Five More Picture Books

Blue Baboon in the Big Balloon - Sarah & Steven Mostyn

In a story told in the form of the woman who swallowed a fly we find a blue baboon who lives in a balloon. Every afternoon they have tea at half past three. Their friend Matt the Cat chases a family of mice that fly kites and eat friend mice.  On one of the kites lives an orange mite that likes to fight a troll who wears bright red tights.  One day they all get into the balloon to fly to the moon.  There they meet Holly and Molly, two raccoons who live in a cocoon and have a friend named Miranda the Panda. They watch cartoons in the cocoon until they hear the moo of the cow who jumped over the moon.  Then they go home to sit by the sea and have tea.

Not only is this a wonderful story full of rhyming words but the pictures are bright and colorful and leave so much to share with the child you are reading it to.

You can learn more at their web site: mostynbooks.com

Magical Toys – Uncle Amos

Ron had a room full of wonderful toys. He played with them every afternoon when he came home from school. One day he invited a friend over to play with him. They played hard until it was time for John to go home. Ron’s mom told him to clean up the toys. Ron waited to continue playing. When they looked at how messy the room was they knew it would be a lot of hard work. John convinced Ron they needed to leave everything here it was so they could play with it the net day. When Ron’s mom saw Ron had not cleaned his room she was angry with him. She told him Ron couldn’t come over. Ron was just as upset with hi mom. He didn’t think she was being fair. Suddenly Ron started hearing voices. Who was talking to him? What did they want?

Will Ron clean his room? Will mom allow him to have friends over again? Read this wonderful book that teaches children the importance of being responsible for their possessions.  Then check out more of Uncle Amos’ books.

My Brother is My Best Friend – Nicole Weaver

This story is told in English, Spanish and French. Since all the languages are on each page the author has color coded them. English is in black, Spanish is in red, and French is in blue.

This simple story is about twin brothers Blake and Drake and the fun they have playing outside in the winter and summer. It demonstrates why they are not only brothers but best friends.

At the end of the story there is a glossary of words found in French and Spanish There are also a word search and find the English sentences to match the French and Spanish sentences. The pictures are fun and whimsical. This would be a great teaching tool.

Part of the proceeds from the purchase of this book goes to a Haitian orphanage through Mercy & Sharing, an organization that provides food and shelter to Haiti’s abandoned children.  This is a project near and dear to the author’s heart. Her own mother lost 13 cousins in the 2010 earthquake that ravaged Haiti.

You can find more information at her website



Maya and Filippo Play Chef at Sea - Alinka Rutkowska

Maya and Filippo live on a cruise ship called the "Fun Princess". They travel all over the world having fun discovering new things. In this story they are traveling from New Zealand to Tasmania. When their mom asks them what they'd like to do that day, Maya says she'd like to make a cake and Filippo says he wants to eat cake. They join a group of other children with the pastry chef. The chef had them wash their hands and put on an apron and hat like a real chef. He shows them the ingredients on the table and tells the what to do. Maya sees one boy looking sad and not participating. He only sees a mess, not cake.  Maya convinces him that if he doesn't try he'll never know what he can do. They bake their cakes and then the parents get to taste them. The children learn how to have fun, take chances on something new and cooperate with each other.

Why Blue - Josh Tuininga

I loved this book because it is spot on. children are full of "why" questions. In this story Maya goes for a walk. While sitting on a bench she looks up at the sky and wonders why it is blue and not some other color. Read to find out what she learns about why the sky is blue. The author has demonstrated through his writing that a little kid still exists inside of him that continues to make him ask why.
You can find Josh at:
Website
Facebook
Goodreads

Three Woderful Books - Eitan Hana

Foxy the Fox and the Vineyard


Foxy the fox lives with his wife and three fox children, sons Dolly and Polly and daughter Tolly. Foxy has lots of friends. He also has an enemy. Snicker the snake is the enemy of all of the animals. He is rich.  Everything he has he has taken by force.  He has a vineyard full of grapes that will soon be ripe.  At one time all the animals enjoyed the grapes. That was before Snicker took them and put fences and traps around them so no one could get to them except the crow who could fly in from above.  Foxy wants grapes more than anything.  He and his family sit down and make a plan to get the grapes.  Will he get the grapes or will he get caught.  Read this wonderful story to find out how friends help each other.  This story teaches kids not to be greedy, to remain loyal to friends, and to help each other.


Foxy's Birthday

It is Foxy's birthday.  His family and friends have prepared a surprise party for him.  Foxa his wife has prepared some omlettes from eggs given to her by her chicken friend.  Foxy's friend Coby Cat is coming for a visit and bringing the cake. Foxy hasn't seen Coby in a long time. When Foxy sits down to eat breakfast he sees his youngest is not at the table.  Mama sends him in to check on Tolly.  Tolly says she feels better and gets out of bed.  When they get to the table Foxy is surprised by a special breakfast. A knock on the door and he is surprised by his friend Coby.  Coby loves pranks.  Read to find out what happens when one of his pranks goes wrong.  This is a lesson about caring for each other in many different ways. It also shows how a simple act can be an act of heroism.

6 Activities For Children

This book has six activities you can do with your children.  These activities would be great for parties, or any large gathering. The book has instructions and a list of what you need for each activity. A couple of them are the Tug of War, Creating bottles with layers of colored salt, water races.  This book was a reminder to me of things that my family did whenever we would get together with other relatives on our farm or when we would go camping.  This was a reminder of a lot of great fun that I and my family had growing up.  This is a definite book for parents. This is enough to give you a start on activities to do together.  This seems to be something that is missing in families today.




Eitan Hana is the father of ten children, and has several grandchildren.  They grew up being told wonderful stories such as these.  These are definite must reads.

Title: The Infinity Program
Author: Richard H. Hardy
f Genre: Science Fiction
Paperback available at: Amazon





Book Description:

Jon Graeme and Harry Sale are unlikely friends. Harry is a world-class programmer, but his abrasive personality alienates co-workers. In contrast, Jon is a handsome and easy-going technical writer, the low man on the IT totem pole.

Sharing a love of nature, the men set out together, planning to go their separate ways--Jon on a hike and Harry, fly fishing. Three days later, Jon arrives at the rendezvous point, but his friend is nowhere in sight. When Jon finds Harry unconscious on the floor of a cave, Harry claims to have been lying there the entire time. But he is neither cold nor hungry. What Jon doesn't know is that Harry fell into an underground cavern, where he came into contact with an alien quantum computer.

Back at work, Harry jettisons his regular tasks and concentrates exclusively on inventing new operating language to access the alien system. In the process he crashes his office's Super Computer and is fired. Jon convinces the company to give Harry a second chance, arguing that the system he has invented will make them millions.

Jon has no idea what havoc Harry is about to unleash.


Excerpt:

About the Author:
Richard H. Hardy was born in Glasgow, Scotland, during a week of relentless bombing raids just before the close of World War II. The day he was born an incendiary bomb fell on the church across the street from where he lived, so he is fond of saying that he entered the world with a big adrenaline rush.

His family later moved to England and then on to America.

After college Richard bounced through a series of temporary jobs as he traveled around the country, wanting nothing more than to write fiction. A job driving a library van allowed him free time to write several short stories and work on a novel.

He and his wife moved to New Hampshire, where he took an entry level job at a software company. He was soon promoted to the technical writing department and ended up producing over 500,000 words of online documentation. After a few years he was promoted to the programming department and ended up as the Senior EDI Programmer, creating EDI maps and writing UNIX scripts and troubleshooting on AIX systems throughout the U.S. and Canada.

After he retired, he started writing fiction again. The Infinity Program is his first published novel.


Where to find Richard H. Hardy:

Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog
Website

a Rafflecopter giveaway