KidCrunch

Kids Book List: 2010 Newbery Award Winners

Janet — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:16:01 +0000

The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of its 2010 Newbery Medal and 2010 Newbery Honor Awards. Following is a list of the 2010 Newbery Award-Winners:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2010 Newbery Medal Winner)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (2010 Newbery Honor Book)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (2010 Newbery Honor Book)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (2010 Newbery Honor Book)
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (2010 Newbery Honor Book)

Shop for these 2010 Newbery Award-winning books and other award-winning kids books through Amazon at the KidCrunch Store.

Kids Book Series: Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol

Janet — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:16:58 +0000

Smart kids love solving the mysteries presented in the Encyclopedia Brown series of books by author Donald J. Sobol.

As a parent, I like Encyclopedia Brown books because they encourage kids to read carefully and to notice and remember the details of what they are reading. I also like that our hero, Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, is celebrated for being smart. He is nicknamed “Encyclopedia” because his brain is filled with knowledge gained by reading a lot of books.

Encyclopedia Brown is a super-smart ten year old detective. He lives with his parents in the fictional town of Idaville where his father is the local police chief. Each Encyclopedia Brown book is a collection of short mystery stories solved by Encyclopedia Brown (often with the help of his partner Sally Kimball) by finding a mistake or inconsistency in a suspect’s story. The fun of reading Encyclopedia Brown books is trying to solve each mystery without peeking at the solutions in the back of the book.

Following are a list of the books in the Encyclopedia Brown series in order of first publication:

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (1963)
Encyclopedia Brown Strikes Again (1965)
Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues (1966)
Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man (1967)
Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All (1968)
Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace (1969)
Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day (1970)
Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down (1971)
Encyclopedia Brown Shows The Way (1972)
Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Case (1973)
Encyclopedia Brown Lends a Hand (1974)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Dead Eagles (1975)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Midnight Visitor (1977)
Encyclopedia Brown Carries On (1980)
Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace (1981)
Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Cake (1982)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints (1985)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt (1988)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers (1990)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Two Spies (1995)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Pablo’s Nose (1996)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Sleeping Dog (1998)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Slippery Salamander (2000)
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Jumping Frogs (2003)
Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case (2007)
Encyclopedia Brown, Super Sleuth (2009)

I loved reading Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid. I read one after another and vividly recall my disappointed when I ran out of new ones to read. I moved on to read The Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald - which had a similarly brainy main character and were good, but not quite the same.

Buy Encyclopedia Brown books through Amazon at the KidCrunch Store.

Excellent Kids Book for Difficult Times - A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

Janet — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:11:07 +0000

The past few weeks have been difficult for many families in Georgia as flood waters have devastated homes and tragically taken lives. As my kids watch the evening news, it is unnerving for them to see disaster hit so close to home. I can only imagine how painful and scary it must be to those kids directly affected by this and other life-changing disasters.

At the same time, all across the nation, there are families experiencing financial crisis. To a child, losing a home to foreclosure is not much different from losing a home to flood or fire. When kids hear of neighbors and other families losing their homes, they must wonder if it could happen to them. And they are probably worried.

All of this brought to mind a book I recently read with my daughter called A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams. It is not a new book–it was published in 1982–but it is new to us. Our neighbor, whose daughters are now grown, recently gave it to us along with a few piles of wonderful books that belonged to her daughters. A Chair for My Mother is an excellent book for difficult times because it is a story of a devastating loss and a family that works hard to recover.

A Chair for My Mother is the story of a young girl named Rosa and her mother who are dutifully saving their money to buy a chair. Their savings–which accumulates as coins in a big glass jar–includes tips from her mother’s job as a waitress and Rosa’s occasional job helping out at the diner. Rosa and Mama are saving for a chair because their old chairs, and their sofa, and everything else they owned burned in a big fire (”that wasn’t such a long time ago.”) Rosa’s Grandma and her cat were safe, but everything else was turned to charcoal and ashes.

In A Chair for My Mother, we see the devastation, but we also see how Rosa and her family get through it. Rosa’s aunt and uncle take them in and other relatives and friends pitch in to help, bringing them food, household items and some furniture. After a year of hard work and saving, Rosa and Mama have saved enough money in their jar to buy the chair of their dreams. The book ends wonderfully with Rosa and Mama happily cuddled in their new chair.

A Chair for My Mother is an excellent book for difficult times. It does not hide the fact that bad things sometimes happen, but it also shows how families and friends can help each other to recover. The book also offers some great lessons about goal setting, hard work and saving money.

A Chair for my Mother is a Caldecott Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection and won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Illustration.

Buy A Chair for My Mother and other great kids books through Amazon at the KidCrunch Store.

The Best Classic Board Games

Janet — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:03:44 +0000

I am a big fan of board games. My kids need to be encouraged to play them (instead of the Wii) but when they do, they have fun - especially when we play as a family. The best board games also have educational value and help kids build social skills.

Board games make excellent gifts, particularly when they come from grandparents or other relatives who might otherwise give clothes.

I like the classic versions of board games, not the trendy, licensed versions. I have no interest in playing Harry Potter Clue or Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly.

I do love sitting down with my kids to play the classic board games on this list. Next to each game, I have noted the skills it helps to develop:

Scrabble and Scrabble Junior are the best games for building language skills.
Yahtzee helps kids learn math facts (at least for numbers 1 to 6.)
Mastermind and Mastermind for Kids encourage logical thinking.
Sorry! is a fun, easy game that everyone can play - great for learning sportsmanship.
Othello teaches kids to think–and anticipate consequences–before they act.
Rummikub teaches strategy with numbers.
Perfection helps kids learn to process information and act quickly under pressure.
Clue and Clue Jr. promote logical thinking and deductive reasoning.
Battleship builds concentration and memory skills (which for me are not what they used to be.)
Boggle and Boggle Jr. help build phonics and language skills.
Monopoly and Monopoly Jr. provide early training for budding real estate titans.
Connect Four is fun for younger kids and encourages strategic thinking.
Pictionary and Pictionary Jr. are great for developing presentation skills and confidence.

Buy these classic board games through Amazon at the KidCrunch Store.

New Kids DVDs: For Me, It’s All About SpongeBob!

Janet — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:55:21 +0000

With apologies to 30 Rock, The Office and other Emmy-nominated comedies, I think the funniest show on television might be SpongeBob SquarePants.

So, while there were a handful of good kids DVDs released this week, for me, it’s all about SpongeBob. The newly released DVD collection SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes includes every episode from the first five seasons on 14 discs. That is just awesome.

Although it is not educational programming, there is something to be learned from SpongeBob. The show offers an occasional tidbit of nautical terminology and sometimes randomly delves into the obscure - like when the staff of the Krusty Krab goes on strike carrying signs made from “picket” fences. I turned that into a teachable moment.

Also, try this with your kids - ask them to tell you about their favorite SpongeBob episodes. They may not tell you a lot about the books they read or what they learn at school, but even the most reticent of kids will go on and on and on about SpongeBob. Everyone has a favorite SpongeBob episode. My favorite is when SpongeBob and Patrick become hysterical when their new friend “Wormy” is consumed, apparently, by a very scary butterfly. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar ain’t got nothin’ on The Wormy Episode, a SpongeBob classic.

For more fun and enrichment, ask your kids to name a family member or close friend who reminds them of a SpongeBob character. All of my kids see themselves as SpongeBob and see their best friend in Patrick. Our dog Nellie is everyone’s choice to be SpongeBob’s pet Gary the Snail. And, if you know my kids, you can guess who reminds us of Squidward and who is so Mr. Krabs.

Your kids will love SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes and, if they are looking for entertainment outside of Bikini Bottom, they may also enjoy these these new kids DVDs:

Buy these new kids DVDs through Amazon at the KidCrunch Store and remember to ask your kids about their favorite SpongeBob episode.