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Participating in a summer reading program means taking your child to the library or bookstore. One way to save time, money and gas is to order from an online bookstore like Apple Children’s Books owned by William Waldman and Lucy Molina, Independent Educational Consultants with Usborne Books in New York City.

This month they’re featuring an incredible Usborne Summer Reading Set for ages five and up. It’s only $26.99 - that’s a savings of over $25. If I didn’t own these books already - I love Usborne and used to sell them -I’d be first in line to order this set from Apple Children’s Books.

The Summer Reading Set includes:

• Vacation Things to Make and Do - This fantastic book will banish boredom during school breaks forever. Easy step-by-step instructions show you how to make a pirate cutlass, fairy wings, bouncing bats and more! The book comes with over 800 stickers to use with the projects in this book.
• Summer Activities - This book contains over 50 stickers to use with the projects and on homemade cards and gift activities.
• Great City Search - A bustling train station, a crowded shopping street and a busy hospital are just a few of the places you will visit. The Great City Search is packed with fascinating facts about cities and the people who live and work in them, and will provide countless hours of puzzle-solving fun.
• Puzzle Journey Under Sea - Imagine reading about a sunken wreck and then going on the expedition to find it. That’s just what happens when Jon, Dirk and Ally become the crew on an amazing futuristic submarine.
• 50 Travel Games and Activities - This fantastic pack of cards is full of fun games and things to do while traveling. Just choose a card, then follow the simple instructions on the back. These are great to bring on roadtrips and vacations.
• Little Book Vacation Activities - You’ll find ideas for a new activity every day: drawing, painting, making things, cooking, gardening and even dressing up. With easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations, this handy little book is guaranteed to keep boredom at bay the entire summer.

It’s an incredible deal for some awesome Usborne Books. Plus, it’s a small investment to keep your kids busy and reading this summer. Click here to order from Apple Children’s Books.

While you may be thinking, “Oh I can get these books at Barnes & Nobles or Amazon,” you can’t buy the set at $25 off. Also, Apple Children’s Books has an incredible Lifetime Replacement Policy. If your child drops their book in the pool or spills breakfast all over it, they’ll replace it at half the retail value plus shipping and handling. Try getting another book vendor to do that.

So what are you waiting for? Order the Usborne Summer Reading Set from Apple Children’s Books today.

Join My Readable Feast over at Pancake Recipes for his Carnival of the Recipes salute to Pancake Day - also known as Shrove Tuesday - on February 5th.

The Denver Post ran a wonderful healthy pancake recipe created by their food editor Kristen Browning-Blas. What I like about it is that you can prepare the dry ingredients ahead of time to keep in the freezer so you always have them on hand - all you need to do is add buttermilk and an egg.

If you’re allergic to eggs like my daughter Lucie, then you can use a blend of milk, sour cream, and yogurt instead. To make it even healthier you could try no-fat milk and plain no-fat yogurt (which is kind of sour like buttermilk). Also, instead of vegetable oil, try some grapeseed or flax oil for extra Omega-3 fatty acids.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups raw quick or old-fashioned oats
2. 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3. 2 cups whole wheat flour
4. 1/4 cup each: flax meal, wheat germ
5. 6 tablespoons brown sugar
6. 2 tablespoons baking powder
7. 1 tablespoon baking soda
8. 1 tablespoon salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients. Store in a resealable bag in the freezer.

To make about 12 medium pancakes:

1. Blend 1 cup dry mix with 1 egg and 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or a blend of milk, sour cream, yogurt) and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Stir to remove lumps but do not over beat. Let sit at least 10 minutes to soften oats.
2. Pour by half-cups onto hot buttered griddle.
3. Serve with butter, syrup or honey, jelly, whipped cream and/or powdered sugar.

Pancake Inspired Books

We all know If You Give a Pig a Pancake, but there are lots of other wonderful children’s books with a pancake theme:

• Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle
• Pancakes for Breakfastby Tomie dePaola
• Mama Panya’s Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary Chamberlin, Rich Cahmberlin, and Julia Cairns
• Curious George Makes Pancakes by H.A. and Margret Rey
• Marsupial Sue Presents “The Runaway Pancake” (Book and CD) by John Lithgow and Jack E. Davis
• The Runaway Pancake by Mairi Mackinnon, Lesley Sims, and Silvia Provantini from Usborne Books
• Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes by by Jan Fearnley
• Round Is a Pancake by Joan Sullivan Baranski and Yu-Mei Han
• Hey, Pancakes!by Tamson Weston and Stephen Gammell
• Pancakes For Supper by Anne Isaacs  

Do you have a favorite pancake book or recipe? Share below!

One of the best stories about magical beasts is Beauty and the Beast of course! Your kids have probably seen the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, which I adore. However, Lucie is scared of the beast and the ending, so we don’t watch it much even though the music and animation is wonderful.

This is a shame because Belle is my idea of a good feminist storybook heroine. She’s smart and loves to read. She also loves her father and friends and is very loyal to them. Also, for once in a Disney flick, Belle doesn’t fall in love with the good looking guy, Gaston. Instead, Belle goes for the ugly Beast because of his character and heart. Belle’s a decent roll model for girls, which is why I love the story so much.

Usborne Books has a beautifully illustrated version of Beauty and the Beast. For children seven years and up, their version is based on the original version by Gabrielle de Villeneuve written in 1740 and a retelling by another French writer, Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, which was written in 1756. The story revolves about Beauty’s father stealing a red rose from the Beast’s garden.

And you’ll be a beast for these pumpkin muffins (with Weight Watchers POINTS info for all us moms trying to stay trim and healthy).

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Did you catch the first episode of Ken Burns’ film The War about World War II on PBS this weekend? Like much of Burns’ work, I was touched, horrified and spellbound - all at the same time. The story is told through the personal accounts of women and men from four American towns, a terrific way of making the experience of war more personal and heartbreaking.

Click Communications sent me a preview copy of the six DVD set. The first episode was so good that I’m tempted to watch the whole thing right now while Lucie’s at preschool this week. (Plus the premier of Heroes is on tonight, so I’ll miss part of the second episode anyway.)

Released on PBS Home Video, The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick will be available for purchase October 10, just after the series finishes up on TV. Good thing too, because you should watch The War after the kids go to bed. Within the first 30 seconds, you’re shown footage of dead soldiers, soon followed by footage of dead civilians (including children) and a horrifying shot of a Jewish infant who starved to death in the Polish ghettos.

If you’re kids are high schoolers, plan to watch The War with them. PBS’s website has a section just for educators that parents can use, too. There are 14 lesson plans with classroom activities appropriate for students in grades 9-12. You may want to go through them to find topics for you and your teenager to discuss.

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Like many preschoolers, my daughter Lucie is beginning to recognize letters. One way we’re helping her learn is by using Usborne’s ABC Flashcards from the Farmyard Tales series of stories.

But thinking outside the box - that is a recipe box - for a moment, take a look at My A to Z Recipe Box: An Alphabet of Recipes for Kids by Hilary Shevlin Karmilowicz. Each letter has a recipe card, plus the set also comes with 26 fill-in cards to add your favorite recipes, and 50 stickers to rate the them.

Each recipe has clear, simple steps that children can easily follow. They come with fun facts plus serving suggestions. While cooking up these tasty healthy dishes, children can practice skills like following directions and measuring while learning their letters. Kid tested, this recipe box is for ages four to eight.

Since today is Lucie’s fourth birthday, we’ll do the “L” recipe card:

Lovely Lemon Hummus

Ingredients:

1. 2 large garlic cloves
2. 15-ounce can of chickpeas
3. 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
4. 4 Tbsp. lemon juice
5. 1 tsp. ground cumin
6. 1/2 tsp. salt
7. 6 pieces of whole wheat pita bread

Directions:

1. Please put on your apron and wash your hands. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Grind the garlic cloves in the food processor.*
3. Add the chickpeas and yogurt to the food processor bowl and blend until a smooth puree forms. Occasionally stop the food processor and scrape the sides of the bowl with the spatula.*
4. Use the spatula to scrape the hummus into the small bowl.
5. Stir in the lemon juice, cumin, and salt.
6. Cut each piece of pita bread into fourths.*
7. Service the bowl of hummus with the plate of pita wedges for dipping.

*An adult helper should handle this step.