Operation Shower is very excited to be joining with Usborne Books to host an online Book Fair which will allow us to add some wonderful books to our “showers in a box” for moms-to-be whose husbands are deployed! Get a leg-up on school and help military families in the process.

When: Now through July 29, 2008
Where: Click here to go directly to the book fair.
Why: To support our military families. Each book you purchase will count towards free books to be gifted to pregnant and new moms whose husbands are deployed as a part of our ’showers in a box’.*
Who: Sponsored by Operation Shower, Clever Parents and Lena’s Notebook.

* If you would like to donate your purchase directly to Operation Shower, please shop from the Operation Shower Wish List located in the upper right portion of the Operation Shower eFair web page. Orders shipped directly to Operation Shower will be shipped once the book fair closes.

Thank you for your support!

Keeping kids active and learning through the summer months can be a challenge for parents and caregivers. Usborne’s Ten Terrific Weeks Reading Adventure Program could make a difference in your child’s summer by keeping them connected with learning so they don’t suffer the summer “brain drain”. Each exciting program comes complete with books, curriculum and detailed supply lists. Short daily activities encourage creativity, learning and fun. The individual programs are geared toward preschoolers up through middle school and beyond, and offer parents a great alternative.

There are various subjects available and include, but are not limited to the ocean, space, fairies and the human body. The daily activities usually take an hour less to complete and typically involve reading a chapter from one of the curriculum books and completing an activity that helps your child retain the concept. For example, in week three of the human body curriculum, one day your child will read a chapter on blood and check for someone’s heart beat. The next day, your child will read about the heart. The third day, your child will pretend that he is a blood cell. He will create an obstacle course of his body to travel through, making sure to include a place to enter the heart and exit to the lungs. On another day, the child will access websites (which are provided by Usborne’s own safe search engine) where additional activities are offered. And on the final day of that week, your child will read about pumping blood and will check someone’s heart rate. Then, he will determine what causes the heart to beat faster and why.

This seems to be a great way to keep your child’s brain in gear while taking a break from the rigid schedule of the school year. It offers education and fun without much planning on the part of the caregiver – it’s all done for you! And for those of you with children in year round school, this program can still work for you. Just space it out over your child’s breaks. Once your child has completed the program – he receives his own certificate of completion. So have fun this summer and keep learning!

For more information on this program and many other Usborne educational materials, please visit www.ubah.com/k2841.

Since Thanksgiving, most of you have been pulling the decorations out of the attic and setting them up in preparation for the big holiday. While unpacking those boxes of decorations, I’m sure you ran across some of the old Christmas story favorites – Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, The First Christmas, the Nutcracker – the list goes on. Well, we are all very familiar with these stories, so I think many of us allow the season to go by without even dusting them off.

Here’s an idea to get those books read and have an enjoyable slow down moment with your family. Wrap up each book in Christmas paper. Place the wrapped books in a basket and set them under the tree. Each night, allow your kids to choose the wrapped book that they would like to read. Turn off the TV, make some hot chocolate and sit with your kids and read the story with them. I promise, that you will enjoy that “break” with your kids. What better way to end a busy day of work, school or shopping than to curl up on the couch with your kids and read a book.

Add an additional element of surprise for your kids. Add some new books to your collection. Christmas Around the World, by L. Sims is nice book because describes the holiday traditions of those in other countries. The Usborne Book Of Christmas Poems by S. Taplin would be a delightful addition to your collection. Maybe one night you would like to bake some cookies to enjoy while you read those lovely books – try Christmas Cooking (R. Glilpin and C. Atkinson) or Christmas Fairy Cooking (L. Pratt and C. Atkinson) for the little darlings in your life. These books and many more can be found at www.ubah.com/k2841 Enjoy those holiday books and Merry Christmas!

The Manny by Holly Peterson was my “summer read” that continued way too far into Fall! The story was an interesting peek into the lives of the “uber rich” in the heart of New York City’s Manhattan. While the thought of having my own cooks, maids and nannies is unimaginable to me, it’s always entertaining to read about this ultimate fantasy lifestyle in between doing my own piles of laundry, cooking dinner and helping kids with homework. When you add a young, good-looking, zest for life “Manny” to the mix, you would think that things would get really interesting! Unfortunately, it didn’t quite do that for me.

The character of Jamie, a working mother of three married to a rich, greedy, upwardly striving, workaholic husband, living in the heart of Manhattan intrigued me in several ways. First, I could relate to getting married in my late 20’s and being career and socially focused. Then, after you add kids to the mix and reach your late 30’s, you start to see how husband and wife evolve over the course of marriage and family life. Personal goals change, careers change, and marriage changes. Working hard in both career and family life can cause you to lose touch with what brought you together as a couple. I could see that struggle between Jamie and her husband as they started leading separate lives. Enter in the young, single fun-loving “Manny”, showering Jamie and her kids with attention and affection they’ve been missing and craving, how could she not fall for the Manny? To me the Manny represents all the love, affection, and humanity that was disappearing from Jamie’s marriage. Unfortunately this was very predictable from the start and the book lacked the depth to really draw you further into the experience.

The book continues by pursuing two story lines, one related to her high profile reporter career and the other, the growing relationship between her and the Manny and how he brings out Jamie’s true desires and goals for herself and her children.

I appreciated the fact that over the duration of the story, Jamie really fights to do the right thing…not just giving into her immediate emotions and feelings. She tries to make her marriage work and yet struggles with the realization that staying in an unhappy marriage doesn’t do anyone any favors. On the other hand, she painfully strings Peter (the Manny) along trying to figure out who and what she wants, which often got confusing, especially since her husband seemed to get worse and worse as the story unfolded.

I was disappointed in how predictable this book was and had a hard time making a true connection with the characters. It did improve towards the end as Jamie’s character opens up about her feelings toward the Manny, but overall the book ended up being simply a fun “escape” read.

More about The Manny on Amazon.

NOTE: I’ve been a lover of books all my life and I try to still get in a book every so often even when time seems to not want to permit it! We read to the kids every night and for those of you who read to your kids and yet still don’t have time to read for yourself, remember that it sets a great example for your kids to see you take a moment, pick up a book and read. Practice what we preach, right? It will do everyone good!

Chana Lynn, small business web designer and mother of two girls, Julia and Samantha. She resides in Raleigh, NC.

“The day you were born was a dream come true. It began the lifetime adventure of incredible YOU.” So starts the fun, sentimental, custom keepsake book titled The First Adventures of Incredible You. Through beautiful illustrations and a story that is a joy to read with its rhyming words and gentle cadence, you and your child will fall in love with this book.

Written by Sarah Riley Headrick and Sarah Foreman Rivera, two friends who met through a suburban playgroup when their first-borns were six months old, the two Sarahs quickly became experts in giving and receiving gifts for babies and young children. “We found the gifts that we most enjoyed giving and receiving were somehow personalized and had special meaning for the recipient’s family.”

Made custom by answering about 20 questions such as your child’s name, birth date, friends names and favorite park, The First Adventures of Incredible You cleverly and seamlessly inserts the personalized details of your child’s life while maintaining the rhyming, fun nature of the book.

A wonderful gift for girls and boys, biological and adopted children, children of all races and nationalities, for newborns, toddlers, preschoolers through third graders, The First Adventures of Incredible You is a Clever Parents favorite. Buy this hardcover book as a holiday gift, a birthday present, a baby shower or just because.

Use code cp10 for 10% off your purchase from now through December 15th. Purchase by December 7th (standard shipping) or December 15th (expedited shipping) for Christmas delivery. Learn more and buy the book at www.custommadeforkids.com

Just before Bob and I were married, my mother told me about her early days of marriage. She said that they didn’t have much money, and TV was not widely available, but what they did in the evenings was read books aloud to one another. It sounded strange to me, but a year or so later, Bob and I didn’t have much money, and there was nothing good to watch on TV, so I suggested that we read a book aloud to one another. What fun it was! We found that some books are better suited for reading aloud than others. Agatha Christie and Nero Wolfe mysteries were easy to read. War and Peace, on the other hand, just seemed to bog us down with the details.

When our first daughter was entering kindergarten, I attended the “Get to Know the Principal” session. The principal said that one of the most important things to do with your children is to read aloud to them. We had, of course, been reading books to them, but had sort of thought that this would end at some point. The principal said, “Read aloud every day until they graduate.” Thus began a very pleasant time in our lives.

We generally read one book as an entire family at night before our daughters went to bed, and I read them a different book each morning while they ate breakfast, after Bob left for work. When overnight guests came, we all piled into one bedroom and read whatever book we were currently working on. I remember one time when we were reading a ghost story in the mornings at breakfast, and my parents were visiting. Each morning they got down to the kitchen just as I was opening the book. These grandparents found them-selves stools to sit on, and they listened. They had planned to stay through a Monday, but at the end of breakfast on Monday they announced that they were staying another day. “Fine,” I said, “But why?” “Because you will finish that book tomorrow morning, and we want to know how it turns out.”

We found that, as our daughters grew, the complexity of the books that we read increased. We also had them read to us some nights.

As our oldest daughter was preparing for her wedding, I decided to pass on the advice that my mother had given me. About a month later, she reported that her new husband was reading Ayn Rand to her in the evenings, and she was enjoying it (to her surprise).

Here are some of the books that we liked the best:

For small children:

• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown

• Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne

• Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

• The Peter Rabbit Series, by Beatrix Potter

These children’s books have been recreated by others, so be sure to find the original versions, which we think are the best. The original Pooh books were “decorated” by Ernest H. Shepard. The original Rudyard Kipling books were illustrated with black and white line drawings by the author. The 23 original Peter Rabbit books were a tiny size (approximately 6 inches by 6 inches), also illustrated by the author.

For grade school-age children:

• The Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• The Anne of Green Gables books, by L.M. Montgomery

• The Bunnicula books, by James Howe

For junior high and high school-age children:

• The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Jubliee Trail, by Gwen Bristow

• The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

I am the Queen of reading parenting books, most often written by other Mothers who write about their experiences. This was the first time I’ve read one by a Dad! It was very interesting to gain some perspective from the Father’s side of the parenting spectrum. I really enjoyed this book and literally laughed out loud reading several of the chapters!

Robert Wilder enlightens us with his parenting stories in a relaxed style as if you were having a casual conversation over coffee. I liked this book because it was not bogged down with lessons in child rearing, which I found refreshing; he simply relays the funny or touching experiences that we all have as new and more experienced parents. One thing that I’ve really come to enjoy is spending time with other parent friends and sharing our own funny or embarrassing stories with each other. There were many incidents in Robert’s book that I could relate to, such as a chapter on buying school supplies (“Supply Me”) or his chapter about choosing baby names and keeping them secret from other family or friends (”Hoarding Names”). That one really hit home with me! He also includes some more tender moments with his children. He clearly has enjoyed his fathering adventures as he has watched his daughter (Poppy) and son (London) grow into amazingly clever little people. Highlights included London’s use of a particular “choice” word at different social events or outings, the challenge of high maintenance moms, singing and driving simultaneously to keep his daughter asleep, and a hilarious episode on X-rated broadcasts via the baby monitor!

Another funny chapter is called “Papa Pia”. Wilder’s skillful writing allows you to vividly imagine the scene as he recalls changing his newborn’s exploding diaper on the sink in the Men’s Room! As you can imagine, the whole thing turns into a total disaster, conjuring up unforgettable memories for most Dads and Moms who have experienced something similar in their early child-rearing years.

In the chapter titled “Kidalgo” Wilder describes his children as seasoned air travelers and although well behaved they can still suffer the wrath of a nearby adult who is simply upset once they realize a child has been seated behind them. He humorously points the lights and air towards the discriminating couple in the row ahead to annoy them. In the end, he gets his revenge by being complemented by the flight attendant for having such well-behaved children. That, with a thank you and a swift kick to the seats in front of him!

Overall, the male perspective used to convey these humorous anecdotes creates a refreshingly unique and enjoyable summer read. I would highly recommend it.

Find Daddy Needs a Drink: An Irreverent Look at Parenting from a Dad Who Truly Loves His Kids–Even When They’re Driving Him Nuts by Robert Wilder in paperback on Amazon here.

NOTE: I’ve been a lover of books all my life and I try to still get in a book every so often even when time seems to not want to permit it! We read to the kids every night and for those of you who read to your kids yet still don’t have time to read for yourself, remember that it sets a great example for your kids to see you take a moment, pick up a book and read. Practice what we preach, right? It will do everyone good!

Chana Lynn, small business web designer and mother of two girls, Julia and Samantha. She resides in Raleigh, NC.

The following generous companies provided toys and books to the families of Operation Shower:

Toys/Books

HABA provided wooden baby toys and tea sets for siblings	Kids Preferred provided asthma-friendly floppy puppies and other stuffed animals and musicals.
Mahar Drygoods provided wonderful board books and journals.	Lena’s Notebook and Clever Parents provided various classic board books.

What’s the greatest gift Clever Parents can give a child besides their own time? The gift of reading, of course! Created by two teachers turned moms, The Gifted Grasshopper provides books that have been personally selected after scouring the bookstores for what kids love and what parents love to read.

Book selections are grouped by age and topic. In the Preschool area, for instance, you can choose from book sets about the alphabet, numbers, animals, fairy tales and more. The 2nd and 3rd grade area has selections on sports, poetry, math and chapter books to name a few.

“Jen and I pride ourselves on being able to find beautiful books for children: books with engaging text and beautiful illustrations; books that will foster language development and instill a love of reading in children,” says co-founder Laura Greenstein. “Books that are displayed at large bookstores are typically there because the publisher paid for the special placement, not because they are a quality selection. There are hundreds of books hidden on bookshelves in these stores or not even in stock at all that should be a part of every child’s reading experience. These are the books that are placed in Gifted Grasshopper gift bags. We are quite certain that when we send a baby bag to a baby shower, no one else has purchased the same books for the new mother to be. We feel confident that we can find original books for a bag for a child with hundreds of books in his collection already. Jen and I spend hours looking for great books to add to our collections.”

Bags are packaged by theme, however, if a customer has a need that is not covered by one of these categories, you can order a gift bag by Custom Request.

Gift bags come packaged in a Gifted Grasshopper tote and include a bookmark containing helpful hints that can be used while reading with your child, glasses to help your child spot new letters or words and Griffen the Grasshopper, a plush grasshopper puppet.

Learn more and shop away at www.giftedgrasshopper.com – happy reading!

Our Featured Blog is Clare’s Dad, written by Darren who is, as you probably guessed, Clever Parent that you are, Clare’s Dad. Clearly a clever fellow, Darren has an MFA in from Columbia as well as a law degree and has worked in theatre management as well as law. Currently he’s a stay at home dad to Clare, his 5-year-old daughter.

Not having a daughter, I like Darren’s blog because it’s a great window into the father/daughter relationship. At 5 Clare evidently has quite the eye for style—specifying her haircut and putting together outfits—to the obvious amazement of her dad who confesses that, “Clare is hipper than I am.” Then there is the post where Darren and his wife realize they might have to sell their house because Bigfoot inhabits it.

Clever Parents: What’s your favorite activity to do with Clare?

Clare’s Dad (Darren): I’ve always loved any time spent with Clare. But now that she’s getting older, we share some interests and that’s really fun. We like watching movies and eating popcorn, playing board games, and reading, but our favorite activity together is family swim at the YMCA.

Clever Parents: What’s been the biggest surprise about fatherhood?

Clare’s Dad: There have been a lot of surprises. I don’t think that many new parents are prepared for how much a little person is going to take over their lives. And, although we all know that we’re going to love our kids, even that love ends up being more than expected. But the biggest surprise for me is probably how much fun Clare and I have together. I try to find a balance and be her Dad, but I can also say that one of my best friends is a five year-old girl. I didn’t expect that.

Clever Parents: Before staying home with Clare, you were in theater production and management. Tell us about that.

Clare’s Dad: I’ve had a couple careers. I got an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from Columbia University School of the Arts in a theater program that combined arts, business and law. I worked in theater in New York for a couple years, but then I went to law school and worked as an attorney for six years. Three years ago, I went back to theater because that’s what I’m really passionate about it. Producing is a mix of creativity, organization and business management that I love. Clare loved spending time in the theater I last worked in too, which was a fun bonus. When Clare starts first grade this fall, I hope to find some consulting or contractual work in management or production.

Clever Parents: What are your favorite books to read to Clare?

Clare’s Dad: We like reading Dr. Seuss, princess stories, anything about Barbie, Dora, Strawberry Shortcake. A few favorites that Clare’s Mom and I like to read with Clare are Snuggle Puppy and Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton, and Beach Day by Karen Roosa. We also try to tackle some chapter books, like the new Tinkerbell stories. And now Clare is starting to read to her Mom and me too, but those of course are simple books with just a few short words.

Clever Parents: What are you reading now?

Clare’s Dad: I’m notorious for starting a few books at the same time and taking a long time to get through them. I’m always flipping back through a book and checking other references, especially with non-fiction. Right now I’m reading Ground Rules for Winners by Joe Torre and Thy Honored Name: A History of the College of the Holy Cross by Anthony J. Kuzniewski. I’m also re-reading Regional Theatre: The Revolutionary Stage by Joseph Wesley Zeigler, which is a history of American regional theater. I read a lot of references and how-to’s too, like theater production and design books or landscaping books. There are others that I can read pretty quickly too, classics like The Great Gatsby or The Sun Also Rises or anything by David Sedaris.

Clever Parents: What non-parenting blogs/sites do you like?

Clare’s Dad: One fun blog that I’ve found recently is www.indexed.blogspot.com. Another favorite site right now is www.lostpedia.com; I’ve spent hours reading about the characters on Lost. My wife and I (and Clare too) are big Disney fans and I’ve also been hooked on DIS, an unofficial Disney vacation site at www.wdwinfo.com and especially the forums there. Some other big favorites are www.wikipedia.com and www.refdesk.com. I also like the Library of Congress site at www.loc.gov as a great resource of interesting information.

Clever Parents: What’s an ideal date night?

Clare’s Dad: I’m not sure that I have one ideal; I think that to set-up an ideal in your mind is just asking for frustration if it doesn’t go perfectly right. But there a few things that would make a great date for Clare’s Mom and me. We like great restaurants and different types of food, so trying something new is fun for us. We also like the rare chances we get to see a movie on the big screen that isn’t animated. But sometimes, an ideal date night is just staying home and watching TV together with a bottle of wine. It’s more about the time together rather than the specific details that make an ideal date for me.

“There is no such thing as succeeding without reading,” says Dr. Richard Bavaria, vice president of education at Sylvan Learning Center. “Developing solid reading skills in the early years means children are more likely to become confident learners all throughout school.”

Dr. Bavaria suggests the following tips parents can use to help their children develop strong reading skills:

Pre-School Children

• Set aside time for storytelling. Reading and telling stories together help stimulate reading and writing skills.
• Read aloud. It sparks the imagination and helps orient children to language and the concept of written words. When reading a story aloud, point to the words as you speak them. Follow the sentence with your finger so that children begin to recognize how words appear on the page.
• Read often, but don’t expect to be able to read together for long periods of time.
  Encourage children between ages 4 and 7 to recognize words on the page.

Grade School Children

• Continue to read aloud. Even after children start to read on their own, reading aloud with them can help develop language skills.
• Encourage your child to try to sound out a strange word. Mistakes should be treated as an opportunity to learn a new word, not an embarrassment.
• Encourage talk and discussion as this contributes to the development of language skills and can help with reading. Ask everyone around the dinner table to talk about his or her day or tell a story.
• Introduce children to your local public library and get library cards for everyone in the family. Enroll in library-sponsored programs like reading challenges.
• Check with teachers and librarians to confirm the appropriate reading level for your child’s age. Get recommendations from them on good children’s books, or visit HYPERLINK “http://www.bookadventure.com” www.bookadventure.com to select age-appropriate titles.
• Read newspapers and magazines together. Help them read photo captions.
  Set up or designate shelves in a child’s room for her own “library.”
• Go to the Internet. The Internet can provide many opportunities for children looking for new things to read. Book Adventure is a free Sylvan-created, interactive, reading motivation program that can be found online at www.bookadventure.com. Students choose their own books, take short comprehension quizzes and redeem their accumulated points for small prizes. Book Adventure also offers teachers and parents resources and tips to help children develop a lifelong love of reading.

Sylvan Learning Center offers reading programs that are based upon solid and scientific research, educational industry best practices and common sense. Sylvan’s reading tutors use a systematic, age– and grade–appropriate approach that ultimately fosters reading independence and confidence.

For more great tips, visit www.educate.com.

Friday, March 2 is the 10th annual Read Across America Day, a one-day celebration that reflects the National Education Association’s year-round literacy campaign to build a nation of readers.

In honor of the day, Sylvan Learning Center has compiled a list of ‘Great Reads’ to help elementary, middle, and high school students achieve age-appropriate reading levels. Following are a few of the titles, taken from Sylvan’s BookAdventure.com, a free reading motivation program containing over 7,000 recommended titles for children in grades K-12:

Elementary School
Grade 1: Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss;
The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree, by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Grade 2: Poetry for All Seasons, by Demi, et al.;
Come Back, Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parish and Wallace Tripp

Grade 3: The BFG, by Roald Dahl;
The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Anderson

Grade 4: Winnie-The-Pooh, by A.A. Milne;
Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Case, by Donald J. Sobol

Grade 5: White Fang, by Jack London;
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein

Middle School
Grade 6: Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling;
The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford

Grade 7: Watership Down, by Richard Adams;
The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper

Grade 8: Jungle, by Upton Sinclair;
The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger

High School
Grade 9: The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen

Grade 10: The Hound of Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

Grade 11: Blackout, by John J. Nance
Big Mouth & Ugly Girl, by Joyce Carol Oates

Grade 12: Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway

What: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Why: Sure, it’ll be a couple of months before the final book of the Harry Potter series is released (July 21st to be exact), but if you pre-order your copy today, you’ll save over 50%. Plus, you won’t have to worry about it selling out, which we’re certain they will.

Price: $17

Find it: amazon.com

Tip: Order now and if the amazon.com price decreases between your order time and release date, you’ll receive the lowest price.

As a busy mom always short on time, what I loved most about Confessions of a Slacker Mom by Muffy Mead-Ferro was the sense of accomplishment that I felt after reading it in one night! It is a quick and easy read. I got the sense that the author wasn’t trying to write yet another parenting advice book, but instead wrote about her experiences growing up in the 70’s and her mother’s parenting style versus the popular, trendy parenting methods of today. It was a great tribute to her mother and the important life lessons she took away from growing up on a ranch in Wyoming and being forced to be an independent, hardworking, appreciative child.

I enjoyed reading several different chapters where she takes on many of today’s modern parenting challenges. First, her take on toys (Toys Aren’t Us) humorously describes needing to buy stock in battery companies, the constant chore of picking up the 60+ pieces to the toy or sorting through toys to put them back together, which I know from experience has taken up way too much of my time! I whole-heartedly agree with the fact that today’s kids have so much to choose from that almost nothing is truly special. She also reflects on how much more time was spent outside using our imaginations and playing with sticks, rocks and spending hours building forts out of card board boxes instead of buying expensive “educational” toys that the kids look at once and forget about!

I also enjoyed her takes on scrap booking (“every moment memorable but potentially trivial too!”), formal education (writing a recommendation for a 2 year old’s application to preschool), safety (learning the hard way instead of completely safety-proofing the house) and allowing for the natural consequences of a child’s behavior. Bottom line: she believes in building a child’s self esteem by encouraging them to accomplish a goal that wasn’t easy to achieve, learning a new skill or finishing a task that takes time and effort, and teaching children to want to do well for themselves, not just to gain praise.

By just saying “no” to the pressure of some of today’s parenting philosophies and giving children everything, she calls herself a “slacker mom.” By resisting these temptations, she believes in letting kids learn for themselves, and believing that it is okay for your child to have less and not have to be involved in every kind of activity or sport. She also believes that mothers need to have lives of their own, which as I’ve just hit the 40 year mark, I am a big subscriber to these days. I believe that being a slacker mom just might make me a better mom, wife and friend!

The book is humorous and easy to relate to and I enjoyed being reminded of what is truly important as we raise our children the best way we can in this fast-paced, overwhelming world we live in! Her most important message: she believes we are all generally good parents and we need to trust our inner instincts as the good moms and dads that we are.

NOTE: I’ve always been a lover of books all my life and I try to still get in a book every so often even when time seems to not want to permit it! We read to the kids every night and for those of you who read to your kids and yet still don’t have time to read for yourself, remember that it sets a great example for your kids to see you take a moment, pick up a book and read. Practice what we preach, right? It will do everyone good!

Buy Confessions of a Slacker Mom on Amazon.

So I recently got ahold of a copy of this book, This Little Piggy went to Prada: Nursery Rhymes for the Blahnik Brigade. So funny. For those of you who have read Bergdof Blondes, this is like the kids version. Each rhyme has it’s own modern twist to it relating to fashion, shopping and couture culture.

For example, “There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,” has been changed to “There was a young woman who lived in her Choos.” And I love the beginning of “This Old Man,” which starts out, “This old man, he played one, off to St. Tropez for some sun, In her Gucci, Pucci, Mummy needs to tone, time to get the trainer home.”

What a great baby shower gift for that friend who loves to shop, or just a fun purchase for yourself for the amusement!

List price is $19.95, you can get it on Amazon for $13.57 and it’s eligible for free shipping when you spend $25 or more. And hurry… Earlier it was showing as limited quantities as it just came out, but it’s back in stock so get it while you can.

Think it’s possible to create a thoughtful, milestone-filled, beautiful baby book for your child in less than an hour? Do you have a baby book box to store photos and scraps of paper with milestones and first words hastily scribbled on them and sitting somewhere nearby, an empty baby book? If you’re a Clever Parent who is short on time and energy, but don’t want your baby book to reflect that then Big Day Books is for you.

By the time Cori Marx and Julie Maasen’s babies were a year old, they found themselves staring into the pages of mostly blank books. As working mothers, they remembered emailing updates to their families over the months when they were at work. “It was so much easier to type messages to people than write things out. Also, our computers were pretty much in front of us most of the time, unlike those empty books.” And with that in mind, Big Day Books was born.

Big Day Books, affectionately dubbed the anti-scrapbook by Cori and Julie, takes all of the stress and time out of creating “the perfect” baby book and does almost all of the work for you. Simply buy one of their beautiful hand-crafted books, record milestones online, print and assemble. You’ll receive monthly email reminders to ensure you’re not struggling to remember what happened months before.

My favorite part? They’ve thought of all of the topics! Everything from how Mom and Dad met, your family tree and about your name to firsts (haircut, bath, slept through the night, snow, visit to the beach, tooth), holidays, and a special set of pages for adopted children (the journey to find you, adoption ceremony, the first time we met). Using their own Big Day Books, Cori and Juli created half of their second children’s baby books in 20 minutes.

We caught up with Cori and Julie last month at the ABC Kids Expo in Vegas to learn more about these fabulous books. (Watch the video.)

Learn more, purchase a book and start recording at www.bigdaybooks.com.

Clever Tip: Register with Big Day Books at www.bigdaybooks.com and receive a 15% discount!

See CleverParents-tv Vidcast #5 featuring Big Day Books founders Cori and Julie.

Retiring from teaching after 30 years, Joy Frost knew she wanted to continue to help children. During her teaching career, Joy had always been impressed by the educational impact that stories had on learning. So in 2001 she set out to create a set of metaphorical stories to encourage positive self-esteem and development in children. The stories address serious issues–the value of determination, dealing with disappointment–by building a fun story around them.

A neat feature of the stories is that they come in audio format and are designed for listening before bed.

Joy chose an audio format “because the absence of visual material requires the child to participate by imagining the details of how each character looks and the way each overcomes adversity. The more a child participates on an imaginative level, the greater the impression the positive messages make on his or her mind.”

In addition, a child using the audio format can learn independently of a parent by operating the CD player, thus being able to fully participate in preparing for a restful night’s sleep.

Furthermore, the questions asked by the voice on the CD are designed for a child’s response. Again, this assures continued involvement and impresses positive messages upon the child’s mind – messages such as, “I trust myself” and “I believe in myself.” Following the story is a brief, affirming “chat” that communicates self-assuring messages such as, “Doing things differently is okay,” “Making mistakes is just part of being a child” and “All people make mistakes sometimes.”

Many of the stories have a recommended age. According to Joy, younger children, ages 2-3, can start with Trust Yourself and Believe in Yourself. As children grow, they can progress to additional titles such as Lucky Goes to The Hospital and Samatha and Starlight.

Since she started, Joy Stories has won a slew of awards including Best Children’s Product (2003), Teacher’s Choice Award 2006, and the Creative Child Magazine Seal of Excellence.

For Joy, all the hard work is worth it, because “(c)hildren are just plain fun! They are genuine and speak their minds(If one allows this to happen.) I love to spend time watching children play and make discoveries. I love to ask them questions and lead them to other discoveries. I KNOW that I have learned much more from children that I have taught.”

This week we go to Zanesville, Ohio for the swap of the week. What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a book that has been on nearly every mother’s shelf for 18 years! Utilizing a month-to-month format, the book answers every question you could possibly come up with up to, and after, delivery. The book has sold more than 10 million copies since its inception, and is being offered for $5 – that’s nearly 65% off the list price of $13.95!

Check out this, and other swaps, at www.babyswap.net!

An Organizer’s Guide to Book Awards

Once upon a time, when my two sons were in preschool, we three played a game while driving around doing errands. I would name a category and they would have to figure out things that fell into that category. We would do a ‘round robin’, taking turns, calling specific, category appropriate, items out loud. For example, if I said, “Food” they would name food items. Things like: fish sticks, Cheerios, French toast, spaghetti, and so on. As the boys grew older, I’d make the categories more specific like, “Vegetables.” Again, they would take turn naming all the veggies they could. Then, I would ask them to take turns but name the veggies in alphabetical order so they would start with, “A” (asparagus or avocados) and move onto “B”, (beans, broccoli, beets)“C” (cabbage, celery, carrots) etc. As a mom I was engaging them in conversation, teaching them to categorize things, practicing the alphabet, and last but not least, introducing them to new veggies (we don’t buy rutabaga or radishes but those veggies are helpful when trying to think of an “R” veggie).

Now, in 5th and 6th grades they challenge my limited knowledge with categories like, “NHL Teams”, or “Professional Soccer Players.” The tables have turned and unfortunately, when they pick the category I’m “out” first. But I am learning!

From one Clever Parent to another, I thought it would be a bit of mental gymnastics to learn about children’s book awards, in alphabetical order of course. Who knows, maybe you’ll play “stump the chump” at your next book club meeting.

Keep reading if you don’t know the difference between the Coretta Scott King and Hans Christian Anderson Awards. Below is a “Reader’s Digest” version of children’s literature awards and medals. I’ve only selected six of many awards and medals; I selected these six because I see them most often at school book fairs and in book stores.

Coretta Scott King Award
This award is given to authors and illustrators of African descent. It recognizes minority authors and came about based on the fact that until 1969 the Newberry and Caldecott had never recognized a person of color.

Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott award honors art work in books. Books for children up to age 14 may be considered but winners are mostly for younger readers and pre-readers.

Hans Christian Andersen Award
This award is given to one author and one illustrator biennially for their overall contribution to children’s books. This is a very prestigious award due to the fact that it is a world-wide event.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
An award given to an American author whose books have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature (Dr. Seuss for example) In other words, the recipient of this award has written books that have been read for several generations.

Newbery Medal
This is the most recognized award in the United States. It rewards quality children’s books. Winning this award is the children’s version of having Oprah endorse a book; it is a guarantee that the book will be flying off the shelves.

Parents’ Choice Award
There are 8 categories judged and awarded twice a year. This award means that the books encourage learning while exploring genres such as: fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, etc.

The End

The Kissing Hand, By Audrey Penn, Illustrated Nancy M. Leak

A great book of a young raccoon’s fear of starting school and leaving his mother. Mother raccoon lovingly reassures Chester by sharing the secret of The Kissing Hand. A beautiful and thoughtful story with wonderful illustrations, this is an especially good book for those children experiencing separation anxiety of any type.

Buy on Amazon.