Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978080253035
Hardcover $16.00
About the book: When no one is watching, it's easy to be brave -- to dance and sing, growl and cheer. But when everyone's watching, this book's shy young narrator finds it far easier to hide. With her best friend, Loretta, though, she doesn't feel shy, embarrassed, awkward, or odd -- not one bit. Together they're like two peas in a pod, whether anyone's watching or not.Any readers who have felt shy will certainly recognize themselves within the pages of this adorable book, which will encourage even the most timid of audiences with its celebration of the value of a good friend.
My thoughts: Eileen Spinelli captures what it is like to have pent up desires and ambitions but you're too shy to let them out. It is all about When No One is Watching that we dance with a broom, put on a brave show of strength, and leap with exuberance. Spinelli uses a few lines on each two page spread with a couple in rhyme. The effect is superb and makes for tremendously fun read aloud times.
As artist David A. Johnson skillfully drew this shy but exuberant little girl, he uses a combination of toned down and bright and vivid on the same page to show emotion and energetic activity. Very effectively done. And the little girl is simply adorable with her unruly curls caught back in a headband. What I love, is the seemingly never-ending length and tangle of the shoe strings. They just seem to grow and multiply. Real cute.
The overall take away from the book is that even though shy, we can have and can express our exuberant feelings and no one has to be watching. We can have, too, as this sweet and charming little girl does, a special friend that completely understands and they both can relate and visit the zoo or quietly read a book.
A charming book. Thanks Eerdmans for publishing it.
DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own and I was not compensated for the review.
I like for my house to have a fresh fragrance. I like the scent to be light and not offensive to sensitive sniffers. Renuzit has developed a line of air fresheners specifically for households where folks who are sensitive to air fresheners can have a bit of fragrance and not regret it.
They have three new products: Renuzit Sensitive Scents Adjustable Cones, Renuzit Sensitive Scents Universal Sented Oils, and Renuzit Sensitive Scents Trigger Spray. The Renuzit folks want me to use these products and share with you what I think about them. So today I put these three items to use in my own home - and my husband simply doesn't tolerate strong fragrances very well. (So far his sniffer has not complained so we're happy campers today.)
Renuzit Sensitive Scents Adjustable Cones
We're all very familiar with the little cone that we tuck around throughout the house. Renuzit has been a top source of these in a large variety of fragrances. The new Sensitive Scents I am using is "Pure Water Lily and Cucumber" and it is a fresh, light fragrance.
Renuzit Sensitive Scents Universal Sented Oils
The plug-in scented oils is in the fragrance of Pure Ocean Breeze. The product is said to "Perform without overpowering. Has the right freshness balance for sensitive noses." My package had the plug in case and the bottle of oil. Refills of the little bottles can be purchased without the case. The "universal oil warmer" refills work in any Glade or Air Wick oil warming unit.
Tucked discretely in a remote bedroom corner, it emits its fragrance. I would prefer this scented oil in a larger room than the one in which I have placed it. I believe it to have too much scent for this small room. Perhaps the Renuzit Sensitive Scents Cone would be better for this room and the scented oil placed elsewhere.
Renuzit Sensitive Scents Trigger Spray
The Trigger Spray a product you can use just to spray and freshen the air in a room or you can spray directly on your furniture (I wouldn't use any product of this type on wood surfaces.) to help freshen and neutralize tough odors and musky, stale upholstery. A really nice deodorizing spray. The trigger spray action works well and instantly.
The fragrance I am trying in the trigger spray is Pure White Pear and Lavender. I'm a bit partial to Lavender so I like this. The lavender is not strong, though.
My ratings on these products:
Sensitivity = rating very good to high for being non-offensive. (Hayfever season will be the true trial time, though.)
Fragrances
White Pear and Lavender = #1 (My most favorite)
Pure Water Lily and Cucumber = #2 (My second favorite - close tie with #1)
Pure Ocean Breezes (scented oils) = #3 (My least favorite and may be because in a room too small for it)
DISCLOSURE: I was provided products to review by the Social-Insiders group representing Renuzit. This also included coupons which I will distribute to the giveaway winner. I was not compensated and all opinions are my own, alone. #SocialInsiders
Effectively Repels and Reject Roaches, Spiders, Ants, Fly,
Mosquitoes, Rodents, Mice, Rats and Other Insects
(per Amazon information provided by Star)
We don't really have a problem with pests except for a few silverfish and little spiders. But I don't like any creepy crawly buggies at all. I also don't like to use pesticides or spray insect killer products. So when I had the opportunity to try the STAR Ultrasonic Pest Repeller I was quite pleased and excited.
I received the little STAR Ultrasonic Pest Repeller and was impressed by the tidy appearance of this unit. When plugged into the outlet, it is lite up with a blue light. A little side-note plus on the light - this serves nicely as a night light for us. But the blue light is also an indicator that it is engaged and working.
Well, I really don't know how effective this unit is - like I said we don't have a major problem. But time will tell if I see fewer silverfish and little spiders. I believe it is worthwhile for me to have this little unit plugged into my wall outlet.
I am not making any claims that this unit repels insects and rodents. I understand that there is controversy relating to the use of these types of units but I also believe that there can be no harm in using it and the potential for a good outcome is possible. Successful use of an ultrasonic repellent would certainly be much better than using chemicals around your home, family, and pets.
SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - Use the STAR Ultrasonic Pest Repeller for 60 days. If our Ultrasonic pest control Repeller does not help eliminate your pest problem, we will refund 100% of your purchase. No questions asked.
CREATES A PEST BLOCK - STAR Ultrasonic Pest Repeller creates a shield by ultra-powerful deep penetrating electromagnetic waves which prevents insects and pests from entering your home. The patented technology cause's in-wall wiring to send electromagnetic pulse signals. thus signals preventing pests from passing through your home walls. Outdoor rodents, pests and insects will no longer try entering your home.
DISCLAIMER: I was provided a complimentary unit to facilitate this review and was not compensated for the review. Opinions are my own.
About the book: What is "normal?" That's the question an eager young scientist hopes to answer as she narrates her very first book. Unfortunately, her exceedingly "normal" subject—an orangutan named Norman—turns out to be exceptionally strange. He speaks English, sleeps in a bed, loves his stuffed toy, goes bananas over pizza, and even deep-sea dives! Oh, no: what's a "normal" scientist to do?
Brightly illustrated and brimming with silly scenes that will have young readers in hysterics, this loving look at the wackiness that makes us all special serves as a gentle reminder that "normal" can’t ever be defined. Norman and his scientist friend will encourage and inspire children to embrace their individuality and be their own “normal” selves.
My thoughts: Of course Norman is the main character and he is aptly brought to delicious life by the illustrator who has used the un-normal coloration of blueish-purple and golds to help Norman in his un-normal way to stand out.
I love the little girl scientist who is a first-time book narrator and "scientist" who is trying to define normal in her book. She is unidentified and is only, "I." (But let's get a shout-out and an encouraging nod to all the little girl would-be scientists and encourage the little girls to pursue the fields of STEM: Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics.)
"I" our narrator is being graded by the head scientist who is an adult male with a beard . And in the end he gives "I" a passing grade because she recognizes that normal cannot be defined. Our little girl scientist goes about observing, recording, and drawing conclusions as she tries to define Normal Norman. (All a part of the scientific process.)
Using this book, a teacher or parent can encourage children to recognize that which is normal to one individual or community might not be normal to another and that we are each valued individuals.
This is a charmingly engaging book with the illustrator using bold black lines and strong pastels for the art work. (Well, using pastels and strong in the same sentence seems to be un-normal, doesn't it?) I love the little girl. I love the big, lumbering gorilla in his purplish colors hugging his favorite stuffed critter. And I love the way the author encourages us to embrace the ordinary, the regular, the common everyday people and critters around us.
Author: Tara Lazar lives in Basking Ridge, NJ, with her husband, two daughters, and 2,749 stuffed animals. She’s the author of The Monstore, I Thought This Was a Bear Book (both Simon & Schuster), and Little Red Gliding Hood (Random House). Tara founded Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), an annual online writing event held on her award-winning blog at taralazar.com, which has hundreds of registered users and receives tens of thousands of blog hits.
Illustrator: S.britt (AKA Stephan Britt) first developed his zeal for drawing in childhood, when he drew on anything and everything that wasn’t dripping wet. His first picture book, Over In the Hollow (Chronicle), was a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best. Stephan lives in Portland, OR. Visit him online at sbritt.com.
My thoughts: The progression of music through time has taken the listener from primitive drums to the Gregorian Chant and from there to the centuries of great classical music from artists such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Handle. But at the end of the 1800s when Erik Satie began to compose and play his music, it was seen and heard and absurd, loud, ridiculous, and strange.
Erik Satie himself was a bit of an oddity in that he didn't like the ways things were - rules for how music should be, rules for behavior in school, rules for romance, rules for how to dress. He was at odds even with the French avant-garde community of those days.
My three girls took years of piano lessons and studied music on into college. I don't recall their playing any of Satie's compositions though they did play twentieth century composers. So to see just who Erik Satie was and what his music was all about that was so absurd and disruptive, I looked him up and found a plethora of listings online of his music.
Now about this children's biography Strange Mr. Satie: Composer of the Absurd. I have reviewed another of M.T.Anderson's biographies - Handel and found that he and the illustrators do a magnificent job of presenting these people to the young child. They make it interesting, fun, and informative. And they make the Mommy or Teacher want to research further into the life of the individual and his work.
The quirky life and absurdity of Satie is well captured by Petra Mathers illustrations. The cover illustration of a Satie seated at a grand piano with a jumble of stuff emanating from the sound board interior of the piano is spot on to represent the mixture of sounds Satie incorporated into his music.
The author M.T.Anderson tells the story of Satie's sad and troubled life with an easy style in short lines of prose. He helps the reader garner a bit of an understanding that this troubled man who had a wealth of music stored inside him that was trying to be released and the difficulties he had in coping with the realities of his day.
A terrific children's biography and perhaps it could lead to a study of music styles and troubled artists.
About the book: Throughout his life, Erik Satie wanted to make a new kind of music, a kind of music both very young and very old, very bold and very shy, that followed no rules but its own.
At first glance, Erik Satie looked as normal as anyone else in Paris one hundred years ago. Beyond his shy smile, however, was a mind like no other. When Satie sat down at the piano to compose or play music, his tunes were strange and dreamlike, his melodies topsy-turvy and discordant. Many people hated his music. Few understood it. But to Erik Satie there was sense in nonsense, and the vibrant, surreal compositions of this eccentric man-child would go on to influence many artists.
In a brilliant performance worthy of the composer, M. T. Anderson and Petra Mathers present a picture-book biography of the singular Erik Satie.
DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Candlewick Press to facilitate this review. Opinions are solely my own. I was not compensated for the review.
Sometimes it behooves us to pause and think back to an earlier time, a slower pace, a less privileged people, and a way of life almost lost to us.
Think back to when people didn't throw out worn out items or outgrown clothes. No, they utilized every bit that they could.
Take a man's shirt that is worn out at the collar - their neck has simply worn the fold of the collar threadbare. The same is true of the cuffs of his long sleeve shirts. In that "earlier time of make-do," ladies would carefully remove collar and cuffs and "turn" them. That means she put the outside on the inside. You couldn't simply turn the cuffs. I believe you had to replace or shorten them to hide the worn edges.
And then when nothing would work to make the shirt wearable anymore, you simply cut out the back of the shirt, squared off the edges, and hemmed it with a narrow hem. This could become a "dish towel," tea towel, a napkin, or an all-purpose cover for bread, cakes, etc. Just imagine everyone in the family having their own favorite "napkin" made from dad's shirt.
Then take the woman's coat. It has become a bit threadbare or doesn't fit anymore. Take it completely apart. Press the pieces. Then take a child's pattern for a coat or jacket and make it into a different outer wear coat.
You can remake any larger garment into something suitable for a child if you are careful in choosing your pattern and you have sufficient pieces from the larger garment.
Don't forget the "button jar." Save buttons from any discarded garment. These are real handy when you need to replace a lost button from another garment. And if it is kept through the years and passed down from one generation to the next...... well, there would be stories to tell about buttons found in the button jar.
Quilts of today are mostly made of brand new material in special patterns. However, in that earlier time, the basic patchwork quilt was made using scraps from any and every garment. As I said earlier about using the back of a man's shirt for a tea towel, the rest of the shirt would make quilt scraps. And then, of course, the buttons would be clipped and put into the treasured button jar.
So while we thoroughly enjoy the blessings and comforts and ease-of-life that today's world has enabled us to all have, it pays us to touch base from time to time and remind ourselves that some things from an "earlier time" are worth remembering and worth doing a bit of, perhaps.
Cooking "Southern" is really a way of eating and today's cooking "Southern" differs a bit from what it was 50 years ago. As a Southern lady who has cooked "Southern" for a l-o-n-g time, I can say that it simply is not going to go away. It is here to stay and we Southerners like it.
Now that doesn't mean that other types of cooking are not just as good, it just means a difference. When I cook "Southern" I don't use animal fats the way we used to do. We used ham hocks (end shank of ham with lots of taste), streak-o-lean, bacon drippins, etc. But thanks to being more educated about our health and good nutrition, we "don't do that anymore"! I've been using Olive Oil for quite awhile now to season my Southern foods. I saute with light olive oil and season with extra virgin.
That is good for the heart and general health. I recently learned more really good facts about olive oil. Folks, there is a difference in olive oils. I thought purchasing the more expensive oils in the grocery store was doing good. But there is still a better way to determine what you're using and how good it is.
I'm learning that extra virgin doesn't always mean extra good. There is actual fraud in the olive oil market. The Bellucci olive oils can be traced to where the olives were harvested and when. You can trace where grown and harvested and when. You can trace them to the bottle you hold in your hand. Grab the information on how you can do this. Lots of good information can be gleaned about these terrific olive oils from an App that you can download from their website.
(Keep in mind, that there is a plethora of cooking styles and in any cooking style, you can add quality and excellent taste.)
Cooking fresh salmon: I marinated it in lemon juice and Bellucci 100% Italian Organic EVOO with salt, pepper, and paprika.Then I baked it until done and nicely browned.
Dinner of fresh salmon, canned garden peas seasoned with basil, chopped onion, and Bellucci EVOO. The bread is cheddar biscuits.
Another evening I prepared a couple dishes using Bellucci Toscano PGI EVOO. Oh, this is a wonderful EVOO. The fragrance and taste are superb!
Using Bellucci Toscano PGI EVOO: I cut Yukon Gold potatoes in 1/8 slices. Seasoned them with salt, pepper, basil, and thyme. After drizzling the Toscano EVOO generously over all, I tossed making sure all sides were liberally coated with oil and seasonings. Baked at 425 until they were toasty done. The Yukon Gold potato is my "go to" potato.
Now we're going to go with that "Southern cooking" and doing it really healthy and flavorful. Using the Bellucci Toscano PGI EVOO, I prepared turnip greens with diced turnip root (this is a frozen product). Seasoned simply with salt and pepper and a generous amount of the Toscano EVOO, I cooked it until soft and tender - truly Southern. This Toscano EVOO was truly wonderful with the greens.
In preparing tonight's dish of vegetables, I chose the Bellucci Premium with the red heart on the label. It is 100% Italian EVOO Primary cultivars: Coratina, Ogliarola and Carolea as cultivars; Origin: Puglia. Veggies chosen were sweet onion, yellow squash, and broccoli. I cut the onion and squash and seasoned with Mrs. Dash (yellow lid), an herbal seasoning, and salt. I liberally drizzled the 100% Italian from Puglia over the chopped veggies. Then I lidded the pot and placed it on a med-high burner (NO water). Allowing it to very lightly brown and create it's own juices as it slightly caramelized.
As the squash and onions began to slightly brown on bottom and as onions began to take on a transparency, I placed the broccoli atop. I did not stir. Again, I lidded the pot and allowed to carmelize and tenderize. The broccoli simply steams in place.
Serving the carmelized and tender squash and onions separated from the broccoli on the serving platter. Very tasty and I absolute loved this 100% Italian EVOO from Puglia.
Be suspicious of any extra virgin olive oil that costs less than $10 a liter.
Look for a seal from the International Olive Oil Council (IOC).
Look for a harvesting date on the label
Anything labeled light, pure, or a blend isn’t virgin quality.
Shop for oils in dark bottles. This protects the oil from oxidation.
Also, Extra virgin olive oil solidifies when it’s cold. You can put it in the refrigerator and it should become cloudy and thicken. If it’s doesn’t then it’s not pure extra virgin.
GIVEAWAY
3-bottle pack Bellucci Premium Olive Oils Begins February 26 ENDS March 17 @ 12:01 a.m. ET.
Open to USA addresses only. You may not win this same prize from another contest host.
DISCLOSURE: I was provided the 3-bottle pack of Bellucci Premium EVOO to facilitate this review. Opinions and review is solely my own. I was not compensated for the review. Giveaway set of three bottles is provided by Bellucci directly to the winner.
