Summer Reading with Imagination Station

I was first introduced to the new Imagination Station book series in April during my Birthday Bash.  My 9yr. old daughter has loved these books! So when the next two books showed up in the mail, she couldn’t wait to start reading---and that’s saying something for this particular child of mine. :)

Book three in the Imagination Station series is Peril in the Palace. In this book, the Imagination machine takes cousins Beth and Patrick back to China during the reign of Kublai Khan. They meet up with Marco Polo and end up face to face with Kublai Kahn, who doesn’t appreciate their gifts nor their Christian message.  The cousins are locked up with no way to escape. How will they ever find that golden tablet needed to help Albert?


Book 4 brings the cousins to 15th century England where they finally meet Albert—the person they are trying to rescue. Set during the War of the Roses in England, Revenge of the Red Knight will teach readers about the Crusades, the integrity of knights and the vows they took, and why men would choose to risk their lives to fight for Christianity.


The Imagination Station series is geared toward kids 7yrs. and up. The series features the virtual reality device called The Imagination Stations. Only Mr. Whittaker knows how this machine works, but by pushing a button, it launches users back in to time. Each book contains historical facts and Christian truths. The series is written by Paul McCusker and Marianne Hering.

While I am committed to books as a storytelling medium, I think all storytelling should not only entertain but also communicate truth, “ says Hering. “One of the taglines for this series is, “The key to adventure lies within your imagination.” I’d like kids to read these books and have their imaginations revved up so that they become the next generation of storytellers”

One fun component of the books is solving the riddle at the end of the book. By solving, you get a secret code to add on the website which unlocks a freebie. These books are a great fit for children just getting into chapter books, make a good read-aloud for those a little younger, and are a nice supplement to history studies.

Are you interested in getting a set for your summer reading? Well I have one to give away!

Giveaway Rules:  CLOSED
Tyndale House is giving one of you both of these books, Peril in the Palace and Revenge of the Red Knight. (U.S./Canada only) Giveaway open from 6/1 to 6/10 CLOSED
Mandatory Entry: If you could go in the Imagination Station time-machine, where would you go and why?
1. Extra entry: Share this giveaway on Twitter “ Summer Reading with The Imagination Station Giveaway @SpellOutloud http://bit.ly/ifBge4 ”
Please leave a comment below for each entry and make sure there is a way for me to contact you. The winner will be picked by Random.org and will have 3 days to get back to me once contacted.

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor

I’ve been on the look-out for books that my 11 yr. old son might enjoy. When Blogging for Books listed Sir Quinlan by Chuck Black, I jumped at the chance to review it because it looked like a book perfect for my son. (Yes, I was judging a book by its cover because the cover looked so cool!)

Book Summary:

The book documents the transformation of a young man nicknamed Twitch. He and his best friend Tav have been in training with hopes of becoming knights that serve the king. When a furry distraction comes into the camp, Twitch and Tav must choose their course, to follow the king or not.

 What I Thought:

I enjoy reading fantasy books, especially ones that are telling a truth at the same time. Chuck Black’s purpose for writing The Kingdom series is to present Biblical allegory set in medieval times. The allegory teaches Godly character with no magic, mysticism or wizardry. I appreciate that aspect of the book.

Sir Quinlan started off a bit slow but then drew me in. At time though I wanted more.  I wanted to know what certain characters were thinking (like Tav). More depth could have been developed between the characters. I did enjoy the book and it encouraged me to think about how I fight for the King here in our world. In the back of the book are a list of discussion questions by chapter. That was nice to include, especially if you didn’t catch the allegory  in the chapter the first time. I do plan on reading more in this series and feel like this series is a good option for my son.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free to review through Blogging for Books from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, but was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Beginning Reader's bible

I was surprised when I opened my mailbox one day and found a beautiful, hard-back Bible. I mean, I knew it was coming, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was actually larger than I thought. The cover artwork alone made me want to drop everything I was doing and flip through this book.

The Beginning Reader’s Bible is illustrated by Marijke ten Cate and published by Tommy Nelson.  It is geared for children ages 4-8 and uses actual text from the International Children’s Bible®.

This book  has 13 stories from the Old Testament and 13 stories from the New Testament.  I appreciated that with the New Testament selections, they included Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. In addition to the passages, there are little action points included along with the stories such as Do God’s Word, Pray God’s Word and Remember God’s Word. Included in the back are some reference charts such as all the books of the Bible, the names of the 12 apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, and a memory verse check-off chart.

What We Thought:

I thought this was a great Bible resource. The pictures were engaging and I do like how the text had verse numbers just like the Bible. I would still consider this a story Bible though, and not a Beginning Reader’s Bible. First the large format made it more appropriate for reading at home than for carrying to church---so in that sense it seemed to function more like a story Bible. I do appreciate the large format and hardback cover though! The pages are very sturdy too and I know this will hold up to lots of kids flipping through the pages. Secondly, there is still just a small portion of stories picked from both the Old and New Testament. I do like the passages picked—though some could have used more text. I think I would call this book more of a transitional story Bible. This Bible seemed like the perfect reading age for a 7-8 yr. old, while younger children would enjoy being read to from this book. I know that we will use this Bible often and am glad to have it on our shelf.

Disclosure: I was given this book for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

God Gave Us So Much

As a mom of 6 kids, I can relate to endless questions being asked. In the limited-edition God Gave Us So Much by Lisa Tawn Bergren, Little Cub shares the questions she thinks about in this three-book series.

In the first book, God Gave Us the World, Little Cub learns that God created the world and everything in it, and that God created all things for a purpose. 

The second book, God Gave Us Love, Little Cub find that it’s hard to love the pesky otters. This time Grampa helps Little Cub learn about different types of love and how God wants us to love others.

In the third book, God Gave Us Heaven, Little Cub and Papa bear talk about the wonder of heaven and the questions that come up when thinking about heaven.

This three-story edition has made it onto our favorites shelf. The conversational way the stories are written paired with Christian principles makes this a book we will enjoy reading often. My young children (2 and 4 yrs) enjoyed the illustrations and could relate to some of the questions Little Cub asked. The stories sparked some nice conversations with my 8yr. old, especially with last book about heaven.  Be warned, this book might not be the best bed-time story as it can open up lots of discussions with your children! We read it after lunch when we had time to talk. :)

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free to review through Blogging for Books from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, but was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Wrapping Up Christmas with Little Star

This Christmas season we've been reading books from our Christmas book box and doing activities relating to the books. One book I had been eyeing was Little Star by Anthony DeStefano. I received this book to review and it was a perfect way to end out holiday celebration. 

Summary: Little Star, often over-looked and ignored, was the littlest star in the sky. While all the other stars were trying to shine their brightest for the new-coming king in order to earn a reward, Little Star was left out. Finally the day came when the king was born, but the stars were disappointed to see a baby born in a dirty stable---surely they had been fooled. Little Star however, had compassion and did his best to shine for the baby king.

This was a touching story and a fun way to explain to children why there is a star on the top of a Christmas tree.  My preschooler loved looking at the pictures in the book. Mark Elliott did a wonderful job portraying the characters in the story.  I liked that the book allowed me to have another opportunity to talk with my little girls about the true meaning of Christmas. It is a perfect addition to our Christmas book box.

Now usually I would have done an activity to go along with this book, but since we received it after Christmas, I was just plum worn out from being creative—lol. I do like the handprint Christmas tree idea from Adventures in Mommy-Land, and am going to try to remember to do it with the girls next year.

You can get a head start on next year’s Christmas book box and pick this up at Amazon:

 Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free to review through Blogging for Books from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, but was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Good Morning, God

Recently a package from Apologia ended up in my mailbox and I was pleasantly surprised when I found a cute children's book tucked inside.

Good Morning, God is a story about a four-year-old boy as he goes through a week with his family. This book is designed for children age one to eight years old. Ideally, this book will help your child fall in love with our heavenly Father by thinking about Him from sunrise to sunset. ~Apologia
I read this book to my 2yr. old and 4yr. old. They loved it. In fact, we read it multiple times in one day.  The illustrations  by Alice Ratterree, were beautiful and drew my kids into the story.  They especially liked that the illustrator drew the kids in a homeschool room. My girls said that their school looked like our school. :)
The text had some repeating parts which my girls picked up on after several readings. They enjoyed finishing my sentences. I loved the whole Christian concept of the book. It is based on Deuteronomy 6: 6-7:

These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The wonderful thing about this book is that it can also be used as a week-long devotional. At the end of the book are questions and additional verses to read for each day.

 
Good Morning, God by Davis Carman $14.00

Good Morning, God Coloring Book $4.00
Click here to check out a sample of Good Morning, God.

This is a wonderful book to add to your Christian book collection. It would also make a nice Christmas gift for young kids.

TOS: For More Good Morning, God Reviews see: Disclosure: I am a member of TOS and I was given this product free for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

A Christmas Prayer

It's never too early to be thinking about Christmas, especially about the reason my family celebrates Christmas---celebrating the birth of a king. Every year I like to add special Christmas books to our Christmas book box, so when Book Sneeze offered A Christmas Prayer, I signed up to review it right away.

The first thing I noticed were the soft, whimsical illustrations by Marijan Ramljak. The wonderful pictures paired with the repeating phrases by Amy Parker made this book enjoyable to read. A little child talks about how every aspect of the nativity story is a gift from God.  From Gabriel to baby Jesus, they are each a precious Christmas gift to us from God.

I liked the simple text with the repeating phrase, "Thank you, God, for __________ Your precious Christmas gift". My little ones were able to repeat that phrase after reading the book a couple of times. I appreciated that this book allowed us to talk about how each of the characters in our nativity set were real and each played an important part in ushering the King of Kings into the world. I think this book would make a wonderful gift for toddlers and preschoolers.

The Boy Who Changed the World

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews is The Butterfly Effect for children. I love reading childrens books, especially if there are real-life people woven into the story. I was not disappointed--this little book is packed with inspiration!

The main theme of the book is that actions matter. From big things to little things--what we do can make a big difference and effect others. The story shows how the lives of four people are woven together: Norman Borlaug, Henry Wallace, George Washington Carver, and Moses Carver. Each one's actions effect the other which led to effecting the world!

The story is wonderfully written by Andy Andrews and beautifully illustrated by Philip Hurst. I love how each person in the book has a different butterfly fluttering by them. I think the message of the book is one kids and adults need to hear---that God made them for a purpose and

"That means YOU can
be the kid who
changes the world!"

As a home educator, my mind was reeling with all the possibilities I could go with this book. You could easily use this book as the basis for a whole unit study:

- Study the life of Norman Borlaug
- Study the life of Mr. Henry Wallace
- Study the life of George Washington Carver
- Study the life of Moses Carver
- plants and seeds
- crops (rice, corn, wheat)
- peanuts
- sweet potato
- Iowa
- butterflies
- being created for a purpose

So to start off, I created a couple  The Boy Who Changed the World mini-books for my kids to use. These can be used in a lapbook or lap-n-note (which is what we do).  If you would like to share this file with others, please link directly to this post, not the file. Thanks! :)

Tommy Nelson has some free coloring pages to go along with the book, and the author of the book offers a free curriculum guide aimed at K-2nd along with a reader's guide.

I can't wait to get the hard-back edition added into my personal library. This book would be best for kids 5 and up. Even though it is a picture book, the combination of the historical references and the idea of the butterfly effect makes it perfect for older kids too.



Related Posts:
Butterfly Unit for Young Children
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Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

God's Promises for Girls: Review

I have enjoyed using my Bible Promise book and other topical scripture books over the years, so when I saw that there was a similar book concept for kids, I knew I wanted to check it out.

Book Description: An easy way to help young girls see God’s promises and how they can rely on His love in their daily lives.

The promise verses in this book are selected from the best-selling International Children’s Bible® to offer comfort and encouragement when a girl is feeling afraid, lonely, worried, angry, dissatisfied, discouraged, sad, rebellious, impatient, or sick . . . and when they need reassurance of God’s protection, love, forgiveness, help . . . and that He listens when they pray. It’s a great way for children to hide God’s Word in their hearts.

What I thought:

I originally thought we would use God's Promises for Girls as a reference when certain situations occurred, but I found that it was difficult to locate where to find the topic in the book quickly without skimming through the table of contents. This book is divided into sections such as God's Promises When, God's Promises About, God Want You To, etc, not topically or by keyword, so it takes a little getting used to (at least for me.) After showing my daughter, I found out exactly how we would use the book.

My 8yr. old daughter was excited to find out that this book was for her. We sat down and paged through the book together. We both thought the graphics were very cute and the book seemed sturdy. We read a couple of the entries, and I was surprised at the conversation opportunities it opened up between my daughter and I. I loved that we were reminded what God said about that particular topic too. I plan to continue using this book as a short devotional to read with my daughter before bed. This book would be even more valuable to me if it were in the translation we normally memorize our Bible verses, but it still is a wonderful tool that we will use.

I think God's Promises for Girls would make a great gift book for girls ages 8-11. It's a perfect way to teach young girls exactly what God says about situations and topics relevant in their lives.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Everyday Activities for Young Children

There are just some days when I'm not as prepared as I need to be and my toddlers need a structured activity and I just can't think of any off the top of my head. Angie, from Many Little Blessings and The Homeschool Classroom has come up with a solution to my can't-think-of-any-ideas problem---a new e-book that is full of easy to implement activities to do with your kids.

Angie shares one of her goals of this new book:

"I hope that you have fun with your child as you work through some of the activities in this book. I also hope that looking at some common household items in a new way will lead you to come up with your own ideas for activities to try with your child."

Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places has over 200 activity ideas that use common household objects. Though most of the activities I had heard of before, it was nice to have a huge reference list on hand. While reading this book I kept thinking, "Oh, I forgot about that activity! 1yr. old DD would love this one, 3yr. old DD could do this one... " and so forth.

Some of the topics are:

• Balloons
• Balls
• Blankets
• Blocks
• Books
• Boxes
• Bubbles
• Cardboard Tubes
• Cookie Cutters
• Cotton Balls
• Dishpan (Plastic Wash Tubs)
• Egg Cartons
• Fabric
• Just You! (No Props Needed)
• Kitchen
• Laundry
• Lids
• Painting
• Paper Bags
• Paper Cups
• Paper Plates
• Plastic Bottles
• Plastic Easter Eggs
• Poker Chips
• Sponges
• Miscellaneous Ideas

I think this book would be a wonderful resource for parents of toddlers/preschoolers or anyone who works with young children. It is written in an easy-to-follow manner and the activities use things you probably already have in your home. I plan to use it as a reference idea book when planning workbox activities for my 1 1/2 yr. old and 3 yr. old.

This 58 page eBook is available for immediate download for just $7.50. But Angie has allowed me to share a special discount for 20% off: Spell20 (good until May 31 2010)

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Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book for review purposes only. Opinions are mine. You can find my full disclosure policy: Disclosure Terms

Friendships for Grown-Ups

I recently read Lisa Whelchel's new book, Friendships for Grown-Ups. I remember growing up watching Lisa as Blair on The Facts of Life, and have been a fan of hers since then. I've read several of her other books and was looking forward to reading this book.

Right away I was drawn into this book because of how open and honest Lisa was in telling about her own struggles with having deep, meaningful friendships. She shared how her childhood impacted how she related to people and in return, how she put up walls and defenses in her life without even realizing it. She talks about her journey of breaking down those walls and learning how to connect deeper with people. I admire how honest she was in recounting her struggles and victories. Reading this book caused me to reflect on the status of my friendships and think about how I could be a better friend. I realized that I have several of those walls up myself.

Besides sharing her story, Lisa also includes several helps such as questions for reflection on each chapter, a prayer poem, practical steps for developing and growing friendships, and conversation prompts. I don't do this often, but I know I will go back and reread this book a second time because I know I missed some good nuggets of truth the first time.


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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255