It’s fun when my daughter, Lucie digs through her piles of books and finds a few we haven’t read before or in awhile. Here are two of her recent (re)discoveries.

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!

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Many parents are troubled by the commercialization and secularization of Christmas. If you are looking for books that show the “reason for the season” check out these two offerings by Zonderkidz™, a division of Zondervan, a leader in Christian children’s communications.

The Gift of the Christmas Cookie: Sharing the True Meaning of Jesus’ Birth by Daley Mackall takes kids back to the origins of another Christmas tradition – the baking of Christmas cookies to share with friends, neighbors, and the less fortunate.

The Gift of the Christmas Cookie: Sharing the True Meaning of Jesus’ Birth shows kids that Christmas is about helping others and sharing the spirit of Christmas giving. The story is about a child named Jack, follows young Jack during a Christmas season during the Great Depression. Jack’s father has hopped a freight train West, hoping to find work, and wont’ be home for Christmas.

Jack is surprised to find his mom baking cookies to give away to needy people a church. Treats are a luxury his family has done without for  long time. While he helps his mother make cookies, she tells him the story of the Christmas cookie. He learns that the real gift of the Christmas cookie isn’t just sharing with a homeless man, but sharing the love of Jesus with him as well.

I liked this simple story because it explains to children the joy in giving during Christmas and how God gave us his only Son. It also shows that Christmas isn’t all about getting presents and stuffing your face, but helping others, too.

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Just a reminder that you have until midnight MT on October 30, 2008 to enter my Quaker Oatmeal Living Proof contest for one of two chances to win a one month supply of Quaker’s heart healthy breakfast products.

Quaker Oats has all kinds of yummy oatmeal recipes on their website. They even have a special section devoted to kid favorites like:

• Fossilized Egg Nest Chewies (great to make for a dinosaur themed party)
• Oatmeal Gingerbread Cookies (try these at Christmas)
• Santa’s Stockings (another Christmas holiday treat)

Here’s one I couldn’t resist – perfect for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

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With two days to “H-Day” you’re probably busy with costumes and running out for a few bags of candy. In case you’re looking for last minute cookies that will impress both kids and adults, try these from Food & Wine magazine.

They’re more like small cakes than cookies, and will be a nice treat with a cup of tea after the lil’ goblins have gone to bed.

Black-and-Orange Cookies
Makes about three dozen 4″ cookies

Get the kids to help you out. I’m sure school-aged kids can help spread the black and orange icing, too.

Ingredients (cookies):

1. 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
2. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6. 3/4 cup sugar
7. 2 large eggs, at room temperature
8. 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
9. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10. 2 teaspoons milk

Ingredients (icing):

1. 2 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2. 1/4 cup boiling water
3. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4. Orange food coloring, or red and yellow combined
5. 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions (cookies):

1. Preheat the oven to 350°; position 2 racks in the upper and middle thirds of the oven. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt onto a large sheet of wax paper. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in the vanilla and milk. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.
3. Spoon rounded tablespoons of the batter onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, until the centers spring back when lightly pressed. Be careful not to let the cookies brown or overbake, or they will be dry. Transfer the cookies, flat-side up, to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Directions (icing):

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the boiling water until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and a few drops of food coloring and whisk until the icing is evenly colored. Using a small offset spatula, spread the orange-colored icing over half of the flat side of each cookie.
2. In a microwave oven, melt the chocolate in a small bowl. Stir the chocolate into the remaining orange icing. Spread the chocolate icing on the other half of each cookie and let stand until set, about 15 minutes. (If the icing becomes too thick, add hot water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and shiny.)
3. The black-and-orange cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Well meerkats aren’t exactly magical, but there are certainly fun to watch either at the zoo or on Animal Planet’s Meerkat Manor. Sometimes I think Meerkat Manor is a little too PG-13 for younger kids – too much death, sex and violence. So if you’re looking for something “meerkat-ish” for children three to six, check out Meet the Meerkat by Darrin Lunde from Charlesbridge Publishing.

Meet the Meerkat uses a question and answer format that should appeal to little children:

Hello, little animal. What is your name?

My name is Little Meerkat. I am a kind of a mongoose.

This would be a great book to read before a trip to the zoo. You’ll follow Little Meerkat into the Kalahari desert and learn about his life and habitat. Patricia J. Wynee provides scientifically accurate – and charming – illustrations. (Click here to download a coloring page PDF.)

Also by Darrin Lunde and perfect for Halloween is Hello, Bumblebee Bat (for children three to six). Again using the question and answer format, children are introduced into the life and habitat of the exotic and endangered Bumblebee Bat.

Speaking of bats, why not try baking up a batch of Martha Stewart’s Dulce De Leche Bat Cookies? These would be perfect to bring to the zoo for a meerkat or bat watching trip – or a Halloween party!

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