My Friend Eric Rohmann at Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum

The traveling exhibit, My Friend Eric Rohmann, is on display at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. Trip and I were in Omaha over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit family. We went to the Joslyn the day after Thanksgiving. It was a fun visit!

The Joslyn has added a great kids’ area, Art Works. It is a drop-in “place for curiosity.” There are stations to make stop-motion animation, digital paintings, still-life drawings, and other hands-on activities.

Making a short animation movie

The artwork of Eric Rohmann is displayed in two hallway galleries near Art Works. This is another exhibit organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas.

There are delightful animal illustrations from Rohmann’s works, including illustrations from the wonderfully wordless, Time Flies*. (The dinosaur illustrations have made this one of Trip’s favorites!) We discovered some new favorites, like the squirrels in Last Song and the jungle animals of Oh, No!*

“Last Song”

The books were nearby, so they could be read to grandparents (in Trip’s case). Pages with displayed illustrations were marked.

The exhibit is at the Joslyn until January 3, 2016. It is included with the free admission.

*Affiliate links

David (Shannon) Goes to the Museum at Irving Arts Center

The Irving Art Center has an traveling exhibit of illustrations done by David Shannon. The exhibit was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. We went through Abilene too late during our recent trip to New Mexico to see the exhibit; it had just moved on to Irving.

David Shannon is one of Trip’s favorite author/illustrators, so we made a point to see it in Irving.

“David (Shannon) Goes to the Museum” includes familiar illustrations from Shannon’s large collection of work. There were works from familiar stories like No David!, Good Boy, Fergus!, and (Trip’s favorite) Too Many Toys. There were also works that we had not read before, such as the Hawaiian legend of The Shark God. And, Bugs in My Hair! had me itching just thinking about lice (ew!).

Throughout the exhibit, there were books to pick up and read, and the pages with displayed works were marked. Trip and I took turns reading to each other in the gallery.

“David (Shannon) Goes to the Museum” is on display in Irving until January 31, 2016 (and free) before it heads off to its next location.

Bonus:  The exhibit “Polar Obsession: Photographs by Paul Nicklen” is spectacular and also on view until January 31 (and also free). Some of the images were familiar, and Trip reminded me that they were on a screensaver on our TV!

Book Suggestion: Enrique’s Journey

I received a copy of Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother* by Sonia Nazario when I worked for the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M. It was part of a “Common Ground Reading” series in 2010. Each incoming student to the college is given a copy of a book, and there are events/discussions related to the book during the year.

This book is a compassionate and informative look at the journey of one boy to make it to the United States to find his mother, who had left him in Honduras years before. Enrique’s journey is like hundreds of others who have made the journey. It is heartbreaking to consider the desperation that leads parents to leave their children to go in search of more opportunities. It is gut-wrenching to consider what the children (and others) go through to try to make it into the United States and the reasons they would even attempt such a journey.

I picked up this book off my shelves to reread it this summer. It’s extremely relevant right now, given the increased number of illegal children immigrants crossing the border and being detained right now.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Four-year-old Trip is young to truly understand some of the weighty issues of racial discrimination and civil rights. At the same time, I think it’s important that I begin a discussion about these things with him now.

With that in mind, we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on Monday by watching King’s Dream speech. A lot of the background of the speech is over a four-year-old’s head, but I really enjoyed watching it with him. It’s an amazing, inspiring speech.

To help make the issues of the day more accessible to a young child, I use The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore as a foundation. This board book offers a simple introduction to the historical context of racial discrimination, civil rights, and the work of King that is appropriate for very young children.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Winter is Coming!!!!!! (Season 3 of Game of Thrones Begins)

I have been trying to start conversations with people about Game of Thrones during my visit to Omaha. At the wedding I went to, with my parents’ neighbors, anybody… I thought for sure it would be a go-to conversational piece. But, so far, only my brother has watched the show.

I’m very excited for this season that starts Sunday. (I’m even excited about the opening credits.) I watched the other two seasons before reading the books. This is the first season where I read the book first. I can’t wait to see how certain scenes are interpreted. Since I’m traveling, I probably won’t get a chance to watch the first two episodes of the season for a couple of weeks, so I should probably hush up about it. Don’t want any spoilers.

Citrus Lane Box (for Older Kids) February 2013 Review

We just received February’s Citrus Lane box in the mail!

Citrus Lane is a monthly subscription service for parents and kids. According to a letter posted on their website by Citrus Lane Founder & CEO Mauria Finley, the boxes are like “care packages” designed “to help parents discover innovative products, share information, ask questions and find inspiration.” Subscriptions are catered to children’s age. The company is currently targeted for children five and under. When subscribing, the company also asks whether your preference is for a ‘boy,” “girl,” or “neutral” box.

I took advantage of a coupon to order a Citrus Lane box, so February was our first month to try the service.

Items included in the box were for a 45-month-old boy:

• Wild Horse Winter, a storybook by Tetsuya Honda: The book is about the wild Dosanko horses on the island of Hokkaido in Japan and their struggle to survive a harsh winter. The story The book is beautifully illustrated. This is admittedly not an instant “favorite” of Trip because, honestly, how could any book about nature compare to Super Friends: Going Bananas (a regular in Trip’s rotation right now). But, Wild Horse Winter will get some play because during story time, we usually read at least two books–one picked by him and one by me.
• 6″ Tambourine by Hohner Kids: Literally the day before we got the box, we were at the store and Trip asked for a tambourine. I considered it but declined at the time. But woo-hoo! We got one anyway!
• Travel Size Fragrance-Free Bubble Bath from Dolphin Organics: The bubble bath is all-natural and contains organic ingredients. We’ll definitely use this. I love finding fragrance-free products!
• Branam Natural Toothpaste: Has xylitol, a sugar substitute that studies show can be beneficial for cleaning teeth and removing plaque. The toothpaste is fluoride free, which is particularly good if your kid is swallowing the paste. Mine is getting pretty good about not doing that, and we use a kids’ fluoride paste.
• And for me…Discovery Toner from Pangea Organics: The toner is made from organic ingredients. It comes in a spray bottle, which I kind of like. It has a light citrus smell.  I wouldn’t say that I always go organic, but that’s usually my preference when I can find affordable options. I’m more than happy to try organic products for myself and my family.

Overall, the box is a hit! We’re happy with the products, and the products are valued above what I paid for the box. But…

As mentioned above, Citrus Lane is about helping parents discover “innovative” products for themselves and children. Innovative as in new or different. So, a tambourine is new or different? Hardly… And while I really do like the book, it was originally published in the United States in 1992 and printed in 2010. Not exactly new. But, different…yeah…okay.

Also, some friendly advice. These box subscriptions can be a gamble. You can’t get caught too much in the monetary value of the boxes. I have read a lot of reviews of subscription boxes that claim that the reviewer didn’t really think they would use a particular item, but it has a retail value makes up the cost of the box. If you won’t use the products, the box loses value. It’s also easy to keep subscribing because the next month could be the most wonderful thing–ever! If you don’t like the first box, let it go. Cancel the subscription. It’s okay. Don’t worry…if you find out that you missed something fabulous, you can use the money you saved on subscribing to buy the specific product that you wanted.

I was pleased this month, especially considering I used a coupon code for the box. It was worth a try! Citrus Lane seems to get rave reviews from bloggers on a consistent basis. The box was a super fun surprise, especially because I’m still searching out places to shop locally besides Target and the grocery store. (Love Target…but I would enjoy finding a local children’s specialty store in SETX/Golden Triangle area. Any suggestions?) Most important of all, we’ll use the products!

If you want to try Citrus Lane, you can get $10 off your first box by clicking here. (Boxes are regularly $25/month.)

Volunteering with In2Books

Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns by Mary Quattlebaum is the first book I’ve finished in 2013.

I read it to converse with my In2Books penpal. In2Books is an online program where volunteers are matched with students. Penpals write letters about books that both the volunteer and students have read. (Books are chosen in the classroom.) The students also have classroom discussions. The objective is to encourage literacy and achievement. The letters are done through the program’s website, and the penpals full names/locations are not revealed. Mentors initially pay a $6 fee for a standard background fee.

This is my third year acting as a penpal for the program. I initially joined when a teacher friend of mine told me about the program, which she was using in her classroom. The program has allowed me to volunteer despite a busy schedule and without taking away time from my son. It’s a lot of fun to read the students’ letters and opinions on the books we read.

I’ve read some cute books with the program. My very favorite was The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park. That one inspired me to find a kite I could actually fly! Hopefully, my penpals have been inspired by the books they’ve read too.

The Bloggess, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Let’sPretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson–a.k.a. The Bloggess–confirms what I already suspected…people grow up strange in Texas.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is a fun read. Lawson is quirky, sometimes truthful, and always outrageous. I’m going to get picky and say the book lacks more information on water squirrels. I *might* have been one of the three squirrel enthusiasts to have bought a book on that topic. (I don’t want to spoil anything, but a general ewwwww applies to most of Lawson’s stories involving wild animals.)

I can imagine reading this book with some gal pals from a book club. I left behind ‘The Best Little Book Club’ in College Station, but this is exactly the type of book we read every few months. A memoir. A ridiculous memoir at that. This was a club that read Ozzy Osbourne’s I Am Ozzy, which I am not shocked to learn is in the virtual bargain bin on Amazon. We also read, The Glass Castle, the disturbing memoir of a strange childhood by Jeannette Walls.

Let’s Pretend is probably more fun with a fun group of friends to read it with you. It’s kind of like being in a comedy club. Part of the fun is sharing the laughs.

If you read Lawson’s blog, you might get a sense of déjà vu reading the book. I am pretty sure I had read some of the stories before. Maybe in the blog? That’s what Penelope Bass suggests too: “Several sections where long excerpts from her blog were simply cut-and-pasted in, I wondered why I had spent $25.95.”

I, however, checked the book out from the library. No harm, no foul.