This summer I’m doing a little learning of my own. I’m using Lisa Garrigues’s book Writing Motherhood: Tapping Into Your Creativity as a Mother and a Writer to get out of the writing slump I’ve been suffering from this past couple of months. (Check out the MotherTalk Blog Tour for Writing Motherhood for reviews.) Lisa’s ideas are so inspriring that I’ve decided to take some of her concepts about keeping a writing notebook (what she calls a “Mother’s Notebook”) and do something similar here at A Readable Feast.

Do you have a child who loves to write? Or maybe you think they need to keep up their writing skills over the summer? Come join us on our summer writing journey!

Besides my usual postings about books, cooking, and activities, I’ll be giving you a weekly writing prompt from books like Once Upon a Time: Creative Writing Fun for Kids, Kids Write!: Fantasy & Sci Fi, Mystery, Autobiography, Adventure & More!, Letter Writer Starter Set (Reader’s Digest) and more. But first, let’s gather our writing tools and have some fun creating our writing notebook.

Note to parents: I’m calling this a notebook rather than a journal because it is to be shared activity between parent and child. Not only will the notebook help with writing skills, I hope it will help you learn more about your child and bring you closer together. However, if you have a son or daughter who prefers to keep their writing private, encourage them to keep a personal diary as well as having a public notebook.

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I’ve been given the chance to do an email interview with Silvana Nardone, the editor of Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine. Silvana is a mother of a nine-year old and a one-year-old. And she would love to discuss great kid-friendly recipes and how cooking with your kids can be a wonderful bonding experience.

Are you a fan of Rachel Ray and her magazine or show? Or just need some kid feeding and cooking advice? Either way, send me a question or two for Silvana, and I’ll pass it on to her. Then I feature both your question and her response (and credit you!) when I post the interview.

Interested? Then email your question, name (the way you’d like it to appear in public) and website link (if you have one) to readablefeast@gmail.com by Monday, June 4.

When I saw these mini book cupcakes from FamilyFun.com, I thought they would be a perfect way to kick off your summer reading program (or bribe reward your reluctant reader).

Mini Book Cupcakes
Watch a step-by-step video demonstration of this recipe!

Ingredients:

1. Your favorite cupcake recipe or premade mix
2. White frosting
3. Black gel
4. Fig Newton
5. Small Hershey bar square or Candy Blox
6. Green fruit leather for the leaf
7. Red candy Runts for the apple

Directions:

1. Make the cupcakes and let cool.
2. Spread a layer of white frosting on the cooled cupcakes.
3. Use black gel frosting to decorate a Fig Newton to resemble a schoolbook and place it on top of the cupcake.
4. For a calculator, add gel icing buttons to the smooth side of a small Hershey bar square or Candy Blox. (You can even add an extra piece of candy for the calculator’s display screen.)
5. Finally, use a drop of water to stick a green fruit leather leaf to a red candy Runts apple, and set it in place on the cupcake.
6. Enjoy!

(These would make great bake sale goodies, too!)

Don’t know where to get summer reading ideas? Check out this list by About.com’s Elizabeth Kennedy. (And while you’re at it, sign up for her e-newsletter. She’ll keep you up to date on the latest in children’s books.)

Get a Clue @ Your Library Reading List – The American Library Association’s 2007 summer reading program theme is “Get a Clue @ Your Library.” This is the theme my local library is using this summer.

HAISLN 2007 Recommended Reading Lists – Eight booklists are available in pdf format: Preschool through Kindergarten, Grades 1 & 2, Grades 3 & 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7 & 8, Grades 9 & 10, Grades 11 & 12.

National Endowment for the Humanities: Summer Favorites – The booklist represents NEH’s effort to highlight classic literature for young people from kindergarten through high school.

2007 Notable Children’s Books – This annotated 2007 booklist from the American Library Association includes the current Newbery, Caldecott, Sibert, Geisel, and Batchelder Award and Honor books.

2007 Summer Reading List from the Dana Hall School – This 21-page summer reading list includes required and recommended reading lists from the school’s English, science, and social studies departments.

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I hope you have gone over to Mom is Teaching and signed up to win The Fairy Chronicles books (see my post about it below). In the meanwhile, let’s discuss fairies.

First, if you have a daughter, granddaughter or niece who’s really into the whole fairy thing, check out Usborne Books fairy offerings. There’s everything to fairy cooking and craft books to fairy tales. One favorite of Lucie’s has been the That’s Not My Fairy board book.

But now that she’s getting older, she’s really been enjoying Usborne’s sticker doll books. She already has Sticker Dolly Dressing Dolls and I plan to get her Sticker Dolly Dressing Fairies soon. The books feature removable stickers and are great to bring to a restaurant, on a car trip, or anywhere else your daughter needs to be quietly entertained.

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(Warning: the books are "roll your eyes" super girly to the point of making a feminist leaning mom wonder if they could show a few doctors and police women getting dressed for work, too. Sigh. And how about some sticker doll dressing pirates and knights for boys?)

But did you know that in the U.K. they call cupcakes fairy cakes? I love that! Here are some sample British fairy cake recipes:

• The perfect fairy cake recipe from iVillage UK (with six different flavors of toppings)
• A ‘Fairy’ Easy Fairy Cake Recipe from Becks & Posh
• Nigella’s Fairy Cake recipe

Summer Minor over at Mom is Teaching is giving away the first two books of The Fairy Chronicles by J.H. Sweet – Marigold and the Feather of Hope, The Journey Begins (The Fairy Chronicles, Book 1) and Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams (The Fairy Chronicles, Book 2).

She has fallen in love with the books and says they are perfect for girls ages seven and up:

These books are wonderful tales of young girls blessed with special gifts. Each girl is unique in her own way and learns that each has their own special power. The tales are fun without being too over the top. Each of the characters is very believable, even for fairies and gnomes.

There are beautiful illustrations sprinkled through the pages that makes the books even more delightful . These are definitely great books for young girls to feel special, powerful, and in tune with nature. The characters are well written, the stories are fun, and the themes are wonderful for all young girls.

You have from May 21 until May 26 to add yourself to the Mr. Linky on her blog. Saturday night Summer will select at random one lucky person to win both books. She’s also giving the lucky winner the beginnings of a fairy garden of their very own – some flower seeds and garden decorations. Due to shipping costs this is for continental US residents only.

Good luck!

This is Lucie’s last week of preschool and Nathan has a week and a half left of the school year. I’m in a panic about what I’m going to do with them all summer while trying to write and keep myself sane.

We have the usual plans for playgroups and going to the zoo, parks, museums, etc. Besides family camping trips, I hope to get us all out of the house and me away from the computer. I want to start going to farmer’s markets and cooking with fresh, locally grown produce. Maybe do some mall walking, plan some picnics with friends, and go to the movies, too.

Both kids take karate 4 to 5 times a week, and Nathan will only have speech therapy every other week since he’s doing so well. Lucie has dance class on Fridays when I have yoga. 

It’s not all fun and games, however. Nathan will be going to summer school two mornings a week. He needs the extra help in math. As a first grader, Nathan is reading at a second grade level, but he could use some extra practice with handwriting and comprehension. Honestly, I don’t have the patience to yell at him all summer to do his math flash cards, worksheets, and writing practice. He’s very willing to work for his teachers, but not for me.

But one thing he is enthusiastic about is our library’s summer reading program. I think it’s the incentives (toys, stickers, food coupons, etc.) rather than the reading. Last year we did our library’s program in conjunction with Scholastic’s Summer Reading Buzz, a great resource for parents and lots of online fun for kids. For every four books your child logs in, Scholastic will donate one book to Reading is Fundamental.

This year Summer Reading Buzz is being done in conjunction with the TODAY show’s "Al’s Book Club for Kids." Each month over the summer Al and a group of young book club members, ages 9-11, will meet in Rockefeller Plaza for their monthly book club meeting to talk about the selected book and ask questions of the author. Check out the "Al’s Book Club For Kids" page on the Today show website for the schedule, book picks, author questions, and reading news.

What are your summer plans?