Moms Inspire Learning

Open 2 Books: Give Me a Library, and I'll Show You the World

"They sailed past volcanoes and mountaintops, past coral reefs and deserts, between dark rows of bookshelves, and right out the door of the children's room." ~Daniel Kirk, author of Library Mouse: A World to Explore

I'd love to visit that library!

Imagine a place where books come to life through art, music, and movement?! Would anyone ever be able to claim that reading is boring ever again? The youngest readers certainly would not.

His Passion is a Big Deal

As you all know, I'm extremely picky with the people and products that I choose to promote. They have to be extraordinary, and to me that means that they have to make our inner and outer worlds better in some way.

With the plethora of options that are out there, it's so important to make informed choices. I really believe that every single one of us can change the world with each dollar we spend.

Open 2 Books: The Mystery of Motivation

Okay, so following through on last week's discussion of two picture books in Daniel Kirk's Library Mouse series, Sam's friends are all book characters, until a boy named Tom discovers his secret and becomes his "pen pal." I don't want to ruin the book's mystery by giving away all of the details, so I'll just leave it at that.

I love a good mystery, don't you? When you stop and think about it, the best of teachers and writers use it to spark interest in a lesson or a book. In Daniel Kirk's case, he's using a secret to motivate children to read, write, and visit the library. What a genius!

Open 2 Books: To write well, you first need to...

"Sam could not understand why people thought that writing and making up stories was so hard. If only they would try, they might find out that writing was really lots of fun."

~Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk

Open 2 Books: Lions, Libraries, and Friendship

We'll close out the month by taking a little break from food, and connecting more dots of reading and children's books. As the picture books I've been writing about will mainly appeal to children between the ages of 3 and 8, I realize that some of you may feel left out of the equation.

Open 2 Books: Food, Culture, and Communication

Before we move on to other related subjects, I wanted to add an extra dose of cultural understanding into our healthy eating mix. Food connects us in so many ways, but it can also divide us, if we let it. Fear of the unknown can prevent us from learning and growing.

The Stone in the Soup of Education

"We have overwhelming evidence that libraries work." ~Stephen Krashen (author of The Power of Reading)

Open 2 Books: There's so much more to rabbits than carrots.

On second thought, I prefer the word "open" to the word "take." So, as you can see, I renamed this series "Open 2 Books." I like it a lot better because it suggests that people not only open more than one book, but that they BE open to books in the first place! Not everyone is, I'm afraid.

And so, today we connect the dots of carrots and rabbits. In the process, we go back and forth between real and imaginary worlds. So, who better to lead us on that journey than my favorite children's books author, Leo Lionni?

Unwrapping the Final Gifts of Share a Story Literacy Blog Tour

Wow! What a week it's been. I've been quiet since Tuesday because there's so much reading to do. I hope you've been enjoying the 2011 Share a Story, Shape a Future blog literacy tour as much as I have!

My Picture Book Recipe for Raising Healthy Eaters

"Something magical began to happen among the villagers. As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more. And as this happened, the soup grew richer and smelled more delicious." ~excerpt from Jon J. Muth's picture book, Stone Soup

This unique version of a classic European tale goes along nicely with this year's theme of the Share a Story, Shape a Future blog tour, which is "Unwrapping the Gift of Literacy."  

In case you're not already familiar with this story, three monks arrive in a Chinese village and find everyone keeping to themselves behind closed doors and windows. In hopes of bringing some happiness to the reclusive people, they start gathering supplies to make stone soup.