June 2010

  • The Bailey School Kids: Zombies Don't Play Soccer

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 11:04am
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    The Bailey School Kids: Zombies Don’t Play Soccer by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones takes the kids on an adventure with the living dead. Eddie’s behavior has gotten their soccer coach to quit on them. Now they have a new coach and she is the biggest woman that they have ever seen. She’s a tough cookie to boot and Eddie’s friends are not happy that they now have a coach that is going to work them to death. But hey they might actually break their losing streak now that they have a coach that loves soccer so much that she believes a good soccer game could wake the dead.

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  • The Bailey School Kids: Ghosts Don't Eat Potato Chips

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 10:44am
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    The Bailey School Kids: Ghosts Don't Eat Potato Chips by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones tells us a tale of a haunting in Eddie's Aunt's house. His Aunt Mathilda is sick with the flu and it's his job to deliver meals to her. Eddie's aunt is a mean old woman, living alone in a big scary house. Eddie doesn't believe in ghosts but his friends are noticing things going on in and around the house that don't exactly have any other explanation. Is the house really haunted and if so, by who?

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  • Junie B., First Grader: Shipwrecked

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 9:53am
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    Junie B., First Grader: Shipwrecked by Barbara Park was definitely a hit with my soon to be first grader. While she isn’t able to read it all by herself she couldn’t get enough of me reading it to her. In this story, Junie B., First Grader finds out that her class is going to do a play for Parent’s Night. Disappointed that her teacher won’t take her advice on the play being about a mouse, she is put to the task to go home and find out as many facts as she can about Christopher Columbus. Whoever comes back to class with the most facts will get to pick out their character in the play first.

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  • Make a Splash and READ!

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 9:48am
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    It’s that time of year again. The kids are out of school for the summer and it’s time to find things for them to do to keep them busy and their brains working. If you live in Oregon go check out your local library and join them in Make a Splash and Read. Each summer Make a Splash and read is organized by the Oregon Library Association and The Oregon State Library. It’s a great reading program for kids of all ages so if your little one isn’t quite reading on their own yet, that’s not a problem. Along with the reading are new arts and crafts and activities every week that you can sign up for or just show up. The best part is that it is all 100% free and goes all summer long.

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  • The Adventures of The Bailey School Kids: Cupid Doesn't Flip Hamburgers

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 9:45am
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    The Adventures of The Bailey School Kids: Cupid Doesn’t Flip Hamburgers by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones is just one cute book in a series about the kids at Bailey Elementary School. Now I know that it is nowhere near Valentine’s Day but I do have a daughter and she doesn’t always go for books matching the season. This one she picked out because it had hearts all over it so she knew it was going to be a good one! Fortunately for me it was because she insisted that we read the whole chapter book in nearly one sitting. It was good enough that we are going back to the library today to get a couple more out of the series.

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  • The BFG by Ronald Dahl

    By hellenwyeth on 6/26/10 9:40am
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    The BFG by Ronald Dahl is by far one of my favorite children’s chapter books. While looking for a new night time story to read with my daughter I found an old tattered copy of The BFG hidden on our book shelf. By the look of the book, my daughter wasn’t too excited but she was hooked, just like I was as a kid after the first chapter. As a matter of fact we couldn’t stop after the first chapter because she wanted to know what kind of giants are lurking around at the Witching Hour before she went to bed.

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  • Disney Book Adaptations Stink

    By sarajean on 6/23/10 2:36pm
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    I am not a fan of Disney book adaptations.

    I have various issues with Disney already. In college, my partner and I created a case against Disney for many different human rights violations, environmental concerns, and general commercialistic crap that the company is associated with. I don’t like it when my daughter gets Disney gifts (even though I, too, am a sucker for The Princess and the Frog)—though, to be fair, I don’t like it when she gets any trademarked gifts, really.

    When we choose library books, however, I let her pick out what she wants, as long as it’s from the children’s section. Lately, she’s chosen a few Disney movie adaptations—Robin Hood, Aladdin, and The Lion King—when we go to the library.

    And these books really stink.

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  • Green My Parents

    By sarajean on 6/23/10 1:59pm
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    Do you ever wish you could just turn your parents green?

    I don’t mean, of course, to change them into the color green, like Irish Smurfs or leprechauns, but green in deed—that is, an eco friendly lifestyle. Every time I visit my own parents and witness the paper plates and packaging tossed away, my little heart frowns a little. Of course, it’s easy for me to recycle since my city happily comes to pick it up from my house and makes money off of it; it’s harder for my parents, who live in a more rural area.

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