The Lucky Star by Judy Young is the story of a young girl named Ruth who lived during the Great Depression.  Ruth’s momma was always reminding her that someone was always worse off then you and that you should always thank your lucky stars in every situation.  Ruth loved school but because of the lack of funds the school had to shut down and she wouldn’t be able to start fifth grade like she hoped.  Her father received a job with the Civilian Conservation Corp established by President Franklin Roosevelt but that meant he would have to go away for awhile.  Her mother got a job at home so Ruth would have to help out taking care of her little sister Janie.  Ruth was having a hard time seeing any stars.  All she saw was darkness in the situation.  But one night while her mother was making biscuits the flour on the table she used for rolling the dough inspired Ruth to be a teacher for her little sister and her sister’s friends.  Some flour gave her a new outlook on life and brought all of the stars in the sky into view.

This is a really beautiful story.  I really enjoyed reading this one with my oldest.  He wasn’t familiar with The Great Depression since he is only five so it opened up a conversation about that time and how we only think we don’t have very much.  I thing this book would be a really great way to discuss The Great Depression with children a little older than mine.  The story is nicely illustrated and one we would highly recommend.  A really great work.

SUMMER!

Around here school is wrapping up and summer activities are getting ready to start.  To be really truthful I can’t say that I am a huge fan of summer because that means more people out and about during the day when I prefer to do things with my kids.  :)  But, next year I will actually have a child in school so that will make a difference in my day and schedule and I am sure I will think differently when next May rolls around.

There are lots of things to enjoy about summer.  We love the fun in the yard with the baby pool, bikes, and bubbles.  We also love the Kids Bowl Free program.  If you haven’t ever checked this program out you will want to see if you have a bowling alley in your area that participates.  My kids love getting to go bowling and I love that the games are free all summer long.  We also love to go to the free summer movies that some theaters show.

One thing we are really excited about this summer is the library’s summer reading program.  When we were at the library yesterday they had info cards out and it starts on May 19th.  We will receive a game board with reading challenges and earn prizes.  We are excited to get started.

This week take a look and find out if you local library has a summer reading program.  It is a great motivator to enjoy some reading time with your kiddos when the heat outside becomes too much to bear.  Let us know if your area has a program and what they do.

Holly will start school in the fall but living in remote Northern Michigan means she will need a new coat and boots to keep her warm while she waits for the bus.   In Jam & Jelly by Holly & Nellie written by Gloria Whelan Holly’s mother, Nellie has to find a way to make some money in order to get Holly the coat and boots she needs.  Holly and her mother spend all summer and fall picking the different berries that are in season so they can make jelly and jam to sell to earn the money they need.  When the time comes father surprises them with a stand he built for them to display their bounty.  Holly sells the jelly and jam and sees the benefits of what hard work can bring.

This is a beautifully written story of a family that works hard together to provide for themselves.  The story is also beautifully illustrated.  The story and illustrations just draw you in as you read.  The story is a little longer than an average picture book but the illustrations of nature might be enough to keep a younger child’s attention.  This book could be a great conversation starter with children on working hard for things rather than having everything handed to you.  We would highly recommend this beautiful book.

On her fifth birthday a little girl has one request, that she can go Back into Mommy’s Tummy.  She is sure it would be fun to swim around, go everywhere mommy goes, stay up late with mommy and watch TV out of mommy’s bellybutton.  She would be close to mommy.  But there is already a baby brother in mommy’s belly and she wouldn’t get to have fun at her birthday party if she was in mommy’s belly again.  Maybe being back in mommy’s belly isn’t really as great as it first seemed it would be.

This is a wonderful story to help children deal with the feelings that come when a new sibling is on the way.  This would be a wonderful gift for someone expecting a child who already has another.  I read this one with my oldest and he thought it would be gross to go back into mommy’s belly.  I suppose I am thankful for that response.  :)  We didn’t really deal too much with jealousy of new babies with ours, but our oldest was only three when our third was born.  However, if a child is a little older when a new baby comes along I could see where jealous feelings could come.  This is a creative book with cute illustrations that would be a great resource for working with those feelings.

We are out of town for a few days this week so we don’t have a Friday Fun to share.  My husband is attending a leadership conference and the boys and I are enjoying some relaxing time in the hotel with no laundry or dishes to worry about.  That IS my Friday Fun.  :)

This week we read Lisa Wheeler’s dino sports book Dino-Baseball.  This was the last of the four we had not yet read.  It was as well written as the other three and my boys really enjoyed it.  My boys have loved all four and would sit and read all of them over and over again.  If you have a dino lover or sports lover these fun rhyming books are really great and we can’t recommend them enough.

Dino-Baseball

Dino-Soccer

Dino-Basketball

Dino-Hockey

Rubina learns a valuable lesson in Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan.  Rubina is invited to her first birthday party and her little sister Sana says she wants to go too.  Being from a different culture Rubina’s mother, Ami, does not see anything wrong with her sister going along.  Rubina is terribly embarrassed when her sister throws a fit at the party.  Sana eats all of her own goodie bag after the party and the next day eats Rubina’s red lollipop from her goodie bag.  Rubina doesn’t receive invitations to parties after that and it really hurts.  One day Sana comes home with her first birthday party invitation and baby sister Maryam wants to go too.  Ami thinks that since Sana had gone with Rubina to her party that it is only fair for Maryam to go with Sana.  Will Rubina step up and help her little sister out since she has been in her shoes in the past?  Will she let Sana experience the embarrassment she went though?

This was a really great story on being a sister (or sibling).  I think my oldest really understood the situation and probably knows what it is like to sometimes feel like the younger siblings are always in the way.  He knows what it is like to build something just to have a younger brother come behind him and knock it down.  But this story showed that we can learn from our frustrating experiences and use them to relate to and help others later.  Even though I have three boys instead of three girls we really liked this story.

Take a night ride on The Rain Train by Elena De Roo.  The rain is coming down and the passengers are all getting on the train.  They are ready for a night trip on the train as the rain falls “Pitter-Pat-Pat”.

This is a nicely illustrated story with a lot of sound effects.  I can’t say that I was highly impressed with the book as a whole but my boys really seemed to like it.  They really like trains and the sounds so they thought it was fun.  The story didn’t have a lot of substance to me but it was a light read for a train lover.

If You’re Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre is a fun new spin off of the beloved “If you’re happy and you know it”.  The book can be sang with some new words and a few additional phrases thrown in.  If your hoppy and you know it, you might be a bunny (or a frog or even a cricket).  This is a fun interactive book that is sure to get smiles and little movers going.

My boys really liked this fun book.  The illustrations are bold and bright and go great with the fun spirit of the animals in the book.  We loved reading this one and will be enjoying it again.  It gives a great new twist to an old familiar song.

I was wandering in the children’s nonfiction area the other day at the library looking for some how to draw books when I ran across poetry books.  My boys aren’t very familiar with poetry so when I noticed Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy I thought it might be a fun one to try out.  I have three boys so dirt on their shirt isn’t an uncommon thing and I figured it wouldn’t be poems all full of sweetness they might not like.

The poems in the book were a page or less and really quick and easy to read.  They each had a little illustration to go with it.  It took my boys a few to realize that each one was independent of the others and so we would stop between each one and then read a new one.  My oldest is starting to figure out what rhyming words are so this was a fun way to introduce rhyming.  A lot of the poems were funny and we had a good time reading them.

One of our favorites is

Bubbles

“I like to play and splash and sing

When I take my bath

But it’s the bubbles that I make myself

That always make me laugh!”

I do have boys after all.  This was a fun way to introduce them to poetry.