Shawn the Sheep Back in the Ba-a-ath

HIT Entertainment
$14.98

Shaun is back, with some new tricks up his, er, wool? This disc is the second release of episodes that revolve around a mischievous sheep and his pack of loyal followers. It's blatantly obvious that these spring directly from the minds of the Academy Award winning creators of Wallace & Gromit. The show is incredibly clever and completely entertaining.

Bath Time: When the hot water for the barnyard bath runs dry, the sheep devise a devious plan to funnel hot water directly from the farmer's bath. One of the very best bits is the way the sheep form their huddle, each standing on two legs with their arms about the others' shoulders. As usual, Bitzer the guard dog tries to deter the sheep from their plot, but winds up coming to their aid instead.

Stick With Me: Bitzer uses some strong glue to fix the Farmer’s broken glasses. Unluckily for Bitzer, the flock gets its hooves on the tube of glue and things get very sticky! Glue is oozing about and wool is getting glued tight. Each time a sheep steps in to help, they get caught up in the mess, until it's a giant ball of sheep rolling about the farm. Hilariously, Bitzer ends up with a baby sheep glued tightly to his back. He can hear bleating, but just can't figure out the source of the baa.

In addition to these, there are six others: Shape Up With Shaun – Shaun gets Shirley the (chubby) Sheep on an exercise regime. Fetching has Bitzer so distracted by a female dog that he misses the flock’s rampage through the farmhouse. In Take Away, the sheep rendezvous to the local pizzeria disguised as a human being. The Farmer takes up oil painting in Still Life, with some intervention from the flock. Scrumping - an apple war breaks out between the sheep and the Naughty Pigs next door. Shawn and the others discover a stranded kite in The Kite, and put their sheep power working to get it free.

If you haven't seen Shaun the Sheep, you must give it a try!

Shaun the Sheep - Bath Time

Oooh! Picasso

Mil Niepold and Jeanyves Verdu
Tricycle Press

Picasso is easily one of the top ranked artists in the world today, as measured by the sale of his works. Another popularity measure - more of his paintings have been stolen than those by any other artist. Get your kids in on the Picasso fun (legally) with this fascinating book created at their level.

What is this? That's the question asked of the readers for five of Picasso's sculptures. The trick is, we are only shown a tiny piece of the puzzle, greatly enlarged for detail, which makes it difficult to identify. Use this limited view to encourage your children to visualize the possibilities. A bit more is revealed with the turn of each page, until we see the piece in its entirety, accompanied with the exclamation "Oooh! I am a ..." Just how close or wild were your guesses?

The effect of this presentation style is that we take a much closer look at each piece and are more likely to appreciate the details and composition. Viewing the sculptures as parts of a whole allows the readers to explore the works of a master artist by putting using their own imaginations to work. It's amazing what you can see when you want to. Even more amazing are the explanations that children will produce.

The simple text is brief, but poetic. I am water falling from on high. I am a tin moon hooked to the night sky. Awash in color, even the backgrounds are visually stimulating. The pages begin with bright yellow, deepening in hue to orange and then bright red to match the cover.

Overall, this is such a decidedly cool, unusual book. It serves as a wonderful introduction to Picasso for our children, and allows us all a closer look at some of his famous works.

Sculptures featured: Guitar, The Little Girl Jumping Rope, Baboon and Young, Guitar (a second one) and Bull's Head.


Created by the same team: Oooh! Matisse

Let's Get Ready! Series

Stacey Kannenberg
Cedar Valley Publishing

Are you not quite certain exactly what you should be teaching your kindergarten or first grader child? The Let's Get Ready series is terrific for preparing young children for school. These educational books are a smart choice that can help parents teach their kids the fundamentals.

The introduction page of Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten provides a list of early childhood skills that your preschooler should be able to master. The book then goes on to provide that content: the alphabet, colors, shapes, counting, money, opposites, seasons, rhyming, body parts, and so on. I love the page that asks for the child to write their name and address, plus a phone where they can practice dialing their telephone number. Sometimes we take for granted the knowledge that children actually need to have drilled into their heads.

Similarly, the second book in the series, Let's Get Ready for First Grade lists the pre-first grade target skills. This edition explains consonants and vowels, letter sounds, prefixes and suffixes, contractions, punctuation, addition and subtraction, food groups, solar system and more!

Unlike their throwaway paper contemporaries, these books are nicely constructed with sturdy, glossy pages. They are intended to be used with dry erase markers so your kids can write and erase, over and over again. Practice makes perfect! Plus, the bright colors and fun graphics make it attractive for your children to put in the time necessary to learn.

These award winning books are a smart way to teach your kids the basics. All parents want their children to excel and the Let's Get Ready series is a great way to get them started on the right path.

Thomas & Friends: Railway Friends

HIT Entertainment
$14.98

Well, this is a some excitement and a nice change for Thomas and his friends! This disc, just released February 10, is part of the all-new CGI animated series. Animated faces are superimposed over the physical models, which means that the trains and people have fuller facial expressions and movements. Even die-hard Thomas fans have to admit he has always sported a bit of a stiff face in the past.

The point of CGI is to bring a fresh and modern look to our railway friends, and also allows for more enhanced, fluid movement of the characters. The show's core values and strengths remain unchanged, as this is merely a cosmetic upgrade. The important thing here is that Thomas can still make his trademark "frowny face." He looks so cross when he makes that face - it's my favorite!

In Best Friends, Thomas is awarded a job that his best friend Percy was hoping to get. Thomas is weighted down with guilt and doesn't know what to say to Percy to smooth things over. The Party Surprise has Colin the Crane sad because he will miss the annual big engine party. His friend Freddie decides to bring the party to Collin instead! Excellent Emily is what Sir Topham dubs Emily after she weathers a big storm. Her ego becomes so inflated that she refuses to listen to the other trains. In Saved You, Thomas insists on helping his friends when they really are not in need of help, causing resentment and an awful lot of problems.

The big change is the visual upgrade, but this is still the same Thomas we know and love. As always, this DVD is filled what we have come to expect from Thomas & Friends: lovable characters and heroic displays of loyalty, responsibility and friendship.

Episodes include: Best Friends, The Party Surprise, Gordon Takes a Shortcut, Thomas Puts the Brakes On, Saved You! and Excellent Emily. DVD special features: Laying Down the Track Puzzle, Name That Train Game, Bonus Episode: Roary’s First Day

Mark-My-Time Digital Bookmark

Mark-My-Time
$8.95

I'm in favor of any product that gets kids excited about reading. We know children love electronic gadgets, and what better than one to keep track of their time spent reading? This is a really simple idea and at the same time, a very clever one. In addition to holding your place, these bookmarks also will help parents monitor and record daily reading goals for their children.

The plastic bookmark features a digital timer which is powered by a standard watch battery. The timer acts in two separate functions. You can set the countdown timer to alert the reader when they have completed their required reading time or set the cumulative timer which stores time over multiple reading sessions until the reader chooses to delete it.

While kids will like the fun technical aspect, parents will appreciate the practicality. Made from polyethylene plastic, these are built to stand up to the abuse that kids can dole out. They come in three kid-friendly colors: deep purple, bright blue and neon green. I like that the timer runs on a simple watch battery, which is inexpensive and easy to replace.

Mark-My-Time bookmarks are useful, durable, and fun to use. This is a great gadget that is easy to use, and really helpful with the daily reading routine. Make reading time ... anytime!

Watch Out for Wolfgang

Paul Carrick
Charlesbridge

This is the futuristic version of The Three Little Pigs. Rather than pigs, we find three robot brothers stepping forth into the world to seek their fortunes. Just as the pigs were warned about the big, bad wolf, these robots must beware of Wolfgang the Recycler. He is the type of robot that dismantles other robots for their parts. He will CLINK and he will CLANK, and he will tear your robot down!

The three brothers are very different from each other. Rod (yellow) always listens to his mother and makes her proud by oiling his gears and polishing his chrome on a regular basis. Slick (blue) earns his moniker with a natural ability to sweet talk and his snazzy good looks. Dudley (green) is rusty, oddly put together, and tends to blurt out odd noises. His quirks have earned him the nickname "Dud" from his brothers.

The three brothers enter the real world and follow their hearts. Rod dutifully buys a practical factory, Slick buys a fancy factory and Dud orders twelve truckloads of mud to wallow in. As their mother predicted, Wolfgang the Recycler comes to each brother, looking for parts. In the end, it is Dud who saves the day and his brothers' parts.

This is a great book for robot loving kids. Sometimes it can be a struggle to find books for rough and tumble boys (or tomboys), but this book really fits the bill. Machines, mud, gears, and plenty of action make this an exciting read. Kids will love the bright, futuristic illustrations and parents will like the book's message. Not everyone must follow the same path, but rather choose the path that is right for them.

Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's

Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati
Brown Bag Publishing

Wow. This cookbook is so much more than I had expected. Don't get me wrong, I liked the idea of this book right away. It's just that I didn't realize the presentation was going to be so ... amazing! Great recipes with clear directions and short prep times. And best of all - full color illustrations of every recipe. So often, I hear friends lament about other cookbooks: "It's good, but there aren't enough photos. I need photos." Oh, we have photos!

The concept behind the book is pretty simple. Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati are crazy for Trader Joe's. Make that crazy like foxes. The pair realized that using the prepped ingredients available at Trader Joe's made it faster and easier to get healthy dinners on the table. They also realized many shoppers were clueless about how to use those same products. And the book was born.

Trader Joe's offers unique sauces and dips, fresh salads, gourmet meats and cheeses. Many of their items are fully cooked and ready to use. The authors believe their products are of consistently high quality and delicious, plus the selection is diverse. The key to building a great time-saving dish is coming up with recipes that combine prepped ingredients with fresh. But you don't have to worry about that, Deana and Wona have it covered. You just have to decide what to make first!

There is a great range of recipes presented here, starting with appetizers and going all the way through to drinks and desserts. Just flipping through the book initially, I noted at least a dozen recipes I wanted to try. The photos are fabulous - they make the dishes so appealing that my list grew longer with each turn of the page. Spicy Tropical Shrimp Boats, Pasta Puttanesca, Black Bean Soup, Frozen Tiramisu - so many appealing dishes ...

To make it easy for the cook, the proper names of items from Trader Joe's are capitalized, such as Thai Yellow Curry Sauce or Brown Rice Medley, while more common ingredients are in lower case. With this layout, even shoppers unfamiliar to Trader Joe's can easily track down the ingredients they need to get cooking. To give you just a bit more help, wine suggestions accompany many of the recipes.

This is a cookbook that offers cooks an easy avenue to prepare gourmet food with considerably less effort. Learn how to take advantage of the shortcuts that Trader Joe's products offer and start creating your own impressive creations. Your only dilemma is whether to take all the credit or share with Trader Joe's.

To get a feel for what this cookbook is like, visit the Cooking With Trader Joe's Blog. The recipes posted are different from those in the book, but they are of the same style.

Alligators and Crocodiles!

Laurence Pringle, Illustrations by Meryl Henderson
Boyds Mills Press

Do you know the difference between alligators and crocodiles? Nor did I, until this book came along. Now I know that a crocodile's head is more narrow and its snout is more pointed that an alligator's. When crocodiles close their mouths, both upper and lower teeth are visible. In contrast, only the upper teeth show on an alligator's tightly closed mouth. And that's not all I learned ...

Crocodilians are a reptile group made up of crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials. The members of this group are alike in that they all have short legs, clawed feet, powerful tails and tough skin for protection. This book provides wonderful drawings and a short summary of twenty-one different crocodilians, so that the readers may note and compare the variations in size and shape.

Our foray into the reptile world begins with the behavior demonstrated by baby alligators. It is fascinating that the babies can communicate with their mother and mimic each other, even while inside their shells. Mother crocodilians help the babies hatch and then guard over them, providing loving care until they can become fierce crocodilians of their own right.

All crocodilians also have powerful jaw muscles, and a valve at the back of their mouth that closes underwater. This renders them airtight and able to remain underwater for more than an hour. This feature is particularly useful for feeding, as their practice is to drag their prey underwater to drown them.

This is just a an amazing source of information on these massive reptiles. Well organized information is teamed with full color illustrations, that make this a very attractive number. The only down side is it is just a little bit embarrassing for adults who discover how much they didn't know about these animals.

A Hike for Mike

Jeff Alt
Dreams Shared Publications

On July 29th, 2003, Jeff Alt and his wife, Beth, embarked on a hike along the 218 mile John Muir Trail to raise awareness of depression. After losing Beth's brother suicide, they decided to launch the Hike For Mike campaign - designed to help families recognize the signs of depression and prevent the common end result of suicide.

Hikers and non-hikers alike will enjoy this adventure filled journey through three national parks and some of the most dramatic scenery in the United States. Alt gives a detailed and accurate account of the challenges involved in carrying a 50-pound pack for eight to ten hours a day. The couple dodged lighting storms, bears, shady trail folk, and injuries before reaching the end of the trail high atop Mt. Whitney—the highest point in the United States. Humor is central to Alt's storytelling - a lost bag of clothing, the smells of the trail, and the lack of bathroom facilities are all described in a way that is sure to get a chuckle out of the reader. The book also provides a wealth of facts and information about depression and the land naturalist John Muir describes as “mountains of the sky, solid-looking, finely sculptured, their richly varied topography, wonderfully defined.”

Most importantly, this book is incredibly inspiring. Jeff states that his mission is to entertain and inspire you to go after your dreams, get outside, and bring your family along for the ride hike. His writing really does make you want to strap on a pack, hit the trail, and conquer the incredible challenges of Mother Nature. A Hike For Mike also inspires the readers to become activists in issues close to their hearts.

Word World

PBS Kids

Word World is easily one of the best children's programs on television today. The show is incredibly clever, smart and funny. More importantly, this cartoon is actually an excellent literacy tool that can help parents build early literacy skills. The best part? Your kids will love it. The learning is disguised by catchy songs, quirky characters and captivating storylines. Your kids won't know know what hit them!

The entire world is built from ... words. That is to say, you can see the letters that make up each object and character. When letters are put in the correct order to form a word, it then transforms into that item. See how cool the barn is? The whole world is full of items like this. If you haven't seen the show, it's difficult to explain how amazing the presentation is. The letters literally expand and reshape themselves to BE that word, in a really neat way.

Designed for ages three to five, word building reinforces the pre-reading concept that letters make words. Kids will see first hand how to sound out letters (hey, if a frog can do it ... ) and learn about rhyming. The fun format gets kids excited about learning to build words.

The creators of this show did an absolutely brilliant job with this core group of characters. The animals have very distinct personalities and characteristics, making up a diverse group. Pig is all about the food. He maintains a large kitchen, from which he hosts a televised cooking show. Frog is a scientist, always laboring away in his log, coming up with crazy inventions. He has a great vocabulary, he's book smart and a little on the geeky side. Duck is ... kind of a redneck. He isn't great at spelling, but he tries hard and he's friendly. We also have Sheep, Ant, Bear and Dog.

Too often the voices on children's television shows grate on my nerves with the squeakiness and high pitch. Thankfully, that is not the case here. These voices are actually humorous - I swear that Duck is a feathered take on Bill Clinton. Like many successful children's shows, this one includes some humor intended for the adults. The result - there isn't another cartoon that I enjoy watching as much as this one.

Word World has is now offering plush WordFriends. Each animal is made of individual magnetized letters, like Dog to the right. Pull them apart, then clip them back to build the word. Or mix and match and make your own crazy animals! There are a ton of animals offered - the seven original characters plus extras like Bee, Zebra, Cat and Tiger. The kids in our test group were having a ball trading parts and making up words.

You can check here to find out when Word World is showing on your PBS station.

Little Lost Bat

Sandra Markle; Illustrations by Alan Marks
Charlesbridge

This book really toes the line between fiction and non-fiction. Readers get a double dose by learning a host of interesting facts about bats and enjoying a heartwarming story. I was surprised by how engaging and endearing this book turned out to be. This is a lovely story about an animal that is typically seen as frightful or fearsome.

This tale begins with a mother bat bringing her new baby into the world. There are million of bats in the cave, but each mother and baby pair have their own special calls with which to find and identify each other. Every night the mother bats venture out to hunt for food, each needing to eat nearly her own weight in insects to have energy for nursing.

While out hunting one night, the mother bat is snatched up by an owl. Her baby cries and cries for her, his belly growling, but she does not return. The other female bats ignore his cries, until he is adopted by another mother who is searching for her own lost baby.

The text spacing is unusual, but once you are accustomed to the layout, it feels poetic. Because of the subject matter, the backgrounds are the cave interiors or the night sky. As you can see by the sample pages, the illustrations are watercolors in deep blues and purples - absolutely gorgeous. The drawings of the little lost bat crying for his mother just tug at your heartstrings.

All told - beautiful illustrations, great learning opportunities and a tender story make this a book we will read over and over again.

YogaFit Kids!

YogaFit.com
$19.95

The benefits are yoga are well documented. Yoga can increase flexibility, improve muscle tone, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, plus improve concentration and mood. Some studies have suggested that yoga may have a positive effect on learning and memory. Other researchers have been studying whether yoga can increase a person's sense of self-acceptance, or improve energy levels.

This video is a wonderful way to introduce your children to the power of yoga! The instructor makes a point of presenting traditional yoga poses and techniques in a fun way that kids will be attracted to. At the same time, the video is certainly educational, providing instruction on over twenty poses and breathing exercises.

The kids in our test group had never been exposed to yoga before, but they caught on immediately. Even children as young as three or four years old could watch the YogaFit Kids demonstrating and mimic their actions. To add some fun, they play yoga "games" such as Name the Pose, Do the Pose, where the instructor selects one and the kids leap into action. Many of the poses have fun names that kids can identify with, such as Dead Bug Pose, Cat-Cow Pose and Roaring Lion Pose.

This would be a great choice for any child aged 3 -10. Yoga can help children develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration can be improved, while calming their nerves and clearing their minds. Presented in this format, yoga is also darn fun! Kids will have no idea how much they are helping their minds and bodies - but parents will!

Sinupret for Kids

Bionorica
8.7 oz - $18.50

Like many parents, we were concerned when it was announced that children under age the age of four should no longer be given over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. Although we were still getting hit hard during cold and flu season, there was nothing we could administer for some reflief. Imagine how excited we were to find Sinupret for Kids - a natural remedy for healthy sinus, respiratory and immune support.

Specifically, Sinupret promotes healthy drainage in the upper respiratory tract, improves airflow in the nose and supports healthy mucous flow in the nose and sinuses. This syrup has been clinically tested to be a safe remedy, and is doctor recommended. Pediatricians in Europe have given over 3.5 million referrals for Sinupret, and it is used in over thirty-five countries.

I'm thrilled to find a natural product that can help my kids stay healthy. The cherry flavor gives it a good taste (yep, I tasted it), so there were no battles about accepting a dose. I particularly like that the dosage is small - only a half teaspoon for children 2 - 5. We marveled over how tiny the dispenser seemed compared to traditional cough/cold syrups.

Sinupret for Kids is a blend of five herbs: European Elder, Common Sorrel, Cowslip, European Vervain and Gentian. Made with natural and safe ingredients, it has no stimulants, caffeine, ephedra or pseudoephedrine, and no history of dangerous side effects.

I think this is a great alternative to traditional medicines and would definitely recommend it. Bionorica has a plethora of great information on their site, if you need to read more about it before giving it a try. This is a simple and effective solution for our family, in the healthiest manner possible.