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We collect Lucie books, though the name is always spelled with the English “y” instead of the French “ie.” (She’s named after her French great-great-great grandmother Lucie and I’m named after my French grandmother, Anne-Marie, thus the “e” after Ann.) So when I spotted Lucy’s Secret at the library, I had to get it for our summer reading program time. In keeping with the Lucie theme, we also checked out two of Rosemary Well’s McDuff books, McDuff Moves In and McDuff Goes to School. (Lucy is the name of McDuff’s owner.)

The kids enjoyed the books, but it’s going to be challenging to find 30 minutes each day to read to them. I don’t think mid-afternoon is a good time since the kids were bored after 15 minutes. Yesterday, I read to them at 5 p.m. just before making dinner. There’s always bed time, of course, but I may try breakfast time, too.

With some planning, all three books would go along with some fun family activities. Lucy’s Secret is about planting seeds and waiting for flowers to grow. This book would go great with a little gardening or a visit to the local botanical gardens.

Both the McDuff books mention food. Vanilla rice pudding plays an important part in McDuff Moves In. And in McDuff Goes to School, Lucy brings a peach cobbler over to new neighbor, Celeste. McDuff Goes to School also features a lesson on how to say get down, sit, heel, lie down, jump, stay and come to your dog in French.

So let’s join McDuff and his owners Lucy and Fred in the kitchen. Here’s a quickly made - and enjoyed - vanilla rice pudding recipe from Kraft Foods.

15-Minute Vanilla Rice Pudding Recipe
Prep Time: 5 min
Total Time: 15 min
Makes: 6 servings, about 1/2 cup each

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups milk, divided
2. 1 cup MINUTE White Rice, uncooked
3. 1/3 cup raisins (optional)
4. 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie

Filling:

1. Bring 1 cup of the milk to boil in medium saucepan.
2. Stir in rice and raisins; cover.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Let stand 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare pudding as directed on package with remaining 2 cups milk.
6. Add rice mixture to prepared pudding; stir.
7. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap; cool 5 minutes. Stir.
8. Serve warm or chilled.

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I’m camping challenged. While I like being outdoors in beautiful Colorado, it comes with a price:

1. Days camping = days grocery shopping, packing and cleaning up after the trip.
2. Pedicure goes all to hell.
3. Hoping my glasses don’t fall in the pit toilet.
4. Runny noses and rashes requiring massive doses of allergy medicine and topical creams.
5. Sunburn and the weird freckling I get that looks like the infamous “mask of pregnancy.”
6. Freaking out about my kids falling in the fire or getting bounced out of the boat.
7. Staying up half the night worrying that the camper was going to be blown over, like when we experienced 50 mph winds last Memorial Day weekend at North Sterling State Park.

I wonder if all the effort is worth it. But then there’s the good part:

• Family fun, lots of terrific memories, and a few good stories. (Remember that time it snowed…in August?)
• Hanging out with the friends we always go camping with.
• Meeting new people and exploring new places.
• State parks with electric and water hookups, showers, and flush toilets.
• FOOD! After all, isn’t camping an excuse to eat slabs of grilled bacon and scarf down sandwiches of deli cold cuts and sliced gourmet cheese?

There’s nothing like hanging out on our friends’ boat, snacking and drinking away, while watching the kids go swimming and the dads (unsuccessfully) try to fish. Last weekend I even managed to read a book, Julia Child’s My Life in France, while lying in the sun.

However, there’s the snack issue. Maybe it was reading about all the fabulous food Saint Julia was cooking up in her book, but I’m tired of all the premade, over processed crap from the store. I want something healthier than chips, cookies, and premade trail mix. Chocolate isn’t practical to bring since it melts in the heat. So it’s time to experiment, and come up with some fabulously funky, quasi-healthy, gourmet GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) that even the kids will eat.

First, let’s start with a basic trail mix recipe from Everything Kids’ Cookbook.

Take Along Trail Mix
Difficulty: easy
Makes 2 cups of trail mix

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup small pretzel sticks or twists
2. 1/2 cup raisins
3. 1/2 cup peanuts
4. 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
5. 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Store the supply in an airtight container or resealable bag.

Then let’s make it a bit more fun:

• Substitute different kinds of dried fruits (papaya, apricots, bananas, pineapples, cherries, etc.) and nuts (pecans, cashews, pistachios, etc.)
• Use M&Ms instead of chocolate chips (less likely to melt in the heat). Or some Gheradelli chocolate chips - even melted Gheradelli is better than no chocolate at all!
• Instead of pretzels, use Chex mix or broken up Wheat Thin crackers. In Backpacker Magazine’s More Backcountry Cooking, they recommend Rice Krispies cereal, goldfish crackers, and corn nuts.
• Try the bulk food aisle at your health food store or local grocery store. Buy a little of this and a little of that and mix it up!

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The kids and I are participating in our library’s summer reading program, Get Lost in a Book. The program started today and goes until July 22. The kids are to read (or be read to) two hours per week. For the adults, we need to read five books. We’ve been provided with log books as well. (We’re also logging in our hours and books over at Scholastic’s Summer Reading Buzz.)

The kids will get weekly prizes and a free swim party at the rec center for meeting their reading goals. The adults get a travel coffee mug and a chance to win gift certificates and other prizes if we meet our goals.

Today’s book was Usborne’s Aesop’s Fables I would read the story aloud, then Nathan would finish up by reading the moral of the story (the last paragraph). Nathan said he enjoyed the story and thanked me afterwards. I’m not so sure how much Lucie enjoyed it, since she spent most our story (half) hour climbing up and down the coach, but she thanked me too.

Me? Well, I’m indulging in a little scifi, Anne McCaffrey’s Acorna: The Unicorn Girl. I haven’t decided yet if I like it or not since it’s a bit on the silly side, but I’m hoping it gets better.

When I do an Usborne home show, I try to show the moms - and it’s always moms - how to use books to get closer to their kids. This is what I tell them:

When our kids are very small, we go through a time of intensive parenting. We worry about everything from, “Is he still breathing?” to “Will I ever get this kid potty trained?” Then they finally enter school, and we breathe a collective sigh of relief. “Whew! The tough part was over. They’re in someone else’s hands now!”

It’s natural that we want (and need) some times to ourselves to reconnect with hobbies, careers and passions we put aside when our kids were small. Now that they can dress, feed and entertain themselves most of the time, we feel we can sit back a little. But in reality, we can’t. Especially when they enter the middle school and high school years, the time when peer pressure is at its worse. It’s important to keep the lines of communication open and active, and one way to do that is through books and shared activities around those books.

As a president of a charter school I see how parental participation slacks off as kids get older. And this is at a school where volunteering 20-50 hours per school year is mandatory! It worries and saddens me to see that many parents stop caring. As long as the kids are getting good grades, they show little interest in their children’s school, friends, hobbies, or passions.

Maybe they think staying in touch with their child takes too much time. But in reality it’s as simple as reading books together! Even with older kids, you can take turns reading out loud. Discuss the stories around the dinner table or in the car. (Magazine and newspaper articles work well, too.) Try planning activities around the stories. Or use books, discussion, and activities to back up what’s being taught at school.

These are all good ways to Break the Communication Logjam. (For more terrific articles on reading, check out Scholastic’s website.) But how do you really do this? Sometimes the books do it for you and all you have to do is follow along and get a little creative.

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MotherReader is sponsoring the 48 Hour Book Challenge happening on June 16-18. Open to any and all book bloggers, the plan is to read, review and blog on books for any 48 hours within the Friday to Monday morning window. Book bloggers can start their reading and writing engines as early as 7 a.m. on Friday, June 15, and must wrap up by 7 a.m. on Monday, June 18. They must blog 48 hours in a row within that time frame.

• The rules are here.
• You can see a list of the current participants and sign up here.

I probably won’t be participating since I already have a packed schedule that weekend. Between Father’s Day and a pie making contest at Paul’s work, I’ve already over booked myself. But don’t let me stop you. Grab your library card or hit your local bookstore and get ready for 48 Hour Book Challenge!

But I’m not a book blogger, you say! I say anyone’s a book blogger who has a book list sidebar on their blog, discusses the going ons at their book club, or writes about their struggles to get through a book report assignment with their child. If you mention books at all, you are a book blogger. (I hope MotherReader will agree. After all, she’s a mom whose mission is to get people of all ages to read better books.)

Excuses aside, get the kids involved - and prevent summer slide - by making this a family event! Set up the awning outside, prepare some yummy summer snacks, and make a big pitcher of lemonade. Plant yourselves on beach towels and lawn furniture and read! (Don’t forget the sunscreen, bug spray, and big floppy hats!) Then when you get too hot, pop inside, fire up the computer, and blog your review.

If your kids are old enough, they can type up their reviews on your blog. Or they can dictate and you can type. If they have their own blog, have them sign up, too!

Since the contest is for fourth grade level books and up, you can involve the younger kids by reading out loud. Or just have them read their books when you’re reading yours. (One of the best things a parent can do to encourage reading is by modeling. If you read around the kids, they’re more likely to pick up books and read, too.)

Tie in some other family activities with this project. If there’s an outdoor movie event in your area, find out what’s playing and pick some books around the theme of the movie. Reward the kids for participating by going for a dip afterward at the municipal pool or out for ice cream.

Start Father’s Day early by getting your husband a book and encourage him to read…and relax…too. It’s a chance for him to even out that sexy farmer’s tan, too. (For some dads, like my husband, it’s impossible to get them to sit and read. But Paul loves to go through cookbooks and plan some meal making extravaganza and always has time to look through a golf or hunting magazine or catalog. Again, reading anything sets a good example.)

Get creative and have fun with MotherReader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge!

Here’s the low down on few book related contests and summer reading events happening on the Internet.

First Women’s Day magazine is sponsoring several book contests:

Win Rosemary Wells’ new book, My Shining Star: Raising A Child Who Is Ready To Learn(contest open until June 6) - click here to enter

Can’t give Lucie all the attention - though that what she seems to get at home (sigh).

Here’s Cowboy Nathan snacking on some hearty Mexican grub at last year’s National Western Stock Show. He’s a good reader, but I think he enjoys eating more.

If you had the choice between a fantastic meal and a wonderful book, what would you choose?