December 2010 Notable Toys — Books

Written by Karen Phillips as a fun, inspiring journal to celebrate the lives of tween-aged girls, My [Not So] Perfect Life invites a young lady to overcome the blank page. It is filled with fun, often humorous writing prompts in a 'fill in the blank' style. The journal contains prompts about parents, friends, school, love, destiny, and many other subjects, and is written in a smart, funny voice sure to make any girl feel great about herself. The book comes with a sparkly pencil that fits in the elastic holster right beside the pages to keep it always handy.
— “A lot of Klutz sells really well for the with the tweens,” said Kristie Lash, manager of Leapin' Lizards Toy Company in Bend, Ore., in September 2010.
— “Anything in the Klutz line … is a good standard  seller,” said Terri Soelter, owner of Teri's Toy Box in Edmonds, Wash., of her best sellers for tweens during a September 2010 survey of 44 retailers.
— “I find them a boost for self image and promote them that way,” remarked Joe Berardoni, owner of Pun's Toy Shop in Bryn Mawr, Pa., of what makes Klutz books a best seller for tweens in his store.

Writer Susan Reed and illustrator Rachel Oldfield bring to life three kids’ aerial adventure via hot air balloon in Up, Up, Up! from Barefoot Books. This hardcover edition of the book includes a sing-along CD with Up, Up, Up! sung by Susan Reed.
— “Everything is so cheery and happy and the color scheme is wonderful,” raved Jody from Simply Stacie.  She found the sing-along CD to be a nice change from just reading a book since “you can’t help but tap your toes and clap your hands” along with Susan Reed’s “very catchy tune.”
— Up, Up, Up! was a big hit with Melissa and her daughter at Mommy Living the Life of Riley:  “As with all Barefoot Books, the illustrations are hard to look away from.  The pictures are so lively, colorful and interesting that you just want to delve further and further into the book to see what happens next.”

Snoozles, Zeez and Dozie take kids on an adventure to The House of Snooze in Shushybye: Sleepover Surprise from author Steve Syatt and illustrator Frank Caruso. The book comes with an audio CD containing the full story and three original Shushybye songs.
— Larry H. from CakeBlast  struggled at bedtime with his son, River, “but Shushybye is making a difference. River looks forward to Shushybye Sleepover Surprise at night” because “The story is imaginative, the characters are memorable, and the songs are exemplary.”
— According to Kathryn of Mommy Kat and Kids,  “Sleepover Surprise shows an incredible attention to child-friendly details. The lyrics to the brand-new song, Shushybye Blues, are included on the final page of the book so that children can sing along and the colorful cover of the book glows in the dark.” Kathryn said that after reading the book, “The music was the perfect way to settle down at the end of the day, and, sure enough, both boys were asleep about fifteen minutes after laying down.”

Fabulous Franko and his Fabulous Toys is a beautifully illustrated children's book about a fabulous little guy called Franko and his fabulous adventures, in six stanzas of rhyming verse. "Illustrations that are wildly creative and whimsical combined with rhyming verse," Randy Compton, CEO of Think-a-lot Toys, told TDmonthly.

This new Teach Me Tiger Value Pac includes: A Teach Me Tiger learning, play, and sing along CD in a standard size jewel case with a four-panel, full-colored insert, an 8” by 8” 20-page, full color Teach Me Tiger story book, featuring Teach Me Tiger, BooWoo (The Magic Doggie), and Stanley, Lester, and Fred, the little friendly monsters under Teach Me Tiger’s bed, and a Teach Me Tiger, high quality “Kazoobie,” play along kazoo.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

This is a 30-minute interactive DVD and activity book. Children will enjoy the animated characters, Otto, Blink, and Casey on their adventures as they visit all the real sights and sounds of New York City, while singing along to original music and
learning age appropriate concepts and themes. Each DVD comes packaged with a 36-page activity book that gives parents and children creative ideas on how to explore New York City together and enrich their experience.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

The JTB Mini Concept Boxes include a careful selection of diverse eco-friendly toys, books and games pre-packaged to teach specific concepts to young children through play, emphasizing health, the body, good eating habits, art and music, geography and travel, personal safety, and sustainable architecture. The MINI Moody Foodie Box includes the classic Eating the Alphabet book by Lois Elhert, a fruit and veggie set made of renewable rubberwood, a USA made utensil and pots puzzles, USA made sensory dough, a USA made waiter costume for role play fun, and USA
made lace and trace food stencils for developing fine motor skills.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

T’was the Night Before the Storm, A Katrina Story for Kids, is a new 62-page book telling one’ child’s story of the hurricane and flooding that devastated New Orleans and the surrounding cities in August 2005. Told in a familiar rhyme, the 29 verses describe the events in a child’s language. It deals with how parents coped with the evacuation from the city and the rebuilding of their homes. It is an instructive and informative way to acquaint children with the difficulties presented by a catastrophic event.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Each book includes a variety of write-on/wipe-off and magnetic activities designed to reward curiosity and spark an excitement for learning. Contains an 8” x 12” portrait, 24 pages of self-ends, 35 magnetic play pieces, and 1 write and wipe marker. Jump Into Numbers focuses on early number skills. The book is filled with activities that build a child’s understanding of the relationship between real objects and abstract
numbers, and how numbers are used to represent math facts.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Add excitement to story time with this new Interactive Story Buddy and book –cuddle up with your child and watch the fun begin as Jingle comes to life when you read his story aloud. Press the left ear on Jingle and begin reading—Jingle barks, whimpers, and even sings when certain corresponding lines are read.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Read a story to your little one even when you can’t be there. This unique storybook plays back your voice as the child turns each page. The beautiful, all-new illustrations with a classic feel and the dedication page make this book a keepsake to be treasured for years to come.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Going Blue vividly presents facts and statistics about Earth’s oceans and waterways and information about the issues surrounding our current water crisis. Readers will find a wealth of strategies and examples that help them see themselves as change agents and move forward to complete an effective service project. The book is divided into the five stages of service learning: investigate, prepare, act, reflect, and demonstrate. With the aid of lively photos and illustrations, along with practical suggestions and activities, teens plan and do meaningful service learning projects that benefit our planet’s water system.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Racing has never been furrier than in Hot Rod Hamster by author Cynthia Lord and illustrator Derek Anderson. The rhythmic text tells the story of an enthusiastic hamster as he works to build his own racing machine and show off his lead foot. The beautiful illustrations bring to life sizzling hot rods and the hamster’s adorable animal friends.
— At Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup, Jama was positively ecstatic over the main character of Hot Rod Hamster, who “oozes personality and kid appeal from every pore.” Jama especially liked the fact that the “characters talk in speech balloons, which keep the narrative humming along like a finely tuned, well-oiled machine.”
— Middle-school librarians Lynn Rutan and Cindy Dobrez of Bookends praised “Lord’s child-centered fun text and Anderson’s perfectly jaunty illustrations.” “This big picture book with its bright colors and bold shapes has our focus group’s name written all over it. Hamsters, race cars, building stuff — I knew they would love this and I wasn’t wrong,” stated Lynn.

This wooden children's revolving bookcase is hand-painted in blues and reds and features a rocket theme. The top has nose cone bookends, while the sides of the bookcase feature photo frames to hold two 4" x 6" photos. Favorite books can be placed on the 10" and 12" shelves, and the case revolves for easy access. The bookcase coordinates with the Rock-It Spaceship Rocker, sold separately.

This wooden children's bookcase is a grandfather clock design hand-painted in pastel colors featuring the classic nursery rhyme "Hickory Dickory Dock." The bookcase top has a working clock and a secret storage compartment. Children can pull the mouse on the side of the clock to hear the tune "Hickory Dickory Dock" and watch the mouse run up the clock. The bookcase features the full nursery rhyme on its sides, and has two shelves to hold favorite books. "Our products are designed as if for our own children ... with more than meets the eye so children have "levels to discover" as they rock, store toys, ride or play," Levels of Discovery PR Director Cheryl Batzing told TDmonthly.

This 24-page book includes a collection of self-checking, standards-based skill cards. These cards are designed for hands-on review or independent work at a learning center. The varying skill levels represented in the series provide valuable differentiation for students. "The Turn & Learn series is designed to provide a fun, interactive way for students to practice early literacy and math skills," Creative Teaching Press Marketing Specialist Lauren Tuculescu told TDmonthly.

This eight-book collection reveals how exciting it is to be able to read. These books are designed for pre-K beginning readers, or struggling early readers. In these adventures children will discover the joy of sharing, the uniqueness of each person, how to make a mud pie and more. By purchasing the Kids Club Combo buyers will receive a 10-percent savings over purchasing the two sets included individually, plus a colorful tracking chart and corresponding stickers. The compact storage box encourages children to store and access their own Learn to Read Kids Club materials.
Awards: Creative Child Magazine Media of the Year Award (Educational Books)

The reproducible pages in this resource can be used to create a class set of all 12 books in the Sing Along & Read Along with Dr. Jean series. Students can personalize their very own readers and then use them for repeated reading practice as they sing along or read along in class or at home. The set includes engaging activity ideas for each title to promote an interactive learning experience and reinforce many early childhood concepts.

The innovative READ workbook series is expertly designed for beginning readers. Each READ grade level offers a Step In workbook with shorter stories and simpler sentences and a Step Up workbook with stories and sentences that are a bit longer. Both options are specifically written to support beginning readers as they read, explore, and discover early reading success. "The Step Up, Gr. K–1 workbook features an exciting combination of learn-to-read stories, engaging questions to build vocabulary and spark discussion, and dynamic story-based activities," Creative Teaching Press Marketing Specialist Lauren Tuculescu told TDmonthly.

This 12-book set of readers is designed to help alleviate children's fears by providing a fascinating, up-close look at how "scary" creatures live and why people do not need to be afraid of them. Featuring the magnificent images by Dwight Kuhn, one of America's leading nature photographers, these readers aim to help children appreciate the positive contribution animals make to our world. The text includes sensible precautions people should take when interacting with the animals to avoid being harmed. The included two-CD set features audio read-alongs to complement the readers with 12 bonus tracks featuring comprehension questions based on information found in each book, and wait time is provided to pause the CD to allow students time to recall what they have just heard or read and to then verbally respond. Following the pause, the answers are given so that students can check their responses.

This third and final volume of the "Earth Heroes" books features the youth and careers of eight of the world’s greatest environmentalists who championed the protection of wildlife. It includes the historic and contemporary figures of William Hornaday (saved the bison from extinction), Ding Darling ("A Duck’s Best Friend"), Rachel Carson (author of Silent Spring), Roger Tory Peterson ("Inventor of the Modern Field Guide"), R.D. Lawrence ("Storyteller for Wolves"), E.O. Wilson ("Lord of the Ants"), Jane Goodall ("Champion for Chimps"), and Iain and Saba Douglas-Hamilton ("Saving the Elephants"). This highly readable volume with illustrations and photographs calls attention to the waves of influence that spread from the ideas and actions of these heroes for the Earth.
Awards: 2010 Mom's Choice Award - Gold Medal

In this second of the BLUES Go Birding series, five adorable cartoon bluebirds go on another bird watching adventure. This time they follow in the footsteps of the famed Roger Tory Peterson, and see birds on every coastline of America. Filled with both information and entertainment, the BLUES are a delightful introduction to birdwatching and the major shorebird species for children.