11 Birthdays is one of my favorite books of 2008.It is the story of a girl named Amanda who always has her birthday with a boy named Leo. For their eleventh birthday they don’t have their birthday together. Then, something odd happens: their birthday starts repeating over and over again. Why is this happening? Read this book to find out! This is a great book and a mind-bending mystery.I think this book is for ages nine and up. I think that Wendy Mass is a great writer and I think she should write other books too!

Hadley ( age 8 )

Well, sorta… Excite Books (ExciteBooks.com) is a subscription book service that sends books monthly to your child, along with a few extra toys and goodies to keep him or her interested. Packages start at $4.95 per month and books are selected based on grade level and sex of child.

ExciteBooks is the brainchild of Austin George, a commercial pilot, who has always had a commitment to education. Before founding Excite Books, George volunteered as a motivational speaker in schools, where he was often surprised at the lack of books in the school library. George created Excite Books to “add excitement and energy into a child’s reading activities by allowing the child to be an active participant in all phases of learning and development through responsibility, motivation, and giving back to the community.”

A key element of the Excite Books program is a large plastic return prepaid envelope so you can send used or unwanted books back at the end of twelve months. Unfortunately, you can not use the bag to send all of your extra books to the chosen school since postage weight has already been determined.

Plans are available at a $4.99, $9.99 and $14.95 (one, two and three books per month) levels and comes with an “excitement guarantee.” If the books aren’t interesting to the child, he’ll refund the purchase price. Each package is engineered to excite a child, starting with the red metallic envelope. Three-book subscribers also get added educational activities.

Our sample package had books that immediately interested both my four and eight year olds, though they might not have been books they would have personally picked. This looks like a fun gift from faraway grandparents that want to foster the joy of reading in a small child, but can’t be there to help buy books on a regular basis. The price is right, the message is good, and as parents suffering always from too much clutter, we like the option of easily sending the books to schools that need them.

It’s kind of gross, but our friend, Howard Bennett, is writing a book on “the gross facts of life.” He is quoted in Monday’s Washington Post discussing what happens if you drink urine or eat insects. Not exactly cocktail conversation but he hopes topics that will be fun for kids as a way into reading more about science and how the body works. In just this short article, he gives examples of where you might want to use urine in an emergency situation.

We’ll be looking forward to getting more excerpts of his book and seeing it when it comes out next year could

“The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance by Polly Young-Eisendrath is out and it will be a good read for parents frustrated by the “every child is a winner” mentality that has taken over our schools and playgrounds.

I happen to believe in the philosophy behind constant praise for children. In my belief, they need to build a reservoir of love and good feeling to be ready to battle the big bad world. However, I am also wary of shielding them growth experiences that will prepare them for the challenges after they leave the nest. We have covered many good books on the site related to self-esteem, especially by Michael Gurian and Robert Brooks which are strong resources to better understanding this dilemma.

In this book, Ms. Young-Eisendrath spells out sources of the problem. If you recognize yourself as one of these types of parents, you may be setting your child up for self-esteem issues later on:

* Laissez-faire parents - “indirect, non-confrontational, vague, and friendly in their attempts to be authorities”

* Helicopter parents - “hover around their children” trying to be close friends with them.

* Role-reversal parents - believe that you can encourage children’s inner genius by allowing them lots of affection and attention with few boundaries

As in the books of Gurian and Brooks, Ms. Young-Eisendrath examines the importance of adversity and virtue in developing kids with good self-esteem. Adversity is important, so they can overcome or make peace with it. Teaching virtue and conscience, especially as it relates to others, especially by helping them, helps to get kids outside themselves.

Some readers may be put off by her chapter on “Religion and Reverence,” where she has a section entitled, “Why we need religion,” and patronizingly insists that “spirituality” is not a substitute for organized religion.

Polly Young-Eisendrath is a Jungian analyst and psychologist,, and a a Clinical Associate Professor o Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Vermont.

Spiderwick Chronicles is out on DVD and a surprise hit in our household. When this movie came out last year, I thought it looked a little goofy and it seemed to be in and out of theatres in short order. Seeing it at home was the first time for us, and it was a happy surprise for both me and my eight year-old. We both enjoyed the story, the action sequences and the funny parts.

The story is an imaginative tale of a single mom and her three kids who go to live in a mansion they soon find to be under attack by goblins out to get a book that details the world of creatures ordinary people can’t see.

While the movie has scenes that make it a bit too scary for little kids (7 and under), my slightly older daughter enjoyed even the attack sequences at the end of the film without being frightened. Be aware that near the end (attention: plot spoiler), the kids’ dad arrives in what looks to be a sweet family reunion moment. However, the father is really an ogre in disguise, and the movie’s hero, Jared, stabs him in the stomach, much to the horror of the rest of the family. This might be a traumatic moment for small children (and some dads).

Here are a few of the date points my daughter (age eight) gave for the movie:

1. Movie is best for: Kids over seven and dads who are willing to enjoy some fantastical entertainment.

2. Favorite part: When the little elf is mad, if you give him honey, he gets nice again.

3. Favorite character: The little elf

4. Main character: Jared, the brother who discovers the Spiderwick Chronicles book.

4. Lesson of the film: Sometimes knowledge gets you into trouble, as Daddy says, “Curiosity killed the cat.” Knowledge can get you out of trouble as well.

Some times, rather than a present for themselves, dads just like to see the kids enjoy a new toy or book. Here is a selection of books for young kids where the dad is the star. I’m an old softie when it comes to books and images of dads spending good times with their kids. My daughter has two or three books that feature dads and daughters and it makes me feel very special that she reserves a special place on her shelf for them. While we have not read any of the titles listed in this article, I’m going to check them out before next Sunday.

Here’s an excerpt from the Seattle Times Article and the list of books.

One girl likens her dad to a dog. One dad is convinced he’s a bird. Another dad lives away and a fourth works late but has a great lullaby in a wide-ranging selection of children’s books for Father’s Day.

“My Father the Dog” by Elizabeth Bluemle and illustrated by Randy Cecil (Candlewick Press, $6.99, ages 4-7). He scratches, fetches and growls when startled out of a nap. He likes the window rolled down and the breeze on his face during a drive. He pees on a tree and toots on the couch. Yep, this clownish dad is a lot like a dog as his daughter observes, but he’s a loyal, loving one. Bluemle reassuringly promises in a postscript: “This book is not based on my own father. Honest, Dad, it’s not.”

[From Books | Father's Day books celebrate dads of all kinds | Seattle Times Newspaper]

1.

My Father the Dog

2.

Papa and Me

3.

A Day with Dad

4.

Daddy Hug

5.

My Dad’s a Birdman

With just a few days left before dads’ day, here are a few suggestions for wine books you can pick up at the local bookstore or order quickly off Amazon.

1. Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2008 - This is a classic little volume perfect for sneaky glances while out at a restaurant where you need a reminder on the best years for a French Burgundy. It has seviceable wine pairing suggestions and even a primer on wine glass selection. At $14.95, this is a good bet.

2. The World Atlas of Wine Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson - This is a good building block for a strong wine library, as are the following four books.

3. The WIne Bible - 19.95 paperback

4.
Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia - $50.00

5. The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition - $65

6. Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines: The definitive guide to the world’s great grapes and the wines they make - $25 paperback. Also writes an annual pocket guide to wine like the Hugh Johnson book.

With more data coming out all the time on the health benefits of wine, especially red, now’s the time to pour and toast, “To your health, Dad.”

I just got done reading my four year old’s favorite book, Uncover a Shark by (David George Gordon. He LOVES this book, and while the cover says it’s for eight years old plus, he has memorized all the facts about the shark and was explaining to me features of the shark’s anatomy. This series is part book and part model, which he find really intriguing. So much so, that I felt like I was talking to a kid who would one day grow up to be a zoologist or other scientist.

The book has all of sixteen pages, but each page also has a three-dimensional plastic part of the shark’s anatomy. The text is about the organ (liver, brain) or body part featured (teeth, skin). Peppered throughout are fun “did-you-know?” style trivia about the shark. I’m not much into sharks, but enjoyed reading the book with him and sticking my hand into the sharks belly, and feeling its teeth and vertebrae.

The series includes other books in the style include Uncover the Human Body , Frog, Cobra, Crocodile, Tiger, and Uncover a Dog all of which I’ll look at for his next birthday.

If you have a daughter, it’s hard not to get a little emotional reading this collection of anecdotes compiled by Gregory Lang (author of more pithy books like “Why a daughter Needs a Dad: 100 reasons”). This is not a “deep” book, but it does get at a lot important truths about the importance of a father to little (and big) girls. Sometimes, that’s also what dads need to give an extra push to their efforts. We all need to know that all those hours pushing swings and replacing toy batteries are the foundation of an enduring relationship that doesn’t end suddenly at adolescence. There has been plenty of research that shows this to be true, but Mr. Lang, in this compilation of his own and others’ stories, relates how this plays out in different ways. For the dad of a young girl, it also gives a not-always-comfortable (read morbid) look into the future when kids are grown up and dad is looking at what he’s leaving behind as a legacy, rather than what he is building in the here and now. It may have you weeping into your Scotch before the end of the second chapter.

I’d recommend this as a gift from any girl or woman wanting to communicate to a dad why he’s special to her.

Daddy’s Little Girl: Stories of the Special Bond Between Fathers and Daughters by Gregory E. Lang

Like most people, I have a dirty little secret: I collect tacky souvenirs from monuments and buildings when I travel.

Like collections of snow globes, one monument alone is a tasteless souvenir. But put together a FULL CITY of monuments and you make a statement. My wife could never understand this mania, or “neurosis,” as she puts it, until a few years ago when the San Francisco International Airport featured a full concourse exhibit of souvenir monuments from around the world. There, in plenty of glory, were miniature reproductions of every major edifice in the world. Suddenly, my puny collection gained stature and value, rather then just being the goofy past-time of a middle-aged traveler. Some day, I could bequeath my collection to the Museum of Modern Art or even the Met!

As a former New Yorker, when I saw these, I knew I had to have them. The cars are cute too, but I’d skip them for a PanAm building, miniature Whitney, or a Columbus Circle. In fact, I’m getting two sets. I’m getting one set for my little boy to place between tracks of his train set (yes, the scale is a bit off), and one to go up on the shelf until I get a call from the mus

eum asking to take my collection on tour. They will make a perfect addition to my collection of stone, plaster, bronze and wood miniatures from cities I’ve visited around the world.

To read more about the history of this crazy hobby, check out this book: Souvenir Buildings Miniature Monuments: From the Collection of Ace Architects, which is a good book for dads and kids. My four-year-old son loves looking at the monuments. The book is divided mostly into major city-scapes, composed of mostly bronze and iron replicas of local landmarks and buildings. This is a fun book for both dads, kids, and budding architects.