"I READ THE WHOLE BOOK BY MYSELF!"

That declaration is music to a parent's ear.  Especially if you have a child who has struggled with learning to read.  As a parent who home-schooled my children, hearing that phrase elicited feelings of not only relief, but gratification.  I was very lucky to have been directed to some wonderful little readers that got my kids off on the right foot...they're called "BOB BOOKS".

"Bob Books" were first introduced 35 years ago.

I'm excited to announce that BOB BOOKS and SCHOLASTIC Publishers have graciously agreed to sponsor my SEPTEMBER GIVE-AWAY!  Stay tuned to see what the free gift will be.  The post review will go up in the next few days.  TELL YOUR FRIENDS!  The drawing will be on September 30, 2011.

CONTEST OVER!
You can enter my SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY by:
1 - Leaving a comment here on any of my blog posts dated between today (9/20) and September 29, 2011.
2 - "Liking" my GOOD BOOKS FOR YOUNG SOULS FACEBOOK PAGE between today and September 29, 2011.
3 - Posting a comment on my FACEBOOK page between today, 9/20/11 and 9/29/11.

These fun little books were created by Bobby Lynn Maslen for her preschoolers when she discovered she couldn't find early readers that were interesting.

The first BOB BOOKS were individually hand-drawn. When it became too cumbersome to make books for each child, Bobby Lynn persuaded the school to print 300 copies. This eventually led to more sets - starting a cottage industry and self-publishing.  Bobby's husband, John, illustrated them. The series, first adopted by homeschoolers and Montessori teachers, was picked up by Scholastic.

Today, BOB BOOKS are still very much a family-run business with management being handed down to the eldest daughter, Lynn, who has been involved with the BOB BOOKS right from the beginning. She started out with paste-up and lettering of the first edition in the 1970’s, but later spent several years in other ventures. Lynn then returned to the family business as her own daughter was beginning to read. That was when she gained true appreciation for the simplicity, fun, humor and easy success of Bob Books. Her daughter now joins the millions of kids that happily exclaim, “I read the whole book!”® Lynn lives in Seattle with her daughter and husband.

"WHO DUNNITS" FOR PRETEENS...

. . . people read mystery stories for a diversity of reasons. Some, for the intellectual challenge of the puzzles they present, others for the vicarious pleasure of the chase. Others believe . . . that the vast popularity of the genre lies in the fact that, in a disorderly world, it represents one of the few fixed points of order and morality, where justice may be counted on to emerge triumphant. -Howard Haycraft ("A Treasure of Great Mysteries")

On this day in 1890 English mystery writer Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, was born in Torquay, England.  (I was privileged to visit this beautiful seaside town in the county of Devon with my family the summer after my high school graduation. Not sure if I was aware at the time that this gifted writer was born there.)

Anyway - I've discovered some interesting trivia about Dame Agatha that I'd like to share with you before I move on to some fun mysteries for kids...


- She was educated at home.
- At sixteen she was sent to school in Paris where she studied singing and piano
-In 1914 she married Colonel Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind.
-In 1926, Archibald announced that he had fallen in love with a younger woman, Nancy Neele. That same year, Agatha Christie's beloved mother died and Agatha experienced her own real life mystery: she disappeared for a time and lived in a Harrowgate hotel under the name 'Mrs. Neele'. Agatha and Archibald divorced in 1928.
-Christie worked as a nurse during WWI, which helped her learn about prescriptions and poisons -- something which figured strongly in her writing career.
- Influences: Anna Katherine Green, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton.
- Christie is the Guinness World Record author: her work has been translated into more languages than Shakespeare.
- Agatha Christie never wrote a novel or short story featuring both her sleuths, Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie revealed the reason for this: "Hercule Poirot, a complete egoist, would not like being taught his business or having suggestions made to him by an elderly spinster lady".

I remember reading Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE in high school, but I was first introduced to her popular sleuth, Hercule Poirot, through the PBS Masterpiece MYSTERY! series. I love David Suchet's brilliant portrayal of Christie's Belgian detective.  If you've ever watched any "POIROT" on PBS, I'm sure you've noticed the macabre, yet merry world that illustrator Edward Gorey has created as the backdrop for MYSTERY! (ever since the series began in 1980).

Gorey illustrated the covers for some of my son's favorite "juvenile reader" Gothic mystery novels by John Bellairs, featuring amateur sleuth Johnny Dixon and his elderly friend Professor Roderick Childermass.

The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs

Which brings me to...KIDS AND MYSTERY STORIES:
According to Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: "The mystery story can be an excellent stimulus for utilizing study skills needed to be a good critical reader, such as cause-and-effect, logical deduction, and assessing vital information and facts. These same skills are also valuable in forming a “budding” writer.... the devices of the mystery story... are the hallmarks of all storytelling: the problem, the characters needed to make the reader care about them, the events that occur in their solving of the problem and, in the end, the reader feeling a satisfaction in being included in the solution."

Most of us remember Trixie Beldon, Harriet the Spy, Nancy Drew, and The Hardy Boys; but here are some mystery/detective books for kids you may have missed...

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, by Herge. These are great mysteries for reluctant readers, in comic book format.

THE HOUSE OF DIES DREAR, by Virginia Hamilton (A historical mystery) From Amazon: A huge, old house with secret tunnels, a cantankerous caretaker, and buried treasure is a dream-come-true for 13-year-old Thomas. The fact that it's reputedly haunted only adds to its appeal! As soon as his family moves in, Thomas senses something strange about the Civil War era house, which used to be a critical stop on the Underground Railroad. With the help of his father, he learns about the abolitionists and escaping slaves who kept the Underground Railroad running. While on his own, he explores the hidden passageways in and under the house, piecing clues together in an increasingly dangerous quest for the truth about the past. Newbery medalist Virginia Hamilton creates a heart-pounding adventure with this absorbing classic for older readers.

GREAT BRAIN SERIES, by John D. Fitzgerald. Hilarious adventures of an Irish-Catholic family in Mormon Utah in 1896. Tom - a.k.a. The Great Brain - is a 10-year-old genius con man, always interested in making a profit (and always learning a lesson.)

BOY'S BOOK OF GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES (compile by Howard Haycraft) A collection of detective stories by well-know authors emphasizing deduction, not crime.

DETECTIVES IN TOGAS by Henry Winterfield (also: MYSTERY OF THE ROMAN RANSOM).  Read about these in my previous post HERE.

VESPER HOLLY BOOKS by Lloyd Alexander.  Think: Nancy Drew meets Indiana Jones. Vesper Holly never travels alone; her bumbling guardian, Professor Brinton Garrett is by her side, ready to be dragged through jungles and prisons for her sake.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT HAPPENED TO CHRIST'S CROSS?

Have you ever wondered what happened to the Cross of Christ, after his crucifixion? Well, the answer involves a queen named Helena, who was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great.  In the twentieth year of his reign (326), the Emperor sent his mother to Jerusalem to find the site of the Holy Sepulchre and of the True Cross (a story in itself). After finding the Cross in Jerusalem, Queen Helena travelled to Cyprus to gift a small piece of the Cross to the church there. Too much for kids to comprehend?  Not in this new children's book, THE QUEEN AND THE CATS: A Story of Saint Helena, by Calee Lee.  It debuts today, September 14, which for Orthodox and Catholic Christians is a special "feast day" commemorating the finding of the Cross of Christ...


Told through the eyes of a young girl, the story begins as Queen Helena arrives to bring the greatest of gifts to the people of Cyprus. But when she tries to present the treasure, the Queen discovers that the local churches have been infested with a deadly problem: snakes! It’s up to Queen Helena and the little village girl to come up with a solution that will make the churches safe once more.

As Calee describes it, “this story brings Saint Helena to life in a way that is both accessible and enjoyable for little ones. The lives of the saints provide so many rich stories for our children. I’m thrilled to have partnered with illustrator Turbo Qualls to bring this story to Catholic and Orthodox families around the world.”

While this captivating picture book is geared towards kids ages 4-8, older siblings will be quick to take over the read-aloud duties and littler ones won't be able to resist Turbo's 24 full-color graphics. This is the first story of its kind to be available in ebook format (the Kindle version is less than $5 and works on phones, tablets, laptops and more).  But not to worry, all you "traditional book" people (like me) can preview and purchase a print copy from Amazon by clicking HERE.

Calee M. Lee visited the island of Cyprus for Holy Week in 2009 and fell in love with the country’s beautiful scenery and friendly cats. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Calee has worked extensively as a freelance writer, editor and video producer. She attends Saint Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, California with her husband and two children. You can read more about Calee on her BLOG.

Turbo Qualls is an accomplished artist and illustrator in the Southern California area. Along with his wife and four children, Turbo attends St. Barnabas Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa, California.

And just in case you were wondering...Saint Helena really did send cats to the island of Cyprus. There’s even a breed of cat called the "St. Helen" that is traced back to her gift. Click here to read more...

IT'S ROALD DAHL'S BIRTHDAY

September 13 is "Roald Dahl Day", celebrated every year on what would have been the author's birthday. This year also marks 50 years since Dahl's classic tale James and the Giant Peach was first published.  Your child can celebrate by sending a Peach-gram to a friend!

illustration by Jed Alexander

From THE GUARDIAN:
According to his biographer Donald Sturrock, in Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl (2010), Dahl was "a conundrum". Certainly, by any standards, he led a strange and complex life. Born to Norwegian parents, brought up in Wales and in England, he crashed in a plane in the desert in the second world war, and then became a spy in America, befriending the great and the good, before eventually settling back down in England, where he overcame three great tragedies: an accident that caused his baby son, Theo, brain damage, in 1960; the death of his daughter, Olivia, aged only seven, in 1962; and his wife's stroke in 1965. (A fourth tragedy occurred in 1990 when his stepdaughter, Lorina, died of a brain tumour.)


Dahl's daily retreat from the world was his famous writing hut. "I go down to my little hut, where it's tight and dark and warm, and within minutes I can go back to being six or seven or eight again," he said. In the hut, snuggled up in a sleeping bag, with his famous green baize writing board across his armchair, his lined yellow legal pads and his Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, he wrote, pausing only for lunch, The World at One, and then dinner, drinks and a game of snooker.

Click here to explore Dahl's writing hut, 
"Gipsy House", Buckinghamshire, England.
Photo: Eamonn McCabe

The interior has been left unchanged, since Dahl's death
from Leukemia in 1990.
Photo: Eamonn McCabe 

To read my 2010 birthday post for Roald Dahl, click HERE.

MY TOP TEN PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT FOOD

(Stay tuned for my September GIVEAWAY! In the meantime, bear with me as I blog about food...)

"What can I eat?" Ah, the never-ending quest for food.  Ask my son, who just left for college last week. When I dropped him off, we quickly stocked his apartment kitchen; but he called me yesterday and is already running out of ideas: "Mom, if you could email me some-good-and-quick-and-easy-with-maybe-three-ingredient-recipes, that would be great".  Sigh.

I started googling around and found a blog, called STONE SOUP ("delicious meals in minutes"), with 5-ingredient recipes. That got me thinking about the children's book, Stone Soup and some of my favorite picture books about food...

1. STONE SOUP by Marcia Brown. Three soldiers came marching down the road towards a French village. The peasants seeing them coming, suddenly became very busy, for soldiers are often hungry. So all the food was hidden under mattresses or in barns. There followed a battle of wits, with the soldiers equal to the occasion. Stone soup? Why, of course, they could make a wonderful soup of stones...but, of course, one must add a carrot or tow...some meat...so it went.
2. BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL, by Robert McCloskey. (CLICK HERE to read my review).
3. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, by Eric Carle. Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perennial favourite with children and adults alike. Its imaginative illustration and clever cut-out detail charts the progress of a very hungry caterpillar as he eats his way through the week. (My post about Eric Carle can be read by CLICKING HERE.)
4. JAMBERRY, by Bruce Degen. (My previous post about this book can be found HERE.)
5. THE CARROT SEED, by Ruth Krauss. (CLICK HERE to read about this book in my "Time for Gardens" post.)
6. THE DUCHESS BAKES A CAKE, by Virginia Kahl. (CLICK HERE to read my review.)
7. HOW TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE AND SEE THE WORLD, by Marjorie Priceman. The world becomes a young girl's grocery store, as she goes on a global journey to find ingredients for an apple pie.  (And yes, there's a recipe at the back of the book!) 
8. I WILL NEVER NOT EVER EAT A TOMATO, by Lauren Child. Lola is a fussy eater. A very fussy eater. She won’t eat her carrots (until her brother Charlie reveals that they’re orange twiglets from Jupiter). She won’t eat her mashed potatoes (until Charlie explains that they’re cloud fluff from the pointiest peak of Mount Fuji). There are many things Lola won’t eat, including - and especially - tomatoes. Or will she? (To read my past post about Charlie and Lola books, CLICK HERE.)
9. SUN BREAD by Elisa Kleven. Winter’'s gray chill has set in and everyone misses the sun—. So a baker decides to bring warmth to the town by making a "sun" bread. As the bread bakes, rising hot and delicious, everyone comes out to share in its goodness. Everyone, including the sun itself. Kleven offers a lilting, rhyming text, colorful illustrations, and a recipe for baking your own sun bread!
10. THE POPCORN BOOK, by Tommie dePaola. Brothers Tiny and Tony are hungry for a snack, and their mother allows them to make some popcorn. The two boys learn about the history of popcorn in the Americas, how much popcorn is eaten on an annual basis, and methods of popping corn. Two recipes to pop corn are included in this book.

Did I leave your children's favorite off my list?  Ask them, while you all munch on some yummy, healthy, quick-and-easy after-school snacks that I found HERE (Lady and the Blog) and HERE (Family Fun). Hmmm, maybe I should send these links to my son. You're never to old for fun snacks, right?

SCHOOL DAYS OR SCHOOL DAZE?

Which will it be?  Parents and teachers hope for the former: which for young children, hopefully involves focus as well as fun.

School Days by Jessie Wilcox Smith

But some children find themselves starting school in a daze...

Back to School Again by Jessie Wilcox Smith

For my readers who may have preschool aged children (or grandchildren) who are learning at home or just starting school this year:  I'll be doing a SEPTEMBER GIVE-AWAY that is sure to help your kids have fun as they focus on learning to read.  How do you know if your child is ready to read?  The website for my GIVE-AWAY books (revealed soon!) says this:

Every child is different, so there is no specific age when your child will be ready for reading. Instead, look for signs and signals that may indicate reading readiness. Because young children learn so much at a very rapid rate, you may not even be fully aware of how much they already know. Some children grasp reading concepts and are able to sound out simple words as early as age 3; others may not start until age 5 or 6. Learning to read is very much a process; as your child’s first and most important teacher, he or she will need your patience, as well as your encouragement, every step of the way.

What should I look for?

As an involved parent, you have most likely been looking at alphabet books together or have magnetic letters on the fridge. Answers to the questions below can help determine where your child is in terms of reading readiness:

-Does your child know the alphabet?

-Can she or he recognize most of the letters (including both uppercase and lowercase letters?)

-Can your child recognize letters on everyday objects such as S T O P on a stop sign?

-Does your child know that letters are associated with sounds and can he or she demonstrate a fair number of those sounds?

-Can your child spell his or her own name?

STEPPING UP THE STAIRS

Since I've been busy helping my youngest get moved into his dorm for college, I haven't had much time for blogging about children's books; but I thought it would be nice if I left you with some thoughts on learning as we all "step" into September and Labor Day weekend...

Stairway in "The Magic House", St. Louis. This Children’s Museum engages children in hands-on learning experiences that encourage experimentation, creativity and the development of problem-solving skills within a place of beauty, wonder, joy and magic. (click HERE for source)

“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.” -Vance Havner


"You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives." -Clay P. Bedford


"Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life."  -Henry L. Doherty