I’ll let you all know why I’ve been AWOL again soon, but I couldn’t wait to share this with you guys! Christine of Literary Lotus recently posted about this book: First of all, I would love to get my hands … Continue reading →

Remember when I told you guys about Three Little Birds? Cedella Marley has adapted another of her father’s famous songs, One Love, into a gorgeous board book with an excellent message. One Love features more bright, fun illustrations by Vanessa … Continue reading →

This is the year-end message from Jumpstart President & CEO, Naila Bolus. If you did not receive this in your email and you’d like to get updates on Jupmstart via email, you can sign up for the Jumpstart Mailing List. … Continue reading →

I was approached by Emily Moberly, founder of Traveling Stories, about featuring their new Reading is Sexy calendar to raise funds for Traveling Stories. Traveling Stories is a 501c.3 nonprofit organization which provides books to kids who have none and … Continue reading →

Today is Jumpstart’s Read for the Record. You can go here to sign the pledge saying: I pledge to read Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney with children in my life on October 6, 2011. By sitting down to … Continue reading →

By now you’ve probably heard about the controversial children’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet. If you haven’t, this bit from Good Morning America will fill you in on both the book and the author’s intent, as well as the … Continue reading →

I just discovered KidsCount.org (part of the Annie E Casey Foundation) and was intrigued by the data in their 2011 Kids Count Data Book. You can search through a myriad of data by state or nationally and there are quite … Continue reading →

Oswego actually isn’t my hometown. Martville, NY is. It’s the nearest city to where I grew up though, and it is home to my alma mater, SUNY Oswego and my favorite bookstore in the whole country, River’s End Bookstore. The … Continue reading →

I recently came across this article on Babble. It’s a collection of 18 books to address common stumbling blocks toddlers and parents deal with, like sharing, lying, and problem solving. Children’s Book Lessons: 18 books for kids to read and … Continue reading →

I’ve been an Amazon customer for years. I discovered Amazon around the time they acquired CDnow, you know back in the high-tech days of buying Compact Discs from online mega-retailers cheaper than mall stores. I was pretty bummed when that … Continue reading →

  thredUP is a site where parents can send/receive boxes of gently used children’s clothing.They have a great military program and live customer service chat, which I love in any website. This summer thredUP has launched a book swap program. … Continue reading →

“Nearly 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name. What would you miss most if you could not read or write?” I cannot imagine any point in my life without books, without words, without writing. It’s in my blood. Continue reading →

I bought this sweet board book for Connal for Christmas. Snyder is both the author and illustrator and she created a wonderful book. In the board book world, there are some stars, like Sandra Boynton, but there’s also a lot … Continue reading →

I have a friend who is friends with this fella. I also met an online friend who is real life friends with the same fella. I have never met him, but his artwork is awesome. Check out The Problem Solving … Continue reading →

Pretty awesome story about a kid getting his schoolmates involved in a letter writing campaign to get a bookstore in their community. Book stores and libraries are suffering more and more, so many closing up shop across the country. It … Continue reading →

Parenting recently posted their list of the 30 best children’s books. The list includes books for a wide age group, from Dr. Suess to Roald Dahl. There were a number of books on the list I hadn’t heard of, but … Continue reading →

Three Little Birds is a wonderful board book adapted from the Bob Marley song (by Cedella Marley). The lush, colorful illustrations are beautiful. This is a board book, but is perfect for babies, toddlers, and even older kids because the … Continue reading →

Shop Indie Bookstores I bought this for Connal when he was four months old. He loved it then and continues to. The book is quite big. It has bold colors and beautiful photographs. Each animals picture has the name of … Continue reading →

Rose Csorba beautifully illustrated this journal-of-sorts about a group of Fairy Hunters. Ashley and narrator Laura, aided by their friends Big Rabbit and Turtle, find the fairies that exist in every day things. Pocket Fairies, Teacup Fairies, Sock Fairies, and … Continue reading →

Shop Indie Bookstores I bought this book at an Old Navy, of all places to buy a book. The artwork looked cute and since Connal was only a month old or so, that was a good enough reason. He isn’t … Continue reading →

Border’s is running a sale on Dr. Seuss books now through 12/28. They are all Buy 2, Get 3rd free. Also, if you’re a Border’s Rewards member, the prices are knocked down a bit from the list price. I’m not … Continue reading →

I am 21 weeks along in my pregnancy, so we got to have our ultrasound done yesterday. Within a matter of seconds we found out we’re having a boy. (When I say “we” I really mean me because let’s face … Continue reading →

Shop Indie Bookstores A couple weeks ago I saw a book on Cool Mom Picks that I had to share here. Alphabetica: Odes to the Alphabet is a collection of poems about the alphabet for children. Author Diana Spieker and … Continue reading →

I found this great list—“10 Great Books for (Traumatizing) Children”– on Cracked and knew I had to share it. The book that inspired the list, Love You Forever, brought about images of Joan Crawford and of Hitchcock’s Psycho. Of course, … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned before how important I feel it is for children to have books. If you have had the ability to meet a toddler raised with reading and books and one who hasn’t had that opportunity, you can see first … Continue reading →