New here? Then you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The topic for this week’s Denver Post haiku contest is BASEBALL.

The deadline is midnight Thursday (Denver time). Send your one stanza (5-7-5) haiku to lifestyle@denverpost.com or go online at www.denverpost.com/haiku to enter. (You can also read everyone else’s entries there.) As usual, the weekly winner will win a $25 gift certificate to the Tattered Cover bookstore. Good luck!

Speaking of the Denver Post, check out their thought provoking article, "The end is in sight for Harry Potter - The final Harry Potter book may spell doom for key characters, which has some parents squeamish"

With death looming near someone as important to kids as Harry…many Potter fans worry a fictional demise might leave scars on real children.

Not to worry, say literature experts and careful parents. Beloved characters have been dying in books and movies revered by children since Charles Dickens’ Little Nell, E.B. White’s Charlotte the spider, Bambi’s mom and "Sesame Street’s" Mr. Hooper. An important death written with care and consideration not only offers emotional growth to the young reader but makes for a great plot they’ll never forget.

No matter what the subject - racism, death, drugs, sexuality - books provide a great opportunity to have a family dialog about hard-to-approach matters. If your kids are reading Harry Potter, it’s a great time to discuss death, the imminent demise of elderly or sick relatives and friends, and your beliefs about spirituality and the hereafter.

Take advantage of the situation and talk with your kids!

So what movies have you seen this summer? We’ve gone to Ratatouille and Shrek 3. We still haven’t seen Surf’s Up yet, though we will soon. However, as I was scanning the Denver Post to read the reviews, I noticed that the paper has been giving everything except Evan Almighty, three and a half stars.

Come on! There’s no way that Shrek 3 was as good as Ratatouille. I’d rather see at rat cook than an ogre fart any ol’ day of the week.

Thus inspired, let’s write some movie reviews! Don’t know how to start? E-how gives you tips on how to write a movie review that should help.

Need some examples? For formal, professional movie reviews, go to the New York Times movie section. For very personalized movie reviews from a twenty-something year old guy, check out Movie Review Report over at 451Press.com.

When we go to our local library, I have the kids go to children’s section and pick out books to bring home. We get items from the story book and early reader sections, and while it’s hit or miss, we’ve found some good ones like Rosemary Wells’s books or Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type that had my husband and I in stitches (the kids liked it too and it’s been big favorite since).

While it’s rare to find a book that we all love and want to read over and over again, we recently came across one - Scarecrow Pete by Mark Kimball Moulton and illustrated by Karen Hillard Good. First it’s a gorgeously illustrated book on thick, creamy paper with a slightly padded cover (the library binding is available on Amazon). But it’s the story I love - a scarecrow shares his love of reading classic stories with a young boy and explains:

"Why, I can go most anywhere by reading a good book."

Boy, did this ring true with me. However, it made me a little sad about the current state of affairs at our house. You see, Nathan is quite a good reader. He enjoys reading out loud when he has an audience since he likes to show off. But does he have a love of books and reading? Does he get into the stories or characters? Honestly, he could care less. Like making his bed or putting his dishes away, reading is another chore to get done as quickly as possible.

His teacher has him reading aloud every day for 20 minutes as part of his summer school homework. Nathan zooms through the stories and keeps asking, "Is that 20 minutes?" When he’s read for the required time, he exclaims, "Yay, I’m done!" He thinks it’s all about getting the assignment done as quickly as possible, and not about enjoying the act of reading or escaping into a story.

As a mother whose perfect day would be reading undisturbed in bed all day, it’s painful to realize that while I have a son who can read well, he’s not a good reader. No matter how much I fill his room with books, model good reading behavior, and take him to the library, there’s nothing I can do to change his horrible attitude. My only consolation is that his sister Lucie loves books and is eager to learn how to read.

If we bought all the books we read or wanted to read, we’d have to buy another house just to store them in. So I rarely buy and borrow instead. One of the books I’m glad I did purchase this year is John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith.

Recommended for children in grades K-3 - younger children will like it as well - the humor in John, Paul, George & Ben will appeal to both adults and kids. Yes, the Beatles references go over most children’s heads, but that’s just a big wink from the author to the grown ups in the room. Instead, the whole family can enjoy a light but accurate look at U.S. history, and learn more about John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Ben Franklin while laughing at big underwear jokes. Yes, history can be fun!

The illustrations are Poor Richard’s Almanac meets Captain Underpants - colorful woodblock type prints, colonial era typefaces, and crackle-glaze textures joined with wacked out cartoons of showing early American children and life in the Colonies.

We thought John, Paul, George & Ben was so funny, we read it from cover to cover twice the first time we picked up the book. We loved the Taking Liberties section, "Wherein we set the record straight with ye olde True or False section," which dispelled the myth that George chopped down his dad’s cherry tree.

Speaking of cherries, how about trying a recipe for Cherry Loaf from Usborne’s 30 Easy Things to Cook and Eat?

Continue Reading »

The topic for this week’s Denver Post haiku contest is barbeque.

Sounds like the editors over at the Denver Post are a little hungry. The deadline is midnight Thursday (Denver time). Send your one stanza (5-7-5) haiku to lifestyle@denverpost.com or go online at www.denverpost.com/haiku to enter. (You can also read everyone else’s entries there.)

The weekly winner will win a $25 gift certificate to the Tattered Cover bookstore.

GOOD LUCK!

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed.