A Rare Find – PaleoJoe’s Dinosaur Detective Club

La Brea Tar Pits have become a regular stop on our sojourns to Los Angeles. We hang with my 93 year old grandmother in Leisure World, hit D-land for a day or two, and then, make a quick swing through the Tar Pits before heading home.

We can dash through the museum and marvel over the tar pits in about two hours. We’re efficient. After all, we want to save time to explore the gift shop – a treasure trove of cool trinkets, toys and books not found anywhere else. This is where we first discovered PaleoJoe’s Dinosaur Detective Series and specifically, Book #3 “Secret Sabertooth.”

I had never seen the PaleoJoe series at Barnes & Noble or on the Scholastic order form. Even though kid #1 shrugged his shoulders at the book – eyeballing the $20 super-sized mastodon instead – I was interested. Plus, I’m a sucker for a museum gift shop. Needless to say, we bought both.

The PaleoJoe series is based on a real paleontologist, who serves as the cool-dude adult in the story. Thank goodness because his impulsive and quick-witted wannabe junior paleontologists – Dakota and Shelly – take all kinds of liberties in solving their dino-mysteries.

In “Secret Sabertooth, ” 11 year olds Dakota and Shelly befriend Sarra, whose brother has mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind one huge tooth (a Smilodon tooth, to be exact). I love reading smart kid books! (No doubt, I will own the next Trivia Pursuit game, when I casually answer, “A Smilodon is the scientific word for Sabertooth Cat — of course.”)

Back to the story … the Smilodon tooth leads the CHILDREN on a cross-country trip (sans parents) to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. The excitement continues as they break in and explore the secret labyrinth of the La Brea museum to find Sarra’s bro.

Frankly, we stop many times during the reading of the Paleo Joe series with me asking kid #1, “Do you think that’s the best choice? What other (safer) choices could Shelly and Dakota have made?” That said, my mom never questioned the sanity (or insanity!) of Pippi Longstocking. Alas, we continue reading for four nights. At the end of each chapter, my son asks, “Can I read another?” Not without me!

Since then, we have added “Stolen Stegosaurus,” “Raptors Revenge” and “Mysterious Mammoths” to our library (available online only). The books are authored by PaloeJoe himself, along with Wendy Caszatt-Allen.

Not only are these fascinating, smart and thrilling reads – the book itself is constructed to be easy on the eyes. It is printed on extra crisp white paper, using a large font. Think Reader’s Digest (senior edition) for kids. Brillant. This is the first kid book that I’ve read, with an eye to the actual function of reading – typically, at night beneath a bedside lamp.

Plus, the publisher included extras, like “flickr-page animation,” which shows a dinosaur in motion, eating or attacking when the book pages are flicked from beginning to end. For kids that need a little reading motivator, flickr page animation might just encourage them to hold onto the book for a few more pages.

It’s unanimous. Mom and kid #1 agree that PaleoJoe’s Dinosaur Detective Club series is simply one of our best literary finds for 2010. Check it out, pick it up, sit yourself down and enjoy.

Reading for Mom?

Each night, I try to steal a few rare moments to read just for myself.  Recently, I finished “Close encounters of the third-grade kind,” which chronicles the follies and fun of an entire school year with author and teacher, Mr. Philip Done, and his 20 third graders. 

For my review, pop on over to SV Moms Group to read “Third Grade -The Middle of Nowhere and the Road to Everywhere.”

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover (duh!)

Kid #1 and I have been reading chapter books together for the last couple years.  For about a year, we vacillated between reading Magic Tree House books interspersed with children’s classics – Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Wind & the Willow, etc.  Thanks to Mary Pope Osborne, I’ve come to expect books with clever titles, intriguing cover art, plus smart and gender-neutral stories. 

Herein lies my problem. My son, an extreme animal lover, now chooses his own books from the school library without any outside influence (namely, mine).  Gone are those days when I made the book choices.  Now, he is consistently selecting books about puppies, kitties and cubs. My husband and I can only take so much of the seemingly warm and fuzzy plot lines. 

It all started a month or so ago when my 8 year old SON brought home Kitten in the Candy Corn with a darling picture of a kitten – clad in a sweet orange bow – on the front of the book.  Kitten in the Candy Corn is part of the Animal Ark series, which I had seen many times before on the Scholastic order form and declined buying.  

The title, cover art – it was all so, well, sweet.  My first impressions…It looks like a “girl book” and it’s probably a fluff story.  Needless to say, I did not want to read this story – let alone, listen with rapt attention.  In that moment, literally and figuratively looking down at the new book, I realized I might be a bit of a book snob and, dare I say it, somewhat of a sexist.  Whew!  I said it.

Boy, do I owe Animal Ark author Ben Baglio an apology.  Kitten in the Candy Corn was a great mystery filled with human drama, interesting animal facts and a thrilling (for a kid) climactic moment.  Since then, Kid #1 has read two more Animal Ark stories – Badger in the Basement and Polars on the Path.  In each story, a 10-year old girl named Mandy Hope (the main character), with a little assistance from her vet parents, endeavors to save an animal and solve a human mystery/problem.  

While the main character is a girl, the stories are what I would consider gender neutral.  In addition, the stories seem to empower the 8-year old crowd.  My son found the story really relatable – casting himself as the hero.  At times, he would cease reading and start chanting “Go Mandy! Go Mandy!”  Or, he would exclaim, “I knew it!”  In the past, the Magic Tree House books would illicit a mellow, “That’s cool.  I didn’t know that.”  I love the new found exclamation!

Here’s what I learned.  Don’t let the cutesy book cover or title fool you (or make a fool out of you!).  The Animal Ark series is well suited for third grade girls AND boys – offering the right amount of suspense, surprise and kid-do solutions.  That said, I draw the line at bunny stories …

Over-n-out.

Going Camping?? Don’t Forget the Zebra.

I’m not a camper and aside from the s’mores, card games and the occasional highball – it’s not my gig. That said, I have caved on two separate occasions and agreed to camp with the family.

That’s when we first met “Zigby,” the zebra, in Zigby Camps Out. “Zigby,” our stripped hero, embarks on his first-ever camping trip with McMeer (the meerkat) and Bertie Bird (an African guineau fowl). Of course, dear friend, Ella the elephant, advises that no trip is complete without a watermelon. Watermelon, tent and swishy stick in hand, the trio heads out to find the “deepest, darkest jungle.”

Not only is it one of the cutest stories ever, there is ample opportunity to insert your own sound effects … swishy stick, scary jungle, animal characters. It’s also ripe for scaring the pants off your little one and then, giggling hysterically when you discover the scary jungle is really only one watermelon-eating, mischievous meerkat and a very thoughtful elephant.

Every time I read that book, I get all whimsy and think that we need to camp more often. Alas, I found the perils in reading.

Over-n-out.

Zigby Camps Out, by Brian Paterson (Ages 2-5)

In short: Good for campouts or a sweet spooky story for Halloween. If you are planning a camp out – bring the book and a watermelon. Back in the day, kid #1 was thrilled to find the watermelon “waiting” at the campsite. We told him that Ella must have left it for us.

Story Time!

I’m hunched over the bath tub – elbow deep – washing kid #2. I yell through the walls for kid #1 to brush teeth and choose stories! “I’ll be there momentarily.” It’s the same EVERY night, and it’s the part of my life that I absolutely love.

It’s been roughly 8 years since my son chewed Mr. Brown Can Moo into an unreadable mound of mulch. Since that time, we’ve read thousands of stories – some over and over and over again. We mark the years of our life by our faves – The Lady with the Alligator Purse, Tub Time, Wild About Books, Miss. Mingo’s First Day of School, Magic Tree House, Paleo Joe’s Detective Series and so many more.

My husband I have also been known to celebrate “the bad” too. Like the end of the “all Dora, all the time” era. We were secretly thrilled when our 4 year old declared that “Dora is dumb,” and that we could bequeath the 20-odd paperback books to her baby cousin. We had a LONG and happy Dora run and then, it was done.

Funny, happy, interesting, exasperating – reading out loud with my children has been an unexpected journey of joy.

With our youngest, she chooses picture books and points out letters, numbers and a few site words. Mostly, we just cuddle, read and ready for slumber. For my son, listening to him read mysteries, fiction and classics is simply amazing. I’m learning all kinds of stuff that I probably should have already known. If my hubby and I switch kids in the middle of a chapter book, I sneak into his room the next day to read whatever I missed.

At “Read Out Loud,” I will detail the good and bad of children’s literature – including some unfiltered comments by kid #1 and kid #2. I’ll review my favorite kid books and celebrate the laughter, humanity and curiosity that each new story brings into our home and hearts.

Occasionally, I’ll muse about motherhood, building a business, and other findings that have yet to show themselves to me. There will be guilt, worry and some gushing (the trifecta of motherhood!). Of course, all of this assumes that I can figure out the technical ins and outs of blogging. Alas, the learning never ends.

Next up – good reads for the week.

P.S. The name for my new fangled blog is still up for review/discussion.  Apparently, I’m coming at this blogging gig a little late.  All my super-clever names were taken. Not unlike naming a baby!