My only contribution for Clove Fruit is this: You can purchase whole cloves at an ethnic grocery store to save money. Indian or Chinese grocery stores will have whole cloves in bulk packaged in plastic bags which is less expensive just because of the utilitarian packaging alone! This makes a great gift for extended family, teachers, and neighbors.
My cookbook is cracked with the pages falling out, I love this cookbook so much. And the page that this recipe is on has food stains on it galore. Nigella raves about this granola which she discovered on an U.S. book tour. I have made it and given it out as gifts. True story: I usually give this to teachers as a Whatever-I-Made-A-Huge-Batch-And-This-Is-Healthy gift. My kids’ Kindergarten teacher (extraordinaire) is usually on the list even when we don’t have her, but sometimes we run out. A neighbor gets it instead or I need a hostess gift. So one day she tells me that she is in the teacher’s lounge and recognizes the granola that my middle kid’s 2nd grade teacher was eating and said, “Is a gift from Pragmatic Mom? I love that granola. Can I have a handful?”
First of all, I want to confess that I am not a board game person. I do occasionally get forced into playing board games with my kids so I am familiar with some of these games but it’s always a balancing act to play with them as I am asked to modulate my play: “Play hard against me, mom, but not too hard. You’re playing too easy against me.”
The Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors blog has a great post on dragons that preempted this post but I actually had been working on this for several weeks. There is something magical about dragons and I’m glad that some kids can keep the magic alive. I’ve gathered my favorite dragon books that range in age from picture books to young adult. What is your favorite dragon book? Please share!
Administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was first given to its namesake in 1954. The award, a bronze medal, honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.
Book recommendations for an avid 13-year-old boy reader who likes fantasy adventure along the lines of Rick Riordan, Anthony Horovitz, Robert Muchamore, and Patrick Ness. Fave series include The Hunger Games, Nicholas Flamel, Artemis Fowl and Young Bond.
If you read Meteor! by Patricia Polacco with your child and it elicits interest in all things meteoric, then please explore the science of meteor links below. If you happen to find a real meteor (and a link to find out if your meteor is real is below), you can even sell it on eBay!