Featured Kid Book

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan – Featured Book

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:40:59 GMT

Rick Riordan released his new series, The Kane Chronicles last month with The Red Pyramid. Our family has really enjoyed reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series; so we were excited to find out about the latest release. We will follow up with a review after we have read the book, but for now, here is the information from the publisher.

From the Publisher

Since their mother's death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

To find out more or to purchase, please click the link below.

Disclosure: MomsMaterial does have an “affiliate” relationship with Amazon. This means if you click the above link or any other Amazon links on my site and purchase an item, MomsMaterial will receive a commission.

Have you read the book? If so, we would love to know what you think?

Cammie Moise

Do You Have What it Takes to Win? Find Out in The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:46:27 GMT

The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman was my son’s favorite 2009/2020 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee. He voted for The Gollywhopper Games as his favorite book on the Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee list. Since we are in Texas, my kids get to vote for their favorite book from the nominees.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award reading program was started to encourage Texas children to read more books, and explore a variety of different books. In order to vote, the kids have to read at least 5 of the 20 nominated books. My son read 15 of the 20 books and although he enjoyed reading all of them, The Gollywhopper Games was his favorite.

He wanted to share the book with me and asked me to read it to him. This is a great “read aloud” book, it is filled with trivia and puzzles. It was fun trying to figure out some of the puzzles. I enjoyed it so much, that I read it to my daughter. I also noticed that this was the top book by the kids in my son’s grade at his school. We definitely recommend this book!

Gil Goodson’s dad was accused of stealing money from his job at Golly Toy & Game Company. He ended up losing his job and going to trial. Gil knows his dad is innocent, but the rest of the town thinks he did it. Gil decides the best thing for his family to do is move far away and start over.

When he finds out about the Gollywhopper Games, he thinks he might have a good chance at winning. He studies for months, hoping this may be the answer he is looking for. If he wins, his dad promises that the family can move away from all the accusations and gossip. By the end of the book, he does find the answers he is looking for, but not in the way he expects.

Warning! Once the Golly whopper Games begin, it is very difficult to put the book down. We spent many nights staying up past bedtime and I read until the kids fell asleep.

I also loved the discussions that followed after reading this book. You can discuss how to handle things when you have been wronged. How do you handle knowing that someone cheated? How do you handle pressure?

MomsMaterial Recommends The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman

From the Publisher

Ladies and gentlemen!
Boys and girls!
Welcome to the biggest, bravest, boldest competition the world has ever seen!
The Gollywhopper Games!
Are you ready?

Gil Goodson sure hopes he's ready. His future happiness depends on winning the Golly Toy & Game Company's ultimate competition. If Gil wins, his dad has promised the family can move out of Orchard Heights—away from all the gossip, the false friends, and bad press that have plagued the Goodsons ever since The Incident.

Gil's been studying for months. He thinks he knows everything about Golly's history and merchandise. But does he know enough to answer the trivia? Solve the puzzles? Complete the stunts? Will it be more than all the other kids know? Gil's formidable opponents have their own special talents. He must be quicker and smarter than all of them.

The ride of Gil's life is about to begin.

Win! win! win!

About the Author
Jody Feldman is the author of The Gollywhopper Games, a Texas Bluebonnet Award book and Midwest Booksellers' Choice Honor book. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and she worked in advertising before becoming a full-time author. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

If you have read the book, please let us know what you thought in the comments below.

Cammie Moise

2010-2011 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominees

2009-2010 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominees

Feature Book - The Last Olympian (#5 Percy Jackson & The Olympians) by Rick Riordan

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:47:29 GMT

The Last Olympian (#5 Percy Jackson & The Olympians) by Rick Riordan was released on May 5, 2009. Kids have been waiting with anticipation for the final book in the Percy Jackson series. Several kids that have finished the book told me they loved it and were happy with the ending of the series. Now, they are looking forward to these books coming to life on the big screen with The Lightning Thief movie planned for release in February 2010.

Unfortunately, I have just started reading The Lightning Thief to my daughter, so a follow up book review on The Last Olympian may take awhile. Below are the notes from the publisher and I have found a great review of the book on Dusk Before The Dawn, click here to read it.

Although this book ends the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan has hinted that he is working on another series. It will include some of the characters in The Last Olympian. Look for clues about the next series in The Last Olympian.

From the Publisher
All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos's army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan's power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

For more information about author Rick Riordan, click here.

For more information about Percy Jackson Books, click here.

Cammie Moise

Featured Kids Book - Best Friends And Drama Queens (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls)

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:09:56 GMT

This third book in the Allie Finkle series was recently released (March 2009).

Allie Finkle is excited when a new girl, who comes all the way from Canada, joins her class at Pine Heights Elementary. Now Allie won’t be the new girl anymore!

But her excitement turns to dismay when the new girl, Cheyenne, starts telling everyone in the fourth grade what to do! Soon Cheyenne has everyone, including Allie’s best friends, Caroline, Sophie, and Erica, believing that if they don’t do what she says, they’ll be what Cheyenne accuses them of being - babies!

But Allie isn’t sure she’s ready to be all grown-up yet. Not if it means chasing boys at recess, not playing her favorite games anymore, and especially...not being herself!

Meg Cabot has written around fifty books for tweens, teens and adults including many that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. She is easily identified as the author of The Princess Diaries series, in which two were hit movies by Disney. Meg also has an edgy YA series, titled Airhead.

Her latest project is a new paranormal series, Abandon, which will be released this summer (2009).

She has a blog on Amazon’s site, check it out here http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A39LQMCAX5R8FW/ref=cm_blog_dp_artist_blog and her website is http://www.megcabot.com.

Cammie Moise

One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:41:44 GMT

The winner of the Bluebonnet is guaranteed to please. These books are voted on by kids. They kids must read at least 5 of the nominees in order to vote for their favorite book. My kids love participating in this and try to read all of the books that have been nominated. We have never been disappointed with a Bluebonnet award winner.

One Potato, Two Potato is targeted at Kindergarten through third grade. Cynthia DeFelice gives an old Chinese folktale an Irish twist. Mr. and Mrs. O'Grady are so poor that they have only one of everything, and the little they have is raggedy at that. With only one potato to share for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it's no wonder they are so skinny they [can] sit side by side on one chair. But when Mr. O'Grady finds an old pot in his field and drops their last potato into it, the couple's fortunes change. One potato becomes two, and the pot continues to double whatever is placed in it. When Mrs. O'Grady accidentally falls into it and two Mrs. O'Gradys emerge, she comes up with an ingenious idea that brings lasting joy to her and her husband. U'Ren's large pen-and-gouache illustrations infuse the couple's grim situation with humor. The two are so tall and thin that they seem to be elastic. And the scene in which skinny legs are sticking out of the pot and then pulled out is hilarious. Their walls are full of cracks, their blankets are full of holes, but their hearts are full of love and generosity.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Last Straw

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:18:12 GMT

The highly anticipated third book in the critically acclaimed and bestselling series takes the art of being wimpy to a whole new level.

Let’s face it: Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways. Somebody just needs to explain that to Greg’s father. You see, Frank Heffley actually thinks he can get his son to toughen up, and he enlists Greg in organized sports and other “manly” endeavors. Of course, Greg is able to easily sidestep his father’s efforts to change him. But when Greg’s dad threatens to send him to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up...or get shipped out.

Greg and his family and friends, who make the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books a must-read for middle school readers, are back and at their best in this hilarious new installment of the series, which is sure to please current fans while attracting new ones.

The third book in this genre-busting series is certain to enlarge Kinney's presence on the bestseller lists, where the previous titles have taken up residence for the past two years. Kinney's spot-on humor and winning formula of deadpan text set against cartoons are back in full force. This time, Greg starts off on New Year's Day (he resolves to "help other people improve," telling his mother, "I think you should work on chewing your potato chips more quietly") and ends with summer vacation. As he fends off his father's attempts to make him more of a man (the threat of military school looms), Greg's hapless adventures include handing out anonymous valentines expressing his true feelings ("Dear James, You smell"), attempting to impress his classmate Holly and single-handedly wrecking his soccer team's perfect season. Kinney allows himself some insider humor as well, with Greg noting the "racket" children's book authors have going. "All you have to do is make up a character with a snappy name, and then make sure the character learns a lesson at the end of the book." Greg, self-centered as ever, may be the exception proving that rule. Ages 8-12.

No Cream Puffs by Karen Day

cammie@momsmaterial.com — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:13:12 GMT

MADISON IS NOT your average 12-year-old girl from Michigan in 1980. She doesn’t use lipgloss, but she loves to play sports, and joins baseball for the summer—the first girl in Southern Michigan to play on a boys’ team. The press call her a star and a trailblazer, but Madison just wants to play ball. Who knew it would be so much pressure? Crowds flock to the games. Her team will win the championship—if she can keep up her pitching streak. Meanwhile, she’s got a crush on a fellow player, her best friend abandons her for the popular girls, the “O” on her Hinton’s uniform forms a bulls-eye over her left breast, and the boy she punched on the last day of school plans to bean her in the championship game.