A Squirrel's Tale...

The squirrel says, on the front cover, "Please come with me through the woods and help me to find my nuts!" What child doesn't want to help? The great thing is that while they help the squirrel, they will be working on their pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills and fine motor skills.

The book comes with a little squirrel that sits in a pocket on the front. Encourage your child to take the squirrel out and follow the dotted line. Every page has a slot for the squirrel to "hop" through as he goes through the woods and asks other animals for help.

One little thing that I appreciated was that the people behind the book understand the reality of kids. Just in case your little one destroys the squirrel, instructions on creating a new one is included! I looked at them and they are really simple.

Every child who has looked at this book has loved it! So much so, that their mothers have gotten them its sister book, "There's a Mouse About the House."

Miss Stacey

Click Here to get your own copy of "A Squirrel's Tale" from Miss Stacey's bookstore

Matthews's Pick of the Month: Why?

This is a really cute book for the 4-to-8 year old set. Inside, questions, such as "Why do zebras have stripes?" are asked. Then several silly answers are given. The real answer is also provided.

Matt enjoyed the silly answers and we were able to make a game of it all. I asked the first question and Matt's response was "Because God made them that way". I then gave the first silly answer and asked if that's why God did it. Matt said "Nooooo". We proceeded that way through every silly answer until I gave the real answer when Matt very happily said "YES!"

The book is published by Kane/Miller, which distributes books from around the world. This book is from Slovenia.

Matt & Miss Stacey

Interested in more about Matt's Pick of the Month?
Click Here!

Come Join Me for "Mom's Night Out!" (MD Moms)

I wanted to invite you to join me for a fun and FREE event without the husband or kids!

Lisa Steve and the staff at SupperThyme USA in Cockeysville, MD have put together a wonderful time just for Moms to enjoy some food, meet some friends and check out some services and products for you and your family! I will have a table set up and hope you will stop in and say "Hi!"

Here are the details:

Celebrate National Mom’s Night Out @ SupperThymeUSA!

Date: Thursday, April 30
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Address: 9972 York Road
City: Cockeysville, MD 21030
Phone: 410-667-2665

Visit with representatives from the following companies:

Miss Stacey's Bookshelf - Usborne Books
Close to My Heart Scrapbooking
Stroller Strides
LaPapillon Spa & Gift Boutique
Upper Case Living
Pampered Chef
The Longaberger Company

Not sure about Supper Thyme's Meal Assembly? You can make One 3-serving Dinner for just $10 tonight. Make it, Take it Bake it!

We will be serving samples from our Extreme Fitness Meals as well as our 3-A-Day Fast Track Weight Loss meals!

Door prizes will be given away throughout the evening. Need not be present to win!

See you there!

Miss Stacey

Update on Encyclopedia Brown

When I reviewed Encyclopedia Brown I stated that I would update it as I read the original book written in 1963. It had then come to my attention that new books in the series were still being published. Based on how the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew book from 2007 had updated the series in a way that bothered me, I was concerned about what changes were made, if any, in the intervening decades to Encyclopedia. I am happy to report that other than referring to current events (space shuttle launches, hurricanes) Encyclopedia and his partner Sally Kimball are unchanged. Yay!! What a relief. I can endorse the books, regardless of publication date, for the 8 and up crowd.

Mary Ann and Miss Mozart

This is the first book in the "Historical House" series. The series is set in a house in London. Each book involves a different era and different characters. The books are written for girls aged 10 and up. They take place between the 1700's and 1960's.

In "Mary Ann and Miss Mozart" a girl is sent to a school for girls - which she loves. She especially enjoys her music lessons as she wants to be an opera singer. The school takes some of the girls to see Amadeus Mozart and his sister perform. The genius of Mozart and his sister are explained without sounding like a lecture. Trouble ensues when she finds out she will be forced to leave the school.

I would recommend that Mom reads the book first - not because of inappropriateness, but because the book offers a lot of chances for discussion (e.g. how Mary Ann should have handled things, the inequality between boys and girls at that time, how girls were not expected to want a career or have ambition).

I enjoyed reading it and look forward to the other books in the series.

Miss Stacey

Click Here to get your own copy of Mary Ann & Miss Mozart from Miss Stacey's bookstore

Mysteries for the 8 to 12 set: Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown

I decided to have a blast from the past this week and revisit the characters that began my addiction to reading - The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I haven't visited my "old friends" in a long time and decided to get one of their new adventures to see how they held up. Well, I am sorry to say that I was VERY disappointed. I enjoyed reading these stories so much and looked forward to the day that Matt could read them too. After reading "Terror on Tour", he'll only be reading the original series - at least until I can check others out.

"Terror on Tour" is a mystery featuring both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew written by Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene. This book was published in 2007 and SAYS that it is for readers 8 to 12. In my opinion that is too young for some of the content in this book. After only 30 pages in, I was already shaking my head. The story takes place at a Lollapalooza-type concert event. A girl (thankfully NOT Nancy Drew or her friends) is described as wearing a grass skirt and a bikini top that "left little to the imagination". Do we really want 8 to 12 year old boys TRYING to imagine what WASN'T left to the imagination? One of the bands playing at this concert simulates a suicide or murder at every concert, and Joe Hardy and George (Nancy's friend) think this is awesome. A girl is tied up and has electric wires attached to her arms and head so that she can be electrocuted if the villains don't get their way. Joe is said to utter a "string of curse words" - thankfully they don't give us the actual words. Is this what we want our kids thinking is cool? Why can't they find a way to make the characters relevant and "cool" while still making them good examples?

I also visited with Encyclopedia Brown (by Donald Sobol) in his very first book. I was pleased to see that I still enjoyed him. Kids today might find it a little old fashioned, but I think that the chance to solve the mysteries will still be enjoyable. Reading the story, trying to think of the solution and turning to the back of the book to see if you are right is still fun - even for a grown woman. I'm happy to report that I did solve most, but not all, of his stories - so I think it would provide a pleasant challenge to most kids to try and solve them too. In some of the stories Encyclopedia deals with bullies which some kids would relate to also.

I'll be checking out a more recent Encyclopedia Brown book in the future and am hoping that I won't find him as drastically changed as Frank, Joe and Nancy. I'll let you know.

Miss Stacey

Joining the Ultimate Blog Party 2009!

I am so happy to be joining with other Mom bloggers around the world during the Ultimate Blog Party! Welcome party friends! Want to join the party? Click the banner above.