Category Archives Tuesday Tales

Tuesday Tales – Another Library Card

I love books. Perhaps it is the teacher in me, but it is the truth. We own a lot of books. The boys have a bookshelf that is bursting at the seems, we have one that is packed, and I have boxes of books that were bought for my classroom. I enjoy keeping up on multiple genres of literature. Unfortunately, the reality is I can not afford to buy every single book that we want to read in our house. It isn’t just about money though, it is also lack of space to keep the collection of books growing. These days I am much more selective.

 Library Time

As a home owner, I take full advantage of our local library. The boys and I went to a lot of events last summer, we take DVDs out, books are borrowed, and most recently I get audio and Kindle books. A while back, I wrote about looking to see if your library has eBook lending. Our library has a nice selection, but I was getting frustrated with lack of availability and strange search ability.

A friend of mine mentioned that she uses The New York Public Library to take out audio and Kindle books. I was intrigued and finally went to search how to get my own card (thank you J). If you are a resident of New York State, you can sign up to get your own card. Last Tuesday, I went to their website and filled out the simple online form. Yesterday, this arrived in the mail:

New Library Card

Once I opened the envelope, took a photo, and thanked my friend – I went right to the eBook loan page. On this page, you can borrow eBooks, Audio Books, Music, and Video. What I liked was the search seemed to work better than my local library’s page. Of course, since the NYPL is larger, they had tons more copies of many of the books that I was interested in. A book that I had been waiting for for quite some time had 3 copies available and 25 in the system for Kindle. I am in heaven!

So now I have a new book to read on the go with my Kindle App or Kimberly Kindle – and can sit back at home to read my latest traditional book:

Kingdom Keepers V

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

    It's Me

Update: Please be sure to read over the Terms and Conditions for the NYPL Card. The card that you apply for online will only be temporary. The one that I just received is only good until September. You must validate your card to have it extended for the typical three years. For those outside of the NYC area the instructions are simple (copied from their website):

  • Cardholders from areas of NY State outside of the Metro NY area as defined above may e-mail scans or copies of the required forms of identification listed to circ@nypl.org.  Alternatively, this information may be faxed to (212) 621-0278. 
  • New library card applicants from these areas who applied for their card online and elected to receive it in the mail must first e-mail the above-mentioned form(s) of identification after receiving their card to validate it before full cardholder privileges can be extended.  Both the library card number and required identification must be included with any renewal/validation request.  Incomplete and/or unreadable information will not be accepted and will delay the continued use of your card.
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Tuesday Tales – Meeting Ridley Pearson in Walt Disney World

It’s time to jump around on my timeline from events at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration to share something related to literacy, reading, and books. Nothing could fit in more perfectly than meeting NY Times Bestselling author Ridley Pearson. Since I signed up for his session on Saturday, I knew that Ellen and I would be front and center for his presentation. What I didn’t know is something magical would happen before that.

Newest Kingdom Keepers Book

After the conference session on Friday, TechyDad and I met back up with my parents and the boys. Once back in the room, we debated what to do before the party in DinoLand at Animal Kingdom. We were told that we could head to the Animal Kingdom and exit the park to wait for the group while they finished setting up the area. This seemed like a good plan. On the way out of the Yacht Club to catch a bus to the Animal Kingdom, a person caught my eye. I shrugged it off until I got to the bus area and happened to bump into Ellen and her daughter. I told her that I was pretty sure I had just seen Ridley Pearson in the lobby, but was doubting myself.

After wandering around Animal Kingdom for a few hours, we waited outside the gates, for the rest of the families to arrive. I nudged Ellen and told her Ridley Pearson was walking in with everyone. This is when I mentioned something to my son and reminded him I was going to Mr. Pearson’s session in the morning. A night NHL will never forget

NHL was busy going on ride after ride before eating dinner. Thanks to this, I had to force him to stop to get at least a little something. NHL and I were at one of the then empty buffet lines when I noticed someone come over on my left. I peeked and noted that it was Ridley Pearson. I said hello and wanted to make sure he was Mr. Pearson. He said he was and then I mentioned I was going to his session the next day. Then, I turned things over to NHL. I mentioned that NHL was a fan of the Kingdom Keepers. Without missing a beat, Mr. Pearson started to talk to NHL. He asked him about his favorite part of the book. NHL explained that he loved the scene in Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark when things happen in It’s a Small World. This is when I knew that Ridley Pearson gets his audience. He made small talk with NHL about how that really happened and he liked it as well. FYI, video coming soon from the session about this scene.

The next morning before the session began, I thanked Mr. Pearson. Thanks to this encounter, NHL wants to get back to reading the Kingdom Keeper series. He was excited to let his teacher know that he had met the author and kept chatting all night about the Small World Ride chat. Yes, once again, Ridley Pearson showed how a little magic from him could inspire a reluctant reader to jump back into reading. While others were asking for autographs, I knew that I had to get one for my son (little did I know my almost five year old would be jealous of this – ooops). I even took photos to share with NHL later.

Author Ridley Pearson

Message for NHL

More about the session and tour of Epcot with Ridley Pearson coming soon. Have you ever met an author? Please feel free to share your experience below. What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

    It's Me

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event. Meeting Ridley Pearson was just another BIG perk from the festivities. One Amazon Affiliate link is included in this post for the book mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy any of the books through my links.

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Tuesday Tales – Disney World Post-Pearson

While at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I had the opportunity to select a breakout session. When I saw that author Ridley Pearson was going to be there, it was an easy choice.

Just over a year ago, while at Walt Disney World, I walked off Pirates of the Caribbean and noticed some books. I took a photo so I could check them out at a later date. The books were called Kingdom Keepers and they intrigued me. One year later, I have read all of the books, save for one which was just published, and I am an even bigger fan.

image

Now that I have read all but the latest book in the series, I look at things differently when in the parks. I imagine the characters, the places, and events. More  coming soon from this day soon.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

    It's Me

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

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Tuesday Tales – The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World

Growing up as a child that went to Walt Disney World a lot, we always had the latest tour books and guides. Of course, back in the day there were not a lot of choices. These days, there are a lot of books, but most Disney people agree that the king of all  books are the line from The Unofficial Guide series. Since 1985, these books have been carted from near and far to Walt Disney World.

Walt Disney World Books

Reality check time. The giant Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2012 is not the only published item these days. No, now you have multiple options. Wiley Publishing sent me the three books seen above to help us to prepare for our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. Although I knew the other items existed, I had never owned them before. We bought several of the big books in the past, but now we had these other books.

The Mini Mickey is a great source of information wrapped up into a handy dandy size. As it states, it is the pocket-sized Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Within the book, there are maps, ratings, and even some of the beloved touring plans for the parks.

2012 Unofficial Disney Books

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids 2012 really breaks items down based on how children may react to rides, shows, restaurants, resorts, and more. I love that they have more helpful hints about noise level and extreme darkness that could scare some children. I still need to get to know this book more since it is not one that I have used before.

The giant Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is still the mega go to book according to most of my other Disney loving friends. What everyone adores are the attention to detail, notes from other guests, and of course their detailed plans to maximize your park time. One item that seemed to be missing from the books was color photos.  Check out the latest book that arrived after I took the photos and started this post:

The Color Companion

It’s great to hear all of the wonderful things about say the Yacht Club Resort, but how about some photos inside the room Have no fear. You will also see pictures of rides, parades, and more. The Unofficial Guide: The Color Companion to Walt Disney World is officially coming out May 1!

Sample Color Pages

Another great item to know – the Unofficial Guides are also online. Yes, the official home of the Unofficial Guide is TouringPlans.com and there is also an app. On their website, if you get their all access option there is even more magic from the magical writers that keep everyone up to date on all things related to Walt Disney World. For die hard fans, they even suggest which park is best to go to on a given day based on past history. This is huge when you are limited on time.

I know that these books will be heading to this years Disney Social Media Moms Celebration and we will use them when on the plane, in the resort, and on the go.

Do you have thoughts on the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Let me know and/or ask questions that you have below.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

It's Me

Disclosure: I received these four books complimentary of Wiley in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own. Four Amazon Affiliate links are included in this post for the books mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy any of the books through my links.

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Tuesday Tales – The Cupcake Club

It’s no secret, we like cupcakes in our house. There are several cupcake specialty bakeries in our area and we feel that it is our duty to check them all out. Just doing a cupcake search on my blog will give you a lot of items to look at on the topic. I also like to make cupcakes as part of birthday celebrations for the boys, including the most recent Lion Cupcakes.

When I heard that Sourcebooks had a new series out that worked around cupcakes, I was excited to receive an advanced copy of the book that just came out last week.

About The Cupcake Club:

CupcakeClub_cover.indd

Meet Kylie Carson.

She’s a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster! Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club?

Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends. But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club?

The Cupcake Club: Peace, Love, and Cupcakes – Written by Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk – Sourcebooks Jabberwocky – On sale April 2012 – ISBN 9781402264498 – Paperback 208 pages – Ages 9+ – $6.99

What I Thought:

The cover of this book made me drop what I was reading to start reading. I was especially intrigued since I knew that it was written by a mother and daughter team. What I don’t think I really realized (too distracted with Passover preparations) was a bit more about the pair. Carrie Berk is the 9 year old author that wrote The Cupcake Club with her mother Sheryl Berk. Sheryl Berk is a New York Times bestselling co-author of Soul Surfer (on my to read list since my students always had my copy out). Carrie is a seasoned cupcake reviewer. She has traveled all over the world and written about the cupcakes on her website called Carrie’s Cupcakes Critique. Carrie is also on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter (all found on her website).

As soon as I started reading the story, I became attached to Kylie Carson. This four grader is still struggling to be accepted in her new school. She likes different things than most of her peers and struggles with keeping troubles to herself. What troubles? Well, Kylie is the victim of a bully and her name is Meredith. Meredith gets great joy in the world when she humiliates Kylie in any way. Kylie is afraid that if she tells an adult what is going on that it will only get worse.

Thankfully, when Juliette, the drama teacher steps in to mentor Kylie her world quickly changes. Juliette tells her about the way she was picked on as a child and how she took up baking to help. This is when The Cupcake Club was born. We follow along on the adventure to recruit three more members and watch how they befriend each other.

Will Kylie stand up to the bully? Read the first book in this new series to find out!

I really enjoyed The Cupcake Club. It read quickly and brought up some great discussion topics like bullying, building self esteem, not giving up, making friends, forgiving, and more. My only small criticism of the book is that I have a hard time visualizing fourth graders taking on so much. As the mother of an almost fourth grader, I think the kids should have been a bit older to be doing so much on their own. Once you read the book and learn about the success of their business, you will understand. Even with this little item, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. I also love that at the end of the book Carrie and Sheryl include the recipes that they talk about within the story. They sound delicious and will have to be tested after Passover.

I know I look forward to reading more adventures of Peace, Love, and Cupcakes. Now, I am going to share a fun video of Carrie making some fun cupcakes.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

BTW – A giveaway for this book will be coming soon on The Angel Forever thanks to Sourcebook, so stay tuned!

It's Me

Disclosure: I received this book complimentary of Sourcebooks in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own. An Amazon Affiliate link is included in this post for the book mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy the book through that link.

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