You don't have to be afraid

Quote of the week:

"You don't have to be afraid," said the Gollywobber. "I'm really Jessica Smith. If you look closer, you'll see I'm just pretending to be a Gollywobber. I can see that you and your friends are nothing more than shadows in the dark. You're nothing to be afraid of."

- J. W. Dixon, Flooty Hobbs Personalized Book

Sibling Book Personalized Book

Product Spotlight

Title: Sibling Book Personalized Book
Manufacturer: Create-A-Book (Hefty Publishing Company)
Seller: Personalized Books by MadLuck Books
Description: A personalized story teaching how to cope with the arrival of a new baby.


Here's the whole story with samples of the illustrations (Personalized information is in red here, but not in the ordered books):

Title page
A New Baby
in
Jessica's Family


Pages 1 & 2 - Illustration Pages

Page 3
This book was created
especially for
Jessica Ann Smith
at the age of 7
With love from
Mommy and Daddy
August 10, 2006

Page 4

Once there was a little girl named Jessica, age 7. She lived in Warrenton. One day, something very exciting happened at Jessica's home. A brand new baby boy came to stay.

Pages 5 & 6 - Illustration Pages

Page 7

"This is our new baby," everyone said to Jessica. "His name is Alex." Jessica could hardly believe it. "Wow!" Jessica said out loud. "I'm Alex's big sister! I wonder what this is going to be like."

Page 8

From that day on, Jessica began to discover what it was like to have a new baby brother in her family. The first thing Jessica noticed was that everyone seemed very happy. Jessica also noticed that everyone seemed very busy.

Pages 9 & 10 - Illustration Pages

Page 11

There was always a flurry of activity around Alex. Friends, relatives, and neighbors were dropping in all of the time. Everyone wanted to come for a visit, and everyone wanted to see the new baby.

Page 12

Alex was very nice to look at, but he wasn't able to talk, walk, or play! He wasn't even able to sit up by himself. There were only two things he could do! He could sleep, and he could cry. Little Alex was pretty good at sleeping, and he was very good at crying.

Pages 13 & 14 - Illustration Pages

Page 15

Alex needed a lot of attention. He had to be washed in warm, soapy water; the water had to be just warm enough and just soapy enough. He had to be dried with a soft, fluffy towel; the towel had to be just soft enough and just fluffy enough. He had to be dressed in special clothes and fed special food. Everyone had to be very quiet, so that little Alex could get to sleep.

Page 16

It wasn't just friends, relatives, and neighbors who wanted to see Alex. There were doctors and nurses too. They wanted to have a look at him, just like everyone else. They even had special gadgets for listening to his heart, his lungs, and all of the other things inside him.

Pages 17 & 18 - Illustration Pages

Page 19

Jessica wondered if Alex sometimes just wanted to be left alone. Everyone was always making such a fuss over him! Actually, Jessica sometimes wished that everyone would leave Alex alone. "Maybe they should make a fuss about me for a while," Jessica thought.

Page 20

Sometimes, Alex was taken for a walk. He was wrapped in a special little blanket, and there was a special little buggy for him to ride in. Wherever they went, it was baby Alex that the people wanted to see. "Oh, what rosy little cheeks!" they would say. "And, what pretty little eyes, and darling little fingers!" "People sure do like babies," Jessica thought to herself.

Pages 21 & 22 - Illustration Pages

Page 23

Because Alex was a baby, he was given all sorts of special presents: beautiful flowers to brighten up the house, big fluffy teddy bears to watch him as he slept, and all kinds of toys! There were toys to shake, toys to stack, and toys to roll. Jessica's toys were mostly old ones that she had played with for years.

Page 24

It seemed that no one had much time for Jessica. "Let's go to the park and play," Jessica said.
"We're sorry, Jessica. We're busy with the baby."
"Will you read a book to me?" Jessica asked.
"Maybe later, since the baby needs me just now."
"Could we play a game together?" Jessica questioned.
"That's a good idea, but the baby is a little fussy."

Pages 25 & 26 - Illustration Pages

Page 27

One morning as she was waking up, Jessica had an idea. "When I was a baby," she thought to herself, "everyone made a fuss over me." Jessica thought that maybe she should become a baby again. "If I were a baby," she said to herself, "Alex wouldn't be the only one they would fuss about!"

Page 28

Jessica thought about doing what baby Alex did. She thought about lying on her back and crying the way Alex did. "Would I get lots of hugs and kisses if I acted like that?" Jessica wondered. "I don't think so," she said to herself. "And I think that I would feel pretty silly."

Pages 29 & 30 - Illustration Pages

Page 31

At play time, Jessica wondered about sitting in the middle of the floor and making funny little noises, the way babies sometimes do. But it was just too embarrassing for Jessica! After all, she was Alex's big sister! Instead, she picked out a few books and a few toys from the toy box. They weren't brand new, but they were her favorites. She still had lots of fun with them.

Page 32

"Being a baby is fine for Alex," Jessica said to herself. "But I'm happy being a big sister! When baby Alex gets a little older, we'll have lots of fun playing together. I think he's going to like having me for a big sister!"

Pages 33 & 34 - Illustration Pages

Page 35

"There's a time to be a baby, and there's a time to be big. Every time can be happy in its own way," Jessica thought. "I'm glad that this is Alex's time to be a baby. I'm glad that he has come to live with us and that we will grow up together!"

Page 36
Jessica Smith,
Hope you enjoy this gift.
Mommy and Daddy

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The best kind of magic book

Quote of the week:

"The best kind of magic book," said Barnaby,..."is when it's about ordinary people like us, and then something happens and it's magic."

- Edward Eager, Seven-Day Magic

Books for Valentine's Day

Bob Walch in the Monterey Count Herald has an article on some good children's books for Valentine's Day.

Here are a few of the titles he mentions:

Where Is Baby's Valentine? by Karen Katz.

A Mama Bug's Love by Janet Lawler

Kiss Kiss! by Margaret Wild

Dooby Dooby Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin


And personalized books also make great Valentine's Day gifts!

No such thing as just good guys fighting bad guys

Quote of the week:

Matt said softly, "I thought this was supposed to be one of the good wars. The rebels were supposed to be the good guys, but maybe there's no such thing as good guys fighting bad guys. It seems there's good and bad on both sides."

- Elvira Woodruff, George Washington's Socks

Harry Potter Release date July 21, 2007

Scholastic has announced the release date of July 21, 2007 for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You can pre-order the book now from Amazon.com and save 46% off the list price!

Enough time for fun

Quote of the week:

"Daddy," I said, and I waited until he was looking at me before I went on. "Yes, Ida B," he answered, turning towards me. And staring right into his eyeballs I told him, "there is never enough time for fun."

- Katherine Hannigan, Ida B

More quotes

Personalized books home

Lawn and Road Wienies Book Reviews

Title: In the Land of the Lawn Weenies
Invasion of the Road Weenies
Author: David Lubar

These two collections of short stories were surprise hits in our household. Surprise because both the titles and cover illustrations are not very appealing. But you "can't judge a book by its cover" of course and so we dove in to the books to see what we would find. And what we found were fun collections of (and I'm struggling here for the correct adjective) odd, strange, creepy (from my eight year old) stories (the subtitle to both books is "And Other Warped and Creepy Tales". The stories in these two books are very reminiscent of old twilight zone episodes in that they portray a reality that is more or less twisted in some fantastic way. Twisted in a fantastic and deadly manner - in most of the stories the main characters do not survive the end of the story (though their ending is not described- just assumed.) The kids who meet these fates, tend to be the most unlikeable examples of middle school age boys and girls - bullies and disagreeable brats all around.

Probably because of the age of the main characters and their tendency to die at the end of the stories, these books were in the young adult section of our local library, though the reading level is probably around the fourth or fifth grade level. Because of this and because the stories are fairly short and easy to dig into, I could see these books being a good choice for the reluctant middle school reader. They were a Little too "creepy" for my eight year old.

2007 Notable Children's books for Younger Readers

The American Library Association (ALA) has released it list of the Notable Children's books for 2007. Here is the list for Younger Readers:


Once Upon a Banana by Jennifer Armstrong, Illus. by David Small. Simon & Schuster,

My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet. Abrams.

Keeper of Soles by Teresa Bateman, Illus. by Yayo. Holiday House.

Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont, Illus. by Jane Dyer. Harcourt.

Cork & Fuzz: Short and Tall by Dori Chaconas, Illus. by Lisa McCue. Viking.

Best Best Friends by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Harcourt.

Below by Nina Crews. Holt.

I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakité, Illus. by Baba Wagué Diakité. Scholastic.

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo, Illus. by Chris Van Dusen. Candlewick.

Wolves by Emily Gravett. Simon & Schuster.

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey. Knopf.

Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow.

Duck & Goose by Tad Hills. Random/Schwartz & Wade.

Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson, Illus. by James E. Ransome. Random/Schwartz & Wade.

Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, Illus. by Marie-Louise Gay. Candlewick.

Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways by Laura Mcgee Kvasnosky. Illus. Candlewick.

Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look,Illus. by Yumi Heo. Simon & Schuster/Anne Schwartz.

Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! A Palestinian Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald, Illus. by Alik Arzoumanian. Marshall Cavendish.

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest, Illus. by Katy Schneider. HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler.

Adèle & Simon by Barbara McClintock. Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Frances Foster.

Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans. Walker.

Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes, Illus. by Yuyi Morales. Holt.

Hippo! No, Rhino! by Jeff Newman. Little, Brown.

The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney. Dial.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. HarperCollins.

Black? White! Day? Night! A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger,Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon. Scholastic/Blue Sky.

Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie by Judy Sierra, Illus. by

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. Kids Can.

Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler, Illus. by Kurt Cyrus. Harcourt.

Dizzy by Jonah Winter, Illus. by Sean Qualls. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine.