I have been hunting for something for Wiley, my 5 year old, and finally stumbled upon Anorak magazine. I was won over immediately and against my better-budget conscious judgement, sprang for a subscription. (If you are an iPhone user, they have an app which would be a much more affordable option).

I received my second issue of Anorak just last week “por avion” from the UK and delivered to my mailbox. I absolutely love the eclectic mix of illustrations, stories, activities and illustrations they collect in each issue. They call it the “happy mag for kids” and I’d say that label fits quite nicely!

So far we’ve enjoyed the adventures of Munkie and Horace–a stuffed monkey, teddy bear and an entire cast of “plush” characters whose antics are painstakingly choreogreaphed and photographed.

The activities are probably Wiley’s favorite part. He retreated under the kitchen table the other night while I was preparing dinner to do one of the activities–finding 3 houses that look *exactly* alike in an illustration with about 40 from which to choose.

The best part is that I don’t have to think about it. As a subscription, each wonderful issue just “automagically” arrives in our mailbox every so often (it’s published quarterly). We can read it at our leisure as there is nothing to return. No late fees lurking anywhere.

This subscription model should really find it’s way to more facets of childrearing. For example, I wish diapers and milk were available by subscription too. And maybe fashionable (but sensible) shoes for moms.

What’s a mom to do?

One of his other homework assignments this week was to write a few 2-3 word sentences. When pressed to do this along with his standard penmanship worksheets he was nonplussed. Later that evening though, when our attention turned to reengineering the trap, he mentioned he wanted to write “Lucky” (the leprechaun) a note. Horray! We’d get our sentences done afterall. And sure enough, given the right inspiration he wrote out *several* sentences taunting Lucky that he wouldn’t outsmart us this time!

Lesson learned: Never underestimate the value of self-motivation. Or to put it more eloquently:

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
-William Butler Yeats

While we are no longer reading tales about leprechauns and how to entrap them, the story we read tonight definitely details a feat of mechanical engineering that kids will enjoy. Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead details the misadventure of a VERY lazy little boy.

Tommy is so lazy; he needs several machines to help him through his day. When the morning sun warms his window sill, his bed lifts up and dumps him into the bathtub. The bathtub tilts and dumps him into the drying room where is teeth are brushed and his hair is combed for him. Then he slides down a chute into a harness, which guides him into his shorts, pants, socks, and shoes. A sailor suit drops down over his head. Then the harness takes him to the feeding machine. Finally, his mouth is wiped for him.

Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead (Library Binding) By William Pene Du Bois List Price: $12.89 USD Used From: $119.95 In Stock

I also had to chuckle when I noticed in the jacket cover the retail price of the hard cover edition we have was $2.57 in 1966. A family member bought it for me for my birthday a few years ago when I found it on eBay. I think the price was just north of $60. It’s out of print now and a bit hard to come by, but if you ever encounter it, do pick it up. As Wiley says “it’s the most awesomest book.”

We like to discuss why Tommy is sooo lazy. But reflecting on the leprechaun lesson, now I wonder perhaps Lazy Tommy was just lacking a little inspiration?

Leprechaun Trap Illustrated

“Huh?” I thought. And then it clicked. The “they” that could hear me were the leprechauns! What was I thinking revealing our plan to capture them when they were in our midst?!

Ah well, live and learn. Looks like we are going to have to be EXTRA crafty because the cat is out of the bag. The leprechauns staking out our house now know what we’re up to. I share this with you so you can learn from my mistake and make sure to speak in hushed voiced, or plan your conversation to take place out of their ear shot. We don’t want word to spread about what we’re up to!

Keep the comments and tweets (#Leprechauns) coming!

The Staircase That Swallowed People

So in exchange for my candid feedback on the story, Jade McBlade agreed to an interview (a first for Little Nutmeg!). This marks Jade’s publishing debut, but I suspect we’ll see more clever stories in the near future!

So picture Jade and I seated next to a sunny window, tea cups in hand, chatting about great children’s literature, our kids, debating whether to have a first birthday party for our little ones (against my better judgement I am planning a big bash for Piper, Jade, a little older and wiser opted just to do a small gathering with family)… and our conversation went something like this:

What inspired you to write this story?

Would you believe that I don’t really know? I just once said to myself, why don’t you write a story about a dangerous staircase. In general, I love stories about things, I like the idea that under special circumstances they might start to behave like live creatures.

Have you ever lived in a house with a “history” like the one in The Staircase?

No, I haven’t but I have lived in an ordinary yellow house on an ordinary London street in an ordinary neighborhood. I guess I just need a little more excitement in my life so I made it up.

The story takes place in London. Do you live there too?

No, I don’t, I live in California, but I used to live there before. It is a very busy, but a very charming city. Full of character, history and mysteries. No place for yellow-bellies.

What were some of your favorite stories/authors when you were growing up?

I really loved The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, I read it at least one hundred times. It is a very gentle story about a boy coming to Earth from a distant planet. It is meant for children but it does not underestimate them like many other books do. If you haven’t read it yet, go and get a copy of it straight away!

What do you think makes a good story?

A smart story-teller and a smart reader/listener?

What kinds of things do you do when you are not writing?

You know, writers are completely normal people. So I play marbles with my sons, Skype with my friends all over the world, hike on weekends, help my daughter with her homework, watch TV when I am folding laundry and believe it or not I also sleep, I love to sleep!

Thank you for the answers.

Thanks for having me.

http://www.lilnutmeg.com/?p=231

Wool Felt Play Food

Leprechaun Facts and Folklore

We are determined to trap a leprechaun! We’ve done a bit of research we can share with you below. We are also recording our observations. We are formulating a hypothesis. And then we’ll begin crafting our leprechaun traps. Join in the fray by leaving us some comments. What do you know about these petit pranksters? What do the look like? How little are they? What do they like to eat? Lucky Charms? The Wool Felt Play Food pictured above? Irish Soda Bread? Or do they eat at all? These are some of the questions we are pondering right now.
Facts

• They are crafty and cunning but they don’t tell lies!
• They make shoes for fairies and work mostly at night.
• They don’t like to share their pot of gold!
• They are able to make their pot of gold appear/disappear at the end of rainbows.

Our research sources include these lovely picture books:

See larger image Leprechauns Never Lie (Hardcover) By Lorna Balian, Lecia Balian List Price: $14.95 USD New From: $9.55 In Stock Used From: $9.98 In Stock

See larger image Too Many Leprechauns: Or How That Pot o' Gold Got to the End of the Rainbow (Hardcover) By Stephen Krensky List Price: $12.99 USD New From: $5.11 In Stock Used From: $0.57 In Stock

Our “Leprechauns!” Campaign!

We’ve realized we are vastly outnumbered. Possibly outsmarted. We do have the height advantage going for us though. And a lively imagination to boot. So we are enlisting all of you out there in Internet-land to join us in an adventure! Do you have any thing to add to our facts or folklore research? Please do comment below or tweet with the #Leprechauns! (be sure to spell L-E-P-R-E-C-H-A-U-N-S correctly and include the exclamation point at the end for emphasis!) We’ll keep a log and publish our findings. If we work together we can capture these wiley wonders in time before they disappear for another year after St. Patty’s Day.

Photo credit: bugnikdesigns, Etsy.com

So how do we talk about etiquette or table manners but make it fun?

I found some inspiration in that Alice in Wonderland book again! We read the book and then hosted our very own mad cap tea party.

“They buttered the gears. They sugared the springs. They strawberry jammed the wheels.”

- from the Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland

I let my son Wiley enforce the “rules” when our “guests” got out of hand. He felt very much in control and I think now that he knows the “rules” he’ll feel much more confident at a table with all the adults this Thanksgiving.

Tea parties are a great way to teach a variety of things. We counted out the place settings. He set the table. We had made rice crispies treats so we served those to our guests. While pouring the teddy bear some tea, the top to the pot came off and Wiley exclaimed “look mom, there goes the hubcap!”

Some would say you should save your candy to embellish your Gingerbread house come December. That is great idea but I find it’s hard to tell my son that he can’t enjoy the candy in some way, shape, or form now, so while I do save a large part of the stash for Gingerbread season, I also portion out a good part of the haul to use now.

So what do we do? Well, what does your child love more than candy? Playing with you! And with these activities, there is something for both of you to enjoy. I find I am best able to really connect with my children when the activity captures my imagination too. These projects did not disappoint.

The first step in your candy project is counting and sorting. This is a great way to demonstrate how we use mathematics in everyday life and allow them to flex their math muscles by asking them to sort their candy. They can do it by size, color, shape, or type. You can do it more than one time. Then they can count the pieces and you can discuss which of the piles is less than or more than the other(s).

When you have exhausted the sorting and counting game you can move on to the creation portion.

For this project you’ll need to use any “gummy candy” such as Tootie Rolls or Dots or anything that the size and consistency of a gumdrop. You’ll also need a box of toothpicks. I have done this with children as young as three, but please use your best judgment. If your child still likes to put things in their mouth (or eyes or ears for that matter!) toothpicks may not be the safest choice.

Anyway, once you have unwrapped all your gummy candy, you are only limited by your imagination. You can construct letters, numbers, shapes, houses, fences, stick figures… whatever you can fashion by sticking toothpicks in the gummies and connecting them together. My five year old did this project for 30 minutes twice this week (we went trick or treating earlier in the week). Today we brought out part of his train set and made fences, crossing gates, and a tunnel to accessorize the track! It was truly the highlight of my week to have us both so fully immersed in something together.

You can also use your candy to explore art and science themes.

Again, if you channel that creativity, there is no telling what kind of amazing creations you’ll produce. With some of the other candies you will need to alter their physical state to produce what we’re looking for. For example if you have Laffy Taffy or Airheads, unwrap them and attempt to run a pizza cutter or knife through them with your child watching. It will be difficult if not impossible. Next, heat them very gently for two to four seconds in your microwave, just long enough that they are warm and you can run your pizza cutter through them easily to make these strips. Roll the strips in your hands to make them nice and round.

Ask your child what they noticed? Was it easier to cut them after they were warmed? Another great way to demonstrate how science is part of everyday life.

Stash those miniature chocolate bars in the freezer for awhile until they are good and frozen. Then place them in a Ziploc bag and smash away with your meat mallet or even just the back of wooden spoon. What child doesn’t love to SMASH with wild abandon?

Sort your pulverized candy by color or texture and let the art emerge!

For our art project we made a little garden. The pulverized chocolate was the soil, the smashed Jolly Ranchers serves as the grass, the Laffy Taffy became the flowers. We even smashed a blue Jolly Rancher to make it “rain” in the garden.

Here are a few other fun “art + candy = fun” ideas I collected from the Internet:

• Creating with Candy
• Candy Critters
• Candy Masks

These activities were really engaging for both of us and enabled us to “enjoy” the candy without “ingesting” it! In all these activities, he only ate one piece of candy the entire time. I think he was just so immersed in the project he didn’t even think about eating it.

That’s what I call a win – win!

Happy Halloween!

So I created our fabulous sign up sheet. I even attempted to translate it into Spanish as there are 6 families who speak Spanish at home and whose parents know little or no English. After studying Spanish for 12 years I am embarrassed at how little I remember, but alas, I was able to piece something together with the limited vocabulary I could recall coupled with the online translations sites like wordreference.com. I am happy to report that all the slots were filled within 24-hours. (Can you say rock star room parent!? Ha!)

Are you planning a party for Halloween? If so, here are some tips for minimizing the SUGAR and WASTE factors, but maximizing the FUN.

With the party planning under control, I turned my attention to gathering a few books for the festivities. In addition to Over in the Hollow, these are three other books that are my list of must reads this fall.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves This book has a winning combination—adorable illustrations and a meaningful storyline. The fox is just as cute as he can be and he is such an endearing character—concerned that his poor friend the tree is losing his leaves. Wiley’s Kindergarten class has been studying trees too so this is just perfect fit. Did you know, only broad leaf trees loose their leaves? Conifers are evergreen. We can’t take a walk anymore without discussing which trees are which.

Room on the Broom is a great read! Like Over in the Hollow, this book highlights the characters and antics of Halloween with a fun rhyming structure. The illustrations really bring the characters to life and while she’s not quite, Glenda the good witch, this witch is not the gruesome scary variety so it’s a safe bet for kids of all ages.

The House in the Night is not about Halloween or even fall per say, but the color scheme (just black & white with yellow) and the storyline: a house at night—makes it appropriate for Halloween. The illustrations are truly unique and remarkable. If they made a print of these pages, I’d order it and frame it! The words are so simple but as we read it together, we spend a lot of time on each page looking at the different items that are highlighted in yellow and talking about why they are highlighted.

I look forward to attending the class party and volunteering to read a story to the very subdued group of sugar-deprived children. Staying true to the CONTROL THY SUGAR mandate from the teacher, I ordered two dozen of these little treats for the kids. How clever! If you are enterprising enough, I am sure you can make them at home too. But I prefer to leave melting to the experts at Halloween ☺

What are you doling out this Halloween?

Happy Haunting!

Thank goodness the school library has been spared!

And while things like the elementary music program has fallen victim to the dreaded cuts, I am so very proud that our school still has a library. Interesting, it physically resides at the very center of the school. And that is so telling. Because I have come to realize just how incredibly valuable it is.

Just this week my son came home from school bubbling over with excitement to share the book he picked out at the library. He couldn’t wait to share it with me. As we read at bedtime, I had to stop for a moment, so I placed the open book, face down on his bed. “Mom! No!” I was swiftly reprimanded for handling the book this way. I sort of scoffed at first and then I realized, how sweet he was. To treat a book with such reverence and to appreciate what a privilege it was to have it on loan was really touching.

Mrs. Roquel, the librarian, has apparently schooled him in library borrowing etiquette. And she has made quite an impression; my son speaks so highly of her. I have never met her personally but from the way he talks, she sounds like a treasure. (Note to self: I really should make it a point to thank her.) She is doing so much to encourage an excitement around reading and an interest in discovering new things in books.

I can’t help but think how important a well-stocked and staffed school library is for reading achievement. In doing some Internet research, indeed there are many studies that point to a strong correlation.

“There are a number of recent studies in the library literature which have shown that a quality school library program is a powerful predictor of academic and reading achievement. In view of the current interest in the improvement of student achievement, particularly reading scores, it is especially critical that administrators realize that school library media resources and personnel are not only useful, but an indispensable component of the total school program and an integral part of the learning process.”

Source: http://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/misc/research-sum.html

Do you have a library at your school? Or has it fallen victim to vanishing funds?

As we acknowledge the arrival of my favorite time of year, I am inspired to find the *perfect* book that captures some of the sentiments of the season to read to my son at bedtime.

At our local Books Inc. on Monday I must have picked up ten different books about fall or Halloween. Nothing seemed to impress me until I found this one.

Over in the Hollow (cover)

Over in the Hollow by Rebecca Dickinson

The illustrations on the cover had me on the hook as soon as I picked it up. An adorable owl. An enormous harvest moon. A bat. A pair of Casper-esque ghosts.

I turned the pages.

The story mirrors the rhyming pattern of one of my all-time favorite bed time reads — Over in the Meadow.

The author’s dedication makes my maternal-spidey sense tingle:

“For my mother, who shared with me her love of reading and the lovely sounds of words strung together ‘just so.’”

It is published by Chronicle Books. I am a devoted fan. Their attention to detail is always impressive. Everything from the colors, to the fonts (”Whoa Nellie” is one of the fonts used for the quotes in the book, and it’s as cool as it sounds!), to full bleed on the illustrations’ layout, is well done.

The price tag? $15.99 (yep, I splurged, but did I mention I LOVE fall?)

I am not sure who loves it more, me or my five year old. But it held his attention the whole way through. I think he could sense my enthusiasm, as at one point he told me to read in a softer voice

What are your favorite children’s books for fall?