Fun Educational Books for Kids: Cat in the Hat Learning Library

There are a lot of great children’s books out there and I’m sure each of you have your favorites.   Some that come to mind are Guess How Much I Love You, Goodnight Moon, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Where the Wild Things Are, Is Your Mama a Llama? Read Along Library, and the list goes on.  However, if you happen to be a Dr. Suess fan you’re in luck because Dr. Suess has added a fairly new collection to their classic books.  If you have not yet seen or heard of the Dr. Suess Cat in the Hat Learning Library books you absolutely HAVE to check them out!

This series of books have quickly become my favorite and my kids love them too.  The publishers age level is 4-8 but with the illustrations and rhyming stories, they can even hold a 2 or 3 year olds’ attention.  Each book teaches some aspect of nature or the world.  The series includes books about bugs, plants, animals, weather, nature, space, the human body, and much more.  The factual information is presented in such a way that it is fun to read AND educational - so much so that my kids don’t even realize they are learning.  Okay I’ll admit it…I learn a lot from them too!  My son Alex hates bugs, but the book about insects is one of his favorites.

I found many of the titles from this series at TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Ross for $5.99.  However, Amazon.com has ALL of them and even better - they are eligible for Amazon’s 4 for 3 promotion which basically means if you buy 3, you get one free.  Add the fact that you aren’t charged tax and there is free shipping on orders over $25.00 and it’s a pretty good deal.  Trust me…these books are well worth the investment.  You AND your kids will love them!

Here are the Cat in the Hat Learning Library book titles:

• A Whale of a Tale!: All About Porpoises, Dolphins, and Whales
• Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds
• Hurray for Today!: All About Holidays
• I Can Name 50 Trees Today!: All About Trees
• If I Ran the Rain Forest: All About Tropical Rain Forests
• Inside Your Outside: All About the Human Body
• There’s No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System
• Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures
• Clam-I-Am!: All About the Beach
• Is a Camel a Mammal?
• Miles and Miles of Reptiles: All About Reptiles
• My, Oh My–A Butterfly!: All About Butterflies
• Oh, Say Can You Say DI-NO-SAUR?
• Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather
• Oh Say Can You Seed?: All About Flowering Plants
• Oh, the Pets You Can Get!: All About Our Animal Friends
• Oh the Things You Can Do That Are Good for You!: All About Staying Healthy
• On Beyond Bugs: All About Insects
• One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money
• There’s a Map on My Lap!: All About Maps (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)

I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep adding more. Let’s face it, Dr. Seuss books have been classics since well before we were kids and they will continue to be.  Any of these would be a great collection to your child’s library.

Twilight Books for the Young AND Old and I’m HOOKED!

So yes. I have finally become yet another follower of the oh so popular Twilight books. I swore I wasn’t going to cave in but when my 60 year old mother is reading them and swears that they are THAT good, I just had to see what all the rage was about. Mistake. I am now HOOKED!

When I heard the saga was a vampire love story geared to teenagers no less, I was in no hurry to join the Twilight ”cult”. After all, I’ve never been one for that type of movie, never mind book. But, I went ahead and bought Twilight anyway-the first book in the series. I must admit that the beginning moved a little slow for me. But, after reading on a few more chapters, I was definitely intrigued as to what was going to happen next.

Why is this book such a hit with readers young and old? I can only answer why I enjoyed it so much. First, it is a very easy read. It has to be since it is geared toward “young adults”. Second, the author Stephenie Meyer is an excellent writer in that her words are extremely descriptive so you can clearly imagine every scene, every person, every place she writes about in the story. It was easy for me to imagine Bella walking around the halls of her high school or sitting at the lab table in biology class. I felt like I was there with her since I could see it so clearly in my mind. Maybe it helps that I am not that old to remember my own experiences in high school so I could relate to many of those scenes-which makes me like the book that much more. I felt younger in a way I guess. Plus, the obvious reason I got so hooked on these books is that I’m a sucker (interesting choice of words huh?) for a good love story. However, I was surprised that I could get into a story THIS much about a vampire.

Actually, although these books have been out for awhile now, I think I have been reading them at the perfect time-although I know my husband wouldn’t agree. The reason the timing is good is that these books have been a release…an outlet for me. I have been so on edge lately. I’ve been very moody, easily irritated, and extremely short-tempered with my friends and family. I was starting to annoy myself. In fact, I was starting not to like myself at all. I think the fact that I have been living, breathing, eating, and sleeping motherhood for the last 6 years has finally taken a toll on me. I realized that I have lost myself. Yes, I am a daughter, wife and mother and I love being all of those things and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but somewhere along the way I lost my own individuality.

I know that in a way, I am to blame for that. I should have made time to spend alone or with girlfriends when my kids were even younger than they are. But in my defense, both of my boys were very needy babies and had severe separation anxiety so I could never bear to leave them even when I had an opportunity. I realize now that I really did need that precious time for myself and I am sorry I didn’t get it then. So what does any of this have to do with reading the Twilight saga? Well…it finally occurred to me that I could get excited again about other things that have nothing to do with being a mom. For those few hours every day that I get lost in one of those books, I feel like my old self. Just me. No responsibilities. Of course, that depends on how many times the kids interrupt me while in my mind, I AM Bella Swan! I usually have to read when they are asleep and by then, I am so tired from my mom job that I can’t stay up long enough to read as much as I want to. Then I have to deal with my husband getting pissed off that I am spending my valuable time reading a book when I could be doing other things.

Another reason  (at least for me) why I’m so into these books is because it dawned on me that in the last 6 years I have not read ANYTHING other than books and magazines that had to do with babies/toddlers/preschoolers/kids. I have read tons of books on how to get your baby to sleep through the night, nutrition for kids, toddler tantrums, discipline, etc. but not one ADULT novel or anything “fun”. So my hubby needs to back off and let me live in my fantasy world for a few weeks while I finish the last two books in the Twilight series. There is NO way I can stop now. That would be like watching an episode of LOST and then never watching again! So I say bring on Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and let the fantasy continue!