Board Books For A Birthday!

I've had a lot of library related meetings over the past week, so it was nice to take it easy over the weekend. I leisurely ran errands, played Skipbo with the hubs and Emily, and attended our great niece's first birthday.

Little Ruby is so cute I cold have eaten her up instead of the cake, but I refrained. And the present I picked out for our family to give her will come as no surprise to any one. Yes, you have it_ books!

I found a beautiful board book by a company called  Little Hippo Books called I Need A Hug. And it was written by Susie Linn. The story begins in the early morning and bushbaby, Boo, needs a hug from his mom before he can go to sleep. But Boo's mom is nowhere to be found. During his search for her, he gets hugs from many other animals; but none of them are the just right kind of hug. Finally he finds his mom, gets his hug, and drifts off into dreamland.

I also bought a book put out by Sky Pony titled Bedtime For Little Bears. It was a story of a small bear who doesn't want to go to bed (anyone with children will find this familiar). So Mother bear takes him on a walk to see who else is getting ready for bed.

I love board books, but since we are way past that stage, it was fun to be able to share a few with family. So if  you have littles who need a gift, be sure to check these books out.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Library Love

This past week I made an apple pie, went to my monthly Library Board of Trustee Meeting, and changed out the children's display case at my local library. The first was delicious, the second a fruitful endeavor, and the third creatively satisfying. Creating displays about reading is almost as fun as writing.

So when I checked my "to read" pile this week I was overjoyed to find two books about libraries and library books. The first book, The New Libearian, took me to an imaginative library where the librarian went missing and the children hunt for her. But instead of their favorite librarian, they find a new roaring, growling, stomping liBEARian. Hillarity ensues until the real librarian  shows up and restores story time to order.

The second book, The Library Book, told the tale of a young girl's trip to the library one rainy morning. As she tries to decide which book to check out, the characters from great classics come to life and beg to be taken home.

Both these books would make great reads for the five to eight crowd. So run to your library to check them out. And if your library doesn't have them yet, be sure to ask your librarian to order them!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Fun In May

May is flying by quickly, but we're having lots of fun over here in Ohio. Emily and I attended our last Cook Book Club meeting until September (we close for summer reading).

I turned 49, and Emily made me the most beautiful birth day card.

She also made me an unbelievable Mother's Day card.

And I read the two books I found in the wild at my library a couple of weeks ago. "In the Wild," is what we authors say when we see books by friends in public places like book stores and libraries. The first book happened to be written by my friend Ame Dykman and is titled Read The Book, Lemmings.

Fox has a book all about lemmings, but the Lemmings won't read the book and keep jumping overboard every time Fox mentions that Lemmings "DON'T" jump off cliffs. Fox saves the lemmings repeatedly, but can't understand why they won't read the book. When Fox learns that the lemmings can't read, he sets about to remedy the situation because every lemming should know how to read!

The second book is illustrated by my friend and ultra talented human being, Will Hillenbrand, and is titled Sneeze Big Bear Sneeze! Now don't get me wrong, the author Maureen Wright does a brilliant job with the story of Big Bear arguing with Autumn Wind about who is causing the leaves and apples to fall, but Will's illustrations take the story to the next level.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Prize Winning Recipe and A Love of Travel

Last Monday was our Library's 18th Annual Chocolate Lovers Bake Off, and for all of you who know how much I love to bake, it will come as no surprise that I entered. This year I entered Neapolitan Cupcakes in the cake category and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting in the cookie and bars category. And I am happy to report I won first place in the cookie category. So if you love pumpkin and chocolate, feel free to try them out for yourselves.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
1  cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, and then beat in pumpkin before adding dry ingredients. Finally, fold in chocolate chips. Spread in greased pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick come out of the center cleanly. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting
                        

 1 ½ cups softened salted butter

1 cup baking cocoa

5 cups powdered sugar

½ cup milk

1 TBS vanilla extract

In stand mixer, add five cups of powdered sugar and cocoa and beat on low until combined. Add butter, vanilla, and one TBS of milk and beat. Continue to add milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. If frosting is too thin, add additional powdered sugar. 

Besides baking, reading, writing, crafting, taking pictures, and geocaching, I also love to travel.  So as I sifted through my pile of borrowed library books, I decided on a book simply titled Somewhere Else. As I opened the cover and admired the end pages my interested was piqued. On those end pages were a myriad of old newspaper or catalog clippings of suit cases and travel bags. In case I haven't  mentioned before, I also have a love of all things old and full of history. It took me a while to tear myself away from the end papers, but when I did, I enjoyed the story of George the bird. George, much like myself, was a prize winning baker. But unlike me, George never went anywhere.

George's friends invited him to travel, but he always turned them down claiming he was just to busy to go anywhere. When winter arrived, George found himself all alone until a bear named Pascal stopped by looking for a warm place to spend the winter. Eventually, George revealed his secret to Pascal and Pascal helped him over it. And in the end, they set out on a grand adventure!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

No Words and Rhyme Time

This week was less eventful than last. We home schooled, I got the oil changed in my car, went to my rescheduled car appointment, and enjoyed taking pictures at Farmers' Market. I do love to take pictures of fruits and vegetables!

 

And I even managed to read two books instead of one this week. The first book, Owl Bat/ Bat Owl, tells a tale of new friends without words. Now in all honesty, I don't normally like wordless picture books, but this book kept my interest until the very end. An owl family and a bat family share the same sleeping branch where everything but sleep seems to take place. This book offers the readers a wonderful opportunity to talk about the action each illustration offers and would be great for kids ages four to six.

The second book, There's a Bear on My Chair, told a tale with words a plenty. And not just any words, but rhyming words. Extremely well written rhyming words. A mouse shares  his feelings of outrage over a bear sitting in his chair. And quite frankly, the bear just does not care that he is sitting in the mouse's chair. A fun and colorful book, children from four to eight will think this story great!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Libraires, Friends, and Family

I can't believe how much has happened in the last four days. This past Thursday, I hosted a Farmers' Market meeting at my local library to update my vendors on what will be happening this year; and while I was there, the library director asked me to fill the vacancy on the Board of Trustees. So now I am a trustee member and will meet with the other trustees once a month to determine library policy and other library business. I also switched out the children's display to get ready for the Summer Reading Program. This year's theme is Building A Better World.

Next I took Emily to a round of parties. The first was an end of school party where the girls played tag and made fancy candle jars. The second was a bowling birthday party.

And finally, I spent a day and a half preparing for a family get-together with my husbands relatives. It's been quite a while since all twenty-two of us have been able to get together in one place for something other than a funeral, so it was nice.

 

"But did I read any books," you ask? Of course. I managed to read two books this weekend. First, I read a book about finding books at the library called We're Going On A Book Hunt. Totally appropriate for a library volunteer and Board of Trustees member, and a fun read for kids four to eight as they watch a class of bears take a trip to the library in search of the just right reads!

The second book I read was called Fox and Fluff and was an adorable tale of family. This story of a Fox who accidentally adopts a small chick shows that family doesn't always have to mean the people you are born too, but can mean the people you come to love. This book is a bit older (2002), but I would definitely check to see if your local library has a copy.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Happy Fall Y'all

Fall is here, and along with the vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow, a crispness is in the air. The type of temperature which is quite conducive to having backyard fires in the fire pit. And of course there is also the raking, but i decided to put that off until later. Instead, I spent the week doing everyday things. I visited my hairdresser for a trim. I made some more apple butter. I took my car in to have the oil changed. And, best of all, I spent time with one of my besties and the other half of The Story Sisters team.

So I decided some fallish books would be in order this week. The first book I read called, Animal House, had a beautiful cover of two squirrels sitting in their living room. I had mixed feelings about this book. I loved the artwork. I loved that a different animals perspective of how to build a proper home was delivered on each page. I love the surprise on the last page. But the story was told in rhyme and the rhythm didn't always work as I read along which was a bit distracting. I would still suggest you try to find this book at your library or online because the house they show at the end of the book is pretty spectacular.

The second book I read was How to Catch a Falling Star. This book is adorable both in terms of artwork and story. Eagerly Bear waits for the last star to fall from the tree. He thinks the last star, which is actually a leaf, has magic that he can wish on. As he waits, forest friends join him one at a time. Bear finds out that he can't wish on the star, but what he wanted comes true anyways.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musing Monday Link Up where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Christmas in July

This past week found me baking away even more then usual because at Farmers' Market we were having Christmas in July as well as a chef event sponsored by the Richland County Farm Bureau. The vendors decorated their spaces and the public voted on their favorites. Bobby brought me home some cardboard from work and I made a Bethlehem scene. Emily made a Christmas tree which turned out quite well.

The Christmas in July theme made me think of some of my favorite Christmas books. Books like A Star So Bright. Although published in 2006, this book is definitely worth looking for in your library or finding used on Amazon. A lovely nativity story told in well played rhyme, this book also features a cutout on each page that shows a star. When you reach the last page, the star actually lights up. 

There is also Together At Christmas. Together At Christmas shares this same idea. It is a story of ten cold mice who leave their huddle one at a time to find shelter from the storm. Each does indeed find a place of refuge, but in the end they realize something even more important then enjoying a cozy dwelling alone.

 And of course there is The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. I almost cried at the beauty of this story. Jonathan Toomey is known to all the town folk as gloomy Toomey. Unbeknownst to them, Jonathan has lived through a calamity that has caused him unbearable grief. That is until the widow McDowell and her son once again show him the joy of Christmas. I have definitely added this to my list of best ever Christmas stories!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musings Monday Blog Hop where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website, Fun With Aileen, where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own early grade Fern Valley chapter book series and my Quack and Daisy picture book series. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

The Hudson Children's Book Festival

I love to travel. I love to catch up with friends. I love to make new friends. I love books. So just imagine how much I love participating in the Hudson Children's Book Festival which occurred this past weekend!
This festival takes place each year in lovely Hudson, New York which is on the banks of the Hudson River and is quite a ways from my Shelby, Ohio home. So I set out on Thursday morning and drove many hours until I reached the home of my friends Barbara and Victor Mojica. They invited me to stay at the guest cottage behind their home and a lake view was included. Two more gracious hosts you will never find.

Victor is the creator of the CrossBones Comics and Eugenics as well as the illustrator of Barbara's Little Miss History Books. They both love, love, love history, which is evident in the fine books they produce. And if you happen to be visiting the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, be sure to check the gift shops for their books.

 

Victor and Barbara weren't the only authors and illustrators I was already acquainted with. I also had a blast with David Biedrzycki and his new selfie stick. David is the author and illustrator of several books including the Breaking News Series.

David and Me

There was also the Fabulous Susan Hood whose latest book released just days before the festival and David A. Kelly who writes the Ballpark Mysteries for all you baseball lovers. I particularly like book #6 The Wrigley Riddle because it reminds me of when my dad and I used to watch the Chicago Cubs together when I was a kid.

Beth Ferry, Me, and Susan Hood

There was Diane DeGroat a superb illustrator/author of the Gilbert books as well as illustrator of Ree Drummund's, Charlie books, the husband and wife team of Wendell and Florence Minor, and the creator of the Monster Needs series, Paul Czajak.

David and Diane DeGroat

David with Florence and Wendell Minor

David and Paul

 
I also met brand new author Katherine Gardner who is a pre-k teacher as well. She is just as cute as can be and the type of teacher every pre-ker dreams of. I met Beth Ferry, the author I mentioned last week, Daniel Mahoney, author of Monstergarten, and one of my table mates, Bianca Rell, who turned out to be with my very own publisher Tate.

Katherine Gardner and Me

Daniel Mahoney and me

Bianca Rell and Me

And did I mention I met Kwame Alexander, author of many books, including my favorite, Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. For kids interested in the history of Jazz, this book is a must. It turns out, that Kwane is as sweet as he is tall and handsome!

Kwame Alexander and Me

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musings Monday Blog Hop where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website, Fun With Aileen, where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own early grade Fern Valley chapter book series and my Quack and Daisy picture book series. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.