Value Bookshop’s Reading Notes

Do you have kids hooked on video games? So much so they have lost interest in reading? Well, Scholastic has a plan on how to get those books back in their hand. They’ve combined video games and books. How? It’s called “39 Clues” and children have to get clues from the books to advance in the video game. They also have to collect cards too, a hobby many kids like to do. This book series is targeted for children aged 8-12. To make things more interesting, they are allowing readers to play a part in the story and compete for $100,000 in prizes.

There are already 2 books out. The first book, The Maze of Bones, is written by #1 New York Times best-selling author Rick Riordan. Riordan also outlined the program’s 10-book story arc. The first book, The Maze of Bones, is written by #1 New York Times best-selling author Rick Riordan. Riordan also outlined the program’s 10-book story arc. Read the first two chapters.

The second book, One False Note, is by Gordon Korman. Read the first chapter.

Is this really a good idea? There are 2 sides to the story. Some are worried that it still reinforces the idea that video games are needed for fun. And reading should trigger the child’s imagination but in this case, there is no need to imagine as the video game already supplies the visuals. On the other hand, if children are already hooked on video games, might as well use it as a tool to reintroduce books.

Personally, I think it’s a good idea. We all know that children in this day and age are somehow inclined towards video games. If you somehow managed to keep your children away from that kind of entertainment, then maybe these books are not for you. You certainly don’t want to get them started on it. BUT if you have children already hooked on that stuff, then this is an excellent way to make sure they are getting their fair share of reading done.

What is your opinion on this book series? Is it something that you would introduce to your children?
Come to think of it, this might make a wonderful Christmas gift for your children.

p.s. Click here to discover more great Christmas gifts ideas for kids.

The 39 Clues (The Maze of Bones, Book 1)

39 Clues: One False Note

The 39 Clues: Card Pack (v. 1)

Have a new baby at home and need help to stop the crying? This book may be the answer to your prayers. Dr. Harvey Karp advocates a method he calls the 5 “S’s” to calm fussy, crying babies especially during the first 3 months. This book has had both good and bad reviews, mainly good ones. Some parents may not agree with his method especially the part about giving baby a pacifier to suck. However, if you are desperate enough, this book may be what you are looking for.

The book is easy to read with many subheadings, diagrams, bullet points, and parents sharing their experiences.

p.s. As of today, 1 copy available at my bookshop. Click below to get your copy before someone else grabs it:
HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK

If you have children around the ages 9-12 year old who loves animals, you might want to check out the books below. A friend of mine, Rachel, is looking to sell these books of hers. If you are interested, write to her: rachel_heah at hotmail dot com. (books are in Malaysia)

Animal Ark Favourites, ISBN no. ISBN 0-340-69958-2
Animal Ark; Hound at the Hospital, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-69956-6
Animal Ark Hauntings; Deer in the Darkness, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-84418-3
Animal Ark Hauntings;Cats in the Castle, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-84417-5
Animal Ark Christmas Special; Mouse in the Mistletoe, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-77877-6
Animal Ark Summer Special; Porpoise in the Pool, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79555-7
Animal Ark In South Africa; Leopard at the Lodge, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-77843-1
Animal Ark; Fawn in the Forest, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-68715-0
Animal Ark; Chinchilla up the Chimney, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-73603-8
Animal Ark in Australia; Roo on the Rock, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-65581-X
Animal Ark; Piglet in a Playpen, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-61930-9
Animal Ark; Dog at the Door, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-69948-5
Animal Ark; Panda in the Park, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-72403-X
Animal Ark; Shetland in the Shed, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-68716-9
Animal Ark; Foals in the Field, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-69949-3
Animal Ark; Sheepdog in the Snow & Kitten in the Cold, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-70398-9

Half Moon Ranch; Danny Boy, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-75729-9
Half Moon Ranch Summer Special; Jethro Junior, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-77868-7
Half Moon Ranch; Golden Dawn, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-75732-9
Half Moon Ranch; Skylark, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79173-X
Half Moon Ranch; Steamboat Charlie, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79172-1
Half Moon Ranch Wild Horses; Chiquitita, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79597-2
Half Moon Ranch; Lady Roseanne, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79171-3
Half Moon Ranch; Silver Spur, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79169-1
Half Moon Ranch Wild Horses; Santa Ana, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-79596-4

Home Farm Twins; Silky The Foundling, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-69988-4

Animal Alert; Killer On The Loose, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-68171-3
Animal Alert Summer Special; Heatwave, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-74682-3
Animal Alert Christmas Special; Lost and Found, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-74683-1
Animal Alert; Running Wild, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-70876-X

Puppy Patrol; Two’s Company, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-48007-3
Puppy Patrol; Puppy Power!, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-39092-9
Puppy Patrol; Dognapped!, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-39091-0
Puppy Patrol; Willow’s Wood, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-39090-2
Puppy Patrol; Boomerang Bob, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-39089-9
Puppy Patrol; The Snow Dog, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-39088-0
Puppy Patrol; Forever Sam, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37635-7
Puppy Patrol; Sherlock’s Home, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37634-9
Puppy Patrol; Sherlock’s Home, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37634-9
Puppy Patrol; Superdog!, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37633-0
Puppy Patrol; The Puppy Project, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37632-2
Puppy Patrol; Charlie’s Choice, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37394-3
Puppy Patrol; Best of Friends, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37043-X
Puppy Patrol; A Winter’s Tale, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-37041-3
Puppy Patrol; Saving Skye, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-330-35492-2

Perfect Ponies; Keeping Faith, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-73660-7
Perfect Ponies; Last Hope, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-73661-5
Perfect Ponies; Sweet Charity, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-340-73662-3

King of the Wind, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-689-82990-6
Misty of Chincoteague, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-689-82993-0
Brighty of the Grand Canyon, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-689-71485-8
Justin Morgan Had A Horse, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-689-71534-X

Thoroughbred; Without Wonder, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106607-9
Thoroughbred; Star In Danger, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106608-7
Thoroughbred; Down to the Wire, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106609-5
Thoroughbred; Living Legend, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106633-8
Thoroughbred; Ultimate Risk, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106634-6
Thoroughbred; Close Call, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106635-4
Thoroughbred; Fallen Star, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-105874-2
Thoroughbred; Rising Star, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106824-1
Thoroughbred Super Edition; Ashleigh’s Christmas Miracle, ISBN no.: ISBN 0-06-106249-9

Wow, amazing stuff that most of us don’t think about. Great book that points you in the right direction when it comes to food choices. Just imagine, losing weight just by making smarter food decisions, not necessarily going on a diet.
Get your copy today. Click the link below:
Eat This Not That!: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More!

There’s also Eat This Not That! For Kids! It’s a fun read and it will get your children thinking about which foods they can swap for a healthier alternative.

Get ideas for healthy kids snacks when you get a copy. Click the link below:
Eat This Not That! for Kids!: Be the Leanest, Fittest Family on the Block!

Learn my secret to how I got my children to eat raw vegetables. Read what it is at my parenting blog post (scroll down a bit when you get there and you will see it). Click here: Vegetables For Kids

Do you have a child going to preschool soon? Well, don’t wait till school begins before you start teaching them something. Keep your little ones busy with interesting, fun, coloring preschool worksheets. Teaching them the alphabets, numbers, shapes and simple math.

Don’t have to hunt all over the internet for pages like the one above. There are 5 Jumboworkbooks with 50 pages each. They also come with bright, cheerful certificates and die cut stickers like these:

You can always purchase each Jumboworkbook separately. They each cost USD7.95. Buy the whole set, and you only pay USD24.95, which works out to be almost 10cents per page. I think this is a pretty good deal considering you can print as many copies as you want. Definitely a time saver as you don’t have to go hunting for nice preschool worksheets all over the internet. Of course it is nice to get free worksheets but usually you’ll find limited copies to use per website. Your child can’t be using the same free worksheet over and over again. Here you get 1 book with 50 different variations on the same topic. I highly recommend it.

Click below to see more examples of the book.
JUMBOWORKBOOKS

SAM FEELS BETTER NOW!
Author: Jill Osborne
Illustrator: Kevin Collier
ISBN: 9781932690606

This is not your normal storybook that you would read to your children at bedtime. This book was written for a very special purpose and that is to help children overcome a traumatic experience. Many things can be traumatic for children e.g. sexual ,physical or verbal abuse, war, natural disasters, dog bites, death of a loved one, accidents, etc….

What’s in the book:
It’s a simple story of Sam, a young boy, who has been traumatized by something awful. He goes to see a special therapist who helps him to cope with the effects of that trauma. Within the story are promptings for children to draw pictures:

• draw a picture of someone who is scared
• draw a picture of something awful or scary
• draw a picture of people that Sam can love and trust
• draw a picture of a place where Sam can feel safe at home
• color Sam’s feelings
• draw ways that will help Sam relax etc…

The story is formatted into stages:
- identifying the source of the problem
- identify people who can give support
- thinking out a safety plan
- identify feelings
- learning how feelings can be felt in the body
- relaxation methods

Sam’s trauma is not indicated in the book. This part is left open for children to fill in the blank. And the interaction exercises gives opportunity for children to inject their own experience into the story. So you can see, if children are traumatized by something, they can tell their experience without apprehension. As you know, some children may not want to tell what happened to them but they are okay telling what happened to Sam.

The author suggest that this book be used as part of a trauma therapy session. It does not replace a therapy but rather works as one of the tools. At the end of the book is a therapist’s guide and a list of references and resources. This book is invaluable for those working as child counselors and professional child therapists. It is especially geared towards children 4-10 years old.

Can parents use this book?
Since I don’t have children suffering from traumatic stress, neither am I a child therapist, I wondered if this book would still be useful to me. Well, I believe almost all children do have some kind of fear e.g. fear of the dark, fear of ghosts etc…. Maybe not to the extend of being traumatized by it but the process of identifying, talking about how to feel better definitely is beneficial. It gives parents an idea of how to approach such problems rather then dismissing their children’s feelings with a “don’t be silly, there’s nothing to be scared about” attitude.

So, in summary, this is not a book you would cuddle up and read with your child. It is a resource book to help children deal with traumatic stress. Ideally, it should be used by a professional therapist as part of a trauma therapy but regular parents like me could benefit from learning what it’s all about too.