It was so much fun to judge the final round of the Cybils for Best Easy Reader and Early Chapter Book. I felt like our committee really pondered long and hard to come up with the winners in a multi-step process: We procured the books, mostly from the library (copies were sent by publishers if…
Month: March 2015
20 Wonderful Multicultural Board Books for Babies and Toddlers
These multicultural board books for kids are perfect for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers! A fantastic selection of diverse books for storytime. Valarie from Jump Into a Book and I are starting a series of book lists to highlight our favorite multicultural children’s books. We plan to turn this into an eBook which we will give…
How Do You Teach Innovation? My Entrepreneurial Story
A few readers have asked me to post more on my entrepreneurial experience (b.k. — before kids). I co-founded a dorm room enterprise, now called Aquent, with two friends that has grown, now nearly 30 years later, into a mid-sized company (as defined by “less than one billion in sales but larger than one hundred…
Easter Eggs Pysanky Style: Video, Picture Books and GIVEAWAY
In celebration of Easter, I wanted to share this video and two picture books about the Ukranian craft of egg painting called Pysanky A pysanky is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist (batik) method. The word pysankacomes from the verb pysaty, “to write”, as the designs are not painted…
11 Best Multicultural Chapter Books and Kid Lit Blog Hop
This is Part 2 of the 2015 Notable Books for a Global Society Award, for middle grade readers ages 8 and up. I haven’t read all of these chapter books so I’ll use book jacket blurbs with age range to make this list more helpful for parents and teachers looking for books for kids. Many…
#TeamPuracynPlus GIVEAWAY for Active Kids
It’s hard to get kids to try new things, be it new food, new sports or new summer camps. Sigh! I think it’s just a personality trait — risk taking. Grasshopper and Sensei who is my least risk taking child is the most resistant to trying new foods as well as sports! PickyKidPix, however, is…
The Hawaiian Ukelele? All About the Ukelele for Kids!
Two of my kids are fascinated by the ukelele. My son, who plays guitar, was inspired by musician Jake Shimabukuro that he showed the video to his guitar teacher, and watched Jake’s videos on technique that he can apply to guitar later on when he gets more advanced. Grasshopper and Sensei is learning the ukelele on…