As soon as October 1st hit, we were decorating our house orange and black. Not only do we bring out the ghosts and spiderwebs, we focus our reading on Halloween books to get the kids excited (in a sugar-free way) about the coming holiday. Below I summarize the 4 books we received, and my kids’…
Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket I’ve technically read one Lemony Snicket book before; his picture book The Bad Mood and the Stick is a favourite in our house because it’s so delightfully odd and the rainbow ‘bad mood’ is a gorgeous little illustration. I had of course heard of the famous Lemony Snicket from…
I know I’m not the only one with fond memories of racing through Nancy Drew mysteries as a young reader. I always loved mysteries as a kid, and still do as an adult, but I now recognize the Nancy Drew series as my introduction to cozy mysteries, which then led to my love of Murder…
This past holiday season, I took advantage of all the beautiful Christmas pictures books we have and used them as decorations mixed in with our little twinkly lights and santa figurines. Although we didn’t have any guests over to comment on my clever use of books (because Covid) I was quite chuffed with my creativity,…
I am a big believer in always having markers, crayons, and basic art supplies easily accessible to my kids at all times. For one thing, it makes it much easier to tell them to ‘play on their own’ when they have this kind of stuff handy, but more importantly learning to express oneself is an…
Valentine’s Day is no doubt going to look a little different for many this year, and for me especially this is going to become a family holiday more than it ever has in the past, because what else am I going to do on a freezing-cold Sunday in the house with my kids? Plus, having…
How did we get here so quickly? I know everyone may not feel the same way, but this year flew by for me and my family. My kids are near to bursting with excitement for Christmas so I’m trying to calm them down by doing some quiet reading with them. And what better to read…
I’ve got an almost 6-year-old, and an almost 3-year-old, and luckily they both enjoy sitting and listening to me read books that suit both age groups, but I do realize there will come a time when my oldest may not want to sit through the same books my youngest does. Until then, I plan on…
Most of my readers are probably aware of this by now, but I’m not Jewish. Still, I like to read my kids books about Hanukkah because I think it’s important they understand that not everyone celebrates Christmas, there are other holidays that happen around the same time that their friends celebrate instead. There are undoubtedly…
When I saw the announcement for the upcoming release of the picture book Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky, I was really excited. I had been looking for a way to approach the topic of racism with my 5 year-old because she hears the term on the radio, but my husband…
In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten the question of whether or not I’ll allow my children to trick-or-treat this Halloween. I typically answer this question with a joke (one of my go-to coping mechanisms) when I ask: who gets to decide whether Halloween is cancelled, is this the municipal government’s job? Is Mayor Nenshi…
I’ve spoken before about how much I enjoy reading parenting books that teach what I already know-I love being preached to, as a member of the choir! I get a smug sense of satisfaction, sort of like sitting through a class that you already know the lesson of. Regardless, I like to read these books…