Sharing Saturday 15-30

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Last week had some great ideas. The features are just a sampling of what was shared last week, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!! This weeks features are summer and August related, crafts and a couple of favorites. Enjoy!!!

Lebanese Music and Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this cookbook free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Since July is ending, it seems only fitting to finish our exploration of Lebanon with you. Besides the books and DVD we found at the library we also found some CDs with a few songs from Lebanon. Putumaya Presents Sahara Lounge has four Lebanese songs and the other two CDs each have one. 

Honey Bees, House Fly and Itzy Spider -- Book Reviews & Crafts

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are going to share three fun books about bugs from Candlewick Press. Hazel and I enjoyed all three of these books. Some were educational and others were funny and fun or a combination of them. We also found some fun crafts to go along with each of them! I hope you check them all out. We love all of them!!

The first book is Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber and illustrated by Brian Lovelock. This story is in the written in the same way as many of the Candlewick Press books about animals. There is a story about one honey bee, a scout, and then little pieces of information on the sides. We love these books and have reviewed several (Emus, Hippos, Elephants, Big Red Kangaroo). This book shares the job of a scout bee as well as information about honey bees. It is informative and fun. It also shares the jobs of all the bees in the hive and the order the bees get each job. Then at the end it discusses the threat to honey bees and ways to help. We loved it!!

Wind Catcher -- Multicultural Young Adult Book Review

Disclosure: Evolved Publishing & Novel Publicity sent me a copy of this book free of charge in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

I have a confession. I enjoy reading young adult books. Perhaps it is from teaching high school for so long and checking out the books my students were reading, or maybe now it is due to the fact that I have so little time to read for me and young adult books tend to be easy reads, but either way I tend to enjoy them. One of my friends got me hooked on the Twilight Saga and now I have the honor of sharing the first book in a series that I quite honestly say I enjoyed more than Twilight. The book is Wind Catcher by Jeff Altabef and Erynn Altabef. It is the first book in the Chosen Novel Series. The second book, Brink of Dawn, is coming out this fall, and I have to say I cannot wait to read it. 

Exploring Lebanon -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we have joined the Global Learning for Kids in exploring Lebanon. I have to admit that I do not know much about Lebanon so this really was an exploration for me as well as for Hazel. Unfortunately I did not find many resources that are age appropriate for Hazel. Although the Middle East is part of Asia, we are separating it with North Africa into its own cultural month. Multicultural Kid Blogs has decided August will be Middle East and North Africa Heritage Month. I hope you will join us for it. Our exploration of Lebanon is a preview.

Sharing Saturday 15-29

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Last week had some great ideas. The features this week fall in a crafty activities and music and more. This is just a sampling of what was shared last week, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!!

Where You Go....I Go Book Buddies Review & Craft

Disclosure: Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

For July's Book Buddies, Parragon Books sent us Where You Go ... I Go by Beth Shoshan and illustrated by Petra Brown. This is a sweet book told in the point of view of a young elephant talking to his mother. The book goes through a day in the life of the elephant. 

Happy Birthday, Cupcake! Book Review and Play Date

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review and are providing the book for the giveaway. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am sharing the next book after Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terry Border. The new book released earlier this month is Happy Birthday, Cupcake! It has many of the same characters as Peanut Butter and Cupcake as well as the same type of pictures. Hazel and I were introduced to Peanut Butter and Cupcake at a story time at Barnes and Noble. In Happy Birthday, Cupcake! Cupcake tries to plan her birthday party. She wants to invite all of her friends. She asks her friend, Muffin, to help. 

Avoiding the Summer Slide with Free Programs

Before I get into today's post, I have to share with you what made me so proud of Hazel yesterday. She had decided she wanted to get her hair cut. She was not sure what she wanted to do, but mentioned the possibility of donating it again. With it long it gets tangled very easily and she hates brushing them out. Well at the hairdresser she decided she did want to donate it and got a cut similar to mine. She was very excited this morning to brush her own hair and put her own barrettes into it.

Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue DVD Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copy of this DVD free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

We are so excited in my house!! Today the newest Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue is being released. We discovered Mia and Me just a couple of weeks ago thanks to PBS Kids. They sent us the first DVD, Mia and Me: Discover Centopia. Hazel watched it three times in two days. Needless to say she loves Mia and Me! Well this new DVD did not disappoint us either. 

The Thunder Egg Book Review - Multicultural Monday

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

 For Multicultural Monday, I am reviewing a new book called The Thunder Egg by Tim J. Myers and illustrated by Winfield Coleman. This fictional story is about a Cheyenne girl, Stands-by-Herself, who is a bit of a loner and a dreamer. The other youth often tease her since she is so different. However one day she finds a rock that looks like an egg. Her grandmother tells her it looks like a thunderbird egg. Stands-by-Herself takes care of the thunderbird egg like it is her child. Then one summer when the rains will not come and the people are starving, she sacrifices the egg to the thunderbird. That night there is thunder and great lightning and the tree she left the egg under is split. She goes to the peak where she left it and finds the rock is split open with crystals inside. 

Creative Kids Culture Hop #29

Please Note: This is NOT Sharing Saturday. Sharing Saturday is still available, but this link party is for cultural posts only!

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time! Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.

Sharing Saturday 15-28

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were many fun ideas shared last week. If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Activity & Games Features, Teaching Features, Arts & Crafts Features and Food Features. Enjoy!!

SOUFEEL Bracelet Review - Mommy Time

Disclosure: I was sent this bracelet and charms to review free of charge from SOUFEEL. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Every once in awhile I get asked to review an adult item. Some I decide not to do and others I think you might like and do. This is one of those items. I was asked by SOUFEEL to pick a starter bracelet and some charms to review costing around $100. I let Hazel help pick the charms. She is hoping to get the bracelet when she is older. 

Hazel trying it on

The Fairy Tale Handbook Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

My review today is of Hazel's newest favorite book. She has read this book over the phone about three or four times to my parents for her nightly story to them in the week or so that we have had it. She absolutely loves it! The book is The Fairy-Tale Handbook by Libby Hamilton and illustrated by Tomislav Tomic. 

 Now it could be all the fun things to do in this book. Every page has something to open and lots to read and do. The book tells readers about various fairy tales some Hazel has never heard as well as the characters. It goes through forests, the wild wood with the villains, animals, magical villains, thumb-size characters, towns, princesses, palaces and homes and end with Cinderella's wedding and all the characters are guests. It has a little quiz at the end as well. It even has a few of the fairy tales in little books that you open on the pages.

Mini Knitted Woodland and Safari Book Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Search Press. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I am reviewing two fun knitting books. Both books make miniature animals and accessories, one is safari animals and the other is woodland animals. Both are written by Sachiyo Ishii. 

We will start with Mini Knitted Safari. I mentioned my knitted hippo back in April when I began it, but then the end of the school year stuff got in the way. I finally finished it, and it really should not have taken more than a day if I knitted consistently and was not so tired and distracted. Once I picked it up again I finished it right up.

DVD Reviews: Caillou Helps Out, Peg + Cat Rocks, and Mia and Me Discover Centopia

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are going to share three more PBS Kids DVDs with you. The first is the latest Caillou DVD: Caillou Helps Out. The DVD was released last month. If you have read Crafty Moms Share from the beginning, you may remember that Caillou was Hazel's favorite show when she was young. Although we do not watch him much anymore she still enjoys seeing him.

Multicultural Monday-- Kevin So

The weekend after Hazel's last day of school this year, Kevin So was playing in Cambridge at a venue I felt would be safe for Hazel called Club Passim. Hazel was really excited to go to her first "rock" concert and even more excited that I know Kevin So. I met Kevin back in my teaching days when I ran a diversity club. After having him come perform at the school for our diversity celebration I started going to his shows. He lived in Boston then and was playing around the area often. We got to know each other. I had all of his CDs up to the time he left for New York and then Nashville. Over the years his music style has changed, but it is still great. It is original and he sings often about his own experiences as a Chinese American.

Sharing Saturday 15-27

Thank you to everyone who shared the last two weeks!! With the USA celebrating its Independence Day last week, we did a two week long party. There were many fun ideas shared! If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Summer Features, Outside Summer Features and Some Favorites. Enjoy!!

White Water Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I get the pleasure of reviewing White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein and illustrated by Shadra Strickland. This story was inspired by a true story and although it is about Segregation it is a story to which  most people can relate.

Cheap Doll Finds

This has been a tough week in our house. The other day at a play date Hazel dropped her favorite 18-inch doll on the floor head first. And a tragedy happened. The rod holding the head on to the doll broke and the doll was decapitated. I looked at her and realized she was not easily fixable. Hazel was a mess and of course this had to happen right as we were about to sing Happy Birthday to her friend. Steve is going to try to glue the head back on, but it will not be able to move anymore.