Calvin Sparks and the Crossing to Cambria

Rusty Anderson challenged himself to write a story his kids would love to read and now he has accomplished that Goal with Calvin Sparks and the Crossing to Cambria.  I received a copy of this book to review.

About the Book:

For years, Calvin's grandfather has told him stories about a cabin deep in the woods that holds an amazing secret.  Then one day Calvin and his two best friends find it.  Inside they discover more than just the world's coolest clubhouse.  This is The Crossing- a magical portal that takes them into another world.  

Soon all three are in Cambria, a fantastic world filled with bizarre people, wonderful food, real magic and even dragons!  There Calvin learns his family has a secret history and he's swept up in the same dangerous mission hat got his father killed thirteen years ago.

My Review:

The author, Rusty Anderson, has definitely achieved his mission.  Not only do I have no doubt that kids will love reading this book, but I really enjoyed it too.  The author builds and tells of a magical world that is fascinating to read about.  While at times I could guess what was going to happen next, I still felt engrossed in the book.  I love that as he was telling this story, he entwined many great lessons about the ability and power of an individual to choose good, even when facing great temptations.  This is a quick read and I think it would be great for those in about 3rd grade and up.  This book is definitely set up for a sequel.  

You can learn more about the author at his website here. 

You can purchase your own copy of the book at the following:
Amazon//Barnes and Nobel//iTunes//

This House Needs a Mouse: A Book Review

If you have been to my house you know that we have shelves and shelves of kids books in the playroom. I love books and reading to my kids.  I recently was given a copy of the children's book This House Needs a Mouse by C. Jeffery Nunnally.

  This House Needs a Mouse follows a high-spirited mouse who is disgusted by his caged existence and messy cage mates.  With some good luck and quick thinking, he becomes a family pet, now free with a wonderful purposeful life.

  When his life is turned upside-down by an unfortunate chain of events, this seemingly ordinary mouse must come to grips with his new situation and his true purpose in life.

My Review:

  I loved that this book has a cute seemingly simple story, one that even my 4-year-old loved sitting and listening too; yet it also subtly brings up so many great topics you can talk about with your kids.  The book helps teach that your perspective and how you think about situations in life can really change everything.  It helps teach that even when things don't go how you want in life and unexpected changes come, with a good attitude, smart thinking, and time things can change and get better.

  The illustrations are simple yet beautiful and fit the story wonderfully.

If you are looking for a fun new book for your kids, I recommend This House Needs a Mouse.

You can find out more about the book and the author at his website or follow him on Twitter.

You can purchase your own copy at:
  Amazon//Barnes and Noble//Big Tent Books

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review. All feelings and opinions are my own and truthful. 

Time For Tots: Caps For Sale

This turned out to be one of my favorite Time For Tot's day. For the last week, every night Alex has chosen Caps For Sale by Esphry Slobodkina for her bedtime story. This is a story of a peddler who makes his living selling caps, which he takes around with him by wearing them all on his head. The trouble begins when he takes a nap under a tree and a bunch of monkeys steal his hats!

One of my best friends from Mesa, told me how she and her kids acted out this story one day. So I decided to google Caps for Sale and see what I could find. I got a lot of the inspiration for this day from Teaching Heart and also Hubbard's Cupboard.

We began the day by acting out the story. I read the story while Lucas and Alex took turns playing the parts of the peddler and the monkey.

Then since I had just said the word "cap" who knows how many times while reading the story; we talked about words that rhymed with cap. Lucas and Alex helped me think of the words and I wrote them down.

We then did our monkey worksheets. There are dots on each hat and you have to count the number of dots and match it up with the right monkey. I made my monkeys a little smaller than the template because I am cheap to save paper. The kids cut out the hats and then matched up the right hats. We also talked about who would wear the different types of hats.

And since each cap costs $.50 as it says in the book, we got out some dimes to count out $.50 for each hat. Lucas ended up liking this part so much, that I wrote different money amounts on each hat and he sold me hats while I counted out the money.

And then, well we had to act out the story a couple more times. This time we put my photography backdrop stand to good use, and even had a tree that I quickly made out of construction paper.

And finally-the performance

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• Inspiration for Activity from Teaching Heart and Hubbard's Cupboard
• Template for Monkey hat game found here.
  

Time For Tots: Three Little Pigs

Amy asked me where I get my ideas for my Time for Tots days. Usually I just try and think of some theme and then google it. There are so many great sites out there.

This week, my idea actually came from a book. I have been getting a lot of easy reader type books for Lucas from the library. This was one we got a few weeks ago. The Three Little Pigs illustrated by Katie Saunders.

Now I must admit, at first I wasn't that impressed with this story. The wolf doesn't even say "I'll huff and puff...". The illustrations were cute though, but it was what I found at the end of the book that made me love it and inspire this week's Time For Tot's Day.

At the end of the book it has a bunch of activity ideas.. which helped inspire this day.

We began by reading the story together.

Then it was time to arrange the story in the right order. This page was found at the back of the book. I made it black and white and cut out the pictures for each kid.

We practiced reading and following instructions with these coloring pages I made.

Alex listened for the first two steps, then just did her own thing.

Then we made the three pig's houses. This was definitely the favorite part of the day. I got inspiration for these houses at Miss Mary's Preschool Ideas.

Supplies for houses:
-Big Piece Construction Paper
-3 rectangle house shapes cut out of paper
-3 triangle roofs
-Glue stick
-Popsicle sticks
-Bag of Paper Shred
-Paint (Red and Brown)
-Sponge brushes


The kids first glued the houses and roofs to the paper. Then we made the houses in order. The glue sticks actually worked really well to keep the paper shreds and Popsicle sticks down.

Then we painted on the bricks.

The finished products. Lucas added chimneys to his.

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• Worksheet image I made can be downloaded here.
  
  

  DOWNLOAD FILE
  
  (you will have to add your own instructions I forgot to save the final product!)

• House inspiration found at Miss Mary's Preschool Ideas here.
  

Time For Tots: Family Day

Okay, so last week was a great but busy week. The day we usually do our Time For Tots day I was babysitting another kid... and rather than get really creative and involve him, well it just didn't happen. But I didn't want to miss a week already! So we moved out Time for Tots day to Saturday and involved Eric.

I have found as a mom, while it is great to have fun things to do, the most important thing is really being there with the kids (i.e. can't be checking my blog, can't be checking facebook). I just need to spend some distraction free time with them and the easiest way to do that is often by getting out of the house.

It was a pumpkin filled day.
Picking out pumpkins

Measuring up with pumpkins


Pushing around carts of pumpkins
(Lucas' favorite part)


And even a story about pumpkins

And just for fun a tire swing!

But most importantly it was spent with family.
Big things, little things, it doesn't matter
as long as you are with each other.
We were going to make caramel apples that evening but we spent too much time at Chuck-E-Cheese (another favorite of the kids)

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*Book is The Story of Pumpkin Written and Illustrated by Frank Fiorello--this book tells what happens to those pumpkins that aren't picked at Halloween. The illustrations are all beautiful paintings!

Don't worry--next week I will have another craft/activity filled day that might just blow your socks off!

Time for Tots: Duck Day

Last week our Time For Tots day also fell on Lucas' birthday. So I wanted to do something he would enjoy. A favorite spot we like is the Duck Pond close to our home. So I decided to make the day a duck day.

We started the day by making some ducks of our own.

The pattern for these ducks can be found here. I loved these patterns as not only were they cute but we talked about shapes while coloring and cutting these out; star-feet, heart-wings, etc. We then read Bluebird's Nest by Dorothea DePrisco with illustrations by Jo Parry. Obviously this book is not about ducks, but it is the cutest story about a bird building it's nest and other animals helping out. And the nest actually grows throughout the book.

Then we went to the duck pond.

We fed the ducks

we ran up and down the hills

we just sat and talked about ducks.

We talked about how the water rolls off of their feathers. We talked about why the female ducks are brown and the males are colorful. We just sat and enjoyed the day and each other.

That evening when Eric got home and Lucas told him why the ducks are the color they are and lots of facts about ducks; I knew the day was a success.

You can find more lesson ideas about ducks and lots of other subjects
at http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM

Kids Book Review Wednesday: FREE books

Attention all my Mesa friends.. and everyone else stick around to. Do you need something fun to do? Do you just need to get out? Do you want FREE kids books?

When we lived in Mesa, we participated in the Family Fun Van hosted by United Way. The Family Fun Van and it's staff would come to a certain location every week (there are four different weekly locations). There would be lots of toys for the kids to play with, then they would have singing time, exercise time, snack time, story time and craft time. And did I mention it was all FREE?!? At the end each family would get a FREE book to bring home, usually one of the books they read that week. We loved it! It will probably be starting again soon, so keep checking this site here for more information.

One of the books we got for free at Family Fun Van was Storm is Coming by Heather Tekavec with illustrations by Margaret Spengler. This was Heather's first book.Let me just first say, the illustrations are amazing!!! This book starts with a farmer telling his dog, "Storm is coming" and asks him to round up the animals into the barn. All of the animals make it into the barn only to realize they don't know who Storm is; but he must be scary they decide. When the wind starts blowing and the rain starts coming, they are happy as they think it will scare Storm away!

And the ending, well it can almost be a little tense and scary, but all ends well. You really have to check this one out. It is a favorite! I used this book when it was my turn for Joy School and we were talking about the weather.

So my Mesa friends, go to Family Fun Van, you will love it! And everyone else, find this book! You will love it too.

Kids Book Review Wednesday: Old Time Dinos

On Monday we were lucky enough to catch the last day of the Dinosaur exhibit at the Wild Animal Park in southern California. As we got near the entrance Lucas heard some of the dinosaurs roaring. He was then afraid to go in as it was going to be too loud. Luckily we convinced him to go in, and luckily what he heard was as loud as it got (except for that big guy over there) and he loved it.

It was fun to see the dinosaurs and it made me remember one of my favorite books growing up.

If the dinosaurs came back by Bernard Most. This is an old book, written before I was born (but just barely)--but you still can get it in print today!
This book tells all of the things the dinosaurs could help us with if they came back today, like scaring away robbers or carrying "my daddy to work and back".Most of the things are extremely far fetched as to how it would really be if the dinosaurs came back but they are all wonderful things that only a child (or someone who is still close to their inner child) would think of. The illustrations are in black and white except for the dinosaur; but there is something so simplistic and enticing about them.

So if you have any dinosaur fans in your house you will love this book. It even shows you the correct name of the different types of dinosaurs at the end of the book.

Happy Reading!!

And come back tomorrow for some great sleeping stories!!

Kids Book Review Wednesday: Fall Time!

It's September! Fall is coming! I really do think fall is my favorite season. Not only does it have Halloween and my birthday, but who doesn't love crunching and jumping into big piles of leaves?

Who Loves The Fall? Well that is actually the name of one of the books I chose for today!

It was a hard to find good fall books, lots of good Halloween ones, but I wasn't ready for those yet. But I did find two I like.

Who Loves the Fall by Bob Racska
and The Leaves Are Falling One By One by Steve Metzger.

Who Loves the Fall asks that question and answers it throughout the book. "Who loves the fall? Rakers, leapers, corn crop reapers." The book rhymes throughout and is a quick simple read, perfect for that quick bed time story.

The second book is The Leaves Are Falling One By One. This book can be read or sang to the tunes of The Ants Go Marching. It shows kids enjoying the fall and playing in the leaves, one of the best parts of fall.

I grew up in Illinois. I remember playing in my neighbors yard and in the fall there was a tree that was off limits, unless you wanted to end up covered in maple. I loved watching the leaves change colors. Unfortunately, the last several years we have lived in climates that don't have a real fall. It would get cooler, but no leaves falling off trees in Mesa.

We did, however, live for a couple of years in Durango, Colorado. Durango had the most perfect fall that would last from the end of August through the end of November. It was wonderful! The cool crisp air, the leaves everywhere. Lucas enjoyed it, he doesn't remember but he loved the leaves...

most of the time.
Do you have a favorite fall book?