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Picture Books that Teach Kindness & Understanding

Disclosure: I am working with The Children's Book Review & REED Foundation for Autism by sharing these books with you. All opinions are my own.

April is Autism Awareness Month. I have a close friend who has a son on the spectrum. It is through them that I truly became aware of autism and what it is. Her son is highly functioning, but I know the difficulties he can have. When he was young I was one of the only people she allowed to pick him up from school besides herself or her husband. I feel blessed to have learned more about autism from him and I feel blessed to share these two amazing books with you. These books come from the REED Foundation for Autism. Inside each cover jacket it says: "The 'One Big Canvas' book series is an initiative of the REED Foundation for Autism. The series will feature a growing number of titles, characters, and storylines centered on understanding, accepting, and demonstrating kindness to all." The REED Foundation for Autism is committed to providing individuals with autism the opportunity to learn, live, work and thrive at every stage of their lives. For more information, please visit https://www.reedfoundationforautism.org.

Autism Awareness--Guest Blogger

Today I am going to do something I never do! I am having a guest blogger! My good friend is going to talk to you about her own experience of discovering and coping with her son's autism. My friend's son often plays differently than other children his age. One of the unique things he does involves lining items or toys up, something that is common in children with Autism. The pictures below depict some of his "creations" that my friend has randomly stumbled upon throughout the house. Now my friend is an wonderful mother and person and I am always so amazed with how she deals with what life has thrown her way and she does it with grace and style. So without further ado, here is my first guest blogger post.

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Mariam Shapera to bring you this review and giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Do you know anyone with autism? According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with autism as of 2020. It is getting diagnosed more often. In 2000 the statistic was 1 in 150. It is also four times more common in boys than girls. (Source) I teach and have taught many students on the autism spectrum. I also have friends who kids' have been diagnosed with it. In fact, the only time I have had a guest blogger was my friend sharing her own experience as the mother of an autistic child. Today I get to share a very special picture book about a boy with autism and some of his behaviors, characteristics, etc. The book is Jo's Special Gifts by Mariam Shapera and illustrated by Lorna Humphreys.

Disclosure: I was sent this pair of slippers to review free of charge from Dearfoams. 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. They are also providing a pair of slippers for the giveaway.

You may have read the wonderful post by my good friend, Scarlett. If you did not, please do so. It is so moving and will help anyone be kind and helpful to parents with an autistic child. Well I was contacted by a company representing Dearfoams. Dearfoams has an amazing program going on right now. For every pair of slippers ordered from dearfoam.com this month, they are donating $1 to Autism Speaks. They are willing to donate up to $3,000. Now Autism Speaks is a charity Scarlett holds dear and near her heart. As a result, it is one I hold dear and near my heart as well. So I hope you will go over to Dearfoams and check out their great slippers. They have many fun styles for the summer.

Now they sent me a pair of the Summer Fur Slides in blue for Autism Awareness month. They gave me a few choices, but I liked the blue ones for the month. After all we are lighting it up blue this month. They are so comfortable and soft. They are fun and can be worn outside since they have a rubber sole.

Can you see yourself out by the pool in these? Talk about comfort shoes!! It gets better--they are machine washable!! So if they get some dirt, water or food on them, you can throw them in the washing machine for easy care. Let's face it, as moms we need everything to be machine washable.

My only complaint, which is more about my feet than the slippers, is that I have slightly wide feet and slightly high arches, so they fit a bit tight. I think the fur straps will stretch over time though so that complaint will go away. (However my issues with all shoes will not as a result of my feet--this is why I tend to be in socks or barefoot at home.)

Now I have been affected by autism as a teacher as well as a friend. I consider Scarlett's children like family. I am on the emergency contact list for her son's school, because I am one of the people she trusts with him in an open space. He is what we call a bolter. Now Hazel LOVES to chase him and they play chase all the time, but it can be difficult in an open space. He knows with me to hold my hand, and he is such a sweet boy. My biggest struggle with all of this is trying to explain his behavior to Hazel. He has a very hard time understanding people's emotions. So when he is running away from Hazel for a game of chase and she is laughing is the same to him as when he is running away and she is crying and/or screaming at him. For awhile I used the excuse that he was younger than her, but I knew that would not work forever and thought it was time to try to explain a bit more. Hazel now knows he has a disability. She understands disabilities since she has seen people with different ones. I am not sure she completely gets the lack of understanding emotion cues, but we are working on it. She at least knows if he is doing something she does not like, to come get me or Scarlett to help her. How I deal with Chickadee is to do my best to mimic Scarlett. She is so amazing with him and I just try to copy what she says and how she says it.

This past weekend we had my nephew visiting. Steve and I took him and Hazel to the Science Museum in Boston. Hazel was being her typical slow eater self and the boys had finished lunch. I suggested Steve take our nephew to the gift shop since our plan was for him to choose a birthday gift there since his birthday is a month away. Well a mother and a boy came over and asked if they could sit at our table while it was just me and Hazel. The boy noticed my soda bottle and asked where I got it. He had a cup for soda, but had not seen the bottle. I could tell from how he was speaking and acting he had a slight disability and his boldness definitely made his mother uneasy. I answered him and told him the truth was we didn't know there were cups or we would have gotten those. His mother seemed to relax as I acted like it was completely normal conversation. It is moments like this that I understand more about how Scarlett says our behavior is supportive and how easily it can be to not be supportive. Yes, the boy at the museum reminded me of Chickadee (just in a few years). So I try to remember when I'm out not to judge people by their child's behavior. You do not know what they are going through. Just a friendly reminder.

Now onto our giveaway!! If you want to wait and see if you can win a pair of these fun Summer Fur Slides, enter below. Please follow my Giveaway Rules! Or if you cannot wait (and want $1 of your purchase to go to Autism Speaks) head over to Dearfoams and order your pair!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kids Like Us -- Young Adult Novel Review

Disclosure: Macmillan Publishing sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I am sharing another book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long without sharing it. It is a young adult novel that delves into the world of autism.

For April Fools Day, Hazel's school had mismatch day. The principal sent out notices to the families that it would be a day where kids required to wear uniforms, wouldn't need to and all the kids so try to dress mismatched. Hazel loved the idea. To complete the look she wore different shoes as well.

April brings Easter!! We will be focusing on Easter and spring crafts as well as doing some posts on Easter around the world and multicultural Easter books. Yesterday we shared our first Easter Around the World post with the sawdust carpets of Guatemala. We also have done an Easter craft round-up here.

You may remember a few weeks ago we shared some spring crafts from Oriental Trading. One of the crafts was Sparkly Easter Eggs. I finished making all but one of the eggs. I decided to only make one of each how the craft was meant to be done and got creative on the rest. Hazel will be making the last one and I'm leaving it up to her how she wants to do it. I made hearts, crosses, horizontal stripes, spots, and spirals. Then I hung them all in the plant/tree we have in our entry.

Tomorrow is Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness. I have a good friend whose oldest son recently was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. She happens to be an occupational therapist whose past job (before becoming a stay-at-home mom) was working in an elementary school with autistic (and other disabled) children. She has been asked to start a blog of her own by Autism Speaks. She is in the process of doing it, but first she is going to be my one and only guest poster to help all of us become more aware of autism. I usually do not allow anyone else to guest post here, but I think her insight and information will be invaluable to us all and I trust her completely to post responsibly, so join us tomorrow for lighting it up blue!!

We also have our regular monthly events like Virtual Book Club for Kids and Around the World in 12 Dishes.

April's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids is Denise Fleming! Denise Fleming does the art and words for her books with some help from her artist husband. In her own words:

"My books do not have many words, but I start with hundreds of words—writing and rewriting until I have just the right words to tell the story.(I love strong words, action words, words that convey movement and sound. And I love rhyme.)" Denise Fleming (Source)

So much of her work is the art in the books. They are fun and beautiful!! Have you enjoyed any of her books yet? I hope you will join us April 14th to see what we do with her books!

For Around the World in 12 Dishes we will be exploring Portugal! I hope you join us April 21st to see what exciting foods everyone makes from Portugal and learn a bit about this wonderful country. I will be writing an introduction to the country for the Around the World in 12 Dishes blog.

That gives you an idea of what we have coming up this month!! I hope you will join us!!

The Monsters of Marymount Mansion --Book Review, Giveaway and Craft Round-Up

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Gregory C. Allen to bring you this post and giveaway.

Today I am continuing my Halloween themed books with one about monsters. It is part of The Children's Book Review Virtual Book Tour of The Monsters of Marymount Mansion by Gregory C. Allen and illustrated by Shelby Goodwin. This book is an early reader chapter book that has wonderful themes about new experiences, accepting differences and so much more. There is a giveaway at the end of the post and I am including a fun monster craft round-up to go with the book!

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I am sharing a book that is suggested for grades 3-7. It is touching and such a real life story. It deals with death, a sibling with autism and being a 13-year-old and all life brings with it. The book is The Girl with More Than One Heart by Laura Geringer Bass.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Did you know April is Autism Awareness Month? Today we are sharing a book by an author with autism as well as night-blindness and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). She wrote a picture book sharing a bit of what it is like to have these "invisible" disabilities based on her own experiences as well as to get kids imaginations going. The book is Eliza Dee's Universes by Rebecca Finch Vitsmun and illustrated by Victoria Mikki. It is recommended for ages baby through 12.

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I am sharing some various religious books for different ages. Two are for kids and two are for adults. This is really just a mishmash of a round-up, so I hope there is something here for everyone. Our first book is a book of prayers from different religions and cultures. It is Talking to God: Prayers for Children from the World's Religions by Demi.

Disclosure: I was paid a nominal sum for sharing and reviewing these podcasts with you. All opinions are my own.

In our world today we have just about everything at our fingertips. We can give our kids our smart phones or tablets to entertain them. Kids today are glued to the television or some form of technology. When Hazel was young we started her at a Waldorf school. One of the things I loved about the Waldorf philosophy was the no technology rule. They actually took it even further for the younger kids. They encouraged storytelling without books or with wordless books. The philosophy believed that preschool kids' bodies were developing so fast at that time that the body should be allowed to do its growing without the burden of trying to work to learn letters and words. The art of storytelling seems to be gone especially during this pandemic. However storytelling is important for our kids' development. From stories kids learn virtues and good character especially from stories that demonstrate it. Kids will often copy the behavior they see or hear about. This is why we turn to fairy tales over and over. The basic tales have good overcoming evil over and over again. The honest, kind, good people are rewarded while the dishonest and cheaters are punished or lose.

Sharing Saturday 14-15

Have you entered my current giveaway?

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! As always there were so many inspiring ideas! I had a very hard time picking out features this week. I decided featuring 17 of them was a bit too many and cut it down. I love getting to look at them all, and I hope you have had a chance to check them all out. For features I decided to go with the holiday ones: Easter and Passover since both are happening soon. We had a Most Clicked this week from Crafty Journal: Rockin' Peeps.

Some of My Holiday Favorites

1) From Teaching Every Day: Egg Carton Masks
2) From Planet Smarty Pants: Preparing for Passover
3) From Zing Zing Tree: Needle Felt Easter Bunny
4) From Capri + 3: Torn Tissue Paper Decorated Plastic Eggs
5) From Crystal's Tiny Treasures: Washi Paper Easter Egg
6) From Sparkling Buds: Avocado Pit Egg Carvings
7) From From Wesens-Art: Eggs - Owls
8) From From The Mommy Talks: A Variety of Easter Activities (Paper Cup Ascension Craft Pictured)

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: This week we shared a new version of Beauty and the Beast with West African inspired pictures, Easter in Ukraine and Russia, Easter in France, Portugal and Spain, and a review and giveaway of Dearfoams Summer Fur Slides with information on how purchases can support autism awareness!

Coming next week will be more Easter celebrations around the world and some Easter books and posts plus our post for Virtual Book Club for Kids!

Please enter the giveaway for Dearfoams!

Now for This Week's Party
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1) Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).

2) Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc. Remember to link to your actual post.

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Sharing Saturday 18-31

We are back to weekly Sharing Saturdays!! It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. So glad you joined us!!

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And if you have any cultural or diverse posts be sure to share them over at Multicultural Kid Blogs Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

April is a month full of things I care about. We just had Easter weekend. April 2nd is World Autism Day. Earth Day is fast approaching, and it is National Poetry Month. I shared the first book last week that is a great one to share on Earth Day and will be sharing more this month. Today I want to focus on a new poetry book. It is You Don't Have to Be Everything edited by Diana Whitney. It was released March 30th.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Carole P. Roman and will receive a small stipend for my review. All opinions are my own.

Looking for a fun book for middle school and high school kids? Do they love super heroes and adventure? Check out today's book, Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex by Carole P. Roman. Now I will admit I love Carole P. Roman's books for younger children in the past and shared several of them here before. Carole has also been an author sponsor of Multicultural Children's Book Day in the past as many of her books, including this one, are multicultural.

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts.

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was another great party and there were some amazing ideas shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groups of features: Current Events, Parenting, and Lessons & More Features.

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am amazed by all the great ideas! These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of Gardening and Bees, Booking Across America, and Some Favorites.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! As always there were so many inspiring ideas! I love getting to look at them all, and I hope you have had a chance to check them all out. For today's features I have two categories. The first is a few of the science posts and the second is the rest of my features.

Science Features

1) From Life with Moore Babies: Spring Into Learning Science
2) From Little Bins for Little Hands: Plastic Easter Egg Races: Exploring Ramps Angles
3) From JDaniel4's Mom: Cool Science Experiment: Making Spider Eggs
4) From Gift of Curiosity: Exploring Glitter Putty

Other Features

1) From the 11 year-old daughter of Blu Lace UK: Her own creation of a scarf (her mother sent me a picture to share with you)
2) From Winegums and Watermelons: How to Make a Rainbow Pinwheel
3) From Life Lesson Plans: Art History Eggs
4) From Bible Fun for Kids: Preschool Alphabet: D is for Disciples of Jesus
5) From A Bountiful Love: Letter of the Week: Dd
6) From Tot Schooling: Egg Carton Recycled Easter Crafts

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: This week was a busy week as usual and we have my nephew visiting from North Carolina. However we had time to share Easter in Guatemala (come see the sawdust carpets and stay tuned for more countries), April Happenings with our finished sparkling Easter eggs, my first ever guest post -- Autism Awareness -- a must read for everyone, Multicultural Easter Book Round-up and Link Party (help me create a wonderful list of multicultural Easter books).

Now for This Week's Party
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1) Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Picture Books that Teach Kindness & Understanding

Autism Awareness--Guest Blogger

Jo's Special Gifts -- Review & Giveaway

Dearfoams Slippers for Autism Awareness -- Product Review & Giveaway

Kids Like Us -- Young Adult Novel Review

April Happenings

The Monsters of Marymount Mansion --Book Review, Giveaway and Craft Round-Up

The Girl With More Than One Heart -- a Middle Grades Novel about Dealing with Loss as Well as a Sibling on the Spectrum

Eliza Dee's Universes -- New Picture Book Sharing the World of a Girl with hEDS

Religious Books for Different Ages

Dorktales -- a Funny Podcast Series for Families

Sharing Saturday 14-15

Sharing Saturday 18-31

You Don't Have to Be Everything -- review of new poetry book for young adult girls about growing up

Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex -- Review & Giveaway

Sharing Saturday 17-6

Sharing Saturday 15-17

Sharing Saturday 14-14

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