I’m totally impressed

Last week, I recommended a book I’d just finished reading–The Read-Aloud Handbook.  I must confess that in our house, we read A LOT to our 3-year old.  He gets 5-10 books read to him each day, sometimes totaling more than an hour of reading.  We have recently given chapter books a try and he’ll actually [...]

Reading aloud

I’ve just finished a book that I have to recommend to every parent and educator.  It’s called The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  The first half of the book talks about the importance of books, libraries, and of course, reading aloud to children (even after they’ve learned to read themselves), while the second half is [...]

Shopping guide

My mother gave me a little book called The Better World Shopping Guide.  It’s written by Ellis Jones, a professor of sociology at UC Davis.  It’s not really a book, but rather a collection of tables that rate different manufacturers of products based on their corporate behavior.  Corporations have the ability to affect millions of [...]

Big Green Purse

I recently checked out Big Green Purse from the library because it had good reviews on Amazon.  When I picked up the book, I skimmed the Index and saw that, not surprisingly, it followed the typical formula of most other “green” books out there–a chapter on personal-care products, one on food, one for cleaning products, [...]

In Defense of Food

I love this book. I think it should be required reading for every American.
In Defense of Food is somewhat of a follow up to Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. That book examined how our food is produced, this one examines how we should eat based upon that. It’s a harsh look at the typical [...]

Book recommendations

Over our trip, my husband and I read several books. Here is a brief summary of some of them.
Growing Up Green - This book is Volume 2 in the Green This! series by Deirdre Imus (vol 1 was a book I really enjoyed–Greening Your Cleaning). I have to say that there [...]

Reflections on Louder Than Words

I just finished reading the book Louder Than Words. It’s written by Jenny McCarthy about her son’s autism. It’s less than 200 pages and a very easy read. By easy, I mean quick. It’s actually not that easy to read–I cried through the first few chapters. I think every mother [...]

Books on earth- and health-friendly living

Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician and professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, has written a great book called Raising Baby Green, about how to make the best choices for your child and home. His book is organized into chapters covering pregnancy, delivery, the nursery, kitchen, bathroom, and garden and how the things you [...]

The Vaccine Book

It starts the day your baby is born…… vaccinations. The Hepatitis B shot is given at birth, then booster doses follow. Why do infants need this vaccine so soon in life? Isn’t Hep B an STD after all, most frequently transmitted through sexual contact or tainted needles? While I don’t disagree [...]

12 Gifts of Christmas: day 6

6: Books for kids!
Children get so many toys for the holidays, but what about books? Foster an early love of reading and learning by building a good sized library for your child. These are some of my son’s current favorites: If I Built a Car, The Little Pea, Not a Box, [...]