Holiday gift ideas for grandkids: Books, books, books!

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great holiday books kids.JPG

I received a pile of books that Benjamin and I reviewed for you. We loved them, you will love them, your grandkids will love them as holiday gifts. Or any day gifts.

Take a look (and don’t miss the map book, my favorite of all).

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Sharing scary stories!

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Sharing scary stories!

Sharing scary stories!

I’ve been blogging for more than 10 years now and have seen a lot of changes in what works and what doesn’t for the medium. One thing I’ve noticed lately, perhaps you have too, is that it seems like more content is being shared beyond blogs than on the actual blogs. Meaning, social media channels have become the primary place for posting, blogs secondary. Which is the opposite of the earlier days of blogging…

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 364 link party for grandparents

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Picture books for poetry month, plus GRAND Social No. 202 link party for grandparents

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Picture books for poetry month

April is National Poetry Month, and I had the pleasure of previewing some super picture books of poetry of various sorts from Candlewick Press.

Take a peek at the sweet, silly, and shark-filled fun you can share with your favorite poetry-lovers-to-be in my post titled April is National Poetry Month: Favorites new and newfangled for girls and boys.

One of my favorites (which you literature lovers will appreciate) is Shrunken Treasures: Literary Classics, Short, Sweet, and Silly by Scott Nash. Such fun, even grownups will chuckle, grin... and groan (appreciatively, of course).

shrunken treasures by scott nash 

Cheers to...

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11 last-minute gift ideas for grandmothers and others to give and get

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Time's ticking and if you still have a few stockings to fill or a few gifts to give, here are some simple gift ideas to consider. I tested out each — free for review — and give an honest thumbs-up to all.

A few are ideal for grandmas to give, a few more ideal for grandmas to get. Bonus: All can be ordered online, so no need to be out and about in the snow. (Note: There are NO affiliate links in this post.)

RING IT GAME ($14.99, BlueOrangeGames.com)

ring it game

Oh my goodness! My four-year-old grandson loves this game, even though it's designed for...

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Spooky stories, plus GRAND Social No. 178 link party for grandparents

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Spooky stories

Sheesh! Can you believe Halloween is Saturday!? Time flies at such a scary speed!

Thankfully there's still time (admittedly little) to sit with a kiddo or two and enjoy scary Halloween tales together. Scary being relative, of course. I've shared a few sorta-scary ideas in the Back Room, some to read with a child in your lap, some for bigger kids to enjoy on their own:

halloween books for kids

Click on that graphic above to get the details on each of the festive tales from Candlewick Press I had the pleasure of reviewing over the weekend. I look forward to...

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In celebration of Father's Day: Storybook dads

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My son-in-law is a pretty darn good dad. Not only does Preston squash scorpions, regularly take my grandsons to baseball games and ride the scary rides with Bubby at theme parks, he also reads to Bubby and Mac. As in, bedtime storybook readings.

dad reading to sons

Being the book-loving, storybook-reading grandma that...

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Nature-nurturing books for young readers

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Though Earth Day 2014 has come and gone, every day is a great day for sharing with children books on nature and the environment. Especially picture books the kids will not only enjoy but possibly — no, probably — learn a little from.

E-I-E-I-O

Last week I received four fantastic picture books...

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Poems past, present and in celebration of National Poetry Month

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I had the privilege as a seventh-grader to have an English teacher who encouraged his students to seek out poetry that moved them. One assignment from him was to write down a handful of favorites along with the reasons that we liked those particular poems.

teen binder 

As this teacher understood that song lyrics were poetry that resonated with teens, my selections included several song lyrics — and far too revealing explanations on why...

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