Didn’t you just love Geoffrey Hayes’ post “Building Reading Skills Through Comic Books”? My daughter is recently obsessively reading all the Archie comics from the library and it reminded me that I also loved Archie, Tintin and the Illustrated Classics that my school teacher mom had in her classroom. Now, it’s time... [read more ]
WIN: 5 copies of The Secret Science Alliance for your book club. WIN: 5 copies of A Whole Nother Story for your book club. TO ENTER: Comment below with the number of kids in your book club and what you’re reading this summer. Giveaway runs through July 26, 2010. Winner will be chosen at random. USA and Canada residents only. Thank... [read more ]
Remember my happy dance when my kids discovered Playaways? Aaaah. I love Playaways. Great news! The Playaway company is generously giving two Imagination Soup readers the Newbery Award winning book, Hoot by Carl Hiaasen on a Playaway! (Worth $39.99.) How about your own Hoot happy dance? Enter to win one of the two Hoot Playaways by 1) subscribing... [read more ]
Spilling Ink, a Young Writer’s Handbook isn’t what I expected, it’s MORE! I loved it – and think it’s appropriate for us older young writers, too! *The only books for young writers I like are well, very few — Ralph Fletcher and Victoria Hanley’s books come to mind in addition to my new favorite, Spilling... [read more ]
Did you read Jennifer Cervantes’ guest post on encouraging your kids to write? And maybe you even read my gushing review of her book Tortilla Sun! It’s on my other blog, Bookmarkable, and I loved, loved, loved it! From Bookmarkable . . . “Izzy’s life was a series of houses, sadness and secrets – why wouldn’t her mom tell... [read more ]
You need S is for Story, A Writer’s Alphabet for your library. It’s the perfect book to kick off your summer reading and writing plans! This informative and engaging picture book illuminates words from a writer’s life from A to Z starting with Alphabet, explaining the history and Greek word alphabetos, ending with Z for Zorro... [read more ]
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” – Maya Angelou Any book? Are you seriously questioning Ms. Angelou? Yes! ANY book. Which means . . . . . . your child gets to pick the book. . . . you might think the book is stupid. (My Little Pony comes to mind.) ... [read more ]
Did you read guest post, “Imagination Is More Than Child’s Play: Free Play that Feeds Your Child’s Cognitive Development” by Frieda B. Herself author, Renata Bowers? Such a great encouragement to play and imagine! Enter to win picture book, Frieda B. Herself, by commenting below. The winner will be chosen at random. Contest... [read more ]
Recess Monkey is the band. The Final Funktier is the CD. Parental Warning: “Todaaaay is the science fair” is very catchy. If you’re not singing that, you’ll be singing “My Brother is a Satellite . . . around he goes” when you least expect it– at the gym, in the car without your kids, during an important... [read more ]
Eight year old Caitlin says, “I think the dinosaur craft was awesome! The craft reminded me of The COLORADO STATE FOSSIL. Stegosaurus is really cool because of it’s four tale spikes. I think this project would be for children ages 7 and up because it requires a lot of cutting. I liked it.” All you need for make your own... [read more ]
Win your own copy! Comment below to enter. Contest through April 15, 2010. Books Make Me Happy: My First Reading Log by Judy Pelikan got me thinking about reading habits at home . Do you have good reading habits? Does your child? Good readers read for fun. Good readers find that books make them happy. But not every child is a good... [read more ]
You know about Rosalind Wiseman’s Queen Bees and Wannabees — heck, you’ve lived through your own queen bee dramas and wish you could forget it, right? Now, you and I are moms with daughters facing their own social dilemmas. What do you do? How can you help? Rosalind Wiseman’s Girl World Tour will be in Denver, April... [read more ]
