|
The Dirty T-Shirt My Thoughts
My toddler loved this story when I read it to her and when she took over control of the iPod she set out to touch everything in the picture to see if it made noise and she would giggle when she did. I am so amazed with technology today, with things being so interactive, just makes it that much more fun for my kids. Nothing will replace your own imagination when reading but book apps are a very close second. Breezy Bunnies was a fun story and I recommend it and PicPocket Books to everyone!
iTunes Nicely done! This app brings the book to life. Great way to enjoy books with the kids! Beautiful! My kids and I enjoyed this story. The pictures are great on the iPod Touch screen. At first, we didn't know about the audio hotspot on the animals, but that's clearly written in the description. Anyway, they were really fun. As a mom, I liked that the words were highlighted as the story was read. Great for reading along! My 5-year-old says he wants to read it again. Delightful in every way! June Goulding's art is so very charming—adorable characters and gorgeous glowing colors, all in a splendidly delightful imagined world. Hope there will be many more of June's books available via PicPocket Books very soon!
Carrie's Rambles: PicPocket Books, Review & Giveaway Read the entire review here: http://carriesrambles-carrie.blogspot.com/2010/04/picpocket-books-review-giveaway.html Recently, I was contacted by Lynette from PicPocket Books asking if I would be interested in doing a review for them. I headed on over and checked out the site and then told her YES! I don't have little ones of my own, but I do have a 10 year old niece and friends with children, so I felt I would be able to do a good job for her!  "Now kids can enjoy their favorite books from your iPhone! Forget the playstations, game consoles and DVDs, our mobile picture books will entertain and educate your child in the car, plane, train and more." I was able to download a selection of three stories and two math apps (they are partnering with a developer who creates math apps). I'm not sure what I really expected but I was pleasantly surprised. A.R. (my niece) and I really enjoyed the stories, particularly Breezy Bunnies and Papa Gatto! While they were a little young for her, she still enjoyed reading them once I figured out that you can adjust the settings. For the younger children, the books read aloud the story, highlighting each word in red as it is spoken, helping them learn by association and auto turning the pages as needed. I discovered I could turn all those settings off and AR could read the story on her own, peruse the pictures and then turn the pages when she was ready! Definitely something she enjoyed, and let me tell you, the artwork for Papa Gatto is amazing, the colors are so vibrant! Breezy Bunnies was a sweet story and Oh, Crumps! a little humorous. All of them had clear graphics, no freezing and were a joy to read! We all know the kids can't wait to get their hands on your IPhone or Ipod, and here is an app they can use! I think these would be GREAT for car trips!
|
|
Miami Munchkins
|
|
Bookviews by Alan Caruba The Jewish new year celebration, Rosh Hashanah, arrives in September and Margie Blumberg, the author of the “Sunny Bunnies” series, teamed with illustrator, Laurie McGaw, to publish Avram’s Gift ($10.00, $7.95, $4.99, MB Publishing). It is the story of a young Jewish boy, Mark, growing up in America. A picture on the wall of his home, that of his great-great-grandfather, Avram, portrays a stern-looking man. When the family gathers to celebrate, he learns the story of this man as his grandfather answers his questions. He learns of the shofar, a ram’s horn, a gift passed from one generation to the other and how each is linked to the past and to the ancient heritage of Judaism. Suffice it to say, this is a story for a young Jew, but it is also every immigrant family’s story. As the High Holy days approach, it would make an ideal gift. bookviewsbyalancaruba.blogspot.com
Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter
"Avram's Gift is a Rosh Hashanah story, an immigrant story, and a story about contemporary Jewish life all in one beautifully illustrated chapter book bursting with Yiddishkeit." —Rachel Erlich Kamin, Temple Israel, West Bloomfield Michigan
The Canadian Jewish News A delightful, moving Rosh Hashanah story that teaches how each individual can deeply affect future generations. Exquisite watercolor illustrations by award-winning artist Laurie McGaw. Ages 8 and up.
Jewish Book World Mark is an eight-year-old whose affirmative attitude toward Judaism propels the plot of this well-illustrated chapter book. Just about the only thing that he doesn't like is a photo of an old, bearded, stern-looking man which his family reveres but that scares him. As the family prepares for and then observes Rosh Hashanah in the synagogue and at home, with food andfriends and services woven joyfully into the story, Mark learns more about the old man, his great-great-grandfather, Avram. The tales that Mark's Grandpa Morris tells at the holiday dinner table flow backwards to his childhood when he was a boy of about Mark's age, then called Menashkeleh. They are familiar ones of shtetl life and immigration, revealing the stern-looking old man in the photograph to be the soul of kindness, whose gifts of love and a shofar traveled across time and space with Menashkeleh/Morris, who settled with his parents and sister in Baltimore. The full-color illustrations, which occur every few pages, are photographic in their realism and they capture the personalities and surroundings of both the modern family and the shtetl-dwellers to perfection. There is more, however. Once introduced to Grandpa Morris's zeyde, Mark is inspired to learn how to blow the shofar, Avram's gift that now belongs to him. Details about synagogues, about blowing the shofar and about its centrality to High Holiday synagogue services introduce an instructive element into the story. Time moves fluidly once again, this time forward to when Mark has just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. He is asked to substitute for the shul's regular shofar blower on Yom Kippur and when he sounds the one great blast, "Te...ki...ah ge...dol...aaaa...ah" clear and strong, he imagines it sailing "to the very spot where his shofar came from, where his great-great-grandpa Avram sat..." An Afterword addresses readers directly, introducing them to Gary Stein, the real-life shofar-blower at B'nai Israel Congregation in Rockville, Maryland, encouraging them to learn to blow a shofar, and briefly suggesting ways for them to discover more about their own family histories. The story of Avram's Gift is imbued with a great deal of Yiddishkeit, told in a warm, earnest style that idealizes its subjects without distorting them. Mark is an unusually introspective eight-year-old but the illustrations allow readers of the same age to identify with him by showing him to be a typical American kid, with Senators, Orioles, and Colts pennants in his room, a contemporary looking house, family, and friends, and familiar toys. Librarians will do children, parents, teachers, and clergy a favor by connecting them with this affirmative book. For ages 8 10.
Ottawa Jewish Bulletin By Deanna Silverman Written as a chapter picture storybook, Avram's Gift is essentially a fictionalized version of what sounds very much like vignettes of family history with overlays for relevance. As such, it is almost overloaded with stories within stories linking distant generations to its contemporary hero, Mark, called Markeleh by his grandparents. That Yiddish e-l-e-h addition to Mark's name is one clue to the love and sense of tradition that pervades this book. It reappears when Mark's dad's father, Grandpa Morris, talks about his life in the Russian shtetl, Aroshka. In Aroshka, his name had been Menashke, but Menashkeleh to his grandparents. The connection between the long ago past and present is represented in several other ways as well. Most obviously by a photograph of Mark's great-great-grandfather, Avram. Mark finds the picture scary and is disturbed that in their new home his parents want to hang it outside his bedroom door. Other connections include the fact that Mark's 'Yiddish" name is also Avram, the family's enjoyment of telling and listening to stories, and, above all, a love of shofar including great-great-grandfather Avram's method of teaching shofar blowing. It's the love of shofar and Mark's determination to not only learn how to blow shofar but to someday blow the longest tekiah gedolah ever at the end of Yom Kippur that tie this multi-generational family story to the High Holidays in general and to Yom Kippur in particular. Along the way, the story's complementary theme, new beginnings, surfaces again and again. A new home. A new best friend, Ari. Ari's first Rosh Hashanah in America. A new school year. A new grade. Rosh Hashanah. Stories about Grandpa Morris's new life in America. Stories about immigration. Stories about love and the pain of leaving/losing loved ones. So very many new begiinings—some casual, others poignant—all conveying the mesage that, by remembering, we learn from the past and that, on extremely rare occasions, the past and present can come together and be felt as one in special, tangible ways. Like a picture and a shofar. "Blowing the shofar with all his might, Mark . . . felt that everyone could hear it. No, not just the people in the sanctuary, but everyone . . . to the very spot where his shofar came from, where his great-great-grandpa Avram sat, with his eyes tightly shut, in the synagogue, listening to his favorite sound." Using real poeple as her models, Canadian illustrator Laurie McGaw's full colour, detailed pictures convey the gentle, sometimes wistful, tenderness of the text, its sense of connectedness, respect and inner joy. In sum, Avram's Gift is a delightful Yom Kippur family story.
Children's Literature How many of us have seen a portrait or photograph of some historical figure or ancestor with a stern look and a long beard and taken an immediate dislike to the scowling face? Mark has had a similar feeling towards his great-great-grandfather Avram, for whom he is named, since his earliest childhood. And, worse luck, that scary picture is slated to hang in the hallway right outside his bedroom in the new home that’s almost built now. By contrast, Mark really loves his grandfather Morris, who will soon be coming for Rosh Hashanah. Mark learns about his grandfather’s love for his own grandfather, the Avram in the picture, and about the gift he received from him as a young man leaving Europe for the New World, in this touching and intriguing story. The holiday traditions are nicely woven into the story of two Avrams, and they tie together with Mark’s dream of becoming a really good shofar blower in the synagogue, like Aaron Stein, who can blow a tekiah gedolah for 46 seconds. Artist Laurie McGaw’s pictures are flawless—one could step right into them and feel at home. Set in the author’s hometown of Bethesda in suburban Washington, DC, with references to her original home in Baltimore, MD, the book is filled with details that keep the story authentic and nostalgic at the same time. A wonderful choice for those long holiday afternoons, it’s sure to spark questions about family history and legacies left to future generations.
Cleveland Jewish News "The shofar's blasts will be even more meaningful after reading Avram's Gift ... a handsomely illustrated storybook...."
Booklist Connections across generations . . . come clear in a story that's as sweet as honey used for dipping apples. Stephanie Zvirin
KidsBookshelf.com Review By Christina Lewis
|
is the perfect simple children’s book to pick up. Sunny Bunnies by 
