When a Dragon Moves In 

by Jodi Moore

illustrated by Howard McWilliam

When a little boy and his family go out for a beautiful day at the beach, little do they suspect that a dragon will take up residence in the little boy’s very own sand-castle. The boy and the dragon do all the best beachy things – the dragon is a fantastic pet – but soon the boy and the dragon grow bored, and a little annoyed at the grown-ups who don’t seem to believe in this fantastic creature. As the boy and his dragon proceed to sabotage (in small and harmless ways) the family’s day at the beach, adults will easily see the classic attention-seeking behavior. But kids and grown-ups alike will get a kick out of the boy and the dragon’s mischevious tricks, and wonder just how much in the boy’s head the dragon really is. 

Great for ages 5+.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder ofBooksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors ~

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?

by Jane Yolen

illustrated by Mark Teague

Dinosaurs have a lot of strategies for not going to bed at night. They can mope, hide, bargain – they can heft their great spiky tails, or shake their huge horned heads. They can jump, they can fly, they can thrash, they can pout – but they don’t. There’s as many ways to refuse to go to bed as there are kinds of dinosaurs, but even dinosaurs know when to call it a night.

A hilarious romp through kid’s postponement tactics, put to endearingly drawn dinosaurs. Great for ages 2 +. Great rhythm – excellent for reading aloud! Be sure to check out my review of another wonderful book by the award-winning Jane Yolen, “The Seeing Stick” .

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors ~

Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet

by Kelly DiPuccio 

illustrated by Bob Shea

Gilbert Goldfish has it all – gorgeous home, plenty of food, even a chest full of treasure. But Gilbert has a dream. He thought he got his dream when a great, yappy, lappy dog prances around his little fishbowl – but no; the dog just liked barking, and anyway it didn’t stay. Or when a sweet little mouse stops by to nose the glass of his tank – but no; the mouse splits as soon she realizes Gilbert is not a big, swishy chunk of cheese. Gilbert’s heart-broken when his “pets” don’t work out, but he does get his wish eventually, though perhaps in a somewhat different form than he thought.

A fun, rhythmic story with some adorable pictures. Great for preschool and up.

Be sure to also check out the Make Your Own Fishbowl craft on the Crafts For Kids page for an excellent activity to go with this excellent story!

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors  ~

Stuck

by Oliver Jeffers 

Floyd got his kite stuck in a tree. And he really needs it out, now! So, he hurls his shoe up into the tree to knock it out. And that doesn’t work, so he tries his other shoe. And that doesn’t work, so he throws a cat, an orangutan, a front door and anything else he can get his hands on (and a few things he can’t) to knock that kite out of the tree – with hilarious results.

A whimsically told and wonderfully illustrated story. Great for ages 2 and up, but even grown-ups will find it funny.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors  ~

King Hugo’s Huge Ego

by Chris Van Dusen 

King Hugo is a very small man with a very big problem. He cannot and will not consider the ears and feelings of anyone at the recieving end of his epic boasting. He is so haughty, he doesn’t even notice the sorceress he was so discourteous towards casting a very telling little spell on him. Everytime King Hugo boasts, his head literally swells! The king doesn’t even notice for the longest time (with some funny consequences), but even the big-headed King Hugo must realize the consequences of his excessive arrogance and insensitivity, and earn himself a valueable ally in becoming a better person.

Hilarious story with rich, animated illustrations. Best for ages 3 -7.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors  ~

Freckleface Strawberry: Best Friends Forever

by Julianne Moore

illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Freckleface Strawberry and Windy Pants Patrick are as different as can be – which precisely why they become such good friends. Windy Pants is the biggest and Freckleface Strawberry the shortest kids in their class, so when they are both chosen the very last for games, they start to hang out. They discover they have a lot in common – both have families, love books and play pretend. They do everything together! But the kids of their class have very different ideas friendship and norms between boys and girls. Influenced by peer pressure, Freckleface Strawberry and Windy Pants stop hanging out together, and do all the things that their new friends tell them they missed when together. Soon though, the two discover its really much better to do what makes them happy, and learn what a true friend really is.

A smart, quirky, beautiful story about friendship. Part of the Freckleface Strawberry series. Best for ages 4 and up.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors  ~

A Sick Day For Amos McGee

by Philip Stead 

illustrated by Erin Stead

Amos McGee is always very busy at work at the city zoo, but he always makes time for his animal friends. He plays chess the ponderous elephant. He races the enormous tortoise. He sits quietly with the shy penguin. He comforts the allergy-prone rhinoceros, and he reads to the owl who’s afraid of the dark. But when Amos feels a little under the weather and can’t come to work one day, his friends come to his home to make sure he receives the care he needs.

A New York Times bestselling children’s book and a very, very sweet story. Great for ages 3 and up.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors ~

Flotsam

by David Wiesner 

In this wordless tale, a young boy equips himself to find and examine flotsam – anything that washes in from the sea to the shore. To the boy’s unbounded excitement, an old-time camera, the kind you have to hold in both hands, washes upon the shore! The young boy rushes to get the pictures in the old, barnacle-covered camera developed – and discovers a whole world of deep sea society, captured by countless tentacles and passing fish, and a tradition of human stewardship in passing on the findings.

Winner of the Caldecott award, Flotsam is a beautiful, illustrative tale revealing the possibilities in everyday discovery and inquiry. Great for K – 4th grade, and an excellent opportunity for blossoming readers to tell the story themselves.

~ Susan Chodakiewitz is the author of the children’s picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House and the founder of Booksicals, Encouraging Reading Through the Arts.  Too Many Visitors is now available  as an ibook for ipad and iphones with a fun read-aloud musical narration.  http://bit.ly/ibookVisitors ~

I made it my year end goal to finish 2 books, get out my ibook for Too Many Visitors for One Little House and get better at cooking and especially at making delicious soups.  So let’s see how I fared in this year’s goal.

First, I finished the text for a new children’s picture book called WOBEGON and MILDRED.  It is now in the hands of the talented artist and illustrator Kent Yoshimura.  Kent has shown me the almost finished illustrations and I am thrilled with my grumpy miserable Wobegon, coming to life as a lovable yet miserable monster who everybody hates because he gives them parking tickets.  But everything changes when he meets the crackly little-miss-follow-the-rules Mildred who gives out tickets like nobody’s business!  How can he help but fall head over heals for her… This was a very exciting project and took me about a year to get the right combination of character, story and plot.   I look forward to seeing the completed illustrations… so goal one — check it off… Though I must admit, I was ready to quit and let it go about 7 times.  I now have begun to see the pattern in my creative process. When I get desperate that the story is just NOT going to gel… I wait, and let it simmer… I try not to throw the towel remembering… this has happened before…  I will find the light at the end of the story tunnel…  And so I am glad I perservered with Wobegon I did not give up.  I also have the editor, Tamson Weston, to thank whose excellent feedback and enthusiasm for the story gave me the impetus to stick with the Wobegon.

Now goal number 2. I said 2 stories.  Yes I wanted to do a sequel for Too Many Visitors for One Little House… And I did about 5 of them.. none of which I was satisfied with.. until last passover, my friend Batyia came to help us prepare.  The guests were almost arriving when I realized I’d forgotten to make the hard boiled eggs… I’m not even sure WHY we make hard boiled eggs on passover. It is NOT part of the seder, it is NOT part of the ceremony, yet everyone does it.  Over the years I’ve heard multiple explanations– eggs represent life cycle.  Eggs represent the tears because we dip them in salt. Eggs represent continuation… etc… Nonetheless, we make them and eat them at the start of the meal. And Batyia was there to save the day… While I dressed she boiled and then peeled about 30 eggs. She showed me her fingers to prove her hard work.  They were all wrinkly from peeling.  In any case, when we went to serve the eggs, she couldn’t find the bowl of eggs… We looked everywhere until we found the plate on the floor and my dog sitting next to it with his tail between his legs.  That was the source of the sequel:  Mr. Snoozle’s Exquisite Eggs.  Veronica Walsh is now working on the illustrations and I hope to have that book out by next March.    Goal 2… on its way.  But once again, with many bumps and its still in progress as I have left my mind open to changes as Veronica works…. I am slow but steady and have learned to accept that about my writing… I don’t settle unless I am really happy with it…

Goal three- I learned to cook 3 new soups… The first, Mexican Fideo soup.  I knew this recipe for years but it always came out soppy and the noodles (fideos) soaked up all the tomato soup.  I finally learned the secret… You fry the dry noodles first in VERY HOT oil until they are REALLY really crispy and brown.  not just golden.  Then you add the tomato sauce and paste and that makes it really tasty.  Yes, requires a little more oil AND more patience… So MOSTLY I learned that  I need to cook when I am NOT in a hurry or anxious to get back to writing or other TO DO things on my LIST.  I also learned a delicious LENTIL soup… the secret… fry LOTS of onions and CRUSH not grate or chop garlic. Also cumin and tumeric along with a touch of tandori adds a special flavor.   EVERYTHING I make now is so much more improved by CRUSHING garlic.  My son got me a fabulous, sheek garlic crusher as a gift and that really made a difference. That’s my new cooking toy and I put fresh garlic in everything and the house smells amazing as I cook.. . One way to keep my sons and husband coming for family suppers…

And last I finally learned the art of a true, jewish chicken soup.  And once again, I credit the crushed garlic, slow pre boil of chicken, and a LOT of fresh Parsley, Cilantro and DILL which I now learned — you put ONLY at the very end of cooking. You put in a big clump of fresh herbs.  I throw it in when the soup is already cooked and cook for additional minute or two which gives the flavor of the herbs to the soup and really makes it delicious.

Goal 4- For the ibook and ebooks I had to learn an entire repetoire of new language.  What is an epub file, a fixed layout, a standard epub layout, a kindle, and much much more.  At first it was insurmountable. I searched for weeks to find the right developer to just do it all for me… but found that people even techies were as confused as I was as to what was the right format for different tablets(also a new term for me) and ebook readers (new term too).  I thank my friend and marketing consultant Phyllis Miller at Miller Mosaic for helping me get through the maze of ebook info.  She has become somewhat of a maven on the subject and I finally found ebookpartnerhsip to do the develpment of the different versions. So now  just before the new year… They are out!!! the ebook, ibook, kindle versions. And the ibook is in an exciting READ TO ME musical narration format which provides the kids with a musical theater experience.   I am thrilled with this.  It took a lot of work, reading, research and I am still working figuring out the technology for the future of ebook … The technology is still developing and I’m not the only confused one out there… all the publishers are too… So I am not alone… which does not make the frustration any less, but does help the ego.

So looking back at the year… I made my 4 creative goals.  Still working on the personal, spiritual, marital and other life goals that make life interesting and  give life life purpose… I always try and remind myself during all adversity and hardship… As long as I learn something from it I have achieved a life goal.. and its the journey that counts.

Have a great end of year and GREAT coming year.  Thanks for being a fan.

Susan Chodakiewitz is author of Too Many Visitors for One Little House and Founder of Booksicals, encouraging reading through the arts.

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Enjoy!