Category: children’s literature

Posted on by cindyindigo

More from Bruge–Weaving Lace and Stories


Bruge is famous for its lacework. How did they make lace before modern machinery? By hand, of course. The art of braiding this type of lace is tricky. This lace is called bobbin lace. Bobbins are used to hold the threads on a small pillow. Originally, the bobbins were made from bones, so it is also known as bone lace. And sometimes it’s called pillow lace as well. For more pictures, click on this Wikipedia link.

Stories are woven together also. Some of the threads of a story would include the characters, the setting, and the plot. Each story forms a different pattern, just like lace.
I’ve done only a little weaving in my day, on a small loom and knitting and crocheting as well. It’s tough to keep all the strands in line, forming the pattern you want. It’s tough to keep them from becoming tangled sometimes.
So it is with a story too. I work hard at twisting the plot here and turning a character there or weaving in the setting–just right. This week I’m revising a couple short stories and reviewing a middle grade chapter book in progress. I’m untangling a few knots here and there in each, trying to make wonderfully woven stories for my readers to enjoy.
Sometimes that involves a fair amount of unraveling–which makes it especially hard to keep the pattern of the story in tact. But a completed story, intricately woven with beauty and finesse, is always worth all the hard work.
Now, I’m back to my story weaving.
Posted on by cindyindigo

Find the Perfect Book Match for Your Summer Reading

I’m so excited to tell you about this great opportunity–just a click away. How many times during the summer when your mom or dad suggests you do some reading, you say, “But I don’t have any good books.”???

When you follow this link to Lexile’s Find a Book, you’ll be able to enter your grade and what type of books interest you. Presto! Find a Book will zap out a list of titles for you to check out faster than you can slurp down an ice cream cone on a 90-degree summer day.
Pick out a few titles which sound too good to miss. Go online to your local library. See if they have the books. Put holds on them and plan a trip to the library. In no time at all, you can be relaxing with the best of summer reads.
Not so much into reading…no worries. You can indicate what your reading level is when you enter your info into the Find a Book database. A long list of just-right books–for your interests and  correct reading level–will magically appear.
Yeah, but why bother reading during the summer. It’s vacation from school time.
So true, but a professor of education at Harvard University, James Kim, did a study. He found that students who don’t read over the summer can fall behind in their reading levels by as much as two months. That means you’ll have lost ground during the summer. You’ll start next school year just trying to catch up to where you left off the year before. That doesn’t sound like fun.
But, according to the professor, if you read at least 8 interesting books at your reading level during the summer, you won’t fall behind. In fact, you’ll probably increase your reading level.
Awesome! Wouldn’t that be a cool surprise for your new teacher as well as your parents.
Public libraries usually have great summer reading programs. You may be able to earn prizes reading this summer and beat the summer slide–loosing ground on your reading skills. 
So this summer, do your sliding into home plate–not down hill on your reading.
Libraries are truly COOL places to hang out in this summer. Check one out.
Let me know how you do with your reading and what’s the best book you read this summer. 
Posted on by cindyindigo

Summer Reading, Websites, and Recipes for Kids


Holly and I took a field trip to the dog park today. There we met Joey and his mom and their beautiful and friendly Irish Setter, Flash. After Holly showed Joey all the cool tricks she can do, we humans eventually got around to the really fun stuff–talking about books.

Joey was on the lookout for some good summer reading. I offered him a couple of favorites:
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman
The Gollywhopper Games received the 2008 Midwest Choice Book Awards Honor for Children’s Literature. And the book is also up for possible readers’ choice awards in both Alaska and Texas.
The Graveyard Book won this year’s Newbery Award as well as honor book in the recently announced Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. Follow the link for the other selections.
Of course, a library is a great place to visit this summer for expert advice on good books. Plus, they usually have special programs designed for kids of all ages. 
Some other fun things to do this summer can be found online. Visit the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’s list of great websites for kids. I’ve mentioned a few of the websites before, like
ReadKiddoRead and Giggle Poetry. But there are lots more suggestions for summer adventures from math to art to science to film making.
Joey also shared with me that he enjoys cooking. Yum! Yum! Don’t forget that I have some tasty recipes on my website. Dirty Worms seems like an appropriate dish for summer fare. For more recipes, click on this link. There you’ll also find games, crafts, puzzles, and more reading adventures.
Posted on by cindyindigo

Summer Art Show Contest for Kids

Quick…take a look at this:

Robin Falls Kids is the hosting this 2-day contest for
 kids. 
Children’s art work and stories can be entered.
What a fun way to start the summer!
Holly has already started

 her summer fun with a splash in the pool. What other adventures will Holly have this summer? Check back to find out…or write your own Holly adventures. I’d love to read your stories about my favorite canine.
Posted on by cindyindigo

Children’s Book Week

Sorry it’s halfway through the week already before I had the chance to remind you about CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK. Click on the link and you’ll find a great bookmark you can print. 

Since 1919, Children’s Book Week has been celebrated in the United States. Schools, libraries, publishers, bookstores and of course, children enjoy this special week, highlighting books and reading.
Click here if you want to help choose the next Children’s Choice Book Awards
or here to see the 2008 winners’ list.
What great children’s books have I been reading this week?
The title says it all for this poetry how-to book. Discover your inner poet when you take this book out for a spin.
These poems are totally out-of-sight! The author shares some star-worthy poems and gives insight into poetry lingo.
When is a poem also a picture? If you don’t know, you’ll want to dive into this whirl of words.
HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG by Jean Craighead George
The author explains dog walk, talk, and body language. You’ll decipher your dog’s messages in a flash. Fun and informative.
HERO CAT by Eileen Spinelli
Don’t miss this sweet picture book highlighting a mother cat’s heroic efforts to save her young kittens from a fire. This book is based on a true story. Both the artwork and writing are wonderful.
OK. Now it’s YOUR turn. What incredible children’s books have you been reading???
Posted on by cindyindigo

Holy Thursday and Passover as Told to Children



Today is a very holy day in both the Christian and Jewish faiths.

Christians celebrate Jesus’ Last Supper–the meal he shared with his followers on the night before he died. The feast Jesus and his friends were celebrating was Passover.
Passover is a special time when the Jewish people remember how God helped them leave the slavery of Egypt. God convinced Pharaoh to release all the Jewish people after a terrible tenth plaque killed the first born sons of all the Egyptians. The Jewish first born were spared because God had instructed the Jews to mark their homes in a special way. The Angel of Death “passed over” all their houses and their first born were spared. The Jewish people share a special Passover meal each year to remember God’s love for them.
During the Passover meal at The Last Supper, Jesus told his followers he would become their bread–broken and shared for them. In THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE by Sally Lloyd-Jones; illustrated by Jago and published by Zonderkiz, the author retells this and many other Bible stories in beautiful poetic words. The Bible stories come alive with Jago’s pastel portraits and scenes. What a wonderful way to celebrate this holy day–reading the Bible story.
Posted on by cindyindigo

Children’s Book Classics–What Are Yours?


Parents pass their likes on to their children. Especially, their love of reading. Books they liked as children will be shared with their own children.

My husband and my younger son Dan love J.R.R. Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RING series. But children also introduce parents to favorites of theirs, which in turn become favorites of the parents.
Both my sons loved WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak. And even now, I delight in repeating the line from the book when Max says, “I’ll eat you up I love you so.” 
This article at CNN.com discusses classic children’s books.
What children’s books are your favorites??? 
Posted on by cindyindigo

New Boy Books I’ve Been Reading

BIRD LAKE MOON by Kevin Henkes (published by Greenwillow) is a boy book that deals with issues of divorce and death. Twelve-year-old Mitch Sinclair reluctantly accompanies his mom to his grandparents’ lake house after his dad announces he wants a divorce. The tension mounts quickly as Mitch finds it hard to accept the divorce, and his grandparents seem less than enthusiastic about their long-term house guests.

Mitch adopts an empty house next door as his getaway place, but too soon the long-gone owners of the house return. They are a family of four–Mom, Dad, Spencer (10) and Lolly (7). They bring with them the sad memory of a first son who drowned in the lake eight years ago.
Mitch and Spencer become friends, even after Spencer discovers Mitch’s prank to release the family dog. They discover a bond in their losses–Mitch’s father and Spencer’s brother. Both of them come to realize they must rise above their problems and take control of their lives.
The book is well-written with characters many young readers can identify with. While this book is not a fast-moving action thriller, it offers a glimpse into modern life which many children can relate to and which they would find interesting. For those readers ready to try another Henkes’ novel, direct them to OLIVE’S OCEAN–another introspective book which deals with death and coming of age.
GHOST LETTERS by Stephen Alters (published by Bloomsbury) has a combination of adventure, supernatural, and historical elements. Gil–a fourteen-year-old who has just been expelled from McCauley Prep School because he copied a poem off the Internet and claimed it as his own–is exiled to seaside Massachusetts to stay with a grandfather he barely knows while his busy jet-setting parents decide what to do with him.
In the three-week interim, he finds a mysterious blue bottle at the ocean’s edge and begins sending messages back and forth over time to an Indian boy caught up in an 1896 British conflict in the tea growing area of Ajeegarb.
While Gil is trying to tying to make sense of these strange messages, he meets Nargis–a local girl his own age–at a trash dump where they discover another mystery–a smelly skeleton hand belonging to a 19th century local spinster, the victim of lost love.
There is also a mysterious ghostly letter carrier and a poetic genie involved in all this. Sometimes the fantastical elements seem a bit too much, but the book is a page turner. Gil and Nargis are determined to solve the mystery and to help their new friend in India escape the horrors of war as well as reunite the star-crossed lovers.
With the threat of being sent to military school looming over him, Gil manages to use the supernatural powers to his advantage, and in doing so a happy ending ensues for all.
This book provides interesting mysteries woven into a historical setting and interlaced with numerous fantasy elements. Boy readers should enjoy this fast-paced tale.
Posted on by cindyindigo

Turkey Crafts and Reading Fun for Thanksgiving

HIGHLIGHTS magazine has tons of turkey fun for crafty kids this month. For a totally new approach, try making a turkey from a sea shell. And for more turkey crafts, click here.

In Christine Webster’s book, HOW TO DRAW THANKSGIVING SYMBOLS, she provides facts and step-by-step drawing instructions for turkeys and all the favorite Thanksgiving characters.
For a fun read this Thanksgiving, go to your library and check out Dav Pilkey’s TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THANKSGIVING. And save some time to explore Dav Pilkey’s website and his Groovy Games.
I hope you can find some time this week to make your own special turkey crafts and enjoy Thanksgiving reading fun.
Gobble! Gobble!
Posted on by cindyindigo

Children’s Books on Their Way to the White House

Milton Terrace South Elementary School in New York state conducted their own election this month. Under the direction of their school media specialist, Susan Penney, the 3th, 4th, and 5th grade students in the gifted classes researched the current books in the White House library. They found very few for soon-to-be White House residents, Malia and Sasha Obama, President-elect Barack Obama’s two daughters.

Each grade at Milton Terrace South Elementary School nominated two of their favorite children’s books, and everyone in the school voted on the winning titles. 16 of the children’s books will soon be on their way to the White House. If you’d like to read more about the school’s literary voting, click on this link to SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL . 
CHARLOTTE’S WEB by E.B. White is one of the children’s books on their way to the White House. What would be your favorite book to send for Malia and Sasha to read?
If you want to find out more about the White House, go to www.WhiteHouse.gov and do some exploring of your own.