Audio Books For Girls – Ways to Encourage Reading

In the media, you hear much about getting boys into reading, with good reason. But what about girls? What if your girl is more interested in playing than reading and you want to find some books or other resources to help them engage with reading?

While there are a plethora of books for your girls, mostly mermaid, fairy or fashion series books, choosing the best ones for your daughter may be difficult because of the wide range of choices. In addition, if a girl shows little interest in books then choosing a well regard title may illicit no interest whatsoever, regardless of how good the book is.

If you are at a loss then branch out a bit. Other resources you can try include audio books, interactive games, magazines and comics. Audio books are a great way for kids to engage with stories. Ostensibly Audio Books are recordings of people reading a book and may include sound effects or music.

Audio recordings of books allow kids to get involved and interested in books, without having to do the reading. This is not a bad thing. Unlike movies, when kids listen to audio books they have to use their minds to create images in their head of what they hear. This helps them stretch their minds and get used to concentrating on characters and plotlines.

You can find audio books by a wide range of authors, including popular titles like the Disney Fairies series by Gail Carson Levine, Legend of the Guardians by Kathryn Lasky, Junie B Jones, Geronimo Stilton, Sisters Grimm and many more. While you can buy Audio CDs at most online merchants, Audible offers a cost effective service to download the files to your computer where it can be placed on an iPod or similar.

Audio Books allow girls to be a part of a story if they are intimidated by reading, will broaden their mind by requiring them to visualise the story and strengthen their attention span. It may also pique interest so that they may soon be asking for more books to read.

Inger loves stories and loves to write. As a librarian in a previous life she also has an insatiable thirst for general knowledge. You can visit her latest websites which take a look at the new Leapster Explorer and the Calico Critters range of toys.

Author: Inger Fountain
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger

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Dioxins in Diapers Changing the World

Ari, Seth, and More

Image by WolfStar76 via Flickr

The latest buzz in child-care products to hit global news is the link between dioxins, disposable diapers, and health care issues. Could that diaper you’re wrapping around your babys bottom be one that increases the risk of skin irritation and diaper rash? Even worse to consider is the question whether the dioxins disposable diapers contain cause cancer or immune system depression. Those are scary thoughts for a new parent wanting to give baby the best.

The dioxin debate is one thats raging. European countries have already decided that safer is better, and chlorine-free diapers are very common. Countries such as Sweden, West Germany, and Austria are making big changes about the type of acceptable diapers for manufacturers to offer to consumers. Other countries, such as Japan, are getting in on the buzz as well. Continue reading

Originally posted 2009-08-29 10:11:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Books for Josh

I found my way to Josh’s site, COMPULSIVE SODAHOLIC-KINDA EXTRA-ORDINARY? SEE FOR YOURSELF!, this morning and was pleased to see a twelve year old reader.

He loves watching the shows Buffy and Veronica Mars. He also reads a lot of books including Harry Potter and Hardy Boys

That said he couldn’t get into Agatha Christie.  That is no big surprise, her works have become very dated.  Here are a few of my recommendations:

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card:  This is the story set sometime in future, I always get the feeling of at least a century past present.  Young kids are monitored from birth to assess their potential for military careers in the IF to defend earth against a third invasion by an alien race known as the Buggers.

Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside by Holly Black:  For people who like Buffy or Harry Potter’s world in which the supernatural is real and in plain sight whether you recognize it for what it is or not, Holly paints a similar view of the world for the page in the three novels.

More closed contemporary fantasy world where humans simply ignore the supernatural can be found in the likes of Charles de Lint’s works, especially those involving the fictional town of Newford.  There are a number of books in this series that are especially written for YA audiences, though I enjoyed them as an adult and fan of the series.  Blue Girl and Little Grrl are are among my favorites of the YA books.

Open contemporary fantasy novels, where humans know the supernatural exists, are available too.  Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series is the the only one that isn’t really filled with sex.  The sex filled novels of Anita Blake’s Merry Gentry are really good, but probably not appropriate for everyone.

Other really good teen reads include

1632 by Eric Flint:  The whole series revolves around a small West Virginia town that gets thrown back in time to the early 1630′s and shifted to Germany.  The whole series is great and there is an good opportunity for writing officially sanctioned fan fiction.

Honor Harrington by David Weber:  This is one of the best series I have ever read period.  If you like stories about space, war or the military in general this is going to rock your world.  Including the short story anthologies written by some big names in fiction this series is now well over a dozen books.

Cross Time series by Harry Turtledove:  Is a great series alternate history stories written for teens, but because Harry is as imaginative as always a good read for anyone who likes to ask “what if?”

Oceans on the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling: follows the adventures of the Nantucket Islanders thrown back in time to 1500 BC.

Dies The Fire by S.M. Stirling:  This is really the same series as Oceans on the Sea of Time, but follows the world, namely the Pacific Northwest,  after the event that through Nantucket back in time.  Guns, cars, electric appliances and basically anything that requires high compression or electricity stops working.

If anyone can think of more please feel free to add them to the list

Originally posted 2008-11-20 09:08:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Read Online Children’s Books With the Help of Online Libraries

With the help of the internet, access to information has become easy. Through the internet, you will find a lot of sites that offer different kinds of services; business, marketing, finance, educational information, social networking, and whatnot. Before, people who live in places where book stores and libraries are miles away find it hard to avail and read the different kinds of books that they want to read. But, with the help of the internet, this problem is now given a solution. For parents who want their children to read online children’s books, there are a lot of websites in the internet nowadays that offer this kind of service.

Since there are lots of online libraries today on the internet, all parents have to do is to browse through this different websites and let their children choose and read online children’s books. There are also lots of different kinds of children’s books available in online libraries that children and parents can read. There are story books, math books, science books, and even informative books such as encyclopedias. This really provides parents with a lot of benefits since they do not have to spend a lot of time anymore in going to books stores and look for children’s books to purchase and bring home for their kids.

With the help of online libraries and different websites, parents can save up a lot with regards to their time and effort as they only have to browse the different websites for books to be read by their children. And, with the help of the search engine, looking for children’s books is just a few clicks away. For parents who are busy doing their house chores, they can just let their children read online children’s books in the internet while they do the household chores. Teaching children to read online children’s books will help them gain more knowledge.

Aside from children’s books, there are also other sites where parents can share their ideas and experiences regarding children and family care. Some of these sites also offer education for both parents and children with regards to doing some activities, chores, and games where parents and children can strengthen their bonding. Not only parents can teach their kids to read online children’s books, but they can also help them with regards to improving their behavior and manners by visiting through these different websites.

Learn more about online children’s books.

Author: Adam Hermann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Gardening Books For Children to Read

Gardening is an exciting hobby for people of different age groups and children generally are in a habit to get hands dirty in their garden. Some interesting books on gardening can assist children in having fun while they play in dirt doing some productive work.

We are providing with a list of few good gardening books:

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots
Sharon Lovejoy’s Roots, Shoots Buckets & Boots is an informative book for imparting knowledge about gardening to the kids. This book explains the motive of garden activities in an informative manner. The book provides to kids a list of 20 plants and information about gardening basics.

Kids First Gardening Book
Kids’ First Gardening Book has about 150 projects on gardening for kids. Each of the activities are further split into smaller steps and the language and flow of the book is clear and easy to understand. This book is suitable for kids in the age range of 9 to 13 years.

Kid-Friendly Plants
Cindy Krezel’s book, 101 Kid-Friendly Plants has much knowledge to offer on gardening. This book has colorful photos along with in-depth information in easy language flow to make the children understand about each of the plants described in the book.

The Gardener
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart has sensitive text which gently touches the plant loving readers. The book has been set in the years of great depression and comprises of letters which have been written by Lydia Grace Finch, the main character of this book. The story is moving as the small girl narrates her family’s condition and also her efforts to somehow bring happiness in family through a few packets of flower seeds.

The Carrot Seed
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss is a story of a small boy who very cautiously plants a single seed of carrot. Those around this boy would insist that this carrot would not grow but the boy stood his ground and one day found that the carrot sprouts to as big size as his faith.

About Reading and Gardening
It is a fact that instructional books about gardening for kids have immense wealth of information to offer and when they are enriched with fiction about the gardeners, the resultant experience is awe inspiring which could result in building interest of the child in reading. The projects in the book are countless and would keep kids busy in classroom and summer holidays as well.

Michael has been writing articles online for 10 years. Check out his latest website RV Air Conditioners which help people find more about RV Air Conditioners.

Author: Michael C Miller
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Disposable Vs Cloth Diapers – Finding the Diaper Solution That’s Right For You

Everything old is new again, especially when it comes to caring for babies. Although new parents a few decades ago may have balked at the idea of using cloth diapers, today more and more of us are looking into this more natural form of diapering.

Cloth diapers have been around for most of human history, but if you haven’t seen cloth diapers these days you may be in for quite a surprise! Today’s designs are sleek, leak-proof and come in new, cute designs.

If you haven’t considered using cloth diapers, there are several reasons why you may want to make the switch. The first reason is purely economic. By the time your child is potty-trained, you will have spent at least $2,000 on disposable diapers. That is money that you are literally throwing away each and every day.

On the other hand, a good set of cloth diapers will cost you an average of $300. As your child grows, you can even sell your smaller diapers in exchange from larger ones. At the most, you can expect to spend $500 over the course of your child’s diaper using time. That’s a savings of $1500. With that amount of money, you could start a savings account for your children and have a nice addition to their college fund by the time they graduate high school.

Money savings aside, there are several other reasons why cloth diapers make good sense. Cloth diapers are environmentally friendly. When you throw out disposable diapers, you’re not only wasting money, but you are filling out landfills with waste that won’t biodegrade for many years to come. It’s estimated that disposable diapers will take 500 years to completely degrade. That means that all the disposable diapers that have ever been used in the history of the product are still out there somewhere! It’s staggering when you think about it.

By using cloth, you’re becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. It can take as much as 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum and 20 pounds of chlorine to produce enough diapers for one baby for just 12 months! When you make the decision to use cloth, your actions have a massive beneficial impact on the environment.

Finally, by using cloth diapers you may also be protecting your baby’s skin and health. Some disposable diapers contain dioxin, which is a harmful by-product caused by the bleaching of paper. Dioxin is a carcinogen and has been banned in other industrialized countries, but it has not been banned in the United States.

By using cloth, you’re removing the risk of exposing your baby to this chemical, and the others that are used in disposables. The fact that your baby is wearing these chemicals all day long is reason enough to look into cloth as an option.

Cloth diapers are convenient and easy to use. Although you’ll have to wash the cloth diapers, you’ll actually be using less water than it takes to produce disposable diapers. Washing diapers is an easy process and very shortly you’ll get used to the process.

And there are even new hybrid types available (such as gDiapers) which have an over layer in which you snap flushable refills. Before you make a definite decision in the disposable versus cloth diaper debate, take a bit of time to research new options that are on the market that may offer you the best of both worlds.

Jamie Jefferson writes for Momscape.com and Susies-Coupons.com, where you can find a review and price comparisons for gDiapers as well as Drugstore coupons.

Author: Jamie Jefferson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty tariff

Originally posted 2009-09-24 07:17:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Invincibility and Confidence

Chenee runs the epitome of invincibility and confidence and I must say it was a fun read.  While she feels she “always screw up all the good things”  in her life she certainly has a way about blogging them.  I have my doubts whether she screws them all up, we Virgos aren’t known for doing that.  I of course could be biased about that last statement, which is something us Virgos are known to do.

A life can’t be too screwed up though if you list books first among your favorite things.  I would recommend that she pick a few from the book listing I did earlier today.  Life goes on to further be good when you list pastries among your favorite things that is unless you of course have no pastries.  Ad those pastries to the movies or music she likes and it is a win!

In the end it is a quirky blog by a quirky girl!

Originally posted 2008-11-20 16:01:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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