I love the Harry Potter books, and am so thankful that J.K. Rowling got kids (and their parents) reading again!

Introduce the youngsters in your life to the first book in this remarkable series – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – and get them started on the reading adventure of a lifetime by entering my Share the Magic Book Giveaway!

The Share the Magic Book Giveaway

Five winners will receive TWO copies of the paperback book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – one to win and one to share!

Here’s how you can win:

This contest is closed. Congrats to the winners:

• Judy B.
• Ally M.
• Heidi V.
• Lethea B.

Leave your name, email address, and blog address (if you have one) in the comments below for ONE entry.

1. If you have a blog, feel free to post about this contest on it for ONE entry.
2. Sign up for my RSS feed for ONE entry.
3. Sign up for my enewsletter for ONE entry.
4. Post about my contest on your Twitter account for ONE entry.
5. If you have already signed up for my enewsletter or RSS feed in a previous contest, let me know. I will count those as entries in this and all future contests.
6. If you have signed up for my RSS feed and/or enewsletter and/or posted about my contest on your blog and/or tweeted about it, come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did. I will be checking!
7. Maximum amount of entries at My Readable Feast is FIVE – leaving an email here, posting about it on your blog, signing up for my RSS feed, tweeting, and signing up for my enewsletter.
8. You have until midnight MT on Monday, April 20, 2009 to enter.
9. You must be willing to send me your full name and mailing address so I pass it on to the people at Big Honcho Media, the PR firm for Scholastic.com. If you’re uncomfortable with that, please don’t enter the contest.
10. If you win, I will contact you on April 21, 2009 to get your contact info.
11. I will announce the winners by April 13, 2009 on this blog. I will not share winner’s’ mailing info with the public, just their first name and last initial. If they have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.
12. Five winners will receive two copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
13. Prize valued at $22 or less. Open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. Up to FIVE entries per person via My Readable Feast. Void where prohibited by law. By submitting your name and email address, you agree to receive relevant promotional emails and contest follow up communications from My Readable Feast in compliance with our privacy policy and giveaway rules.

Rachel was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, and earned her bachelor’s degree in art and graphic design from the University of Wisconsin Madison. She lives and works as an artist in the Southwest. Beyond design and fine art, Rachel holds a special interest in ecology, evolution, and extinction.

5% of all of her book and art profits are donated to the World Wildlife Fund and the Folsom Zoo Animal Sanctuary. You can purchase the original artwork, note cards and prints from the book at her website – Dillon Design, visit her blog, Children’s Book of Endangered Animals or see her work at Artists for Conservation.

Why a children’s book?

I asked her how her concern for animals prompt her to write a children’s book. Here’s Rachel’s reply:

I have always been an animal lover. I had cats, dogs, and horses growing up. My mom would just smile and laugh every time I brought a new cat home form the stables I kept my horses. I think animals became what I relied on for comfort. Often, growing up, I felt more connected to animals than I did to people. They were there for me to laugh with, cry on and talk to.

When I was around 16, my Aunt and Uncle from Australia sent me a book called “Endangered Animals of Australia.” I had already travelled twice to that country and loved it very much. To see a book of animals from Australia that were all endangered, really heightened my awareness of the issue.

I went in a creative direction for my degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Graphic Design and fine art projects allowed me freedom to focus on what I cared about. So, I painted animals, and my designs almost always featured nature.

In my last year of college, I had an independent study. My project choice was to photograph, research, write and design a book about the endangered species at the Henry Vilas Zoo, a free local zoo. I had no idea how big the project was and only completed a draft of the booklet. In the process of making the booklet, the zoo allowed me to get up close to some of the animals to photograph them. I climbed in the ringtail lemur’s cage; got hissed at by an angry lioness; felt the size and power of a tiger as I stood next to its cage; and quietly took a peak at a day-old giraffe baby. I treasure all the special moments I had and will never forget the feeling of awe I had for those incredible animals.

All of these experiences have molded and shaped my love for and desire to help animals. I feel such heartache when I hear of the problems so many animals face. When I became a mother, my passion for animals shifted to a question, “how can I help these animals, so my children can live in the same world as them?”

My daughter was just a baby when I started writing and painting my children’s book, Through Endangered Eyes. I didn’t even know I was starting a book when I sat down and wrote a poem about an elephant. That poem was so fun and lyrical, I decided to write one about the Green Sea Turtle, and then the process continued as I picked seven more species. I had already painted a Green Sea Turtle and Tiger and felt perhaps I had a real book shaping up.

I have hope when I look at children. They are filled with wonder and passion and immediately want to fix a problem when they hear it exists. It is hard to share with the children I read to about the issues endangered and threatened species face, but I don’t want to sugarcoat it either. I want children to know there are many things we need to change in our habits, or we will continue to create a more unbalanced planet.

Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug!

Recently she found Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! by Ed Emberley. I adore Ed’s books. So fun, so smart, so colorful and oh so silly, too.

Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! is about a big, mean and scary bug from outer space. His main mission is to scare, bite, growl, tickle, pinch, scratch, stomp and eat Itty Bitty Baby Bugs. However, the Itty Bitty Baby Bugs get the last laugh – it’s good to have big friends with big sneakers.

As I read this book to my daughter, I pretend to scare, bite and growl – but I really do tickle and pinch. We had a lot of fun with this one. For ages four to eight and their silly parents.  This has two rubber stamps of approval from the both of us!

Chicken Little

This colorful remake of the classic tale, Chicken Little, is done by Ed and his daughter, Rebecca Emberley. Rebecca has created more than 30 children’s books including her favorite, My Mother’s Secret Life . Of course the Emberley’s version of Chicken Little is a full on blast of fun and color when the crazy-eyed Chicken and all his panicked friends run away from the falling sky and right into… Well, you’ll have to read the story. I’m not telling. For ages four to eight.

Ed Emberley’s thumbprints

Check out Ed Emberley’s terrific website. It has a short author’s bio, a listing of all his books, and downloadable printables. He also has some drawing lessons using his famous thumbprint technique.

Thumbprints? Hmmm, how about some thumbprint cookies to enjoy while ready the Emberley’s books? As you can imagine, there are a zillion recipes for thumbprint cookies. Here are a few to make with the kids:

• Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies Recipe from Pinch My Salt
• Jam Thumbprint Cookie from Just Baking
• Thumbprint Cookies – Vegan from Fun & Food Cafe
• Chocolate- Mint Thumbprints from recipegirl.com
• Honey-sweetened Thumbprint Cookies Recipe from 101 Cookbooks
• Thumbprint Cookies with Jam from Fun and Food Blog

Here are a few that stand out:

• Pinocchio Picture Book by Carlo Collodi and Katie Daynes for ages: three years and up from Usborne Books. This traditional tale is warmly retold with colorful illustrations and captivating text.
• Pinocchio (Young Reading Series 2 Gift Books) as retold by Katie Daynes. This 64-page Usborne Book is for older children ages five to 12 years. This version also comes in a Pinocchio CD and book pack filled with lively music, dramatic sound effects and superbly characterized readings.
• Pinocchio (New York Review Books Classics) This is the grown up and original version where Pinocchio is one of the great subversives of the written page, a madcap genius hurtled along at the pleasure and mercy of his desires, a renegade who in many ways resembles his near contemporary Huck Finn.
• Pinocchio (Penguin Classics) In this version for ages nine to 12, Pinocchio plays pranks upon the kindly woodcarver Geppetto, is duped by the Fox and the Cat, kills the pedantic Talking Cricket, and narrowly escapes death, with the help of the blue-haired Fairy. A wooden puppet without strings, Pinocchio is a tragicomic figure, a poor, illiterate, naughty peasant boy who has few choices in life but usually chooses to shirk his responsibilities and get into trouble. This sly and imaginative novel, alternately catastrophic and ridiculous, takes Pinocchio from one predicament to the next, and finally to an optimistic, if uncertain, ending.

Learn more about Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel and find all his books in the Dr. Seuss Amazon Author Store.

Here are some favorites:

The Lorax – Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth’s natural beauty. The Lorax is an ecological warning that still rings true today amidst the dangers of clear-cutting, pollution, and disregard for the earth’s environment.

Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg – Surely among the most lovable of all Dr. Seuss creations, Horton the Elephant represents kindness, trustworthiness, loyalty and perseverance. Now, the two books that introduced the heroic Horton to the world – Horton Hears A Who! and Horton Hatches the Egg – are available together for the first time in the Dr. Seuss’s Horton Collection Boxed Set.

Green Eggs and Ham – We can’t leave out Sam I Am now, can we?

A great companion of any Dr. Seuss books is the Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook with its Seuss-inspired recipes.

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? Comment below and let us know!