Father’s Day

Father’s Day is tomorrow.  It’s a day to celebrate all the wonderful dads out there, so I will tell you one thing that makes my husband, Rajiv a great one – who my son, Dylan absolutely adores!  He leads a busy life during the week with work as he has always been ambitious and career driven.  No matter how busy he is, the one thing that he does not compromise on is taking the time to read to our son before he goes to bed.  Dylan is now at that a stage where he wants the same book read to him 20 times and each time we put it down, his cute little face convinces us to read it again for the “last time”.  I see the pure enjoyment on our son’s face as these are some precious moments that I hope he is able to vaguely remember later on in life.

Dylan’s go-to nighttime books at the moment:

  • Pout Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna (love this cute little story of a fish who is misjudged)  
  • Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Joe Rhatigan (a cute, extended version of the traditional song with lots of other bugs)
  • Little Owl’s Day, by Divya Srinivasan (a story about an owl who happens to be awake during the day)

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

(Other nighttime books: Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Daddy)

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Solar System: How Many Planets Are There?

Solar System - Nine planets or eight

My son loves learning about the planets and the universe.  I as a child also enjoyed learning about the NINE planets.  The mnemonic my elementary school teacher taught us students to memorize the planets was My Very Earthly Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies.  Of course, there are so many other variations like My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (which I think I like better, especially since I like a good slice of pizza). 

So, what’s the problem?

Officially there are only EIGHT planets now!  Sadly, Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet. 

This is of course old news as the redefining of Pluto as a dwarf planet goes back to 2006. Although the scientific community enforced this major change into our lives some time ago, it has been a very slow journey to the state of acceptance.  There are still so many books on bookshelves everywhere describing wonderful facts about the NINE planets.  People still talk about the NINE planets in conversations.  Bookstores still sell publications about the NINE planets.

How do we explain all this to the little ones?  What is appropriate to avoid any confusion with what they learn in school?

Here are two board books with the eight planets:

  • Solar System, by Jill McDonald (includes Pluto, but describes it as a dwarf planet)

So what is a good mnemonic for the eight planets?  If we don’t come up with something creative, our very earthly or educated mother will be serving us nothing!

(Shown in picture above – Uncle Goose Planet Blocks) 

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James Holzhauer and Emma Boettcher: Library to Jeopardy

Photo by chuttersnap

The journey for “Jeopardy James” Holzhauer has come to an end after 32 games with a total winning of $2,464,216.  He lost to Emma Boettcher, a 27 year old librarian from Chicago. What a great achievement!  Holzhauer, a professional Vegas sports gambler has been very open about the strategies he had used to win which included going after the Daily Double questions first.   

In an interview with the New York Times, when asked how he knew so many facts, James answered by saying “I have a strategy of reading children’s books to gain knowledge. I’ve found that in an adult reference book, if it’s not a subject I’m interested in, I just can’t get into it.  I was thinking, what is the place in the library I can go to get books tailored to make things interesting for uninterested readers? Boom. The children’s section.”

So was it a coincidence that the person James lost to was a librarian?

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Best White Sneakers for the Summer

Photo by Maximilian Muselmann

Summer is almost here and so are more white shoes out on the street.  Do you have a pair of favorite white sneakers?   Here are some great picks from around the web for the whole family.

Women’s White Sneakers:

Men’s White Sneakers

Kids White Sneakers

Speaking of white shoes, has your child read “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes”, by James Dean and Eric Litwin?  Such a delightful book about a cool cat who strolls along the day and stays positive no matter what obstacles come along his way. 

Enjoy your walk!

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Bedtime Stories: Goodnight Moon

One of the best children's bedtime story book: Goodnight Moon

One of the best bedtime story books for children found on so many bookshelves is Goodnight Moon. Mine is already worn out 2.5 years later (as you can probably tell from the pic I have posted)!

What is it about this book that has made it so popular? The story starts in a big green room with lots of objects.  Then it takes you through some brightly colored pages alternated by black and white as you say goodnight to various things around the room, including the moon.  The lighting gets darker and darker as you reach the end of the book where you finally say “goodnight noises everywhere”.

It is gifted often and has sold over 48,000,000 copies since it was first published in 1947.  After Brown’s death, royalties were given to her neighbor’s nine year old son, Albert Clarke – which may not have been a such a great idea.  If you are curious to learn what happened to Albert, read this.

If your child loves the book, check out Goodnight Lab, by Chris Ferrie – a scientific parody of Goodnight Moon. My son loved it!

Happy Reading! Night night.

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