Book Review: Wind Up Pirate Ship

Posted in books & book reviews, toys & games & gifts, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

The Wind Up Pirate Ship book is SO much fun!

There is so much interaction with this book that it’s nearly impossible not to entice kids to want to read it. It’s a fun story about pirates looking for – you guessed it – treasure, but in between the pages of the story are 3 tracks that allow a wind-up toy shaped like the pirate ship in the book to zoom around the locations discussed in the story.

I mean, we love pirates in my home, so getting this book was a pretty much a given. But I was still surprised by how much my girls enjoyed reading it and playing with it. In fact, on Christmas day, my 4yo announced that this was the “greatest gift ever.”

Then the very next day, she announced {even tho she’d never seen it until the day before} that it was “the BEST gift that she’s ALWAYS wanted!”

Now, four-year-olds can be a little dramatic, but you gotta love that kind of enthusiasm about books.

I was pretty excited about it, too. Which I hope shows in the video review I did for the book:

And like I mentioned in the video, there are a ton of wind-up and pull-back books in the same series as the Wind-Up Pirate Ship. They include:

Wind-Up Tractor
Wind-Up Train
Wind-Up Plane
Wind-Up Race Cars
Wind-Up Bus (London)
Pull-Back Busy Bug
Pull-Back Busy Car
Pull-Back Busy Train
Pull-Back Busy Helicopter
Pull-Back Busy Santa

But did you arrive here because you were excited about the pirates?

Don’t worry: we’ve got a ton of pirate books, too!

To get updates on new books and when books go on sale, please follow my Usborne page on Facebook!

Happy Reading!

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25Dec2014

When I Love You At Christmas {a book review}

Posted in books & book reviews, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

When I Love You At Christmas: a book review at RoamingRosie.com

Really, to be perfectly honest, I could talk about books every day. But today I wanted to share with you a Christmas book that we’ve been reading quite a bit, because, you know … it’s Christmas! :)

The picture book When I Love You At Christmas, written by David Bedford and illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie, with its brief but charming text and adorable paintings is a delightful read for young children.

It’s a cute story narrated by a stuffed lamb telling us about how much he loves his little girl. He goes through all of the activities that the little girl engages in around Christmastime, such as when she is wrapping presents, baking cookies, writing out Christmas cards, acting in a nativity play, and getting excited about Christmas day.

The double-page spreads are decorated with bright watercolor artwork and the text itself if very simple, but also very sweet.

One of the aspects I love about the story is how the girl gets so excited about Christmas, but she’s always thinking of others. The book demonstrates things that are sharing activities, like wrapping presents, baking cookies, and sending out Christmas cards. Things that emphasize a spirit of love and giving.

Even though the girl has trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve because she’s anticipating the big day, and even though she rushes quickly to find her own presents on Christmas morning, she takes the time to share a present with her stuffed lamb, too.

The lyrical text is short enough to hold the attention of toddlers and preschoolers, the illustrations are detailed enough to give their eyes plenty to explore, and the underlying message is subtle but lovely.

My girls, who are about 2-1/2 and 4-1/2-years-old, love it … but so do I! This is definitely going to be a regular for us around Christmas, but is still worth a read throughout the rest of the year, too.

*Update: I know the picture says you can get the book from my Usborne site, but it has been discontinued. There are, however, sometimes copies available on Amazon.

Merry Christmas!!!

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26Nov2014

New Books and Bookworms {with free printable}

Posted in books & book reviews, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

Free Bookworm Sign Printable for Gummy Worms

So, I have been SUPER busy lately….. and totally neglecting this blog. I’ve got over a dozen half-finished posts, but I just can’t seem to find the time to sit down and edit photos and finish the posts.

And I wish I could say it’s because NaNoWriMo has taken over my life and I’ve just completed the next great American novel………

But, alas, that isn’t the reason. It is book related, though. And also pretty awesome.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time absorbed in the world of Usborne.

Usborne Books & More is an amazing company that has been the leading publishers of children’s nonfiction for the last two years. They make reading and learning FUN, the books are incredible, AND….. here’s the awesomest part: you can sign up to be a consultant and make a living giving away free books and spreading literacy and the love of reading!

Really. Not just a sales pitch. This is really, truly, the best thing I have seen in a long time. It’s like throwing Tubberware or Pampered Chef parties – but with BOOKS. {my favorite thing in the world}

I’m really excited about it, and I’ll certainly be posting more about the books in the future. And about other books, too: I looked back over my blog and realized that I hadn’t posted many book reviews recently, and, because of a series of nasty, goopy, throat-clogging viruses, I’d also stopped making videos for Roaming Rosie Reads.

I plan to change that. Spreading a love of reading is very important to me. People tell me things like, “well, your kids love books….” but really, ALL kids love books – if they have the right books. Everyone loves reading, if they’re reading the right books.

I want to help people find books they’ll love.

And, you know, I also joined with Usborne to get tons of free and super-discounted books for my family. Can’t beat that. :)

{You can see a pic of my kids attacking the new box of books on Instagram.}

I wanted to add a little something to this rambling, though, so I’m also including the printable sign I used to serve up some gummy worms at my last book party:

Printable Bookworms Sign

The banners are in two sizes because when I made it, I wasn’t sure what size bowl I was going to be using.

I just cut out the banner and used tape to attach it to the bowl.

Using gummy worms as “bookworms” is a totally cute idea for book parties, back to school parties, book club meetings, and more, so I wanted to share it to make it easy for people to have fun with the idea!

Make sure to check out my new book website: BooksWithRosie or follow me on Facebook at RoamingRosieRemix {for blog stuff} and UsborneBooksWithRosie {for book stuff}!

Enjoy the sign!

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16Nov2014

25 Books of Christmas

Posted in books & book reviews, holidays, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

25 Books of Christmas

I’ve always been a big reader, and I love reading with my kids, but I just recently heard about a fabulous new way to celebrate Christmas: an advent calendar of books!

A new book for every day in December? Oh – I am SO loving this!

Part of the reason I was so inspired was because of these gorgeous photographs I found online! They are {above, clockwise from left} from Enjoying Life with 4 Kids, Mer Mag, and Over the Big Moon.

I rushed over to my bookcase with excitement, ready to tackle this project……. only to discover that I didn’t quite have 25 books celebrating Christmas.

*gasp*

I … I didn’t have ENOUGH books???

Well. That’s something we’re going to have to fix. And soon. But in the meantime we’ll just have to reread the ones we do have a few times, which is not a problem for me!

I love incorporating activity books into the kids’ day, too. I’ll read to them all day long if that’s what they want, but my girls really enjoy books they can interact with as well, like coloring books or books that play music. Which is why I’ve listed so many Usborne books in this post – because they have SO many great interactive books for Christmas!

And the activity/sticker books are great to unwrap in the beginning of the month – especially something like the Advent Calendar to Color – to keep them busy all month long!

Now, part of the awesomeness of being an Usborne consultant is that even though I don’t own all of their Christmas books {yet}, I’ve seen most of them. And they’re really nice, so I don’t hesitate to recommend them.

Below are links to over 3 dozen Christmas books from Usborne for ages infant through teen.

I’ll be posting reviews of other, non-Usborne books, too, during the holidays, but for this post, it was easier for me to stick with just one group of books. Here are pics of just a few of the ones I’ve listed links for below:

Christmas Usborne Books

And to make things easier for you, I’ve grouped my recommendations by subject.

Enjoy the browsing! :)

And let’s just take one more look at how awesome it looks to dress up a big pile of books in Christmas wrapping paper……

25 Books of Christmas

I can’t wait to try this!!!

Please share with me your favorite Christmas stories – I’m always on the lookout for new books. :)

Happy Reading!

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14Oct2014

Free Autumn Clifford Printable Maze

Posted in activities for kids, books & book reviews, free worksheets & printables by Rosemary Lynn

Free Autumn Clifford Printable Maze

We have a lot of Biscuit books.

And a lot of Clifford books.

So when I found this Free Printable Clifford Maze, I instantly thought of Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch. It seemed like a wonderful match.

My kids both love the Biscuit book, and we tend to read it more often in the fall.

It’s a short – and very simple – story, but entertaining. I read it slowly and always take the time to ask who is hiding when we get to the page where there are bunny ears sticking out from behind one of the pumpkins.

And because my girls also love Clifford, they were excited when I printed out the maze for them. So I wanted to share it.

Enjoy! :)

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7Sep2014

The Katie Books by James Mayhew

Posted in books & book reviews by Rosemary Lynn

Katie Books by James Mayhew a book review

When I first found Katie, I was very excited.

A colorful book that is fun to read AND teaches kids about art history?

Wow.

Now, I may not be all that familiar with the specifics of art history, even being an artist myself, but I have at least a basic knowledge. Enough to pronounce the names correctly when I read the books – but that isn’t an issue anyway since there are pronunciation guides in the back.

The point is, I was delighted that there existed this spirited little girl to introduce my kids to a culture I was desperate to try to share with them. Then I found that she didn’t just explore the paintings of Monet and Van Gogh and Goya, but she travels to different countries and travels back in time to run around with dinosaurs, too.

It just kept getting better and better.

Now, honestly, my favorites are where she visits the dinosaurs and travels to Scotland for an adventure with Nessie. But, honestly, my 4-year-old seems to request the Impressionists and Spanish Princess more often. My 2-year-old likes them all.

Here are a couple of pages from Katie and the Dinosaurs:

I love the brilliant colors in the fun artwork, but also the story.

The stories are very easy to read and great at bedtime because words flow.

Katie often jumps in and out of paintings in the stories, joining Degas’ dancers on stage or learning to paint with Jean, the son of Monet.

The interaction with the paintings in the museum is wonderful. Below is a page from Katie and the Spanish Princess, where you can see a painting come alive.

Overall, even though I mentioned which are my favorites, I highly recommend all of the books. We only own about half of them right now, but I plan to finish our collection this upcoming Christmas.

The books are all very well done and a joy both for my children and for myself. The stories are entertaining, often exciting and amusing. My girls have laughed out loud at the tales. As have I.

Here is a list of Katie books:

Katie and the Starry Night

Katie Meets The Impressionists

Katie and the Spanish Princess

Katie and the Mona Lisa

Katie and the British Artists

Katie and the Dinosaurs

Katie in London

Katie in Scotland

Katie’s Picture Show

Katie and the Sunflowers

Katie and the Waterlily Pond

Katie’s London Christmas

Happy Reading!

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31Aug2014

The Outlander Attraction: Part Deux

Posted in books & book reviews by Rosemary Lynn

A little while ago, I wrote about my reactions to viewing the first episode of Starz’s new series Outlander.

The show is based upon the books by Diana Gabaldon, which were already on my wish list, but as of yet, still unread.

After watching the show, I immediately ordered the first book in the series.

And once I opened it, I was absorbed.

At first, all I could see in my head were the characters and scenery from the show, which actually wasn’t a bad thing as I feel the show did a good job in representing the novel, but, eventually, my mind took over and the novel transformed from a television show into a fully layered world.

I walked around, in between reading binges, seeing castles and forests and thinking in a Scottish accent.

I dreamt of Jaime and wondered what I would do in Claire’s position.

I often thought that I was so completely taken with the story because, even for Claire’s tendency to make hasty decisions and lose her temper, I felt that I would have made all of the same decisions had I been in her place.

Well – most of them, anyway. But that’s part of what makes a story amazing: its ability to surprise the reader.

And shock was certainly in ready supply.

The book was often violent, and the words often tore at me. I sobbed into the pages more than once.

But for all of the violence, there was also a palpable tenderness. In both the characters and the environment. I longed not only to find myself nestled along the shore of a loch, with the breeze in my hair and the song of the birds in the air, but also firmly within Jamie Fraser’s arms.

I became so taken with the book, in fact, that as I found myself nearing the end, I made up an excuse to rush to the bookstore and purchased the second novel in the series. I nearly shook with fear at being abandoned by the book when I finished reading it. I needed to have the second one sitting next to me as I finished the first, for comfort.

It wasn’t all that necessary, though. After I finished the book, and sat there with it clung tightly in my fingers, I felt no desire to pick up the second book. I wanted to open up the first novel and read it all over again.

I loved it that much.

The witty words, the beautiful setting, the fierce adventure, and the burning passion…

It didn’t really end when the book ended. It’s still playing in my mind.

But I’m still going to read the next book.

Tonight. :)

If you’re at all interested in experiencing romance and adventure in the 18th century Scottish Highlands, I strongly suggest you read Outlander. You won’t regret it.

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11Aug2014

Painting Birdhouses With The Kids

Posted in activities for kids, books & book reviews, toys & games & gifts by Rosemary Lynn

painting birdhouses

My kids were SO excited about this project.

I hadn’t realized that picking up a couple of $1 wooden birdhouses at the store could make a day so very eventful.

It was pretty awesome.

Anyway, the reason we even went looking for birdhouses was because of this book that was given to us by a neighbor:

This First Discovery book about Birds was something I thought looked kind of fun, but I wasn’t sure how my kids would respond to it.

Surprisingly, it’s been requested over and over again at bedtime.

Even though it’s a learning book and not a story book, both my 4yo and 2yo enjoy reading it.

This is partially because they love all kinds of books where they get to discover things (the 4yo often requests a book that spells out the life cycle of butterflies) but also because of the fun way they allow kids to “discover” the facts about their subject matter.

This series of books includes transparent pages.

The transparent pages are printed with pictures on both sides and “hide” part of the page that’s underneath it. When you turn the page it reveals the hidden image.

My daughter calls these the “puzzle pages.”

And, from looking at the pictures of others in the series on the back cover, she’s already ardently requested that we get the ladybug book.

Thus, a ladybug and a dinosaur book are in a box on the way to my house right now. And I will be buying more in the future.

If you think your kids would love this kind of interactive learning, too, here are a few others in the series for you to view:

Do you own any of these books already? Which are your kids’ favorites? Your favorite?

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3Aug2014

The Outlander Attraction

Posted in books & book reviews by Rosemary Lynn

STARZ Outlander television series

I had heard of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon a while ago and had even put the books on my {rather long} wishlist of books to read.

I hadn’t gotten around to reading them yet, but I was excited when I found a free preview of the STARZ series based on the books.

{You can find the first episode at Starz.com/videos.}

And now that I’ve watched it, I feel that I really, really, really need to read the books. Now.

Why? What’s the appeal for me?

First of all, I love historical novels. Because they’re different. It’s the same reason I love Sci-Fi. I don’t live in a spaceship any more than I live in Scotland in the 1940s or the 1740s. So reading books like this lets me experience things I wouldn’t get to experience in my own life.

Like time travel. And having two lovers living in two different centuries.

I don’t expect that to happen in my lifetime.

{Although I wouldn’t mind a steamy affair with a Scottish warrior…}

And I loved seeing the story made into a television show. Aside from the gorgeous backdrop of a fascinating country and culture, I was also drawn to her wardrobe.

What can I say? I love travel and adventure, but I love a pretty dress, too.

Anywho, here are the first few books in the series, in case you haven’t seen them yet:

And you can find more at Diana Gabaldon’s Amazon page.

If you’ve read the books, please let me know what you think! I know there are a ton of fans out there, and I’d love to know what draws you to the series.

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1Jul2014

I’d Rather Be Reading

Posted in books & book reviews, wanderings in the world & web by Rosemary Lynn

I’d rather be reading.

Really.

This is pretty much how I feel most of the day.

Except when I’m already reading.

And since I’m not the only bibliophile in the world, this is the newest sentiment that I’ve added to one of my Zazzle stores.

For example, here are a ring and a charm bracelet featuring the new design:

Of course, there are also t-shirts, coffee mugs, cell phone cases, and the like, all decorated with this saying. Heck, you can find everything from pendant lamps to pacifiers in this design.

Check it all out at my I’d Rather Be Reading Zazzle Store.

Enjoy!

If you need me, I’ll be … well, you know.

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