Moms Inspire Learning

Summer Reading Should Be Fun, Part 2

Flip Flops...check.

A beach umbrella...check.

Fruit, watermelon perhaps? Check.

A good book...check.

These are just a few ingredients for my summer fun beach recipe! Of course, I never leave home without a bottle of sunscreen or a pair of sunglasses, either.

Snack for the Mind: Take a Picture Book Break!

Many of us have at least one children's book that we keep coming back to. You know the one.

It could be the very first one that comes to mind right now, or it could be one you haven't thought about in a while. But it's still there, in your heart.

The Web Thickens...

There are so many ways to create a web of learning with picture books. Literature themes are not just for preschoolers.

I strongly believe that parents and teachers can weave an inspiring web of children's books no matter what subject they're teaching. It's a great way to differentiate learning for various ages and levels of students.

Spiders, Webs, and Literacy

What's the first picture book that comes to your mind? What was it that made it memorable? Was it the actual book, or the person you were reading it with? Was it the illustrations?

Why do some children's books draw us in right away, while others we struggle to get through?

Don't Squash that Spider!

Charlotte's Web reminds us of the power and magic of words and imagination. It's a book that every child should have the opportunity to listen to, and eventually read on her own.

It might be a work of fiction, but the reality is that without children's books, how would we ever spin a web of literacy?

The World According to Picture Books

What I love most about picture books is that they take the youngest of readers to places they otherwise might never visit. A library card really is like a passport to real and imaginary worlds; and some children's books stay with us forever, like memories of real trips usually do.

Spinning a Web of Literacy

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch." ~E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

With words like these, how could anyone ever say that children's books are only for children? I read Charlotte's Web with my children when they were 5 and 3, and it's such a masterpiece that you take something special away from it no matter how old you are. It's one of those books that you have to read at least a few times during your lifetime. I hope to read it again this summer.

By the way, if you missed my previous Top 10 Ways to Raise an Avid Reader posts, you'll find that I mentioned this book within one of the tips. That's how much I love it!

A World of Water, Part 5

"The water you drank today may have rained down on the Amazon rain forest five years ago."

What a great way to spark a conversation about water, huh? Picture books can be great conversation starters, and One Well: The Story of Water on Earth (CitizenKid), by Rochelle Strauss, certainly is no exception.

After writing a few posts relating to water last year, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this extremely informative children's book recently, and just had to tell you all about it! It's a great complement to the other books I had selected, since it's geared for children between the ages of 9 and 12.

The Question of YA Book-Based Movies

Did your tween ever come home from a sleepover talking about an R-rated movie a friend's parent let them watch? It's happened to me a few times over the past couple of years. It's bad enough that many tweens are viewing PG-13 movies without the guidance of their parents, but R movies?

While movie ratings are clearly a gray area as it is, the subject becomes even more complex when it comes to YA books turned into movies. For example, the film industry seems to be taking young adult books, such as Twilight and Confessions of a Shopaholic, and turning them into movies which are marketed to a much younger audience than the author intended them for.