zBook Review Blog for Moms and Kids

Congratulations to our Dr. Seuss Contest Winners!

Our contest to win the 50th Birthday Edition of Dr.Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat and The Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook has come to an end.

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Thanks to all of you who entered and congratulations to our winners listed below.

How cute are all these pictures of reading with the kids!

Mina 
Aidan being read to by his grandma!

Laura
Kate reading with Grampa
Laura’s daughter Kate is a huge Dr. Seuss fan and would LOVE to win this contest!

Jen
Oliver & Quinn both 22 months reading Curious George

Karen
Karen’s Dad and daughter reading together on a visit to Florida

Rose
Daddy and son time together.
Rose’s family’s favorite story to read together is How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  They take turns reading it under the Christmas tree every year.  They always make it a point to read with Colton each and every day.

Ever wonder what green eggs and ham really taste like?

Now’s your chance!

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You can whip up a batch yourselves using this fabulous new cookbook, Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook, by Georgeanne Brennan. It’s filled with simple, scrumptious, wacky recipes for such foods as Cat in the Hat Pudding and Moose Juice and Schlopp, which will have the whole family hamming it up in the kitchen in no time.  Each recipe is accompanied by the original verse that inspired it, and the pages are laminated to protect against getting splatters all over it!

Last chance to submit your cute pictures reading with your kids to WIN one of 5 copies of the 50th Birthday Party Edition of Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, plus now you will also WIN Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook courtesy of Random House.

Georgeanne Brennan is an award-winning cookbook author and journalist.

Send your great pictures of you reading with your kids or just your kids reading to allison@urbanmoms.ca by Friday March 16th!

Urbanmoms.ca Book Review: For the Love of Soup, By Jeanelle Mitchell

For the Love of Soup, the national bestseller by Jeanelle Mitchell, is a satisfying collection of wonderful soup recipes for every season and every palate. February was one of the coldest months in years full of grey days, long nights, rain, sleet, ice, and massive amounts of snow! Can we say cabin fever? With much relief, spring finally looks like it’s on its way. We hope.

For the Love of Soup, is full of 100’s of homemade soup recipes that are both hearty and comforting for those cold winter nights as well as healthy and nutritious to help kick start us into our healthy active spring lifestyles.

Jeanelle Mitchell has a serious passion for soup, during her 30 years spent as a flight attendant she managed to gather recipes from her travels all over the world and when it came time to retire she wrote this wonderful cookbook full of delicious soup recipes. With a healthful approach to eating in mind, Jeanelle discovered in her own kitchen that all types of soup could be created in this form without compromising taste. She also advises people to avoid canned and dried soups and stocks. They’re loaded with sodium, fat and sugar, none of which is needed to have a satisfying bowl of soup. All 100 recipes from this cookbook have been triple tested for guaranteed good taste.

The book is really easy to follow, all the recipes are low sodium and low fat and they emphasize the use of fresh ingredients and adding herbs and spices for flavour.

Here’s what urbanmoms.ca panel member Jill, had to say about The Love of Soup.

“I thought this book was absolutely perfect to get me through the cold winter months, there aren’t many cookbooks out there that are all about soup and the format is really easy to follow, a section for everything from how to make basic stocks, hot soups, cold soups, hearty meat soups and veggie soups. My husband can’t get enough soup, he’d eat it every day if he could. He especially loved the Butternut Squash and Apple recipe.”

For the Love of Soup, is dedicated to her nephew Yves, who was severely disabled in a tragic car accident 9 years ago at the age of 23. All proceeds go to assist Yves who now lives in a nursing home in Grand Falls, N.B.

For the Love of Soup was initially self-published in 2002, where 5,000 copies were sold within 3 months, was re-published by Whitecap Books Publishing where 25,000 copies have been sold and the book is now in 5th print. It has been a National Bestseller since day one.

To order your own copy of For the Love of Soup, go to www.loveofsoup.com

Would you like to review a book for urbanmoms.ca? To join the Book Review Panel, you need to be a member. Click on the “Join Us” link in the right navigation bar to join, and select the book category/ies you're interested in. If you're already a member, click on the link at the bottom of your member email to update your preferences, and make sure you've selected the book category/ies you want. Book Review Panelists are selected at random based on the category/ies selected.

How did you celebrate your Read Aloud! Day with the kids?

Bring on the nostalgia…. did you celebrate The Cat in the Hat’s 50th  birthday by pulling out all of the great Dr. Seuss masterpieces from your kids library? Horton Hears a Who? The Lorax? Oh the Places you will go?  Whatever you read with your kids on Friday for Read Aloud! Day, I’m sure it was wonderful.

Don’t forget to send us a cute picture of you and your kids reading together or just a picture of your child(ren) reading and WIN a copy of The Cat in the Hat courtesy of Random House and we'll also feature your pictures on urbanmoms.ca . Contest ends Friday March 16th.

Please send your pictures and stories to allison@urbanmoms.ca

The Cat in the Hat turns 50! Come help us celebrate!

It’s hard to believe but the ever-mischievous cat who was first introduced to the world in 1957 is turning 50! Come help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’ classic book the Cat in the Hat. Send us your favourite picture and an accompanying story of you reading aloud with your kids and the top 5 stories will win one of 5 copies of the 50th Birthday Party Edition of The Cat in the Hat courtesy of Random House.

The Cat in the Hat, an international best seller, has been a favourite of kids and adults alike for decades. I myself, having recently had a book shower for my twins was thrilled when I received from a dear friend the classic Dr. Seuss library including Cat in the Hat, One Fish, Two Fish, Green Eggs and Ham and Are you my Mother? For me, growing up with Dr. Seuss was wonderful and I am so thrilled to one day soon be able to share these great stories with my own kids.

Dr. Seuss, in writing the Cat in the Hat, was challenged by a colleague to write a children’s book that wouldn’t be boring, and ended up using only 236 unique words; writing a book that young readers couldn’t put down!

On March 2, 2007, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, there will be a nationwide Read-Aloud! Day. Parents and teachers are encouraged to read with a child at 2:36pm EST as part of “Project 236,” an effort calling attention to the relationship between reading at a young age and literacy rates.

For the past 50 years, Dr. Seuss’ books have brought the joy of reading into the lives of millions of children all around the world. Join us in celebrating this occasion and wishing the mischievous Cat a Happy 50th Anniversary!

Please send your pictures and stories to allison@urbanmoms.ca by March 16th for your chance to win a copy of The Cat in the Hat.  Click here for Rules and Regulations.

Book Review: Moral Disorder, by Margaret Atwood

We sent copies of Margaret Atwood's newest collection of personal short stories, Moral Disorder (published by Random House Canada) to three urbanmoms.ca members and book review panelists. Here are their reflections and opinions on Atwood's triumphant new collection.

Publisher Random House bills Moral Disorder as: "vintage Atwood, writing at the height of her powers." And our urbanmoms.ca Book Review Panel agrees!

Growing up in Canada, most of us encountered Atwood several times in high school or university English classes. A prolific author in nearly every genre (short stories, novels, poetry, children's books, essays, literary criticism...the list goes on...), Margaret Atwood permeates Canadian curricula to a point where we tend perhaps to take her talent for granted. But she truly is a gem in the crowded Canadian book landscape (did you know Canada has the most saturated book market in the entire world?). When there's so much to choose from out there, it's nice to know that you can always rely on her for an outstanding -- and surprising -- read.

Margaret Atwood is Canada's literary chameleon; you never know what to expect when you pick up her newest book. From futuristic post-apocalyptic novels like The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake to the historical novel (based on fact) Alias Grace and everything in between, Atwood always surprises and delights the reader. And Moral Disorder is no exception. Based on her own experiences coming of age, as well as reflections on her parents' generation's reaction to the social revolution of the 60s and 70s, this collection of stories weaves an amazingly earthy and emotional tale.

Moral Disorder is more than a collection of short stories; each chapter of the book reads like a novella, with common characters serving as the strands that hold the story together as a whole. Our panel of moms really appreciated the fact that the book could be read story-by-story; with such busy lives some of us don't get the chance to read for several hours every day...or even every day at all! And others -- who can't resist a good read once it's started -- appreciated being able to put it down and actually do the laundry and feed the children instead of ignoring these less enjoyable tasks for the sake of "one more paragraph"!

Moral Disorder - like its title, reveals itself in a disorderly fashion. The stories do not flow one to the next with a linear chronology, rather they jump backwards and forwards in time in an organic way, very much in the voice of a person remembering and telling the stories that make up her life. And that, after all, is what this book is.

The verdict: this is one book you will want to add to your lifetime reading list.

Here's what our book review panelists had to say:

"Reading through the first chapter was like slipping on an old sweater, very easy and comfortable, like I have been there before."
-- Tara, urbanmoms.ca member and mom to a 9, 7.5 & 3 year-old.

"I've loved Margaret Atwood since I first read 'Survival' in grade 11. I've been addicted ever since and haven't missed a book. Several I've read more than once, and 'Moral Disorder' will go on that list."
-- Katherine, urbanmoms.ca member and mom to a 6 & 3.5 year-old.

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Would you like to review a book for urbanmoms.ca? To join the Book Review Panel, you need to be a member. Click on the link in the right nav bar to join, and select the book category/ies you're interested in. If you're already a member, click on the link at the bottom of your member email to update your preferences, and make sure you've selected the book category/ies you want. Book Review Panelists are selected at random based on the category/ies selected.

Book Review: Imagine This!

Not since I first read Dennis Lee's classic collection Alligator Pie have I been so captivated by a book of imaginative poetry for children. Imagine This! (by Joanne Froh, illustrated by Frances Pagens) reaches out through compelling verse and intricate pen-and-ink illustrations and pulls readers - young and old - into the world of imagination.

The book's dedication says it all:

Dedicated to children everywhere who like to daydream and play make-believe. And for those of you who don't -- well, this book is dedicated to you also, in the hope that you will soon discover what you've been missing ~ and join in the fun.

And the layout is entirely conducive to inspiring imaginative play: each poem, along with its lush illustration, fits on two pages, so you can read it and then head off to play, inspired. That's not to say that the book can't be enjoyed in its entirety; my daughters were so entranced that I had to read the whole thing, cover-to-cover, the first time (with generous pauses to enjoy the intricate and equally imagination-inspiring artwork).

Beyond all the inherent merits of the work itself, there's a compelling story behind Imagine This! The book was first dreamed of by illustrator Frances Plagens, when her daughter Joanne (who later wrote the poetry for the bok) was just a child. Her ambition to see the book completed and published "faded with the demands of work, family, and other artistic pursuits; and the book was tucked away, unfinished, for more than 35 years." (Imagine This!: jacket notes) Then, thanks to daughter Joanne's perseverance, this mother-daughter team went to work, eventually turning their shared vision into reality. And the result is truly wonderful.

Studies show that unstructured, imaginative play-time is critical to child development, but unfortunately many of our children don't get the opportunity to engage in it. Between school, lessons, sports and other activities, most modern children are so highly programmed that they simply do not have time to engage in the kind of free play that I recall as such a huge part of my childhood in the 70s.

So do your child a favour and clear out a full afternoon from his or her schedule, then give them a copy of Imagine This! and let them, in the words of author Joanne Froh, "build a dream/things are not just what they seem."

And when they won't come in for dinner, remember my favourite verse from the book:

That's my mother's voice, I fear
    calling me away --
Let's pretend we cannot hear
    and linger just to play.

To find out more visit www.joannefrancespress.com or to order your own copy of Imagine This!, visit www.amazon.ca.

Book Review: The Girls, by Lori Lansens

We sent a copy of Lori Lansen's The Girls (published by Random House Canada) to Sarah, urbanmoms.ca member and book review panelist. She shares her thoughts on this interesting and unusal novel for us below:

U: What was your initial impression of this book?

Sarah: My initial impression of the book (before I even started reading it, in fact) was that I expected that it would be quite weird. Conjoined twins (especially being joined at the head) didn’t strike me as something that a reader would get beyond in order to focus on the story… or that any story would be able to compete with the 'unusualness' of its characters.  By the second page I realized I was wrong in my assumption. The author has a lovely voice – two lovely voices in fact - and I found myself engaged with the girls immediately.

U: What do you think are the key messages of this book?  Did they resonate with you?

Sarah: I wonder if there were actual ‘messages’. I suppose a glaring one would be "don’t judge a book by its cover".  In fact, I think Don’t Judge was a strong message but delivered in a subtle way. It was very effective.  There was so much more to the characters and the book than it initially appears.
To me, The Girls demonstrates repeated examples of acceptance and how subjective ‘normalcy’ is depending on our situations.

U: What would another mother find most appealing about this book?

Sarah: Ruby and Rose’s relationship, the caring, challenging, tolerant, loving and balancing aspects of the way these two women have lived their lives together speaks to the mother in all of us.  At varying times, each is caretaker to the other – sometimes powerless to do anything but lend loving support.  As mothers (sisters, daughters, friends), as women, our silent loving support may never be tested/pushed to the limits that Ruby and Rose experience. It is a testament to the author that she was able to capture that so fully and present it in two separate voices, from two different vantage points.

U: What stood out about this book?

Sarah: I think the structure of the book was really unique. I enjoy first person narratives and the fact that there were two of them, telling the same story but with very different viewpoints really clarified a lot of the stories.  Ruby provided a lot of gritty detail to some of the stories that Rose told somewhat ambiguously and Rose in turn, was very candid about a number of instances where she had protected Ruby from seeing or experiencing unpleasantness.  By virtue of Rose’s physical dominance, she was (by circumstance or by choice) in a protective role to her sister, Ruby and it was refreshing to be able to read both sides of their experiences.

U: Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why/why not?

Sarah: I have and would recommend this book to a friend because even aside from the story, the concept of the book (a dual autobiography) and the voice(s) of the author make the book a pleasure to read.

U: Please share any other comments about your experience with this book.

Sarah: Well, I miss them.  It feels like I finished the book ages ago and I am still wondering how the girls are now, if their respective romances ever blossomed. I want to know how Christmas and New Year's turned out and how the crows looked against the snow at the Merkel’s farm.  Like friends out of touch, I want to reconnect and hear what’s happening now.

The ending of the book isn’t sad per se, it’s just the sadness in your relationship with them becoming so distant that has stayed with me. As I said, I miss them.

Sarah is an urbanmoms.ca member and participant in our book review panel. Of her experience reviewing The Girls for us, she says: "I had so much fun and got a lot more out of the book because it forced me to really be present when I was reading...thanks for the opportunity to be involved!" A great big urbanmoms.ca THANK YOU to Sarah for her thoughtful review of this novel. Please share your thoughts on this book, the review and related topics below in comments.

urbanmoms.ca Book Review: A Color of His Own, By Leo Lionni

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni is the charming story of a chameleon searching for his own color, who ends up finding a true friend. Re-published this year by Random House, we sent this beautifully illustrated book off to our research panel for review, thinking it a good choice for fall - with the changing colours of the leaves.

Here's what panel members Sharon and Jennifer had to say about it.

urbanmoms.ca: What was your initial impression of this book?
Jennifer: It felt like a classic. Enduring and simple.
Sharon: I liked the artistic style of the book very much. The colourful lizard contrasted against the white background and was extremely eye-catching.

urbanmoms.ca: What do you think are the key messages of this book? Did they resonate with you?
Sharon: This book encourages one to accept themselves as they are. It demonstrates the value of friendship and love.
Jennifer: To be who you are, and not worry about everyone else.

urbanmoms.ca: What would another mother find most appealing about this book?
Jennifer: The pictures are attractive, the story is simple and the message is sweet.
Sharon: The message of the book (i.e. friendship, self-acceptance) and the artistic style of the book. It is simple, yet extremely colourful, which is eye-catching to both children and adults.

urbanmoms.ca: Would you recommend this book to a friend?
Sharon: Definitely. It teaches great moral messages, and helps teach young children about colours. This was a great book. My child enjoyed it, as did I.
Jennifer: I'd definitely recommend this book for any toddler or pre-schooler's bookshelf; it's a good lesson on believing in yourself and how important it is that we all have our differences. All three of my children enjoyed this book, obviously taking different things from it. The baby loved the colours, the five year old liked the story, and the seven year old liked the message.

Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than 40 highly acclaimed children's books. He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor winner—for Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Leo Lionni died in October of 1999 at his home in Tuscany, Italy.

urbanmoms.ca review: Gender Blender, by Blake Nelson

Here's what Random House, Gender Blender's publisher, had to say about the book:

Emma:
Wants Jeff Matthews to notice her.
Hates sexist boys.
Wonders when she’ll get her period.
Tom:
Must avoid looking like a wuss.
Must deal with his blended family.
Must get a chance with Kelly A.
Then something freaky happens: Emma and Tom switch bodies. And until they can find a remedy:

Emma:
Can’t believe she has a . . . thingie.
Hates mean girls.
Finds out secondhand that her period has arrived.

Tom:
Must learn to put on a bra.
Must deal with an overachieving family.
Must not be alone with Jeff Matthews.

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? That's what we thought, so we had it shipped out to our urbanmoms.ca book reviewers. Overall, Gender Blender (written by Blake Nelson and published by Random House) was a hit with our panel. They were pleasantly surprised at the complexity of the plot and characters and although they did feel some of the language and themes were a bit mature for the pre-teen audience, they wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to 13 or 14-year olds. They appreciated the author's humour and honesty on issues like changing bodies, hormones, emotions, peer pressure and boy-girl relationships.

Here's what they had to say:

"Down-to-earth and direct writing approach taken to explain an otherwise awkward period of life", Lori Betts, urbanmoms.ca member

"It surprised a laugh out of me!", Linda Minaker, urbanmoms.ca member

By becoming a member of urbanmoms.ca's Research and Testing Panel you could review new books and cool products!  Join above or click here to learn more or email us at email@urbanmoms.ca with questions.