Archive for the 'Kids Books' Category
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Reading of The Gingerbread Man
Thursday, August 27th, 2009I love the story of The Gingerbread Man!
Here you can hear someone doing a nice reading of it on YouTube…
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Singing – A Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson
Saturday, May 9th, 2009SINGING
OF speckled eggs the birdie sings
And nests among the trees;
The sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.The children sing in far Japan,
The children sing in Spain;
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.Children and Idiomatic Expressions, and a Great New Kids Book
Friday, October 17th, 2008Kids are funny.
My daughter was recently playing on her Gameboy (the handheld gaming system). I said something to her, but she was so absorbed that she completely didn’t hear. So I commented to her friend, who was also there, that my daughter was lost in another world. Her friend asked, “Why? Was she trapped?” I explained that, no, I was just using an expression meaning “when someone is so involved in what they’re doing that they don’t notice anything around them”.
It’s in this type of spirit that the book Butterflies in My Stomach, by Serge Bloch was written. You follow the main character though his first day of school. It’s full of idiomatic expressions that are illustrated literally. For example, the kid has butterflies in his stomach – so there’s an ink drawing of the kid with actual butterflies in his stomach.
Many of these expressions are funny on their own. Children love the expression, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Bloch has a page where cats and dogs are raining down from the sky. It’s a hoot for kids to see this actually illustrated in a book.
The book gives you a chance to discuss these unique expressions with your child, in a funny way.
Two Book Series and a Game that are Great for Kids who Have to Wait
Friday, April 4th, 2008In my last post I mentioned that sticker books are a good way for kids to pass time on a plane. They’re also good for doctor appointments and any other situation where kids have to wait.
My daughter particularly loves the series of sticker books put out by Barnes and Noble. Each book is on a different subject and has 200 stickers. The books also give facts about the subject. They can be about Dinosaurs, Horses, Bugs, Pets, etc. Your child has to find where in the book the sticker belongs. Younger kids may need your help. It can be a fun activity to do with little ones. I’d say these books are good for kids from 3 to 8 years old.
Here are links to a couple of the sticker books my daughter enjoyed doing:
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You can buy some of these sticker books at Barnes and Noble’s online store. Though they have a larger selection in their actual retail stores.
The other series of books that are wonderful when you have to wait is I-Spy. In the I Spy books, you search for specific objects in a sea of many objects. You can see what I mean if you follow through the “search inside” link on one of the books below. Both of my children have enjoyed these books. They’re particularly good to do together while waiting in the doctor or dentist’s office. They’re good for kids aged 4 to 10. (They have simple board book versions for younger kids.)
Here are a couple of the ones we have:
If you forget to bring the book with you, you can play the I-Spy game while waiting. One of you says, “I spy with my little eye…” and then you give a hint about something you see in the room and the other person has to guess what it is. For example, if it’s a calendar, you can say, “I spy with my little eye something with a lot of numbers on it.” Then if the other person guesses correctly, they’ll say, “A calendar!” Then it’s the other person’s turn.
Feel free to let us know in the comments below about anything you do with your children, students, or grandkids to pass the time when you have to wait.
-Mama Lisa
A New Children’s Book Site
Saturday, January 5th, 2008My friend David wrote to me about a new site he created…
Hi Lisa,
Happy New Year!
As you know, I usually indicate links to you that relate to free resources, but on this particular occasion I would draw your kind attention to some children’s books by a friend of mine, which are for sale. I have made a website for him at www.pmacbooks.com. If you consider that a link from your Mamalisa blog would be appropriate, that would be great. I have copied to Peter, in case you have any questions you might like to put to him.
Kind regards,
David W Solomons
There are long excerpts of Peter’s books on his site so you can get a good idea of what they’re about before ordering them.
-Mama Lisa
Multilingual Kids Books on the Web
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008I’ve been asked twice in the past week for free multilingual books.
Here’s a link I found called Books in Multiple Languages. They have English children’s books with translations in Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Romanian, German, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Maori, Greek, Dutch, Farsi (Persian), Afrikaans, Croatian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Pennsylvania Dutch, Sloven, Indonesian, Malaysian, Hungarian, Dari, Hindi and Filipino.
If anyone knows of any other good multilingual book links, feel free to let us know about it in the comments below.
Someone was also looking for children’s books with animal sounds around the world. There’s one called Who Says a Dog Goes Bow Wow? by Hank de Zutter. You can click the link to see it on Amazon.
-Mama Lisa
International Children’s Digital Library – ICDL
Saturday, April 14th, 2007The International Children’s Digital Library is a wonderful site to visit with children where you can read online books in many different languages. You can choose to browse books by country, by age group, and by language. They have picture books for young kids, and chapter books for more advanced readers.
You choose the book you’d like to read. Then you click the arrows to turn the pages of the book.
So head on over there and check it out. You’re in for a treat!
-Lisa
Does Anyone Know a Book with the Lines “”To Sup Like a Pup, To Gulp it All Up”"
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007Kevin wrote:
Hello My name is Kevin Dahl, and I am looking for a book title to a children’s book my wife and I used to read to our son. We read this book so many times we both have it memorized many years later.
The words are…
To sup like a pup
To gulp it all up
no napkin, no fork no spoon and no cup
But to gulp it all up with your tongue in deliciable laps what luck.Then the second part I think is a Mother Goose from the same book:
Bow woo woo
Whose dog art thou
Little Tommy Tinkers dog
Bow wow wowWe purchased that book over 12 years ago and we read it until it was so warn out we had to throw it away. Now we both regret throwing it out and want to buy another copy.
Thank you
Kevin DahlIf anyone can help identify this book, and/or provide any other useful info, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Movie – A Quick Review
Sunday, November 27th, 2005Last night my husband, my son and I went to see the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie.
I think everyone should read the Harry Potter series. They’re highly imaginative and fun. The first book was the best so far. The later ones are (needlessly) too long. But if I was a kid, I wonder if I would love all the extra details.
I think the movies are good as companions to the books, but none of them are great on their own. The films look beautiful, but the stories don’t stand up that well compared to the books.
That’s how I feel about the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie too. The story is lacking compared to the book, but it’s worth seeing just because of how it looks. And if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you wont want to miss it!
Little Bear – Book and TV Show
Sunday, November 27th, 2005My four year old daughter loves this book and TV show. It’s about a little bear, a cat, a duck, a hen, an owl, and a girl with her doll.
The stories are about the simple joys in a kid’s life, like wishing upon a star, pretending to go to the moon, and opposite day – where you always say the opposite of what you mean.
The show, which is for 3-6 year olds, is based on the series of Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak (who wrote and illustrated Where the Wild Things Are). The book is filled with homey, colorful pen and ink drawings.
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