Nana Hannah's Piano: baseball and piano aren't the only lessons in this book

I won Nana Hannah's Piano in a raffle basket and loved the title.  Then in looking at the book and reading the "Dear Parents" note I really wasn't sure my girls and I would like the story line.  I'm happy to say that the book was a success in my home.

The Details:


Written by Barbara Bottner
Illustrations by Diana Cain Bluthenthal
Copyright 1996

This story is about a boy who loves baseball.  He has to take piano lessons, but all he really wants to do is play ball!  When his grandma gets injured he spends a week with her.  She loves tango, and has a piano she enjoys playing.  While he's with his grandma he gets her interested in baseball (it's not as good as tango) and she plays a little on the piano.  He wants to do something that will cheer grandma up and slowly comes up with playing her a song on the piano.  Only after he finally finds a song that he loved does he realize that he can like and do more than one thing.

The story is cute and if you have a boy in your house who loves baseball but you want him to do something else as well, then this book fits that small niche.   Don't give up on this cute story if your child doesn't fall into that niche.  I have two girls, neither of which play a sport, an instrument, or take dance lessons so my children' don't have anything relateable to the book at all, or so I thought.

Turns out after reading it they really enjoyed the story, and have asked for it to be read to them a few times now.  So why is this book one they like?

Each page has only one to two good sentences on it.  This makes them fast paced, easy to follow and great for those who are having a hard time with reading or a read together book for those learning how to read.

The illustrations are full or color and life!  The facial details are what I'm drawn to, the scowl on the piano instructor's face, the tongue sticking out in constration on the boy, the smirk of amusment on the grandmas face.  These details are what make it great for me because you can ask what they are feeling or what are they thinking about.

Beyond just the sentence structure and illustrations there are a couple universal lessons that each person can connect with:

1.  to learn someone, and enjoy it one must have a good teacher.
2.  children want to help others.
3. .we are not limited to only doing one thing.
4.  don't give up on yourself

These lessons, that we can all connect with, I think are the reason why children who don't fit into the small niche that I think this book was written for, love this book.  Think about them each this way:

1.   A teacher who knows everything, yet has no compassion for the person they are teaching will not break through.  A teacher needs compassion, understanding, and fluid ways to connect with who they are teaching.  The piano teacher may have been very predominant in her field but the child was only scowled at, intimidated, and heard that he was hopeless.  Oh how terrible.  One teacher like that will ruin a subject for a child.  Kids absorb what they hear and see all the time and believe that.  I wouldn't want to play piano with that teacher either!

2.  The boy went over to the grandmothers and wanted to help her.  He showed her what he loved, but when that still didn't cheer her up he tried playing the piano knowing she enjoys that.  Kids while they do things they know we won't like, they are only doing that for attention.  Notice a child the next time someone in the house is injured or sick.  They will try their hardest to make that person happy and to be helpful.  Last week I lost my voice, it was awful, but my oldest did everything she could to be a help.  She read to her sister (now this is my daughter who struggles with reading and really doesn't like to) she read to me, she made me a card, and she could be heard saying "you know mommy can't talk so we have to be really good" to her little sister.

3.  There is nothing that says we need to limit the things we want to accomplish.  I remember reading a great children's book that went into this,  When I Grow Up that I will have to write up a review on.  We are not limited in our skill, unless we set (or don't believe in) them ourselves.  Why can't a boy be great at the piano and baseball?  Why can't a girl be a wonderful dancer and musician?  Why can't you be a coder, runner, and singer?  Always be open to trying new things!

4.  I really didn't like when the mother said "We don't have quitter in this family" because I don't think children should be forced to do something they don't want.  Why keep spending money on dance lessons when your child cries and fights you about putting on the tap shoes?  At the same time tho, if it's only because it's hard and not because it's not something they don't like then yeah you have to stick with it.  The message of practice, and perseverance is clear in the story.  The boy practices and keeps playing one song until he gets it.  Hard work pays off.

Now that I've shared about the subtle lessons in the book let's go over some activities you can do with this book either in your home, classroom, or story time.  The way the book is structured it does make it easy to read aloud to a group of children.

You can have a whole lesson on baseball from the book, what each position is, terms, and how to play.  You can use the vocab from the book to make a display, or set up and play a game of ball.

Have them write about what their grandmas like to do and are good at.  It would make a great grandparent's day book.  What activity would they give up to do something with their grandma? Use open ended questions about grandma for journal prompts for older children.

Then there's the obvious music lessons you can connect with the book. Play the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" what are the lyrics, learn to sing it.  What does sheet music look like?  How do you read that?  How do you play the piano?  Use apps or books or get a lesson or take a class on the piano.  What songs are played for tango?  What is tango?  Learn to dance the tango!


I hope this book has inspired you to look beyond the first impression of a book and to find deeper meanings and lessons you can take from books you read.  May your children have many passions and skills that they explore.

I hope you enjoy the activities I listed above, I'm sure there are more you can do with this lovely book, comment below something you love about the book or an activity you did.

Rainbow Books

Who doesn't get super excited when they see a rainbow? Kids jump out of their seat, and everyone just takes a minute to admire this art in the sky.  Why not turn your living room, or classroom into a rainbow for an afternoon?  These books, crafts, songs, and activities can help you and your early learners discover all about the colors of the rainbow, plus how to spot one, and enjoy a couple fictional stories that include rainbows.

I'm going to start with what's probably my favorite (so far) non fiction book that has a rainbow in it:

A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman

Copyright 1966

This book is from 1966 but it's timeless.  I think every child can relate to the main character. The boy runs outside to try to capture the rainbow just to find it was gone, then as he's wishing for one of his very own, what should come up behind him but a rainbow ready to play! Then when it's time the rainbow leaves and he goes home to find in his room a rainbow on his wall!

This book keeps the sentences simple so it's great for reading to a group, to small children and on their own for independent reading.  The illustrations are fun, colorful, and entertaining. The yellow rain boot, hat and raincoat are classic.

Don Freeman was a creative mind and opens a doorway between reality to imagination back to reality seamlessly.  This doorway in the book, we can pull from it so many opportunities with our own children:

Where and When do you find a rainbow?

If you had a rainbow for your own what would you do together? (This can be used for all ages: Draw a picture. Tell a story. Write a paragraph of what you'd do together.)

Where would a rainbow hide?

How can you make a rainbow of your own?

These are all questions for fiction and non-fiction learning!  I love this book.  This one book out of all you can do a whole rainbow lesson on.  So if you had to pick only one A Rainbow of My Own would be the one, but to enhance your story-time, or lesson add a couple of the other books I have listed here.

Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee

Elmer has many books (Elmer 12 Book Set Here ) and if your child already knows this patchwork elephant than this is a book to add to your rainbow lesson.  It is another fiction book.

In this adventure Elmer and his friends notice an odd thing in the sky, a colorless rainbow, so Elmer goes off to find the end of the rainbow.  Along the way he asks his jungle friends to help him in his search.  Once the rainbow end is found Elmer goes and gives the rainbow his own colors.

What I love more than anything in this book is this quote:

"Some things you can give and give and not lose any.  Things like happiness or love...."

Brilliant quote about how kindness is free.  Be Kind! 

We all know that there isn't a patchwork elephant, and that's not how rainbows get their colors, but it is a fun imaginative story that can lead to the question of "Well how do rainbows get their color?" (So glad you asked because I have a book to share with you about just that!!)

Elmer has colors on him that aren't in the rainbow.  Point that out!  What colors are on Elmer that aren't in the rainbow?  What colors are in the rainbow?  This would be a great time to share the song In The Rainbow by Pamela Piersyn.  I love this catchy song that isn't annoying, and is educational!  Good bye ROY-G-BIV. Hello "In the Rainbow" Promise you if you play this song the kids will know all 7 colors of the rainbow!  While I sang and listen to this song with the children I assembled a felt board rainbow.  If you want the children to have a fun rainbow toy so they can use all sight, touch, along with hearing check out this stack-able rainbow toy!  It has all 7 colors so they can build their rainbow with the song as well!!



 Two other books that I used for my All the Colors of the Rainbow lesson were Penguins Love Colors by Sarah Aspinall and Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson

Both of these books are great for helping children learn their colors.  Penguins Love Colors has rainbows throughout the book and each little penguin has their own color, but the downside to this is that there are only 6 penguins instead of 7.  This is quite common in many early learner rainbow books, they don't mention indigo so when the children are older and they are thrown for a surprise that there are really 7 colors.  Don't let this keep your from using this great story because you can ask them what color is missing?

Bear Loves Colors does not have a rainbow anywhere in the whole book!  So why did I put it in my story time?  Simple, it's a FUN book to read aloud with the children.  The rhymes allows you to let the kids yell out what color Bear is going to see next.  It's reinforcing their colors, and allows them to search each page for things of that color.  Bear sees Blue!  Blue berries...and then you can ask "What do you see that's blue?  You can make a scavenger hunt game out of the book for kids to do next time they are outside to see if they can find each thing bear sees, or something in nature of each color.

In my story times after reading these books that reinforce the color names I did a simple song again using all the colors of the rainbow.  I made little finger puppets for each color out of felt and sang:
"Red color. Red Color, Where are you?" and hold up the red puppet "Here I am. Here I am."  I'll admit it came from this video that my daughter watches.
And after you've gone through all seven colors do "rainbow" or "all the colors" for the last verse.


Now that the children know the colors in the rainbow let's go back and answer that question of "how do rainbows get their color?"  The one non fiction book I used was The Rainbow and You by E.C. Krupp

The Rainbow and You is written for an older audience Amazon suggest 6-12 year old. When I used it I had mostly 5-7 age range in my group and so I didn't read it cover to cover but marked a couple pages and read only a few passages to the group.  I love that E.C. Krupp teaches children how to find a rainbow.  He also shares different legends of Rainbows from Native Americans to Greek Gods.  There's also the science and discovery of rainbows in the book.  It's packed full of information.
Robin Rector Krupp illustrated the book and I love how she portrayed Roy. G. Biv as a person! That image will stay will me now every time I think of ROYGBIV.

Since doing my story time I have found other non fiction books about the rainbow that I need to check out and see if any of those will be better suited for the younger children I typically read to. (I've shared them below)  If you are interested or have read these title please let me know what you thought of them in the comments.



 Craft time!  There are countless rainbow crafts out there!  These are the crafts I've done with my kids both very similar :

1

2

1. Construction Paper assemble a rainbow from cloud to pot if you want to do this for St.Patty's day cut out some gold chips to add to it.

2. We did this one at my daughter's preschool:
*cut a paper plate in half***to  implement the reduce and reuse from environment mindfulness post instead of wasting paper plates reuse some old cereal boxes and cut out a cloud shape
* Tissue Paper Streamer
*cotton balls to make the cloud puffy (or puffy paint)
Assemble the rainbow with the materials

3. For older children you can do some painted rocks:
* smooth rocks, paint, paint markers, and seal.  You can use rocks from your garden, or the dollar store as well as the ones I've shared here.  Before you use the rocks wash and let them dry.  If you use dollar store rocks boil them to remove the wax on them.  The paint and paint pens that I've shared below are amazing! But feel free to experiment and find what works best for you.

I hope you have a wonderful colorful day today and maybe you will even find a rainbow of your own!

Books to Introduce Environmental Mindfulness to Children (and some ways we can change what we do now)

Each year my family tries to improve one thing that we do to be more environmentally friendly.  We recycle more, try to cut out on plastic bag use, and switch to LED light bulbs.  We are far from perfect, but the more we learn the more we try to improve.  This is all we can ask for.

As we are raising our children we are teaching them about nature, pollution, and to be environmentally friendly.  Not only do we need to teach our children about caring for our planet, we need to start taking care of it now for them, this is the world we are leaving behind for them, their great inheritance, and they are the ones who are going to grow to care for it

This year we started our environment lesson when we read Hoot. 

If you haven't heard of this book Hoot, then where have you been?  It's been out since 2002, turned into a movie, and has won quite a few awards.

The Details:
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen Ages: 10 and up

Honors and Awards:
A Newbery Honor Book
The SEBA Book Award for Best Children's Book
An ABC Children's Booksellers Choice
An ALA Notable Book
A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A Child Magazine 50 Best Children's Books Selection
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
A Book Sense Book of the Year Finalist
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Bestseller
A Book Sense Bestseller


Hoot has been sitting for quite a few years waiting until my oldest would sit and listen to it.  I couldn't wait to read it to her.  She finally asked for Hoot at bedtime a month or so ago and I started reading it on chapter a night until Saturday come around and I got the Audiobook so we could listen to it together while we painted rocks.  She got mad at me anytime I paused the book to leave the room or talk to her.

We were both caught up in this story about a boy who was new to Florida, a mystery boy who handled wild animals, and a new construction site who is threatening the homes and lives of ground owls.  The book was fast paced, adventurous, and witty.
The lessons in the book, about standing up for something you believe in, and how to do it (the right way) and get the results you want were well put and great for all kids to understand.  My daughter went right to the library and checked out bird guides and looked up Ground Owls and where you see them and thought they were so cute.

After we finished the book we watched the movie and I smiled every time she picked out when something was different.
This started our conversation on pollution and habitats.  We have since then been looking into ways we can help our wildlife.  Carl Hiaasen has written other books about the endangered wildlife in Florida and you can tell how passionate he is about caring for his state and the native animals who live there.  If your teen loves animals I'd suggest his book Scat (which we started but my 9 year old soon lost interest in it, I think in a few more years she will like it more as it takes place in high school)
While Hoot was a great book to read with my 9 year old, it didn't hold the attention of my 5 year old daughter.  There aren't any pictures, and it's a long chapter book not written for preschoolers, so I sought out some books for her that would help explain why we need to recycle, and what we can do to take care of our world.

I came across Charles Ghigna.  He has written a few books to help young children learn and do their part to be environmentally responsible.

Pick up the Park, We Need Water and Recycling is Fun are all a part of Charles Ghigna's environment books.  They are super easy to read which makes them not only great for very young children but also for those who are just starting to read on their own.  He another book in his "My Little Planet" books is Little Seeds.  This is the only one I haven't read but if it's like the others I'm sure it's great as well.

Pick up the Park:
What child doesn't enjoy the park? Mine ask me all the time to go to our local parks and we spend a great deal of time on the playground and walking around.  This book is one to read before you set off to the park, as it mentions all the things children like to do while there, and also ways they can help keep their park clean.

We Need Water:
Well duh! That's just a common sense statement, but this book goes tells about where we see water, how we use it, and how every living thing needs water.  It's a stepping stone book to start you into talking about water.  It doesn't go into depth on anything but is a great intro book for any water topic so from here you can talk about the river, the lake, the water cycle, water conservation, and so much more.

Recycling is Fun:
 Not only does this easy reader talk about recycling paper, plastic, and tin but Ghigna goes into reusing as well.  Donate old thing, and take torn clothes and make something new out of them.  This book more than the other two goes into more depth about recycling.

we reused an old T-shirt and cardboard box to make a cat home. Idea credit to Pintrerst 

After reading this book and pointing out the recycling symbol it was fun to look at each thing we use and find the triangle on it this is one very simple way to get your children involved in recycling.

All of these books were illustrated by Ag. Jatkowska and are full page full of colorful and engaging images.  Also I believe these books were made with recycled paper which is a great way to put forth action into what is being taught in all of these books.

As I mentioned Charles Ghigna has written these books as great introduction books about being environmentally conscious, but it's up to us as parents to really open the conversation and action to our children more.

Trees, please don't forget we need trees! Which just so happens to be another book I found that talks about trees.  We all know how important trees are to our suvival.  If you haven't seen the image below of the the last human/post human trying to breath from the last tree on Earth, then take a minute to look at it, read it and let it send that chill to your bones.  It's common sense that trees, water, and nature are vital to our well being.

We Need Trees! Caring for our Planet

written by Vita Jimenez
Illustrations by George Ermos
Music by Erik Koskinen

This picture song book talks about all the reasons we need trees.  It includes a CD that has the song on it, which is a folk tune.  This book just covers all the ways trees are important: shelter, air, food, and mentions briefly how we should care for our trees.  As it was written as a song there is a lot of repetition, and rhyming.

While this book talks about how important trees are, I found the book to be lacking in emotion.  This is my own personal feeling.  But to sing it as a song and pair it with a more heartwarming, emotionally connected book it would go very nicely.

I love that the book has the song on CD so you can listen to the song and follow the words and look at the colorful illustrations that show more of the story.  They have a class hiking through the woods and looking at trees.
It's a great book to add to a lesson or Arbor Day celebration.


So we have a couple introduction books to get our kids interested in caring for our planet.  These books just barely scratch the surface of talking and teach our children how to do Earth Day every day.  I think that these are books and lessons that we need to use year round, not only for one week in April.  As I'm searching out more books on each of these topics I hope to put together a lesson plan on each of the different topics (recycling, water, trees, pollution, and wildlife) once I have them ready with books that dive deep into each area I will be sharing them with you all so please keep your eyes open.  Until that time let me share with you some links, along with some things my family has changed or will soon be changing as we have just learned more....

Green News is hoping that 2018 will call for an end to single use plastic
Sign a petition calling for a ban on single use plastic (I did)

OK I get it we live in a fast paced world and convenience is everything!  But what if we could have convenience and be more environmentally friendly?  A couple easy ways we have done this in my house is reusable water bottles, and coffee mugs.  Do you know how much plastic waste we can save just by switching to a reusable water bottle?  Here are two different sites for you:
mightynest.com tells how the average american uses over 160 plastic bottles each year
Power Up shares how you can save around (or more) than $2,900 a year by switching to a reusable bottle, and even more if you switch to a reusable coffee tumbler and make your own coffee at home.
The bonus to having your own tumbler?  Many coffee shops offer a discount if you bring in your own coffee container!

While we are talking about coffee, my husband and I recently switched back to the large coffee pot.  It took us years to jump on the K-cup bandwagon.  Once we finally did we thought this was so much better because we wouldn't be "wasting" a whole pot of coffee if we only drank 3 cups.  Umm yeah there's this image that pretty much sums that idea up:

More than just the waste that the k-cups made our first "new" coffee maker broke within a year.  We switched back to the "old fashioned" coffee pot and our waste has been reduced so much, oh and we are no longer needed a new box of coffee each week.  We skipped the paper filters and went for a reusable filter that cleans easily, and did you know that your coffee grounds can help in your garden?

Plastic bags.  This bothered me when I was driving down the road and saw a bunch of plastic bags caught up in our trees and all I could think about was how awful it looked and the birds and other animals that are in danger due to these.  Each year I try to cut down on our plastic bag usage, but had been falling short.  This year I'm happy to say that we are doing much better.  How?  We have all seen these large tote bags:
Let me tell you I love them.  I use one for books from the library, I keep some in the house, and in my car.  If I happen to forget them and find that I'm at a store I usually can find them for $1.  If you haven't used these you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bags you will save.  I figure each one  (1) I use saves between 2-5 plastic bags because they are larger and stronger.

Now say you're like my husband who doesn't like how much space they take up and that they are bulky and he often forgets them.  They have other more compact reusable bags.  This one fits 10 bags and easily can clip onto your key-chain so you won't ever forget them!

I started this blog mentioning how we need to get our children active in making changes.  These young children I hope will inspire you and your children that you can make a difference!
8 year old girl against single use plastic
7 year old boy runs his own recycling business
I'm going to share with you a video I've recently watched that has given me a whole new wish list of things that I want and even more ways we can make ONE change and make a better impact on our world.  This video will share with you more eye opening stats about our waste.
5 things we should use to save the planet

Here are some of the products mentioned in the above video.  I had a ton of fun searching for them all and found that there is a lot of varity for prices, colors, and all options so I went a little overboard in sharing what I have found with you but I hope that in all these options you will find one that you would like.

_ Please remember that NONE of us are perfect, we are all just trying the best we can, but the more we learn and the more we can put forth some small change and effort the better our world will be.

I hope that these books and links I've shared with you helps you to start some great conversations and making at least one change in your own home.  Please stay tuned for follow up post where I will come up with a lesson plan that can be done around helping our planet thrive better!

Together we can make Earth Day Every Day!

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo and learn about Mexico with these books

 I gathered several books together to help explain what Cinco de Mayo is and to teach about our southern neighbor.  I love learning about other counties, their languages, food, and culture.  We don't need a holiday or celebration to learn about other cultures, but it does make it fun.

What is Cinco de Mayo? A day of Mexican music, and tacos!  Yes, there is music, and tacos, but there is a reason for this fiesta.  Two books I've found to be informative and easy to read to children explaining Cinco de Mayo are Marco's Cinco de Mayo by Lisa Bullard and Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mexican Hat Dance.

Marco's Cinco de Mayo


Written by Lisa Bullard
Illustrated by Holli Conger

This cute children's book follows Marco as he tells us about his family as Mexican Americans.  He is a dancer in the celebration and is worried about his steps so his cousin tells him the history of Cinco de Mayo. The book shows how he celebrates the day.

The story is easy to read, and I like that there are purple fact bubbles on almost every page that goes into more detail.  You can read the story without the bubbles and still get the picture if you are reading to a large group, and just point out some additional facts, but if you are reading one on one take the time to read those bubbles in more depth.

The illustrations help tell the story and will keep the children's attention, they are well done and colorful.

At the end of the book there are resources and activities for you to do with your family or students.  There are directions to make your own maracas, a glossary, a list of other books, and websites to visit to learn Spanish.


Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mexican Hat Dance


written by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada
Translated by Joe Hayes and Sharon Franco
Illustrated by Marcela Gomez and David Silva

My girls and I doing the hat dance

This is a two part book.  Part one is a story, song, and dance for the Mexican Hat Dance.  The story follows a class as they learn the dance, tell about how they prepared for their celebration and put on a show.  Personally after trying to pronounce "jarabe tapatio" and failing to do so I decided that I didn't need this part for my lesson and skipped to the second part of the book.  The illustrations are full of color and tell the story better than I could read it.

Gather your class together or your kids at home and do the Mexican Hat dance!  It's easy to learn, and fun to do.  Don't be surprised if you have the song stuck in your head after.

The second part of this small book is my favorite.  "What is Cinco de Mayo?"  This part goes more in depth than Marco's Cinco de Mayo, explaining more of the history, why there are celebrations in the United States for this holiday that's in a different country, and what families do and eat on May 5th.

I love that illustrations are incorporated around actual photographs in this section of the book.  On the first page you can ask what the children see as part of Mexican culture, and continue on as you read, see if the children have seen any of these same sights. In the back of the book credits they have a thumbnail of each photo and tell you who the photographer was, where it was taken, and what it's of.

Between these two books I've learned a lot about Cinco de Mayo along with the children.  So before I go on to my other books let me share with you not everything that is in the books but to answer what this holiday is about.

Spain use to rule Mexico, until 1821 when after more than a decade of fighting Mexico had won it's freedom.  Then in 1861 the French invaded Mexico, the French army was much bigger than the Mexican.  On May 5. 1862 at the Battle of Puebla, Mexico had a victory.  This win did not win the war for Mexican army, but it gave them all hope.  Not in these children's book is the details that this was taking place during the same time as the United States Civil War (1861-1865) and that Napoleon III was ruling France.  Napoleon pulled his forces from Mexico in 1866, and the last of the French troops who stayed behind were executed in 1867.

Cinco de Mayo is not celebrating Mexico's independence, but rather their resilience.  It's celebrating that one victory that gave them hope.

Did you know that there are parts of the US where the Cinco de Mayo celebrations are larger than they are in Mexico?

Now that we know about Cinco de Mayo let's learn and teach about Mexico.
Off We Go To Mexico! An Adventure in the Sun


Written by Laurie Krebs
Illustrated by Christopher Corr

This book is wonderful!  If there was one book for young children that I had to recommend above all the others to learn about Mexico it would be this one.    Laurie Krebs has done a great job taking children on a journey through Mexico.  Done in short three sentence stance, with fun rhymes, it's an easy read that delivers culture, and sights.  From mountains, to the beach Laurie Krebs shows us Mexico.  On the page opposite the verse are four words that she translates from English to Spanish so you can either read the book cover to cover without using the Spanish words, or take your time and point out the train in the illustration and translate to "el tren."

The illustrations are full double page spread, showing the part of the culture and geography that is talked about on that page.  They are engaging and colorful.

I love that at the end of the book there is a map showing Mexico and you can point out the Ocean, and the countries that border Mexico.  Also there are a couple pages that share facts about Mexico, their large holidays (Cinco de Mayo is not listed in there, and did you know that their Independence Day is really a two day celebration?!)  There's a great spread that shares the history of Mexico going back to 10,000 B.C. up to present.  They are short paragraphs about each time period. Then on the very last page there are a couple more basic Spanish phrases.

This is a book about Mexico that you can pull out and use any time of year.


For older children, if they are working on a project about Mexico or just want more information I have to share with you The Land and the People MEXICO by Cath Senker.


This book is packed full of all sorts of information about Mexico.  It covers everything from history, the economy, the people, the rain forest, the climate, the culture and more.  There are photographs on every page for what it looks like in real life, and each section has a paragraph or so about different things having to do with the main topic for that page.  For example Go Wild! is about the wildlife in and around Mexico.  They talk about vultures, mountain lions, Jaguars, armadillos, Marlin, along with other fish, birds, and animals and their habitats. 
For my family story time I'm only picking out a few facts out of the book to share with the kids because it's not a read aloud book, not a story time one, but one older kids would enjoy and use for reports and to gain more insight.  The pictures are great and I will be showing them off because I think younger children will enjoy flipping through the pages to see the sights.


I hope this gave you a good start and insight into Mexico and gives you something to share with your family for Cinco de Mayo if you chose to celebrate or learn more about it.

Before I go I want to leave you with some more resources, some links where I got additional information.

7 Facts you might not know about Cinco de Mayo
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cinco-de-mayo
Battle of Puebla



I hope those books help you explore Mexico, and learn about Cinco de Mayo.  If you want some props for your own fiesta check out these below

Tenga un buen dia!

Have a great day!

Books about Body Safety

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  I realize that this isn't something we want to think about, we don't like to talk about it, and for many pretend that it doesn't happen or "It won't happen to us."  No one thinks it will happen to them, or their kids.  This is a terrifying topic.  I know this, it's one of my biggest fears.  I love my 2 girls and do everything I can to protect them, and part of protecting them is giving them knowledge and teaching them about protecting themselves and with that, that they can come tell me ANYTHING.   Body Safety is a very important subject that we NEED to talk about and teach.  This is going to give your kids the knowledge that no one should touch them in their No Touch Zone that they can say NO to any type of contact they don't want.  I will talk more about this throughout this post, but first let me give you as caregivers some information.

Sexual Assault      Abuse    Domestic Violence 

These are all terms we have heard before.  Chances are that each person who is reads this knows at the very least one person who has suffered from one of these.  If by chance you are shaking your head saying "No, I don't know anyone who has," then they just haven't opened up to you about it.  Rape and sexual assault are the of the most under reported crimes.  The victim blames themselves, the media and others blame them, and they are scared.  Even with how under reported it is the stats we do have based on reported cases are still high:
Every 98 seconds a person experiences sexual assault, every 8 minutes that victim is a child!
Only 12% of child sexual abuse is ever reported to the authorities
1 in 4 girls, 1 in 6 boys will be sexually assaulted before they turn 18, more than 34% of the people who sexually abuse a child are family members of that child!  Most of the time the child knows the person who abuses them, they are family, friends of the family, and people the child sees often and trust.


Before I go into each of the children's books I have picked out about body safety, I want to share with you a book that I feel is a MUST for EVERY parent.  I shared this book in my other blog about overcoming a bad past.   This book is such an important informational book for parents.  The No Touch Zone is more thought out than just what your bathing suit covers and makes a lot of sense.  Also Norman E. Friedman goes into how to teach it and why the No Touch Zone rather than just "Private Parts." Inoculating Your Child Against Sexual Abuse is a two part book and in the blog post I go full detail about the book and what is talked about.  This is a tool for all people around kids to help them spot people who are out to harm children, and to help prevent such awful things from happening to the children you love.

I know a few schools have been reading My Body Belongs to Me from My Head to My Toes for their body safety lesson.  

This book was written by a group of people from The International Center for Assault Prevention.  There is a letter to adults that starts the book off, read this to yourself before reading the book aloud to your child(ren).

My Body Belongs to Me is an empowering tool for children.  This book talks about how it's the one thing that is all theirs, this is important for a child to know.  The book then goes into touching.  They talk about being close with friends and family cuddling on grandma's lap, holding a baby, and how our bodies touch when playing.  Good touch.  The empowering part and it's the line I'm going to take right from the book "I alone decide if and by whom I'd like to be touched."  Then the book goes into other touches that the child might not like, tickling too much, sloppy kisses from someone, the dog jumping on you, being held too tight, and time when they just don't want anyone to touch them in any way. The book never goes into "bad touch" or private areas.  This is a book that is very important to be read, and should be read and taught early in life.  We as adults project our own knowledge into what we interpret.  We know about child abuse, we project negative thoughts into the images and what we read.  We need to remember this so that we can keep our own emotions out of reading this to our children.  
I again am going to use an example from the book: "If I'm asked to touch somebody, but I don't want to, I just don't do it.  I say 'No, I don't want to...."  Dagmar Geisler has done a great job with the illustrations and in this one the little girl is walking away from a guy that has his arms outstretched.  In my adult mind, from my past and from media, and TV I have turned that into a stranger or family member who is inviting the girl over for inappropriate touching.  No where in the book did it say that, or portray that.  That is what I projected.  Now I needed to take a step back and let out my own emotions (this is hard) and re examine the text and even the illustrations.  Now looking at it, maybe the girl got into a fight with her dad and he yelled at her, and is asking for a hug; maybe it's an Uncle asking for a hug good bye.  Think about the different times that your own children didn't want to give a hug, to give a kiss, to be touched at all.  This is normal.  This book is letting children know that it is their body and that they can say "No" to any touch they don't want.  This is something we need to work on as adults as well, if a child doesn't want to give a family member or friend a hug that is OK, don't make them feel bad for hurting grandma's feeling, don't mention grandma's feelings at all.  Instead let grandma know that you love her but are teaching about body safety and the right to say "No" that this is an extremely important tool and life skill the child will need.

Dagmar Geisler has done a great job with the illustrations in My Body Belongs to Me from My Head to My Toes. They are colorful, engaging, and tell a story.  Now I think Geisler has done a very unique job at making the illustrations in the book have several meanings.  As I said above we project what we know into what we see and hear.  The unwanted tickling picture infuriates me.  I want to reach in and punch the creepy guy in the face and tell him to keep his hands off little girls.  But, can you think of a time when someone tickled you when you didn't want to be?  Maybe trying to cheer up a sad kid, or make them laugh?    The image of the lady giving big sloppy kisses, this one makes me laugh because it reminds me of how old ladies like to pinch cheeks and kids hate it.  Guess what that's an unwanted touch that they can say NO to.  Maybe the lip gloss she is wearing is all sticky, maybe she has bad breath, yup I don't want that kiss either.  The illustrations tell their own story, but they also tell a story that we put into them.  

I love that this book is easy to read, can be read to small kids.  They say it's for ages 3-6.  Start early with this lesson, read it to a 18 month old, teach them that they don't have to give hugs, maybe a high five is better. 

Now they need to go into some things you have to do, some touches that happen for safety....Mom grabs the child's arm to pull her out of the street.  This is a touch that might hurt, that the child might be mad at mom for not getting her way, but yet is for the child's safety.  Another fun quick story that happened to me after I read this book to my daughter this week....
"Shower time" I announced after dinner.  It was a beautiful day out, we walked, we played on the play ground and the kids were dirty.
"No I don't want to." My 5 year old said.
"You're dirty, you need to shower before bed."
"Nope, it's my body!"
Damn, I mean "I'm really happy you understand this lesson, it is your body." Crap...now how do I handle this? "You played hard today, and you rolled in the grass, remember?  Well you're all covered in dirt....and you stink!  You don't want your bed to be all dirty right?  And you don't want to be smelly at school so you need to wash up."


I said No! A kid-to-kid guide to keeping private parts private by Zack and Kimberly King

This is a very "heavy" book.  I use the word heavy, meaning it's not a light easy to read book.  It is not a book that is meant to be read all at once to children.  Don't let this scare you off, this book is IMPORTANT, you just have to take more time to read it.  There is a "How Best To Use This Book" note that also states that this isn't meant to be read all at once.  This book is a tool to open your child to have conversations with you and address "what if..." situations.    I know as a parent we don't want to think about or talk about the "what if..." these possibilities that our children won't always be safe, but this is something that we need to do to raise them to be aware, knowledgeable, and to keep them safe.  These tools are key for prevention.

Zack and Kimberly King co-wrote this book.  They are a mother and son team who take personal experiences (which they share in the afterword) and turn them into lessons to help other kids.  Zack was 5 when he had a bad experience, from being taught body safety he knew what to do.  I find this kid to be so brave and such an inspiration! 

I love that a child helped to write this book because it sounds like another child talking to your own.  There are many points where they ask open ended questions and have you stop reading to talk about what you just read.  It is so important to sure you stop and talk about these questions and make sure your child understands.

This book covers SO much information! 
What are "private parts"
Red and Green flags
Safe and Unsafe
What to do in various situations
Who can you talk to?
Feelings
Treats, Bribes and Threats
Internet (they talk about what to do if someone shows you on a device porn - although they don't use the word porn)
Sleepovers
And Resources (I will have all of them at the bottom of this blog for you)
Oh and I can't forget this important part, they also talk about how if something does happen how it is not the child's fault.

Now let me touch a little more on a couple of these topics that they go over in the book:

Who can you talk to: Make sure you as a person around children let them know that they can tell you ANYTHING.  In our house we tell the kids they can always talk to us and that there are no secrets.  Also remember yourself as a child, there are times that you felt like you couldn't talk to your parents, but you could open up to other people, let your child know who else is in their life that they can talk to.  Another statistic that is sad, terrifying, and true is 80% of the perpetrators in a child sex abuse case were found to be the parent!  This was true for me and my story, along with many others.  In that case who does the child turn to?  Parents are there to protect their child from predators!  We need to make sure that if a child does tell us about abuse how we respond matters.  We have to believe that child, this is not something they make up, and they need help.  For more info on how to respond when anyone tells you about abuse they are going through or have gone through check out this.

Treats, Bribes and Threats.  Zack and Kimberly go in and tell the difference between a treat you get as a reward, and a bribe.  Now, many of us have used bribes to get kids to behave in the store, to clean their room you may be telling yourself.  I have said that before. "I'm not above bribing them!" But really we are giving them a reward for doing the right thing.  The book tells how a bribe is when someone gives you something but you have to do something that is wrong first.  And they talk about threats and how you should always tell those trusted people about threats even if they scare you or tell you that they will hurt someone else that a trusted adult needs to know so that they can help.

The Internet, this is everywhere now a days, and yet it's not something we talk about when we talk about body safety.  The book talks about what kids should do if someone shows them naked people on a device, to say No, put up a red flag, and tell a trusted adult.   

This book is written in a way that is easy for kids to understand.  Sue Rama does a great job in illustrating the book.  There are colorful images that will help your child stay focused, and put a visualization with each situation they might encounter they can think this cookie is a treat "green flag" that man at the park with candy is a "red flag".  Unlike in My Body Belongs to Me  from my Head to my Toes that I mention earlier, the illustrations don't have the same room for projection, instead each image that Sue Rama does seems safe but she uses facial expression, thought bubbles with red or green flags, and body language to show safe or unsafe situations.  For example the image that is on the page about the computer it shows two kids at a desk with a computer, one laughing, the other with his hands over his eyes.  The illustrations aren't full page they are just there as a visual aid that isn't uncomfortable. 

I Said No! is such a well put together book that will help you talk about body safety and talk to your children about what to do if they don't feel safe.  I hope you take the time to read this book and go over it step by step with your children.


The last book I want to share with you is also titled My Body Belongs to Me but is written by Jill Starishevsky.  This is another great book that you can read cover to cover in one sitting with 3 to 8 year old children.  In doing a quick search I found was even on Oprah with a story that brought me to tears.  This book is easy to read and has rhymes in it.  It talks about your body, how you have private spots, and then tells about how this little boy was touched there, told not to tell anyone but told his parents right away.  Jill Starishevsky has done a very good job at telling about being molested without getting into details, she keeps the story very simple and easy for kids to understand.  I again love how she goes on to tell if the child feels that they can't tell their parents they could tell a teacher.  The main message in this story is to get children to seek help, to tell someone that if they are being touched, or hurt.  I think it's important to again know that in reading this to children especially in a group setting, that you the reader needs to be prepared for a child to come forward and open up about their situation.  This is something we hope isn't happening, but the reality is that it is.  In your classroom, in your child's school, in your church, in your community there is a child that is being hurt, there is a child that needs to hear this book, this message so that that child can get help!  Be ready and know how to respond if a child opens up to you.  I need to now stress how these crimes don't happen elsewhere.  "Not in my gated community.  Not in my church; we dress modestly and teach how sexuality is a crime.  Not in my private school.  Not in the country."  Everyone says these things, everyone thinks they are protected. Reality is that any child regardless of age, gender, race, religion, finical upbringing, or location can be a victim of abuse.  

Angela Padron illustrated My Body Belongs to Me and did a great job telling the story through facial and body language emotions.  The full color illustrated pages will keep the child's attention and show that the emotions they might feel are okay.  

I love that both Jill and Angela end this story on a positive note with the child smiling.  I think it's important that children know that there is happiness even after bad experiences.  


Now I know I shared a lot of info between the books so I want to again list all the books for you using Amazon links to make it easy for you if you are interested in getting any of them now.  I did see other books listed on there but these are the ones I've read.  I've used all 4 of them with my own children.





Couple tips:  Name all the parts of the body to children, teach them that they have to ask your permission before going anywhere with anyone, teach them no touch zone.
Also about the no touch zone if you haven't already check out my blog post

"A book that is a MUST for EVERY Parent!" it goes into more detail about the book Inoculating Your Child Against Sexual Abuse.

Last thing I want to leave you with are this important websites for more information, and resources along with phone numbers.  These links are ones that I've gotten from the books, along with from friends of mine who help children and adults who come forward.  Please share these resources, and books with your friends and family.  Talk about body safety.  If you need to talk to someone, if you are still having a hard time about your past or are in an abusive relationship please know that there is help for you!  

Childhelp:  1-800-4-A-CHILD   www.childhelp.org

Darkness to Light: 1-866-FOR-LIGHT     www.darkness2light.org

Jacob Wetterling Resource Center  1-800-325-HOPE  www.jwrc.org   

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 1-800-THE-LOST www.missingkids.com

RAINN:  1-800-656-HOPE  www.rainn.org

Stop It Now:  1-888-PREVENT   www.stopitnow.org

Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse    www.stopcsa.org

mybodybelongstome.com

International Center for Assault Prevention (ICAP)  1-800-253-3189  www.internationalcap.org

www.childwelfare.gov

www.nsvrc.org

www.stopabuse.com

www.isaidno.info

Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape