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Category: Gift Ideas

Review: My Achy Body by Liza Fromer & Francine Gerstein MD

[ 3 ] December 11, 2011

Reviewed by Kathie Smith

My Achy Body, part of the Body Works series by Liza Fromer and Francine Gerstein MD, focuses on the most common aches and pains children experience. It is written specifically for children ages six and older using words and terms that are easy for members of this age group to understand.

Topics include bruises, scrapes, broken bones, sprains, stomach aches, earaches and sore throats. Causes of specific injuries and how our bodies work to heal them are addressed in simple, yet informative, terms. It is particularly refreshing to see the inclusion of emotions as a legitimate source of pain.

The main body of the text is complemented by Fun Facts, true or false questions and helpful medical tips at the end of each chapter. There are interesting examples of how this book is relevant to every day life and why we sometimes feel pain even when we are not ill or injured. For example, playing outside in the cold will not cause us to get sick, but it may still result in an earache or sore throat.

My Achy Body is a wonderful resource for children interested in learning more about their bodies. It is engaging, well written and provides information that is appropriate for the suggested age group.

Rating: 5/5

Kathie is a writer, wife, mother and volunteer living in the beautiful Appalachian mountains. Her passion for the written word is fulfilled by creating her own fictional work, freelancing, acting as an adviser to another author, and reading with her six year old daughter.

Review copies were provided free of any obligation by Tundra Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Guest Post: 10 Alternative Gift Ideas for the Women in Your Life

[ 6 ] December 9, 2011

10 Alternative Christmas Gift Ideas, by Sarah Howard

Christmas is coming up fast, and you need to get something for the special woman in your life. But you’ve done jewelry, perfume, and chocolate. Now what? Household appliances are never a good idea. Do not get her a vacuum cleaner, not even if she’s been hinting about how much she’d like a Dyson. However, there are many other choices for Christmas gifts for your lady that are easy for you to shop for and will be appreciated. Here are some ideas that may appeal to you, and more importantly to her:

  • Pajamas. Not lingerie, pajamas. A nice pair of silk pajamas shows your dedication to her comfort, and she’ll look good in them. Avoid seasonal prints, since you want something she can wear year-round. Slippers are an optional extra. As with any clothing gift, know her sizes before you buy! Snoop in her closet if you have to, and if you must guess, err on the side of too small.
  • A handbag. Women can never have too many shoes or purses, and purses are easier to shop for. Just be sure you buy from a reputable source. A “designer” bag for $20 is almost certainly a fake. Pass it by and get the real thing. You might also consider a nice laptop bag, messenger bag, or tablet computer case.
  • A portable video game player, such as a Nintendo DS. Video games aren’t just for teenage boys anymore. Women enjoy puzzle, rhythm, and other casual games that test their brainpower.
  • Classes. Has she always wanted to learn French, study art, develop professional cake-decorating skills, or try her hand at pottery? Check your local community colleges, adult education institutes, museums, and other cultural institutions to see what educational opportunities they offer.
  • A blanket. It’s winter, it’s probably cold. A blanket or throw will keep her warm when you’re not around. Make sure it’s something nice and colourful so she can use it as a decoration as well.
  • Sunglasses. A good pair of designer sunglasses will help your lady feel stylish and be useful year-round.
  • Wine. Ask the wine store staff to recommend something that pairs well with her favorite foods. You need not splurge, since you can get very good wine at a reasonable price if you shop around. No two-buck Chuck, please.
  • An e-reader. If your lady is the bookish type, she’ll love the variety and convenience an e-reader offers.
  • A salon gift certificate. If she colors or styles her hair, get her a gift certificate from her favourite salon. Offering her a rejuvenating day at the spa will also be appreciated.
  • A coupon book. While this can be a corny gift, giving her a book of promise coupons can be deeply appreciated. Just take the time to think about it and make coupons for things she genuinely wants, whether it’s dinner out, control of the remote, or taking the kids away for the day.

With a little creativity and consideration, you’ll be able to find an outstanding and unique gift for your lady. Just think about her, and what makes her happy, and you’ll be on the path to finding a great gift!

Sarah writes on behalf of Fluid Branding, a promotional products specialist. Fluid Branding have thousands of promotional product from promotional mugs to calculators, from promotional pens to umbrellas. Fluid Branding have something for everyone.

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Review: Nini by Francois Thisdale

[ 3 ] December 8, 2011

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

Friends of mine are awaiting the finalization of their adoption of a girl from China and I just found the book I want to send them! Nini by Francois Thisdale is a touching book about a little girl who is born in China, but whose parents come from the other side of the world to adopt her and bring her home.

Thisdale’s artistry is amazingly beautiful and uses the full spread of each page. Many of the illustrations are done in a layering effect that adds to the mystery and deep feeling of the story they are helping to tell.

The language of Nini is equally beautiful, as it takes the little girl on a journey from the womb and the voice and love of her birth mother, to the strangeness and loneliness of the orphanage, and into the arms of the momma and daddy who came “just for her.” The art and language also work to tie and blend together the Asian and Western cultures that now make up the one family.

Nini, by Francois Thisdale, is a great book to read with any child. However, it will be especially meaningful for families brought together by adoption, and perhaps even more so by those who share the Asian to Western adoption journey.

Rating: 4.5/5

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Tundra Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Christmas Turtles by Sara Ann Denson

[ 2 ] November 30, 2011

Reviewed by Guest Reviewer Teresa Dahl

I love children’s books and especially children’s Christmas books. When I heard about Christmas Turtles from a dear friend of mine, I thought I’d order it and read it to my children this year. Every year, my family makes a tradition out of reading a particular book in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and taking a family photo for our holiday cards.

The author, Sara Ann Denson, based the story on her own childhood Christmas experiences. The lovely illustrations done by Tara McMillen will open up children’s imaginations as they discover each page of the book.

I was amazed that the story held their attention. It wasn’t just story time; it was story sharing time because we talked about each page and picture. They pointed out parts of the pictures and asked questions. We were all engrossed in the book.

This story is special because it’s about Sara Ann Denson’s own loving grandmother and her four grandchildren. Sara Ann remembers that each Christmas they celebrated a memorable tradition together at Grandma’s house.

To start the tradition the families would come to Grandpa’s farm during autumn to help plant the winter wheat. Grandma would gather the children around her on the front porch to crack pecans in the brisk fall air. They felt so special putting the pecan halves in the enchanted tin. After they filled the tin, Grandma would put the tin into the freezer where the elves would find it.

They anticipated returning at Christmas because in their absence the elves would magically make the pecans turn into “turtle” candy treats. Eventually, the children learned that their Grandma was actually the one making the turtles all along. Sara Ann then recognized her Grandma’s love for her family – she could not eat the turtles herself and always had aches and pains, but she knew the joy it brought her family.

This theme of love and serving your loved ones is the lesson to be learned from this well written story. Be careful when reading this book to have all the ingredients for Christmas turtles on hand. Luckily, the sweet candy turtle recipe is provided is in the back of the book, together with a neat wooden spoon. It has the words “Christmas Turtles” on the handle.

This heartwarming story should be pulled out every Christmas as it’s own tradition. My kids and I thoroughly enjoyed this book Christmas Turtles, and I hope you will enjoy it too! Merry Christmas!

Rating: 5/5

No review copy was provided. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: ZooBorns Cats! by Andrew Bleiman & Chris Eastland

[ 2 ] November 27, 2011

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

First off, you have to get ZooBorns Cats! because it is the stinking cutest book ever! I chose it for my soon-to-be nine-year-old daughter – who is the typical kitty and horse loving little girl – because of the adorable pictures that I knew she would love. What I didn’t expect was all of the great information and the variety of wildcat species that Bleiman and Eastland were able to capture.

Many of the cats that Bleiman and Eastland have included are extremely rare and, for some, this is the first time they have had their picture printed. Each species of wildcat pictured includes its common name, native location, and information about its habits and where it falls on the endangered list. My personal favorites are the sand cats of the Arabian Desert. Not only are they gorgeous, but those little kitties eat venomous snakes! I told my husband that I won’t be moving anywhere with snakes like that unless he gets me a sand cat!

With the wonderful photography, an adorable subject matter, and great information that is included in ZooBorns Cats!, there is much to love about this book. One negative aspect for me is that there are very few pictures of the adult cats included and most of the adult cats shown are the lions and tigers that we are familiar with. I understand that the book is concentrated on newborns, but I would love to see how these rare kitties, that I’ve never heard of, look as adults.

My daughter has about four weeks yet before her birthday and I can’t wait to give her this book! In the mean time, I hate to wrap it just yet because that would mean I couldn’t sneak a peak at these cute kitties!

Did I mention that every sale of this book supports the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Endowment Fund? As if you need another reason to get your own copy… and another as a gift!

Rating: 5/5

Check out our review of the original ZooBorns

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Simon & Schuster. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Stay by Allie Larkin

[ 6 ] November 19, 2011

Reviewed by Jennifer Leisey

Savannah “Van” Leone is downright miserable during the wedding of her best friend, Julie. But what else is expected, when Peter Clarke, Julie’s new groom, is the man who Savannah has loved since her freshman year of college. And when Julie’s mother tries to pay Van to keep away from the newlyweds, it’s clear that the only people who haven’t spoken about Van’s feelings are Van and Peter. Even Van’s mother, who passed away from cancer a few years prior, knew the truth.

Van returns home alone – her mother is gone, her best friends enjoying their honeymoon – and nurses her sorrows with vodka, Kool-Aid, and a Rin Tin Tin marathon. Angry at the world and too drunk to care, Van starts searching the web for German Sheppard puppies. After waking up the next morning wrapped around her toilet, Van realizes she spent six thousand dollars on a dog.

The “puppy” Van was expecting turns out to be Joe; a black, long-haired, 100-pound 6 month old German Sheppard who steals Van’s side of the bed and ultimately, her heart. Van tries desperately to learn how to live with her new furry roommate with the help of Joe’s vet, Dr. Alex Brand, who teaches Van the Slovakian commands and leash skills for Joe.

An enormous canine that has the home owner’s association at her condo livid, the possibility of a new love interest, and mourning the loss of both Peter and her mother have quickly thrown Van’s world upside down. And soon, she realizes that just when you think life can’t get any more complicated . . . it inevitably does.

Stay was one of those books that I just couldn’t put down. With three dogs running my own household, I immediately fell in love with Joe’s unconditional spirit and charismatic personality. An easy but so very fulfilling story of friendship, love, and loss that’s reminiscent of Marley & Me and Something Borrowed (see our review), Larkin’s novel takes less than a day to read, but will stick with you for much longer.

Rating: 4.5/5

Since graduating from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Professional Writing, Jenn works as a freelance writer, poet, and blogger at south of sheridan. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, and loves baking, crafting, and anything that requires a hot glue gun.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Plume. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese

[ 8 ] November 14, 2011

Reviewed by Jen Kulman

A few years ago, Jennifer Reese wrote an article that analyzed the cost effectiveness of making six different pantry staples versus buying them. I loved that she tried her hand at making cream cheese and wrote an honest account, thereby saving me the trouble. I thought her comparison idea was a really great one, and so thrilled to find that she expounded on that idea and wrote an entire book devoted to the premise. Which foods should you cook from scratch, and which are you better off buying? Thanks to this exhaustive research project – we can make our own informed decisions with fewer headaches.

Frequently, I buy a convenience food or pantry staple, and think to myself “It would be so much cheaper and healthier if I would just make this at home.” Exactly how much cheaper would it really be and how much work and time will that entail? Reese lays out the answers so neatly. The header of each recipe addresses three important points. A make or buy it determination, the amount of hassle involved, and a cost comparison of the two. I love how you can tell with just a glance how each item stacks up. Definitely make your own caramel corn, guacamole, cornbread, lemonade, and whipped cream, as the improved taste is well worth your efforts and you’ll save money to boot. Try your hand at making your own onion rings, doughnuts, bacon, and eggnog if you are a person who enjoys a challenge and cleaning up the kitchen. Buy goat’s milk, duck prosciutto, pot stickers, and honey, as the hassle-ometer is off the charts.

The variety of foods she tries her hand at is staggering. Reese does some amazing things, such as buying live turkeys for roasting, keeping bees for honey, and buying a chunk of raw fish to make her own sashimi. Certainly her initial idea was interesting, but it is her follow-through, presentation and writing that elevates the book to fabulous! Some of the recipes contain a simple paragraph outlining her experiences, while the more involved (such as killing chickens or making your own hot dogs) take up a few pages. Several of the stories had me laughing out loud. Hands down, the funniest, most entertaining cookbook I own.

Reese made foods at home that I would never dream of replicating, but she also provides recipes that are definitely in my future. I adore her chapter on cheeses and will absolutely take a stab at making my own Marscapone, and possibly the Burrata. You will never convince me that a homemade pickle can touch a Claussen, but I believe in granola fresh from the oven and homemade apple pies are worth every peel. Even if you know in your heart you will never whip up your own mayonnaise or snatch a warm egg from a chicken, it sure is fun to read about another person’s wild kitchen experiments, particularly when the stories are told as humorously as these.

Read an interview with Jennifer Reese about writing Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, or check out her blog The Tipsy Baker, summarized as “One woman cooks through her collection of 1000 cookbooks and feeds the results to her family.”

Rating: 5/5

Jen lives in Michigan with her husband and six year old son. She writes reviews of children’s books on her blog, FIRR-Kids and loves filling her own shelves with cookbooks.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Get Red PR. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

[ 6 ] November 10, 2011

Reviewed by Elizabeth Talbott

Liesl has been kept in the attic of her house ever since her father grew progressively sick and then died. Her stepmother Augusta hates her and keeps her there, feeding her meager meals and rarely allowing her to leave. Liesl draws to pass the time and does little else. Three days after her father’s death, she receives two unexpected visitors: a ghost named Po, who is neither a boy nor a girl, and his ghostly pet Bundle, who is neither a dog nor a cat. Po agrees to try to find her father on the other side in exchange for a drawing; Po discovers that her father wants to go home and Liesl is the only one who can help him.

Liesl and Po’s journey intertwines with Will’s, an apprentice to a cruel alchemist who accidentally mixes up Liesl’s father’s ashes with the greatest magic ever created. Po and Liesl take this magic and embark on a wonderful and strange journey, with both friends and enemies following them, to take Liesl’s father to his proper resting place.

Lauren Oliver opens Liesl & Po with an explanation of the circumstances that led her to write the book: her best friend died and she wrote the book as way of coping with it. I can definitely see that reflected in the story and I feel that anyone who has lost a loved one can relate to it, not just children.

Liesl’s life in the attic is simply miserable and she goes through her days robotically, without any real excitement. Sunlight has also disappeared, leaving the world cold and gray. The lovely charcoal drawings illustrate this feeling wonderfully. They are a physical representation of Lauren Oliver’s own feelings in the months after her friend’s passing.

Liesl and Po’s journey to lay her father to rest is symbolic of anyone’s personal journey in accepting a death of a loved one and saying goodbye to that person. I love that the setting and time period of the book is unspecified, so the reader can imagine it as taking place wherever and whenever. Liesl & Po deals with death in a way that doesn’t talk down to children and acknowledges that children can (and have to) deal with death on their own terms.

Although the tale is fairly dark, Lauren Oliver tempers it with humor, levity, magic, and unique characters. Liesl, Will, and Po’s unlikely friendship is delightful and they have their own very different personalities and states of being. They were all alone in the world and found solace in each other in the grayscale world they live in. Liesl is surprisingly creative and brave for a girl who unquestioningly stayed in the attic for so long. Po is an enigmatic being that seems to become more and more human as it stays in the living world. Will is an abused child and has insecurities as a result, but remains a good and loyal friend to Liesl. The other characters, namely the adults in the story besides Liesl’s father, are flat characters that are simply villainous. This aspect gives the story a fairy or folk tale feel.

I enjoyed Liesl & Po very much and found Lauren Oliver’s prose engaging and lyrical. Those who enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book or Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events books are likely to enjoy Liesl & Po as well.

Rating: 4/5

Elizabeth is a student at Cal State Long Beach. She laughs a lot, loves cats, and lives for music and books. You can read her blog here: http://titania86-fishmuffins.blogspot.com/.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperCollins. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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