LaLaGirl Reviews » Books & Magazines

Fun new books!

lauralee — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:08:24 +0000

My kids and I ADORE books. We’re regulars at the fantastic, huge library right down the road from our new house, and storytime is something we all look forward to each week. It’s not unusual for us to be digging library books out from under beds and closets and toy boxes on library day, so I’m always happy to score a few books for us to keep forever! Our newest forever finds are from author and illustrator Leslie Patricelli.

Baby Happy Baby Sad is a book that even my littlest not-yet-reading readers can read. It goes through the basic emotions of baby – happy and sad – and really, what more is there in life when you’re a toddler? In Higher! Higher!, a little girl swings until her feet seem to touch the sky – one of the greatest and most satisfying experiences for any kid.

Check out these great titles by Leslie Patricelli – she’s authored lots of kids’ books and they’re all full of her great illustrations!

William is Going Green – Book Review

lauralee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:25:22 +0000

We just read a fun new book, courtesy of Parent Reviewers: it’s called William is Going Green, and it’s the first in a series of books about William the Garbage Truck and his other little garbage truck friends. In this book, William the Garbage Truck loses his job because he was polluting the air, and is forced to find another job. Little readers can learn all about energy efficient hybrid garbage trucks, and how William had to change his ways in order to become “green” – like so many of us, right? The book is written by a father and son, and they have a great website where you can meet the rest of the surprisingly diverse group of garbage trucks. The site is full of great information for kids about recycling, and you can purchase the book there as well.

Overcoming School Anxiety

lauralee — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:33:46 +0000

My oldest child is now a big bad 8th grader, and even though it’s only the third week of school, I have a good feeling about this year. It seems like things are going well and she’s much more sure of herself than she’s been in the past. Last year, she had major anxiety about school, and it caused lots and lots of problems. I’ve got four more who need to go through it all, so I’m always interested in figuring out new approaches to school issues. I’ve been previewing a book about this very subject, and I think it’s a great resource for parents: Overcoming School Anxiety by Diane Peters Mayer.

The author developed the Overcoming School Anxiety Program after years of working with kids and parents as a psychotherapist and has successfully treated hundreds of elementary school kids who suffer from school anxiety. The book outlines easy-to-learn techniques for children, including breathing and relaxation exercises, focusing techniques, and tips for proper diet and exercise to help alleviate stress. Some of the topics covered include:

The inability to stop worrying
Panic attacks
The fear of people, places, and things
Text anxiety
Perfectionism
Low self-esteem
Parental and family problems

This book is easy to read, and you don’t have to sit down and read the whole thing all at once, you can turn right to the section that applies to your child and get some advice and read about real-life examples of kids and parents figuring out how to deal with their worries.

I would have loved having this book in my hands when we first started this whole middle school thing! The chapter about Homework Anxiety would have been a huge help to us then, and it’s probably something I can still refer to now as needed.

Great book. Check it out!

The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly

lauralee — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:43:10 +0000

The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly is a book written and illustrated by Debbie Glade. The CD is a narration of the story, read by the author, and full of music written by the author’s daughter and husband. The story follows a family of millipedes who live in the Miami International Airport and embark on a journey to Costa Rica, stowing away in a traveler’s briefcase. They get into all sorts of trouble and have to figure out how to save themselves from a scary spider and get back home. The CD includes authentic Costa Rican rainforest sound effects, lots of catchy music, and the goofiest cartoon voices you’ve ever heard.

A few weeks ago, my kids and I checked out this book and CD, and I’m going to include their commentary here in my review. Basically, we all thought this book was hysterical. The author’s cartoon voices are the best part. As soon as I heard Lilly “speak” I started giggling. I giggled even more when I heard the voice of Grandpa Willy Badilly. It’s actually become a big joke around our house – Kayley and I love to talk to and tease each other in the voices of Lilly and Grandpa. And my kids loved hearing Grandpa Willy, who has chronic gas, farting throughout the story. What can I say, we love potty humor in this house.

It’s a fun story with a great message – the themes it touches on include being happy with yourself and celebrating your uniqueness, facing your fears, helping others in need, and even being compassionate with those folks who are less kind than they ought to be. All great things for kids to hear about! And the CD is 35 minutes long – it’s great to pop in for a car trip across town.

Here are some of my kids’ thoughts on this book:

Grandpa Willy farts just like daddy farts! – Nikki, age 3.

Who is that man singing in the first song? Just some guy who decided to sing a song with Lilly? He isn’t in the story anywhere else! – Mallory, age 5.

They ate a brown banana! I don’t yike brown bananas! Only yellow bananas. – Lexi, age 3.

It’s a really fun book for the whole family. I don’t think this book is available in stores yet, but you can purchase it directly from the author’s website, at LillyBadilly.com. Do it!

Also, if you’re a Florida resident, you can have Lilly Badilly’s author, Debbie Glade, visit your school or library to speak about geography, culture, plants and animals, problem-solving, reading, writing, and all the other things she writes about in her book. I would be all over this, if I lived out there! I had a nice little conversation with the author, and found out that her husband is a twin, and that he and his twin sister were #6 and #7 for his folks. Can you imagine? I love that this book was a labor of love by the whole family.

This review made possible by The Mommy Reviewers.

Brain, Child Magazine

Laura — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:11:57 +0000

I want to tell you about my new favorite magazine: Brain, Child – the magazine for thinking mothers. A huge, full-page ad on the back of the magazine for MomBloggersClub.com was the first indicator to me that I would really be liking this magazine! It’s full of GREAT articles of interest to moms like me, beyond the fluff crap you find in other parenting magazines. There’s a great article in the current issue about too-good-to-be-true “mom friendly” work-from-home businesses. There are heartwarming essays from women talking about motherhood, divorce, and explaining death to children. There’s a stroller review PAGES long, with comments from a dozen or more mothers. You know how I like long winded product reviews! Tell me everything or tell me nothing, dammit. I’m REALLY enjoying this magazine! I’m not even sure how I ended up getting a free copy, but I’m ready to become a subscriber! Check it out.

Update: I had to come back and edit my post, because I just FINALLY realized that the long-assed stroller review is a work of fiction. As soon as I started reading it and realizing it was satirical, I just cracked up, wondering if anyone read my review after checking out the magazine and decided I was a complete idiot! Apparently I skipped over it again and again, since I’m not exactly in the market for a stroller, but it was a hysterical parody of some of the funny client comments you find online. Funny shit, that.