Summer Reading and Super Heroes

This year the summer reading program has the hero theme which can encompass anything from comic book super heroes to every day people in our lives. This past week, Emily, her friend Savannah, and I attended one of the special events, hosted by our public library. The guest speaker was cartoonist Jeff Nicholas, a talented local Ohio cartoonist.

He showed the children how to draw a cartoon Dalmatian and asked them what kind of hero dogs they could name. The answers were varied and included seeing-eye dogs, rescue dogs, guard dogs, and police dogs. It was an interesting presentation reminding us that heroes do indeed come in every shape and size including animals.

Emily loves to draw and always practices whatever character Jeff has shown. She even included her version of the Dalmatian putting out a fire in the Father's Day card she made for her dad.

I was therefore compelled to include a book about a super hero of a different kind in this week's book review. What did I select? Why Noodle Man of course. Noodle Man is an extremely funny fictional story of Al Dente and the Dente family. The Dente family business is going down the tubes because everyone in town is ordering pizza to be delivered. Al creates a fresh pasta machine in hopes that it will save his family business, but instead, he ends up foiling a robbery attempt, rescuing two children from a burning building, and saving a damsel in distress. This book is a deliciously humorous tale that also introduces children to many different types and shapes of pasta.

The second book I read wasn't a traditionally heroic type of tale, but it did have a friend who went out of h is way to give his bestie a most extraordinary birthday. It was Toot and Puddle - A Present for Toot by the authoress and illustrator Holly Hobbie. And yes, she is the very same person who is the creator of the famous character bearing her name.

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.

Learning To Be A Lady

Our homeschool journey is going quite well; and as promised, Emily's father and I are doing our best to make sure she keeps connected to her former classmates. Just this past Friday she had her bi-monthly classes at her former school, and we brought a friend home with us for a play date. Since it was a special occasion I made them a fruit pizza for dessert. I'm telling you, it doesn't get much better then that.

 

This year Emily, along with another friend and former classmate, joined American Heritage Girls which is basically a spiritual version of Girl Scouts. One of the things that they want the girls to learn is how to be a true lady. And by that, I mean someone who thinks of others more then themselves. To me, this is a beautiful thing since this is a lesson her father and I have been teaching her as well.

 So when I randomly picked a book from  our stack to read for this review, I thought it was amazing that one of the main points of the story was how a princess learned to be more thoughtful and less spoiled. It's titled Lady Lollipop and it's an adorable story of a king, a queen, a princess, an orphan boy, and a very intelligent pig. And the black and white pencil style drawings add to the story and made me almost want to adopt a pig of my own___ almost.

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, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Meeting Friends At The Library__ Sort Of__ Part Two

Last week I wrote a piece about finding books at the library written or illustrated by friends. I also shared my friend Dandi's good news. On that same trip to the library, I saw the name Ohi on the spines of two books.  At first I thought it might be works by my friend, Debbie Ohi, the illustrator who  delights me with her daily doodle drawings. She is also the illustrator who is illustrating the new covers for the soon to be re-released Judy Bloom books.

The books I pulled off of the shelf, however, were written and illustrated by her sister, Ruth Ohi. It's not often that you find two such talented people in the same family, so I grabbed The Couch Was A Castle and Chicken, Pig, Cow and added them to my stack.

The Couch Was A Castle is an adorable book that reminded me of my very own living room couch that so often turns into a fort. You just have to love the imagination of a child who creates fantastic dreams from an ordinary every day item. Be it a castle, a leaky boat, or a dark cave, a couch can be an incredible thing. Ruth's book is also an incredible thing with adorable illustrations and incredibly cute characters.

Chicken, Pig, Cow was also a fantastic book. I loved the characters, I loved the illustrations, I loved the drooly dog that solved the barn door problem. I loved the fact that cow passed out when the drooly dog cuddle up to him, but claimed he had made a new friend when he woke up. A very fun book for children four to eight.

Not only do I find being an author incredibly fun, but I find exploring the works of my friends to be incredibly fun and rewarding as well.

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


Blustery Weeks and Too Fridgid Birthdays

Like most of the rest of the country, Ohio has been having some extremely blustery weeks. That is to be expected in January, but it can be awfully disappointing for girls who are born during this month. Unfortunately for my daughter, Emily, she is one such girl. She was actually born during a blizzard, so I guess that should have clued us in to what the future might hold.

Her actual birthday, which was last Tuesday, wasn't too bad. It was one of the two days she actually had school, so she did get to take her cupcakes. I made the minion cupcakes, I had seen online, that use Twinkies for the bodies.  They didn't turn out quite as nicely as I had hoped since the black gel I used for mouths and goggles ran a bit, but the children enjoyed them anyway. It was also the day she let me put her hair up. Now for those of you who don't know, Emily has refused since birth to let me touch her hair. She had received some new fancy hair bands for Christmas, however, and actually asked me to put her hair in a ponytail. Her instructions, "Make sure it's on the side."

Picture from the website. Mine were much smearier.

Birthday girl with a pony on the side!

As the week wore on, the weather worsened, and school was canceled repeatedly, it became clear that we were going to have to cancel her weekend birthday party. Understandably she was disappointed, but she wanted her friends to be safe and to be able to actually come to her ninth birthday celebration. I told her we would reschedule in a couple of weeks when, hopefully, the weather is warmer. And by warmer, I mean at least 32 degrees.

At this point I would gladly have begun hibernation, but we were out of milk and staples, so I decided to drag myself to the grocery store. Since her party was going to be canceled and she hates to shop, I dropped her off at my mother's, on the other side of town, to spend the night. By sheer coincidence, the library is on that side of town. Naturally it stood to reason that since I had to pass by the library on my way out of town for shopping, I should stop and get a new stack of books. And it's a good thing I did because the next day the library closed due to inclement weather!

Dealing with blustery weather too frigid for parties, caused me to check out a slew of books on winter and birthdays. I also managed to slip in one about a sasquatch which looked interesting. So when Sunday afternoon rolled around, the time I usually write my blog posts, I asked Emily if she would like to read some of the book selections to me.

She chose four out of the eight books I brought home and started by reading Larf, the sasquatch story. Larf is happy with his solitary life. He likes to be alone with his pet rabbit Eric. And, he likes the fact that most people don't believe he exists. Until one day, when he reads in the newspaper that a sasquatch will be making an appearance at the nearby town of Hunderfitz. Realizing he might not be the only living sasquatch, he quickly dons a disguise and heads to town. What he finds isn't what he expects, but all turns out well in the end.

Next she read Poppleton in Winter. Although Poppleton books are bit below her reading level, she still loves the character very much, and she told me so. Since I want reading to be fun for her, I encourage her to read whatever she enjoys no matter the level. In this book we found one story about icicles, one story about the bust he makes of his friend Cherry Sue, and one story about his birthday. We weren't expecting a story about his birthday so that was an exciting bonus.

After that, she read Mouse's Birthday. It was a simple book with short sentences which she found a little short and boring, but it would be a great book for beginning readers. She did laugh as each friend of mouse came and tried to squeeze into his house. And since each friend was larger then the last it was inevitable that something was going to happen to his tiny home. To find out what, I suggest you snag a copy for yourselves.

And last but not least, she read Duncan Rumplemeyer's Bad Birthday. It too was geared for younger children, but it did hold her attention better then Mouse's Birthday. Duncan learns a good lesson after all his friends leave his party. He learns that sharing isn't as bad as he thought, and it's always more fun to make rude noises when you have a friend around.

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpses into my days.


Good For Valentines: Great For Anytime!

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching I thought I would review a few books that are perfect for the holiday. Actually, these books are great for any time of the year; but since Valentine's Day is a remembering, kissing, and hugging kind of holiday you are probably going to want to read these books now!







The first book Hugs and Kisses, by Christophe Loupy, is a book my daughter received two years ago after completing the summer reading program. Not only did we read and enjoy it then, but many times since. This is one of those truly re-readable books. The main character, Hugs the puppy, sets out early one morning while his family is still sleeping because he has something he needs to find out. The kind farm animals along the way help him with his requests and when he returns to the barn and his family he finds the answer for which he was looking! What exactly was Hugs looking for? To find out you will just have to read this great book for
yourselves.


 

The second book, Schnitzle Von Krumm: Forget-Me-Not, by Lynley Dodd, is told in rhyme and is accompanied by beautiful illustrations. This is a great book for children 4 to 8 years of age and was actually read to me by my daughter who is quite the little narrator. Schnitzel is a cute little wiener dog whose family busily packs for vacation and remembers everything but him. Does Schnitzle Von Krumm get reunited with his family. You know what you have to do to find out.




  
How About A Hug, by Nancy Carlson, is a total success as far as books go in my humble opinion. My daughter usually does most of the reading since she has to log minutes for school, but last night she asked me to read this book to her. I must admit I really loved this book not only because it has great illustrations and short and sweet text, but because I come from a long line of serious huggers. I even like the dedication which read, "In memory of my uncle Bill, who always gave me Big Hugs!" Having lost  my dad last year I completely understood where this book was coming from and I make sure I take every opportunity to hug the family and friends that are with me still!




And there you have it my friend, three good books for Valentine's Day or three great books for any day.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!