5 A Day Books: The Animal Boogie


The joy of early reading, playing with new toys and discovering the beauty of nature in the great outdoors... Awh, to be young and free. Curious to explore, grow and learn. Here's what's on our bookshelf this week:
 
Was $9.99 Now $4.99 Paperback w/ Music CD

The Animal Boogie

Can you boogie? Down in the Indian jungle, the children and animals are learning about actions like leaping, stomping, shaking and flapping while meeting different jungle creatures.

Book with enhanced CD edition includes an animated video with audio singalong sung by acclaimed children's performer Fred Penner
.
Ages 3 to 7 years
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter
Sung By: Fred Penner

Available in Spanish!


Cha-cha-cha en la selva

The Animal Boogie

Can you boogie? Down in the Indian jungle, the children and animals are learning about actions like leaping, stomping, shaking and flapping while meeting different jungle creatures. This Spanish book with CD edition includes song sung by the Children's Museum of Los Angeles.
Ages 2 to 6 years
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter
Sung By: Children’s Museum of Los Angeles

Now $3.99


The Animal Boogie Fun Activities

Swing into the jungle fun! The puzzles, games, coloring pages and word scrambles are supplemented by a full-spread sticker sheet, with reusable stickers. The pages are printed on 100% recycled paper.
Ages 4 to 8 years
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter



One of my delightful grandsons enjoys puzzle making. He started with a few pieces
and stayed with it for long hours during his play time. He has graduated on to the 100 piece puzzle and enjoys it so. He is 3 years old and one of our favorite puzzles, of course, goes
along with the paperback book and activity book are the puzzles.

Animal Boogie Mini Cube Puzzle

Piece together this bright Indian jungle scene with all the animals from The Animal Boogie. The 36-piece puzzle is packed in a sturdy, reusable box.
Ages 3 to 8 years
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter



Now $3.99

Dotty Spotty Doodles

22 Arty Activities for Creative Kids

Draw, doodle, paint and color! The simple activities encourage creativity, and help small children to master drawing skills, shape recognition, line drawing and color combining, while also preparing them to learn to read.
Ages 3 to 7 years
Written By: Madeleine Deny
Illustrated By: Barroux


$9.99

Creepy Crawly Calypso

Jump and jive from one to ten with a boisterous band of bugs in this selection that introduces creepy crawlies and calypso instruments. After the rhyming story, there are fascinating facts about the insects and calypso bands, as well as a simple music score. Book with CD edition includes song sung by Richard Love, Panache and Alex Hutchings.
Ages 3 to 7 years
Written By: Tony Langham
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter
Sung By: Richard Love




 Care to join in the fun? Stop by our hostess (http://www.theimaginationtree.com) to share in this wonderful book scheme.

As a kindergarten music teacher, I highly recommend Animal Boogie! Take a peek but I must say in advance, this song is highly contagious. You will find yourself singing along, too!







“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

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5 A Day Books: Fairy Tale



This week our hostess, The Imagination Tree, has chosen the Fairy Tale theme. 
A very popular form of story telling for me and one that I so much enjoy reading with my sweet grandchildren. We have oodles of Fantasy books on our shelves but here are 5 favorites, mine being the last one. It's a gorgeous book of charming stories
and beautiful illustrations. Have you read any of these? They are available for purchase and I believe Knights is on sale. http://ladyd.barefootbooks.com







Isn't it fun to play with puppets, wands, crowns and capes? 




As for me, I would love to go to a real Castle, like this and run around with all its spaciousness and share a meal with family,  friends and you, dear readers!








“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis


My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Book Review: The Serets of Kelmar




I have read Laura Sepesi’s first book, The Guardian of Kelmar and posted my review  of this brilliant author at http://goo.gl/fb/1DC6

Now, I just finished reading the second book in the Kelmar Trilogy-YA fantasy Trilogy, The Secrets of Kelmar. Oh my gosh, this one is over the top!

Book Details and Description:

ISBN: 0-7414-6376-8 ©2011
Price: $28.95
Book Size: 5.5'' x 8.5'' , 688 pages
Category/Subject: FICTION / Fantasy / Epic

With the defeat of her enemies, Carmen Fox thought she had brought peace to the magical realm of Kelmar. But when fresh bloodshed and destructive storms threaten Kelmar’s stability, Carmen is called upon to restore harmony in worlds beyond.


Abstract:

Carmen Fox and her friends have just defeated the merciless Dark Master, Desorkhan, and his army of Magicon followers, and saved the magical world of Kelmar from ruin. But only months after their victory, darkness has once again fallen upon their realm. Raging storms, vicious attacks on innocent creatures, and the threat of Kelmar’s imminent destruction by a most sinister adversary, all ensue from a drastic shift in the balance of power between the two Kelmarian spirit worlds.

As the Guardian of Kelmar, Carmen must now travel to the afterlife to correct the imbalance, even as she furthers her sorcerer training at Thunder Academy.



My Review:

I have heard many say that Fantasy writing is highly imaginative with the fantasy story being set in medieval times and is about castles, chargers, dragons, knights, potions, spells and wizards. Well, The Secrets of Kelmar begins with a great back story, just in case you have forgotten or didn't get a chance to read the first book because at the age of 15, Carmen's world changed dramatically.
 

This riveting fictional story of good that triumphs over evil, is brilliant in writing from the author's imagination.  Laura Sepesi writes about good and evil appearing like two completely different entities but in many ways they're actually the same. The character names, along with unusual places, sets the stage for exciting adventures  in the 3 realms, such as Merlin Cloud,  the maker of Kelmar and Kelmarsia and Keltan, filled with immoral and corrupt souls.

Carmen's destiny is to discover and decipher the secrets to learn how to balance light and dark, to restore harmony. Seems like a very simple mission but the story moves along at a fast pave, with an incredible adventure of magic tunnels, an amulet of magical protection and the necessary disk for decoding. This 5* book is a real page turner. The messages of finding love from within, caring about how much family matters, strong bond of friendship, and fighting for our land to be protected ring loud and true. Oh yes, and  there's an exciting ending, too!

I just couldn't put this one down. And when I did, my hubby picked it up and inhaled this one from cover to cover because it is awesome and so very cool. This book should be a movie and I wouldn't be at all surprised if my grandchildren see the heavenly Trilogy on the screen one day. I am so very proud of Laura and her accomplishments... One of my favorite quotes from the book: "Follow your heart," Kelmari declared to her guests, "and you shall never lose your way."

 

About the author:

A published author at the age of twenty-one, Laura Sepesi has had a passion for storytelling for as long as she can remember. While still a student in high school, she imagined the story of the Kelmar Trilogy, and soon after she graduated, she began writing Book I: The Guardian of Kelmar. That first novel went on to be published in the months following the completion of her associate's degree in elementary education, allowing her to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an author.

A year and a half after Guardian's release, Laura published the sequel, The Secrets of Kelmar. The third and final installment in the Kelmar Trilogy, The Master of Kelmar, was published only a few months after Secrets, when Laura was twenty-three years old. For more information about the author and the books visit: 

www.LauraSepesi.com 



I'm looking forward to reading the next book, The Master of Kelmar and final conclusion of the Kelmar Trilogy. Best wishes and much continued success to a very talented young lady and wonderful author, Laura Sepesi.

How about you... have you read books containing names like, dragon lord, fairy princess, and the good knight? I like books that have a soft language to them, like the Enchanted Village of Larkspur. My grandsons love Darth Vader and the Terrible Troll. But, I especially love bright, happy endings where good triumphs over evil!







“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

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Wordless Wednesday: What's on Your iPod?

Wordless Wednesday

 Wordful Wednesday:

Instrumental CDs are a great way to help your little one fall asleep. I also have around 2,000+ cool songs for every occasion on my iPod. Check out this cool site for some great music.


http://rockabyebabymusic.com/

* Whether you’re babysitting, or trying to please you own child, music goes a long way in making them happy and assisting in a healthy development.  FreeKidsMusic is a repository of free children’s music where you can download some terrific tracks for kids.



* When the holidays come rolling around, you don’t have to shell out big bucks to play those Christmas tunes.  Just head on over to FeelsLikeChristmas and get yourself some free familiar songs.

* Barnes&Noble offers Free-Audiobook-MP3-Downloads

* Free music downloads Bearshare.com/downloadmusic  


* Kids can personalize their own radio station at http://www.pandora.com/

http://www.kidsstuffandthings



  
Another favorite music resource of mine is Putumayo!
My Market Place

For more free music download sites, visit my other blog for information, http://ladyd-books.blogspot.com/2011/07/wordless-wednesday-whats-on-your.html


Now, every Friday Barefoot Books offers free podcasts.
Barefoot Books Podcasts  






Head on over to BarnesandNoble and listen to a story by Molly Ringwald at Splish, Splash, Splat!

Happy Storytime!







“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis



My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

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5 A Day Books: Library Selection


 I LOVE children's books. It's such a joy to read to my sweet grandchildren. We have a beautiful library in town. So,  from our weekly trip, here's a few treasures we found this time.


Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is a classic story.  Robert McCloskey was awarded the 1942 Caldecott Medal for his delightful illustrations of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their ducklings. Ages 4+


 Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. A beautifully told tale of a girl and her father going “owling” one winter evening. Jane Yolen’s illustrations of the young girl determinedly tromping through the snow are enchanting. Owl Moon will surely encourage other children to appreciate their own encounters with nature. Ages 4+


Skip through the Seasons

Jump into January and dance all throughout the rest of the year. This rhyming, seek-and-find book of months features plenty of seasonal objects on each page for readers to point out. Educational end notes include facts about different calendars, seasons and days of the week.
Ages 1 to 7 years 
Written By: Stella Blackstone
Illustrated By: Maria Carluccio





The Sounds Around Town

Follow a baby throughout the day, listening to all the sounds of life in the city. The colorful spreads are adorned with sound words to try out, and the rhyming text uses repetition for easy learning.
Ages 1 to 7 years
Written By: Maria Carluccio



Richard Scarry's Great Big Story Book

By Richard Scarry

Barefoot Books-LadyD is participating in this wonderful weekly meme. Care to join us? Stop by The Imagination Tree.

 




“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Surrey Bikes

Surrey Bikes


I came across these brightly colored surrey bikes for pedaling around the beach. This is a fun way to soak up beautiful surroundings. It's always a refreshing time and a memorable one to head towards the beach, take a walk on the pier along the harbor and see the bikes pass us by. 


A single surrey costs $20.00 in rental fees.


Double surrey will be $30.00 for rental fee.  

Have you ever been on one? I have not had this experience yet.

One of the best sites I have found online for personal safety and bike riding tips for kids is Tips For Tourists

Perhaps you are familiar with Barefoot Books "Bears"series.


About Bear on a Bike

Join Bear as he tries out different forms of transport and has an adventure with each one. Rhyme and repetition support the learning layers of travel and transportation, as Bear travels in a raft, a rocket ship, a boat, a bike, a steam train, and a carriage.



Ages 2 to 6 years

Written By: Stella Blackstone
Illustrated By: Debbie Harter



Board book and paperback for $6.99
http://ladyd.barefootbooks.com

Photo Credit: The Graphic Fairy









“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis



My Family from WiddlyTinks.com