Accomplished author, food critic, and mother of three, Julie Halpert was my guest on Soapbox Radio - recorded live today.
Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she’s been a journalist for twenty years with articles in the New York Times , Newsweek , the Washington Post and many other publications. Halpert is currently teaching a course on environmental journalism at her alma mater, the University of Michigan (go blue!).
What’s she doing now? She’s touring the country to talk about her new book (which she co-authored with Deborah Carr, Ph.D.) and she made a stop on the Soapbox .
My apologies to my regular readers. I know I’ve been a little AWOL this past week. I spent most of it dedicating my time to a book sale at one of my kids’ schools. Remember the book fair last fall? Well…this event was markedly different from that one.
For decades, our PTO has run the fair in the fall. We have dozens of volunteers and even make a floor plan for the set up. We buy funky decorations and just go all out. In some years, the co-chairs have even served passed hors d’oeuvres for the teachers during their special preview day. We toned that down a bit, but still…we make a ton of money, have a lot of fun and, most important of all, we get books (thousands of them!) in the hands of kids and their teachers.
But last week’s shindig was supposed to be different. Not as big, not as much planning, not as many volunteers.
Check out my other blog to learn more about the reading challenge I’ve decided to join.
Headed by my blogger friend Karlene at Inksplasher, the challenge runs from December 22 to March 19. Here’s the beginning of my list of books that I intend to read this winter:
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, a non-fiction NYT bestseller about an American nurse who attempts to climb a challenging mountain in Pakistan, fails and becomes seriously ill. He is nursed back to health by villager, then promises to repay their kindness by building a school in their village. I’ve heard that it’s an uplifting story that seems like a great read for this month. That will be first book.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, which is considered a classic.
More to come…please stay tuned…
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UPDATE: 1.31.08
I’m adding this one to the list: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know, it’s a little post hype. Most people who read the bestsellers read this one a long time ago. I have to admit, I’ve been reluctant to read it after having seen the author interviewed on Oprah a couple of times. The first time I saw her I decided I wouldn’t read it, but the second time it seemed as though she was softer, more humble after her rapid rise to Oprah-style fame. So, I’m giving it a shot.
Holiday shopping often leaves me wondering whether kids have too many toys. The answer is always, “YES!” I would really rather see books on their wish lists. Then I start thinking, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if some of their favorite characters could be in books that seem like toys?” Then I could feel good buying this sort of book/toy, knowing that they would actually spend a lot of time with it, look forward to using it and really enjoy it.
Well, take a look at this great electronic book, called the Disney Princess Talking Dictionary.
If your child loves the Disney Princesses, she’ll love this electronic book (and so will you!). Look at that electronic keypad on the right side of the book — it is so fun and inviting, the kids will go right to those buttons and push and push. You know how they always do that with these types of books? But this one will give them much more than a beeping car, it will let them spell out English words, tell them what they’ve just spelled (along with its definition) and if they push the “Spanish” button, it will also tell them the Spanish equivalent of the English word. Who knew an English/Spanish dictionary could be so fun!!?
But there’s more — the book part of this electronic book! The pages of the Talking Dictionary (just to the left of the keypad) are filled with four, five or six definitions on each page. Color illustrations accompany each definition, as well as a contextual sentence and then the same sentence in Spanish. I especially loved that last feature. With it, a child sees the word used in both an English and a Spanish sentence. So the book is great for English speaking kids who are learning Spanish as well as Spanish speaking children for whom English is a second language.
Each word, by the way, is presented in clear, black uppercase letters on a tastefully designed pink (or blue) ribbon, with a light blue (or pink) oval near it that spells out its Spanish equivalent in lower case print.
It’s a great way to interact with your child (while she views her favorite characters and has fun with those buttons). As I mentioned earlier, this book will really appeal to kids who are right at that age when they can’t get enough responsive buttons. So your child will be happy to play with it, and you’ll be happy that she’s actually learning something rather than just hearing a car zooming or a cymbal clashing.
Here’s an example: press “B” “E” “D” and you’ll hear each letter after each push. Then, a gentle push of the purple “Spanish” button would give you this: “In English, we say ‘bed.’ In Spanish, we say, ‘cama‘ ” while your child follows along in the book. Push the blue “Definition” button and you’ll hear “Bed — furniture made especially for resting and sleeping,” followed by a brief and pleasant lullaby jingle. The speakers of the electronic keypad have an average sound-quality for books of this type. So don’t expect hi-def sound with that jingle, but the words, letters and sentences are clearly spoken and audible.
Now remember, this is not just an electronic toy. As she holds it in her lap, your child will see a picture of a bed, a blue ribbon with the word “BED” and a pink oval with the word “cama” next to it. Underneath the ribbon, you’ll see the definition, “Furniture made especially for resting and sleeping” then an English contextual sentence, “Each Dwarf has a tiny bed” and its Spanish equivalent, “Cada Enanito tiene una cama muy pequena.”
This book will feel like a book to you, but to your child it will be an exciting, interactive toy. We consider this a must have for any family with a child who loves the Disney princesses. It’s a great way to introduce another language or to support an already established learning program. Why settle for a basic princess book or a doll when you can have so much more with this product?!
Oh, and we wanted to mention that we especially love the Mulan definiton, “Mulan: a heroic woman who saves her country.” My kids have watched that movie so many times! They would love to hear that definition when they push the button, followed by my reading the next sentence, “The Emperor praises Mulan for defeating Shan-Yu.”
We’re excited about this book!! It provides so much interactive fun for you to share with your child and, for those times when you have to tend to other mom duties, your child will enjoy exploring it independently. It’s quite a find!
Speaking of finding it, you can often find these electronic books in your local Target, Wal-mart, Toys R Us, Costco, Sam’s Club or BJs, but if they’re sold out, you can also buy them online.
When I went to their site (click on “Shop Now” in the lower right corner of the home page), I was delighted to find that they publish these electronic books with far more characters than just the Disney Princesses. In fact they showed 79 titles in the category they call, “Electronic Books.” Just look for that heading and you’ll see familiar names, like Dora, Diego, Elmo, The Wiggles, Scooby Doo, Sesame Street, Little Einstein and Thomas the Tank Engine. And it’s not just bilingual dictionaries.
Look at this Sponge Bob book, ideal for older kids (K-Grade 2)!
Sponge Bob’s Sea Sale
We also recommend the book called, Learn to Write with Disney Friends because it is another well made, fun interactive electronic book. With this book, your child holds a large yellow stylus (or writing instrument) as she hears spoken letters, a variety of sound effects, words, and instructions.
For example, when she presses the “Aa” key, your child will hear ” ‘A’ [whistles] ‘A’ is the first letter of apple
[crunching sound of person biting into apple is heard three times, then...]. Write the letter ‘A’ on the pad.” The voice is clear and easy to understand.
While she hears that voice, your child looks into the screen in the upper right corner of the book (or the top of the giant pencil) and sees the letter being written, followed by an animated picture of an apple. Then, as she hears the crunching sounds, the apple appears to actually have a couple of bites taken out of it, then it slides to the left and another apple slides in, gets bitten, and another until a whole apple remains briefly on the screen. You (or your child) can select either “CAPITAL” or “small” letters to be drawn on the screen.
We found it very clever that the animation takes place in what is really the eraser part of the giant pencil/electronic control board and that the pencil tip acts as the eraser tool for the writing board at the bottom (the tablet area below the pencil tip). This is really a fun, educational book that’s well designed and ready to go right when the child opens it. Great gift!
Last of all, we reviewed a Disney Sing-Along book that would be great for any young child who loves to hear short electronic tunes and loves to push buttons.
We believe this book will be best when an adult can play along with a youngster. The way it works is that you have a simple key pad in the lower right corner of the book, with only nine buttons. Your child can choose from forty tunes, each of which has a corresponding code. So, for example, to hear (and sing along with) “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” you enter the code C34 and with each push you hear a young princess-type voice responding to your touch. In the three mirrored stars above the buttons, you’ll see Ariel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella, alternatively. When no song plays, the stars are just mirrors, but when the song plays, the pictures of the princesses light up within the stars. Kids will love this magical feature!!
At the bottom of the keypad, on either side of the speaker, you’ll find a star button with clapping hands inside it (pushing it yields an applause sound) and a star button filled with a fireworks graphic (with majestic princessy music that sounds as if you’re about to introduce a star performer).
We recommend this book for younger hams in the family, whose little fingers would love to grab the easy to manage plastic microphone. Preschool or younger for this one.
All in all, our bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with these electronic books from PI kids. Look for them today (or buy them by clicking here) and mark one more thing off your list!
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Note: We found Sponge Bob’s Sea Sale in a local book shop. The Disney Princess Talking Dictionary (publications international, ltd.) was sent to us for our review along with the Disney Princess Sing-Along and Learn to Write with Disney Friends. We give the highest recommendation to the Talking Dictionaries.
As I approached my fortieth birthday, I kept hearing really negative words of advice like, “Be prepared. It’s all downhill from then on.” Well, I don’t agree that my life has gone downhill, but I have to admit that, after turning forty, little things started…changing. Even my cheery disposition took a hit. What you are about to read may turnoff many of my readers, but freedom of speech is one of the things I love about our country. It’s here…if you want to read it, great!…if not, then please wait for my next post (or read some of the older ones (?)).
I’ve heard many of my elders say that there are some things we just have to experience for ourselves or some things that just shouldn’t be discussed. Hmm…well why not? I’d rather have full information. I’d rather hear about the good, the bad and the ugly. For example, there are some not so pretty things about being a mom that I had never heard before having kids but was glad to eventually learn. Like just how difficult it is to handle newborn babies and that parents of newborns often get very little sleep (sometimes, as in our case, for over a year).
And my favorite little tidbit that came as a surprise: if you breast feed your kids, your breasts will be bigger during pregnancy and while you’re breastfeeding than they were before you were pregnant. But when you stop breastfeeding? They shrink. I mean, they end up smaller than they were pre-pregnancy. Did you know that? Okay, maybe I’m the only dope that didn’t know that, but I was surprised. Had I known, I would’ve told my husband, “Enjoy these babies now, because when I stop nursing, they’ll be much smaller.” But I didn’t know. Not a huge deal, but I would’ve liked to have known. That’s all.
Now I’m learning about something called perimenopause — that’s the time before menopause. Many books have been written about this topic, but I’ve only recently been given one that helped me understand what I’m going through right now.
I guess it makes sense that a woman’s body needs to go through a process (in which hormones go a little crazy) in adolescence to prepare her body for childbirth. The whole childbirth process wreaks havoc on a woman’s system. I’ll never forget how stunned my hubby looked when he witnessed our first child’s birth. During the cesarean section operation, he saw the doctors temporarily remove my insides, take our beautiful baby girl from my uterus, hand her off, then carefully replace my internal organs. And that was after eighteen hours of labor. Hard for him to witness, even harder for my body to endure. My recovery period was about six weeks long. My body had to readjust, go back to functioning without baby in utero. Big changes. Oh, it also switched from focusing on nourishing and growing a baby to becoming a milk factory. Yep. There was a whole lot going on.
So…
To prepare for the active years of childbirth, a woman’s body sort of gears up in adolescence and our girls become moody, emotional, a little more unpredictable and more womanly. What about when the body is preparing to shutdown? It makes sense that that requires some time, too. Our bodies are putting on the brakes, sort of. Slowing down the system until it can finally report, “Okay, chief. The childbirth factory has officially ceased operations.” Sure, now that I really think about it, it makes sense. How could I expect it to just stop overnight? “That’s it. No more periods. You’re done.”
No, not like that at all. Instead, we go through yet another hormonal time (which is tough not only for our loved ones having to deal with us, but also for us). It’s a transition period. We sometimes become moody, more emotional and more unpredictable. For example, I recently volunteered to help in my daughter’s school and found myself overcome with frustration when the kids just wouldn’t quiet down. I understand now what it’s like for substitute teachers. Kids push the limits with anyone who’s not their regular homeroom teacher. Anyway, I raised my voice a little and said they needed to quiet down and not start playing the strategy games they were about to play. Not a big deal, maybe, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it (and it happened several weeks ago). I’ve helped out in classrooms for about a decade or so and I’ve never done that. I’m usually the one who smiles and maybe rings a little bell or something or waits until they stop talking before proceeding. But this time…I don’t know…I just said, “Do NOT begin until you are ALL seated.” It just wasn’t me. You know what I mean? I was thinking, “Did I just say that out loud?” I felt guilty and embarrassed and wanted to run out of there. When I got home, I thought, “Maybe I just can’t handle the older kids. Maybe I shouldn’t do things like that anymore.” Then I started to read that book my friend gave me.
It’s called, The Pause by Lonnie Barbach.
I encourage every 30 something woman to read it.
That’s as much as I’ll say right now, but I’ll give you more details when I finish the book.
My absolute favorite event at my kids’ schools is the annual Book Fair. It’s so popular at DS’s school, that I had to wait a few years before the position of co-chair opened up (and even now I’m considered the “3rd co-chair”). Anyway, the point is that I love it and everything about it. As the merchandising point person, I spend the year before the fair scoping out children’s books online and in bookstores to get a sense of what’s good and what’s probably going to be popular. Then I search online for summer reading lists to find out what all the area schools are reading. I also ask my kids and their friends about their favorite books and I keep mental notes. I’m just plain passionate about (okay, maybe obsessed with) books (particularly children’s books).
Fast forward to the Friday before the fair. A team of volunteers arrives to set up this enormous fair. Mike, the guy who delivers the 20 bookcases and gazillion boxes of books tells us it’s one of the biggest fairs he and his team have ever handled. “Wow, uh, gee, thanks…” we respond as we look at the daunting task before us. After a few handshakes and a “Thanks so much, Mike!” we decide, okay, we can do this, because, after all my co-chairs and I are all really passionate about books. Right. Okay. Here we go…
Today is Blog Action Day. One issue. One day. Thousands of voices.
Watch this if you’re interested:
It’s a chance to express yourself on environmental issues and how ignorance (and/or denial) of them significantly impacts the world.
What first came to mind for me were newspaper articles I read recently about Al Gore’s being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — the same year that President Bush is polling at embarrassingly low numbers (primarily based on his botched war). So…War and Peace. Or Peace (and War). I think it’s wonderful that Mr. Gore earned recognition for decades of work. It’s even better that his awards have brought much needed attention to the issue. It has worked for our family. I mean, I am really just starting to dig into it to try to get my arms around the issue and provide suppport where possible. Like providing the link in support of Blog Action Day.
Then I started to think about my audience - parents, moms, kids. And I talked to my kids about what they know about the state of our environment. They’re taught about it in school (yay!) but there’s always more to learn. We’ve changed lightbulbs in our home (to compact fluorescent lightbulbs or CFLs), replaced our water heater and other appliances with high efficiency models, we recycle everything that can be recycled and we’ve planted many, many trees.
But those things probably won’t help my readers in their lives, so I decided to highlight some books that you can buy (or get, if available, from your local library) for your kids.
What can you do right now? Well, if you’re a blogger, click on the link and participate! Or, if you’re a reader and not a blogger, click on the link and read some of the tens of thousands of posts that were posted today. Give our kids and their children (and all of your descendants) hope for the future of our planet.
