Ida B . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan I discovered Katherine Hannigan through Emmaline and the Bunny, a cute-sounding fantasy tale I figured the girls would find fanciful.  They did, as did the Mrs.  So, I checked out the more...

NOONIE’S MASTERPIECE By Lisa Railsback Illustrated by Sarajo Frieden A sweet cupcake of a story with sadness sprinkles adorning the top. 10-year old Noonie doesn’t much care for school, save for art class.  She’s an inspiring artist living inside a dream, a fabrication of a life she’ll...

The brainchild of a mother-daughter team, Little Librarian makes playing pretend library in your own home a little less like pretend thanks to realistic library cards, late notices, and those old school book pockets and cards from the pre-computer era when your name and due date would be written on the...

In 8 weeks the Bear enters 1st Grade.  Our summer is very short. To make sure we have a splendid time of it, we four put our heads together and came up with a list of 25-30 things to see, do, experience and enjoy between now and August 15th.  Three of our weekends are booked (Phillies road trip, Newport...

The only thing bigger than the slightly mind altering, larger-than-life set were the laughs of the children in the crowd. The Arden Theatre’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie soars beyond Laura Numeroff’s book of the same name.  The kid on the page serves as a sort of prop to facilitate the...

Colin Meloy of Portland-prose rockers The Decemberists, along with his wife Carson Ellis, have inked a 3-book deal with Harper Collins to bring to life Wildwood – a series of novels for middle school children. Dubbed by the publisher as “a classic tale of adventure, magic, and danger, set...