My daughter is a huge lover of books.  She loves all kinds of books and will flip through them for hours.  We’ve entered the mandatory sleepytime book and wake up book chapter of our lives.  Even though my girl can flip through the same book over and over, I make sure she has new books all the time.  I must admit I’m a little addicted to buying her books.  I love finding new, creative, fun reads for her and may go slightly overboard.

With that being said, I thought I would give out some recommendations for other young readers out there.  I’ll purchase a stack of books and see which ones my daughter gravitates to first.  This week it is Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis.  This book is part of the New York Times Best Seller collection Ladybug Girl.  I love this collection, based around the adventures 0f Lulu and her basset hound, Bingo.  In this book, Lulu is at first excited, then scared of the intimidating waves.  After playing around on the beach, where it is safe, she realizes she must overcome her fears and face the ocean.  This is a great book about confidence, trying new things, and being brave.  My daughter loves The whole series! Purchase

The next favorite book this week is Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper.  If you know me, you know I love anything cupcake related.  How can you not?  Like mother like daughter I suppose because she also loves cupcakes.  This book is about a vanilla cupcake who doesn’t feel special sitting next to his fancier brothers and sisters with all their glitz and glam.  From Pink Princess Cupcake to Polka-Dot Cupcake, all of the poor, plain, vanilla’s siblings look super fancylicious.   When he isn’t picked, he starts to throw himself a little pity party.   That is until the plain Candle comes around, who also has fancier siblings.  Now it’s a pity party of two.  They brainstorm and Candle comes up with a lot of interesting ideas of how to make Cupcake special, until… well I won’t spoil the end but you should be able to guess.  And BONUS there is a recipe at the end to make DELICIOUSLY PLAIN vanilla cupcakes with PLAIN buttercream frosting.  This book is a great lesson about feeling comfortable in your own skin, and that we are all special (and delicious). Purchase

I started writing my own personal blog about our family adventures, daily happenings and just quirky things my daughter does back in 2008. At first I told everyone that the reason I kept it and loved it so much was for our family and friends back in Chicago to stay up-to-date on our lives since we’ve moved. After a while, when I noticed a lack of views from the people I hoped would read it the most, I questioned why I was working so hard on it. Then, I went back to my first posts and I cried as I read all about the things my daughter was doing, the videos of her little voice, her little tantrums and the adorable pictures. She was sooo tiny! Right then I realized that my blog was for me. For my husband and I to be able to look back at this well-kept journal and remember some of the happiest days of our lives. Internally I always thought it would be really cool if I could print it off into a book, but I kid you not, I ran a search and found no such thing that existed. I had that thought of keeping it going and one day, someone would come up with the great idea to create such a company. Well, I didn’t have to wait long, we received an email from a company called Blog2Print and they turn your blogs into hard or soft cover books.

Blog2Print isn’t just a regular, printed out and slapped together kind of book. But a hard cover, the quality of your old high school yearbooks with a superior quality to them and photographs ON the covers! Then a dedication page that you can add photos to, a few words about your book and then it has a title of all of your blog posting titles and the page you can find them on. It’s printed on thick, premium quality paper and the clarity of the photos is truly impressive. I blog a lot, so I decided to break my blogs out by calendar year. The fun thing is that you can add additional pictures that maybe you never posted on your blog. For example, we had a photo shoot with a photographer and I never put them on my blog, but they were taken in 2009, so I can add them anywhere within my book so that they’re included with the things we did. You can remove posts (in case you posted about something totally random). If you cherish the comments, you can choose to have your comments published as well.

Our book arrived and I seriously cried, the book is so beautiful. I can’t imagine a better way to capture our family memories. It inspired me to make sure that I keep up with our blog and have an entire collection on our bookshelf for our kid(s) to look through and remember their childhoods. If you blog, this will truly be an amazing find for you. If you don’t blog, well, then maybe this will inspire you to start. Believe you me, I go through my blog and read things that I completely forgot happened. I’m thankful every day that I keep it and those dear to us thank us too.

BUY IT!

Head over to Blog2Printand look through all of their fun designer covers and just enter in your blog information to see what your book would look like. You and your family will love this! Like Blog2Print on Facebook here and follow them on Twitter here.

WIN IT!

We are offering one 40 page book (valued at $31.95) from Blog2Print. Books can be made for blogs on Blogger (blogspot.com), TypePad (typepad.com) and WordPress (wordpress.com). Simply leave a comment below and you’re entered!

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Contest ends August 23, 2010  at Midnight PST.  Winners will be chosen by Random.org and emailed.  If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. 

Olas Books are a fantastic find.  They are geared towards the ever popular surfing and skateboarding sports.  They use bright colorful graphics and fun rhyming words to teach your kids about safety.  As fun as these sports are, it’s important that we teach our kids right from the start about being cautious. No one is a fan of the emergency room.

When we teach our kids to surf, it is incredibly important that they respect the ocean, because the ocean can be a powerful and unpredictable place.  Before they put their toes to the nose, they need to stop and watch the ocean for at least 10 minutes.  Once the swells are assessed, and rip tides ruled out, it’s safe for the kiddos to attempt to catch a wave. Skateboarding can be just as dangerous if you do not take the right precautions.  Always, always wear a helmet and pads, no matter what anyone says.  Peer pressure can be tough for kids to handle!  These books are wonderful tools for parents, a bookshelf staple.

“We want kids to have fun, but most of all to be safe,” says auther, Diaz. “As a surfer and a parent, these are my biggest concerns.  I want my son to surf and to be safe.”

The books also teach our kids to protect our Earth by keeping our beaches, oceans, and parks litter free.  Proving their dedication, the books are printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks.

Portions of all proceeds  go to the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit, environmental organization that works to protect our oceans, waves, and beaches.

Purchase your own Olas Books here

Thanks to Olas Books for providing samples for review.

As a parent, many situations will arise that will send you straight into panic mode.  Babies get sick, and when they do, we rush to the pediatrician.  But what if in your panic, you forget to ask the right questions?  What if you don’t know the right questions to ask?  And sometimes when you leave the doctor’s office, you’re even more confused than when you went in.  Pediatrician Gary Morchower understands that we have questions and need answers.  You can’t trust everything you read on the internet, but you can trust everything you read in this book!

1001 Healthy Baby Answers is a compilation of common questions parents have on a large variety of ailments and illnesses.  The expert advice on everything from tummy aches to nephritis, will put you at ease and give you the knowledge you need.  The book goes through the causes, symptoms, treatments, and follow ups of illnesses from A-Z.  Just having the book around makes me feel like a better mom.  If anything arises with my child, I know I can get my facts straight.  It is a great book for quick reference and will give you the right advice to help your child feel better, possibly avoiding yet another trip to the doctor’s office.

When I say this book covers EVERYTHING, I mean it. Find authoritative answers to your questions about:

• Jaundice
• Asthma
• Seizures
• Chicken pox
• Anemia
• Rapid breathing
• Autism
• Croup
• Pneumonia
• Diabetes
• Heart murmurs
• Sleep disorders

And much, much more.

Get your copy of 1001 Healthy Baby Answers here.

Special thanks for providing a sample book for review purposes

It’s no big secret that I am a HUGE fan of this line of books by Quirk.  I have already written about The Toddler Owner’s Manual, then the Pregnancy Instruction Manual and Baby Owner’s Manual.  They just are so cleverly written and extremely informative and helpful.  When I saw that Quirk had manuals for the dog owner and cat owner, I jumped on them.  These books clearly lay out the rules for owning a pet, what to do and not to do.  They give you insight into the heads of your sometimes confusing pets.  So if you’re having one of those “WHAT IS FIDO DOING?” moments, pop out this book and figure out what makes their brain tick. Your pet problems could possibly be simply solved and the answer will probably lie in these books.  I recommend these books to any cat or dog owner.  I guarantee you will have a happier, more obedient pet, and who doesn’t want that??

The books start from the very beginning: how to pick out the right pet for your family, and where to find a quality pet.  They then go into “home installation” and what you need in your house for a comfortable transition for your new addition.  It then goes into the very important sections of “daily interaction” and “basic programming”.  These sections will help you get into the head of pet… understand the way they operate and why.  It continues on about their fuel requirements, maintenance (exterior, interior, and even emergency), and also growth and development.  In a nutshell, these books explain everything you need to know and is a great resource for kids to learn about their new pet(s).

As for my personal experience, my kitten, Simon is great, but he has his faults.  Perhaps  faults is the wrong word.  My ignorance, from not being a cat myself or a “cat whisperer”, can create frustrations when my cat is acting a certain way.  He is still a kitten, so he is a little too wound up for my taste, plays rough, is destructive, and vomits quite a bit on the carpet.  After reading through The Cat Owner’s Manual, I feel I have a much more accurate knowledge of Simon.  That makes us both happier I believe. To purchase your own manuals, shop here.

Special thank you to Quirk for providing samples for review purposes.

I was fortunate enough to come across The Toddler Owner’s Manual in my search for help with my own toddler.  My issue at the time was her eating, or rather lack of her eating.  A couple other issues were on the front line of my mind as well.  Like any first time mom, I have obsessed every step of the way, determined that I’m doing something wrong.  As it turns out, kids go through stages and those stages are pretty much text book.  We just have to realize how to deal with them properly.  The Toddler Owner’s Manual changed my whole way of thinking on certain topics.  I wrote about this book earlier on ITKM.

Well it seems I TRULY missed out.  The Toddler Owner’s Manual‘s predecessors are The Pregnancy Instruction Manual and The Baby Owner’s Manual.  Now when I was pregnant I had no idea what to do or expect.  I didn’t even know I was pregnant for quite some months.  It wasn’t like I expected.  No morning sickness, no cravings, no protruding belly button, I didn’t even “pop” until 6-7 months.  But I did have all these other symptoms and emotions and crazy thoughts that I could not explain.  I was 21 and didn’t have many (0) pregnant friends to turn to.  I turned to the internet for help, which turned out to be a mountain of misinformation.  If only I had the manual!!  This manual outlines it all.  There is no topic that goes untouched. From what to expect, to doctor’s visits, to how to deal with “pregnancy brain”, this manual will calm your nerves and keep you well informed.  It walks you through all three trimesters with an in depth look at what’s going on inside your body.  My favorite is the emergency taxi cab delivery:

Clearly, if I was unprepared for the pregnancy, I was unprepared for the newborn as well.  I mean I had all the gear and the love, and a crash course of what a baby needs, but there’s so much more!!  Figuring things out for yourself can be very stressful, not to mention completely unnecessary in this day and age.  Enter The Baby Owner’s Manual.  The manual takes you through the very important first years, reassuring you and teaching you how to raise a good specimen.  It walks you through how to make your house safe for your soon to be mobile babe, and contains helpful diagrams (who is supposed to teach you the correct way to swaddle?)  Everything you need to know, written in a clever and humorous way, and with pictures!

Both The Pregnancy Instruction Manual and The Baby Owner’s Manual are available in the coordinating ITKM Swag Bag.

Scholastic is the leading source for educating children around the world, increasing literacy in it’s wake.  For over 87 years, Scholastic has created quality products and services that educate, entertain, and motivate children.  As I’m sure Scholastic was influential to you in your early education, I’m also sure that Scholastic is, and will continue to be, an educational resource for your children.

Scholastic Storybook Treasure Series contains just that, our favorite stories narrated to fun animated shorts.  The series is the #1 award-winning children’s DVD series.  New to the collection this past December is The Treasury of 50 Storybook Classics: Animal Antics.  It features 50 classic and new stories on 7 DVDs all about animals.  I think the best feature is their innovative Read-Along function.  The 7 DVDs contain 8 hours of  enjoyment for your children.  The stories also feature narration by celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lithgow, and others.  For a full list of the stories, check the list here.

I introduced the DVDs to my daughter and she absolutely loves them.  Not only does she love all the animals, but she loves to try and “read” along.  She just turned three so she knows her letters but not words yet.  These DVDs would be fantastic for slightly older kids who are just learning to read.  Two thumbs up from my daughter…   This is her watching her DVDs and yelling “MOM, LOOK!”

To purchase your own set (or another collection), check them out here.

To WIN a FREE Treasury of 50 Storybook Classics (7 DVD set), a $50 value, comment here on which story/stories you are excited about. To see the full list of stories in this set, go here. Promote the giveaway for a better chance of winning!

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Contest end February 2, 2009 at Midnight PST.  Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed.  If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to the four winners of Indestructibles books!  The winners are Jennai, Kelly D, Lauren, and Susan C!  The winners have been emailed.

Thank you to Indestructibles for a great giveaway!  Purchase your own book at Workman Publishing.

This is the most must-have toddler book I have come across to date.  The Toddler Owner’s Manual by Brett R. Kuhn, Ph.D., and Joe Borgenicht, D.A.D. is a Heaven-sent trouble-shooting book.  If you have a toddler(13 months+), you need this book.  We all do our best, and we all struggle.  The manual attacks our biggest problems including feeding, sleep schedules, potty training, growth milestones (physical and learning), and disciplining.  Not only that, but the manual helps with emergency and safety tips, even demonstrating CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver.

Whether you are just starting out, or have already totally screwed up your toddler, there is help!  The step-by-step instructions will teach a new mom to properly operate their toddlers, and it will also help moms knee-deep in toddlerdom to reprogram their kids.  Need to fix their sleep schedule, having picky eater issues, or want them to self clean (including wiping)?  This manual has the answers.  The answers are brought to you by two experts, a pediatric psychologist, and a toddler owner.  Together they make it easy for moms and dads to reference common issues and get them solved!

I have already learned so much from reading through this book.  I found a few (ok a lot) of things that I’m doing wrong, and some that I’m doing right. Finally a parenting book that is more than just humorous, it’s extremely useful and informative!!  This is required reading for all parents with young tots.  To purchase your own, click over here.

Indestructibles by Kaaren Pixton is brilliant.  I don’t know about all the other moms and dads out there, but I’m pretty tired of re-buying books.  My daughter loved to chew, tear, and destroy books.  I don’t know what it was.  At three, she is finally leaving this phase that I thought would last forever.  The girl wouldn’t eat her dinner, but she could chew up some book corners like nobody’s business. As much as she adores her books, she is also refining her motor skills.  And with unrefined baby motor skills, comes jerky, page tearing motions.

“NO, not that one, not that hard-to-find book I stalked Ebay for days to find,” “NO!! Not that one from my childhood treasures.”  These are some of my frustrations in the past.

Indestructibles has heard our cries of frustration.  They have released a line of books that are completely baby safe.  They are water-proof, tear-resistant, and baby-durable.  They also address another issue of books and babies.  Babies can’t read, and they have a short attention span.  Let’s be honest, they look at the books for the pictures.  Indestructibles has taken out the need for pointless drivel and bravely made picture-only books.  I think this encourages a better and more real dialogue between baby and parent.  Create your own story, as they are already inclined to do.  Finally a series of books truly for babies.  If my daughter can’t ruin these books, no one’s can.  She loved creating her own stories to go along with the pictures and yours will too.

To purchase your own Indestructibles book, look for them this month at your local book stores.  You can also find them at Workman Publishing.

Indestructibles is offering one lucky reader a set of all three books, and another THREE winners each receive one Indestructible book. Now you have FOUR chances to win! To enter this amazing giveaway, comment below on why you’d like to win this giveaway.

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Contest ends January 3, 2009 at Midnight PST.

Looking for a gift for the man or woman with everything?  How about one of these handbound journals and notebooks from MYHANDBOUNDBOOKS.  These beautiful journals offer a homey and hand crafted feel.  Everything is wonderful about these journals from the leather smell to the look of it sitting on a shelf.  Pick one up for the writer in your family.

No writers in your family? Try giving the 2010 planner, just what everyone needs for the new year!

Have a new writer in your family?  Maybe your child would love to have a special place to write down whatever he/she wants.  Try the small notebook for only $12.99.

I often find myself laughing hysterically over some little saying my daughter just muttered. While chatting with family members, I may mention her little diddy. But then what? That hysterical, clever moment is usually forgotten. I found My Quotable Kid online a month or so ago and ordered it. It’s a hardcover book filled with roomy pages for jotting down their hysterical little one-liners, conversations or little moments heard from afar. Also included in the book is a bound-in photo window where you can add your favorite snapshots to help personalize this keepsake. Whether the intent is to keep these moments for future genearations or to just share with family members, this book is the perfect solution to help lock in a piece of your childs life to cherish for years to come.  Purchase here.