Keep Dreaming!

This past week was exciting in more ways then one. First of all, we started our second year of homeschooling. We are a bit busier this year since we home school through our former school's Independent Studies Program which allows Emily to participate in the fifth grade choir. We also fulfilled a longtime dream of Emily's which was to own a piano.

Some friends of ours were getting rid of a small spinet piano, and we were able to purchase it fairly inexpensively. Her aunt has agreed to teach her the basics, and she is very excited. I'm not sure yet if she grasps the concept of how much hard work learning to play the piano is going to entail, but for now we are just enjoying the new piano euphoria.

And speaking of dreams, Brown Bear had a dream too. In Brown Bear's Dream, Brown Bear Dreams of visiting the sea. However, an injury to his leg keeps him from being able to walk to the ocean. So Brown Bear thinks perhaps he can learn to swim and can make his way to the ocean in that manner. His good friend, Grandfather Beaver, helps him set goals, encourages him to continue working at accomplishing those goals even when they become difficult, and shares part of Brown Bear's journey with him. And although the journey was long and difficult, Brown Bear actually accomplished what he set out to do.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved this book. I saw myself in Brown Bear where my writing is concerned. I have a dream of where I want to end up on my writing journey, and although I haven't yet achieved my dream, I am bolstered by wise Grandfather Beaver's words, "This is your dream! Keep working at it. It is never easy to realize a dream. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth having."

The second book I read was about what to do if a dream doesn't work out quite the way you plan. The book is the new wordless picture book, Float, by Daniel Miyares. A young boy takes a paper boat out for an adventure on a rainy day. What happens to his boat isn't what he had in mind when he started on his journey, but when things don't go as he hoped, he learns that there is always a plan b.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)and my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Change Is Inevitable

Despite our wishes to the contrary, change is inevitable. My husband felt this keenly over the past weekend as he attended a Father/Daughter Dinner with our daughter, Emily. He was so proud to be her escort, but at the same time, looking at her so grown up in her dress and  high heels, it made him wish he could freeze the hands of time.

Most parents have probably felt this at some point. Heck, even children can feel this as you find out in Olivia Measures Up. Olivia is thrilled to finally measure tall enough to ride the coasters. Her brother is not yet tall enough, but her parents mention that one day he will probably be taller then her. Olivia has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that her brother might be taller then her at some point and goes out of her way to convince him he should stop growing. In the end, she comes to realize that no matter how tall her brother might get, one thing would never change. She would always be the older sister.

And while there is nothing at all that we can do to hold back the tides of change, we can encourage creativity. Creativity comes in many forms, music, art, writing, cooking, inventing, gardening, and so forth. One way of encouraging creativity is to encourage reading. Reading be it fiction or non-fiction opens the doors to the universe where anything is possible.

If I Built A Car is a prime example of this. As Jack rides along in the back seat of his father's car, he begins to tell his father about the car he will create some day. As we follow his whimsical journey of creation  told in jaunty rhyme form, we see just how much fun dreaming and creating can be.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days

An Arctic Dream and A Really Tall Tale!

As we head into the last week of February, I look around and still see great piles of snow. This, of course, means lots of shoveling, lots of warm fires, lots of soup, and lots of seeds for our outside friends.

It also means a winter book and a really tall tale! The winter book I chose  to review is titled Polar Skater, and although it dates back to 2004, you can still get it through Bargain Books on Barnes and Noble's site for only $1.99. Quite thrifty for a book worthy of four to six year olds.

If you chose to read, Polar Skater, you will dream with a young girl who longs for a pair of skates. Once obtained, the true dreaming begins as she leaves the crowds behind and skates with the beasts of the arctic. An audience of seals, whales, snow geese and such, help her to embrace the freedom skating brings until it is time to once again join those she left behind on her skating journey.

The tall tale I chose,  an extreme tale if you wish, was about the ever so famous Pecos Bill. This particular story called Pecos Bill Tames A Colossal Cyclone, granted us insight into Pecos Bill's unfortunate ousting from his family's wagon and his subsequent rescue by a wolf pack. An emotion filled reunion with one of his long lost brothers, his training as a cowboy, and his wild ride on a cyclone are sure to further thrill the reader. And  the explanation of how the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon came to be, might even elicit a chuckle or two from the adult readers.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.