children's books

Small Fry Saturday: A Children’s Treasury of Poems

Small Fry Saturday is a meme inspired by The Well-Read Redhead, showcasing books our children enjoy.This week's pick is:Title: A Children's Treasury of PoemsAuthor: Linda Bleck (illustrator)Publisher: SterlingReleased: 2008Source: my personal libraryAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:What child’s bookshelf is complete without a superbly illustrated collection of classic poems? This exquisitely produced anthology, which features embossed pages and flocking on the spine, will become a beloved family favorite. Featuring the most renowned creators of children’s verse, it makes the perfect read-aloud and an ideal introduction to poetry’s rhyme and rhythm. Kids will love listening to the imaginative words of Lewis Carroll (“How Doth the Little Crocodile?”); Kate Greenaway (“The Cats Have Come to Tea”); Edward Lear (“The Owl and…

0 Comments
April 27, 2013
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
reviews

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Wow. What an experience! Let me start by being upfront: I have loved reading Haruki Murakami for a long time. There are some books I've liked more than others, but I've never felt disappointed. With 1Q84, once again I had a very memorable reading experience that left me feeling that this was time well spent. Good thing, too! This is a chunkster - over 1,000 pages. It's divided into three books (for clarity, when I say book I'm referring to the entire work). If you haven't read anything else by Murakami, I'm not sure 1Q84 is a good starting place unless you're already a huge fan of surrealism and magical realism. (A good starting place for those feeling a bit…

0 Comments
April 26, 2013
reviews

The World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne

Title: The World's Strongest LibrarianAuthor: Josh HanagarnePublisher: Gotham BooksExpected Release: May 2, 2013Source: publisher (NetGalley)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsBrief Synopsis:An inspiring story of how a Mormon kid with Tourette’s found salvation in books and weight-lifting. The World's Strongest Librarian illuminates the mysteries of this little-understood disorder, as well as the very different worlds of strongman training and modern libraries. With humor and candor, Josh Hanagarne traces his journey to overcome his disability— and navigate his wavering Mormon faith—to find love and create a life worth living. Read a full synopsis and watch the book trailer here, or enter the giveaway at the bottom of this page. TWO lucky readers will receive a hardcover copy of The World's Strongest Librarian from Gotham…

0 Comments
April 25, 2013
children's books / reviews

Small Fry Saturday: My Baby Blue Jays

Small Fry Saturday is a meme inspired by The Well-Read Redhead, showcasing books our children enjoy.This week's pick is:Title: My Baby Blue JaysAuthor: John BerendtPublisher: Viking JuvenileExpected Release: June 2011Source: my personal library (Dolly Parton's Imagination Library selection)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:A blue jay building a nest outside his window prompts John Berendt to find his camera and record the familiar, yet always fascinating sequence of events that will unfold, from eggs being laid to chicks emerging and trying to fly. Children and adults alike will be astonished at the adventurous spirit of one particularly curious young blue jay as he ventures into the world. The author of the best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil…

0 Comments
April 20, 2013
reviews

The Honest Toddler by Bunmi Laditan

Title: The Honest Toddler: A Child's Guide to Parenting Author: Bunmi Laditan Publisher: Scribner Expected Release: May 7, 2013 Source: publisher (NetGalley) Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads Synopsis: An irreverent, laugh-out-loud funny parenting guide from The Honest Toddler, the Internet’s most infamous tot, whose unchecked sense of entitlement and undeniable charm have captivated hundreds of thousands of fans online. In this antidote to heavy-handed advice books written by parenting "experts" who have gotten too big for size 2T britches, The Honest Toddler provides an indispensable manual to parenting that places the toddler’s happiness front and center. Outrageously confident and sweetly indignant, The Honest Toddler tackles everything from preferred toddler foods (unbroken crackers and undiluted juice), unconditional love (accept…

0 Comments
April 18, 2013
children's books / reviews

Small Fry Saturday: Little Monkey Lost

Small Fry Saturday is a meme inspired by The Well-Read Redhead, showcasing books our children enjoy.This week's pick is:Title: Little Monkey LostAuthor: Keith DuQuettePublisher: G.P. Putnam's SonsReleased: March 2007Source: my personal library (Dolly Parton's Imagination Library selection)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Little Monkey is so bored by his troop that one day he hops on a lily pad and takes a ride downstream. But soon he is lost, far from home. Then he remembers what his mama told him: "If you ever get lost, find other monkeys. They will lead you home." All day long Little Monkey meets many different kinds of monkeys, who teach him fun new things like howling, swinging from vines, and hugging—but none of them know…

0 Comments
April 13, 2013
misc

Language Freak Summer Challenge

Ekaterina at In My Book is hosting a Language Freak Summer Challenge! This challenge is meant to help you brush up on whatever language you need to practice by reading a book in that language. Visit the challenge page to read the rules and sign up!What languages do you know?English is my native language. I know Italian; I'm at an intermediate level overall.What is your history with these languages?I lived in Italy as a kid and learned a lot while there. When the American and Italian schools would have combined events, my Italian teacher would name me as one of the bilingual kids... but I think she was being a little generous. ;)Do you use them or are you out…

0 Comments
April 12, 2013
reviews

Swimming to Elba by Silvia Avallone

  Swimming to Elba was such a disheartening book, whoa. Incredibly well done, but a difficult read. This novel deals with so many overwhelming themes: poverty, drugs, sex, abuse. Whenever I thought some hope may be on the horizon, that hope was dashed. I felt compelled to read on and on, but I had a knot in my stomach the entire time. It was an odd reading experience for me. I lived in Italy when I was the same age as Francesca and Anna. Now, I'm around the same as their parents. I thought about my own experiences at their age, having such close, intense friendships, spending summers at the beach, enjoying the free-range kind of liberty that kids enjoy…

0 Comments
April 9, 2013
children's books / reviews

Small Fry Saturday: The Color Kittens

Small Fry Saturday is a meme inspired by The Well-Read Redhead, showcasing books our children enjoy.This week's pick is:Title: The Color KittensAuthor: Margaret Wise BrownPublisher: Golden BooksReleased: 1959Source: my personal libraryAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Once there were two color kittens with green eyes, Brush and Hush . . .So goes the rollicking tale of two pouncy kittens who make all the colors in the world. First published more than 50 years ago, The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown is now available as a Little Golden Book Classic, with its original cover!I think The Color Kittens is probably my favorite out of all of Margaret Wise Brown's books. Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, the artwork is playful and…

0 Comments
April 6, 2013
Stuck in the Middle with You by Jennifer Finney Boylan
LGBTQ+ #OwnVoices / reviews

Stuck in the Middle with You by Jennifer Finney Boylan

I read Jennifer Finney Boylan's memoir She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders years ago and was quite moved by it. I was excited to receive an advance copy of her new memoir, Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders, which releases later this month. Boylan's voice is kind, open-hearted, and never judgmental. There is a touching example of this right away, in the memoir's first several pages. Boylan is not a radical, militant activist; she's not trying to win our approval. She is simply herself. No matter how different the reader may feel he/she is from the author, it quickly becomes apparent that we and our families are all "nontraditional" in our own way;…

0 Comments
April 5, 2013

End of content

No more pages to load

Older Posts →