Read. Write. Mom!

Fun Summer Reading Books

Posted on July 13, 2013January 10, 2016 by Mandy

We’ve been having a great time ending each lazy day of our summer with a good children’s book before bedtime. Bedtime stories are sort of a bonus for me. Not only do I get to spend some quality time with E.B. before he falls asleep, but I also get to check out new titles to share with my kids in the library. Nothing but win!

Here are a few books we’ve been reading:

PETE THE CAT: PETE AT THE BEACH by James Dean

In Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach, Pete is spending the day at the seashore. He has fun collecting shells and building a sand castle. But the beach is very hot. There is a whole ocean for Pete to cool off in, but it looks scary. Pete’s brother, Bob, offers to teach Pete to surf. Will that be enough to help Pete get over his fear of the water?

We are huge fans of the Pete the Cat series in our home. These are great books for the preschool to third grade crowd, so we always look forward to newest book. This series always covers topics that are great discussion starters for kids and often touch on the very things they experience in their little worlds. This book was no exception, with Pete dealing with the fear of trying something new. This is a perfect book for introducing a lesson on bravery or facing fears, or even for the child who might be timid or shy. This book didn’t disappoint and we enjoyed it very much.

RATING: Excellent

AGES: 4-8

DIG DOGS, DIG: A CONSTRUCTION TALE by James Horvath

In Dig, Dogs, Dig: A Construction Tail, Duke heads up a pack of construction worker dogs as they suit up in boots, gloves, goggles and dirt-digging suits to build a park! The dogs get to use all kinds of cool equipment—a crane, a dump truck, a loader, a bulldozer, and a cement truck. Most fun of all they get to dig. Like all dogs, they love digging.
Work is interrupted when the dogs find something deep at the bottom of a hole. Children will love discovering what is buried in the ground.

This is a fun little rhyming book that would make an excellent introduction to learning about fossils and teamwork. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, so I’ll just say that this book has beautiful illustrations and tells a cute story of how the dogs work together to build a park. If your child is crazy about construction equipment, this is definitely a great book to build on that. Check out the trailer for the book:

RATING: EXCELLENT

AGES: 4-8

RUFF! AND THE WONDERFULLY AMAZING BUSY DAY by Caroline Jayne Church

What Ruff wants most is to make some friends. He accidentally digs up the house of a little grey mouse named Hubble. By the time Ruff helps Hubble make a new home, he has a friend. Then he and Hubble decide to help Lottie, a duck who has also lost her home. And soon Ruff has a second friend!

I couldn’t help but falling in love with sweet little Ruff. Poor Ruff has made a huge mistake and works very hard to try to make things right. In the process, he makes two new friends. Reading this book to my son was a great teachable moment on forgiveness and being a friend. I highly recommend it.

RATING: Excellent

AGES: 4-8

STICKY, STICKY, STUCK! by Michael Gutch

Annie has a problem. She gets sticky—a lot. She can even get sticky in the bathtub. And sometimes it feels like the only time Annie’s family pays any attention to her is to tell her not to do something that will make her sticky—again.
When Annie tries to make a snack alone, some peanut butter makes her extremely sticky. Her mom, dad, brother, and sister try to help, but they all get stuck to her. The whole family ends up laughing, and for once Annie has all the attention she wants!

My son loved Sticky, Sticky, Stuck! He thought the whole family getting stuck together was super funny and what happened as a result of that was a little nudge at myself that sometimes we parents get so wrapped up in the day-to-day grind, especially the use of technology (think: cell phones, Facebook, etc.) that we sometimes fail to see our children are needing a little extra attention. The ending was sweet and I plan to recommend this book to the parents of my students when school starts back. It’s just a fun family read.

RATING: Excellent

Ages: 4-8

These books were provided to me to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was given.

French Toast Official School Wear Review & #Giveaway

Posted on July 8, 2013January 10, 2016 by Mandy

Depending on where you live, you may be surprised to realize that school will be starting back in a matter of weeks. Weeks! Do you ever wonder why the school year just drags on and on, but summer is over so fast? Me too. The time has come for us to start looking for school uniforms, a new backpack and lunchbox, and a few other items to get ready for second grade. And also? I am so glad my son is required to wear a school uniform. It really helps not to have to stress over choosing an outfit each day. School uniforms are economical and a definite time saver for us.

French Toast Official School Wear has everything you need to get your child ready to look their best if they are required to wear school uniforms. We usually start off the year with four shirts, four pairs of shorts, and a new belt. Why only four? Wednesdays are “spirit days”, or days where they can wear school t-shirts and bottoms of their choice. It stays pretty warm here all the way up until late October, so I don’t worry about pants and a jacket until then.

French Toast happens to be one of our school approved uniform provider choices, so I was thrilled when they offered to let us pick a few items to try out. I chose two pairs of khaki shorts, a belt, and a jacket for my son.

E.B. is all smiles in his new lined jacket. I’m a big fan of this jacket because it’s super easy for him to zip up, it’s stylish, and it’s lined with fleece. We usually don’t need a jacket much heavier than this here in Mississippi most of the time, so this jacket is just perfect! It’s also water resistant for those cold, rainy mornings. This is one jacket doing double duty.

This is the flat front adjustable waist short. These come in several colors and what I love about these shorts are that they are adjustable from the inside. If they’re a little too small, there’s a little elastic adjuster inside to let the waist out a little bit. If they’re a little too big, just slide the adjuster accordingly and secure with the button to take in the waist. Last year we had the toughest time fitting our son in uniform pants because he was basically in-between sizes. Being able to adjust the waist like this would have been just the thing we needed. I’m glad I know about this option now.

Belts are also a uniform requirement for our son, and this reversible dress belt is also another little item I love because this belt is also nice enough for church. We chose the brown/black option because these are the colors he will use most in his wardrobe.

I am super pleased with our items from French Toast and encourage you to check them out for your school uniform needs. They really do have a great selection of colors, styles, and sizes.

GIVEAWAY

French Toast has generously offered one of my lucky readers with 2 tops and 1 bottom of their choice! To enter, use the Rafflecopter form below. U.S. Only. 18 and older. Void where prohibited. Giveaway ends July 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was provided with items from French Toast School Wear to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Amazon Kindle Fire Giveaway (Ends 7/29)

Posted on July 8, 2013January 10, 2016 by Mandy

Summer is definitely the time I catch up on my reading. I’ve had my eye on a Kindle Fire for awhile now since buying our son one and can’t wait until I can purchase it. In the meantime, I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers to give one away!

Welcome to our Kindle Fire HD giveaway!

Sponsored by Kid Lit Frenzy
Read Now Sleep Later
Nite Lite Book Reviews
The Windy Pages
The Book Pixie
There’s a Book
The Late Bloomer’s Book Blog
Teach Mentor Texts
The Reading Date
Nancy Tandon
Read Write Mom

Show our blogger friends some love and at the same time earn entries into the giveaway!

The Kindle Fire HD winner (US only) will also get their choice of

1 July or August Kindle eBook from Kid Lit Frenzy
1 YA Kindle eBook from Read Now Sleep Later
1 MG Kindle eBook from There’s a Book

If you are not from the United States, use the second Rafflecopter to enter to win

up to $20 worth of books from BookDepository.com
and an ARC or signed copy of a book from Kid Lit Frenzy
(A list of possible prizes will be posted after July 14, so check back!)

If you are a blogger, you can earn an extra entry by re-posting the giveaway. Copy the HTML from this page and paste it into a new post. We cannot count your entry unless you leave us the link, so remember to paste the link into the Rafflecopter widget. If you cannot embed the Rafflecopter widget, here is the Share Link for the Kindle Fire HD (US only) and the Share Link for the International $20 bookdepository.com widgets.

Rules:

1. You must be 13 years of age or older to enter, or have a parent/guardian enter for you. All entries are subject to verification.

2. We will notify the winner via email within 48 hours after the contest’s end (11:59 pm on July 29).

3. The Kindle Fire HD winner must have a mailing address in the United States. The International ($20 bookdepository.com books) winner can be anywhere except the United States.

4. The winners will have 48 hours to reply with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

5. Contest sponsors are not responsible for items lost in the mail.

6. We love comments, but please do not leave personal information such as email or mailing addresses in the comments! We are using Rafflecopter because it will keep your information private.

Questions? Please email the organizer, Alethea, at frootjoos at gmail dot com.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Inspired by Kathy at I am a Reader
readnowsleeplater.com