Almost two months ago now a beautiful six year old girl in our community died a tragically awful accidental death.

I find it hard to stop thinking about it. I drive by the house where the accident happened on my way in to town. I see Kelly’s mom at pick up, her vacant eyes hidden behind huge sunglasses. While checking out library books, I talk with the mom whose au pair was driving the car, all the time pretending it’s normal for her to be staying at home from work for all these weeks.

All the grown ups in this community have been hugging our children extra hard, feeling grateful for them and for their resilience. For the most part, the children seem ok. They seem to have moved on as children will.

And then you are reminded that Kelly and her death will always be a part of who we are now.

This morning we were talking about how big our puppy was getting. How she would be fully grown by the time she was a year old.

Caroline said, “Not like us. We keep growing until we’re like seventeen.”

As I got ready to talk about dog years and people years, ready to take advantage of the moment to work on our seven times tables, Katherine said, “Not Kelly. Kelly won’t keep growing.”

And we won’t stop remembering. Not even the littlest of us will forget.

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The other day, Katherine came up to me with a piece of paper clenched in her hand.

She proudly exclaimed, “Mom! I know how to spell Tuesday!! Look, look, look!”

And in big, wobbly letters she had written, TWOSDAY.

Now what do you do with that?

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Last week, I was drawn in to a Facebook discussion about the value of iPads for small children.

There were some comments made that drew me into a state of defensiveness that I didn’t realize I had about our iPad. I limit Caroline and Katherine’s screen time pretty drastically. We don’t own a Wii or an X-box or a PlayStation. In fact, I’m not even sure if I am using the right words for these things.

But, we do have an iPad. And the girls each have iTouches. And I have an iPhone that the girls have been known to use. There, it’s all out there. We own a lot of i products.

Occasionally, the girls play games on their i products that have no educational value. But very, very rarely.

I think this is why the anti-iPad comments really bothered me. Allowing (or even encouraging) your children to use apps is not at all the same as letting them play most video games. There is so much to learn from using the appropriate apps.

And there is the key word: appropriate. As with tv shows and books, not all apps are created equal. There are some really terrible apps. There are many apps that claim to be educational that just aren’t. So, as with tv shows and books, parents need to be actively involved in researching and purchasing quality apps for their children.

There are tons of great science (Magic School Bus), social studies (Stack the States) and math apps (Math Fact) that have given my girls lots of skills and information they might other wise not yet have. For example, Caroline absolutely hates doing her times table flash cards but if I challenge her to a game of Multiplication Baseball on the iPad she is ready to go.  

That said, given that this is a children’s lit blog, I’ll list my current favorite literacy related apps here. Some are audio books, some book apps, some skill building apps. If you are able to check these out, let me know what you think. Also, please feel free to go to the comment section and help me grow my list of great apps with your favorites.

Tales2Go,

Bob’s Books app,

Sight Word Bingo,

and Tumble Books to Go

I’m sure my favorites will be different by tomorrow so check back often. I’ll be sure to add more…

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Reading is cool because it causes things like this to happen.

I recommended A Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton to my mom.

She read it.

And sent along the following quote from the acknowledgments that I had either forgotten or somehow never read.

“I would also like to pay tribute here to authors who write for children.  To discover early that behind the black marks on the white pages lurk worlds of incomparable terror, joy, and excitement is one of life’s great gifts.” – Kate Morton

Cool.

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This is a long awaited week in the KidLit world. The short lists for the Cybils have finally been announced.

For months now, long, long lists of books have been in the hands of the first round panelists. They have worked tirelessly to narrow these sometimes unimaginably long lists (the fiction picture book category exceeded 200 nominated books) down to five books per category.

Now the second round judges, including myself, get to work.

If you are looking for wonderful titles to bring joy and warmth to these frigid post holiday days, do click here and you won’t be disappointed.

Happy Reading!

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As a school lover myself, the past few years have been rough for me. Caroline has had a really hard time getting in the groove at school. She has made great friends and learned a lot but she has not loved it. In fact, at times, she has straight out disliked it.

This year, however, everything has turned. She has a fabulous teacher and all is right with the world.

The girls go back to school tomorrow after our winter break and I over heard the following earlier tonight:

Caroline: I am so excited to go back to school tomorrow!

Pause, while realizing what she just said…

Caroline: Oh, no not really. I’m not really excited.

Another pause…

Caroline: Ok, fine. I am excited. I guess I really am excited to go back to school.

And then I let out a big sigh of relief. Another school lover is born….

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This hat looked much cuter on Caroline as she sat in bed reading on New Year’s Eve.

I had envisioned all sorts of clever things to say to go along with the photo. I would write about a great year of reading, the books to read in the coming year and on and on.

And then Caroline saw me coming with a camera.

She has realized that people she doesn’t know (and worse, the moms of people she does know!), read this blog. She has, therefore, become very protective of what pictures I post and what I say. I believe it is important to respect her wishes regarding how she is presented in the big wide world so…

Because you are all readers, you can use your active imagination to picture my Happy New Year picture…

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There are many blogs that I read over the course of the week and a handful that I read daily. Overall, this is a good situation. My only frustration comes from the fact that some of my favorite bloggers live outside the country. While I enjoy learning about cultures other than ours, I have discovered that there are many, many wonderful books that never make it to American shores. While of course there are a gazillion amazing titles to read right in the good ole US of A, I admit to getting greedy.

For example, when I read about the Red House Children’s Book Award at Playing by the Book, I began looking for their nominated titles at our libary and at Amazon right away with little luck. While I was able to find such current treasures as A Monster Calls and some old winners like Jaqueline Wilson’s Best Friends, there were many more books that looked wonderful and and just weren’t available.

Then I read A Fuse #8 Production’s post titled Not in America: Boris by Andrew Joyner and became even more frustrated. This post focused on early chapter books, most of which are not available in the US. Good early chapter books are so hard to find that the post drove me batty.

Fortunately though, I took out my frustration on thorough book searching and was able to find Joy Cowley’s Snake and Lizard and Terry Denton’s Wombat and Fox at our local library.

Katherine has been completely smitten with both of these books. She is loving to hear chapter books read aloud but she still needs a fair amount of picture support to keep her attention. She also needs a really fast moving plot and likable characters. Interestingly, these series are quite different but each one brings a bit of all that she needs right now.

I will now begin the search for other Snake and Lizard and Fox and Wombat books. I suppose it’s a good thing I enjoy a good scavenger hunt…

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I knew that many of our Christmas gifts this year would be big hits. After all, as Caroline mentioned in her wonderful poem yesterday, the girls received a pogo stick and a basketball hoop. What I wasn’t expecting was just how much fun we would all find one of the girl’s gifts, Apples to Apples.

All the third and fourth graders at the girl’s school have a chance to play Apples to Apples at least once with their principal over the course of the school year. She chooses a group of students each day to join her for lunch giving them an opportunity to get to know each other in a casual setting. When Caroline came home on her game day, she couldn’t stop talking about how much fun she had. I went right to computer and ordered the game.

Since Christmas, we have spent a good amount of time playing Apples to Apples and now I know why both the children and the principal love it.

To give you a sense of the game, I quote directly from the manufacturer (because it’s much more confusing to explain than it is to play!):

APPLES to APPLES JUNIOR brings the hilarious card and party game, Apples to Apples, to younger players. Players aged nine and up will delight in all the crazy comparisons, while expanding their vocabulary and thinking skills at the same time. The game is as easy as comparing apples to apples – just open the box, deal the RED APPLE cards to each player, and you’re ready to go! Players take turns being the judge. The judge starts each round by playing a GREEN APPLE card featuring a one-word characteristic such as Chewy, Amazing or Scary. The rest of the players must then look at the RED APPLE cards in their hands and select the one they think is best described by the judge’s card – will you play A Volcano, Unicorns or Burned Toast? When everyone’s RED APPLE cards are on the table, you should try to convince the judge that yours is the best match. You’ll find that table talk is a big part of the fun. Just wait until you hear all the clever – and not so clever – ways that people try to convince the judge to choose a particular card. Do your best, because if the judge picks your card, you win that round! The first player to win four rounds wins the game. With over 500 cards, each round is filled with surprising comparisons from a wide range of people, places, things and events. Fast-moving and refreshing, Apples to Apples Junior is easy to learn and fun to play. It’s the perfect game for kids, families and friends!”

During our time playing Apples to Apples, Katherine learned to read new words, Caroline learned the definition of new words and I was able to watch both girls think with an amazing amount of creativity. Who knew that this present would turn out to be such a gift?

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Rob used to read The Night Before Christmas to the girls because my father read it to me. Last year, Caroline informed him that seeing as he didn’t read with as much expression as I did, that the job was being handed over to me. This year, she insisted on reading every other page herself.

When she read the following poem to me yesterday, I realized that she had indeed been paying attention while she read.

Enjoy the selection below courtesy of The Night Before Christmas with a small tribute to the Grinch, I think.

The Day After Christmas

By Caroline Loscalzo

Twas the day after Christams when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

The day after Christmas can be so very sad, no more presents, no more food. But does that really mean it is so bad? Well, it might to some people but not in my house, oh no.

In the Loscalzo household everything is a buzz. Trying our pogo sticks, playing pick up sticks and setting up basketball hoops. Every one tall and small.

Is the day after Christmas really that bad at all?

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