A good children’s book is one that appeals to children AND adults.

Our youngest son loved the book Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman. I read it over and over and over to him.

I grew to detest that book.

Recently, I gave it to him. I told him that was inheritance. Good riddance (to the book — not my son).

I recently came across a delightful, delightful book for children ages 4-8 — Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie by Laurie A. Jacobs.  When Grandma Tillie babysits Sophie and Chloe, she takes her knitting, disappears into a closet, and is replaced by a whole cadre of silly and outrageously fun people.

With a grand entrance, Tillie Vanilly (with a bouffant pink hair) recites the alphabet backwards, hangs a spoon on her nose, juggles and tells jokes. Then, she leads Sophie and Chloe all around the house and into the kitchen while doing the conga.

Let’s pause here to see what the conga dance is like . . . (I would like one of these outfits.  To wear to work, maybe?)  The video lasts 4 minutes.  You don’t have to watch it all to get the idea of how to dance the conga.

Chef Silly Tillie wants to feed the girls worm chili with glue gravy. They decline. At bath time, Madam Frilly Tillie makes the girls gorgeous by giving Sophie a bubble beard and Chloe a tower of bubbles on her head.

Regular Grandma Tillie tucks the girls into bed and as Sophie drifts off to sleep she believes she hears Grandma Tillie dancing down the hall.

This is a great book. I love the illustrations. They are very appealing. I love the plot — it’s fresh and fun. I would be willing to read this book over and over to my grandchildren. It would even spark a let’s-dance-the-conga activity with the grandkiddos. This book is definitely a keeper.

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a giveaway. Too long. So I’m changing that. Right now. Right this very minute.

If you would like to win a copy of Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie, post a comment and tell about a “Grandma Tillie” type of experience that you have had with your own grandmother or an experience that you have had as a “Grandma Tillie” to your grandchildren. (I can’t wait to hear your experiences!!)

The giveaway will go until Thursday February 9 at midnight. (By the way, the 9th is our daughter’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, Christi!)

I will announce the winner on Friday.

Good luck!

A while back, I wrote about the series of books My Grandma Could Do Anything.

The author, Ric Dilz, contacted me with a special offer that I can share with you, Dear Readers.  You can get a FREE ePub or PDF copy of the book. Woo hoo!

All you have to do is ‘like’ their Facebook page.  It’s that simple.

If that link won’t work for you, go to their website, Jibber Jabbers Books. Click on their Facebook link on the right-hand side of their page. After you like their page, you will see a link at the top where you can download your free ePub or PDF copy of the book. Sweet.

(While you are on the Jibber Jabbers page, check out their toddler t-shirts. Way fun.  I love the one that says “Don’t make me call grandma” and “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”)

This is a wonderful gift from Ric!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

If you get the ePub version, you can read it on a Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, the Sony Reader, Android, and Blackberry phones. If you select the PDF file, you can read it on those devices in addition to computers.

Well, pardon me.  I’m off to download the ePub version and install it on our iPad.

Toot-a-loo!

Do you have a grandchild that is eight or older? Looking for a fun Christmas present to give?  If so, you might want to consider giving the book Fashion Kitty and the B.O.Y.S. (Ball of Yellow String).

Imagine a family of cats that has a mouse as a pet. Imagine a daughter kitty that tries on outfit after outfit as she gets ready for school.  Fashion is critical to her.  Imagine that a shelf fell and this daughter kitty gets bonked on the head by some fashion books.  Imagine that the bonking turned her into a super hero — Fashion Kitty.

Now, imagine twin boy kitties where one is good and the other one is not so good.  (The good twin hates it that people can’t tell him apart from his bad twin.) Imagine that  the bad twin forms a club and is making plans to capture the super hero.

Gasp!

Imagine a t-shirt designing contest, marshmallows, the Eiffel Tower, yellow string, and Super Sticky Spray.  They are all part of the evil plot to capture Fashion Kitty.  Who will come to her rescue? Who can save the t-shirts from being stolen?

Guess you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Fashion Kitty and the B.O.Y.S. has a fun plot that appeals to elementary school readers.  It has suspense.  It has drama.  It has a moral about what it takes to be a good friend and that good triumphs over bad.

It also has sketches with funny side comments that add humor to the plot. At the end of the book, there are craft ideas and simple recipes for kids to make.

If you are looking for a fun book to give as a Christmas present to a grandchild, this book is a good choice.

Now, that being said, I did a little reading up about the book.  This is the fourth Super Kitty Book.  Apparently, the first three were more like a comic book.  This book has more text and less ‘comic book’ drawings. If your grandchild is familiar with the first three Super Kitty books, this book could be slightly disappointing.  (Transitioning from less pictures to more text is such a hard thing for young children!)

But it’s still a cute book.  Put it on your list to get for grandchildren who have been nice (and not naughty). They will definitely enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher/author. This did not impact my opinion of the book.

I just finished reading a great book for grandmas.  It’s GrandLoving: Making Memories with Your Grandchildren by Sue Johnson, Julie Carlson, and Elizabeth Bower.  I love the design of the title on the cover where the ‘O’ in the word loving is a red heart.  Clever design!

This book is brimming with sage advice and a plethora of activities that you can do with your grandchildren to strengthen your relationship – and that’s what my site here is all about!  These activities will be a breeze to do because they are not expensive nor do they require much effort to prepare for.

At the beginning of the book, they quote If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again by Diane Loormans.  Here are two lines that spoke to my heart.  Read them slowly and ponder them.

(If I had my child to raise over again…)
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I’d do more hugging and less tugging.

Profound!

I think this poetically explains what grandparents can easily do since they don’t have the direct responsibility for their grandchildren (assuming that they aren’t the legal guardian).  Connect more.  Hug more.  Sound words of advice.

Since my little ‘grandloves’ are so tiny right now, I can’t do very many of the suggested activities.  However, here are two of their ideas that I can start this very minute:

• A grandchild’s journal.  Keep a journal of your feelings about your grandchild.  Write your feelings about when the grandchild’s parents told you they were expecting.  About your feelings of your grandchild’s birth.  About your visits and activities.  Then, on occasion, pull out the journal and share it with your grandchild.  It will be a valuable keepsake when you finally decide to give it to your grandchild to keep.

Like, duh, why didn’t I think of this idea since it was one I had done with my children?  As our children were growing up, I kept a journal in a simple spiral notebook of the things they did or the funny things they said.  Occasionally while our youngest son was in grade school, he liked me to read his journal to him for his bedtime story.  Now, I’m going to keep one for each of my grandchildren so that I can read it to them when they visit.

• Hand tracing.  Trace a grandchild’s hand on a piece of paper.  Place your hand over the tracing of your grandchild’s hand and trace around your hand.  (Boy howdy, that’s a lot of hands here.  Got ‘em all straight?  Good.  Give yourself a hand.)  You will end up with a tracing of a small hand (your grandchild’s) within a larger hand (your hand).  It will be fun to compare sizes of the hands.  Do this activity as your grandchild grows up (maybe around their birthday time).  Keep these drawings alongside the journal so you can pull them both out and share with your grandchild.

When my grandchildren get a wee bit older, I plan on using these two ideas that I got from the book.

• Questions on the stair.  Have the grandchildren sit on the bottom stair.  Ask fun questions.  For each correct answer, grandchildren move up a step.   The first one to reach the top stair is the winner.

• Chase-less Catch. Sew a six-foot long string through a sponge rubber ball (like a Nerf ball).  Thumbtack the end of the string to the top of a door frame.  (You will have a ball hanging on the end of a string.)  Put your grandchild on one side of the ball and you on the other and toss the ball back and forth.  If you miss, no problem.  You don’t have to run and catch it.  (This is good.  Grandmas tire out quickly if they have to chase a ball very much . . .) This is a good activity for grandchildren 18 months to three years old.

Here are other ideas that I really liked: springtime nested treats on page 176, hug tag on page 179, flashlight faces p. 199, and straw symphony p. 216.  (I have tons of stars, exclamation points, and underlined sentences throughout this book to help me quickly locate my favorite ideas.)

I hope this whets your appetite to read the book.  Go now to Amazon.com to get your very own copy!  Or go to Barnes and Noble if you’re so inclined.