Another FREE Online Book Offer: The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

Here is another great online offer. The Poison Diaries isn't even in stores yet, but Harper Collins has posted it in it's entirety online. Interested readers should check it out soon though as I don't know for how long it will be available.

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Did I Mention?!

Okay, just had to take a quick mommy brag break for a moment.

Did I mention that Jo, who turned 5 the end of August, has begun reading chapter books on her own? Well, she is!!! You might recall my mentioning that I picked her up a copy of the book Butterfly Meadow Dazzle's First Day (It's a little 70 page chapter book with the occassional picture in it.) when I was working at her school book fair a little over a week back. She was so excited to see that I'd taken her kindergarten teacher's suggestion to heart (She's way ahead in the top of her kindergarten class for reading, and her teacher suggested starting her on chapter books.) that she settled in with it the very first day. She started reading up a storm, and it wasn't long (a cumulative few hours, maybe) before she'd read the whole thing. I can't guarantee she read every single thing since she wasn't actually reading it to me. But, she was reading (outloud, but very quietly), the majority of the time, within ear shot of me, and from what I could tell she was reading it just like she was supposed to. Woot! I'm just so proud!!! =D

Introduction

Hi! My name is Rebekah, and I am a bookworm. I'm not just any bookworm, however; I am a bookworm mommy. That's right. I've taken my immense love for books, and I have begun cultivating it in my two little girls (ages 2 & 5). Before either of them was born I read to them in utero hoping that by sharing my literary love with them at such a conceptual time they too would come in to the world with an ear, eye, mind, and heart for books. Guess what? It worked!

From time my older daughter was born she was both fixated with and surrounded by books. Infact, we have pictures of her lying on her back at 6mos old totally engrossed in a board book. She participated in her very first library reading program when she was 10mos old (Yes, that's right. She's even got the medal and certificate to prove it. LOL As long as the parent was able to read to the child and documents the books, there was no restriction on start age.), and again every year since. She began teaching herself to read when she was two, though it was just small words here and there. By three she was making more progress, and by four she was reading like a pro and devouring the Pre-K, Level 1, and some Level 2 readers. She didn't go to daycare or to preschool, so I had the great opportunity to work with her on a daily basis to continue to encourage and inspire her love of books. Now at age five, Joey is in the top percent of her kindergarten class (though she's one of the youngest) because her ability to read and comprehend so vastly exceeds that of the other kids in her class. Currently her teacher is actually having her tested to be moved in to an accellerated reading program. Yay! So, yes, in short, my daughter Joey loves to read.

My younger daughter, Jocelyn, will be celebrating her 3rd birthday at the end of next month, and I'm proud to say that she is quickly following in her sister's footsteps. She didn't end up really attaching herself to books at quite as early an age as her sister did, but once she got there she hasn't been able to get enough either. She, like her sister did at this age, has already been pointing out and reading some words here and there, but she still has a long way to go ahead of her. That's okay though because there's no law that says she has to have it all down pat yet. She's still little, and it's just a joy to see her developing in to her own little person and to watch her own personal interests and talents grow. I have no doubts that she too will be reading well before the majority of her peers, but even if that doesn't happen I'm not going to worry about it. She's already showing such a great love for books. (This year she completed her third Summer reading program at the library- with mommy's and daddy's help reading and documenting, of course.)

Since books seem to be such a big part of our lives, I decided that it might be fun to start a review blog just for kid's books. I'd also love to start my own blog/site for reviews and discussions on the books filling my own nightstand. For now though, I'll start with this, and see where it takes me.

To anyone who should happen by, I hope you'll like what you see. You will have to forgive me though if everything isn't 100% up to par. I'm a novice at blogging. Some of you may recognize me from Simply Romance Reviews where I'm a reviewer and where I currently help admin the blog. That though doesn't consist of coming up with the posts myself. Rather I simply post the blogs of the guest authors who join us. That's pretty easy cause the authors have already done all the hard work by the time the post gets to me. I just proof the post, add in any links and/or visual stimulation, and that's it. LOL

So, yah, it might take me just a bit to get everything together and looking pretty here, but it will happen. I figure with all the books my daughters and I read together daily (We check out 30-50 weekly from the library.) I should be able to come up with some good recommendations, suggestions, reviews, previews, etc. I hope so anyways! =)