One of my new favorite children books is that of Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke. Sadly, it seems that not all are easily available, but they are WORTH looking for them. Minerva Louise and the Red Truck is the newest adventure of the little white hen. She has an adorable way of looking at things, taking them at face value, and not what humans think of as face value; what chickens think of as face value.
My favorite boy in the world, Xander, is my favorite Minerva Louise reading partner. His collection includes A Hat for Minerva Louise, and now Minerva Louise and the Red Truck.
That was the first night he got it, and I read it to him once, his mom read it to him twice and his dad read it to him twice again. That is FIVE times total in one evening. Safe to say, Minerva Louise is a hit.
If you have not experienced her, in all her bird-brained glory, check her out. You won’t regret it!
Seven lucky U.S. Harry Potter fans have been selected and will be flown to London to join J.K. Rowling at a midnight launch event for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leading up to the book release at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2007.
Congrats to
Andrew of Havertown, PA, 9
Paige of Boise, ID, 11
Ayoluwa of Atlanta, GA, 12
Sophie of Seattle, WA, 13
Joe of Cincinnati, OH, 15
Anne of Spring, TX, 17
Yanira of Hialeah, FL, 20
Less than a month until the big day…… *giddy thoughts*
books, children, deathly hallows, fiction, hardcover, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows, hp, hp7, jk rowling, paperback, rowling, scholastic, shrieking shack
So many people have Thomas the Tank Engine toys that I thought I would list the information needed about the safety recalls. Roughly 1.5 MILLION toys are being recalled.
The full information is available at the RC2 Recall Page.
There are excess levels of lead affecting surface paint on specific vehicles and set compotnents from the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Product Line. The recall covers vehicles, buildings and other parts sold from January 2005 through June 2007 for between $10 and $70 dollars.
NOTE::: If the code marked on the bottom on your purchase (or on the inside of the battery door) contains “WJ” or “AZ,” then that product is NOT included in this recall.
Affected in this recall are:
Red James Engine & Red James’ # 5 Coal Tender
Red Lights & Sounds James Engine & Red James’ #5
Lights & Sounds Coal Tender
James with Team Colors Engine & James with Team Colors #5 Coal Tender
Red Skarloey Engine
Brown & Yellow Old Slow Coach
Red Hook & Ladder Truck & Red Water Tanker Truck
Red Musical Caboose
Red Sodor Line Caboose
Red Coal Car labeled “2006 Day Out With Thomas” on the Side
Red Baggage Car
Red Holiday Caboose
Red “Sodor Mail” Car
Red Fire Brigade Truck
Red Fire Brigade Train
Deluxe Sodor Fire Station
Red Coal Car
Yellow Box Car
Red Stop Sign
Yellow Railroad Crossing Sign
Yellow “Sodor Cargo Company” Cargo Piece
Smelting Yard
Ice Cream Factory
If you own one of the recalled toys, take it away from young children and contact RC2 Corportaion at (866)725-4407 for a replacement toy. The replacement shipping form can be here.
toys, thomas, thomas & friends, thomas the tank engine, trains, children, recalls, safety, rc2, rc2 corporation, rc2 corp, safety recalls
We got this envelope at the bookshop and seriously, I thought it was an engagement letter or something. Amazing envelope and then the calligraphy, wow. seriously… WOW
Of course, we open it, and no, no engagement letter. It is in fact a promotion for Kate DiCamillo’s new and upcoming children’s book. By new and upcoming I mean of course… October. Yeah, October 9th 2007. A bit early?
You can see what I mean by the writing and the envelope. (Sorry about the smudges. I have a recuperating chicken in my dining room and she splashed water. Silly Bird.)
Here is another picture with an illustration. If you have read Edward Tulane then you know that she used BEAUTIFUL illustrations throughout the book. It appears she shall do so again!
There is not much information about “Great Joy” yet, but my guess is that it will be a Holiday story. We shall see if I am correct.
Here is a quote from Kate’s website on writing that I especially liked.
[My teacher] did know what he was talking about. Writing is seeing. It is paying attention.
I think of it this way: my characters sing songs and I stop to listen to them and when the song is done I give them my money and they say, “God bless you, baby.”
And I feel that I have been blessed. Over and over again.
So the moral of the story is, you never know what you may get in the mail. Even the beautiful things may surprise you. When October rolls around, check out Kate’s newest!
because of winn-dixie, book, books, children, children’s book, dicamillo, fiction, great joy, illustrations, kate dicamillo, mercy watson, october release, winn-dixie, writing
Robert Sabuda creates amazing pop-up books. Some he does alone, some are commemorative, and other are collaborations. He has multiple winter/Christmas pop-ups, plus a new Jungle Book pop-up, and even Alice in Wonderland. He has also done two in a “Encyclopedia Prehistorica” series; “Sharks and Sea Monsters” and “Dinosaurs,” with a third, “Mega-Beasts” coming out in 2007. He was involved with the new “Mommy?” which was incredibly cute, and used Maurice Sendack’s illustrations.
At the bookshop, we got a blank white card. There is nothing on the outside.
As seen here:
Nothing much to look at right? Open it up, and you see something completely different.
In the top left corner it says,
May all your days of Christmas
Be full of holiday joy.
You simply cannot get the full effect of this holiday greeting with a photo. This is a short video of me opening up the card.
It is less than 10 seconds, so clicky, clicky!
It is an incredibly cute little card, though I wish they had written something on the outside. His signature, anything! It seems a waste of possible advertising space.
I have found, people do not always listen to us at the bookshop, though often, they should!
Sabuda makes delightful pop-ups, and they are worth a look-through and will delight children AND adults! If you are interested in him, check out the tags, I listed many of the titles, plus other authors he has worked with, for your reference!
A Kwanzaa Celebration, adult, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, America the Beautiful, authors, books, Castle: Medieval Days and Knights, children, christmas, Clement Clarke Moore, holiday, jungle book, Kyle Olmon and Tracy Sabin, L. Frank Baum, Leonardo! : The Adventures of Providence Traveler, Lewis Carroll, matthew Reinhart, Nancy Williams, pop-up, pop-ups, robert sabuda, sabuda, Sabuda & Reinhart, Saint Valentine, The 12 Days of Christmas, The Blizzard’s Robe, The Night Before Christmas Pop-up, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tutankhamen’s Gift, Uh-oh, winter’s tale, robert sabuda, pop-up
