Children's Book Review

"Different Like Coco"
by Elizabeth Matthews

This is a definite favorite. We've enjoyed this book enough to have checked it out no less than 3 times in the past few months. This is a kids version of a genuine biography.
Taken from the book jacket:
"Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was always different. She was poor, skinny, and orphaned, yet she held stubbornly to the belief that she was just as good as any of the wealthier, well-bred girls of Paris. ... With a talent for sewing and creative mind, Coco began inventing clothing that suited her (and her pocketbook). A new generation of independent working women fell in love with the comfort, simplicity, practicality, and freedom they found in Coco's innovative clothes."

Coco is my inspiration and role model. I picked up this book when my daughter was too young to enjoy what it was really about. Now we love to read it over and over and both identify with it. She loves to point out that Coco worn her scissors on a long string of pearls "just like you do mommy!" I will eventually have to tell my little one that Coco was the original on that idea. We also identify with Coco being skinny as my little girl is very thin and no matter what, there are some things that just don't and won't fit her no matter how we try!

All in all this is a wonderful book that we both love for our own reasons. I recommend it to anyone who has a little girly girl - not the best for boys or tomboys - but lovely if your daughter aspires to be a fashion designer (or even if you are the aspiring fashion designer). This book is a biography and so has a time line of Coco's life and works and a Bibliography. I'd say it would be a great choice for a elementary age girl having to do a book report!

"Elizabeth Matthews makes her chic picture-book debut with this lovely and inspiring look at a woman who was so much more than the legendary inventor of 'the little black dress.' She was and is a role model for people everywhere who dare to embrace their uniqueness and to dream big." Excerpt from Jacket

Children's Book Review

It is Tuesday and once again time for the Children's Book Review. Sorry guys, this one is really mostly for the young ladies and moms that live vicariously through their little girls.

The Princess and the Snarls

by Patricia R. Eubank

This is a fabulously fun book in so many different ways. First, it includes a boudoir style dressing table with a mirror in the front of the book. Second, it has a paper doll (attached as a book mark so you won't lose her) with paper doll clothes and a little wardrobe to keep them in. However fun all these items are, the best part of this book is the story which is why we read books after all. The Princess is gifted lovely long locks by the local faeries and through some misfortune is unable to keep the snarls out of her hair. The story is a great read about friends you may meet in the most unlikely places.

Children's Book Review

It's Hard to Be Five,

Learning How to Work My Control Panel
by Jamie Lee Curtis
illustrated by Laura Cornell

Quote from book jacket
"It's hard to be five. Just yelled at my brother. My mind says do one thing, my mouth says another."
"Its fun to be five! Big changes are here! My body's my car, and I'm licensed to steer!"

This book is fabulous! My little one is just now five and this not only helps her to understand the big physical and emotional changes that are going on, but it truly helps me as well. When we have a "Hard to be 5" day; one of us remembers the book and we talk about how it is hard to be five, how it relates to the problem at hand and what we are going to do to change it and make it a "Fun to be 5" day. I highly recommend this book to the parent of any toddler (plan ahead it will be worth it) or Pre-Schooler. Now if I can only get my husband to read it and realize how it applies in our 5 year olds daily life...

Children's Book Review

"The Dream Jar"

by Lindan Lee Johnson
Illustrated by Serena Curmi

Well, first I must say that I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and only just when its supposed to. That being said this book is exactly what we needed and when exactly we needed it. So we have had a rash of bad dreams lately that have caused this mommy to not have a solid night's sleep in well over a month. This book is looking to be the perfect cure for her bad dreams AND without looking too deep you can see that there are simple directions to follow to teach your own bad dreamer The Secret of how to change their bad dreams to good ones.

I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this book. We read it twice in a row and prepared our own substitute "Dream Jar" until we can make a proper one as our craft project tomorrow. The illustrations are fun, quirky and rich with color and deep with definition. This is a definite must purchase since it came from the library we'll have to return it and look for a copy of our own to have.

A Few Oldies and One New...?

Well I am happy to announce that beginning in February I will be bringing back my old weekly posts. Tuesday will again be the day for the Children's Book Review, Thursday will see a comeback of the Super Hero Set, "The Green Girls - Saving the Planet One Lightbulb at a Time" and Saturday I will again be offering a Weekly Recipe. These are all the "weeklies" I used to do that were quite popular and running two businesses got in the way of them. Since I am no longer going to keep up Mommy's Little Helper in full force, I expect to have the time to devote to these favorite posts.
And as for something new, I am so very excited to announce that I am now listed with some of the finest Children's Shops on Dashin Fashion. Please take a minute and check out that site, they have MANY wonderful children's shops in addition to mine. I'm listed under the handmade tab, but there are so many wonderful places to look on this site. Also, look around the globe and see what other countries are offering in the way of Children's Products. As I've said before be darned the CPSIA I am continuing my business as planned, I WILL NOT let that law scare me out of business!

Children's Book Review... of a Sort

So this is a bit different than the book reviews that I have been doing. We went to a Children's Yoga Story Time presented by Yoga Instructor Kristina Scott and our local Library. It was SO neat and I was so pleased to see how well my high energy child responded to the calmer side of Yoga.

Kristina started them out by doing lots of wiggling and shaking. This helped most of the Preschoolers to get all the wiggles out before the real Yoga and Story Started.

Then the Story, Rooster's Off to See The World started. The story had many animal characters in it. Every time she read an animal all the kids would act out how that animal would act. This kept them very actively involved in the story.

Rooster, Cat, Toad, Turtle, Fish... they got to act them all out one by one. The basic story line is that Rooster went off to see the world and as he traveled he met each of the animals who joined his journey. In the end each one decided that home really was where they wanted to be.

Kristina, then had the kids all calm back down and end the story on a quasi meditative note.

I was more than impressed with this and can't wait for the next one she does in October.

Children's Book Review

The Children's Book Review is NOT James and the Giant Peach, but it will be postponed.
I am considering doing it bi-weekly. Many apologies, instead please enjoy this wonderful box of Peaches that Smokey Mountain Scents gave me! Too bad it isn't scratch and sniff!

Children's Book Review

Chisato Tashiro

"Five Nice Mice"
Translated from the Japanese by Sayako Uchida
Adapted by Kate Westerlund

This story is a wonderful little tale about overcoming obstacles, taking chances and being a friend even to those who aren't always as nice to you. It begins with these little mice hearing some beautiful music and going to find where it is coming from. When they find who is making the music they discover that they aren't welcome... not to be thwarted, they sneak in.

After they are discovered and asked to leave the "concert" they decide that they should make their own music and set about doing just that. After making instruments and practicing, and practicing, and practicing some more they decide they are ready for their own concert.

Who should sneak into the concert? The very same Frogs who wouldn't allow the mice in their concert. Well the Five Nice Mice are aptly named, they not only allow the frogs to watch their concert, they invite them to join in. In the end, frogs and mice have a big time together and vow to do it again at the next full moon. And that is just what they did!

This has become another daily read for us. Though the pictures aren't as colorful, the words ring true no matter how small you are. This book is a definite must read for all kids. The lessons are so universal (if you recall, Frogs and Mice aren't natural friends in the wild) and it really does teach the children that two opposing groups can get along if but one will take the first step.

And if you are curious about the stamp on the bottom right corner of the book, this book is part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. She started this project in her home county which is not far from here and many other's in the area have picked up on the idea. It doesn't matter your income, if you register for it your child will get one book a month until the age of 5. We are about to come to the end of that wonderful gift that our local Kiwanis Foundation sponsors for our county. I will have to begin filling the void every month.

SLACKER!!!

WOW! I have been a total slacker! I will be back on the ball as of NOW (well next week really). I will have the Scrumptious Saturday's recipe back and in full force. Look out for a lot of chicken and fish and healthy ways to do "Southern Style."
I will be heading back to the library and getting some new children's books to review AND I will review them for the Tuesday post. I already have a few new ones from the Imagination Library that we've recently received and I may use those as well.
I will be getting back on the eco-horse and posting my Green Girls Super Hero's on Thursday's. I have some great new post idea's for the next one about the products that we all use.
It will be back to the high energy, off the starting line style posts I had been doing. To my regular readers who have tired of re-reading the same ole same ole I genuinely apologize and thank you for coming back.

Children's Book Review

"The Fisherman and the Turtle"
adapted by Eric A. Kimmel
illustrated by Martha Aviles

Taken from the jacket:
In the time of the Aztecs, a fisherman lives with his wife in a hut by the sea. One day, he captures a green turtle, a god in disguise. The turtle grants him a wish in exchange for being released. the fisherman asks for four fishes. When his wife finds out, she's furious. Why didn't he wish for a stone house so they could be rich? Three different times, she sends her husband back to talk to the turtle. On each visit, the fisherman asks the turtle to grant the ever-more-demanding wishes of his greedy wife. But his wife finally goes too far!

This book is a revised version of of several old tales. He has taken part of Grimms' Fairy Tale "The Fisherman and His Wife" and also elements from "The Crown of Sang Nila Utama" a story from Singapore with a similar theme. To be quite honest I liked it a lot, but the kiddo was not as impressed. She had little interest in lessons that are presented this obviously. It didn't have any flowery princesses, pink tutu's or fairy wands so it wasn't really interesting to her.

The story was good, simply put and an easy read. The artwork is fabulous with bright colorful Aztec styling and well depicted emotions (as pictured above). I am sorry that my kiddo didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped, but I plan on trying one or two more times to put this back in the night time story line up to see if she'll take to it.

I do recommend it as a good read and even if your kiddo doesn't enjoy it as much as some of the others, even one read of this lesson is worth the time spent.

The lesson? BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, YOU MIGHT JUST GET IT!

Children's Book Review Postponed

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Book Review planned for Tuesday, July 1, 2008 will not be available. Please check back next Tuesday. Thank you to my faithful viewers!

Children's Book Review

"The Second Princess"
by Hiawyn Oram & Tony Ross

Taken from Book Jacket:
The Second Princess cannot stand being second. She'll do anything to get rid of her older sister! The palace Cook agrees to help, but there is a price. "I want your mother's jewels," she demands. So the Second Princess sneaks into her mother's bedroom to look for her [jewels]. But when she is caught in the act . . . [she] is terrified when she imagines what her punishment will be.

This is an absolutely fabulous book for only children as well as siblings. It has some great lessons about honesty, fairness and accepting life on life's terms (shhhh, don't tell the kids all these lessons are included!).

Who can blame the Second Princess for wanting her sister out of the way? Look at the room. Her sister's picture and hers. Her sister's toys and hers. Her sister's dress and hers. You'd think the king and queen might have noticed the BIG GREEN MONSTER (jealousy) that was being created... but hey, its just a book.

She tells her parents the truth even though she fears the worst sort of punishment. What a great example of honesty in the face of fear!

In the end the King and Queen come up with a solution that everyone can live with... well most of the time. I'm not so sure the King is feeling very "Kingly" at the moment, more like a good old "Daddy!"

This is yet another book that we'd recommend for girls more than boys, maybe we'll see if there is one about a Price or Knight? We'll do a gender neutral book next time. "Siblings of all ages, no matter if they are first or second, will cheer for the Second Princess!" Excerpt from Jacket.

Last week a comment was left asking me how I select the books? Well our library is wonderful and many of these have been out on display and easy to pick up. This one however was shelved and I was just scanning titles when I saw this and thought it would be a good one for my little Princess (who is an only Princess) and I'm glad I found it - we have loved to read and re read it for the past week.

Children's Book Review

WOW! It's Great Being a Duck
by: Joan Rankin

Summary taken directly from the book jacket:

"Lillee was the last to hatch and the smallest and skinniest of the ducklings. Her older brothers and sisters all went into the pond and swam at once.

But Lillee doesn't want to take her feet off the ground! She'll drown if she goes into the water! . . . Lillee is going to practice walking instead! And off she marches into the dark, green forest."

I love it that Lillee wears her egg shell top as a hat which partially covers her eyes. This also hinders her in that she can't really see all that is happening around her and manages to befriend a fox due to this "lack of vision."

This is a wonderful book about living life on life's terms and acceptance. Lillee has to accept her station in life and that she is, in fact, a duck. Once she comes to that cross road in her life, she finds no problem then with taking flight.

This book has been our nightly read (over and over) since I returned the last one (see previous review) to the library. My daughter loves it and though she now knows the whole story line from start to finish, we still must re-read it every night until such time as I return it and we pick a new one.

This is another one that we will recommend to boys and girls. Its listed for ages 4 - 8, but I'd think a 3 year old should enjoy it too.

Children's Book Review

Yoko's Paper Cranes
by Rosemary Wells

This is a sweet short little book that has very colorful illustrations and is an all around fun read. The basic story line is of a Japanese kitty named Yoko who spends time with her Grandparents before her family moves to America. That time she spends with them stays with her long after she has left Japan, but she longs to return to see her grandparents again.

The book includes the Japanese words for Grandmother and Grandfather as well as introduces ideas of Japanese tradition and even has step by step illustrations on how to fold an origami crane.

The author focuses on the idea of patience. Patience in waiting for the cranes to come back to Grandmother's garden, patience in waiting to get back to see her Grandparents again, the perfection is in the waiting.

I wonder if this was read in Japanese, would it be written as a haiku? I really enjoyed the Japanese influences such as the traditionalism and formality of the Japanese culture as its represented here.

The post man bows as he greets Obaasan at the door with the package, the tea ceremony is also shown though not elaborated on. My favorite part is the last page where is says "Obaasan sipped her green tea while the snow fell outside the window." This is the neatest way to end a book (though my daughter kept wondering what was on the next page).

All in all I do recommend this book as a short and sweet little read that is easy to understand, has good lessons and is fun enough to read over and over as kids are want to do.

Children's Book Review

I've decided to add this as a weekly feature since we go to the library all the time getting new books to read at bedtime. I don't really have the time nor the inclination to read an entire adult book (and the ones I do read are "how to" books that I pull just the amount of info I need and pass it on) so I decided it would be fun to do a Book Review on some of the many children's books that we read. This will most likely evolve over time, but for now I want to start with one of the best books we've picked up in a long time.

"Marsupial Sue Presents The Runaway Pancake"
written by John Lithgow and illustrated by Jack E. Davis

One of the best parts about this book to me as an adult is that it is written and illustrated as if its a play. The characters are all in costume as would be for a play and though my 4 year old daughter doesn't get the significance of this, I personally think its absolutely wonderful to set it up this way.

So without ruining the story for you I will simply tell you that this is one FAST pancake that has no interest in becoming anyones lunch.

There is a fun little ditty of a song in here that we now sing whenever we are driving down the road too. From a parent's standpoint I'm not so sure I really like the song, it's not that its mean spirited it's just not teaching anything good or bad. That is my only gripe about the book, and really that's not bad. From my 4 year old daughter's perspective its the best song in the world. It's repetitive which makes it easy to learn and easy to remember and builds in the characters as it goes on.

The illustrations are bright, colorful and detailed. You have to really look close at each page to catch all the details in each picture.

I highly recommend this book to any mom or dad who wants a fun book to share with their kids. This is one that is great for boys and girls and I'd say a child as young as 2 or as old as maybe 6 or 7, though a little simplistic for the older child it is fun to sing the song which is very "sing songie" in its style. We enjoyed it enough to go and look for some of the other books that Mr. John Lithgow, now bestselling author, has written. Here are the other titles as I've been provided on the book jacket; Carnival of the Animals, I'm a Manatee, Micawber, Marsupial Sue and The Remarkable Farkle McBride.