What's on your shelf?

Work Space shelf,
originally uploaded by hdoe.

Wouldn't you like to see what books are on other book lover's shelves, especially kidlit book lovers and bloggers. Well, here is one of my many bookshelves in my house. This one happens to be in my work space and holds my most favorite books along with my current reads. Click on the picture and you will be brought to Flickr where I have added notes (a very, very cool feature) to give you some of the specific titles on my shelf.
Once I started doing a little searching on flickr I realized that I was not the first to label my bookshelves. I was very naive in thinking I had an original thought here. There is actually a bookshelf project that has 1,331 members and 2,155 photos of people's bookshelves.

Book Heart

Book Heart Bokeh,
originally uploaded by Eric M Martin.

WebKinz and Kids Social Networking

I came across this post from David Warlick's blog, 2 cents Worth. (Where is that cents sign when you need it?) The post discusses the pros and cons of worlds like Webkinz and how the kids are interacting that makes it different than just watching a TV show. My kids are spending some time online with WebKinz lately and up until recently their computer knowledge was very small. I think I figured they spent enough time watching movies and PBS that the computer could come later for them. E-mail , going online, logging out, and www.webkinz.com are now common terms in our house and I am glad they are getting some exposure to the online world. It is fascinating that my three year can completely navigate through this world of WebKinz without help. Our next task is to learn how to send mail and packages to our WebKinz neighbors across the street. Into the world of social networks we go!

I'm actually considering using WebKinz in my next Internet class for Lesley University?? I wonder what the teachers would think?

Here's another look at some social networking toys out there.

Where have I been!

January is a time to set the New Years Resolutions and update my blog roll. The problem is I have not been keeping up with reading or writing in blogs for a few months now and I really miss it. So I thought it best to catch everyone up on my past three months by telling you my story through books. This may also help explain why the blogging has been absent from my life.My Car is where I spend most of my day! I know I am not alone. I would love to know, though, what techie toys people are using to do their blogging on the run. Leave a comment if you have a suggestion!
Everyone Poops in my house and my three year old poops in his underwear alot.
For Thanksgiving we had a delicious beer-fed turkey. Run, Turkey, Run! Too late, we ate you. No grill cheese sandwiches on our Thanksgiving day. (But a really great story for reading aloud or for the beginning reader.)
Walt Disney World with Kids was everything we expected. Magical, tiring, and sensory-filled!
I should have read How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon to my husband while we were all sick over the holidays. He may have been the most difficult patient in our very sick house.
Oh, David!, (substitute David with the previously mentioned poopy underwear boy) I really do love you but how challenging you can be.
My number one New Years resolution is to feed my family healthier food and when two out of three kids Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato than I must make spinach and carrot brownies that are Deceptively Delicious!
***We have read all of the books listed and we highly recommend them in our house!

Join the Nation-Read Ferdinand!

I have not been blogging for one entire month, but I am hoping to return to a nice routine of writing and reading soon. Tomorrow I will be participating in Jumpstart's Read for the Record. The chosen story is The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. The Today Show will be reading aloud the book tomorrow and if you do not own a copy the book is also available online!
For a more adult read, I am also participating in New Hampshire Reads. The chosen title is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
I cannot believe I have never read this book so I am excited to be reading in a format where I can discuss the book through events at our local library and throughout New Hampshire.

Scribd-What a cool site!

Through my technology wanderings I found this site that pertains to literature. I am not sure how they are dealing with copyright, but it reminds me a bit of Google Books. Scribd's mission is to "create the world's largest open library of documents." Go there today and search for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You won't believe it!

Inspired by a Dot

Peter Reynolds has some great books that inspire the artist in everyone. I happened upon this site where a parent has used the book The Dot to inspire a summer of many dots. See their posts and gallery. How simple but how much fun to link art to literature.

Check out Peter's bookstore in Dedham, MA where they offer artist workshops for the young.
His Fablevision web site is a must see with it's free downloadable ebooks.

Beach Favorites

While in the bookstore today, I happened upon a book I could not resist. As soon as I saw the cover, it called my daughter's name. She loves shells and as I have mentioned in a previous post, she also loves small books. Shell Crazy (A Crazy Little Series) by Tracy Gallup is a sweet short story about a sister and brother who love to hunt for shells on the beach. What drew me to the book was less about the words and more about the pictures. Each page is a photograph incorporating Tracy's handmade figures with a variety of shells. Our personal favorite is a reproduction of The Birth of Venus. Tracy has also published Stone Crazy as the first in this series and we look forward to more! Here are just a couple of our must-read summer beach books that precede our trips to the seacoast in New Hampshire.


Beach by Elisha Cooper. This beautiful book highlights all of the things you see in a visit to the ocean from the sunburns to the sandcastles dripped from wet sand. It begins with the arrival to the beach and shows the dwindling crowd as the day ends. The pictures show the long stretch of the beach and the peaches, pinks, blues and whites perfectly illustrate the sand and water of the day. The book is huge and with all if it's people-watching delights it is a book for everyone in the family to enjoy.


Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies
We love to watch the bats at dusk around our house and my kids love this book as a nighttime read aloud. The artwork is fabulous and the rhyming text is fun to read. There are some very funny details in the pictures. Take the time to explore.

Flotsam by Davis Weisner
A wordless picture book that needs little explanation since it won the Caldecott for 2006. If you have not seen this yet you need to get your hands on it. Imaginative, brilliant, and stunning.

In the blink of an eye!

In our school district their is a quiet pressure to have your child reading before they enter first grade. (We also do not have public Kindergarten.) I am not sure where the pressure comes from, the school district or fellow parents who are working with their children at an early age, but I feel it. So we have been working with our oldest on his phonemic skills. He loves books. He loves to collect them and we have been reading chapter books to him since he was three. And now he is beginning to read at a basic level and while exciting, I worry that he really does not want to read although he can. My worries are disappearing after a not-to-be-forgotten comment this week.
Surf that Wave is the first book my son has loved to read over and over again. Maybe because it is surfing or maybe because it is Backyardigans. (Maybe both!) In his words to his best friend while discussing books at our local library,

"I can read it in the blink of an eye."