A Novel Mind » Children’s Books

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens

Kimberly — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:56:46 +0000

My daughter is 11 going on 30, and I am always looking for books for her to read. She likes the traditional books of girls her age, but I also like to encourage her to read more than just everyday fiction. Being a fan of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, I was delighted when we received Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens.

I immediately gave it to her to start reading. She was a little overwhelmed at first because it is such a thick book, but when she realized that it was actually 101 different short stories, she jumped right in and started reading. And then she carried it to school every day. She read it on the way to school, during free time at school, and on the way home from school virtually every day until she had read the entire book. She asked me the other day if we could buy some for her to give to her best friends for Christmas.

There are stories about Feeling Good About Yourself, New Faces and New Places, Learning Lessons and Doing What’s Right, Crushed, The Kindness of Others, When the Going Gets Tough, Finding Your Passion, That was Embarrassing, Family Ties, Bullies and Bully Payback, and Friendships to Last a Lifetime.

Product Description

Being a preteen is harder than it looks! School is more challenging, bodies are changing, relationships with parents are different, and new issues arise with friends. But this collection will help preteens, showing them they are not alone. Readers will be encouraged and inspired by stories from other preteens, just like them, about the problems and issues they face every day.

Purchase

Chicken Soup for the Soul Just for Preteens can be purchased from Amazon for only $10.98. If your tween has a Kindle, you can buy them the Kindle version for only $9.99.

Pirates & Princesses – A Fun Family Read

Kimberly — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:28:14 +0000

There are some books that you read to your children because they ask. There are other books that you read to their children because you enjoy reading it. Pirates and Princesses by Jill Kargman and Sadie Kargman is both – a book your daughter will ask you to read again and again, and a book you will enjoy reading with her.

My daughter is too old for this book, but she loved reading it. She actually read it to me, and has read it to her cousin and nephew so many times that I can almost quote the book by heart now, and I’m not complaining.

I also love the illustrations by Christine Davenier. These really look hand drawn which I think makes the appeal even stronger. I love the charm of the gorgeous drawings. My daughter has even tried to draw a few of them herself.

Product Description

Ivy and Fletch have been best friends since babyhood. But when they get to kindergarten, they discover that the girls play with the girls, and the boys with the boys; suddenly Ivy and Fletch find themselves apart on the playground, on the Princess Team and the Pirate Team. It isn’t until Fletch steps in to rescue Princess Ivy from pirate capture that they realize they miss playing together. Can they desegregate their playground? This lighthearted story of cooperation and open-mindedness will resonate with kids, parents, and teachers everywhere.

About the Authors

Jill Kargman wrote Pirates & Princesses with her daughter, Sadie. It is her first picture book. She has previously written chick-lit novels for women and teens, as well as more than 100 magazine articles. Jill and Sadie live in New York, New York.

About the Illustrator

Christine Davenier has illustrated numerous books and lives in Paris, France. Her most recent book is The Very Fairy Princess.

Review: The Deep Black Pond

Kimberly — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:50:35 +0000

The Deep Black Pond by Morgan Kostival is a children’s book that takes place on a very special tropical island. The fanciful creatures there inhabit a small pond situated in the middle of the island. Follow the misadventures of one of these tiny creatures named Mimi the peewee. Learn just how Mimi becomes the very first pink pearl in the world! At the same time, Mimi unknowingly brings together all the other creatures living in the pond by inspiring cooperation and friendship. This fable-like bedtime story will enthrall your little ones, as Mimi meets the Queen of the water lilies, Cuddles the fish, and the mysterious Baron.

About the Author: Morgan Kostival is the author and photographer of the Deep Black Pond. Kostival stated, “I write to preserve my child-like imagination that, sadly, too many adults forget how to use.” Morgan Kostival plans to continue writing and illustrating children’s books. “I wrote this book while simultaneously creating and photographing the creatures that are featured in it. I was interested in creating a world that was hitherto unknown,” he said. Morgan lives in Lake Worth, Florida.

My daughter was not very interested in the story of The Deep Black Pond, but she and my niece both love the photos. They have flipped through the book over and over and looked at the pictures and told their own stories about the creatures. Since Kostival is encouraging imagination, I think that he would enjoy listening to the girls tell their own stories.

The Deep Black Pond can be purchased at Amazon in paperback and for the Kindle.

Review: Summer The Magic Blanket

Adorable Books – AdoraPet! #Contest

Kimberly — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:34:03 +0000

I love to spend money on books. I always have – for myself growing up and as I became adult, I also started buying for others. I especially like to buy for the kids on my lists as I want to foster a love for reading early on. You’ll notice I do a good number of children’s book reviews here at A Novel Mind simply because I’m always looking for new authors and new type types of children’s books to buy for the kids on my lists. Most of my nieces, nephews, and family friends know that they might get something in addition to, but they are always going to get a few books from me for Christmas and their birthdays.

The latest books I had the chance to review are AdoraPet’s books. These are the cutest picture books I’ve have seen in a while. The two that I received are Ballerina Pima Puppy and Pima Puppy & Pico Puppy’s Astronaut Adventure. The stories are cute. The pictures truly are adorable, but what I really like about them is the size. They are tiny for tiny hands. My niece is 4, and she has flipped through these books several times already. She loves them. She stays with me a lot so we put our AdoraPet’s books in the car (another plus to them being small). If you are looking for stocking stuffers, these great books would be perfect to fit in a stocking.

The AdoraPet’s book line will be available the beginning of November from Barnes and Noble and www.AdoraPet.com. You can also enter a contest to win a free book on the AdoraPet’s website. YiShuan is giving away a book a day for the rest of the year as well as a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card. All you have to do to enter is sign up for the mailing list at www.AdoraPet.com. You can increase your odds by linking them on Facebook or following on Twitter – all super easy methods of entry.

Check out this page from the Ballerina Prima Puppy book:

Book Review: My Best Friend Abe Lincoln

Kimberly — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 05:29:13 +0000

My Best Friend, Abe Lincoln A Tale of Two Boys from Indiana is a children’s book by Robert L Bloch and illustrated by John W. Ewing. Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite presidents and so when I found out about this book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

The book is loosely based on Abraham Lincoln’s childhood as told from his fictionalized best friend, Sam Harding. I have to admit to always looking though a book at its illustrations before reading it. I love when children’s books have great illustrations, and this one was no disappointment. Ewing did a fabulous job.

It talks about how Sam and Abe met in school and tells of their adventures fishing and playing with the children of the Kickapoo Indian tribe. It also references Abe’s height and how his pants were always too short (loved it!) and how smart he was. One of the most interesting parts was that the boys were together they first saw slaves being sold and tells of how Abe disapproved. It continues all the way through “Abe” being elected as President of the United States.

The language in the book is great. It’s obviously on a lower reading level, but there’s just enough in their to push a beginning reader which I think is perfect. I loved the reference to “blab” schools and how Bloch followed with an explanation of what a “blab” school was.

My daughter also enjoyed this book and has asked me how much of it is true and what is made up so we are now going to buy a nonfiction book about Abraham Lincoln and read it together.

My Best Friend, Abe Lincoln can be purchased through Amazon for $11.86 or $13.95 from http://mybestfriendabelincoln.com/.

About the Author

John Ewing attended Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles before joining the team at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. In his eleven years there, he worked on many projects, including Winnie the Pooh and The Jungle Book. In addition to John’s illustration work with Dragonpencil, he is also an art professor and an avid flight enthusiast.

Review: Summer The Magic Blanket

Kimberly — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:03:24 +0000

Summer The Magic Blanket is the story of a young girl who lives in Greece written by Litsa Bolontzakis and illustrated by Daneila Lekina. My daughter began reading this book and was enthralled from the first page. The illustrations are beautiful.

The story is the story of the young girls’ life in Greece during the summer. What an appropriate time to receive the book since we have been over 100 degrees almost every day for the last month. It is the story of the simple things that the young girl does with her family such as eating watermelon and going to the beach and how much this family time means to her.

According to the Family Online Safety Institute, young people spent an average of 6.5 hours with media on a daily basis – including TV, radio and the Internet – back in 2004. Today, that figure is up to 10.75 hours per day. Moreover, according to Fast Food Stats, more than 50,000,000 people in the U.S. rely on fast food each year. These are stats that worry Bolontzakis, author of the children’s book Summer: The Magic Blanket (www.hummingbirdpublications.com).

These are startling statistics and Bolontzakis works to show how getting way from that media and spending time with families is precious and should be treasured.

This hits really close to home to me. If I don’t watch us, all of us become too involved in our own digital lives. I have to actually schedule our downtime to make sure that we turn off the television, phones, games, and computers and spend time with each other. My daughter has an imagination much like that of the young girl in the story so I thought a lot of her as I read this book, and wondered what she would think of it. After she read it, I watched her go back and flip through it again and just study the pictures. They in themselves bring out a child’s imagination.

Next we talked about all the things the young girl in the story does with her family and how much she loved and appreciated it. And then we talked about the things we do as a family (swimming, playing card games and board games, visiting family, etc) and how much we enjoyed those. What a great book to inspire wonderful family conversation.

About the Author

Children’s book and cookbook author Litsa Bolontzakis is an expert on Greek cooking and that culture’s easy, simple way of life. Her desire is to help other families learn from her culture how to appreciate the simple things in life and grow to enjoy the seasons and the gifts they bring.

Book Review: I Sleep in My Own Bed

Kimberly — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:46:12 +0000

My daughter will be 11 in less than two weeks and she still sleeps with me at least one day a week. If I’d allow it, she’d sleep with me all seven. In talking to many other parents I know, I’ve realized that I’m not alone. Many of us have kids that either just go to bed with us or wake up in the middle of the night and end up in the bed with us.

As I was trying to get my daughter to start sleeping in her room, we tried a room makeover – TWICE. Neither time did the trick. The only way I’ve even reduced the number of nights she sleeps with me is insisting that my television will not be on at night and she doesn’t want to sleep in the dark.

Glenn Wright has another answer. She wrote and illustrated the book I Sleep in My Own Bed. It’s such a cute story that is narrated by a young boy who tells us all the reasons he sleeps in his own bed as well as all the reasons he doesn’t sleep in other places in his home such as the couch, his parents’ bed, or his sister’s bed. It was so cute, and I made my daughter read it even though she is older than the target audience. In addition, she is going to read it to some of her younger friends that I happen to know also are not sleeping in their own beds so well.

If you have a young child who still sleeps in your bed, you are going to be looking for how to get your child to sleep in their own bed at some point. That I can guarantee, and when you do, you can pick up I Sleep in My Own Bed at Amazon for $16.05. That is much cheaper than two bedroom remodeling jobs.

About the Author:

Glenn Wright is a Syracuse native, growing up all his life in Central New York. Glenn is married and blessed with a beautiful family and has always had a love for literature and art. It wasn’t until recently that he decided to pick up a pencil again, this time accompanied by a little story he dreamt up one night.

#Win it: Shushybye Sleepover Surprise

Kimberly — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:14:21 +0000

I consider myself very lucky that bedtime has never been a traumatic experience in my house. My daughter has always been super easy to put to bed. I think it’s because she’s always woke up early and played hard all day so by late evening/early night, she was exhausted. But that’s most certainly not always the case. I have kept other children that will fight and fight to stay awake (which isn’t a pleasant experience for anyone involved).

Shushybye Sleepover Surprise is a book and cd that seeks to make bedtime a little easier. If you’ve never heard of the Shushybye books or television program, Shushybye is a place where dreams are built. This particular story is about Leo and Leona staying the night with their grandmother. As they go to sleep they each make wishes about Shushy adventures they want to go on in their dreams. Their wishes are carried away to Shushybye via two stars. When Snoozles (a Shushy) heard about their wishes, he used a magic want to go to their room and brought back Leo, Leona, and their grandmother to Shushybye. Then the trio along with the Shushy’s went to a concert for a grand adventure.

What is so neat about this book is that it comes with a read-along cd that reads this great book to your child and also has three Shushybye songs on it. This is the perfect bedtime treat so that kids will stay in bed and slowly be lulled to sleep as they are entranced and therefore still. In addition to the Shushybye books, you can also purchase the Close Your Eyes music cd that is made up of some great songs that your kids are sure to love. These are not slow put you to sleep songs, but they do seem to engage the kiddos that come in and out of my house, and I’ve found the first (and maybe most important) step to getting kids to sleep is just getting them to stay in bed and be still. This cd does that. My daughter has even asked me to convert it to mp3 format so she can put it on her iPod.

The cover of the book also glows in the dark which was a big hit in my house as that made it so cool. Shh! Don’t tell, but I was kind of impressed with this as well.

Shushybye: Sleepover Surprise was written by Steve Syatt and illustrated by Frank Caruso. You can purchase this book from Amazon for $9.31. You can also find some other great Shushybye products there for pretty good prices. You can also buy merchandise directly on the Shushybye website.

Shushybye is also a television series that you can watch on BabyFirstTV and Comcast Video on Demand (unfortunately I don’t get those channels so I can’t tell you much about the show).

Want to know more about this place called Shushybye? Check out these links:

Their Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

Win it!

How would you like to win the Shushybye Sleepover Surprise book and read-along cd as well as the Close Your Eyes cd for a special little one in your life? Here’s your chance because thanks to some great generosity of our sponsors, we have one book and one cd to give to one lucky reader.

Limitations

Winners should be at least 18 years of age, have a US mailing address, and provide a valid email address on the comment form.

How to Win

Check out the different Shushybye characters on the Shushybye web page and tell me who your favorite is and why in the comments below.

Bonus Entries

Want to increase your odds? Check out these ways to gain extra entries. For each one that you complete, you MUST leave another comment. There are lots of ways so you can have some really good odds! Check it out!

Like Shushybye on Facebook. Tell them I sent you over! I’m sure they’d love the comments. (7 entries/leave 7 comments) If your Facebook name is different than the name you are listing here, please leave it for verification.
Follow Shushybye on Twitter. Be sure to leave your Twitter name for verification purposes.
Subscribe to my email feed. Look over on the right and enter your email address. Subscription must be confirmed for entry to count. (Current subscribers you can gain an entry too!) (3 entries /leave 3 comments)
Subscribe to Southern Girl Reviews and/or Our Magic Kitchen. Subscription will be confirmed before prize awarded. (3 entries per subscription /leave 3 comments)
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Publicly follow A Novel Mind, Southern Girl Reviews, or Our Magic Kitchen on Google Friend Connect (box on the right sidebar). (3 entries per follow/leave 3 comments for each follow)
Display our button on the homepage of your website (5 entries/5 comments). Leave the URL of the website where we can find the button.
Blog about this contest linking to this post (10 entries/10 comments). Leave the URL to the blog post.
Leave a relevant comment on any other post here or at Southern Girl Reviews or Our Magic Kitchen. (Up to 10). Leave a link or the post title to each post that you commented on in this post.
Click the “Like” button at the bottom of this post. (3 entries/leave 3 comments) If your Facebook name is different than the name you are listing here, please leave it for verification.
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Stumble any post on A Novel Mind. (3 entries/leave 3 comments) Leave the post and your stumble user id for verification purposes.
Follow me on Twitter AND tweet this contest using the phrase below as many times as you like: (UNLIMITED! Must have at least 3 hours between tweets, 50 followers, and comment each time with a link to the tweet). Leave your Twitter name in the comment. @TexasSingleMom #Giveaway: Shushybye and the Sleepover Surprise from @shushybyeguy. http://anovelmind.com/shushybue-sleepover-surprise/ Ends 8/16

Contest ends August 16 at midnight CST. Winner will be selected using the And the Winner Is WordPress Plugin. Winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to contact me with mailing address. At the end of 48 hours, if no contact has been made a new winner will be selected.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of Shushybye Sleepover Surprise to facilitate my review and Shushybye will also provide a copy to one winner. All opinions expressed on this website are my own unless specified as a guest post or quote from another site.

Book Review: The Legend of the Wolves of Gunflint Lake

Kimberly — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:14:53 +0000

My daughter loves history and in this area we have nearby Indian museums and some can still find arrowheads in our pastures. So when we received The Legend of the Wolves of Gunflint Lake, I knew my daughter was going to be excited, and I was right.

The Legend of the Wolves of Gunflint Lake was written by Lisa Sellman and illustrated by Chris Kraetz. It is the story of the people of Gunflint Lake and of greed moving in to their community and the horrible results, but then how by being in touch with nature and greed once again subsided. My daughter enjoyed the story, but what I really enjoyed were the extra touches that you don’t find in other children’s books.

At the end of the story, there is a map of Minnesota showing where Gunflint Lake is located and then seven discussion questions like I find in the back of many of my books. This was really handy for me in finding a way to really make sure my daughter understood the book.

The Legend of the Wolves of Gunflint Lake can be bought through Amazon for $10.95, and a portion of proceeds from the sale of each book goes towards the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center (www.chikwauk.com) located near the end of the Gunflint Trail and to the International Wolf Center (www.wolf.org) in Ely, Minnesota.

About the Author:

Lisa Sellman makes her home in Minneapolis with her husband, Rick and dog Jasmine. Lisa devotes much of her free time to volunteer work with youth, environmental, animal rescues, and socially responsible charities in Minnesota. She works as an after school care volunteer at the Minneapolis Indian Center, a special events assistant at the Loft Literary Center, a volunteer marketing director for canine events at the Gunflint Lodge (the real location contained in her children’s book), and a trail staff assistant with Wilderness Inquiry, where she and her husband take disabled children and adults on outdoor adventures throughout the US. They’ve been volunteers with this organization since 1997.

Step by Step Drawing Activities: Everything Butt Art at the Zoo

Kimberly — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:13:33 +0000

My daughter loves to draw, color, make jewelry – anything creative. All over my house you’ll find markers, crayons, pencils, glue, scissors, you name it, there’s always something going on and my refrigerator is always covered in her latest creations. And every time we go shopping, she needs new art and craft supplies – EVERY TIME! *sigh* However, while’s great at creating things – jewelry, pot pads, bookmarks, Christmas ornaments, etc, she doesn’t draw so well – even though, bless her heart, she really tries.

When I heard about Everything Butt Art at the Zoo, I knew she’d love it. Everything Butt Art is a drawing series by Brian Snyder and Alexis Moniello that provides step by step drawing activities. What’s the catch? Every drawing starts with their basic “butt” shape (see below).

Everything Butt Art at the Zoo teaches everything from monkeys, snakes, and alligators to zebras and giraffes. Mixed in with the step-by-step instructions are a few fun activities such as a crossword, maze, and word search.

There is also an iPad app for Everything Butt Art:

In the iPad app all the things kids love about the book are interactive in a new way. The book has audio. Drawings can be saved and decorated with stamps. Butt Hunt becomes a game.

We don’t have have an iPad, but this is one of those apps that makes me wish we did.

Children can also submit their artwork via the iPad app, their Facebook wall or email to be displayed in their online gallery. Now what kid would not like to show off their drawings online? (Note: There’s also the option of a private gallery for those that are more concerned about privacy.)

Everything Butt Art at the Zoo can be purchased from Amazon for $9.95 and Barnes & Noble for $8.95.

You can also connect with Everything Butt Art on their website, http://www.everythingbuttart.com, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The “Butt”:

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