For more multicultural book reviews check out:

• Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell
  
• Julie Black Belt Series by Oliver Chin
• The Year of the Horse by Oliver Chin
• Sora and the Cloud by Felicia Hoshino
• Justice Pon di Road by Aliona Gibson
• Books about Civil Rights
• Multicultural Christmas Books
• How the Sea Began: A Taino Tale Retold by George Crespo
• In My Family by Carmen Lomas Garza and What Can You Do with a Rebozo? by Carmen Tafolla
• Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman 
• Butterflies for Kiri by Cathryn Falwell
• The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
• Most of My Fairy Tales in Different Culture Posts
• All of my Around the World in 12 Dishes Posts

The Octonauts & the Sea of Shade Book Review & Giveaway Reminder

Disclosure: I was sent this book digitally to review free of charge from Immedium. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing one of the Octonauts books! Hazel and I were so excited to review this book. Hazel loves to watch the Octonauts on television and loves the Octonauts: To the Gup-X DVD we reviewed and are currently giving away until March 25th. I had requested to review one of the Octonauts books to go with this giveaway. It is perfect timing as well as we have been so focused on sea creatures!

Today we are sharing The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade by Meomi. This is one of the four Octonauts books written by Meomi and published by Immedium. All four are available for $15.95 at Immedium as well as other book retailers. Meomi is the original creator of the Octonauts and these are the original books.

Our Tweak Peg Doll

The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade starts out with Tweak Bunny realizing that shadows and shade are missing. The Octonauts adventure to the Sea of Shade to find the Shade King. The Shade King is in charge of all the shade in the world. The Octonauts want to find out what has happened to cause all the shade to be missing. As they adventure through the Sea of Shade they see sad looking shadows. Captain Barnacles begins to play his accordion and the shadows begin to cheer up and remember how nice it was outside of the Sea of Shade. They all go to the Shade King and discover the Shade King thinks no one appreciates or loves their shadow since they are stepped on and such all the time. The Octonauts show him how creatures are missing their shadows and he agrees to let the shadows return as long as the Octonauts make sure the shadows are treated well.

Coloring page available at Disney Jr.

This is a sweet story with the same characters as the television show although one has a different name as Hazel was quick to point out. The underwater spaces in the book are much more creative and fantasy than the cartoon. Some of what is underwater in the book looks like it is really above water, but the pictures are beautiful and the story is so creative. I loved reading the story and seeing more basics of the characters than you get in the television show. For example Kwanzii is a kitten and I always assumed him to be a rough and gruff tomcat. The other main difference is there is not the information about a specific sea creature like the television show. However the story line was so creative and made me stop and think about how important shadows and shade are to all of us. It is definitely something we take for granted. To go with the book, I made a Tweak peg doll (see above). Now Hazel has four of the characters as peg dolls.

Our Octonaut Hat Craft

This story leads to so many things you can do with shadows. The first is the obvious shadow puppets. On Friday we went to a great shadow puppet show at our local library. We are going to try to make a shadow puppet box and some shadow puppets. The man who did the shadow puppet show gave us a card with instructions. Stay tuned for more on shadow puppets from us. An easier task would be to make some hand shadow puppets. Here is YouTube video with some instructions on making a few.




For older children, you could easily do a math lesson on similar triangles and then do a height estimation project like this one. To do similar triangles, the student needs to be able to set up and solve ratios.

Now if you would like to win a copy of the Octonauts: To the Gup-X DVD, be sure to go here and enter before March 25th!!

For more book reviews visit:

• The Wooly Hoodwinks vs. the Dark Patch 
• Sora and the Cloud 
• Year of the Horse 
• Julie Black Belt Series
• Rainbow Stew
• Princess Grace 
• Ava's Poppy   

Book Review: Sora and the Cloud

Disclosure: I was sent this book digitally to review free of charge from Immedium. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today we got almost a foot of snow. With all the cold, beautiful snow outside, I thought it was the perfect time to review this wonderful book by Felicia Hoshino called Sora and the Cloud. It is one of those wonderfully dreamy books that can never happen, but it is always so fun to think about happening.

This story is about a young Japanese boy exploring his world. Sora is a climber and one day he climbs a tree. Waiting in the branches of the tree is a friendly cloud. Sora hops on and the two become friends as they have an adventure. Throughout the story there are Japanese references such as food booths in a festival, kite flying and lyrics to a children's song about kites. The story has been translated into Japanese and both text are written on each page. After Sora returns to his family, his sister starts to check out the friendly cloud. It is an imaginative story about young children exploring and discovering the world around them. 

Felicia Hoshino has illustrated many books and finally she writes and illustrates her own. It is beautifully illustrated and is the kind of book you can imagine a child daydreaming about. Add the Japanese culture throughout the book, and it is a wonderful introduction for any child. The book makes me smile. The story is simple yet fantasy and it makes it that wonderful mix that makes you happy to read.

The book is available for $15.95 at Immedium. It is a wonderful addition to anyone's multicultural library!

For some more multicultural children book reviews check out:

• Year of the Horse
• Julie Black Belt Series
• Rainbow Stew
• Princess Grace 
• Civil Rights Movement Stories
• Hispanic Picture Books
  
• Multicultural Children's Book Day Blog Hop

Sharing Saturday 15-39

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! It was another amazing week full of so much inspiration!!  Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features are October Educational Ideas, Bats and Spiders and a few of my favorites.

Halloween Memory Games & Halloween Book Memory Games

As you know we have been reading Halloween books (click link to see the books and some crafts to go with them) we borrowed from the library. Last night I decided to make her some memory match games for Halloween. I saw the idea on A Pumpkin and A Princess. I bought some Halloween scrapbook paper yesterday at Joann's. It is on sale 5 for $1 this week. Then I went into Word and used the clipart to find some good (not too scary) Halloween pictures. Since Hazel has been so into Erica Silverman's The Big Pumpkin, I made sure to include a witch, ghost, vampire, mummy, bat and pumpkin. I added a few others as well, but the game could be played with just those if you want to relate it to the book.Click Halloween Match Game  for a downloadable link.

Then I cut out each card and cut out 18  3" by 4" rectangles from 2 sheets of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper. I glued each card onto one of the scrapbook paper rectangles. Then I covered them with clear contact paper to protect them and make them a bit more durable, and cut them out of it. I laid them all down on one sheet and folded it over them to have the contact paper on both sides. Hazel loves playing it!

I also made some from another favorite Halloween book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. For these I made 12 rectangles (six designs): the shoes going clomp, clomp, the pants going wiggle, wiggle, the shirt going shake, shake, the white gloves going clap, clap, the tall black hat going nod, nod and the scary pumpkin head going boo, boo. To download these cards click Little Old Lady Match Game.

Then I cut them out and put them on different scrapbook paper and covered them in clear contact paper and cut them out. For this scrapbook paper you only need one sheet and cut 12 rectangles measuring 3" by 4". 

Needless to say (after the number of times I read this book to Hazel) she loves them!

I am loving these simple crafts that lead to hours of fun and entertainment and learning for her! Do you have any to share? Visit our Sharing Saturday link  party and share them with us! Anything kid friendly is welcome!

Also check out this sharing of  an announcement of a giveaway. Have a great day!!

Halloween Decorations

Today I will share a few more Halloween crafts we have made. Now remember I hate the blood and gore and scary side of Halloween, so our crafts are much more friendly. Like these adorable black cats pictured above made from toilet paper rolls. I wish I could remember where I saw it. Sorry!! (If it was your blog, please let me know, so I can add a link!!) I had planned to make the adorable owls at Family Fun Magazine, but Hazel made one sort of that way at Sunday School on Sunday. We may do it still though.

Hazel's Sunday School Owl (studying Solomon)

Then we made an adorable mummy from a paper towel roll. We got this idea from All New Crafts for Halloween by Kathy Ross. It has beads on pipe cleaners (with straws to help stabilize them) for eyes. I wrapped it with crepe paper instead of toilet paper since it was already a nice width and I had some in the craft room.

Making Mummy

Hazel also decorated a foam pumpkin with some new glitter glues.

Hazel also informed me that her baby doll Pocahontas was going to her first Halloween party as a fairy princess. She had picked out a baby doll tiara and wand at the craft fair at the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. We decided she needed some fairy wings to have a complete costume. So I took some floral wire (bought at the dollar store) and made wing shapes. Then we glued on some tulle to both sides. While the glue dried, Hazel decorated them with glitter glue. Then I cut them out the next day and tied a piece of elastic cord to them for her arm holders. 

So what do you think? It was a pretty easy costume for a baby doll. If I had been making them for Hazel I would have sewn the tulle rather than glue it, but we were looking for a quick way to make them.

Hope you will join us tomorrow night for Sharing Saturday!! Come share your child-oriented activities and crafts and get inspired by all that is shared!