Summertime, and the reading is easy- Book series recommendations included!

When my son MAP was born, it was a cold winter and just him and I in the house. Previously, I had been working in Manhattan at Ralph Lauren in the corporate office uptown, surrounded by hundreds of people. I took subways and trains and talked to a lot of people in the course of a day.

Then I was home with my baby boy, where I didn't know a lot of people. I didn't know anyone who had a baby. And I was so tired from lack of sleep. The house seemed so quiet without people to talk to. So I talked to my boy. And we read. A lot. Picture books from my childhood. New ones I had been given at his baby shower. No matter how tired I was, I could lie down and snuggle my boy and read. He loved to hear my voice and enjoyed looking at the pictures. MAP had a long attention span and reading filled up our cold weeks until spring came and we got outside more. But we always read. Every day. Outside on a picnic blanket, at the beach, everywhere.

Fast forward 10 years and he is super reader. So is his sister. I am not saying this is just from our reading sessions, but I do think they helped. I think it also helps that they have a fresh batch of books always on the bookshelf in topics they are interested in. To accomplish this, I turn to our amazing library system. With a little help from different websites to research what is new plus searching the libraries vast inventories, by topics or genre, I've found some incredible books for the kids. And if they don't like it, we return it and try again.

The Montessori School they attend has also helped shape our readers beyond what happens in the classroom. They encourage a Family Book, which is exactly what it sounds like, a book the whole family reads together. They said we should try to read above their reading level too- books they wouldn't read on their own yet.

Now, before they were at the school, we always read to the kiddos at night, but usually it was one parent and one child reading a book together. But this was a great idea, so we could all read and discuss the same books. One of those "Ah-ha!" moments.

What amazing stories we've discovered together!  These are a few book series that are our favorites and we highly recommend for a family book!

What an incredible series by Trenton Lee Stewart! A story of four children with different gifts that end up forming an amazing team and saving the world. Well written, fast paced and includes some puzzles to figure out along the way. They actually made a super fun puzzle book as a companion to this series, which we also loved.

This series is well written, full of action and brings Greek Mythology to life! From here, we explore mythology with cool fact books we found, plus a cool game called Zeus on the Loose- a fast paced card game by Gamewright that has us doing math in our heads! pictured below...We are now on to the second series, Heroes of Olympus. 

We all LOVED this series. A very sweet series about four sisters and a boy who they befriend. The sisters have lost their mother to cancer, but the way they care for each other and their father and this new boy, it's just so well written and engaging as a story. We couldn't put them down!

I think the most important thing was to find things that the kids were interested in. Some books just didn't do it for them. We tried Wind in the Willows, but it wasn't holding their attention and we moved on.

My daughters class was learning about Greek Mythology & that's when we brought in the Percy Jackson series. It made my son interested too and we all had fun together. Then we watched the movie together one night after we'd read the book. They both liked the book better. :)

If you have younger kids, there are lots of great stories too! If you have girls that have enjoyed the Fancy Nancy picture books, there is a chapter book series now. My girl loved these!

The Magic tee House series is a classic one and now they have Non-fiction companions to go with many of the books to delve into a the topes deeper, so if your child liked one of the books and wants to learn more about it, this is a great way to go. Mary Pop Osborne is a genius! 

Don't forget the Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort Series by Lauren Child that we've posted about before. These are great books for girls AND boys alike who like mystery and adventure! 

We LOVE Jon J. Muth's picture books. The images are amazing and the stories beautiful. Zen shorts, Zen ties, Hi Koo! They introduce children to a Zen approach to the world, and let the child see a situation from a different point of view, via the stories of Stillwater the panda.

My son also HIGHLY recommends the swerves the Strange Case of the Origami Yoda for Star Wars fans approaching Middle School Age. 

We also discovered the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series, which is a comic style book about real historical events that my son devoured! These can be found in the graphic novel section of the library and I encourage you to check them out. My son learned a lot from these and there have been many amazing books we've found in that section dealing with biographies and real alive events, PERFECT for a non-fiction lover or a hesitant reader or a comic book fan! 

Our library has a new books section. My kids head there now first to see what has just come in! We have found lots of cool books this way.

On a personal note- I am excited for our EmmaMade featuring Loops by Keri Creativity Camps to start NEXT week!!! We made them 2 hours of jam-packed fun, twice a week, so it will easily fit into the busy summer scheduled.

Next week- Frozen camp in the AM and Minecraft CRAFTING in the PM!

FROZEN camp- Thursday July 8th & 10th- from 9:30-11:30am for a creativity camp based on our little ones favorite movie! We'll be singing along to the music as we craft. Just $80 for the two day session includes all supplies and snack! For ages 4+ 

MineCrafting camp- Is your child obsessed with Minecraft? Ours are too! Come have them CRAFT at our table with their hands, not just their thumbs  as we make some awesome Minecraft themed projects. Next Tuesday & Thursday July 8&10, from 12:15pm-2:15. Just $80 for the two day session includes all supplies and snack! Awesome for both boys and girls 4 & up!

http://www.123contactform.com/form-983204/EmmaMade-Summer-Camps-2014


More to come for book recommendations & crafty options..but for now, Read on!

Why it's Important to Take your Kids on Errands

Now I know what you are thinking. Why would I take the children along if I could go alone? It is SO much faster to do things alone, right? Get in the store and get out. Not having a child with you means they won't be there to ask for something.

Believe me, I do get that. I remember the looks I used to get as I pushed my double stroller and dragged a shopping cart behind me. There were times I was asked incessantly for something. But I learned from the experiences that it pays to engage my kiddos. They would have to learn to run their own errands too.

So we invented games. One of our favorites to play while food shopping was "Name that Veggie!" I would hold up an item and the little ones happily called out "Carrot!"  "Fennel!" and even the obscure "Rutabaga!" We got some looks for that too. Looks of surprise and smiles from other shoppers. In fact, for those of you with little ones still, may I recommend the INCREDIBLE book, Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. 

I would have taken pictures of my own copies (yes, we have two copies!) but they are seriously well loved!

Lois Ehlert makes the most incredible images in her books using collage. We brought this book with us so many times to the grocery store and the kids would look through the book and we'd name the fruits and veggies. I always found if I engaged engaged them in what we were doing, we all had fun. Plus, as a bonus, they tried new foods! 

Aren't they amazing pictures! We have read many Lois Ehlert books. Another favorite is Planting a Rainbow. That's a great one to bring the garden store or to look at seeds or while you are walking around the neighborhood. You can point out all the flowers you find!  Definitely check out some of Ms. Ehlert's books while you are at the bookstore or library!  

There are lots of other things you can do to engage your child. Give them a list with pictures if they are small or have them help you write the list when they are bigger. Or they can check things off as you buy them. Now that they are getting older, my two like to help me by going together to the next aisle over and getting something. They know to stay together and they are within earshot, but they feel very grown up. 

Besides the benefits of having the children see the errands as a family task and not "Mom or Dad's job", there are other pluses. I have great conversations with my kiddos while we are doing a task together. They really open up when we are doing things together. Much less pressure than sitting face to face. 

As they got older, we tried different things. After returning bottles, if they could figure out how much money we would get back from returning a batch, they could keep the money we received back. They loved that! 

I would let them order or pay for things. Little Miss delights in ordering her sliced turkey at the deli counter. She takes her own number and orders while I get my produce. That time invested in teaching the kids to help has paid for itself and it has become a time saver now! 

Well, just yesterday my DH brought MAP to the pet store to get our dear doggies some food. While they were there, inspiration struck! MAP started writing Haiku after Haiku. Luckily, my boy is never without a pad of paper and a pencil. (we keep them in the car in a little bin with a few books that we rotate every few weeks)

I was quite impressed when he brought them home for me to read. Here are a few of my favorites (he wrote 11 while he was there!)

Fifteen birds in a cage

Chirping a cacophony

My, how loud they are

Two tiny sea stars

Clinging strongly to a tank

They are motionless

A lone restless bird

Rocks a ladder back and forth

Quite vigorously

A gerbil dozing

Next to a wheel for spinning

It looks very tired

Young birds in a cage

Lightly feathered, they don't chirp

Oh, they are so cute!

So, next time you have to run an errand, bring along one of your children with you. You never know what can happen. 

Shop On!

Book Nook: We heart Lauren Child!

We LOVE to read in this house. We all have books we read alone. Then at night each child has a book they are reading with each parent, since we switch off who has MAP and Little Miss O each night. Thankfully, we have an amazing library that not only stocks great books but has a truly helpful staff in the Children's Department! :)  

But sometimes it is good to have new ideas of what to read from friends. 

In our first installment (there will be more...lots, lots more ;)  you need to learn about Lauren Child.

I CANNOT say enough about Lauren Child, an incredibly talented author and illustrator, who created my favorite brother-sister pairing in Charlie and Lola. Each book starts with big brother Charlie saying "I have this little sister Lola. She is small, and very funny" 

I happened upon one of Lauren's books when MAP was 2 1/2 and starting to become a picky eater. Up until then, he ate just about anything. White spinach pizza was a favorite. And then, one day, he stopped.

So when I spotted Lauren's book, I will Never, NOT EVER, Eat a Tomato, I knew we had to have it. And kid you not, I was able to get MAP to try some of the foods in the book by calling them the fancy names Charlie gave to them. We made up our own silly names for foods and it helped us to expand MAP's repertoire of foods. 

 

The books range on every topic from sharing, to being responsible, wearing glasses or losing a tooth. The relationship between the siblings is wonderful and rings true. There is a Charlie & Lola tv series (and available on DVD) and it is fantastic as well!! Being an English show, the children have British accents, which MAP would imitate quite well, adding another level of fun to it! The music is infectious and these are the only dvd's that my children asked to watch again and again.

Not only are her illustrations lovely, (the most amazing collages with incredible patterns and life to them!!) her use of creative type make the books fun for everyone to read.  

As if she weren't talented enough, Lauren also created additional series that my children are enjoying now that they are older. 

Little Miss O is enjoying Clarice Bean series right now (recommended for ages 8-11). The illustrations are wonderful, the story lines are perfect for this age and they deal with friendships and Clarice wanting to be like her heroine from her favorite books named Ruby Redfort.

And then, Lauren came out with a book about Ruby Redfort (so now you can read the books that Clarice loves too- utterly brilliant!!) MAP enjoyed the first Ruby Redfort book and will be thrilled to learn the next one is coming out in May!! (Recommended for ages 10-13)

I don't know if Lauren Child sleeps at all, because between all this, she illustrates amazing classic books! Little Miss O and I read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren that she illustrated and we enjoyed it all the more with Lauren's whimsical illustrations. 

Next on our reading list is Anne of the Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery, with cover art and introduction by Lauren!

Thank you so much Lauren Child, for all the amazing stories, with which I get to snuggle my little (and now, not so little) ones! You have given me ways to help ease fears (wobbly teeth!) or to teach responsibility, sharing and taking care of our possessions. I have never met you, but I feel a kindred creative spirit in you!

If you have a favorite children's author, please share! We are always on the hunt for new books! 

Read on!