KidCrunch

It’s official.  My daughter has started her Christmas list and the toy at the top of the list - Zhu Zhu Pets!  She saw a commercial while watching TV and was instantly captivated by these furry little creatures.  There are five different Zhu Zhu Pets characters:

• Zhu Zhu Pets Patches (brown & white) the flower-loving hamster
• Zhu Zhu Pets Chunk (white) the laid back surfer hamster
• Zhu Zhu Pets Pipsqueak (yellow) the petite powerhouse hamster
• Zhu Zhu Pets Mr. Squiggles (brown) the exploring hamster
• Zhu Zhu Pets Num Nums (gray) the yummy-food-loving hamster

There are lots of Zhu Zhu Pets accessories too (of course) including a Zhu Zhu Pets Hamster funhouse, wheel and tunnel, spiral slide, adventure ball and more.  According to the manufacturer Cepia, LLC:

The best alternatives to real live hamsters, Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters don’t poop, die, or stink, but they are still a riot of motion and sound.  They dart around in their hamster tubes and busily scurry from room to room.  Simply pet the hamster’s back, set him down, and watch him Zhu Zhu-oom!

Savings Alert!  It pays to shop around for the best price.  Zhu Zhu Pets are available for sale at Walmart and Toys R Us and will be sold at Target in October.  Although you can buy Zhu Zhu Pets and accessories through Amazon, the prices on Amazon are currently higher than the prices at Walmart and Toys R Us.  (For example, Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters sell for $7.99 each at Walmart, while some independent toy sellers are charging more than $20 each on Amazon.)

Zhu Zhu Pets may be the hot new toy this holiday season, so if you see any on the shelves, grab them!

A list of Caldecott Award-winning books is a great resource for finding quality picture books for your children.

The Caldecott Awards, named after 19th century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, are awarded each January by the American Library Association (ALA) to the illustrators of the most distinguished American picture books for children.  The Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor winners from 2000 to 2009 are as follows.

2009 Caldecott Award Winners

• The House in the Night (Medal) by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes
• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever (Honor) by Marla Frazee
• How I Learned Geography (Honor) by Uri Shulevitz
• A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Honor) by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

2008 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Medal) by Brian Selznick
• Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad (Honor) by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
• First the Egg (Honor) by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Honor) by Peter Sís
• Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (Honor) by Mo Willems

2007 Caldecott Award Winners

• Flotsam (Medal) by David Wiesner
• Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet (Honor) by David McLimans
• Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Honor) by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

2006 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Hello, Goodbye Window (Medal) by Norton Juster, illustrated by Chris Raschka
• Rosa (Honor) by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
• Zen Shorts (Honor) by Jon J. Muth
• Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride (Honor) by Marjorie Priceman
• Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems (Honor) by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beckie Prange

2005 Caldecott Award Winners

• Kitten’s First Full Moon (Medal) by Kevin Henkes
• The Red Book (Honor) by Barbara Lehman
• Coming on Home Soon (Honor) by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
• Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (Honor) by Mo Willems

2004 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (Medal) by Mordicai Gerstein
• Ella Sarah Gets Dressed (Honor) by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
• What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? (Honor) by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Honor) by Mo Willems

2003 Caldecott Award Winners

• My Friend Rabbit (Medal) by Eric Rohmann
• The Spider and the Fly (Honor) by Mary Howitt, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
• Hondo & Fabian (Honor) by Peter McCarty
• Noah’s Ark (Honor) by Jerry Pinkney

2002 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Three Pigs (Medal) by David Wiesner
• The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins (Honor) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick
• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Honor) by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier
• The Stray Dog (Honor) by Marc Simont

2001 Caldecott Award Winners

• So You Want to Be President? (Medal) by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small
• Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer, illustrated by Christopher Bing
• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
• Olivia by Ian Falconer

2000 Caldecott Award Winners

• Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Medal) by Simms Taback
• A Child’s Calendar (Honor) by John Updike, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
• Sector 7 (Honor) by David Wiesner
• When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry (Honor) by Molly Bang
• The Ugly Duckling (Honor) adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, text by Hans Christian Andersen

Shop for these Caldecott Award-winning books and other great kids books at the KidCrunch Store.

Today’s kids DVD releases:

• Bedtime Stories  Entertaining family film starring Adam Sandler.  We saw this in the theatre and the whole family really enjoyed it.
• Disney released a three-volume collection of its short animated films including Volume 1 Mickey and the Beanstalk, Volume 2 Three Little Pigs and Volume 3 The Prince & the Pauper.
• The Tale of Despereaux  The adventures of a brave and virtuous mouse, based on the Newbery Medal-winning book by Kate DiCamillo.

Shop for these new DVD releases and other great kids movies in the KidCrunch Store.

Wow.  A bunch of great kids DVDs were released today:

• Baby Einstein: World Music  Songs and music from around the world for Baby Einstein fans.
• California Dreams  G-rated Saturday morning sitcom from the 1990s.  Some young moms may remember this fondly.  Some old moms (like me) may not remember it at all.
• Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy  TV show based on the award-winning book series by R.L. Stine.  A mummy awakens in an Egyptian pyramid.
• Goosebumps: The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight  Another episode from the Goosebumps TV series.  Evil scarecrows inhabit Grandma and Grandpa’s farm.
• Handy Manny: Manny’s Green Team  Five new episodes not yet featured on the Playhouse Disney show.  Handy Manny and friends fix things and are environmentally friendly.
• Hannah Montana: Keeping It Real  Five episodes from the Disney Channel series.  Very slowly, I have become a Miley Cyrus fan.
• Pokemon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior  The latest in the Pokemon movie series.  My youngest two kids are into Pokemon and watch these on Cartoon Network.
• Schoolhouse Rock! Earth  Schoolhouse Rock goes green.  I am a big fan of Schoolhouse Rock.  My all-time favorite is Interplanet Janet.  (She’s a galaxy girl.)
• Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Big Journey  Strawberry Shortcake and her sweet friends take a road trip around the world.

Parents, be aware that Marley & Me was also released today on DVD.  Big red flag - this is not a movie for children.  Marley looks cute on the cover and your kids may want to see it, but many parents have warned me that this PG-rated film is really not appropriate for children.

Shop for these new DVD releases and other great kids movies in the KidCrunch Store.

Some great kids DVDs were released today:

• Bolt  Funny kids movie about a dog who thinks he has superpowers.  My kids saw it in the theatre and loved it.  They definitely recommend the Bolt DVD.
• Lilo & Stitch 2-Disc Big Wave Edition  This 2-disc special edition is a re-release of the 2002 kids movie starring Hawaiian girl Lilo and her little alien pet Stitch.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars - A Galaxy Divided  DVD includes four episodes of Star Wars Clone Wars, my youngest son’s current favorite TV show.

Shop for these new kids DVD releases and other great kids movies in the KidCrunch Store.