It’s back-to-school time.  Get your kids ready to face the challenges of a new school year with these back-to-school read aloud books. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  A mouse named Chrysanthemum loves her name until she is teased about it on her first day of kindergarten.  A great conversation starter about names and the value [...]

    My daughter (who started first grade today!) has been reading Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa books by Erica Silverman.  When I spotted the first book at our library, I knew it would become a favorite because my daughter’s name is Kate and she looks a lot like the giggling cowgirl on the cover. These books [...]

There has been a lot of “bucket” talk in our house of late.  Most of it is me, yelling: “Leave her bucket alone!” or “Get away from his bucket!” or “Worry about your own bucket!” I am sure author Tom Rath did not write How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids to give me something else [...]

I am a big fan of Simple Mom, a blog with a tag line that says it all:  “Live simply, stay sane.  Life hacks for home managers.” Simple Mom compiled a terrific list of childrens book authors in a post entitled Ten Great Authors in Childrens Literature.  It is definitely a great list to check out and [...]

    Earlier this week, my daughter and I embarked on a trip around the world (and back in time) with Jack and his sister Annie from Mary Pope Osborne’s book series The Magic Tree House.  This is one of the best book series for kids who are just starting to read chapter books. In The [...]