books | The Angel Forever

Category Archives books

Tuesday Tales – Closing out the 2012 Summer Reading Program

Posted on August 21, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The summer of 2012 has been a fantastic summer of reading. Not only have I read some great new books for myself, but the boys have kept the love of learning and reading about things alive. TechyDad has been reading the Harry Potter series with NHL. Right now, they are in the middle of the third book. My fourth grader (yikes), has read many other books, magazines, and items on his own and to his little brother.

JSL and I started the Magic Tree House books at the end of May. Once he finished school, we really got into the series. Over the months, we have sailed on from book 1 of the series to starting 37. We have traveled with Jack and Annie all over the world, in many different time periods, and even gone into the world of Camelot. As you can see in the photo below, we have more books to read before kindergarten begins after Labor Day. We may catch up to where Mary Pope Osborne has written. The latest book release is A Perfect Time for Pandas #48.

When the summer reading program opened at our library, we signed up online. It was quick and easy to log in, record the titles of the books, and minutes the boys had read. Of course, the reality is that the kids read more than we managed to log. Still, they managed to have a lot of reading for the program which just ended over the weekend. Check out the stats:

I know the reading amounts at home will decrease as the boys head back to school, but I will cherish the memories that we have this summer.

With some more time until the official end of summer, do you have any reading plans? I would love to know how your summer reading tuned out. What books are you reading right now? I would love to know. 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.

Categories:
books Educational jsl nhl photos summer Tuesday Tales

Hagrid’s Hut LEGO Construction

Posted on August 20, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

For months now NHL, has wanted to add to his Harry Potter LEGO world. Finding these items locally has been a bit tricky since the popularity has declined a bit with the completion of the movie series. Of course, you can still locate them if you know where. Truth be told, NHL was more interested in the Harry Potter mini figures. To get those at a reasonable cost (not on eBay), you had to get the sets. His favorite character aside from Harry Potter has always been Hermione Granger.

In the sets that are currently available to purchase in retail stores, Hermione is only found in two of them. She is in the GIANT LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set that retails for $129.99. He will continue to dream about that one. She is also in another great set that includes Hagrid, Harry, Ron, and some other fun friends. Yes, the LEGO Harry Potter Hagrid’s Hut set looked like a great possibility to allow him to have some fun new figures and test out building something with instructions.

On his birthday, we went to have cake with Nana and Papa. Before we had The Cake Boss creation, NHL opened up his birthday surprise. Check out his reaction as he realized what was inside.

Parts of the weekend have been spent constructing Hagrid’s Hut so NHL can use them to play. The camera has been out to document the progress (more on that later from TechyDad), but I have a little sneak peek.

TechyDad and NHL have been spending a lot of time following the step-by-step directions to make this part of Harry Potter come alive.

This means the summer of Harry Potter continues in our house and probably will for a few more week – or possibly longer.

Are you a fan of Harry Potter LEGO sets or others? Which are your favorite to build?

Disclosure: Two Amazon affiliate link are included and, should you purchase the LEGO sets mentioned, I will receive a small percentage from the sale. As always, all opinions are my own.

Categories:
birthday books family fun Movies nhl photos play time TechyDad

Tuesday Tales – Summer of Harry Potter

Posted on August 14, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

This summer appears to be filled with Harry Potter. Last year, NHL saw the first movie and adored it. For his birthday, he received the Harry Potter LEGO games for his Nintendo DS. It was love at first sight. He quickly completed the games and seemed to want to know more about Harry, Hermione (his favorite), Ron, and the others. Then, of course, he happened to pick out Harry Potter style glasses when he needed his first pair in the spring. When school ended, TechyDad and NHL started to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time. They are enjoying it so much, they just finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over the weekend.

Yes, now NHL and TechyDad will begin reading the third book in the series by J.K. Rowling. This means that, once finished, NHL can let us know if he wants to try watching the third movie. Our rule is that once you read the third book and beyond, you may watch the movie. Of course, when NHL started to read the books again – his interest in Harry Potter LEGO game and figures started back up. Even I started to get creative one day. Recently, NHL received a fantastic book called LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World.

This book has been in the car, on the go, and in NHL’s hands a lot since he received it. He is fascinated with the characters, mini-figures, history, and tales of Harry Potter. LEGO enthusiasts who are big Harry Potter fans will really like seeing the history of the collectables since they were released.

One of these days I want to sit down and really get a chance to read it because it is filled with so much information. You can read about your favorite character. NHL’s is Hermione and this is the page dedicated to her.

Another thing that was really interesting to see were how the LEGO characters changed over the years. Not only did they grow up on the big scene of Harry Potter, but their LEGO figures morphed as well. Here is one example.

I love that there are books available for older children that are not simply traditional chapter books. NHL adores this book and, as a parent, I am thrilled that he is reading and learning about something new. They are also great for parents and children to look at together to discuss a common hobby.

What books are you reading right now? I would love to know. 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.

Disclosure: One Amazon affiliate link is included and, should you purchase the book mentioned, I will receive a small percentage from the sale. As always, all opinions are my own.

Categories:
books fun interesting Movies nhl TechyDad Tuesday Tales

Olympics Reading and Learning

Posted on August 10, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

This year, the boys seem to be more intrigued by the Olympics. We watched part of the Opening Ceremony together the night it aired, and saw the rest of it with the DVR. The night before it started, we read Olympig! together. Then, NHL and JSL noticed books in a display at our library. The books were all about the Olympics, athletes, London, and more. There were books and movies for adults, plus a variety for kids.

NHL has been fascinated with the swimming and diving events. He has followed along as Michael Phelps made Olympic history with his medal count. It was not a surprise to me that he wanted to take out a book on this great athlete when he found it on the display.

As you can see, several of the books have come home with us to read. It goes to show that there are always books to help expand on subjects at home or expose children to a themes, travel locations, or people – it just take a little research at times.

My question to you this week:

What sport or athlete from the London 2012 games would you love to learn/read more about and why? If you have not been following along, what is your favorite summer game or what do you wish was in the Olympics?

___________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #215

Categories:
Aloha Friday books jsl nhl photos real world news

Tuesday Tales – Shopping for Books

Posted on August 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

We have a lot of books in our house. Not a shocking statement when you realize that I am a teacher. Many of our books were from when I was teaching and bought them for the boys. Other books were from my college days when I started to “collect” them.

We often gift books to the boys for special occasions, holidays, and just because. Sometimes, they get to help us to pick something special out. The other day we found some gift cards to the book store that were for the kids. It was a lot of fun wandering around with each of them to see what they would ask for. Much to my surprise, they both focused on the books and not the countless toys (albeit educational ones).

I walked around the store with JSL. He is getting very interested in reading on his own. As he get closer to starting Kindergarten, his reading readiness skills are increasing dramatically. Sure he loves to read the Magic Tree House books with me, but he is looking to smaller early readers. We went up and down the aisles and then something caught his eye. He saw a Jake and the Never Land Pirates book. When I flipped it over, I noticed there were other books listed. We went to someone working in the store to see if they would help us find them.

We located the early readers and he instantly fell in love because Bucky, Izzy, Jake, and the rest of the crew were inside the book. I noticed they were rebus style and although not in love with that, allowed him to put them into his buy pile. In the end, he opted not to get all four of the Jake and the Never Land Pirate books that they had and selected a World of Reading Phineas and Ferb book to round out the day. I know that in no time he will be reading these and others to me!

TechyDad went around the store with NHL. They were looking for a specific book in a series he has been enjoying. He wanted to purchase the second of the Tales of the Sixth Grade Muppets books since he enjoyed the first one so much. They eventually found it and I think NHL would have stopped shopping there.

The boys continued to look around since JSL and I were trying to debate on books. They spent quite a bit of time looking at books in the biography section. TechyDad said that NHL was very intrigued with a few of them. In the end, he narrowed it down to Walt Disney, Benjamin Franklin, Jim Henson (would have been second choice), and Abraham Lincoln. The one he selected was the Sixteenth President of the United States. NHL learned about him in school and wanted to read more.

What type of books would your children select if given time to shop in a large book store? I would love to know. Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below and also let me know what you have been reading recently. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

BTW – If you are interested in the books that we purchased, the following are Amazon links to them. If you decide to buy them we will receive a percentage of the sale.