I had another great visit at the AC Whelan School in Revere as they were winding down the school year!

CLICK HERE to check out the rest of the photos!

It's May 1st, and Scholastic is kicking off their Summer Reading Challenge!  Scholastic calls the challenge "a free online program designed to motivate and excite your children around reading books this summer.  The Summer Challenge is an easy and fun way for kids to log the minutes they spend reading as they earn rewards and help Read for the World Record."

There are also some great book lists for all age groups, fun reading activities, a new Scholastic Reading Timer App (coming soon), digital rewards (chapter book exerpts, audio clips, activity sheets, badges and more) plus you can help Scholastic break The Read for the World Record Challenge!

CLICK HERE to get your child signed up now!  My suggestion is you don't want to wait until the school year ends or they'll be totally in "summer mode." Can't wait until the app launches!  My niece is always looking for new ones to put on her iPod Touch and getting her to have a reading app would make me SO happy!

If you're looking for a fun new read for your child, here you go!  Out today, it's The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.  It's for children 8 and older and my niece and I read an exerpt last night.  Oh, and she insisted that we read it with a British accent.  Hers is pretty good!  In the little that we read, we're both hooked.  It's a fun, funny and charming (I know, I know) story.  Can't wait to get through the rest of it!  This is a great book to read aloud with your child.  Enjoy!

Synopsis from Amazon.com

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never
heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty,
Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those
lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming.
But all of this is about to change. Rejected by their princesses and cast out of
their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that
could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it's up to them to triumph over their
various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other
assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Debut author Christopher Healy takes us on a journey with four imperfect
princes and their four improbable princesses, all of whom are trying to become
perfect heroes—a fast-paced, funny, and fresh introduction to a world where
everything, even our classic fairy tales, is not at all what it seems.

RIF (Reading is Fundamental) is out with a new PSA called Book People Unite.

Love seeing all our childhood friends!

Have a child who loves animals? What kid doesn't?  You might want to check out Neversink.  The book was just released by author Barry Wolverton and is described this way on Amazon...

Along the Arctic Circle lies a small island called Neversink, whose jagged cliffs and ice-gouged rocks are home to a colony of odd-looking seabirds called auks, including one Lockley J. Puffin. With their oceanfront views and plentiful supply of fish, the auks have few concerns—few, save for Lockley's two best friends, Egbert and Ruby, a know-it-all walrus and a sharp-tongued hummingbird.

But all of this is about to change. Rozbell, the newly crowned king of the Owl Parliament, is dealing with a famine on the mainland of Tytonia—and he has long had his scheming eyes on the small colony to the north. Now Neversink's independence hangs in the balance. An insurgence of owls will inevitably destroy life as the auks know it—unless Lockley can do something about it.

Barry Wolverton's debut is an epic tale of some very un-epic birds, a fast-paced and funny story of survival, friendship, and fish.

The book is for ages 8 and up, and grades 3 and up.  Here's an exerpt for you to check out. 

Neversink Chapter Excerpt

I have been waiting for this forever!!!  The Harry Potter eBooks are finally available!  I am ashamed to say that I have never read them, and  I have been waiting for them to come out as eBooks.  Well, they have arrived on the Pottermore website.  I just downloaded the entire
collection and can't wait to get reading!

Each book costs between $7.99 and $9.99.  The entire collection goes for $57.54.

Happy reading!

I'm going to preface this by saying that I am a HUGE fan of the Hunger Games  books, and my thoughts about the movie are coming from that perspective. I had  the opportunity to see the movie at a press screening (and again at the midnight screening and was blown away by the  movie. Of course as a fan I was worried about whether the movie would do the  books justice (which they hardly ever do) and I was pleasantly surprised.

First let me address the cast. When I first heard about Jennifer Lawrence and  Josh Hutcherson being cast as Katniss and Peeta, like other HG fans, I wasn't  feeling it. Boy were we wrong! Jennifer is perfection as Katniss. I was so  impressed with how she totally nailed her toughness, her determination, her  drive and her compassion. And Josh. Oh Josh, how I love you. You ARE Peeta. I  remember hearing HG author Suzanne Collins talking about Josh's audition and  said, "But I tell you, if Josh had been bright purple and had six-foot wings  and gave that audition, I'd have been like, 'Cast him! We can work around the  wings.' He was that good." Well Bravo Ms. Collins and director Gary Ross.  You were right. Team Peeta. And it's not just the two of them, Liam Hemsworth as  Gale, Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Woody Harrelson as  Haymich, Stanley Tucci as Caesar, Amandla Stenberg as Rue ...I could go on and  on. They were all perfect!

People have asked me if it was true to the book and I have to say yes. Some  things weren't exactly as I pictured it in my head, but I'm ok with that. All I  really wanted out of this movie was for them to show how badass Katniss is, to  follow the main events as they happened in the book, and to fall in love with  Peeta all over again. For me...done, done and done!

I'm a big believer in reading the books before the movie, and in this case  I've been begging people to do that. It is such a well written book, you get to  have your own vision of it first, and in the case of the Hunger Games, I feel  that you have a better appreciation of the movie. For me, there were things that  happened in the movie that I felt I got on a deeper level because I had read the  books.

Of course as a Twilight fan, I have to address the comparisons. You know I  love Twilight dearly, but looks like there's some competition for my heart. I  have to say that I'm a little bothered by the comparisons. I know that it's  tempting to do because both have a passionate, crazed fanbase, but come on, they  are SO different. The one thing I will say, and it hurts my heart to say it, is  that I do feel that the Hunger Games movie was done much better than the  Twilight movies. Wow! I feel like a mother who just said she loves one of her  children more than the other one. BUT, in Twilight's defense, it had a $37  million dollar budget to work with (first movie) and the Hunger Games had $75  mil.

No matter what anyone thinks about this movie, it's going to be a major  blockbuster. Insiders estimate the movie will make about $145 million dollars!  The final Harry Potter movie holds the record for the biggest opening ever at  $169.2 million. I remember hearing Jennifer Lawrence saying that she was a  little hesitant at first about taking the role because she knew how much it  would change her life. Well, get ready girl because you'll never be able to eat  out in public in peace again!

I would love to hear what you think once you see it. Make sure you leave a  comment here or hit me up at Pebbles@Jamn945.com. Enjoy, and May the odds be  ever in your favor! I know...I couldn't resist!

I had an amazing time with an incredible group of kids and teachers at the Haynes Early Education Center in Roxbury.  Here's the class I read to, and here are the books we read.

Chick and Pug by Jennifer Sattler

Spoon by Amy Krause Rosenthal

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type

Thanks for having me Haynes!!!

Peter H. Reynolds is an incredibly talented author/illustrator and I have many of his children's books including two of my favorites The Dot and Ish.  Plant a Kiss is his latest and in this one, the only word that comes to mind when I saw it was magical!  I mean come on, a book with glitter in it! 

Well, this weekend there's a great opportunity for your child to meet Peter and actually draw with him.  He is the co-owner of Blue Bunny Books and Toys and he'll be there on Friday for a very special event.

It's on Saturday, March 24th from 10am - noon at 577 High Street in Dedham.  It's the 3rd annual Draw On Day, where kids can participate in a drop-in art studio.  It's an all ages event and best of all...it's FREE!  What a great opportunity and experience for your child.

For more info, go to Blue Bunny's website