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Children’s Book Giveaway: What Charlie Heard

July 11, 2011 By 33 Comments

I stumbled upon Mordecai Gerstein’s books quite by accident at the library several years ago.

what charlie heard1 Childrens Book Giveaway: What Charlie Heard

We pulled “What Charlie Heard” off the shelf, got in the car, and…listened (it came with an audio CD  - read by the author himself!). I knew from the get-go that it was a treasure. The lyrical book chronicles the life of musician and Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Ives. Written to be read aloud, the true story abounds with positive messages about pursuing passion, persevering in spite of opposition, and opening our ears to the music all around us.

charles ives 4th of july Childrens Book Giveaway: What Charlie Heard

I’d love to see more children’s books like this – books that creatively record the lives of famous authors, musicians, scientists, and artists. I hope Mordecai Gerstein keeps writing them. He’s a master storyteller.

charles ives playing the piano Childrens Book Giveaway: What Charlie Heard

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of the book at your local library or – better yet – from an online bookstore. If you can get a copy with the audio, that’s even better.

WIN IT! One winner will receive a copy of What Charlie Heard ($13.26) by Mordecai Gerstein! To enter, leave any topic-related comment on this post prior to Monday, July 18 at 11:59 p.m. All generic comments like “Enter me!” or “Love it” will be disqualified. Winner must provide a US mailing address.

* Thanks to Macmillan for providing two books – one for review and one for this giveaway.  

*UPDATE* The winner is #17 Susan Varney. Congratulations!

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Children’s Book Giveaway: Bats at the Library

July 1, 2011 By 68 Comments

Many of our favorite children’s books are from authors who have passed away – words written in a different time. Goodnight Moon. Green Eggs & Ham. Bread & Jam for Frances.

bats at the library cover Childrens Book Giveaway: Bats at the Library

Author Brian Lies, however, has managed to write and illustrate a text that has all of the characteristics of a classic. Bats at the Library is a tale of grand creativity – a librarian leaves a window open and the bats swoop in for an evening of literacy.

The graceful text is a delight to read aloud and the darkly-colored paintings have plentiful detail to make the reader want to linger on each page.

bat telling a story Childrens Book Giveaway: Bats at the Library little red riding hood bat1 Childrens Book Giveaway: Bats at the Library peter rabbit bat1 Childrens Book Giveaway: Bats at the Library

Because it was published in 2008, it looks like this story missed the chance to win a Caldecott Medal (a shame!), but it still deserves a winning chance to be on your bookshelf.

WIN IT! One winner will receive a copy of Bats at the Library ($10.88) by Brian Lies! To enter, leave any topic-related comment on this post prior to Friday, July 8 at 11:59 p.m. All generic comments like “Enter me!” or “Love it” will be disqualified. Winner must provide a US mailing address.

*UPDATE* The winner is #6 Christine Jensen. Congratulations!

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Creative Awakening

May 11, 2011 By 31 Comments

drawing with colored pencils Creative AwakeningTwo nights ago, I wrote a children’s book.

I was struck by inspiration as I put my 2-year-old to bed…the words danced across my mind in sudden symmetry. As soon as she succumbed to sleep, I tip-toed out and sat down at my laptop, fingertips firing. Tim raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m writing a children’s book,” I said non-chalantly. And I did.

It needs some editing, but it’s actually pretty decent for a first draft. I’ve been repeating the lines out loud for the past few days. That’s a good sign – lyrical lines, easy to memorize.

Now, I have to find an illustrator. Most great children’s books have great artists behind them, don’t you agree?

I also came up with the BEST business idea yesterday. My 4-year-old has been talking about it ever since – she and I are both starry-eyed about it. You should have heard us at the dinner table tonight!

P.S. I think I’m going to stick with the “Metropolitan Mama” name, but there’s going to be a fresh design – plus new tabs and focuses. Can’t wait.

Have you ever written, published, or dreamed of writing a children’s book?

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official book count in our RV

April 10, 2011 By 43 Comments

We have one pink bin for children’s books in our RV. I counted today and it has 72 books in it (which is far too few).

pink book bin official book count in our RV 72 books official book count in our RV

I’m not sure how many we had prior to our RV life, but I would venture to say that we had at least 1000. Even then, we went to the library once a week.

Now, we have a tiny percentage of those books AND we don’t have library cards. Killing. Me.

2 year old reading official book count in our RV 4 year old reading official book count in our RV

We still read books daily (but we’re getting bored with our sparse selection). I have “Madeline” memorized word-for-word. Try me.

I think we went to the local library almost every day that we were in Woodbine, Georgia last week. We would sit in the children’s area for 1-2 hours at a time to read stacks of books…even our 2-year-old was captivated & quiet.

How many children’s books are in your house? Do you recognize any of the books from our pile?

If you had to pare down your children’s book collection, which books would you keep or give away?

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Dear God, Please Help Me to Read Soon

August 25, 2010 By 41 Comments

books in bed Dear God, Please Help Me to Read SoonYesterday we found our 3-year-old jumping on her bed and praying jubilantly, “Dear God, Please help me to read soon!” over and over again.

I think her prayer will come true sooner than she realizes. You see, she is a consumer of books. She reads them in the morning, in the car, in bed, and under blankets. She likes classic books, Disney books, Berenstain Bears books, anatomy books, audio books, and – especially – chapter books.

To date, we’ve read the following books aloud to her at bedtime:

We tried “All of A Kind Family,” but she was disinterested. We also tried “Ivy & Bean,” but I vetoed that book after the first chapter or two.

I also recently began doing “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” with her each day during her sister’s nap. Tomorrow will be day 4. My thoughts so far? Oddly (and unexpectedly), I ADORE the scripted text and the somewhat brainless way of teaching. The book tells you exactly what to say and when to say it. Certainly, it’s a little mechanical that way, but it’s only 10-15 minutes…and the ease of the system helps me to say “yes” to the lesson even when I’m feeling non-creative. On the negative side, the first four lessons have been too-too easy and I am a little bit nervous that she’ll get bored of doing the same thing every day. Only time will tell. Perhaps the promise of reading will be enough to keep her captivated.

P.S. Have you ever tried praying while jumping on the bed? I think I totally want to try it.

How old were each of your children when they learned to read? What book or system did you use to teach them (if any)?

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Children’s Books: 5 [Little-Known] Favorites

July 31, 2010 By 36 Comments

A good children’s book is surprisingly hard to find.

Perhaps I am a hard critic, but I must say that I am largely underwhelmed by the majority of the books that we check out from the library. They tend to be unimaginative, embarrassingly trite, lacking in depth and character development, and crudely illustrated.

On the flip side, there are some children’s books that far surpass adult books in beauty and original writing. For your reading pleasure, here are 5 of our favorite picture books that are not particularly well-known:

9780689718724 Childrens Books: 5 [Little Known] FavoritesSomebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli

Mr. Hatch works at the shoelace factory and lives an uninspired, ho-hum life…until he receives an anonymous note in the mail that turns his life upside-down. A lovely story about the power of human kindness.

chimpanzees of happytown 249x300 Childrens Books: 5 [Little Known] FavoritesThe Chimpanzees of Happytown by Giles Andrae

The Town of Drabsville USA is dreary, boring, and grey…until a passionate and energetic monkey shows up and colors the world. It gloriously illustrates the power that one individual can have to transform an entire community.

mufaros beautiful daughters Childrens Books: 5 [Little Known] FavoritesMufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

Two beautiful daughters – one with a cold heart, one with a kind heart. A noble and handsome prince must choose a wife. Will love win out? [The answer is: Yes.]


what charlie heard Childrens Books: 5 [Little Known] FavoritesWhat Charlie Heard by Mordecai Gerstein

Author Mordecai Gerstein brilliantly writes the biography of American Composer Charles Ives in a way that appeals to both young and old. His use of the pen is pure music and the illustrations are wondrous. P.S. If you have a chance to get this one as an audio book, DO IT. Hearing Mordecai read his work aloud is an auditory delight.

MarthaDoesntSaySorry Childrens Books: 5 [Little Known] FavoritesMartha Doesn’t Say Sorry by Samantha Berger

Martha the Otter is occasionally naughty and, unfortunately, she is not very good at apologizing. In the end, however, she does learn the benefits of saying sorry. Clever illustrations. Fun to read aloud.

What are your favorite lesser-known children’s books? Have you read any or all of the books on my list?

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Thoughts On: Disney Princesses

June 9, 2010 By 43 Comments

princess themed books Thoughts On: Disney PrincessesA few weeks ago, I overheard Tim reading “Sleeping Beauty” to our 3-year-old.

I couldn’t help but smile as I eavesdropped on their book reading session. Tim kept adding in commentary every page or two, “…And then – This is crazy! – the prince fell in love with the princess before he even talked with her!“

I’ve mentioned the Disney Princesses once or twice on my blog and I wanted to clear up a few things:

A. We own almost the entire collection of Disney storybooks, courtesy of a family member. The Lion King. The Jungle Book. The Emperor’s New Groove. Aladdin. You-Name-It-and-I-Think-We-Have-The-Book.

B. We have a few Disney princess-themed toys that we’ve received as gifts. The Disney Princess play phone is a particular hit with both of girls. Yesterday my 3-year-old called Snow White to tell her in no uncertain terms to “NOT EAT THE APPLE FROM THE BAD LADY.”

what do disney princesses teach girls Thoughts On: Disney PrincessesC. My 3-year-old has an absolutely beautiful Cinderella Dress that she likes to dress-up in every once in awhile. Usually, she’ll wear it for about 10 minutes…and go to dinner at the castle and fight bad guys (because, apparently, those are the two things that princesses do).

D. We love visiting Disneyland with our girls – such a magical, happy place.

All that to say, we certainly don’t have anything against Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, and Tiana. In fact, all of them exhibit some very admirable traits in the above stories – goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-sacrifice (those are certainly all qualities that we want our girls to aspire to).

We encourage pretend play and like to let our girls lead the way as their interests develop (with a little bit of guidance sometimes…). Princesses included.  :)

The reason that our girls don’t know all of the princesses is because they haven’t watched the movies and, up until recently, they found the stories to be pretty scary. And I don’t blame them. Dragons, witches, spinning wheels, sorcery, and death are pretty heavy subjects for toddlers and preschoolers.

Also – Tim & I aren’t particularly fond of the weak, dare-I-say-airheaded characters and dysfunctional relationships that are central to the princess stories. Not to mention the fact that the shows have strong messages about beauty and physical attractiveness as a means to success and as a synonym to good character. I’d rather not go into detail about all that because it’s already been written about extensively by others [See: What Disney Princesses teach girls for a brief visual overview].

Summary: We have Disney Princess-themed things in our house. We read the stories. We’ll probably eventually watch the movies (and our 3-year-old will probably love them).

self confidence little girl Thoughts On: Disney PrincessesThat said, we don’t actively encourage a fascination with the characters. We also often have conversations about the messages – both positive & negative – that are within the stories. We call a spade a spade and tell our girls when the characters are witless, the plot is unrealistic, or the subtle lessons are harmful.

I don’t mind if my girls play princess, but I DO mind if their little minds are filled with pictures of superficial love and super-skinny bodies. When it comes down to it, I’d much rather my girls be riding bikes, painting pictures, baking cookies, and helping people than watching “Snow White.” By a long shot.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE DISNEY PRINCESSES?

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