MomReviews

If you are looking for the perfect gift for your daughter, niece, cousin, friend, or any special young lady you know, The Daring Book for Girls needs to be at the top of your list. I received the book from the authors and founders of MotherTalk, Andrea Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, and I haven’t stopped reading it since. I read it quickly, then I went back and read it slowly, and then I started telling everyone around me about it.

It’s 279 pages of everything from how to build a scooter to the history of Queens and Princesses around the world. The introduction to the book reminds us that “Girls today are girls of the twenty-first century, with email accounts, digital cable, iPods, and complex video games”. They seem to be abandoning childhood sooner and sooner every year, and what this book does is remind us of all the possibilities that girls have.

Would you like to hear what Andi and Miriam have to say about the book? Watch their interview on The Today Show. Or, read the reviews posted on the book’s Amazon page.

I was amazed by the vastness of the knowledge contained in this book. I had forgotten all about Handclap Games, which took up most of recess when I was in elementary school. Same with Cootie Catchers-remember making those? My daughter is still too young for most of the games and crafts in this book, but you can bet that The Daring Book for Girls is going to occupy a prime spot on our living room bookshelf, and in five years when she’s having her first sleepover, I’ll know exactly how to teach a room full of seven year olds how to make God’s Eyes and how to do a cartwheel.

I also enjoyed the detailed information on basketball (I had no idea that there was more than one type of Forward), the 14 different ways to play Tag, and the history of women Explorers and Inventors. Women in history have done some amazing and, well, daring things, and that’s something that every female should know about, regardless of age.

Go, buy this book. Let’s help teach girls that there are a lot of things they can do besides text their friends and listen to their iPods. Let’s show them how empowering it is to know how to change a tire, paddle a canoe, and negotiate a salary (well, that one might be more for you than for a seven year old!). Let’s bring back jumping rope, how to tie a bandanna, and how to write an actual letter (on paper you make yourself, even, written in secret spy language!)

This book makes me want to be a kid again. Thank you so much Andi and Miriam, for writing this book and keeping the traditions of childhood alive. For reminding us of how important women have been in history up until now, and how important they will be in times to come. For making me excited about having a daughter to whom I can teach all the things in The Daring Book for Girls. I just wish I could get the words to “Miss Merry Mack” out of my head now

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Last year while preparing to move to a new country, a friend of mine boxed up some books she thought I would enjoy and mailed them to me. Among the selections were two books by an author I had never heard of, and the jackets told me that the books were historical fiction. I was immediately skeptical, since I had never read any books in that genre. But, with an open mind, I picked up the first book and began to read. And was instantly swept away into a world I had never knew existed, the world of royal India. I read, fascinated, about palaces and harems, and unimaginable wealth. The book was The Twentieth Wife: A Novel, by Indu Sundrasen. The story then continued with The Feast of Roses: A Novel, and by the time I finished that one, I was a fan of historical fiction.

So, when MotherTalk asked for reviewers for Ms. Sundrasen’s newest book, The Splendor of Silence:A Novel, I clicked Reply as fast as I possibly could. When the book arrived, I couldn’t wait to dive right in. It starts in the present with a young woman receiving a trunk containing a letter written by her father, telling her the true story of her parentage. Then, the story jumps backwards to May, 1942, when Sam Hawthorne arrives by train in Rudrakot in West India. He has been injured after being sent by the newly-formed OSS into Burma to rescue a missionary. He arrives in Rudrakot ostensibly to heal at the home of the Indian Political Agent, a job that I think means government representative.

At the home of Raman, the political agent, Sam meets Raman’s daughter Mila and is instantly enchanted by her. He also meets Mila’s brother Ashok who we later learn is planning to join up with a Nationalist movement plotting to bomb the car of the British Political agent. I found that not knowing the history behind the British occupation of India made it hard for me to understand some of the story. It was also somewhat confusing to have the story jump back and forth between Sam’s rescuing of the missionary, Sam staying at Raman’s house, and then forward to Olivia reading this letter she received in the trunk.

The setting is the West Indian desert, and the desert itself should be thought of as a character in the story. It is four days before a monsoon is expected to hit, and the heat has built up to the literal boiling point. The sands of the desert, the waves of heat, and then the monsoon itself, are forces to be reckoned with. Sam has not told anyone in Rudrakot that he is actually there to search for his brother Mike, who had been stationed with the Rudrakot Rifles regiment, but has gone missing. Sam figures out that his brother is being held in a prison detention center, which might as well be the bowels of hell. I shudder to think that this is based in reality.

Other minor characters come and go, all the stories weaving together in and out. Mila has been promised to Jai, the Raj of Rudrakot who lives in extravagant palaces and for whom money is no object. But her heart belongs to Sam, and that mere fact will have repercussions for all of the characters in the story.

I loved this book. I loved the lushness of it, the “love at first sight” romance between Sam and Mila, the mouth-watering descriptions of each meal that was prepared and served, the beautiful clothes. I sympathized with the prostitutes who kept the soldiers happy, yet couldn’t read or write, and so had to be tutored by Mila in secret. I found myself hoping by the end that Sam and Mila would find a way to ride off into the sunset together, even as I knew it couldn’t be possible. I loved Mila and Sam huddled together under a blanket during a sandstorm, exchanging stolen kisses. I was fascinated by the party thrown by Jai, the prince of Rudrakot and Mila’s intended husband-the dessert was milk foam set in saucers in greenhouses so it would be perfumed with the scent of roses.

Even if you don’t think you are a fan of historical fiction, I encourage you to pick up this book. If you like romance, intrigue, espionage, and excitement, this book has all of that and more.

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WhenMotherTalk first asked if I was interested in reviewing a set of books for beginning readers, I said yes even though my daughter hadn’t really started trying to read by herself yet. Well, I’m glad I did say yes, because Kaitlyn has recently started picking up books on her own and trying to read them, at 23 months old! So I was delighted to discover that what we were getting was a whole set of 12 beginning reader books:

The full title is Bob Books Set 1-Beginning Readers, text by Bobby Lynn Maslen, and pictures by John R. Maslen. I was curious to know more about the sweet and simple illustrations, so I went to the Bob Books website (which is wonderful, more about that in a minute) and learned that the Maslens met as students at the Rhode Island School of Design, that John is an award winning watercolor painter and architect, and that Bobby Lynn designed children’s clothes before becoming a teacher and creating the Bob Books.

In Set 1-Beginning Readers, each book teaches basic letter sounds and introduces the alphabet (except for the letter Q, I’m not sure why), with basic three-letter words, and short vowels. The first three books have a red cover, and black-and-white illustrations with splashes of red here and there. The titles are “Mat”, “Sam”, “Dot”, and “Mac”. As I read them to Kaitlyn, I point to the character I’m naming, and now, I can ask her “which one is Mat? Which one is Sam?”, and she points correctly! I’m sure it helps that Mat is sort of round, and Sam is sort of triangular-I like to think that she is making the connection between the shape of the character and their name. Her favorite book of these four is definitely “Dot”, who has a hat (one of Kaitlyn’s first words), a dog, and a cat. She points to the dog and says “uff, uff”, and points to the cat and makes her meow sound.

We haven’t gone past the first four books yet, because I want her to be able to say the words in each book before we move on. So far, she can say Mat, Sam, and something close to Dot, although the D sound is still a challenge for her. Once she is “reading” along, we’ll move on to the next three books, which introduce the short I and short U sounds, with the titles “Dot and Mit”, “Dot and the Dog”, “Jig and Mag”, and “Muff and Ruff”. These four are purple, with touches of purple in the illustrations.

The inside cover of each book lists the beginning sounds that will be introduced, whether a vowel or consonant. In the final four books of this beginning series, one of the books also introduces the numbers 1-10, and the plural s, and another covers the short E sound. These books are a lime green on the cover and inside, and the titles are “10 Cut-Ups”, “Peg and Ted”, “Lad and the Fat Cat”, and “The Vet”. I will be ecstatic if she is reading these by the time she goes to preschool!

For even more information about the Bob Books, and to get pages to download and color that go along with the stories, you should really check out the Bob Books website. It’s got the same vivid colors and sweet black-and-white illustrations as the books, a page to order all of the boxed sets separately or together, and my favorite, a 100% cotton Backpack featuring the Bob Books logo for only $4.95! Incredible deal!

I have to say, I wish I had known about these books when my boys were younger. Although I read age-appropriate books to them, we never had books that broke down the vowels sounds this way, or that started with just a few words and built from there using the same characters and words. I’m so glad we got these books through MotherTalk, and I plan to keep them where Kaitlyn can easily reach them and bring them to me to read to her. Or, perhaps like she did today, when she insisted that she wear her bathing suit, and then sat on the couch with her blankies and all the Bob Books spread out around her. That’s my girl!

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If I haven’t mentioned it here already, I am a huge fan of Young Adult fiction. I find YA to be some of the most creative, imaginative, and exciting fiction being written today. Of all the genres of YA fiction, and there are many, I prefer the Fantasy/Magic/Science Fiction genre. MotherTalk sent me the first book in The Remin Chronicles series, The Dark Dreamweaver, and I was once again transported to a magical world where anything is possible with enough imagination, and with help from friends!

The Dark Dreamweaver is the story of David, who dreads going to sleep at night because every night he has the same nightmare, about a tall, grey-haired man with pitch black eyes, holding a glass wand while glitter swirls in the air and black streams pass by overhead in the sky. His parents are worried as well, because the newspaper reports that there is a world wide epidemic of bad dreams. To keep David’s mind off of it, they collect monarch butterfly eggs and observe the life cycle of the monarch together.

One day, David realizes that one of the tiny monarch caterpillars is talking to him, asking for his help! It seems that the caterpillar is actually a wizard who was cursed by the tall man from David’s nightmares, Thane. Houdin the wizard and Thane both live in the world known as Remin, which is where dreams go to transform from imagination into the realistic images we see when we dream. Dreamweavers use power that comes from a device called the Imaginator to transform the dreams, and Thane has stolen it, and is turning all the dreams into nightmares. David needs to go with Houdin back to Remin to stop Thane and get back the Imaginator.

Once in Remin, David makes friends with Houdin’s friend Kira, sea serpents Fred and Michelle, a jellyfish-like creature named Aradel, a wolf-like creature named Queenie, and Sir Heads-a-lot, who carries button sized replaceable heads that let him transform into a variety of animals. Together as a group, they travel through Remin, solving puzzles both individually and as a group. In addition, David gets a wand from Houdin and learns to perform magic spells which come in handy whenever fire, water, earth, or air can help the group get out of a tight spot. I enjoyed and appreciated the emphasis on teamwork, on sticking together and letting each person in the group use their own special skills to help the team as a whole.

There were elements of some of the puzzles that reminded me of video games, which should appeal to the 8-14 year old age group that this book is aimed at. My son Ryan pointed that out to me, that the game called the “Magical Wrestle Fight” was similar to a video game, although neither of us understood why it was called a wrestle fight when there was no actual wrestling in it!

Also, this is the first Science Fiction book that I know of that combines the science of the life cycle of the monarch butterfly into the story. David carries Houdin the caterpillar in a tiny cage hung around his neck, and as the story progresses, Houdin hangs himself from the top of the cage in the shape of a “J”, then transforms into a chrysalis, and then finally emerges as a monarch butterfly. Author Nick Ruth and his wife homeschool their son David, and raising monarch butterflies is one of their interests. In the next book in the series, “The Breezes of Inspire”, the process of symbiosis, two life forms that live together, is used in the story.

In the end, Thane is defeated because he does not have the combined power of a group of friends behind him. David is returned to his house safe and sound, and discovers that he has the power to do magic and return to Remin if he wants. His next adventure takes him to the world known as “Inspire”, which is Sir Heads-a-lot’s world, so that should be interesting! I recommend this book to children reading at around the fifth grade level and up, and if you are homeschooling and doing a unit on life cycles and/or the monarch butterfly, this would be a great addition to your classes. Can you tell how much I loved this book? I hope you look for it at the library or bookstore and check it out!

This post brought to you by Mothertalk.

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Go into the self-help section of a bookstore or library and you will find hundreds, maybe thousands of books telling you how to get healthy. Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, anxiety-they all have their own section of books devoted just to that specific topic. But who has time to read that many separate books? Registered Pharmacist Suzy Cohen has written The 24-Hour Pharmacist, pulling together advice, product recommendations, and even actual cures for hundreds of ailments ranging from adrenal burnout to yeast infections. I was sent a copy of the book by Harper Collins as part of the Mother Talk book tour.

As I read through the book I started folding down the corner of any page that had advice I could use, and by the time I was done, I realized it would have been faster to just fold down the corners of pages I DIDN’T want to refer back to! Both the Table of Contents and Index are easy to search, either by which area of the body you need help with (”Above the Waist”, “Below the Waist”), or by specific ailment. I’ve got pages marked for which foods to eat and which foods to avoid for Anxiety disorders, how Coenzyme Q10 helps with weight loss, diet pills that are scams (that means you, TrimSpa) and supplements that might help, and all the Vitamin pages. One thing I have learned from reading this book is that not only should I START taking vitamins, but I should be taking a LOT of them.

My favorite chapter is number 16, titled Go Blow Your Nose-Just Not Near Me!, Bedtime Stories That Will Boost Your Immunity. These are the seven symptoms and product recommendations for colds:

In addition to working for two decades as a pharmacist, Suzy Cohen has a syndicated column “Dear Pharmacist”. I trust her recommendations, and I appreciate how detailed they are. Not only does she tell you what to take, she tells you which brands she has found to be the most reliable. Some need to be ordered online, but many are available at health-food stores found in malls, such as Vitamin World. You can do like I did and read the book straight through, marking the pages you want to refer back to, or use the Index to look up a specific ailment. Either way, you are sure to find useful, practical advice in The 24-Hour Pharmacist, you’ll save time and money finding the right products to use, and you will feel healthier. For a retail price of $14.95, that is a deal you should not pass up!

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