Summer Book Club Week 5 ~ BACKYARD HORSES

OK - I have 2 winners who have been emailed:

2nd drawing: Jenelle Sales (has till Sunday 8/19 to claim it

Jamie Martin - emailed 8/7 - already shipped

______________________________

After a break of about 5 weeks due to major computer issues, starting a new job, etc, etc, etc.... I'm ready to continue our Summer Book Club! Thanks so much for being patient and waiting while I get my feet back under me.

I do ask for prayer as I begin looking for a new family who needs babysitting or daycare for the school year. I'd prefer to have a FT permanent position - but at this point I'd be happy with a good family with well-behaved children.

That being said, here is Summer Book Club 2012 - Week 5!

Backyard Horses - Horse Dreams
by Dandi Daisy MacKall

ISBN: 978-1414339160

Age 4th grade+

$5.99 (paperback) $4.99 (Kindle)

About this series:

Fourth-grader Ellie James has a great imagination. She spends a lot of time daydreaming of owning a black stallion show horse and winning trophies in the horse show. But when the answer to all her dreams and prayers gallops into her life, will Ellie be able to recognize it? Join Ellie and her quirky family in their exciting, horse-loving adventures.

Backyard horses are the opposite of show horses. They don’t have registration papers to prove they’re purebred, and they might never win a trophy or ribbon at a horse show. Backyard horses aren’t boarded in stables. You can find them in pastures or in backyards. They may be farm horses, fun horses, or simply friends. Backyard horses are often plain and ordinary on the outside . . . but frequently beautiful on the inside.

My thoughts:

One little girl dreaming of owning a horse and planning on all the ways she can work on her parents to talk them into getting her a horse. Cry? Beg? Throw a fit? It's never worked before.... Unfortunately it hasn't stopped her from daydreaming in class and getting into trouble - and that's how the book opens. I loved how involved Ellie gets in her daydreaming up to and including "daydreaming" up a horse outside her classroom window - or is it real? If so, no one believes her...

Horse Dreams is very well written, doesn't talk down to kids and it doesn't seem as though Dandi MacKall is lecturing or "teaching" the kids who read it a lesson. I was very impressed with her method of helping Ellie come to understand her parents point of view about why she can't have a horse. The wonderful part of the book though is that Ellie shows a maturity by the end of the book as she helps an abused horse find a new home and Ellie accepts that her job is to help this "backyard horse" relax and let others help her. I really liked this little girl and I'm looking forward to reading other books in this series.

Buy It:

The Backyard Horses series includes Cowboy Bob, Chasing Dreams and Nightmare. You can begin reading this series aloud to your younger children around Grade 1 and the reading level is for kids 4th grade and up (it's actually very easy to read and moves quickly).

You can purchase all 4 books on Amazon for $5.99 each and they are eligible for the 4-for-3 promotion - buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. It's a wonderful series to add to your family's personal library and will be well loved over the years.

About the author:

Dandi has been writing stories since she was a little girl and her true speciality is teaching children about animals and encouraging them to help others (whether it's an animal or a friend). She began writing children's books when she had her own children and you can find over 400 books like: picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle-grade fiction & non-fiction and young adult novels. She loves horses and animals of all kinds and it truly shows in her books.  (Learn more here)

Win It:

Dandi MacKall and Tyndale Publishing are giveaway 2 sets of the first 3 books away to my readers! Isn't that wonderful. 


Mandatory Entry: Be sure to follow Dandi MacKall on FB and leave her a comment thanking her for the giveaway! (I'm not sure the giveaway gadget is reading FB addresses - so if it doesn't come up just leave a comment below this post. Thanks!

Much thanks to Dandi MacKall and Tyndale Publishing for donating this book for review and giveaway. I was not paid for my review services and was not required to provide a positive review. Note: my full disclosure is listed on this page - click here

Book of the Week.....

NEW SERIES

Kane Miller

The Phoenix Files Series:

arrival

contact

mutation

Age: 14 years and up

Size: 5 x 7 3/4

Pages: approx. 320

Series: The Phoenix Files

Paperback $6.99

The Phoenix Files Series: This electrifying, alternating-narrator serial catapults the reader into a creepy locked-down desert town, built by an all-powerful corporation and populated by people who can unwittingly mutate and travel through time. With a plot that twists and turns unexpectedly, The Phoenix Files is a compelling and suspenseful read.

arrival (book 1)

Luke Hunter soon realizes that the new town he’s now living in is no ordinary town. Then he and his new friends, Peter and Jordan, discover a plot to wipe out the rest of the human race – in only one hundred days. The clock is ticking.

contact (book 2)

Peter reluctantly finds himself trying to avoid the clutches of the Co-operative as he, Luke and Jordan struggle to learn just who’s behind the plot to wipe out most of humanity. Is his dad in on it?

mutation (book 3)

Jordan doesn’t dare tell Luke and Peter about the frightening visions she’s having. Now her family wants to leave, but the enemy has shown just what they can do, and Jordan’s worried.

Amate Folk Art of Mexico - Craft Activity

Lizy, Jake & I have been taking Art Classes at the South Omaha library this month and it's been very educational and fun. Today we learned about Amate Folk Art which was originally painted on Mulberry Bark Paper (although according to KidWorldCitizen.org it's Fig Tree Bark paper). The Amate Art form dates back to pre-Hispanic days when the Aztecs used the paper to create books to record data, harvests and more. According to our teacher, Linda, only about 6 books remain from the Aztecs as most of them were destroyed when the Conquistadors invaded and burned them.

Today I'm going to show you some examples of real amate paintings, and then give you a link to a lesson about how to make it and also show you how we created it in the classroom. It's very easy to do but also very, very detailed. Our teacher was a little strict about having the older kids at least try the steps and encouraging them to add it to their artwork.


As you look at the pictures you'll notice how very bright the pictures are. You'll see lots of color, detail and also one of the techniques these pictures are known for are the use of different types of shapes & lines, such as:

• ooOO -> O shapes
• lllll - - - - - - > Straight Lines in different directions (think hash marks)
• sSsSs -> S shapes - could also be wavy lines or curvy lines
• uuUU -> U shaped lines

(You might draw these on a piece of paper and hang them where your children can see them while they make their masterpieces.)

This is the picture I made at today's class. You'll see the use of white paint or black paint to highlight and add detail as well as a bit of contrast with the background. It's important to not cover every part of the paper. It helps the picture to stand out more. Each picture will have a border and border design and one of the design features is the torn edges. I also used dots on the breast and tail of the bird which added some depth and texture to the painting.

  

Lizy's & Jake's paintings turned out just as nice. Jake's is of a racecar and Lizy's is a dog. I loved how the brightness stands out on each and even though Lizy had trouble tearing the edges it really looks neat. Neither of them wanted to add the details (the white and the lines) that Linda the teacher wanted them to add - but it does really help the picture. I personally would not have made them add the details since they were happy with what they had done - but they both did like the end result. 

Art Fun - A Tutorial & the way we made it:

(a lesson plan/tutorial you can use)

Materials needed:

• paperbags - cut into 12x12" pieces - or you could do 8 x 11 if you'd like (I'll show my examples on white paper so you can see it better).
• Acrylic Paints (the kind that comes in the little tubs - neon and bright colors are best) - these are permanent to be sure to wear old clothes.
• Pencils for drawing around your stencil or cookie cutters
• Sharpies for outlining your design
• Markers, colored pencils (optional)
• Paint brushes, paper towels and water bowls
• Cookie Cutters - or those little Wooden Shapes that kids can paint to use as a stencil.
• Black construction paper to glue your artwork to at the end. 

Cover your table with newspaper so you don't have to worry about permanent marker bleeding onto your table and staining it. Give your child a square piece of paper with the square drawn on the middle - leave a 2" border if possible. 

Have your child pick out a cookie cutter, stencil or draw a design on their paper using a pencil. Using permanent marker outline your design and then the border. ****Note - do not add any details - you'll add the eyes, mouth, hair, fur, etc at the end.

After drawing your design and border, outlining it you will want to tear off a small border on the outside of the paper. This gives it a finished look and also makes it look old. (Look at ours to see. Note - this was the hardest part of the project I thought.)

Give your child a very small amount of the acrylic paint and thin it out a little bit with a tiny bit of water. When they paint you don't want them to saturate the picture with paint and you don't want 'GOBS' of paint on it either. It'll take forever to dry. Teach your child to only dip their brush into water when changing colors and to never pound the brush which will break the bristles, also show them how to dab the excess water out of the bristles.

Encourage them to use bright fun colors. The more cartoonish it looks the better. Be sure to have them use white or black paint to highlight the picture too.

After the painting has dried use these marks (see marks above - it's the O's, lines, S and U marks) to add detail like fur, feathers, shape and texture to their designs. It's amazing how much detail these marks add to your picture - so be sure to do it . You can also use the round end of the brush (not the brush end) to do polka dots. Just be sure to let your picture dry before doing these otherwise they spread out and don't look really dotty. Decorate your border with stripes, flowers, etc. When everything is dry - paste your picture on a black sheet of construction paper so it's "framed". 

Here is another example of Amate painting - you could use rocks or those plaster statues that can be painted (get them at the pottery shops). Wouldn't this be neat in your garden?

I hoped you liked our "lesson" today. I'm not good at doing tutorials but I thought you might like to see how it was done &  you might like to try it for yourself. =D

Back to School - Homework Helpers!

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It's nearly time for kids to return to school:

Have you considered putting a homework center together in your home? A place where your kids can find the TOOLS they need to do their homework? Here are a few ideas you can use:

Dining Room Redo:

Many people have an extra room in their house. The Dining Room isn't used as often as the kitchen for dinners - it's less convenient, the table, chairs and set up is more formal and especially during the week most people don't have time for a formal sit down dinner. Why not turn that room into a study room - sans a TV but with the dining room table turned into a giant family sized desk. Bookshelves on one end can contain the family's encyclopedias, math dictionaries, phonics books, tools to help teach math concepts (giant jars of cheerios or m&m's for counting, adding, subtracting skills - why not keep the family change jar in there for practice money skills.) Be sure to set up a small desk in the corner for the family computer - it's in a central location but out of the way. Plus you (Mom & Dad) can keep an eye on what the kids are doing on it. 

An added bonus is  - everyone works together on their homework at the same time. Mom & Dad can sit and read. Older kids can help younger ones, parents can help anyone that needs it and if no one has homework - you have a place for Game Night.

The above snapshot is an example of what you can do - I created it on homestyler.com. You can start from scratch, play around with color, furniture,  rugs, flooring, etc. Use what you have, or make up a shopping list and either go all out furnishing your new Homework Zone or  buy it a piece at a time.


My thought for the above room is that it's a multi-use room. You can use it for everyday use - homework, playtime, game night and if you have company throw a leaf into the table, get the good dishes out of one of the armoirs (use one of them for the good stuff & linens) and  the other armoir can hold a small flat screen or better yet add some shelves for books, games, etc. If you possibly can nix the flat screen and video games and make it a true family room.  Best of all  the dining room is usually next to the kitchen so you can do the cooking, etc while the kids are in the homework zone so you can pop in as needed to help them out - or break up any fighting you hear.


What do you think? Do you have a homework zone - someplace away from the TV where your kids are close by, you can read, play games, etc.  Is it formal, unformal, the living room, the kid's bedrooms, the kitchen table??? We'd all love to hear!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Featured Book of the Week

The Summer Book Club will start up again this coming Monday - for now I will featuring another NEW Kane Miller book that your kids will love!

NEW SERIES

Usborne

Amy Wild, Animal Talker

The Secret Necklace

The Musical Mouse

Age: 7 years and up

Size: 5 1/8 x 7 3/4

Pages: 95

Series: Amy Wild, Animal Talker

Paperback $4.99 Library $10.99

Amy Wild, Animal Talker Series:  Welcome to the world of Amy Wild, where dogs tell their secrets, cats perform rescue missions, and an entire island is squeaking and squawking with animal magic! Animal lovers everywhere will be instantly enchanted by this Dr. Dolittle for a new generation.

The Secret Necklace  
Shortlisted for the Explore Books Award  ~ Order

Amy doesn’t want to move away from her friends to live on Clamerkin Island. But then her great-aunt gives her a secret present – a necklace that gives her the power to talk to animals! Amy can’t wait to make lots of new furry and feathery friends… but will it be that simple?

The Musical Mouse Order - Order

Amy’s first day at her new school is made even more exciting by the appearance of musical mouse! But the teachers don’t like their squeaky visitor. Can Amy find the mouse a new home before the headmaster catches up with it?

A few fun games from Amy's Website:

• Wordsearch
 
• Quiz
 
• Pairs

Introducing "I am Jack" by Suzanne Gervay

I am Jack
by Suzanne Gervay
Age 8-12, 144 pages

One of Usborne's newest books is about childhood bullying and the experience of Jack.  One of our consultants was on her local News stations "AnchorMom" show and she shared the video of her segment. I thought you might be interested in what she had to say. If you are interested in purchasing the book just click on the title of the book. =D

Watch this at WNCT Greenville NC

What others say:

"Very Powerful!

What an amazing book! As the mom of a daughter who was bullied in middle school (I'm just know learning the extent of it, some 7 years later), I was moved by the powerful description of a boy desperately trying to maintain a normal face at home, while facing such indescribable abuse at school.  This book will definitely have a powerful impact on its readers."