Welcome to Weekend Links! This is my chance to share what I consider some of my my ‘top finds’ that I have discovered over the course of the week. This week there was a plethora of delightful and timely booklists for kids that are just in time for summer reading. Enjoy!
21 Picture Books with Diverse Characters from Erica at What Do We Do All Day.
Children’s Books About Being Different at Cutting Tiny Bites
Read and Learn About Mexico at Planet Smarty Pants
Thirteen FUN Geography Books for Kids @edsnapshots
Kids Books About Telling the Truth by @artsy_momma
20 Kids Crafts & Activities Inspired by Books at KCEdventures
12+ Books about Botany for Kids at Study at Home Mama
Best Books for Middle School at Research Parent
Top 10 Roald Dahl Book List ~ With Go-Along Activities @Creekside-Learning
Over 20 Children’s Books about Weather (Fiction and Nonfiction) @buggyandbuddy
The Spring Sale has been EXTENDED! I have two of my most popular books on a super special sale until May 31st!
The Waldorf Homeschool Handbook: The Simple Step-by-Step guide to creating a Waldorf-inspired #homeschool. And for a limited time, this best-selling book by Donna Ashton, The Waldorf #Homeschool Handbook is now only $17.95 until May 31st, 2015 ! http://amzn.to/1OhTfoT
Enjoy more month-by-month activities based on the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! A Year in the Secret Garden is a delightful children’s book with over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. AND, it’s on sale for a limited time! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” http://amzn.to/1DTVnuX
The post Weekend Links: Great Booklists that are Just in Time for Summer Reading appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
As a reading and play advocate, I am always looking for fun and innovative ways to shine the spotlight on new children’s literacy and inspire families to pull books off of shelves and stories off of pages.
So early last year, I decided to create a fun guidebook to do just THAT.
To create this Multicultural Books & Activities for Kids, I reached out to some of the brightest bloggers and asked them to pick a book that is meaningful to them, review it and create a fun activity to go along with it. The following is a line-up consisting of not only passionate reading advocates, but some of the most creative writers and bloggers I know.
The result? This guidebook is packed full of 17 great book ideas for kids and offers up not only suggestions to keep young minds reading, but matching activities and extensions inspired by the books. This guide is designed to keep families engaged in the wonder and magic that can be found within the pages of a book and offer suggestions for diversity in children’s literature. The good news is that I am giving this e-book away for FREE! Yes, you heard me; FREE.
Jump Into a Book’s
By Valarie Budayr
Some of the books used in the reviews and activities are:
- Stand Tall, but Read All Around!
{by Shannon Medisky}
- Read Around the World Summer Reading Series
{Guest post from Multicultural Kid Blogs}
- Kid Writing and Biographies: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
{Guest Post from The Unconventional Librarian Pam Margolis}
- Down Under Calling by Margot Finke Book Review and Penpal Activity
{A Multicultural Children’s Book blog post from Jump Into a Book}
- Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke
{Guest Post by Sprout’s Bookshelf}
- Read a Book; Travel the World & Make a Wish
{Guest Post from Gladys Elizabeth Barbieri}
- Fiesta Fiasco by Ann Whitford Paul
{Guest Post by Frances from Discovering the World Through Her Son’s Eyes}
- If you were Me and Lived in…by Carole P. Roman
- {Guest Post from Squishable Baby}
- Discovering The Cree Culture in America-Wild Berries by Julia Flett Review & Activity!
{Guest Post from Felicia at Stanley and Katrina}
- TOMB OF SHADOWS (7 Wonders Book III)
{Guest Post from This Kid Reviews Books}
- Cooking with Books: Lucky Birthday Noodles
{Guest Post from Jodie @ Growing Book by Book}
- A Peek into Thailand
{Guest Post from Stephanie Kammeraad of Mama-Lady Books}
- A Chair for My Mother Book Review & Activity
- {Guest Post from Vicki Arnold}
- The Magic Poof Review and Activity
{Guest Post by Stephen Hodges}
- Grandfather Tang’s Story: Storytelling with Tangrams
{Bookjump by Valarie Budayr}
And so much more! Ready for a FREE GIFT that will give your family hours of reading fun and activity? I thought so 
This e-book will only be available for a short time so grab your copy HERE.
Read On!
The post My Free Gift To YOU-Read Your World Multicultural Books Activities for Kids Guide appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
Happy 2015!
Doing “best of” lists seems to be all the rage these days so I thought, “Why should JIAB be any different?” We created some amazing bookjumps and book reviews on this site in 2014, had some awesome guest posts and shared a plethora of exciting news as well. Here are some of the highlight.
Top Blog Post and Booklists:
I’ve always thought the best way to teach my kids to be kind is to be kind myself. While that’s a really good start, I can’t be with them all day long and life is filled with opportunities to be both kind and unkind. This got me thinking, what books are out there that teach kindness?
Here’s a look at what I found.
The Kindness Booklist for Kids
To honor and celebrating the first ever cross country mail delivery and a bit of American itself, I created a booklist that takes a look at the Pony Express.
Stargazing & Astronomy Booklist for the whole family.
Love and respect the rainforest? We do too. Here is our Rainforest Booklist roundup in honor of World Rainforest Week (Oct 12th – Oct 18th)
We had a ton of fun with some “snow fun” as well in December. Here’s a recap of JIAB’s Snow Festival:
It’s been a SNOW FESTIVAL all this week! With all the white stuff on the ground and the kids off of school, might as well celebrate, right?
This week kicked off my super-fun-book-filled Snow Festival here at JIAB. In case you missed it, here’s a recap:
Snow Festival Day 1:
Snow Festival Day 2:
This playful depiction of a snowy day and the transformation of a city is perfectly captured in simple, poetic text and lively watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations.
Plus: Homemade Snow Cream
Who couldn’t love Poppy in her little red hat going to a winter’s feast?
Plus: Make a Message Crown
The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino celebrates the magic of snow through science, math, language arts, music, and visual art activities.
Plus: Paper Snowflakes and Snow Storm in a Jar.
Snow Festival Day-5 Snowflake Bentley and Creating your own Snowflake Exhibit!
Snow Festival Day 6--A Snow Booklist.
Amazing Guests
During the summer months we had some A-List blogger stop by during our Discover Your World Summer Reading Extravaganza. Here are a few of our favorites:
A Chair for My Mother Book Review & Activity {Guest Post from Vicki Arnold}
A Peek into Thailand {Guest Post from Stephanie Kammeraad of Mama-Lady Books}
Discovering The Cree Culture in America-Wild Berries by Julia Flett Review & Activity! (Guest Post from Felicia at Stanley and Katrina)
Cooking with Books: Lucky Birthday Noodles {Guest Post by Jodie from Growing Book by Book}
Read A Book, Travel The World & Make A Wish {Guest Post from Gladys Elizabeth Barbieri}
Kid Writing and Biographies: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson {Guest Post from The Unconventional Librarian}
Events and News
As everyone may know, I am one of the co-founders of Multicultural Children’s Book Day and our second (upcoming event) has gotten larger and more vibrant than we could have every dreamed! Even though our second event hasn’t occurred yet (1/27/15), our victories in regard to this important initiative still remain some of the top highlights of 2014 for me:
NEWS! Multicultural Children’s Book has is getting BIGGER and gaining momentum more and and more every day! With 9 CoHosts, 17 super Sponsors, over 125 bloggers, and countless authors and publishers donating multicultural children’s books, this wonderful event promises to be bigger and better than ever. Our ultimate goal is to shine the spotlight on multicultural children’s books and offer up resources for parents, caregivers, teachers and librarians to continue to help kids “see themselves” in the pages of a book.You can view our Author Blogroll Sponsor Page
HERE, our Virtual Book Drive (through First Book) page
HERE and please watch for (and re-tweet!) our event hashtag #ReadYourWorld.)
And…I had a baby! OK. not really. But it kind of felt like it when I “birthed” my newest book with the super creative (and always funny) Marilyn Scott-Waters. Audrey’s Press’ (my publishing house) newest book is
A Year in the Secret Garden and I couldn’t be more proud of not only how beautiful it turned out, but how wonderfully book buyers have responded to this book that is inspired by the classic children’s take
The Secret Garden.MCCBD Co-Founder Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom and myself are super excited to announce that, on February 14th 2015, we will be a co-host for International Book Giving Day! As we get closer to the event I’ll fill in the details.
I know I’ve missed of bunch of things and this list could go on FOREVER. 2014 was an amazing year for me and my team at Jump Into a Book and as always, I want to say “THANK YOU” from the bottom of my heart for your support and readership.
Here’s to an even more exciting 2015!
The post The “Best of ” Jump Into a Book’s Booklists (& More) for 2014! appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
