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.

Ninja & Bunny's Great Adventure -- Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this ebook free of charge for this 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.

Welcome to the Ninja and Bunny Tour with

Author Kara S Tyler and Illustrator Sarah 

Pacetti

Today I’m hosting this stunning Children’s Picture Book about two sisters. It’s appropriate for all ages, boys and girls, and will delight parents as well with it’s great message and gorgeous illustrations. Check out my review below and make sure to enter the great giveaway at the end of this post with special prizes that fit the themes of adventure, fantasy, and heroism included in this book.

For awhile now Hazel has been into fairies. We love the Rainbow Magic series and are working our way through the various books in the series. However today we are sharing a fun new fairy adventure. Ninja and Bunny's Great Adventure by Kara S. Tyler and illustrated by Sara Pacetti shares the tale of two sisters who go on a fairy adventure.

Rapunzel's Tower and other indoor play

The past couple of days Hazel has been complaining that her stomach hurts. The first day I had to run errands before going to work and Steve was working from home so we let her watch television while I was out (and he was working). I think her stomach still hurt in hopes of watching television today. I'm not sure though since she has been sleeping more than usual. Her appetite is not down though, so I'm not too worried. Anyway, we took it easy and stayed home. We missed our last class at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday which was disappointing, but not really a big deal. We pulled out Hazel's zoo mat that I made her and all the animals we could find for it. We used some of the animals from the Noah's ark that my sister gave her awhile ago. She decided that Joseph and Mary were the people on the ark and they were in charge of feeding the animals. All of the animals that belonged on the ark had to return to the ark each night to sleep. The Rainbow Princess that I needle felted for her was the zookeeper (and is laying down in the middle of the zoo).

Then she has been obsessed with the fairy tale, Rapunzel. I started telling it to her at night since lately she has wanted to hear stories after we read three books. Steve tells her a water-downed version of Cinderalla and Snow White (they are the only ones he remembers). I change it up a bit and have made some up like the Star Princess and the Rainbow Princess. (At some point I will have to share the Rainbow Princess story.) Lately she has been wanting to hear Rapunzel. I also have discovered some wonderful stories on CD told by Jim Weiss. Jim Weiss is an amazing story teller who changes is voice for the different characters and adds songs to the stories. I have gotten a few out of the library and the ones in the picture are her favorite two so far. I am going to purchase a bunch of them, but thought we would check them out first to see which she really likes. She loves to listen to these. Often she will get up in the morning and I will get to sleep another hour after getting her some milk and a snack while she listens to these. For awhile it was Tell Me a Story! all the time because she loves Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but now she often plays Fairytale Favorites to hear Rapunzel. Needless to say I highly recommend them and there are some educational ones for older children as well.

I took Crafts From Your Favorite Fairy Tales by Kathy Ross out of the library. The craft I liked the most was Rapunzel's tower. We tried making it the past few days. I took a wrapping paper tube and cut the top to look like a tower/castle tower and cut a window. Hazel then painted it. We then let the paint dry over night. This morning I cut a circle out of construction paper and drew a face and then Hazel glued on a few pieces of yarn to be her hair. I braided yarn to be the hair that gets let down. Then attached it to the tower with another piece of yarn so that it looped through the tower from the window to the bottom. The second piece of yarn is suppose to be the color of the tower. Since Hazel painted it, our tower is multicolor and mostly just the cardboard tube since she got board. Then we glued the head at the bottom of the window. Now the hair is adjustable to be let down or brought up.

Hazel had the best time reenacting the story. We pulled out a witch bendy doll I made her last Halloween. She changed the story...

Apparently the witch has some magic to survive the fall from the tower and to climb back up after falling! Oh, I love the imagination of my little one!

This is where I link up...

Let's Read About Black Characters & People -- Round-Up of Children's Books

The other day as I talked to Hazel about current events on our walk and was telling her my plans for Crafty Moms Share, she said, "Did you ever notice that when there is a black person in a book there is just one in a group of white friends?" Oh, yes, we still have the token black person in our society of books and television shows. She even commented how sometimes the group is made up of one person of different races like in The Start-Up Squad Series. I recently read an article about how white people need to do more than talk to our kids about racism. Where we live, who our neighbors are, books we read/provide our kids, who our friends are, the diversity of the school we send our kids to all play a part in how our kids grow up and understand race relations. Now I cannot change your neighborhood or their school but I hope I can change the books in your house and your library. I asked some fellow bloggers as well as authors that are part of the Multicultural Children's Book Day group for any books, activities, and reviews they had with black people as the main characters. Today I am going to share a round-up of books shared and some others I found (on Amazon). I will link reviews and activities whenever possible. It is important that all of our kids read books that have people like them but it is also important that our kids read books with people who do not look like them. This will build their understanding and help them to grow and learn about race and culture and hopefully not be racist when they grow up. I have the books separated into picture books, fairy tales, chapter books/novels, and non-fiction/biographies. There are some separation within some of these genres as well. 

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Cinderella Tales from Mexico

I have shared with you several Cinderella tales from Mexico as well as many different crafts and such from Mexico. Last April and May I shared two tales that are available in picture book form: Adelita and Domitila. I gave a brief history of Mexico in the Adelita post. Today I am going to share two more Cinderella tales from Mexico. These I found translated in English in Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions by John Bierhorst.

From our Adeltia Post

The first tale is very similar to the Polish Jewish Cinderella tale, The Way Meat Loves Salt by Nina Jaffe. It is called Love Like Salt. In this version it is a king who has three daughters. The king asks his daughters how much each loves him. The eldest says more than the world's gold. The middle daughter says as much as all of her jewelry and the youngest replies as much as salt. The king is angered by his youngest daughter's answer and vows to have her put to death. He sends a servant to take her to the woods and kill her bringing back her little finger and eyes. The servant cannot kill the princess, but has to cut off her little finger and took the eyes from a small dog lost in the forest. She wandered the forest looking for food and shelter. She found a hermit that lived in a cave.  The hermit lets her stay with him. Her life has really changed. She digs roots for food and drinks water directly from the stream and the cave is no palace. One day a lost prince finds her gathering flowers. He is overwhelmed with her beauty and proposes marriage to her. She accepts at once. They go home to his parents and he tells them he wants to marry this girl. They agree and the wedding invitations go out. On the day of the wedding she sees her father has arrived and points him out to the prince. She tells him to have the cooks not put any salt on the food that her father will be served. At the reception, the king complains about the lack of salt. She asks why he cares about salt so much now. He says you cannot eat without salt and she asks if he was ever offended by someone saying they loved him as much as salt. The king remembered his youngest daughter and she told him she was his daughter and shows her missing finger. He begs for forgiveness now realizing how much she meant.

Papel Picados we made last year

The second tale is The Dragon Slayer. This is a tale about a father with three daughters. The youngest daughter has the most beauty and the older two are very jealous. The oldest two take their father's money and hide it under the youngest's mattress while she sleeps and then tells their father when he discovers the missing money where it is. He cannot believe it, but checks anyway. He takes her by the hand with his machete in the other. She begs for her life saying she will go far away. He lets her go. She wandered for miles and eventually sat down to rest and eat the tortillas she had. An old woman came and asked for some food. She tells her to help herself. The old woman tells the girl where to go for work and gives her a magic wand. 

From our Hispanic DIY Musical Instrument Post Last Year

The girl uses the wand to find the castle the woman told her about and gets work in the kitchen. The king was very gloomy however and the girl asks her wand why. She hears that he must send his son, the prince, to be eaten by the seven headed dragon or the dragon will come eat all the people in the kingdom. The girl takes the advice of the wand on how to kill the dragon and manages to kill it. She then asks for the prince's hand in marriage. The king does not want his son to marry a kitchen girl, but he cannot go back on his word and they plan the wedding for the next day. She uses her wand to help get a dress and the wand tells her to ask the Virgin Mary for help. She wakes to find a beautiful gold dress. The prince falls in love with her instantly, but so does the king. The king gets jealous of his son and wants to kill him so he can marry the princess.

Dancing with a Rebozo from last year's post.

The princess uses her wand to find out how she can prevent this and she has to find a giant and get the ring from his tooth. She does this with the help from her wand and the ring gives her the power to change things and she changed the king into a wild pig. The prince shot the pig and went off to win the war his father had sent him to fight. When he returned home he and the princess lived very happily.

From our Adelita Post

Now that concludes our fairy tales for this week. Next week's fairy tale will be on Sunday since Monday is the Virtual Book Club for Kids day. This month's author is Nick Sharratt.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--The Salmon Princess

I'm happy to say I finally got around to doing my fairy tale post for this week. This week we are traveling to Alaska. I picked this story this week since Monday was Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts. Patriots' Day is a day to remember the Battles of Lexington and Concord which were on April 19, 1775 and were the start of the American Revolution. Now in Massachusetts it is celebrated the third Monday in April and there is a re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington in Lexington and the Boston Marathon is run. Plus school vacation week is always the week of Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts. I figured since the holiday represents the start of the fight for the United States to become a country it would make sense to share one of the versions from the United States and since I own this copy (I couldn't get it from any of the libraries here), I went with it. This is one of the stories that was definitely adapted for the area and not originally from there.

Source

A bit about Alaska. Alaska is the largest state of the fifty states but is the fourth least populous. It was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million or about two cents per acre in 1867 and became the 49th state in 1959.

To see the size of Alaska Source

Alaska has many islands as part of its state. Approximately 65% of Alaska's land is owned and managed by the U.S. Federal Government. The southeast region of Alaska is the only region where the daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter. Alaska has a rich history and culture including the Native Americans. I am not going to go into all of that here. Alaska's industry is domineered by oil, natural gas and fishing industries. It is also known as The Final Frontier. (Source)

Now onto our story. Today we are looking at The Salmon Princess by Mindy Dwyer. In this story there is a fisherman who lives with his wife and daughter. The daughter is named Cinder for the spark in her grey eyes and her red flaming hair. His wife and daughter are in charge of cleaning and smoking the salmon for them to sell. The mother teaches their daughter how to do it and they love to sing old songs together while doing it. 

Coloring Page available at Kidzone

One winter the mother dies due to illness. The father remarries and the new wife has two sons who help with the fishing, but the new wife refuses to dirty her hands with the fish so the daughter is left to do the work. Since the new wife is mean, the daughter does not completely mind until one day the father announces a festival on the next island and the stepmother says Cinder cannot go since there is so much fish to clean (after all now they have three fishermen and only one person cleaning and smoking). Cinder was upset when the family left her behind, but there was a lot of fish. While she was in her favorite place under a cedar tree where she always went to do her work, an eagle flew over head and dropped something. Cinder thought it was a fish, but when it came to the ground she realized it was a beautiful dress that looked like it was made out of threads from the moon. The eagle circled around one more time to tell her that she must return the dress before the sun came up since the fibers would be invisible in the light of the sun. 

Cinder put on the dress and wished she had nice shoes, but since she did not she was glad the dress covered her boots. At the festival she sold some of her smoked salmon and used the money to buy as many raffle tickets as she could. She wanted to win the grand prize of silver bars, so she could get away from all the work. Then she danced with a nice young man. They danced until the sun was about to come up at which she ran off remembering the bird's warning. He chased after her. Her boot got stuck in a net and she dropped her raffle tickets and lost her boot, but jumped in her family's small boat and rowed back home. The nice young man found the boot and raffle tickets, but did not know how to find her. Everyone around this area wore similar boots as these. Then when one of her raffle tickets was the winner he vowed to find her within the 24 hours she had to claim the prize. 

State Flower is Forget Me Not: Coloring Page available at Kidzone

He searched all the neighboring islands and then a bird guided him to her family's dock. The brothers tried to lock her in the smoke house so they could claim her prize to get a new fishing boat, but the young man pursued on finding her and let her out. He recognized her right away and they got married. Now the young man was the son of the owner of Salmon King which Cinder said made him the Salmon Prince. He said she was his Cinderella and when they got married she became the Salmon Princess. They lived further north away from the salmon industry until the Salmon Prince inherited his father's business. 

So that is the story of the Salmon Princess or the Alaskan Cinderella. I know I would love to see Alaska some day. I hope to take Hazel there eventually.

Tribal Nations Maps Product Review and Native American Women for Women's History Month

For Women's History Month we took some books out of the library on various women. One group we have been reading about are some of the strong Native American women. After reading some of these books, we pulled out our Tribal Nations Maps that we won in November and looked at what the Natives called themselves where these women came from. Hazel LOVES looking at these maps!!

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. 

Fairty Tales in Different Cultures: Cinderella for Older Children and Adults

We have spent so many Mondays talking about Cinderella tales. Just about every country and/or culture seems to have some version (at least one) of the tale. Did you know there are Cinderella tale books for older children as well as for adults. Here are some that I have found and I have read a few of them.

Sharing Saturday 17-17

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts.

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was a small party but full of great ideas!  Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have one group of features.

Happy Family Times #23--Birthday Party

Have you done something with your family this week? Come share it with me and Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts! Each week we collect the different activities we do with our families in hopes to inspire each other to have more quality family time! Please share yours below!

This week we went to a friend's birthday party. He turned three! He is the son of our hairdresser. We really enjoyed this party. They had a blow up water slide, a bouncy house, a castle slide and swords and shields for all the kids plus knight hats for the boys and princess hats for the girls. It was a castle themed party which is what the birthday boy asked for. I had not brought Hazel's swimsuit even though the invitation said to, because when I got my haircut a week ago, I was told they were unable to get the water slide. A lot happens in a week. We let her go in with just her regular clothes and we borrowed a towel. She had a great time.

When we first arrived most of the kids were playing in the water. Hazel could not wait to join them. It took her a bit to climb up. Steve went over to help the first few times. I went after that and taught her how to do it. Then she was successful by herself. She loved being in the water! Look at how wet she is. It took forever for her shorts to dry, but she loved it.

After eating some great food, the princess and knight clothes were passed out. I got Hazel to dress up but then she wanted to go back in the castle without any of her tools. Unfortunately by that point all the kids were having sword fights in the small castle, so she didn't last long in there. We headed over to the bouncy house.

She had a great time in the bouncy house. The other kids came and joined her as well. For the most part we stayed over here. Then the lollipops got passed along. Our friend made Jolly Ranger Lollipops. All she did was put jolly rangers in the oven for 5 minutes at 250 degrees. When they melt stick lollipop sticks in them and put them in the fridge until they harden. Everyone seemed to love them including Hazel.

Then Hazel got interested in her sword again. It started with me. I held her shield and she would try to hit it with the sword. Then I got Steve to play with her so I could get a picture. We got to bring one of the extra swords home so we can have sword fights. Oh, and we got a knight's helmet for Hazel as well.

Then it was time for cake. Our friend does not usually bake cakes, but she saw a castle kit at AC Moore. So here is her castle cake. (She is saving all the plastic pieces for me since we are doing a princess theme this year!)

Isn't it adorable? It was quite tasty too. Then for a favor she had her aunt make chocolate lollipop castles. These are so cute as well!

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times ~ use our button so others can join the fun

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Being Creative

Every once in awhile I feel the need to create. Does that ever happen to you? It happens when I have let life get in the way and I don't feel like I have had time to make something on my own or my own design. Tonight was one of those nights. As I was trying to create some order out of the chaos my craft area is right now, I came up with an idea this afternoon. And tonight I decided I wanted to take the time to do it.

Hazel has started asking us to tell her stories after we read some books to her. Sometimes I tell her a watered down version of a fairy tale and sometimes I make one up. The made up ones don't have to be anything to difficult or too long. In fact I like the made up ones since they are short. Lately I have been telling her one about a princess who lives in a pink castle surrounded by beautiful flowers and then there are dark woods. In the woods there are many creatures including unicorns. The story is about the first time the princess meets a unicorn. The princess always plays in the woods and brings food to feed all the animals. One day when she is playing hide and seek with a rabbit she ventures to a part of the woods she has never been and runs into a mother and baby unicorn by a small pond. She realizes she doesn't know the way home from where she is. She offers the unicorns some apples that she had in her pocket and the mother gives her a ride back to her castle. After that they play every day together.

So my creation (perhaps I've been inspired by April at April's Homemaking and her 52 Weeks of Fairy Tales and the craft to go with each one). I decided to needle felt a picture of the castle, gardens, woods and unicorns.

I needle felted it onto a piece of white wool felt just for stability. I also used a embroidery hoop for the frame and used it to size the picture.

So, what do you think?

Speaking of creativity, Sharing Saturday is still open through Wednesday and there are over 100 creative entries. Please go check them out!!

Hazel and I are off to visit my parents for a few days so my posts may be sporadic and without pictures. First we are stopping to visit my longest time friend since she brought her daughter (my goddaughter) to visit a nearby college.  We have been friends since we were 6-months-old!! It will be good to see her.

Fairies and Princesses

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.

Yesterday I shared some fabric pumpkins including a tutorial for Crafty Weekends and we are having our largest party yet!! While I was making the pumpkins Hazel was sewing with my mother's help. She made a quilt for her china doll. Hazel sewed the squares together. My mother had cut them and then finished the quilt for her on her machine. Hazel is very proud of it and came home and worked on another one.

Popsicle Stick Puppets

Ok, I couldn't leave today without some toddler fun--so here it is!!

Hazel brought me one of these puppets we made back in November and asked if we could make some more. I of course said yes since they were mostly Christmas themed back then. So this morning before she went to Nonni's house for the day, we made some.

Hazel's Princess

To make them you glue a popsicle stick across a tongue depressor stick and then decorate with felt clothes and draw on a face. Then we decorate them with yarn for hair and glitter glue and ribbons, etc. Hazel wanted to make a princess. I cut the dress for her and she did the gluing and cut the yarn herself. Oh, and I cut a crown for her princess. Unfortunately, our fingers and other things kept hitting the glitter glue and thus smudging it. She also got the hair over the face I drew on it. Oh, well. It is her creation.

I made a leprechaun and an Easter Bunny. I even gave my Easter Bunny an Easter egg to be sure it was the Easter Bunny.

These are a simple craft to do with a toddler that can be played with some more.

Now that Hazel is gone I have been catching up on reading my magazines. I am loving the latest issue of Country Living. The craft section has some great Easter ideas. Unfortunately my favorite ones did not make their website so you will have to wait until we try them or put our spin on them.

Now I'm off to knit and rest before I have to go to work tonight. Hope you are having a great day!!

Michaelmas & Fighting Your Inner Dragon

I almost forgot to announce the winner of the Show Me a Story Giveaway! The winner is Rondah. Rondah, you have 48 hours to email me back to claim your prize. Congratulations!! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Source

Last year I learned about Michaelmas. It is a Christian Festival celebrated at the Waldorf Schools. It is on September 29th each year. In the Catholic Church it is known as the Feast of St. Michael or All Angels Day. For more information on the Catholic Feast visit here.

How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Between my Tea Parties Around the World Series and National Princess Week Resources and Giveaway (have you entered yet?) How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea by Kate Hosford and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska found its way to me.